Eating big melon is so refreshing

Children are very sensitive and know how to read adults' expressions. If adults are unhappy, how can children be happy?

"Grandpa, grandma." Xiao Chunya felt uncomfortable with the atmosphere, so she simply asked directly, "What happened?"

Zhao Bei's smile was a little bitter. He said, "Grandpa is a little sad. Xiaochun'er, is the street busy?"

"It's lively. The county magistrate is holding a lantern-guessing event tonight. Pearl Street is the busiest place."

Xiao Chunya said, "I guessed a butterfly lantern, and I guessed a goldfish lantern for Luo Xiaopang."

Zhao Erlang looked at the lanterns in the children's hands and asked, "Xiaochun, where is the butterfly lantern?"

"A rich lady wanted to spend two taels of silver to buy lanterns from me, so I sold them to her." Xiao Chunya said, "I used the money to buy eight lanterns and twenty mooncakes, and I still had one tael of silver left."

Everyone was surprised. They thought the lanterns were bought by Zhao Wulang. Twenty cents for a lantern was not cheap, and thirty to fifty cents for a mooncake was even more expensive.

Zhao Wulang put the mooncakes on the table. Xiao Chunya said, "These ten are filled with egg yolk and lotus paste, these nine are filled with five nuts, mung beans, and red bean paste, and there is one mung bean, which I gave to Brother Xiaolin. When I bought the lanterns, he gave me a good price, fifteen cents each."

Each mooncake with egg yolk and lotus seed paste costs fifty cents. When Mrs. Zhao Yang saw her granddaughter buy ten at once, her heart trembled.

Zhao Erlang asked curiously, "What riddle are you guessing? Is it difficult?"

"The riddles made by the county magistrate are only for children under ten years old. They are quite difficult for children." Xiaochun blabbered, "The first riddle I guessed is an arithmetic problem..., and the second riddle is..."

Da Niu suddenly spoke up, "Sister, how did you manage to solve the math problem in such a short time?" What he wanted to know was that it was difficult to calculate the answer to adding one to ten, let alone adding one hundred?

"Brother, let me answer." Xiao Chunya didn't want to answer such a simple question.

小秋临干巴巴讲“1+100=101，2+99=101，1~100里面有50对101，50x101=5050，很简单的。”

Everyone was confused. Is this so simple? They simply couldn't understand it!

Xiao Qiulin then said, "The second riddle, 'Fallen flowers all over the ground, but not alarmed', falling flowers all over the ground means the flowers have withered, so it's a character 'Xie', and not alarmed, which means the mood is at peace, so it's a character 'An'. Xie An is the third son of Taichang Xie Pei and the cousin of General Zhenxi Xie Shang. Xie An is versatile, good at calligraphy and music, has an elegant and gentle temperament, is fair and decisive in dealing with things, does not abuse power or seek personal gain, and does not take credit for himself..." He continued to speak.

Zhao Silang's eyes sparkled as he said, "Xiao Qiu'er, this riddle not only requires you to know the meaning of the riddle, but also the famous people in the Jin Dynasty?"

Xiao Qiulin was alert and said, "There are several books dedicated to guessing riddles. All these various riddles come from there."

"Have you seen it all?"

"No, I don't like guessing riddles, so I just read a random book. Fat sister prefers reading these miscellaneous books."

"It's great to read miscellaneous books, and you can make money." Xiao Chunya disagreed, saying, "I don't need to take the imperial examination, so why should I study the Four Books and the Five Classics seriously? If I don't learn well, people will laugh at me, and if I learn well, people will scold me. It's a thankless job."

Zhao Erlang was confused and said, "The county school has set up a girls' class. Isn't that studying there?"

"Father, I've inquired about it. The girls' class reads the Three Character Classic, Hundred Family Names, Thousand Character Classic, Analects, and Book of Filial Piety. Then they learn music, makeup, women's work, and cooking. Even though the tuition fee is reduced by one-third, it will be very expensive to buy a flute, a zither, or even rouge and powder."

Xiao Chunya said, "In addition to building connections, the girls' class at the county school also depends on talent. My brother and I know nothing about cooking and we don't have any talent at all."

Zhao Erlang said, "Building up personal connections is very important. If you don't like cooking, don't learn it. Making rouge and powder is also a skill."

"Okay, Dad wants me to study, so I'll go." Xiao Chunya looked sad. "If I go to school, I won't be able to eat the tofu pudding made by grandma, the cold noodles made by third grandma, and the dried radish."

"The girls' class shouldn't be so strict. There will be a holiday every month. I will send you back to the village on the holiday."

Zhao Erlang added, "The county school has teachers who specialize in teaching martial arts. Don't you like to shoot arrows? I guess there are even ponies there."

"Father, Huangyang County is so poor, how could there be horses for students to practice?"

The pie was too big, and little Chunya saw through it at a glance. Zhao Erlang laughed on the side, thinking that his daughter was too smart to be fooled.

"Let's eat mooncakes. These are the mooncakes we bought from Fengji. Their mooncakes are the most delicious."

"Just buy it from him. Luckily we went there early. There were only ten lotus seed paste mooncakes left, and not many other mooncakes either."

People eat mooncakes in an attempt to dilute the sad atmosphere. Family reunites on Mid-Autumn Festival, but in the end people’s hearts are scattered. How sad!

Zhao Yang sighed inwardly. Her seven-year-old grandson had been in school for two months, but he could still recite the Three Character Classic haltingly. The four-year-old Xiaochun'er and Xiaoqiu'er had already read several miscellaneous books, but her eldest son was the most knowledgeable. The best future for the three children of the first wife was to find a good job in the county. Becoming a scholar or a student was just a dream.

Wang sat on the side with a chill in her heart. She could not understand what arithmetic problems Xiao Chunya and Xiao Qiulin were talking about, or what famous scholars of the Jin Dynasty they were talking about. She only knew that the gap between her proud eldest son and the two sons from the second wife was as big as eight streets.

She had foolishly offended her younger brothers in their fight to get the rent for this house. The third and fourth wives had already moved closer to the second wife, and Zhao Wulang was probably about the same.

Zhao Dalang, who was sitting on the side, had cold eyes. He did not stop Wang from jumping up and down like a clown. This was a good daughter-in-law chosen for him by his mother. His son already had three children. It didn't matter whether the daughter-in-law was good or bad. At this point, it was enough as long as she could do the job.

Wang also wants to arrange a marriage between her niece from her mother's side and Daniu. This marriage cannot be agreed to at all. One stupid person is enough. If there are a bunch of stupid people, Dad will probably be the first one to vomit blood!

The children happily ate mooncakes. A mooncake cost fifty cents, and a pound of pork cost only thirty cents. It would be a loss not to eat such expensive mooncakes.

Lard is expensive, and sugar is even more expensive. The mooncakes made by the villagers are usually salty, either with red bean paste or mung bean paste. They are dry and have no oil or water, and of course they are not delicious.

The reason why Fengji’s mooncakes are so expensive is because they are rich in oil and sweet enough!