Chapter 42 Visiting the Market

The market is located south of the supply and marketing cooperative, along a small path a little further ahead.

Although the leaders don't have much control over this matter, they can't act blatantly.

Although the location is hidden, it attracts a lot of people, and there are many vendors selling things. Standing at the beginning of the market, you can't even see the end.

After glancing at the densely packed crowd, Lu Mingyue had the two children sit in the car.

Having experienced what happened in the county town, she knew she had to be extra careful no matter where she was.

On the street, there are vendors selling hand-woven bamboo baskets, willow baskets, and even chicken and duck coops.

Specialty seafood is also essential, and homegrown vegetables are also very popular.

There were even vendors selling candied hawthorns by the roadside. Lu Mingyue didn't like sour things, so she glanced at the two children.

"Would you like some candied hawthorns?"

The brother and sister exchanged a silent glance, their eyes conveying two words: they wanted to eat.

Lu Mingyue said with a smile, "Tell Mom what you want to eat next time, as long as it's not too much."

When she was little, she envied other children who had all kinds of snacks to eat.

She wasn't trying to be competitive; she could at least afford a five-cent candy, but her parents always refused for various reasons.

As she grew up, she even went through a period of retaliatory eating, trying to make up for the feelings she hadn't experienced as a child.

What you lacked in your youth, you will make up for in various ways when you grow up.

Lu Mingyue bought one skewer for each of the brother and sister.

Last time at the park, she discovered that her two children really liked this sweet and sour stuff. It's true that they dislike sour things, but it's also true that they like to eat them.

She thought for a moment, and realized that it was almost the season for hawthorns to ripen, so she could make more hawthorn preserves for her child to eat in the winter.

Sitting around a steaming stove, enjoying a bite of chilled canned fruit is an incredibly pleasant experience.

After Leilei got it, he immediately put it to his mother's lips, saying, "Mom, eat."

Lu Mingyue shook her head, "I don't like sour food, you guys eat it."

She had tried eating candied hawthorn before, but she could never stand the sour taste of the hawthorn; even just a tiny bit was enough to make her grimace.

Lei Lei thought she was reluctant to eat it, so he kept feeding it to Lu Mingyue's mouth.

Seeing this, Yao Yao took the skewer from her mother and offered it to her.

"Thank you, my darlings, but I really can't handle sour food."

Lu Mingyue was almost overwhelmed by their enthusiasm and quickly said that she really didn't like to eat it.

Leilei remembered that his mother didn't like candied hawthorns at the park last time.

As he chewed on the candied hawthorn, he thought to himself, "It's such a shame that Mom doesn't like such a delicious thing."

Seeing that the two children had finally stopped their enthusiastic invitations, Lu Mingyue breathed a sigh of relief.

“Mingyue, you’ve brought your child to the market too.”

Lu Mingyue bumped into Zheng Xiuhua, who was standing next to a chubby little boy.

"Sister-in-law Zheng".

Lu Mingyue smiled and nodded in greeting.

“You just arrived, right? We haven’t been here long either. Let’s look around together.”

Zheng Xiuhua noticed that the mother and her two children hadn't bought anything except two strings of candied hawthorns.

"That's great! I was just wondering where to buy things."

Lu Mingyue thanked her politely.

The market area was quite large, and she couldn't just wander around like a headless fly. She was used to buying everything she needed before she felt like browsing.

When Leilei saw his friend, he jumped off the car and shared his candied hawthorn with Niu Niu.

"The candied hawthorns Mom bought for me are so delicious, you should try some too."

Niu Niu took out a pine nut candy from his pocket. "This is a candy my mom bought for me. You can have some too."

Niu Niu has good teeth, but Zheng Xiuhua is worried that eating too much sugar will be bad for his teeth, so she has been controlling him and only gives him three or five pine nut candies when they go to the market.

Niu Niu didn't forget Yao Yao, and handed her a candied hawthorn too. He shook his little head and said, "I have a candied hawthorn that my mom bought for me. Brother Niu Niu, you can have it."

Although Niu Niu was a little disappointed after hearing this, he was still quite happy to put away the pine nut candy, after all, it was his source of joy for the whole week.

Zheng Xiuhua and her husband are both only children, and they only have one son, Niu Niu, which means that Niu Niu grew up under the care of both sets of grandparents.

With only one child in the family and no worries about food or clothing, Zheng Xiuhua didn't go to work and devoted herself to taking care of her child.

The child is still young now, and the time they will spend together will be even less when the child goes to school. She wants to take advantage of the child's short childhood to spend quality time with him, since she will have plenty of time to work later.

"Mingyue, what do you want to buy? Don't laugh at me, but I know exactly who sells the best stuff on this show."

Zheng Xiuhua raised her chin, proudly stating that she could act as the perfect navigator.

"Really, that's great! I was just worried about not being able to find a place to buy chicks."

Lu Mingyue pressed on, "Sister-in-law, shouldn't there be chicks for sale at this time of year?"

Zheng Xiuhua: "Although there are fewer now, there are still some. Most people sell them during the wheat harvest, hoping to raise them for a longer period of time to slaughter and eat during the New Year. There is a store up ahead that sells them regularly, I'll take you to see it."

Zheng Xiuhua, familiar with the place, led Lu Mingyue to the stall.

There were more than a dozen chicks in a bamboo cage, all of different colors.

The chicks are too small to tell the difference between the rooster and the hen.

Lu Mingyue looked at them for a long time but still couldn't tell the difference between the chicks.

Under Zheng Xiuhua's guidance, they picked out a few of the more lively ones. The stall owner had homemade cages, and Lu Mingyue bought one for two cents and took it home.

Yao Yao and Lei Lei were very happy to see the chicks. They bought four chicks in total, two for each of them.

"Mom, let's name the chicks."

Yao Yao suggested.

Lu Mingyue thought that naming the chicks wouldn't be difficult, but would she be willing to eat them after naming them?

Looking at the expectant eyes of her two children, she still couldn't bring herself to ask the question. Instead, she nodded in agreement and said, "Okay, you and your brother go get it."

Four chicks, one black, one yellow, and two with speckled spots.

After discussing it for a long time, Niu Niu joined the discussion, and the three of them finally decided on a name for the child after more than ten minutes.

"These are Little Black and Little Yellow, the others are Big Flower and Two Flower."

Distinguishing them by their colors is indeed the easiest method.

Two colorful chicks, the one with feathers on its head is the big one, and the one with feathers on its tail is the second one.

"Okay, these will be their names from now on."

The brother and sister were very happy looking at the chicks in the cage.

"Brother, I'll go with you to catch earthworms for them to eat from now on."

With several chicks, Yao Yao felt that she was the eldest sister and had to take on the responsibility of taking care of her younger brothers and sisters.

"Okay! We'll definitely feed the chicks until they're plump and healthy."

Leilei's mouth watered at the thought of the delicious chicken.