Inviting the Moon to the Farmhouse

Xia Lanyue told Xia Yao that she was going to chop firewood, and then she and Dai You carried bamboo baskets and took their woodcutting knives to the bamboo forest.

"Wow, so many bamboo shoots! They're all mine!" Xia Lanyue exclaimed excitedly.

"You know bamboo shoots? Haven't you never left the capital?" Dai You asked.

Xia Lanyue was taken aback. Had she let something slip again? "Yes, I read it in a book."

Xia Yao nodded, "A-Yue likes to read."

Xia Lanyue smiled and nodded; this method worked quite well.

Xia Lanyue didn't stop until the basket was full of bamboo shoots.

"This patch of bamboo shoots belongs to an owner."

A familiar voice sounded beside Xia Lanyue. She turned her head and saw that Jiang Di had arrived at some point.

"Huh?" Xia Lanyue looked puzzled. How could bamboo shoots growing in the forest have an owner? "I don't believe it."

"Haha, really, otherwise they would have been chopped down to nothing long ago, and you wouldn't be left to pick up the pieces?" Jiang Di said.

Xia Lanyue thought for a moment, and what he said seemed to make sense. "Then tell me, whose bamboo shoots are these?"

“Counting from the end of the village, it’s the ninth household.”

Xia Lanyue didn't know who the ninth household was either. "What will happen if I eat it?"

"Nothing serious, maybe someone just knocked on your door and asked you to pay for the bamboo shoots... But luckily, only I saw it, and if I didn't say anything, they naturally wouldn't know."

Xia Lanyue understood. "Then how can you avoid telling them?"

"Let's settle the payment for the salt first," Jiang Di said.

“I have no money,” Xia Lanyue said.

Dai Yougang was about to take out his money when he heard Xia Lanyue's words and stopped.

"Ha, how can you say you're broke so confidently?" Jiang Di said.

"You were in the village the day they caught the thief, right? You heard it too. All my banknotes were pawned with Village Chief Zhao, and I'm really poor now."

Jiang Di lowered his head and thought for a moment, then sighed, seemingly at a loss for what to do with her.

Xia Lanyue wanted to laugh, "I have a good idea. If it works, I can pay you back soon."

Jiang Di looked at her with a puzzled expression, waiting for her to continue.

However, Xia Lanyue deliberately kept everyone in suspense, saying, "But my method requires your... participation."

"tell me the story."

Xia Lanyue squatted down, found a stone on the ground, and waved to Jiang Di, signaling him to squat down as well. After he squatted down next to her, she drew a square on the ground, pointed at it, and said, "I'm going to start a small business soon, selling a kind of snack. I have a feeling it will be very popular, and if it sells well, I can pay back the money quickly."

Jiang Di nodded. "And then?"

"Then, making this snack requires a lot of salt."

Upon hearing this, Jiang Di stood up and prepared to leave.

"Hey, hey, don't go! You haven't finished talking yet!" Xia Lanyue grabbed his sleeve.

"You're not going to pay me, but you're trying to scam me out of even more salt?" Jiang Di stopped and turned around to say.

Xia Lanyue pulled him back, "How is this a scam? It's good for you too. I'll share my earnings with you, and you can collect money without doing any work. Isn't that great?"

"How to say?"

Xia Lanyue gestured for Jiang Di to squat down, then continued drawing on the ground. "Look, this snack sells for ten coins a serving, so you can earn six coins. If you sell twenty servings a day, you'll earn one hundred and twenty coins, and then you can pay me back quickly."

"How much will I get?"

Xia Lanyue smiled; he was quite knowledgeable. "This 120 coins minus my salary... ah, no, my wages of 80 coins, leaves 40 coins. This 40 coins is..."

"Is it mine?" Jiang Di blurted out.

"No, these forty coins are our share of the profits, um... we'll split them between the two of us."

"That's only twenty coins."

"Then why don't you do anything and just get it for free?"

"Is the salt you mentioned included in the cost?" Jiang Di asked.

Xia Lanyue smiled and said, "No."

Jiang Di's face fell.

