Picking Up a General to Plow the Fields

Chapter 206: Purchasing New Year’s Goods (2)

“Okay!” Lian Fang Zhou glanced at Aunt Zhang and then nodded at Madam Zhao, smiling.
She pulled Aunt Zhang’s sleeve and tugged: “Aunt Zhang, you come too! Ah Juan should also come, it will be very lively!”

“Why is that good? Your family will have a few people and you will buy a lot of goods when the time comes.
How can your donkey cart fit so many people? We will go later!” Aunt Zhang smiled and gave Madam Zhao a look.

This daughter-in-law was really…

Aunt Zhang could only sigh privately.
In front of Lian Fang Zhou, she couldn’t educate her.

“There is no need to worry, Aunt Zhang, I will figure it out when the time comes!” Lian Fang Zhou pursed her lips and smiled, strongly insisting on inviting Aunt Zhang.

Truthfully, Aunt Zhang did want to go and when Li Juan begged her repeatedly, she finally smiled and nodded.

Lian Fang Zhou was thrilled and left with a smile.

After breakfast the next morning, the four siblings, Third Aunt, Aunt Zhang, Li Juan, Madam Zhao, and Ah Juan drove the cart to the city.

The road was bustling with people, all talking and laughing as they traveled, and they arrived at the city without knowing it.

Because it was the end of the year, the city was extremely lively and crowded from shoulder to shoulder.
Looking from a distance, the heads of the people were flowing and the noise was extremely loud.

Usually, the market was every three days but at this time, every day was a market day.
This was a customary practice.

The doors of the shops of both sides of the street were wide open and temporary shelves were placed at the doors, displaying their best products up front where everyone could see them.
Every door was wiped clean, newly painted with decorations, and, even better, there were red lanterns hung under the porches, decorated with golden tassel pendants, which added to the festivities.

This contrasted with the stalls selling red spring couplets, blessing characters, and colorful New Year pictures.

There were countless hawkers pushing small carts, small merchants setting up street stalls, and villagers selling chickens, ducks, birds, and various fruits, vegetables, and wild plants.
They occupied every space that could be occupied on the street, shouting and selling.
Just the sight of it, without buying anything, was enough to make people very happy.

After parking the donkey cart, everyone got down.

“It’s so lively! Oh, I don’t have enough eyes!” Third Aunt exclaimed as she blinked.

Everyone laughed.

“Let’s buy what we want today.
It’s only once a year, we don’t need to have any scruples!” Lian Fang Zhou smiled and said generously to her brothers and sister.

Lian Fang Qing and the other two naturally cheered endlessly and Third Aunt laughed.

Madam Zhao couldn’t help but glance at Aunt Zhang and saw that she was holding Li Juan in one hand and smiling lovingly at the Lian siblings.
Though she smiled, she did not agree with Lian Fang Zhou’s words and Madam Zhao couldn’t help but secretly feel disappointed and envious.

She also wanted to buy recklessly but obviously her mother-in-law would not allow it.

After second thoughts, though, no matter what, it was better than last year, right? Could they always have good-material clothing and buy beautiful flowers to wear? Wasn’t it enough to buy other things?

Seeing everyone’s excitement and eagerness to get started, Lian Fang Zhou suddenly felt a little nervous.
Eyeing the crowd pushing around them, she turned her head and smiled at Ah Jian.
“Ah Jian, please help take care of Che’er and Ah Ze.
I will go with Third Aunt and Qing’er.
If we get separated, we will meet here.”

“Don’t worry, they will be fine with me.” Ah Jian nodded, smiling.

Lian Ze curled his lips in dissatisfaction.
“Sister, I’m not a little kid anymore! It’s not my first time in town!”

“Yes, I know you aren’t a kid!” Lian Fang Zhou said, amused, and explained the plan to Aunt Zhang in case of separation.

Everyone walked forward, looking around, and their speed was slow with so many people.
They looked together, but while Aunt Zhang and her family bought a few things, Lian Fang Zhou’s family bought a lot.

It was important to buy all kinds of foods first.
Big bags of candies like melon seeds, pine nuts, peanuts, sweet-scented osmanthus, sesame candies, dried fruits, both local and imported from neighboring countries, sugar cane, and more were all purchased.

Because there were also the servants who would share a portion, Lian Fang Zhou bought a lot of everything and had the fruit shop store them and agree to wait for them.

After this, they went to several stalls selling makeup, all kinds of silk flowers, silver hairpins and bracelets; these were all the things that girls loved and they walked even slower.

Lian Fang Zhou was not very interested in these, so she took a look at the stalls selling Spring Festival couplets and New Year pictures, and saw that the couplets were written very well.
The paintings were pictures on a red background and featured big carps, fat dolls wearing blessing bellybands, and the lucky jinbao boy.
There were also paintings of the God of Wealth and fairies holding peaches with cranes and birthday stars.
The most popular were the fat dolls with soaring braids, big red moles between their eyebrows, aprons, bracelets, anklets, and without exception, piles of gold and silver treasure beside them, looking very likeable.

Unconsciously, Lian Fang Zhou was interested and silently forgot the count the number of windows and doors in their house and the compound.
She bought 20 couplets, 20 new year pictures, and 40-50 Chinese characters all in one go.

Looking at the red paper-cutouts, they were even more exquisite.
There were flowers blooming and rich, more than years, gold and jade houses, the three gentlemen Seicao Xingzhi, blessings and longevity, the Liu Haizi toad, and in addition to the round shapes, there were also the shapes of the zodiac.
Lian Fang Zhou was quickly attracted to these designs and couldn’t bear to put down a single design in her hands.

She had bought so many couplets all at one, the stall owner had paid attention to her long ago.
Seeing her hold a design in her hand, admiring and reluctant to put it down, she smiled and said: “This miss is really good-sighted.
The paper-cutouts here are all fine works.
Ah, how about Miss ask for a discount from me? You can buy it and put it in the window to celebrate and admire.
Or you could use it as a flower!”

How much would Lian Fang Zhou ask for?

The boss immediately became happy and hurriedly said with a smile: “Originally, each has its own price, some are cheap and some are expensive.
This miss is a big customer and she really likes it, so I won’t dive them so carefully.
How about three coins each?”

This price was indeed not expensive so Lian Fang Zhou smiled and happily asked for more than 30.

The final check out was more than 900 coins in total.

Lian Fang Zhou looked at Third Aunt and saw that they had almost finished selecting and that Lian Fang Qing had a pair of sliver bracelets with small bells on the wrists.
She smiled and said: “Are you ready? Let’s go if you have finished selecting, we need to go to the clothing shop and pick a few good tailored clothes.”

Everyone quickly agreed and then their eyes widened when they saw the pile in Lian Fang Zhou’s arms.

Third Aunt shouted: “My god! Why do you have so many?!”

TN: LFZ is a big spender, lol.