Chapter 31
Qiao Mai cleared out the floor tiles and looked at the floor. She chuckled. When cleaning up the space, she had already made up her mind.
She wanted to use this piece of land to grow melons.
She didn’t need the seeds she bought for the time being. There were a few melons in the freezer. She washed the melons, dug out the seeds, and used tweezers to plant them in the ground.
Qiao Mai watered the ground and giggled as she ate the melon.
Watermelons and honeydews should have been on the market together, but she didn’t remember that honeydews were equally popular.
Although it was not as juicy as watermelon, it tastes better, especially the ripe ones. From afar, one could smell the intoxicating fragrance of a honeydew.
The melon in her hand was of high quality, but it was not ripe enough. However, it still had a strong fragrance.
Just as she pondered about setting up a stall tomorrow, Ling’er’s voice sounded in the room.
The baby is awake!
Qiao Mai quickly finished the melon and ran back into the house. When she saw her baby blowing bubbles, she giggled.
“Oh, my little darling is awake?”
“Ah, ah, ah!”
“Mother will prepare the milk for you.”
“Ah!”
When Ling’er saw the bowl, she immediately became excited. She opened her mouth and let out an “ah” sound. This meant that she wanted Qiao Mai to feed her quickly.
Qiao Mai held the baby in her arms and the bowl with one hand. She didn’t even need to feed her with a spoon. Ling’er’s two small hands held the bowl, and her mouth was close to the bowl. She drank it in small mouthfuls. Qiao Mai was afraid she would choke, so she was very careful.
Looking at her daughter’s gluttonous appearance, she was sure that this girl would be a little fatty in the future.
After feeding Ling’er, she placed her on the ground. Ling’er flipped over and lay around. She raised her little head and looked at Qiao Mai with a smile. Then, she kicked her calves and slowly learned to crawl.
Qiao Mai looked at this interesting scene and stood a little further away from the child.
She clapped her hands. “Come, Ling’er, come here quickly. Mother is here.”
Ling’er spent a long time and only managed to climb a short distance. She was so anxious that she wanted to cry. Qiao Mai quickly came over and hugged her.
“Good Ling’er, you’re still young. If you grow any further, you’ll be able to climb up to Mother’s side. Come, Mother will take you to see the quails.”
When cleaning up, the little quails were hiding under the shelves. They had no place to stay currently and were all playing on the ground.
When Ling’er saw these little fellows, her eyes widened. “Ah, ah, ah!”
She wanted to grab them. Qiao Mai placed the quails on a small mat, found some materials, and made a chicken ring. It was about two meters wide and four meters long.
The space didn’t rain, so there was no need to build a shed. She placed the seven quails inside and put a box containing water, and another box for food.
The little ones were much more energetic than when they first arrived. From time to time, they would raise their heads to look at Qiao Mai.
Qiao Mai had not seen any eggs when she had cleared the place. It should be because they had not grown up yet, or they were frightened.
There was no hurry. It had only been a few days. She believed that there would be eggs.
She had done a lot of work today and did not embroider at night. She hugged the little darling and went to sleep.
The next day, the weather was clear. The sky was blue as soon as the sun rose.
The air after the rain was humid. Once the sun came out, it was hot and suffocating. As soon as Qiao Mai left the space, she heard the neighing of horses in the courtyard.
Qiao Mai slapped her head. She had been so focused on returning to her space yesterday that she had forgotten about it.
Horses ate grass and grain. They ate anything vegetarian.
It seemed she would have to buy two large porcelain basins when she had the time. One to hold the feed, and the other to hold the water.
She took a few apples and carrots from her space and went to the kitchen to take the half bag of rice.
She took the wooden basin for washing clothes and fed the horse water. Then, she poured the water out of the basin and put the rice, apples, and carrots in.
Qiao Mai brought the basin to the horse. “Hehe, I’m sorry. I forgot about you yesterday. I won’t do it again. When I return in the afternoon, I’ll buy you two decent basins and get you some fodder.”
