Thanks for the invitation: In ancient times, people shared children

When it comes to making money to save the pigs, Pei Xiaohai is surprisingly persistent and hardworking.

After running to the town for half a month, her calves became stiff and blisters appeared on her feet, which Waiya pricked with a needle. They had no medicine and did not take care of her. After a few days, the blisters turned into a hard piece of skin across her heels, neither falling off nor itching. It did not hurt or itch, but it felt very rough.

It doesn't matter. The newly grown flesh under the skin is still tender. Only people who run around all year round will have rough feet. Children, just walk less and you will be fine.

Pei Xiaohai was not worried about her feet, she was worried about her shoes and socks. After running like this every day, her shoes wore out very quickly, and her socks had a big hole in them, which would become wet when they got snow on them.

When Cuimei took them to be cleaned, she was puzzled. How could her shoes be so wet and dirty when she hadn't been out?

Pei Xiaohai had no choice but to lie and say that he got it in the toilet, but how could he explain the hole in his socks?

She pointed at her toenails and insisted that they were scraped off by long nails. Cuimei picked up the scissors to help her trim them, but Pei was afraid that she would find the calluses on her feet, so she quickly said she would do it herself. In a moment of carelessness, she cut too much and punctured the flesh.

When I ran to town the next day, I was still bleeding.

Waiya couldn't do anything about her feet, but she did have a way to save the shoes. She weaved a pair of very tight straw sandals and asked her to wear them outside.

It's ugly, but it's really useful.

What's annoying is the students in the academy who make fun of them. At first they only made fun of Waiya's tattered clothes, which made her look like a beggar, but now they start making fun of Pei Xiaohai's shoes, which look like two bird nests.

Changsui also felt ashamed, so he gave Pei Xiaohai money again and told her not to tell anyone that they were siblings.

Pei Xiaohai didn't treat him as his younger brother, so it was naturally good to get the money, so he agreed without thinking.

They even told him that if he gave them a little more, they could sell it somewhere else.

The students in the academy were generous only after they were cheated that time. When they went there again the next day, they didn't buy much because the vendors also prepared chestnuts and persimmons, and sometimes even had new varieties.

This makes their business very difficult, and being laughed at all the time is unbearable, so they are ready to sell elsewhere.

Changsui didn't know her plan and was cheated out of ten cents by her.

Pei Xiaohai did what he said and went somewhere else with Waiya that day.

Unfortunately, persimmons and chestnuts are not rare here, and not many people buy them. Only the merchants who come and go will try them for the novelty and try to bargain for the price.

Fortunately, Pei Xiaohai and Waiya are running a business with no capital investment. As long as the price is about right, they don’t mind a penny less, as long as they can sell more.

One day, they met two merchants from the south. They were quite generous. After tasting two persimmons for free without any explanation, they took out a handful of copper coins and bought even the basket, eating up all the chestnuts and persimmons inside.

Little Pei stretched out her hands to throw the coins but couldn't catch them. Several coins fell to the ground and rolled everywhere. She tried to collect them clumsily, but she couldn't free her hands and more coins fell.

Waiya hurriedly squatted down to pick it up, and the sight of the copper coins crawling all over the floor somehow made the two of them burst into laughter.

One person said, "Look at these two little girls."

The other person tugged at Pei Xiaohai's red, frozen face and casually threw a few coins to them:

"This is a reward for you. Pick it up and go home. You're so cold and stupid. The women here are really stupid. Big and small, they are all so clumsy. There is not a single one that is satisfactory."

His pinch was a little painful, and Pei Xiaohai wanted to shed tears and snot. She tried to suck it hard but it didn't help. She had nothing to wipe it with, so she raised her sleeve and wiped it.

The man's mouth twitched, and he let go of the child, frowning in disgust, and no longer had any interest in amusing the child.

They carried baskets, wore fur-collared coats, and walked leisurely, their hands warm as if they were in a warm house.

Perhaps because he thought Pei Xiaohai was dirty, the man who pinched her face took out a handkerchief to wipe his hands, and then threw the handkerchief away casually like throwing money.

Waiya pounced on it and picked it up.

A passerby who was about to lend her his hand glared at her and walked away unhappily.

Waiya came back with the copper coins and handkerchief and said happily, "Look at this cloth, it's so smooth, so beautiful, and it smells so good. Is it made of silk? How can they just give it up like that? They're so stupid."

She didn't see what happened just now, but Pei Xiaohai saw it all. The two people didn't say anything and even gave them a lot of money, but their actions and expressions made her unhappy.

"There's shit in your head."

Pei Xiaohai was running on the street, and his words became more and more rude.

"Hush, you two kids, instead of being secretly happy after getting the money, why are you cursing the God of Wealth?"

The wonton vendor nearby heard this and tried to stop them.

"Don't say that. If anyone hears it, and we never come back, how are we going to make money?"

"If they don't come, there will be others." Pei Xiaohai said, stuffing the copper coins into Waiya's open pouch, preparing to find a place where no one is around to count and divide them.

The wonton vendor said, "Of course there are other things, but not many are this generous. I don't know what business these two are in. They've been here for five or six days and haven't left. They wander around all day and love to gossip. If they find something they like, they won't even ask the price. They'll just pay a lot of money and even give you a reward if you say something nice. How can we offend such a God of Wealth? If we turn them away, everyone will be unhappy. How will we do business then?"

He was trying to scare people on purpose, but what he said was basically the truth. No matter how big or small the business is, interpersonal relationships are very important.

Pei Xiaohai and Waiya were new arrivals and not very popular, so they were always chased away.

She wanted to shave her head again so that people would recognize her, which might have been better. Unfortunately, her hair had grown longer, her clothes had changed, and there was no old nun around her, so many people no longer recognized her.

Pei Xiaohai looked at the stall owner and found him familiar, but she couldn't remember who he was. She just said, "Okay, then I won't say anything."

I agree with what he said.

Seeing that she was willing to listen, the stall owner was also happy: "That's good, who are you children? You look a little familiar to me."

He said this to Pei Xiaohai.

But Pei Xiaohai didn't dare to tell him and only said: "You look familiar to me, maybe I have seen you before."

After saying that, she pulled Waiya and ran away.

They slipped into the alley, ran around for a long time, and finally stopped in a slightly crooked dead end.

Waiya took a breath and said, "That was a close call. Did he almost recognize you?"

Pei Xiaohai: "It seems so. I may have been to his house to beg for alms before."

"So where are we going tomorrow?"

"Go ahead. What if you run into those two stupid Gods of Wealth again? Even if they recognize you, they might not complain."

What Pei Xiaohai and Waiya were most worried about was being recognized and reported to the Liu family.

But none of them were willing to give up the money they had earned.

Waiya said, "That's right. It's rare to find a good place like this, and no one's chasing us away. Quickly pour out the money and count it. Those two people gave a lot more."

They are not very good at math, but they can still tell that even if they run around on the streets for a few days, they won't make as much as they did today.

Little Pei poured out the copper coins and looked at the pile of money. He felt that the two men looked friendly again.