Chapter 28

Early the next morning, Liu Tong got up and prepared breakfast well. He then left the food for Xu Ran and the kids in the pot hung over the fire so that they could eat when they got up.

Liu Tong had a good harvest in his hunting yesterday. Except for the pheasant they had made for food and the two still living hares, he planned to sell the rest. Now they were in need of money. It was fine for them to eat less meat. Nevertheless, they were now enjoying better life than the time in the Xu Family.

That river deer was still alive. Liu Tong specially separated it from the other prey.

Thus, Liu Tong set off with a bag of dead prey and a living roe deer. Every six days was the market day for Daliang Town. Today, it happened that Xu An was also going to the town, so Liu Tong intended to take a lift in his ox cart.

As he had appointed with Dahu last night, Liu Tong went directly to the village entrance to wait.

Soon, many people came to the village entrance, and they were all in groups.

Liu Tong didn’t have any grudge against these people, so he greeted them with a smile.

The people in the village liked to talk about family gossip when they were free. Therefore, they all knew the affairs about Liu Tong’s family. For this, some of them showed sympathy while some others took a perverse delight. Actually only Wu Mei’s and other two families had reached out to help them.

Liu Tong didn’t care about these people who laughed at them. After seven years in Xu Village, he knew what kind of virtue these people had.

However, these people were jealous when they saw the living roe deer that Liu Tong was holding. Yet, they could say nothing about it. After all, they all knew that Liu Tong was good at hunting.

Liu Tong didn’t wait at the village entrance for long before Xu An came with his ox cart. In addition to him, Wu Mei and Wu Lan were also in the carriage. Upon seeing Liu Tong, Wu Mei immediately called him up, “Come, Liu Tong. Put the things in the carriage!”

“Alright.” Liu Tong put his baggage and the deer onto the carriage, and then he climbed up too. Xu An was in the middle driving the carriage, while the three Ge’ers were chatting behind.

Looking at the still living roe deer, both Wu Mei and Wu Lan were surprised, “Liu Tong, you are so skilled at hungting. You can catch it alive.”

Liu Tong smiled, “No way out. I have a family to feed. We don’t even have a piece of land at the moment. We can’t survive if we don’t go hunting.”

“You are right. If you have any difficulties, just tell me. I am sure we can definitely help you,” Wu Mei said solemnly.

“Okay, I know. I won’t stand on ceremony. Thank you so much.”

Sitting in the ox cart talking and laughing, they soon came to the town.

Xu An found a place to stop his carriage,  and then he paid someone there ten copper coins to look after it for him. At last, he went shopping with Wu Mei and Wu Lan.

Liu Tong left alone. He went to the restaurant where he usually sold his hunted prey. The shopkeeper was surnamed Chen. He knew something about Liu Tong, so the price he gave him was very fair.

That roe deer was still alive, so it was sold for more than one tael of silver, but the pheasant was only sold for 200 pence, while the hare was 300 pence. It was clear that the latter animals were not worth much because they were dead.

Totally, Liu Tong earned more than two taels of silver. He put all the money well in his pocket and then went to buy some food.

…

When Xu Ran woke up, Liu Tong had been away for a long time, and the place he had slept on felt cold.

Thinking of the two kids at home, Xu Ran immediately got up from his bed.

When he cleaned himself up and went to the rooms of the two kids’, he found Tangtang and Guoguo had already put on their clothes and looked very energetic.

Seeing Xu Ran, the two children greeted in unison, “Dad.”

Xu Ran hugged them both in arms and kissed them each, “Go to wash your face first. Your daddy went to the town and left us some food in the pot. After eating, we’ll go to work.”

“Yes,” Tangtang and Guoguo nodded obediently and went to do their business.

After putting down the two kids, Xu Ran went into the kitchen, took a few wooden bowls and served the brown rice porridge into them.

The pot of porridge had been hanging on the fire all the time, so it was still warm and good to eat.

When Tangtang and Guoguo finished their washing and came to the kitchen, the three of them began to have their breakfast together.

Thus their new day began, and they were full of energy.