jdhmnovel Chapter 161 Going to the County Town
Chapter 161 Going to the County Town
While collecting firewood, the two talked to each other.
This year they made a lot of money by suppressing bandits and going into the mountains, and bought a lot of businesses. Although they kept a low profile in the village in order to avoid the various troubles brought by being too big and attracting attention, they also wanted their families to live a better life.
On the one hand, they try to provide themselves and their families with adequate nutrition and keep themselves and their families well fed and clothed. On the other hand, they also want to take their families out more often to broaden their horizons and increase their knowledge.
Now, time has finally entered the twelfth lunar month and everyone has started preparing for Laba Festival and New Year. Gu Wenxuan and Bai Jingzhou took the opportunity to propose taking their family to the county town to purchase all the items needed for Laba Festival and New Year.
Bai Chong and Ning Cuizhi agreed readily. At Bai Jingzhou's instruction, they also invited Bai Jingzhou's grandparents in advance.
Grandpa Gu and his companions had lived through hard times for a long time, and thriftiness had long been ingrained in their nature. When Gu Wenxuan said she wanted to take everyone to the county town for a day, Grandpa Gu and his companions' first reaction was, "No, no, we can't waste money like this."
Gu Wenxuan coaxed and persuaded, racking her brains to come up with all the reasons that Bai Jingzhou had thought of for her in advance, and her mouth was dry from talking. Finally, Mr. Gu and Mrs. Li reluctantly agreed.
Gu Wenxuan, feeling relieved, drank a lot of water, and then went out at the appointed time to tell Bai Jingzhou that she had used the words he had prepared to convince Old Man Gu and others.
When she was halfway through her walk, Bai Jingzhou came up to her with his second brother and his wife. When the two sides met, Gu Wenxuan realized that Bai Jingzhou's second brother and his wife had come to see her specially.
After hearing this, Gu Wenxuan planned to invite them to her home, but the two men felt that it would be embarrassing for them to come empty-handed, so they were very hesitant.
Bai Jingzhou was a smart man. He saw their embarrassment and hesitation, so he suggested that they all go for a walk in the woods at the end of the village.
His second brother and his wife readily agreed. In fact, if Bai Jingzhou and Gu Wenxuan had not made an appointment to meet, they would not have planned to come directly.
The original intention of the two was to let Bai Jingzhou help them communicate with the Gu family first, and then they would visit them when it was convenient for them.
Bai Jingzhou didn't want them to cause unrest in the family because of this matter. After all, if they prepared gifts for the Gu family, Bai Jingzhou's aunt would definitely have a lot of objections.
He didn't want his uncle's family to get into any more trouble, so he brought them directly to find Gu Wenxuan.
In his opinion, his second sister-in-law just wanted to meet Gu Wenxuan, so it didn't matter where they met.
He told Gu Wenxuan all the previous events in detail. As he expected, Gu Wenxuan did not mind that his second brother and his wife did not come to visit formally.
Gu Wenxuan said, "If they want to thank someone, they can just thank you. There is really no need for them to go out of their way to establish a good relationship with me."
After all, it wasn't her who taught Bai Jingming how to make money.
The two of them briefly talked about this matter, and then the topic turned to their trip to the county town tomorrow.
The two did not plan to bring Bai Jingshan and others. Apart from their own family members, they only planned to bring Jia Yuelan who lived in Gu Wenxuan's house, and Ning Qirui who lived in Bai Jingzhou's house.
Bai Jingzhou has already hired a horse-drawn carriage. In the afternoon, he went to the coachman's shop in town to say hello and make an appointment. The coachman will come to pick them up on time the next morning.
In addition, they also sent more people to the county town to clean up the house.
The two discussed briefly what time they would leave tomorrow, what to bring, what time they would return the day after tomorrow, who would help look after the house at home, and then they went home carrying the firewood they had picked up.
The next morning, both families got up early, had a hearty meal, and then entrusted the important task of looking after the house to Gu Xing and his wife and Bai Jingzhou's elder brother and his wife.
During the next two days, Gu Xing and his wife and Bai Jingzhou's elder brother and sister-in-law will be living in the Gu and Bai families to help them guard the house to prevent anyone from coming in and stealing things when they are not at home.
After bidding farewell to the relatives who were helping to look after the house, the two families got on the carriage and headed towards the county town together, feeling both happy and nervous.
Except for Bai Jingzhou, Gu Wenxuan, Jia Yuelan and Ning Qirui, the other children of the two families had never been to the county town.
Among the elders of the two families, only Gu Yongming, Jia Guizhi and Bai Chong would go to the county town once in a while because they needed to sell game and medicinal materials. The others either had never been there or had not been there for a long time.
Having lived in the small village for a long time, the children and adults who seldom go out were inevitably a little scared when they first arrived in the bustling area.
This place is different from the village, and those people wearing bright clothes are also different from the villagers. Even if they wear their best clothes, they still inevitably feel out of place here.
This is not a prosperous place, but just a small county town outside the mountain village, but it already makes them feel deeply uneasy.
Noticing that they had not moved since getting off the carriage, Gu Wenxuan smiled and took her grandmother's arm, "Everyone, follow me. I'll take you to buy some hot drinks."
The county town is not far from Baijia Village, but the temperature is really low now. Everyone felt cold after sitting in the carriage.
After Gu Wenxuan's call, everyone immediately took steps and followed her to the busy street on the side of the dealership.
Bai Jingzhou smiled slightly and reached out to support his grandmother who was a little bewildered. "There is a teahouse in front. Let's go there to have a drink and warm our hands and feet."
He and Gu Wenxuan often came to the county town, so they knew everything about it. At this moment, Gu Wenxuan was planning to take everyone to the teahouse first.
There was a storyteller in the teahouse. They ordered some snacks and a cup of hot drink for each person, and then ate and drank while listening to the storyteller. The time before lunch passed easily.
"Give us one portion of jujube flower pastry, one portion of ox tongue biscuit, one portion of chestnut cake, one portion of golden silk cake, one portion of pine nut candy, one portion of bean root candy, six bowls of ginger honey water, six bowls of sweet bean soup, and eight bowls of buttermilk."
The variety of drinks in winter is far less abundant than in summer, and there are not many types of drinks to choose from on the teahouse's menu. Bai Jingzhou just ordered three of them at random, and he estimated that they should taste good.
In front of Dr. Tea, Mr. Gu and others didn't want to say that he was too wasteful and asked him to stop spending money, so they all winked at him, indicating that he should ask for a pot of the cheapest hot tea to warm them up.
Bai Jingzhou pretended that he saw nothing. After ordering these, he waved his hand to signal Dr. Tea to leave.