Chapter 61: Celebrating the Mid-Autumn Festival

The Tong Family.

Knowing that her two daughters-in-law had gone out with two hundred mooncakes today, old Mrs. Tong sat at home calculating: each mooncake sold for seven cash, so two hundred mooncakes came to one thousand four hundred cash—far easier than farming.

Therefore, when Zou Hongping and Tian Zhaodi arrived home, old Mrs. Tong was the first to rush out to the door. However, upon seeing the heavily laden bundles in their hands, a look of perplexity crossed her face. "What is the meaning of this? Why are the goods brought back?"

Zou Hongping and Tian Zhaodi exchanged glances, wearing expressions of utter dilemma.

Old Mrs. Tong had waited all evening and had long since lost her patience. "I am talking to you two. Are your mouths glued shut or something?"

"Mother." Zou Hongping placed the mooncakes she was carrying onto the table. "Something went wrong with our family's mooncakes, and all the money we earned tonight is gone."

Hearing abruptly that the money was gone, old Mrs. Tong hurriedly pursued the matter. "What went wrong? You two must have been swindled by someone."

Upon hearing this, Tian Zhaodi seized the opportunity and said, "Mother, let me tell you. Tonight, not long after we set up our stall to sell mooncakes, an auntie came over and insisted that her son had a stomachache because he ate our mooncakes. Then we had to go to the Renshan Medical Clinic to have a doctor examine him."

"You know the Renshan Medical Clinic, right? That cursed girl Tong Chuxue sets up her stall right at the entrance every day. Then, the doctor at the clinic said the child had eaten something bad, which caused his stomachache. Moreover, his father was a burly man standing right next to us. Eldest Sister-in-law and I had no choice, so we could only pay compensation to settle the matter."

"However, that cursed girl saw us being wronged, but instead of helping us speak up, she spread rumors on the side, claiming there was something wrong with our family's mooncakes and telling all the customers to buy from her instead."

With the incident thus "processed" by Tian Zhaodi, old Mrs. Tong naturally assumed that all the trouble was caused by Tong Chuxue, and her dissatisfaction with her two daughters-in-law lessened considerably.

"That bringer of misfortune! What kind of sins did our family commit to end up with such a creature?" old Mrs. Tong wailed at home.

The remaining mooncakes could no longer be sold, but asking old Mrs. Tong and the others to throw them away was simply impossible. As a result, for the next few days, the entire Tong family ate mooncakes at almost every single meal, and suffered from diarrhea every single day.

Furthermore, the Tong family even gave some mooncakes to other villagers. For a time, the entire Qingshan Village seemed to be infected with an illness.

However, Tong Chuxue had no time to deal with these matters; she was currently counting her earnings from the past few days.

Aside from a few fresh meat mooncakes occasionally given away, they had earned a total of fifteen liang of silver over these past few days.

Liu Fen and the others could hardly believe their eyes. They had never imagined that making money could be such an easy task. In just a few days, they had earned the equivalent of several years of toil in the fields. Their respect for Tong Chuxue deepened even further.

***

The next day was the Mid-Autumn Festival.

Tong Chuxue asked the others how they planned to spend the Mid-Autumn Festival, and it turned out that they all intended to spend it with Tong Chuxue.

Liu Fen was easy to understand; she was on her own anyway and didn't care who she spent it with. But logically speaking, the third branch of the Luo family ought to have celebrated the Mid-Autumn Festival with the main Luo family.

Speaking of this, Lin Chunyan felt a chill in her heart. Ever since their family split up, the third branch's food and clothing had been completely separated from the other branches. Whenever the other branches got anything good, they closed their doors to enjoy it themselves, completely ignoring the third branch.

Luo Changhua had poured all his money into Tong Chuxue's business. Who would have thought that old Mrs. Tong would demand that they return the money used for Luo Huifeng's schooling, claiming that since the family had divided, schooling expenses should no longer be paid from the communal fund?

