My humble days in ancient times

I was busy until midnight, when the noise in the shop gradually died down and the flow of people finally became sparse, which was a relief.

Everyone just started eating at this time, and everyone looked exhausted.

Xu Ruyuan said, "Today, a male customer didn't even eat the dumplings. Instead, he counted them first."

"Then what?" Xu Ruyi asked with interest while eating.

"Then he realized two were missing and yelled at the top of his lungs, so loudly that everyone's attention was drawn to him. I went over and carefully counted them again, then quickly gave him two more dumplings. A grown man being so serious, ouch!"

Xu Ruyi covered her mouth and laughed, and the others in the store couldn't help but laugh along, and the laughter echoed in the small space.

"There are all kinds of people in the world. But I have to be careful about this kind of thing next time. If a serving of twenty dumplings comes out, there should be no fewer, or just the right amount more."

Xu Ruyi nodded repeatedly to show her agreement.

Later, Xu Ruyi set the store rules: no quarreling with customers, and dumplings must be replenished immediately if they are found to be missing.

After eating, everyone played for a while and closed the place when we found that there were not many people around.

After returning home and lying on the bed, Xu Ruyi felt only pain in her back and waist, as if all the bones in her body were about to fall apart, and there was no comfortable place on her body.

The next day I slept until noon before getting up.

The same was true for Xu Ruyuan. She rubbed her sleepy eyes and looked like she had not woken up yet.

The two sisters then rushed to the dumpling shop. Du Xiaoyue jumped and skipped along the way, full of energy.

Xu Ruyuan said, "You'll know how powerful it is after a busy day."

"Don't be afraid, don't be afraid." Du Xiaoyue looked indifferent and unconcerned.

After a busy day, Du Xiaoyue shut up on the way back and closed her eyes early to rest. She no longer had the energy she had when she came.

The next day, Xu Xiaohua came over again.

Du Xiaoyue held Xu Xiaohua's hand tightly and said, "I have experienced it yesterday, and it's your turn today. My dear sister, have a good experience, and I wish you good luck!" Her eyes were full of concern and encouragement, and her voice was also solemn.

Xu Xiaohua smiled and said nonchalantly: "As long as we don't kill him, we'll fight him to death!" There was a bit of heroism and fearlessness in her tone.

Xu Ruyi pretended to be angry and said coquettishly, "What are you doing? It seems like we are about to part ways." She frowned slightly and glared at the two of them with pretended dissatisfaction.

Du Xiaoyue then slowly let go of Xu Xiaohua's hand, with a look of worry on her face.

When they arrived at the store, Xu Ruyi looked around and hired a literate woman to help customers take orders at the window so that they could better serve them.

After five or six days, Xu Ruyi stopped going.

The store was completely managed by Xu Ruyuan. She gradually got the hang of it and kept the store in good order.

Xu Ruyi and Xu Xiaohua were at home, occasionally sitting under the willow trees by the big pond.

Sometimes villagers come to sell eggs, and Xu Ruyi and Xiaohua will help count them, chatting and laughing, and the atmosphere is very harmonious.

The hot weather is not suitable for traveling, so I just stay at home, eating watermelon and reading storybooks, which is quite comfortable.

Zhou had saved some watermelon seeds from last year and planted them this year. However, she didn't know how to care for them, so they didn't produce many. Furthermore, the village head and Zhou didn't know which ones were ripe, so they always picked the largest ones.

As a result, some are ripe and some are not.

I picked another one today, but when I opened it, it still had white seeds.

Zhou sighed, "What does it take for a watermelon to be ripe? Why was the one that Ruyi gave us last year already ripe?" Her face was full of confusion and helplessness.

"Maybe it's a coincidence!" said the village head, trying to comfort Zhou.

"It seems that's the only way to think about it." Zhou shook her head helplessly.

"That should be it. Otherwise, this watermelon is even more delicious than peaches. If I sell it, I'll be rich."

