Chapter 057 Want to Pick Up a Lot
“La la la ~ la la la ~”
Shi Qiu Shui was humming a song and skipping along in front. It was vacation time, so he was so happy!
She knew that not all kindergartens would be closed today. Some kindergartens would organize spring outings to visit museums and botanical gardens, while others would arrange activities at the Children's Palace.
Compared with other kindergartens, she still likes the arrangement of their kindergarten. During the holidays, she can go wherever she wants to play. It is more free!
Shi Qiushui skipped and walked for a long distance, then realized that the remaining three people hadn't caught up with him. He turned back and urged, "Dad, Grandpa Zhao, please walk faster!"
Shi Yue: "I'm coming, I'm coming, don't rush me."
He strode forward and walked over to Shi Qiushui. The girl saw him following and pulled him forward. Shi Yue said, "Hey, hey, hey, don't go. The bus stop is right here. Where else do you want to go?"
Shi Qiu Shui looked up and noticed the bus stop sign on the side of the road.
She chuckled and said, "Ah, I didn't notice."
Shi Qiu Shui took the little girl to the bus stop sign to wait for the bus. At this time, Old Zhao also came over with Zhao Ran.
Old Zhao sighed seriously: "The child is still full of energy."
He was worried that Shi Qiushui and Zhao Ran were tired from the morning party, so he asked them if they wanted to go home for lunch and rest, waiting until the afternoon heat subsided before heading to Panjiayuan. The two children shook their heads, indicating they weren't tired at all. They decided to go now.
It just so happens that the two children have eaten their snacks in the morning and are not hungry, so let's go now.
As they walked out of the kindergarten, Old Zhao discovered that the children, especially Shi Qiu Shui, were really energetic. They sat for a whole morning watching the performance and still had the energy to jump around when they came out.
Shi Yue smiled and pointed at the blushing little girl and said, "I don't know about other people's girls, but this one in our family is really energetic. She jumps around non-stop during the day and is restless at night."
"That's what happened last night. It was almost ten o'clock and he was still watching TV. He just didn't want to go to bed. No matter what I said, it was useless."
The old father Shi Yue complained mercilessly, and Shi Qiushui widened his eyes and said dissatisfiedly: "Dad!"
Shi Yue: "Why, I can't tell you? You threw a tantrum and refused to go to bed last night, are you afraid that I will tell others about you?"
Shi Qiushui pouted, put her hands on her hips and said, "Dad, please give me some face outside!"
When the two adults heard this, they burst into laughter.
Shi Yue laughed so hard that his stomach hurt: "Hey, are you still shy?"
Shi Qiushui puffed up his face and said, "Humph!"
Old Zhao suppressed his laughter, tugged at Shi Yue's arm, and said, "Ahem, the child is grown up now. As parents, we have to give him some respect when we are outside."
Shi Yue raised the corner of his mouth: "Okay, okay, okay, then I won't say anything, okay."
Shi Qiushui: "Then don't say that again next time."
Shi Yue immediately promised: "Okay, I won't say it next time."
Shi Qiu Shui then nodded in satisfaction.
Her anger came and went quickly. After getting Shi Yue's assurance, she immediately put the matter behind her and leaned against Shi Yue's arm affectionately: "Dad, did you take a few more photos of me just now?"
The performance just ended and she forgot to ask.
Shi Yue: "Yes, I took a lot of pictures. Just now, when you were performing on the stage, I was snapping pictures from below. I even used up two rolls of film."
Shi Qiushui looked eagerly: "Dad, please show it to me, I want to see it."
Shi Yue: "What are you looking at? Film?"
He shook his head. "No, I can't show you the film. It can't be exposed to light. If I open it and show you now, the pictures won't be developed. Wait until I take the film to the photo studio tomorrow and have the pictures developed before you can see them."
Shi Qiushui: "Okay..."
Although she really wanted to know how her father took the picture of her, she couldn't do that if the photo couldn't be developed!
As June arrived, the weather suddenly became hotter, especially now that it was noon and the sun was scorching. Shi Qiushui was sweating. When Shi Yue was about to find a handkerchief to wipe the sweat off Shi Qiushui, he heard Zhao Ran suddenly say, "The car is coming!"
