Making Money

  After a while, another pilgrim came.

  He looked at the Guanyin statue in the gray-robed man's hand, then looked at the cute little kid, walked up to Chang'an and squatted down: "How much is this string of beads?"

  Chang'an was about to speak, but the gray-robed man had already said: "One string is one hundred coins, all of which have been blessed by the Guanyin Temple. Alas, the little kid has a pure heart, and the Buddhist beads she has worn are also blessed by the Buddha."

  The pilgrim was tempted when he heard it, and opened his purse to take out the money.

  "This is two hundred coins, I want two strings." The pilgrim handed over four strings of copper coins, but not to the gray-robed man, but to the kid.

  Chang'an took the money and was a little bit unbelievable.

  So much money, I can buy a lot of meat.

  She took off the wood thorns on her neck and handed them to the pilgrim, stammering: "Uncle, you, you will have good luck."

  The pilgrim smiled, took the beads and bowed to Chang'an: "Thank you for your good words."

  As soon as the pilgrim left, Chang'an picked up the heavy copper coins and ran to find her aunt.

  "Hey, little kid, you can't go back on your word. Where's my half?" The gray-clothed man pulled the little kid's sleeve.

  Chang'an hesitated for a moment, and then remembered that Xiao Yuyu had taught him to keep his word, so he had to hand half of the copper coins to the gray-clothed man.

  The gray-clothed man was satisfied and said with a smile: "Go to your parents and bring a few more strings."

  Chang'an ran to his uncle and aunt with two strings of copper coins, "Here."

  Wu and her husband were surprised: "So many?"

  They saw that their niece seemed to have sold the beads, but they didn't expect so much money.

  Chang'an couldn't explain, and hurriedly took four strings from the backpack and hung them around her neck, and ran away again.

  Nothing is more important than making money.

  When the gray-clothed man saw the little kid coming again, his eyes smiled into a slit, and for the first time ever, he bought two pieces of maltose from a passing vendor, put one in his mouth, and gave one to Chang'an. "Here, eat it."

  Chang'an licked his lips, but didn't eat it, but carefully put the maltose into his bag.

  She will eat with her uncle and aunt later.

  The man in gray asked while chewing maltose: "Little kid, what's your name?"

  "Chang'an." Chang'an squatted on the ground, looking at the stall in the distance, where there were many porcelain dolls and clay dolls.

  The man in gray: "Chang'an, what a good name, long-term peace and stability, no, it should be long-term stability and stability."

  Chang'an turned his head to look at him.

  The man in gray wiped the corner of his mouth and glanced at the little kid: "Why are

  you looking at me like that?" "Say it again." Chang'an wanted to hear him praise his name more.

  The man in gray:

  At this time, two more ladies came to see Chang'an.

  "Hey, such a smart little kid, Baldy Zhang, where did you kidnap him from?"

  The gray-clothed man called Baldy Zhang was not angry, and said with a smile: "A little holy boy who fell from the sky, Aunt Wang and Aunt Li, do you want a string of Buddhist beads that the little holy boy wore? It can keep your home safe, your husband and wife harmonious, and your children and grandchildren numerous. It's only 100 coins per string."

  Aunt Li spit at him: "My home is safe and my children and grandchildren are numerous now!"

  Aunt Wang stared at Chang'an for a long time, and finally took out 100 coins to buy a string and put it around her neck. After

  the two left, Chang'an just gave Baldy Zhang a string of copper coins, and he jumped up from the ground and ran away.

  "The tax collector is here! Run!" Many hawkers carrying baskets rushed into the crowd, but most of them stayed where they were and did not run away.

  Chang'an was startled and quickly ran back to his uncle and aunt holding a string of copper coins.

  Soon, two clerks in gray robes came over and pouted at Song Sanshun: "Bead sellers, pay ten coins for market tax."

  Song Sanshun had no choice but to take out ten coins and hand them to the clerks.