Yet Luo Huifeng had clearly started his studies before the family split. Old Mrs. Tong's actions deeply chilled both Luo Changhua and Lin Chunyan. Before the Mid-Autumn Festival, they had sent twenty fresh meat mooncakes to old Mrs. Tong as an expression of filial piety from a son, but they had no desire to spend the festival with the Luo family.

To this, old Mrs. Tong raised no objection. The family had already divided, and even if they did not celebrate together, no one would say anything.

Thus, for Tong Chuxue, a Mid-Autumn Festival that would have otherwise been desolate suddenly became lively. With silver now in her hands, she gave a grand wave of her hand, "Let's go to the county town to celebrate the festival!"

Now, no one could sway Tong Chuxue's opinion anymore. Since she said they were going to the town, they were going to the town.

On the day of the Mid-Autumn Festival, Luo Changhua drove the ox cart borrowed from Tong Shan's house toward the town. Along the way, villagers they met looked on in astonishment, wondering where this group was rushing off to on such a major festival, only to be told they were heading to the county town.

Guyu County was their destination, and all the children went along as well.

Luo Huifeng, who had never been to the county town before, was the most excited person on the cart. All the way there, he pestered Luo Huian with endless questions, never settling down for even a moment, though it did add a bit of festive atmosphere.

Tong Chuxue and her group set out in the morning and did not arrive at the county town until past noon. It seemed they would have to spend the night in the county town today.

The county town during the Mid-Autumn Festival was exceptionally bustling. According to the innkeeper, there would be a lantern festival on the main street tonight, with crowds coming and going, making it overwhelmingly lively.

They found a restaurant to have a meal, and by the time they finished, the sky had already darkened. Tong Chuxue noticed many small vendors setting up their stalls on both sides of the street with their goods.

Tong Chuxue divided the money earned from selling mooncakes proportionally among everyone. With money in their pockets, there was plenty they could do.

Since it was a rare trip to the county town, Liu Fen headed straight for the fabric shop, wanting to buy a few bolts of fine material.

***

As for the Luo family and Tong Chuxue, they strolled together.

Luo Huiqing was usually a steady and composed little girl, but seeing so many novel trinkets this time, she couldn't maintain her composure either, lingering in front of almost every single stall for a long time.

Noticing the excited gleam in her eyes, Tong Chuxue bought her quite a few small toys. When Lin Chunyan tried to stop her, Xu Jinniang stopped her, saying that such an opportunity only came once a year, so there was no need to spoil the fun.

As the group walked and stopped, Luo Huiqing's gaze was soon caught by a lovely rabbit-shaped lantern, and she involuntarily exclaimed, "How pretty!"

Tong Chuxue was in high spirits for spending money tonight. She walked up to the stall and asked the proprietor, "How much is this rabbit lantern?"

The proprietor smiled broadly and pointed to a wooden sign on the stall, "The lanterns here are not for sale. You can only get them by correctly guessing the riddles."

Hearing that there was a game to play, Luo Huifeng crowded forward as well. "Guessing riddles? I can do that!"

Having learned quite a bit at the schoolhouse recently, Luo Huifeng felt a modest sense of pride. What was so hard about guessing riddles? His teacher played this game with them too.

The stall owner smiled warmly and pulled out a stack of envelopes. "To win the rabbit lantern, you must correctly answer five riddle lanterns in a row. Would the young master care to try?"

Full of confidence, Luo Huifeng squeezed his small self into the very front row. Not even as tall as the stall table, he reached out and grabbed an envelope, declaring, "I'll do it!"

Immediately, Luo Huifeng opened the envelope. Inside was a piece of paper with a riddle written on it: "Outside the rustic gate, barking dogs are heard."

Luo Huifeng, who had been brimming with confidence just a moment before, instantly wilted. He recognized every single character on the paper, but what on earth was the answer?

Seeing his pitifully aggrieved little expression, everyone could not help bursting into laughter.