Shi Yue looked up and saw that, sure enough, a bus was slowly approaching from a distance. Looking at the sign on the front of the bus, it was the line they wanted to take.
The car stopped and Shi Yue and his group of four got on. It was noon and there were not many passengers on the car. Shi Yue saw at a glance that there were four empty seats next to each other in the back row of the car. He bought a ticket from the conductor and sat down in the empty seat.
As the bus drove out of the station, a gentle breeze blew in through the open window, dispelling the stuffiness inside the bus.
Shi Yue took out a handkerchief and wiped the sweat off Shi Qiu Shui's head, then took out a cup of water and handed it to Shi Qiu Shui.
The cup was filled with sugar water that Shi Yue had made at home. Although the amount of sugar was not much, it had a slightly sweet taste. Shi Qiushui took a sip from the cup and sighed comfortably, "Water is still the best way to quench your thirst."
Although soda tastes good, it doesn’t quench your thirst.
Shi Yue glanced at the little girl and said, "So why do you still drink soda all day?"
Shi Qiushui smacked his lips: "Soda tastes good..."
At this time, Old Zhao interrupted, "Even though soda tastes good, you can't drink too much. It's full of pigments that are bad for your health. And soda is carbonated, which is bad for your stomach, especially for you kids. You can't drink too much."
He looked at Shi Yue and said, "Xiao Shi, let me tell you, you can't spoil the child. Even if the child is happy to drink soda, you can't give her too much."
Shi Yue nodded: "Yes, I usually don't give Xiaoqiu soda, but today is Children's Day, so I bought her a bottle."
Old Zhao: "Well, that's about right."
In fact, he never thought there was anything wrong with giving soda to children. Not to mention him, even his son Zhao Hui was suffering from famine when he was a child. Not to mention being picky about what to eat, it was good enough to have something to eat.
But isn't life better now? People can eat anything, so should they focus on balanced nutrition? He read in the newspaper that soda and snacks have no nutrition and they should eat less if possible.
Old Zhao gave Shi Yue some advice: "As for snacks, if you can give Xiaoqiu less, then do so. If she must eat, buy something nutritious, like yogurt, candy, or high-calcium biscuits. Any of these will do."
Although his son Zhao Ran is not very greedy, he occasionally buys snacks for Zhao Ran, so he knows everything very well.
Shi Yue nodded: "Uncle Zhao, I understand."
On the other hand, Xiaoqiu on the side pouted, feeling aggrieved.
How come she lost her freedom to have snacks after going out to play with Grandpa Zhao?
Zhao Ran looked at Shi Qiu Shui, who looked aggrieved, and secretly stuffed a piece of chocolate into her mouth.
When Shi Qiushui felt something being stuffed into his hand, he lowered his head, and a look of surprise instantly blossomed on his face: "Chocolate!"
Zhao Ran: "Well, here you go."
Although his grandfather doesn't let him eat these messy snacks, his father often buys them for him. This chocolate was brought back by his father from a business trip to Shanghai a few days ago.
Shi Qiushui: "You don't want to eat?"
Zhao Ran: "No, it's too sweet. I don't like it."
Shi Qiushui: "Then I'll eat it?"
Zhao Ran nodded: "Well, you eat it."
Shi Qiu Shui quickly opened the outer packaging of the chocolate and stuffed it into her mouth. As soon as it entered her mouth, she made a "hmm" sound.
Zhao Ran was right, this chocolate is indeed very sweet!
But she likes it!
Shi Qiu Shui chewed the chocolate happily, with a look of satisfaction on his face.
But she wasn't the type to just eat Zhao Ran's food without giving him something in return. She unzipped her small schoolbag and reached inside, rummaging around for a long time before pulling out a few snacks: sesame candy, instant noodles, small packages of shrimp crackers, and jellies of various flavors. She came up to Zhao Ran with a bunch of snacks in her hands.
"Here, in return, take whatever you want to eat!"