Zhou thought it made sense: "No wonder they don't sell it. They can't get that many watermelons, and they don't know which ones are ripe, so they don't dare to sell them."

Li Zheng nodded: "If it doesn't taste good when sold to others, they will definitely smash their stall, right?"

Zhou nodded, and the doubts in her heart were slightly alleviated.

What Zhou and the village head didn't know was that Xu Ruyi had a lot of watermelons on her two acres of land this year. Each one was round and plump, and grew very well.

This year, we applied fertilizer to the watermelon field, and then after the watermelon vines spread, we pruned and pressed the vines to control the growth direction and nutrient distribution of the plants.

The final pollination is also a key link. If natural pollination is not ideal, artificial assisted pollination is used to increase the fruit setting rate.

Only through this series of careful care can we have a good harvest of watermelons.

Of course, this is also the work of Lan Xiaoyu, a vegetable garden enthusiast who is full of love and care for every plant in the garden.

Lan Xiaoyu was inspired by a method of growing other plants in an old and precious book on planting. After continuous trial and error, she finally managed to grow such a wonderful watermelon.

Tian Yuhe also enthusiastically planted watermelons in her own vegetable garden this year.

When I see the watermelons growing big, I can't wait to pick them and take them home. Then I open them with great anticipation, only to find that they have white seeds.

However, Tian Yuhe has always been frugal and never wastes anything. After all, a watermelon that is 70% to 80% ripe is not completely inedible.

Xu Dachuan asked curiously, "Can we eat it if it's not cooked?"

"Can't we eat it if it's not cooked?" Tian Yuhe asked back, with a hint of doubt in his eyes.

Xu Dachuan asked again: "Is it poisonous?"

When Tian Yuhe heard him ask this, she said, "Then don't eat it yet. Give some to the chickens."

Tian Yuhe carefully cut the watermelon into small pieces and threw them all into the chicken coop. The chickens quickly and happily began to eat them.

Two days later, nothing happened.

Tian Yuhe breathed a sigh of relief and said, "It was really a false alarm."

So, when I see watermelons in the watermelon field again, I still pick the big ones.

I was lucky this time and picked a ripe one.

When you open it, you will see the red flesh and black seeds, which looks very pleasing.

One petal for Xu Dachuan, one petal for Tian Yuhe, and one petal for Xu Dachun. The family of three enjoyed the meal very happily, with satisfied smiles on their faces.

After eating a few slices, Tian Yuhe said, "Watermelon is the best in summer. It's better than any other fruit."

Sometimes, Li would follow Tian Yuhe to the vegetable garden to check out the watermelons. Although the two gardens were adjacent, Li always followed the rules and would not go to the vegetable garden to check out the watermelons without Tian Yuhe's permission.

Mrs. Li said, "Oh, it's the same as what I saw at Ruyi's house last year. But she has planted a lot, maybe two mu of land?"

"Really? Then she must have a lot of seeds. As for me, she gave us one last year and kept the seeds specially." Tian Yuhe said as she continued to pick watermelons.

"If I had known earlier, I would have kept it and planted some this year." There was a hint of regret in Li's tone.

"Oh, I don't understand. It's useless to plant it and it's a waste of land. Anyway, I won't plant it next year." Tian Yuhe was telling the truth. She felt that she really didn't have the ability to grow watermelons.

Tian Yuhe picked and picked in the field, and finally picked out a particularly large one and gave it to Li.

Li left happily.

When I got home and cut it open, I saw white seeds.

It’s not as delicious as last year, nor as sweet as last year.

Xu Dafu asked, "Is it not cooked yet?"

"Maybe, but you can't tell from the outside?" Li frowned, looking confused.

"But the ones Ruyi gave us and Dachuan were both cooked. Is it a coincidence?" Xu Dafu was also full of doubts.

How could Li understand this? "That's too coincidental. Both are 100%."