Chapter 16: Ping An Town

The three of them worked very quickly indeed, and they had already collected a few usable tiles before November 11th, so after some hammering and tamping, the main room and the side room were ready for use.

Madam Wen and Wen Zhirou slept on the bed with Rui'er, while the others took down the door and used it as a bed board and slept there.

It's so simple, but it's much better than before.

Chen Shiyi thought that he would go to the town tomorrow to look for ways to make money. After all, there were too many places that needed money.

Bedding: You can’t always use the sky as your bed. It’s okay in the summer, but in the winter, you will freeze to death without a quilt.

You can’t always wear the same set of clothes. At least everyone should have a set of spare clothes.

Anyway, there are many, many details...

The next day, she picked up two fish from the net that had been used yesterday and stewed them with the remaining mushrooms. After dinner, she went straight to the town.

Ping'an Town is a dozen miles along the mountain road from Fengming Mine.

The round trip takes one hour.

When she arrived in the town, the market had already started to bustle.

The most people were in front of the butcher's stall, where the boning knife was constantly chopping the bones on the chopping board. There were only a few people at the wonton stall next to it. Further ahead, there were vendors selling chicken, duck, fish and meat everywhere.

Bamboo shoots from the mountains, aged pickled cabbage, bright yellow honey, and pine mushrooms picked yesterday are also being sold.

Maybe anyone can pick up one or two in the mountains. Even though the vendors’ calls are getting louder and louder, there are relatively few buyers.

Going further, on the main street, there are restaurants, inns, cloth shops, jewelry shops, cake shops...

In some wide alleys, the sound of iron hammering could be heard.

The shop signs are colorful and of different lengths. On the inky bluestone streets, in the drizzling rain, there is a hint of coolness in the bustle.

She turned into an alley full of flowers.

The alley was extremely lively. The plane trees on both sides were covered with pink gauze. In broad daylight, the candles in the red lanterns were still burning brightly. Everyone walking here was dressed in gorgeous clothes and had flowers in their hair. Compared with the bustling city life on the main street, this place was filled with an extremely decadent luxury.

"Little beggar, come here quickly."

Chen Shiyi raised his eyes and saw a very beautiful woman with exquisite appearance waving at him.

She walked towards the beauty, her eyes sparkling.

"Sister, are you calling me?"

"Sister? Hehehe..."

The beauty pulled her handkerchief over her mouth and smiled, then spoke coquettishly to the people around her.

"Someone called me sister..."

She turned and smiled at Chen Shiyi.

"I am not some sister. We have a special name, called prostitutes."

After hearing this, Chen Shiyi froze and felt a little overwhelmed.

"Well, what's the point of talking to a little beggar like you? Yes, go to the Wu's Dim Sum Shop outside and buy me a box of pear cloud cake slices. The remaining five copper coins are your errand money."

Chen Shiyi was very happy to hear that there was a reward. He took the money from the beauty's hand and ran out. Suddenly he thought of something and turned back.

"Aren't you afraid that I'll take the money and run away?"

The beauty covered her handkerchief and laughed again.

"Did you run away then?"

"What should I call you?"

"The moon and stars are connected to the north, the ice and snow are wrapped around the southern branches, everyone calls me the southern branch."

"Nanzhi, why did you ask me to buy you some cakes?"

Nanzhi put her hands on her waist.

"Are you going or not? Why are you talking so much? If you don't go, give me back the money."

Chen Shiyi ran out in a flash.

All I could hear was a soft voice muttering behind me.

"If you miss the time when the pear cake slices come out of the pot, I will peel your skin carefully later."

There are too many poor families in the town, and it is not easy to find a job.

Chen Shiyi searched the town for a long time with five copper coins in his pocket, but he didn't see any work.

Occasionally, there would be one or two people who would ask, and either they wanted the candidate to be literate or they wanted the candidate to be a boy.

Whenever Chen Shiyi wanted to ask one more question, he was impatiently chased away.

It's already past noon, but I still have to hurry back to cook.

On her way back, she passed by a rice and grain store.

"Boss, what is the cheapest rice you have here?"

A middle-aged man was fiddling with an abacus and replied without even looking up.

"Brown rice, twenty cents a dou."

Chen Shiyi pursed his lips and asked cautiously.

"Shopkeeper, can I buy five cents of brown rice?"

Perhaps the shopkeeper had never done business with such a small amount of money before, and he finally raised his head from the abacus with a look of confusion on his face.

Maybe it’s because he has been doing business for many years and has met so many people who have no money, he replied after a moment of confusion.

"Okay, I'll weigh it for you."

After saying that, he picked up a pointed wooden bucket, sealed the bottom mouth of the bucket, and then filled the bucket with rice.

The shopkeeper asked with a frown.

"Where's the bag of rice?"

Chen Shiyi shook his head.

“No.”

The shopkeeper was getting a little impatient.

"Who buys rice without a cloth bag?"

Chen Shiyi shuddered and awkwardly took back the five copper coins in his palm.

"I'm sorry, shopkeeper. I'll buy it next time with a bag."

Perhaps the shopkeeper felt sorry for himself, or perhaps he really didn't want to lose any business, so he left a message.

"Wait."

Not long after, he took out a white cloth bag from the corner, poured the measured rice into the bag, and threw it to Chen Shiyi.

"Return the bag tomorrow."

Chen Shiyi thought to herself that she was so lucky that all the people she met today were kind people.

Back in the yard, Wen Zhirou, with her black hair scattered, leaned on a chair, warming her hair by the fire in the courtyard.

"Eleven, why are you back so late? I took a shower and washed my hair today, and I'm out of water. I don't have much firewood either, so remember to prepare more dry firewood."

"Okay, I understand."

Chen Shiyi walked into the kitchen, put the brown rice in the cupboard, took the clay pot over, poured half of the rice into it, and prepared to go to the stream to wash the rice.

Ruier ran in excitedly.

"Sister, what delicious food do you have today?"

Chen Shiyi took his hand and walked to the stream together.

"I haven't had staple food for a long time. I can have porridge tonight."

She opened the net that she had been using to catch fish by the creek, and was disappointed to find it was empty.

She buried the fishing net in a new location, hoping to have some catch tomorrow.

For dinner, there was a big pot of brown rice porridge and a big plate of green shepherd's purse.

Everyone sat around the fire and ate quietly.

"What kind of rice is this porridge made of? Why is it so hard to swallow?"

The second young master's wife's subtle voice broke the tranquility at the moment.

Chen Shiyi quickly replied.

"I only earned five cents today, just enough to buy some brown rice. I will go to town to find a job tomorrow."

Wen Zhiyuan shouted loudly.

"It's good enough to have something to eat, why are you so picky?"

The Second Young Master's wife bit her lip, her eyes were filled with tears, and she looked very sad and pitiful.

"I'm just asking."

"Okay, what is this for?"

Mrs. Wen said something to them and then sighed.

"Chun'er, the Wen family has suffered a disaster. Life is no longer as prosperous as it used to be. It's good enough to be alive. Eleventh girl is also having a hard time. It's hard for her to go around looking for food by herself."

"Eleven, don't we still have fish?"

Chen Shiyi said shyly after hearing Wen Zhirou's words.

"Miss, there are no fish in the net today."

Wen Zhiheng lowered his head slightly, not knowing what he was thinking about.

Rui'er looked left and right, his dark eyes rolling around.

"Sister, the porridge you cooked is delicious. I can drink a big bowl of it."

Chen Shiyi's eyes curved into crescents.

"As long as Ruier likes it."