"Don't rush, I'll pay you for the salt once I've made some money, but I don't have any money right now, so you can pay for the salt first, okay?"

"How much do you need?"

"Ten catties," Xia Lanyue said hastily, seeing Jiang Di's surprised expression. "Six catties will do too. You provide the salt, and I'll provide the skills, how about that?"

Jiang Di fell silent, looking at Xia Lanyue, and remained silent for a long time.

Just when Xia Lanyue thought all hope was lost, Jiang Di said, "Okay."

Xia Lanyue smiled happily and extended her right hand, "It's a pleasure to cooperate with you."

Jiang Di didn't know what she meant, so she didn't reach out. "I only agreed because you didn't mention me to everyone that night."

"I know, I know, you're a loyal person too," Xia Lanyue said happily.

"When do we need this salt?" Jiang Di asked.

"The sooner the better, the sooner I can get it done, the sooner I can start earning money."

“But you don’t look like the kind of person who would do this kind of work,” Jiang Di said, looking Xia Lanyue up and down.

“Once I’m doing well, you’ll think I look like one,” Xia Lanyue said, then remembered something else. “I heard there are a lot of people at the gatherings here. When are they held?”

“They are available in town on the 3rd, 6th, and 9th of each month.”

"So what is today?"

"Today is the thirteenth."

"Oh, by the way, do you have any candy?"

“No, but I know someone who sells candy, and I can ask him to give me a discount, but I can’t owe him money for the candy,” Jiang Di said.

Xia Lanyue felt that Jiang Di's appearance was too timely, as if he had come to help her. "I don't owe him anything. But, where can I find him?"

"I'll go. I'll bring the salt tomorrow. Will ten catties of sugar be enough?"

"That's enough. How much?"

"Three hundred coins."

"Ahem, wait a minute, it seems we don't need that much right now, one pound is enough," Xia Lanyue said.

Jiang Di was taken aback for a moment, probably not expecting her to be so poor, then sighed, "Fine."

"I'm going back now. I'll bring some things to visit you tomorrow. Are you staying at Xia Yao's house now?"

"Yes, I'll stay at his place."

"Hmph," Jiang Di snorted coldly.

"What's wrong?" Xia Lanyue felt he must know something. "How are their family members?"

"I don't like that family; they're so fake."

"Oh? For example?" Xia Lanyue's curiosity was piqued.

But Jiang Di didn't say anything. "Anyway, you'll find out after staying at his house for a few days. Oh, and these bamboo shoots, you picked so many, can you finish them all? They'll spoil quickly, why don't you share some and send some to the family I mentioned?"

Xia Lanyue felt that since she had already agreed to the cooperation, she had no reason to refuse such a small matter, so she agreed.

Jiang Di had other things to do, so she said goodbye and left.

After Jiang Di walked away, Dai You said, "I have money."

“I know, you should keep your money to buy candy,” Xia Lanyue said, picking up the bamboo basket. “Let’s go, we’ll deliver the bamboo shoots.”

Dai You took the basket from Xia Lanyue, carried it on his back, and also picked up the bamboo. He and Xia Lanyue walked towards the village together.

Xia Lanyue didn't know which household Jiang Di was referring to, nor did she want to walk to the end of the village and start counting from the beginning. Just then, she saw an aunt in front of her who seemed to be from this village.

"Auntie, wait a minute," Xia Lanyue jogged over and greeted her aunt.

When her aunt saw her, her eyes were full of wariness. She asked, "What's wrong?"

Xia Lanyue took half a step back. "Auntie, how many households are there in our village?"

"What do you want to do?"

“I don’t want to do anything, I just came to deliver some things, but this house is the ninth one from the end of the village. So, which house is it from the beginning of the village? We want to walk a few steps less,” Xia Lanyue said.

"Are you looking for someone surnamed Jiang?"

"Huh?" Surname Jiang? Isn't that Jiang Di's family? Xia Lanyue said, "Yes, surname Jiang."

"The third house from here."

After finishing her sentence, the aunt walked towards the village, glancing back at them every now and then.

"Heh, Jiang Di is just playing with her," Xia Lanyue muttered. "Since I've already agreed, I might as well send some over."