  After sending the clerks away, Song Sanshun picked up his niece and said with a smile: "If Chang'an hadn't made money, my uncle would have no money to pay the market tax. Come on, I'll take you to the market and buy some delicious food."     Changan nodded happily and stretched out his hand to ask his aunt to go too.

  "Your aunt won't go. We just paid the city tax and can't leave. Just bring some delicious food to your aunt when we come back." Song Sanshun explained.

  Changan nodded and handed the maltose in his hand to his aunt: "Sugar, aunt, aunt, have some candy."

  Wu had to take a small bite and pushed it back to Changan: "Aunt has eaten it, Changan can eat it yourself."

  Changan handed the maltose to his uncle again, but was avoided by Song Sanshun.

  "Uncle is a man and doesn't like to eat candy."

  Changan was surprised that there were people who didn't like to eat candy.

  She took back her hand, stuffed the maltose into her mouth, and squinted happily.

  Sweet, really good.

  Changan shook her head and looked left and right. Her cheeks were sticky with maltose, and she drooled unconsciously.

  Song Sanshun wiped the saliva from his little niece, pointed to the plum cake seller on the roadside and asked: "Would you like to try the plum cake?"

  Changan nodded immediately.

  Plum blossom cakes are rice cakes shaped like flowers, decorated with red and green silk made of fruit candy.

  Song Sanshun asked for two pieces, let her niece take them, and paid the vendor four coins. Chang'an

  blinked and muttered in her heart: It's so expensive. My own beads cost so much effort to sell for five coins, but such a small plum blossom cake costs only two coins each. It's not enough for her to take three bites. It's so mean! It's so mean!

  They came to a stall selling clay dolls and asked her uncle to put her down.

  These clay dolls are so beautiful, there are cows, horses, sheep, pigs, dogs, chickens, ducks, geese, elephants, deer, tigers, flowers, birds, fish, insects, Guanyin statues, etc.

  Chang'an was really enlightened. She stared at these things for a long time without blinking, and then reached out to touch them one by one.

  Because as soon as she touched these things, the voice of the little goldfish's explanation came from her mind.

  The little goldfish once said that it was helping her collect data, and then it would be classified into picture albums and used as reading books for her in the future.

  For example, every time Chang'an eats a certain food, there will be a voice of a little goldfish in his head, analyzing what ingredients are in it.

  Fortunately, it only explains each food once, otherwise Chang'an's head would be a circle bigger.

  After visiting the whole market, Chang'an returned to his aunt, holding a bunch of things in his arms, including candies and snacks, various silk threads, a brush, and several colored pigments.

  These cost a total of dozens of copper coins, which made Chang'an feel distressed. For the first time in his life, he felt that it was easier to spend money than to make money.

  Fortunately, near noon, all the beads in his family were sold, and they were all exchanged by a vendor at four coins per string.

  So the family of three went to find Qian's sister-in-law and others.

  Mrs. Qian's business was bleak. She pointed at the beads in her basket and said sadly, "I only sold about ten beads today, and there are still more than half left. Oh, I have to carry them back with great effort."

  She asked Mrs. Wu, "Have you sold all your beads?"

  Mrs. Wu nodded, "Chang'an sold three beads before, and then only sold a dozen beads. After that, I sold them all to vendors."

  She was embarrassed to say that she sold more than thirty beads, but still couldn't make as much money as Chang'an.

  Mrs. Qian slapped her thigh and said angrily, "It turns out that there were vendors who wanted to sell our beads, but Goudan's father refused to sell them to others, thinking that three cents a bead was too little. Oh, if I had known that I couldn't sell them, I would have sold them to others."

  At this time, Song Laoliu squatted aside and dared not say a word.

  Chang'an said, "I can, I can sell them!"

  As he said that, he broke free from his aunt's hand, ran to grab the hem of a vendor with a basket, and said with his neck tilted, "Uncle, sell, sell beads."

  (End of this chapter)