It seemed that the horse was starving and gobbled like crazy. She suddenly felt that she had let it down.
Qiao Mai was used to being alone. Taking care of the children was already exhausting. She still had to farm and feed the quails. Now, there was a horse. She couldn’t care less about this and that at the moment. She was a little flustered.
However, she believed this was not a problem for her. She would get used to it slowly.
Seeing as there was nothing else to do, Qiao Mai pushed the cart out. The carriage was just outside her courtyard. No one would have any ideas about it because it was too heavy.
If a thief knew that this carriage was bought with twenty taels of silver, they would definitely not let it go.
One had to admit that Qiao Mai’s taste was still sharp. The horse was young and strong, and the carriage was low-profile but luxurious.
She moved all the things she wanted to sell into the cart. As soon as she arrived at the spot, she was surrounded by people. It had only been two days without watermelon, and the people felt something was missing.
“Hurry up and cut it. Hurry up and give me a piece.”
“Me too. I want one too.”
“Everyone, don’t be anxious. From today onwards, I’ll be selling whole melons here. If you want to buy one, you can buy it for 800 coins.”
“I want one. Give me one! I want it to be cold. I don’t need to soak it when I go back.”
After a while, Qiao Mai sold two whole watermelons, ten watermelon pieces, and twenty-six ice cubes.
Qiao Mai happily put the silver into the money bag at her waist, cut the watermelon, and covered it with a gauze net. The strawberries in her space had ripened.
She lowered her head and used a wooden box as a cover to take more than ten boxes of strawberries and placed one box on the table.
Then, she shouted at the embroidery workshop behind her, “Ruyi, come here!”
“I’m here!”
Ruyi jogged to the front and asked in a low voice when she saw no one staring at her.
“Master, what is it?”
“Here’s a box of berries for you. Take it and share it with your mother and sister. I forgot about this yesterday.”
“Hehe, Master, you’re so good. Our family is enjoying ourselves by guarding you.”
“Hurry up and go.”
“Yes!”
Ruyi left with the box of strawberries. Qiao Mai sat down and started drinking.
“Fresh watermelons, ice cubes, and berries for sale!”
“Little lady?”
Qiao Mai raised her head and saw Shopkeeper Tong of Jingtai Restaurant.
“Oh, you’re here. Didn’t the waiter buy the ice just now?”
“I came out for a walk and saw you were selling berries here.”
“I’m selling it for one tael of silver per box, which is about one catty. If you want it, it’s five hundred coins. No bargaining.”
“How many do you have here?”
Qiao Mai looked down. “Ten boxes.”
“I want it all. I’ll pay now!”
Shopkeeper Tong feared someone else would compete with him, so he quickly paid for it. Qiao Mai finished packing the ten boxes of strawberries. He picked them up and left without even checking.
Qiao Mai held the five taels of silver and grinned. Suddenly, the silver in her hand was almost snatched away.
She reactly instantly and put the silver into the money bag at her waist.
She raised her head and immediately looked up at the sky. The heavens were not looking after her today, and they had sent some idiots to find trouble with her. Couldn’t she have a few days of peace?
“Mai, what’s wrong? You don’t even recognize your sisters-in-law?”
Qiao Mai took a deep breath. “No!”
“You ingrate!”
“Who am I ungrateful to? I remember we have already written the disownment later. Why are all of you so shameless to come up to me?”
“How can you say that? No matter what, we’re still your sister-in-law.”
“Pfft, you shameless thing. I’ve long broken off my ties. I don’t have parents anymore, so how can I have a sister-in-law? Don’t try to make do with this. I don’t buy it.”
“Mai, don’t say such harsh words. Father and Mother have their difficulties.”
Qiao Mai’s gaze swept over the two women and sneered. Her voice immediately became louder.
“Yes, Father and Mother had their difficulties. They sold me to buy hairpins for the two of you, right?”
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