The Girl Selling Melons

Qiao Mai did not do much embroidery on this day.

The weather is too hot. A piece of ice-cold watermelon can caress people's dry hearts.

Although there were many poor people, there were also many rich people in the town. When they heard someone was selling watermelons, they all ran over.

They knew Qiao Mai. When they saw her selling melons, they all talked to her familiarly.

"Madam Qiao, do you not work in the embroidery shop anymore?"

"I do. Our shopkeeper got us a batch of melons. If we can't eat them, we'll sell some to everyone when the weather is hot."

"How much is a catty?"

"The watermelon is not sold whole. It's fifty coins for one piece."

"What? You sell it like this?"

"Yeah. Watermelon is too scarce! It's not easy to get some, so the shopkeeper instructed us not to sell it whole."

"Your shopkeeper's business is really good."

" I'm sorry, I'll get more later. You guys can come back and buy the whole thing."

"Alright, give me a piece. It's the first melon of the year. I have to try it no matter what."

"I want one too!"

Qiao Mai didn't do anything for the whole day except selling watermelons. 

In the late evening, she had already sold ten watermelons. Seeing as it was getting late, she called the two girls from the embroidery workshop to move the tables and chairs back.

She took a melon from the basket and cut it open in the shop.

"Come, we made a lot of money today. Let's celebrate the booming business of my stall!"

Shopkeeper Lu burst out laughing. "I see that your business is great. You haven't done any embroidery work today, right?"

"It's mainly because the weather is hot. Everyone wants something new."

"If you're busy in the future, I'll get Xiuhong to help you sell melons."

"No need. I want to do some business by myself. It's not boring like this. If you get someone to help me, how can I be interested in something new?"

"Alright, you're always in the right."

There were five people in the shop, including Qiao Mai. Everyone had a portion. After eating a watermelon, she wiped her mouth.

"I'll go home. See you tomorrow!"

Qiao Mai returned home early and went into her space after locking the courtyard door. She wanted to study that piece of land properly.

Why was one piece of land divided into two? What was the reason?

She carried the awake Ling'er to the edge of the ground. While playing with the child, she sized up the floor with her single-eyelid eyes.

She thought, 'When the watermelons in the two fields are ripe, I'll pick a watermelon and see if another will appear.'

If she planted another seed in the other watermelon field, would another identical field appear?

Her hands were itchy. She sat cross-legged on the ground and looked at the immature watermelon seedlings. The urge to pull out the seedlings was finally suppressed by reason.

It had only been a day, but yellow flowers were already blooming on the melon seedlings.

She couldn't understand. The time in the space was the same as the outside world. What kind of watermelon would shorten the cycle so much?

Was it because of the soil? If it was, she could interpret it as the black soil expanding its area after it had crops. The one with the copying ability was the black soil.

Qiao Mai patted her head and frowned. She didn't want to think about it anymore. She was tired.

She looked at Ling'er in her arms. She was smiling at Qiao Mai.

"Hey, girl, are you thinking I'm uncomfortable, so you want to make me happy?"

At this moment, Little Ling'er's features had started to form. Qiao Mai carried her to the mirror and looked at herself and the child.

She didn't look like her at all. It was said that a daughter took after her father. In her memory, Tian Sanzhuang was quite good-looking. He had thick eyebrows and big eyes. He was a rough man with strength.

Otherwise, when the imperial court asked each family to send one person to serve in the military, Old Tian would not have asked him to replace his eldest and second sons.

Ling'er's eyebrows were just like Tian Sanzhuang's. She would not be ugly in the future.

Although she didn't like the Tian family, she was still the original owner's daughter. In addition, Qiao Mai had been taking care of her for the past few months.

She had feelings for this child. No matter whose child it was, she wanted to raise her.

That was another matter. If this child's grandparents or father provoked her in the future, she would not let them off either.

However, she would not let the child reunite with them. In their hearts, the child had died a long time ago. After a while, she would pick a suitable opportunity to let Ling'er come out from the shadows. Now was not the time.

After making the milk powder and feeding Ling'er, she carried her around in the space and coaxed her to sleep. Qiao Mai then placed her on the bed and made food for herself.

Qiao Mai took a bag of hamburgers from the freezer and heated it in the microwave. Then, she took a bottle of coke.

For the past month, she had been eating dinner like this.

It was either hamburgers, instant noodles, or frozen dumplings. Thinking of the delicacies of her previous life, Qiao Mai swallowed with difficulty.

She swore that she would learn how to cook a dish from the Internet every once in a while.

She couldn't let her child grow up to be like her, eating only one dish every day.

After dinner, she did the math and found that she had sold ten watermelons today. She had cut sixteen pieces of each watermelon, which was fifty coins each. One watermelon was eight hundred coins.

Ten watermelons were eight taels of silver. Compared to the few pieces she ate, it was basically negligible.

A small business could also make a fortune. Qiao Mai ignored the fact that she had unlimited sourcing.

She found a large and small toolbox. The large one contained copper coins, and the small one was for corners of silver. As for silver ingots, she placed them on the shelf.

Qiao Mai didn't have the habit of going to bed early. She sat by the bed and watched the child while embroidering. She browsed through the Internet for something useful before sleeping next to the child.

The next day, she woke up early and made a gauze net in the space to prevent flies and insects from touching the watermelon.

She also used wood and coarse cloth to make a simple movable pergola.

Only then did she come out of the room and carry them to the embroidery workshop.

Shopkeeper Lu had already asked the two girls to place the tables and chairs by the side of the road. When she saw Qiao Mai, she followed her to the roadside.

"Are you addicted to selling watermelons?"

"Yes, I only do two embroidery jobs a month. The big ones take a month. When can I buy a big house and land? I have to think of a way to earn more money."

"Then why don't you sell something else? Don't just sell this."

"I haven't thought of what to sell yet. Let's sell the watermelons first!"

Shopkeeper Lu pursed her lips. "Then you can continue to sell watermelons. I'm going back. Call me if there's anything."

"Okay."

Qiao Mai started her melon business again. She thought that once the popularity of watermelons died down, she would not be so busy. She did not expect to be surrounded by people as soon as she set up her stall.

Everyone stared at her. "What are you standing there for? Cut the melons."

"Uh."

Qiao Mai cut the melons mechanically and sold them out quickly. Taking advantage of the fact that no one was around, she set up the awning, cut the melons, and put on the gauze.

Only then did she sit on the chair and slowly start to embroider.

In the distance, a pair of vicious eyes glared at her.

It was Tian Yaozu. Shouldn't he be in school at this time? Why was he here?

It turned out that the little boy who came to eat melons in the carriage yesterday was the young master of a wealthy family in town. There was only one private school in town.

Therefore, he and Tian Yaozu were classmates. Their relationship was not good.

The boy had eaten delicious watermelons in town during his vacation yesterday. The next day, he bragged to his classmates in school. During the break, this young master brought his classmates to share Qiao Mai's first watermelon.

This was the reason Qiao Mai was surrounded as soon as she opened the stall. Tian Yaozu also came out with them.

When he saw the person selling melons was Qiao Mai, he immediately retreated from the crowd and ran far away. His fierce eyes wanted to eat her up.

He would not eat the watermelons she sold, nor would he pay for them. He even hoped for his classmates to have diarrhea after eating them so Qiao Mai would pay up and stop setting up a stall.

Tian Yaozu looked at the embroidery shop behind Qiao Mai, then spat heavily on the ground and left in a huff.

Qiao Mai felt a pair of unfriendly eyes, but she did not care.