"Are cotton jackets so expensive?" Ningxia originally wanted to buy new jackets for her two children, thinking they'd be cheaper off-season. But she didn't expect a single jacket to cost over twenty cigarettes. Remember, one cigarette can be exchanged for three kilograms of salt. "Didn't I hear cotton is being grown on a large scale now?"
Brother Chen chuckled, "Cotton isn't expensive, but the cloth is. If you think it's too expensive, you can buy the cotton and cloth separately and make it yourself. It's more cost-effective."
Ningxia nodded and turned to look at other items. There were many categories, including daily necessities, food, seeds, and even tools and weapons. However, there were no exhibits, only a thick booklet for you to choose from. After you made your choice and paid, they would find it for you in the warehouse.
Ningxia planned to change some seeds. "Brother Chen, are these seeds easy to grow?"
"This is a government site, so of course the easy-to-grow varieties are discarded. These seeds were cultivated by experts and are much easier to care for than before. They are also suitable for the current climate."
Ningxia looked at the price and found it affordable, but she still wanted to exchange it for salt. After all, Bluebird should have these seeds, and the price was about the same. According to the information Zhang Guihua had given her, salt was much more expensive. She considered it carefully and said, "Brother Chen, I still want to exchange it for salt, but I can't take it with me. Do you think there is any other way?"
That's right, Ningxia has set its sights on the outside convoy. If they want to go to Lingyang, Bluebird is the only way. If they can get on it, they can arrive in three days.
Brother Chen took the cigarette Ningxia handed him with a smile and thought for a while, "There is a way. You saw that convoy just now. You can take a ride, but the fare is not cheap."
"Then I'll trouble Brother Chen to introduce you. I'll negotiate the deal myself."
Brother Chen naturally agreed, and after a few words, he took the three of them out.
"Liu Jun'er, come here!"
The burly man ran over, and Brother Chen continued, "This is my sister. She wants a ride, so there's no need to go the other way. When we get to Bluebird, just drop her off at our Chocobo Trading Point. You need to go there to rest anyway."
The man named Liu Jun didn't even frown, "Brother Chen's sister is my sister, no problem."
Brother Chen smiled and said, "I'm not the kind of person who likes to take advantage of others. You guys can negotiate the price yourselves. It would be best if we can reach an agreement, but if not, don't hurt the relationship." Brother Chen said this and left.
He had to find a place to smoke. The last time he smoked was when he got half a pack of cigarettes during road construction. He had been smoking leaf tobacco every day for more than half a year, which made him want to vomit. His wife even thought he smelled bad.
Ningxia cursed him inwardly for being a thief when she heard this. She stepped forward with a smile on her face. "Sorry to bother you, Brother Jun. It's really inconvenient for me to bring two children with me. We've been walking all the way from Liefeng, and it's almost Lieyangyue. If I don't go home now, I'm afraid I won't be able to make it."
Liu Jun raised his eyebrows slightly. "Are you from the same family? Why are your accents so different?"
"No, I adopted him on the way."
"Did you adopt those two?" Liu Jun's eyes changed, and he looked at Ningxia with some scrutiny, and a sense of oppression came over him.
Ningxia kept smiling and said half-seriously, "Yes, I met a human trafficker on the road who wanted to buy them, so I rescued them."
Liu Jun squinted his eyes and looked Ningxia up and down. With his tall stature and full beard, he was quite intimidating. Ningxia looked at him neither humbly nor arrogantly. After a long time, Liu Jun withdrew his gaze and waved to Sangsang.
The girl was not afraid of him and ran over, "Why did you pull my horse's hair just now?" But Liu Jun asked something else.
After hearing this, Ningxia looked at Lin Yi, asking him what was going on. Lin Yi shrugged his shoulders and showed a helpless expression.
"There are little bugs on the horse. It's itchy, not catalpa gracilis." Sangsang clenched his fists and said word by word.
Liu Jun smiled and said, "How do you know my horse is itchy?"
"I do, I know!" Sangsang said confidently, his whole body revealing a temperament that was both unreasonable and strong.
Liu Jun touched her head and said, "You haven't even shed a few hairs yet, and you're still trying to catch insects. You haven't eaten much, so you have so little strength."
Sangsang looked up and glared at him, "Not small! Xia Xia said I'm a strong woman! That's right, I'm very strong!"
"Who is Xia Xia to you?" Liu Jun squatted down and looked directly at Sangsang.
"It's Xia Xia~"
"Xia Xia said she saved you, is that true?"
Sangsang looked up, trying to recall, "I don't remember. I was knocked unconscious. When I woke up, Xia Xia was there!"
"How long have you been together with Xia Xia?" Liu Jun looked at the girl's thin body. She was so dirty that it was unbearable to look at. Only her little face was relatively white.
Sangsang pouted, "I don't want to tell you. Xia Xia said we can't tell anyone about what's going on at home." After that, Dadada ran to Maomao, skillfully took out a handful of dried bananas, put them in his mouth and started chewing.
Liu Jun had an idea in his mind. He looked at Sangsang for a long time before looking up at Ningxia. "Can I hug her?" Seeing Ningxia frown, Liu Jun smiled bitterly and spoke again.
"My daughter, who is about the same age as her, was also kidnapped. When she was found..." He didn't explain it clearly, but after all these years, everyone understood what he should understand.
Ningxia asked Sangsang, and after Sangsang nodded with a frown and a pout, Liu Jun picked her up and looked at her with a loving gaze. "There aren't many good people these days. We'll leave at dawn tomorrow morning. You pack your luggage."
Liu Jun put Sangsang down, and Ningxia quickly took out two dried fish from her bag. Although they were dried, they were still heavy. "Brother Jun, I see your brother is still cooking, and I don't have anything to offer. You can take these two fish and add them to the dish."
Liu Jun didn't hesitate and took it. "Come over and eat with the two children later."
The twenty or so whole dried fish made in Ningxia were all large fish weighing six or seven pounds, and they still weighed three or four pounds after drying. The chefs brought by Liu Jun's eyes lit up when they saw these two fish.
This is good stuff! Xuanwu Prefecture also has a lake, but it's tightly controlled by the government. Even with a lake like this, the amount of fish caught doesn't go to the refugees, so the price is naturally high. Although it's air-dried, if it's properly processed, wouldn't it still smell good?
Liu Jun and his group actually had solar lights, and they turned them on for dinner in the evening. There were about thirty people, and they had two tables of food. The food was all coarse grains, and the dishes were not bad. Ningxia also saw a large pot of braised rabbit meat in the middle of each table.
Confirming that Liu Jun was genuinely inviting them to dinner, Ningxia didn't hesitate and took her two children to sit at a table in the back. As for whether the three of them would smell bad to others, they were sorry, as dining was a big deal.
Ningxia has made dried fish along the way, but it is still not as good as fresh fish. I didn’t expect that there was an expert in this caravan who made the braised dried fish, which is a unique dish.
The cook saw that Ningxia was interested in the braised dried fish he made, so he told her everything without hesitation. Ningxia was grateful. Seeing that the two children liked it, he thought it would be okay for them to learn how to make it, as he had plenty more in his bag.
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