Actually, Zhao Ran didn't want to eat anything. At the party just now, he was already full just from the snacks that Shi Qiu Shui stuffed in his mouth.
However, seeing the expression of "I won't give up until you take it" on Shi Qiu Shui's face, he hesitated and took a piece of sesame candy.
Among all these, sesame candy is the least filling.
Seeing that Zhao Ran only took a small piece of sesame candy, Shi Qiushui asked enthusiastically, "Aren't you going to take anything else? Everything here is delicious, especially this jelly, which has a fruity flavor. Are you really not going to eat it?"
Zhao Ran waved his hand: "Sesame candy is enough for me."
Shi Qiushui put the things back into his schoolbag and said, "Okay, if you want to eat something later, just tell me."
Zhao Ran nodded: "Yeah. You too, if you want some chocolate, tell me, I still have some."
"Don't worry, I'll tell you if I want to eat!" Shi Qiu Shui is not a person who would be polite for no reason.
Just as the two children were generously sharing their snacks, the bus was about to arrive at its destination.
"The next stop is Panjiayuan Station. Passengers going to Panjiayuan should prepare to get off—"
Hearing the conductor's announcement, Shi Yue quickly pulled Shi Qiu Shui up, and Old Zhao also pulled Zhao Ran up. After the bus stopped, they got off together.
After getting off the bus, there are stalls with a wide variety of goods on both sides of the bus stop sign.
Although everyone calls this place a flea market, it is actually not a formal market. There is no storefront, and all the stalls, big and small, are set up anywhere. There are no unified management regulations, and people who come here to set up stalls can sell whatever they want. Shi Qiu Shui saw a stall not far ahead selling old clothes that the stall owner no longer wore. There are no clear price tags here, and how much you spend on buying things depends entirely on your ability. If the stall owner offers three hundred yuan, and you can bargain it down to five yuan and take it away, then you are awesome.
There are all kinds of people setting up stalls here, and there are even more people coming here as customers.
There are old men with skewers in their hands, scoundrels with sunglasses on their heads, young ladies in professional attire, and even foreigners with blond hair and green eyes.
Shi Qiushui's eyes widened as he tugged at the hem of Shi Yue's clothes, exclaiming, "Dad, Dad, look! A foreigner!"
What a strange foreigner! She had never seen a foreigner before!
When Shi Yue heard what Shi Qiu Shui said, he also looked at the foreigner standing not far in front of him. Hey, a foreigner, how rare it was that he could actually see a foreigner.
In the Great Yu Dynasty, foreigners could only be seen when foreign envoys came to congratulate. Even if foreign envoys came to congratulate, it was not something that ordinary people could see. You had to be either a Beijing official or live near the Size Pavilion in the capital.
Feeling their eyes were opened, the Shi family father and daughter stared at the foreigner not far away and looked him up and down.
Don't say hey, foreigners just look different from them. His skin is white, much whiter than theirs, he's tall, his eye sockets are deep, his nose is high, and his eyes are green. The most peculiar thing is that he has golden hair.
Shi Yue stared at the man for a long time, then curled his lips and said, "People from our country are still good-looking."
Maybe it's because of different aesthetic tastes, he can't appreciate the appearance of foreigners.
He thinks people like him with black hair, black eyes and yellow skin are more attractive.
Shi Qiu Shui didn't really appreciate the looks of foreigners, but she was deeply envious of the man's white skin.
If only she could be as white as that guy.
She had been hanging out with Xiaopang and Xiao Taozi recently, and had gotten quite tanned. Her father said that she had turned from a white face into a yellow face.
Woo woo woo, she doesn’t want to be a yellow dough ball!
Shi Qiushui couldn't help but mutter, "I wish I could be as white as him."
Shi Yue lowered his head: "Want to become white? Then you should stay at home honestly and don't go out and run around."
Shi Qiushui: "Well, forget it..."
Shi Yue: ...
After seeing the strange foreigners, leader Lao Zhao led everyone to the market full of street stalls.
