Inviting the Moon to the Farmhouse

When Xia Lanyue and Dai You reached the end of the street, Dai You went to the pharmacy, while Xia Lanyue skillfully set up the stall.

As Xia Lanyue had anticipated, the rice cakes sold exceptionally well today, even falling short of demand, with some customers even requesting to place pre-orders!

"Pre-order? Sure, come pick it up tomorrow?" Xia Lanyue asked the aunt in front of her.

"Yes, I need five packs. Can I pick them up tomorrow? Or do you deliver them to my door?" the aunt asked Xia Lanyue.

Xia Lanyue thought for a moment, "I'm sorry, Auntie, we're not familiar with each other, so I can't deliver. But you can make a reservation, though you'll need to pay a small deposit first. Is that alright?"

"How much?" the aunt asked.

"You want five packs, right? That's a deposit of twenty coins, and you'll pay the remaining thirty coins when you pick up the rice cakes."

“Okay, I’ll give you twenty coins,” the aunt said.

"Auntie, once you've placed an order, you can't change it. If you don't want it, the money won't be refunded. Have you thought it through?" Xia Lanyue asked cautiously.

The aunt nodded. It seemed that the aunt was not someone who cared about money, which made Xia Lanyue seem a bit long-winded.

The aunt counted out twenty copper coins and handed them to Xia Lanyue, saying, "Count them."

"No need to count, Auntie won't make a mistake," Xia Lanyue said, taking the coins without even looking at them and putting them directly into her purse.

After her aunt finished putting the money away, she asked, "Is there any written agreement or anything?"

Xia Lanyue was taken aback. "Huh? No."

"You're not going to skip out tomorrow, are you?" the aunt asked.

Xia Lanyue smiled and said, "No, don't worry, Auntie. I'm just doing business with integrity. You'll see in time."

"Okay, since you're so pretty, I'll trust you," the customer said with a smile and left.

Xia Lanyue was also very happy, not because she sold five more bags of rice cakes, but because she felt that this sense of being trusted was very good.

After the rice cakes were sold out and all the customers had left, Xia Lanyue sat on the ground and began to count the copper coins. There were a total of three hundred coins, which exceeded her expectations. Xia Lanyue was overjoyed.

Xia Lanyue carefully put the money into her bosom, then began to collect the basket in front of her before heading to the pharmacy to wait for Dai You to finish work.

On the way back, Xia Lanyue took Xia Yao to the market and bought a roast chicken.

"Xia Yao should like this, right?" Xia Lanyue put the roast chicken into the basket after paying.

Dai You's smiling face immediately fell. "Why do you say that? Was this roast chicken bought for him?"

Xia Lanyue nodded, "Yes, I offended him these past few days, so consider this my apology."

Dai You frowned. "What did you do to offend him?"

"I don't know. Ever since I told Acheng that he was a thief, he seemed quite angry and kept giving me the cold shoulder."

“It’s just a sentence, it can’t be that serious, can it?” Dai You said.

"That's what I think too. It was just a sentence, it shouldn't be that serious, so I can't figure out what I did to offend him. I've been angry for days now, he's so petty!"

Seeing that Dai You's expression was not good, Xia Lanyue quickly explained, "We're staying at someone else's house, we'll see each other all the time, it's not good to keep doing this."

“Let him be angry if he wants to,” Dai You said, turning his face away.

Upon arriving at the Xia family home, Xia Lanyue stood inside Xia Yao's room.

"Xia Yao, look, this was specially bought for you," Xia Lanyue said, holding up a paper package in front of Xia You. "Guess what it is."

Xia Yao sat on the edge of the bed, put down the book in his hand, and looked at the paper package with a calm expression.

"Roast chicken," Ah Cheng behind him blurted out.

Xia Lanyue was startled by his sudden voice.

Turning around abruptly, I saw Ah Cheng standing by the window.

Acheng walked over, sniffed, and said, "It smells so good! I haven't had roast chicken in ages. How did you know I was coming back today?"

Xia Lanyue was very surprised, "Why are you back? The village chief is imprisoning people, how can you give them a day off?!"

"Haha, the matter is resolved," Acheng said.

"It's solved?! How did you solve it? Tell me quickly," Xia Lanyue asked.

“Guess,” Acheng said, mimicking her earlier manner of speaking.

Seeing A-Cheng's irritating look, Xia Lanyue reached out to slap him, but he dodged it. Then A-Cheng reached out to snatch the roast chicken from Xia Lanyue's hand, but she turned around and avoided it.

"Wow, that's pretty agile," Acheng said.

"Same here, tell me quickly how you solved it?" Xia Lanyue asked eagerly.

"Wei Liangxing lost twenty shi of grain, and I lost ten shi of grain. The lost grain was made up, and my cousin didn't pursue the matter any further, so it was resolved," Acheng said casually.

"Wei Liangxing just admitted it like that? And you admitted it too?" Xia Lanyue looked puzzled. Seeing Acheng nod, she seemed to understand something and pressed on, "So, it was you who stole those thirty shi of grain?!"

Seeing Xia Lanyue's face fall, Acheng hurriedly explained, "Hey, don't talk nonsense, I didn't steal anything. Because Wei Liangxing's inner courtyard was robbed, he was in a hurry to leave, so he took the initiative to ask for a settlement, and then we paid for the grain, and then we came out."

Xia Lanyue looked at Acheng with some doubt, then turned to Xia Yao, "Xia Yao, is what he said true?"

Xia Yao nodded.

"So, is the theft considered closed?" Xia Lanyue asked.

“Yes, the village chief said he wouldn’t pursue the matter further,” Acheng said.

"We won't pursue this any further," Xia Lanyue repeated A-Cheng's words. Things had happened so suddenly that she was a little overwhelmed. "The theft is no longer being investigated. It's all over. A-Cheng is back, so we're no longer suspects, and we can get the silver notes back, right?!" Xia Lanyue grabbed A-Cheng's sleeve and asked, "Is that right?"

"Huh? The neighborhood chief didn't mention that."

Xia Lanyue ignored Acheng's words, turned around and patted Xia Yao on the shoulder, "I didn't expect you to be so amazing. You really guessed right. Wei Liangxing has admitted to this matter." After saying that, she excitedly ran outside, wanting to share this good news with Dai You as soon as possible.

"Hey, leave the roast chicken behind," A-Cheng called out from behind Xia Lanyue.

"This was bought for Xia Yao."

Acheng was taken aback, glanced at Xia Yao, then sat down next to him and teased, "You two have gotten so close while I was away?"

Xia Yao looked at the book without raising his eyes. "That's not true."

"She even bought you roast chicken."

"They said it was for me, but it's actually for everyone else to eat," Xia Yao said.

"Does this woman have feelings for you?" Acheng asked.

"How can it be?!"

What do you think of her? Have you ever considered making her my sister-in-law?

Xia Yao turned his head and said to him solemnly, "Absolutely impossible!"

Acheng chuckled sheepishly, seemingly quite satisfied with the answer.