The Farm Life Of a "Fool"

Chapter 156

Tangtang and Guoguo were taken by Liu Tong, while Shao Yu was accompanied by Gao Quan. In the afternoon, they split into three groups to see the locals. When they came home, they told each other who was easy to talk to and who was difficult to get along with. Finally, Xu Ran explained which family they should interact with and which they should avoid. And what kind of people lived in the house, they knew it all.

Even though it was Chinese New Year's Eve, people were still selling stuff on the street. Xu Ran brought Tangtang, Guoguo, and Baozi to the street to buy presents because they had already figured out who to keep up with. They would undoubtedly pay people a visit with gifts because it was the New Year. It was disrespectful for them to return home empty-handed.

They had to arrange a gift not just for these households, but also for King Yan. Liu Tong was younger than King Yan, so he was bound to send gifts to his younger brother. Xu Ran was generous with his presents. He only bought good stuff, which he spent a lot of money on and carefully selected.

Xu Ran went to the pharmacy to get some medicinal wine that had been soaked for the elderly. He also brought a lot of pastries and toys for the kids. Each family received a unique present, which was picked by Xu Ran personally. The three children sat beside him, offering him suggestions. They walked out with both hands empty, but returned with both hands full.  Besides, there were also many people following them, carrying different things that Xu Ran bought.

Xu Ran paid the servants who came to deliver the items when they arrived at the residence. Then, rather than double-checking the items, he quietly computed how much he had spent that day. Some gifts were placed on the table, while others were scattered on the floor. Tangtang and Guoguo started cleaning up after seeing Xu Ran keep track of everything. When they bought the presents, Xu Ran had told them which gift was for which family, with their good memories, they put everything in order soon.

Xu Ran, on the other hand, had completed his accounting. The most expensive gifts were handed to King Yan's home. It cost nearly a hundred taels, while the others cost slightly over a hundred taels in total. He spent approximately two hundred taels in total. To make so much money, they had to work for two days! They'd barely been out for four hours but had already spent two hundred taels. Closing his eyes, Xu Ran scolded himself in his heart for his extravagance.

Xu Ran, on the other hand, didn't seem as unhappy as he looked at the items he had purchased. After all, all of the gifts had been prepared. People had to pay to get along with one another; otherwise, because they were late and appeared impotent, no one wanted to socialize with them. Xu Ran double-checked the gifts before pulling out some paper and writing their names on it. He placed the paper on the corresponding gift, in order not to worry about getting it wrong.

Xu Ran said to Tangtang and Guoguo, "Take these gifts and put them away. Remember to store them at a higher location where they will be protected from moisture and rodents will not be able to reach them."

Tangtang and Guoguo nodded and began bringing the gifts inside. Baozi remembered the pastries that Xu Ran had bought for him, so he sneakily pulled some out and crammed them into his mouth.

Seeing there were a lot of pastries, Xu Ran said to Baozi, "There are children here who are roughly your age. Find them and invite them to play. Remember to share the pastries with them so you don't get bored again."

Baozi nodded in a stupor as he stuffed another piece of pastries into his mouth. Baozi resurrected and ran off with the pastries in his arms, despite not wanting to share the food with others and thinking that he would not play alone in the future. In the kitchen, Liu Tong and Shao Yu were still busy cooking dumplings. On New Year's Eve, there must be dumplings.