Walking along the street, you will see all kinds of small stalls on both sides of the road. You won’t know until you see them, they really sell everything. There are newspapers and magazines, books and stamps, antiques, calligraphy and paintings, gold and stone jade, all kinds of furniture, and even pots and pans.
Some people are special and sell their own skills.
For example, the small stall in front of Shi Qiu Shui and the others is owned by a carving master who is dressed simply. There are dozens of seals of all sizes on his stall. Unlike the stall owners who look rough and unadorned, the seals on his stall are all exquisite.
Generally speaking, a seal with smooth and powerful lines and neatly engraved characters can be considered a fine product. But for the master craftsman, this is just basic skill. What he compares with seals is the composition and the arrangement between characters.
Shi Qiu Shui picked up the seals one by one curiously and looked at them. He saw that the text engraved on some of the seals was the same, but because of the change in layout, they showed differences. Some looked generous and upright, while others were vivid and interesting.
Even though she didn't know how to appreciate seals, she thought they were very beautiful.
What is even more beautiful is the master craftsman's technique. He does not need to write on paper, nor does he need to make marks on the wood in advance. He picks up the carving knife and carves a seal with every stroke naturally. In the few minutes that Qiu Shui stays in front of the stall, he quickly carves a seal with his knife.
"Dad~"
Shi Qiu Shui blinked her eyes and sent a coquettish look to Shi Yue.
Shi Yue understood, and he said, "You want it, right?"
Shi Qiushui nodded vigorously: "Yes!"
Shi Yue didn't say anything discouraging like "You don't need this thing, why buy it?", but asked generously: "Which one do you want?"
Shi Qiushui pointed at the cute rat seal that the master had just carved and said, "I want this one."
It was just a coincidence that the master craftsman carved a rat seal, and the zodiac signs of Shi Qiu Shui and Xiao Shi Qiu Shui were both rats.
Shi Yue raised his eyebrows. It was such a coincidence that he should buy it.
He walked forward and asked, "Master, how much is this seal?"
The busy stall owner looked up and said, "Ten dollars."
Ten dollars is not cheap. After all, the wood used to carve the seal is either rare wood or ordinary hardwood.
But the master craftsman’s skills are here after all, and ten yuan is not that expensive.
Shi Yue didn't hesitate too much and decisively took out ten yuan and handed it over. The stall owner took the money, took a small cloth bag, put the seal that Shi Qiu Shui wanted in it, and handed it to Shi Qiu Shui.
Shi Qiu Shui took the cloth bag and left the seal engraving stall with Shi Yue and the other two.
She jumped up and down with the cloth bag in her hand. Shi Yue looked at her figure with a smile on his face.
It's not a loss to buy a seal for ten yuan, and it's a seal that Shi Qiu Shui likes. So even if there is no gain in a while, this trip today will not be in vain.
Shi Qiu Shui was happy, Shi Yue was happy, Zhao Ran and Old Zhao were also in a good mood. Sellers pay attention to a good start, and buyers also pay attention to a good start. If you get good things as soon as you come in, then if you continue shopping, you will definitely get better results.
With this mood, everyone headed to the next stall together.
In fact, at lunchtime, there were few stall owners and shoppers in this area. Shi Qiu Shui could see that there was a space between some stalls. She knew that the stall owners who had set up stalls there had packed up and left.
But even so, there are still quite a few street stalls in this area.
At that time, the father-in-law and daughter and the grandfather and grandson of the Zhao family looked at a few of them in succession, but as everyone looked at them one by one, old Zhao's expression gradually became disappointed.
He came here after hearing about his chess friends' stories of finding bargains. To put it bluntly, he came here today with the hope of finding bargains, but he just looked at several stalls in a row and there were no good things.
Even after reaching the end and looking at all the stalls in this row, Old Zhao's expression did not ease.
Noticing his disappointment, Shi Yue chuckled and said, "Uncle Zhao, don't be impatient. Take a look around. Maybe there are some good things in the back."
Old Zhao also realized that he was a little too hasty. He nodded and said, "Okay, let's go shopping again."
Shi Yue: "Uncle Zhao, please tell me what you want to find today. I will help you look for it."
