After the old man left, Qi Qingyao looked at Jiang Yeqian and asked crossly, “Who told you that you could give him meat?”
“That pendant looked quite valuable. With its quality, it’s easily worth even the meat of ten pigs.” Jiang Yeqian put on a facade of calmness.
That dragon jade pendant was given to him by the emperor the past year. His name was written on its back with seal script, but this woman would surely not recognize it, considering how illiterate she was.
He had thought that it had fallen into the river, but it was picked up by an old man, and now it had made its way back to him. This was fate!
“What if it’s stolen goods? I would be getting into trouble!” After she said that, a thought appeared in her mind. ‘This pendant was picked up by the river. Was it something he had lost? Was that why he was so desperate to get his hands on it again?’ Qi Qingyao thought about it, her face filled with doubt.
“Toss it back into the river then,” Jiang Yeqian said calmly.
“That can’t do. I gave out two catty of pork in exchange for this. How can I toss it into the river?” If this pendant really was something this guy had lost, she would be able to get some money out of him after he regained his memories.
Hehe!
Qi Qingyao said, “If the material’s good, I’ll keep it.”
And then she stuffed it into her clothes.
More people came to purchase meat. Qi Qingyao had wanted to reserve two catty for herself, but she failed to in the end. All the meat was sold. After that, Jiang Yeqian and Sijin took a break at the side while Qi Qingyao alone held a huge pile of copper coins in her arms. She started counting the money in front of the three children.
She counted twice and looped all the coins with rope. She ensured that she had thirteen loops in her hand. She exclaimed in her mind, ‘If I didn’t boast this morning and say things like “I’ll return double”, I can clear all my debts by now!’
‘And after adding the two loops of coins here, I would’ve had money remaining too!’
Ah, whatever.
Qi Qingyao was about to get up when Erniu pulled on the hem of Qi Qingyao’s shirt and looked at her with her watery big eyes. She said softly, “Mommy, I’m hungry.”
Qi Qingyao froze. She then looked at the sun. It was already three in the afternoon. They had not eaten since breakfast earlier. She laughed embarrassedly, “Ah, hahaha, look at me! I’m doing business and I forgot about you three! Let’s go, everything’s sold out, so we’ll go eat now. And we’ll enjoy the temple festival too!”
The children were so happy. Their faces were all blushing. It was a cute sight.
The temple festival was more vacant by now.
They had just taken a few steps into the compound when Dabao stopped in his tracks, staring at the hawker selling sugar gourds. He stared at them greedily.
“Mother~”
“You sound so cute. What do you want, Dabao?” Qi Qingyao squatted down and asked amicably.
“I want a sugar gourd~ Can I have one?” Dabao was staring at his fingers as he said this. He peeked at Qi Qingyao carefully, afraid that she would be angry at him.
Erniu said adorably, “Mother, the three of us will share one. We don’t need more. Can we have one?”
“Of course?”
Xiaobao was just about to say something when Qi Qingyao generously said, “Each of you will get one!”
Xiaobao, “…”
Would he get one too?
He was about to tell his mother that this was a great waste of money and that the four of them could share one, but he swallowed all his words when a sugar gourd was handed to him.
He could see nothing but the sugar gourd in front of him.
Ah.
She had already bought it… He would just eat it.
The children were so excited as they held one sugar gourd each. Even Qi Qingyao did not resemble an adult at all as she bit on a sugar gourd happily.
It was only after she had finished hers that she remembered the existence of the two adult fools behind her.
She turned back and asked while nibbling on her sugar gourd, “Do you want one?”
Jiang Yeqian and Sijin shook their heads.
Qi Qingyao grinned. “I offered you so generously but the two of you refused to have one. Don’t say that I don’t buy things for you.”
Jiang Yeqian said, “Childish.”