"Three oil-saving lamps and ten candles."
Yan Funing took out her purse in advance, took out a string of copper coins, counted them quickly, and handed them over.
"You're buying so much cloth, why don't you buy some other lamps?" The shop owner took out a copper lamp and introduced it. With his finely manicured fingernails, he pried open the small door of the lamp. "This lamp is exquisitely crafted. You can open it here..."
Yan Funing smiled and shook her head: "No need, we like ceramic ones."
The shop owner said, "It's made of ceramic, so it breaks easily."
She seemed to be talking to Yan Funing, but her eyes kept glancing at Fu Ciyi.
The shop owner was a young woman, probably in her twenties, with her hair neatly combed, her face painted, and her lips smeared with lip balm.
The way she looked at people made Yan Funing feel uncomfortable.
She unconsciously leaned towards Fu Ciyi and said, "We will use it carefully."
The shop owner raised his eyebrows and thought to himself that he was a stingy person.
He took the copper coins, picked them up with his fingernails, and counted them carefully one by one.
After a long pause, he said, "Two hundred and ninety coins in total, that's correct." He paused and asked, "Do you want a wick?"
Yan Funing shook her head: "Not yet."
The wick I bought last time can be used for a long time, so there is no need to rush to buy more.
The shop owner said "hmm" and took three ceramic lamps and ten candles from the shelf.
She originally wanted to wrap them together so that she could save a piece of brown paper.
However, there were many lamps and candles this time, so she reluctantly took another piece of brown paper and wrapped them in two packages.
Yan Funing gently placed the two paper bags into the backpack. Seeing the shop owner looking at Fu Ciyi again, she pulled his sleeve and said, "My husband, you are carrying so much cloth. Please be careful when you walk across the threshold."
The piece of cloth stood upright, just enough to block his view and reveal his flawless profile.
Fu Ciyi's ears suddenly felt itchy.
When introducing him to others, this woman would call him her husband, and would also call him husband in front of her mother.
Like now, this is the first time that the two of them have called each other by name in private when they are together!
He had no idea that the female shop owner sitting behind the counter had already looked at him a hundred or eighty times.
The couple left the incense and candle shop, and the female owner took out a bronze mirror from the counter drawer and looked at it carefully.
She touched her face and thought she looked pretty good.
What made her depressed was that she thought they were brother and sister, but she never expected that they were actually husband and wife!
Then she spat, "How could such a stingy woman marry such a handsome husband?"
Thinking of how beautiful the young lady looked even without makeup, she was so angry that she stuffed the bronze mirror back into the drawer.
--
Walking down the street, Fu Ciyi tilted his head to the side of the cloth and said, "That's strange. I thought you bargained in every store you went to."
But it wasn't like this just now.
Yan Funing said, "The owner of the incense and candle shop has an unfriendly look on her face. I don't want to waste any more time arguing with her."
After saying that, he saw a stall selling rapeseed on the street, so he walked over and asked, "Old lady, how much are the rapeseeds?"
The old woman squatted on the curb beside the street, and picked up a few small paper bags with trembling fingers.
"Five cents a bag. Vegetable seeds are more plentiful, enough to plant an acre of land. Pumpkin seeds are less plentiful, only a dozen or so, and they're all five cents a bag. There are also many other varieties, all grown from our own vegetables. We guarantee they'll grow well!"
Yan Funing squatted down and selected vegetable seeds, cowpea seeds, green bean seeds, pumpkin seeds, as well as chive and chili seeds.
"Old lady, I want these six." She took out thirty coins and gave them to her. "Please count them."
After receiving the thirty coins, the wrinkles on the old woman's face deepened. "Girl, you are the first one to buy something today. I'm finally starting a new business."
"Just open it, business will pick up."
Yan Funing put six bags of seeds into the backpack. Just as she and Fu Ciyi left, someone went to ask the old woman to buy rapeseed.
The old woman squinted her eyes at Yan Funing's back and said happily, "What a nice girl! She actually came to do business!"
Seeing someone walking around the street with a piece of cloth in their arms, Yan Funing felt it was inconvenient, so she suggested, "Why don't you go sit in Li's car first? I need to buy some other things."
"It's okay." Fu Ciyi said.
"Then I'll buy it faster."
She first went to the snack shop and bought a bag of sugar-roasted chestnuts for twenty cents.
Thinking of changing the dishes and having something oily and filling, I went to the meat stall.
The stall owner greeted her happily: "Girl, have you finished your ribs?"
"Not yet."
Yan Funing smiled. This person was specifically asking her to buy pork ribs.
That’s right, people rarely buy spare ribs to eat.
"So what should we buy today?"
“How much is the pork belly?”
"Pork belly, eighty coins a pound."
Yan Funing was surprised: "Why is it more expensive than fat and lean meat?"
"Miss, you may not know this, but the pork belly is used for tuition at the academy. The New Year has passed, and it's the start of the new semester, which is also the peak season for pork belly."
Yan Funing understood and said, "Then let's stick with half a pound of fat and one pound of lean meat." After that, she took out a copper coin and said, "Eighty-five coins, here you go."
The stall owner handed her a bamboo basket and asked her to throw the copper coins directly into it.
Yan Funing smiled: "You don't want to count?"
"No need to count, just throw it. I trust you."
He began to cut the meat with his knife.
Yan Funing stacked the eighty-five copper coins into four piles of twenty each, placing the remaining five coins in the middle of the top. They were neatly stacked in a corner of the bamboo basket, making it easy to tell the number at a glance.
Seeing how attentive she was, the stall owner gave her an extra piece of fat, just like last time.
He peeked into her backpack and found that there were already quite a few things in it, so he wrapped the meat in two layers of brown paper.
Seeing this, Yan Funing smiled and thanked him: "Thank you, boss, your business is booming!"
"Booming, booming." The stall owner leaned over and covered his mouth with his hand and said, "Every time my business comes, my business will be much better. You must come often."
"Is this true?"
"Really!" the stall owner nodded. "Look at how many people are looking at my stall on the street."
Yan Funing turned her head and saw that many women who were buying vegetables were staring at Fu Ciyi shyly.
Of course, there were also many men looking at her.
As soon as they left, the group of people swarmed towards the meat stall.
The butcher waved at her cheerfully, then pointed at the crowd, as if to say, "Am I right?"
Yan Funing smiled and shook her head. Seeing that Fu Ciyi had been following her silently, she said, "Wait a moment, I'll buy it soon."
"Okay, no rush," he said.
Yan Funing bought some dried tofu from a tofu stall, a pound of fried tofu for eighteen coins, and from a peasant woman, two pounds of taro and a handful of celery for twenty-two coins.
The things were put into the backpack, and it immediately became full.
Fu Ciyi asked her, "Can you carry it?"
Yan Funing pinched her shoulders and pursed her lips, saying, "Of course."
Fu Ciyi frowned. How could such a delicate person carry something on his back?
Then he hugged the five pieces of cloth in one hand, picked up the backpack, and strode away.
Walking quite fast.
Yan Funing trotted after him and said, "I really can carry it."
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