"I, I..." Old Zhao was a little embarrassed. "Actually, I haven't decided what I'm looking for. I just heard Old Xie say that he found a bargain here last week and bought an inkstone for fifty yuan. He didn't think it was a good find. But then his son-in-law came and saw it this week. He's an expert and knew at first glance that it was a Qing Dynasty inkstone and could easily sell it for a few thousand yuan. So I thought I'd try my luck."
As Old Zhao spoke, his face turned red, as if he was shy about his own wild idea.
Shi Yue didn't think it was a big deal. It was just a bargain, so there was nothing to be embarrassed about. He came here with the intention of finding a bargain.
Besides, for this place, people who come here, I can’t say 100%, but definitely 90%, come here with the intention of finding a bargain.
Shi Yue pursed his lips and changed the question: "So what do you want to see? Big or small, something for display, or something usable?"
Even if you want to find a bargain, you still have a preference, right?
Old Zhao thought for a moment and said, "Well, I want to see something small, preferably something easy to take home."
Big things, like big screens, antique racks, and armchairs, although they are quite practical, they are also expensive. Moreover, such big things are not easy to carry back home, and they are quite cumbersome to keep at home. No, he doesn't want to buy them.
He wanted to buy a small one, preferably one that could be used, like the inkstone that Old Xie bought, which he thought was quite suitable.
Of course, he didn't mean that he also wanted to buy an inkstone, he just thought that the four treasures of the study were quite suitable.
For example, he didn't know how to appreciate antiques, calligraphy and paintings, nor could he tell the real from the fake. Moreover, if he bought those things, he would just put them at home and they had no practical use.
But the four treasures of the study are different. For example, inkstones and brushes, even if he bought fake ones, he could still use them himself.
Old Zhao spoke his true feelings with a slightly red face. Shi Yue did not laugh at him but nodded instead.
"Well, Uncle Zhao, it's quite realistic of you to think so. I think it's great."
He glanced around and pointed to the left, saying, "Uncle Zhao, look, those stalls over there seem to be selling the four treasures of the study. Why don't we go over and take a look?"
Although Old Zhao is not young anymore, there is nothing wrong with his eyes. During the physical examination at the beginning of the year, the vision of both eyes was 2.0. He looked in the direction that Shi Yue pointed and saw the things on the stalls at a glance.
He nodded: "Okay, let's go and take a look."
Old Zhao led Zhao Ran, and Shi Yue led Shi Qiu Shui. They walked to the stall they had previously liked, but were at a loss again.
Old Zhao didn't understand anything about these things. He looked at them in confusion, not knowing what was good and what was bad.
Shi Yue, on the other hand, knew a little bit. After all, he was a serious juren in the Dayu Dynasty, and a juren from a clan, so he knew a little bit from the influence of his surroundings.
He picked up the inkstone in front of him and introduced it to Old Zhao: "Uncle Zhao, judging the quality of an inkstone actually depends on the quality of the stone. You can distinguish it by its purity, moisture, and degree of roughness and fineness. Look at this inkstone..."
Old Zhao listened to Shi Yue's explanation with great interest, but Shi Qiu Shui was a little bored. She pouted and glanced at the inkstone in Shi Yue's hand. It was a big black piece, and it seemed to be no different from the one she used in the Dayu Dynasty.
She doesn't know how to appreciate or distinguish, so forget it.
Shi Qiu Shui looked around boredly. There were not many people here at the moment. There were only one or two people standing in front of most stalls, but there were some stalls with no one in front of them. Shi Qiu Shui glanced over, passing these deserted stalls, and his eyes fell on a stall not far ahead.
There were six or seven people gathered in front of the stall, making it the stall with the most customers in the area.
Shi Qiu Shui stretched her neck, curious to see what the stall was selling. She was short, and even if she stretched her neck, she couldn't see that far. Just as she was hesitating whether to move closer to take a look, an accident suddenly happened.
All I heard was an old man's hoarse voice coming from the stall.
"I won't sell it to you anymore. You're just bullying me because I'm from the countryside and trying to cheat me. I won't sell it to you anymore. Give it back to me!"
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