??Chapter 566: 566. The Sha of the Young_1
Chapter 566: 566. The Sha of the Young_1
The express delivery had indeed arrived.
When Brother Xiaozhang carried the enormous, human-sized package wrapped in layers of gray-green tarpaulin into the house, it startled Song Tan!
“What is this?!”
Wu Lan heard the commotion and ca out, eyeing the object warily.
Brother Xiaozhang grunted as he propped the humanoid thing on the ground, equally drenched in sweat, “I don’t know either! I thought your family bought a clothing mannequin… Anyway, it’s for your house, and it’s so huge, I almost couldn’t fit it in the car.”
But if you say it’s a clothing mannequin, isn’t that too big? It must be over one ter eighty tall—were they planning to sell n’s clothing?
Song Tan handed over a pair of scissors, “Let’s just open it and find out.”
What a job it was, the tarpaulin and the layers of tape were watertight. It took the efforts of three people and a lot of snipping before they managed to tear open the packaging—
Everyone fell silent.
Yan Ran, who had co out of curiosity, chuckled dryly, “You guys… still have quite the childlike spirit.”
Tai Xiaodong blurted out “Whoa,” quickly moving closer, “What a huge Ultraman! My favorite, haha, so cool! Hey, this design isn’t bad at all, the feet can stand firmly on the ground!”
He reached out and twisted the blue phosphorescent light on Ultraman’s chest, only to see it instantly turn into a dangerous red color, flashing continuously, and emitting an urgent “beep-beep—beep-beep—” alarm sound.
“Goodness …” Tai Xiaodong’s eyes were nearly as bright as the light on its chest, “It’s made so intricately! Must have cost a pretty penny, right?”
Brother Xiaozhang, stunned by the sight of the Ultraman, glanced at the price tag hanging on its back upon hearing the remark, “1288.”
“Could it be that Qiaoqiao bought this himself?”
Wu Lan blurted out.
The Ultraman, with nowhere else to go, was carried into Qiaoqiao’s room by Song Tan—aside from him, no one else in the family could bear having such a thing in the house (except for Tai Xiaodong).
But Tai Xiaodong was currently sleeping on a hard bed with Professor Song. Even if he wanted to buy it, he feared frightening the old teacher at night, so he could only watch as Ultraman disappeared up the stairs…
anwhile, Brother Xiaozhang, with the ease of familiarity, unscrewed his cup and filled it with tea from the water bucket before finally catching his breath:
“How many orders today?”
Wu Lan pointed to a pile in the corner, “Didn’t you go out to deliver gifts yesterday? Including yesterday and today’s, we have 17 orders in total.”
Huh?
Brother Xiaozhang was taken aback, “Isn’t it only possible to weave 6 straw mats a day? Increased production?”
“Not really.”
Wu Lan explained, “You didn’t co over yesterday, did you? Our family decided to sell fish from the pond, just when there were so little fish and shrimp in the morning, freshly dried at ho, so we just sent them out.”
One to Imperial City, plus the four orders for Professor Song and his disciples.
Just right, 17 in total!
However, Brother Xiaozhang was struck as if by lightning!
“Yesterday… you sold fish?”
Why had they suddenly started selling fish? He had drunk a couple of extra glasses at a celebration the day before, didn’t drive over in the afternoon, and just so, Song Tan had said there was no hurry and had agreed to send them together today…
Why were they selling fish?
And why had he missed it?
“What kind of fish? How did you sell them? Any left?” he asked with a crestfallen face, without much hope.
Wu Lan laughed heartily, “I saved six crucian carps for you, free of charge, just for you! But they’ve been put back into the pond, so I can’t give them to you now.”
For such a diligent delivery guy who had lent a hand during busy tis, Wu Lan thought it was only right to give him a few fish.
While they said they saved a few, there were actually more than thirty, as so of the crucian carps were really small, and they were for their own consumption, so of course, the fresher, the better with fish caught and eaten on the spot.
With Song Tan around, what can’t be pulled up with a fishing cage?
“Isn’t your wife about to give birth? After she’s given birth, just let
know, and I’ll have Tantan set another fishing cage to get the fish out for you.”
Brother Xiaozhang’s eyes turned red with emotion!
In the local customs here, a woman who has just delivered a child needs to eat a lot of crucian carp, as it’s both nutritious and promotes lactation. Recently, his father-in-law has been looking for places to buy wild crucian carp!
He knew the stuff from Tantan’s place was of the best quality, and also the most expensive. Speaking of six crucian carps, the cost could even be several hundred!
And besides, this isn’t sothing you can asure with money!
It showed that they cared about him!
Brother Xiaozhang opened his mouth, but in the end, he could only say one sentence, “When my child’s full-moon celebration cos, you guys have to co, no matter what!”
Who would have thought Song Tan would be even more straightforward, “I can go, but I won’t give any gift money, alright?”
Brother Xiaozhang imdiately laughed, “No need! No need!”
The two young n looked at each other, both fully understanding.
Song Tan thought to himself:
Giving fish and then money too, wouldn’t that be too much of a loss?
Brother Xiaozhang thought to himself:
Giving fish is a sign of friendship. But giving gift money would an that our families would have to keep exchanging gifts for any small thing… too troubling!
Only Wu Lan gave her a glare, “What kind of talk is that!” In the village, it’s customary to exchange gifts as part of maintaining relationships, it’s just the rule.
Song Tan couldn’t care less, “What rule? If you don’t give and I don’t give, it’ll save us both the trouble of keeping track of who owes what… It’s up to
and Brother Xiaozhang how we young people of today socialize!”
“Exactly, exactly!” Brother Xiaozhang, too, was grinning from ear to ear, “I didn’t even want any gift money when I got married with my wife. It’s so much trouble going back and forth checking the accounts.”
“But my mom said she gave out a lot, and it would be a loss not to collect it back… Song Tan, we agreed, right? Not a penny in gift money!”
As he spoke, he quickly started packing:
“This package… dried fish and shrimp? Total of eight pounds, where to?”
“Oh, this is mine,” Professor Song walked over and showed him the detailed address, “Send it here, I’ll pay for the shipping myself.”
“Alright!” Brother Xiaozhang was efficient, “Then I will give you the Song family’s price. Uncle, you have no idea, our shop is practically supported by Song Tan, hahaha!”
Printing the label, sticking it on, scanning…
“Okay! Let’s see this five-pound package… also fish and shrimp, right?”
“Yes, yes, yes!” Tai Xiaodong chid in, “Your Wind Speed Express isn’t cheap, right? What’s the price for stuff from the Song family?”
Brother Xiaozhang started to boast, “But we’re fast, and we even offer ho service! For the Song family, the base rate is 4 yuan… don’t worry, your order is only 10 yuan.”
Tai Xiaodong smiled sheepishly, “I’m not saying it’s too expensive, just curious—here, this is the address, all three of our packages are the sa.”
Watching Brother Xiaozhang print out the labels, Tai Xiaodong glanced at Song Tan guiltily, feeling really embarrassed.
In his mind, it was the teacher who brought them here to help with rural developnt, but they had been here for several days without doing any serious work!
They just took a look at the mountains, roughed out so survey maps, but actual planning and the like hadn’t even started!
Then there was the over a thousand yuan worth of mats they slept on for free (though they did buy a few to mail back), along with the delicious food, tea, soup, and snacks they enjoyed every day until their bellies bulged!
Despite all this, they wanted to pay for the four pounds of dried fish and a pound of dried shrimp they were sending back, but Song Tan refused to take their money!
Three to four pounds of fresh shrimp would only produce one pound of dried shrimp. Not even accounting for the labor, the fresh ones alone would be worth several hundred!
This, this, this…
The three young people exchanged looks and realized how deep Lao Song’s family’s thods went, and they felt even more ashad.
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