Chapter 5 Peddler
After breakfast, the sun shone through the clouds, dyeing the sky golden.
It looks like a good day today.
A group of people were carrying farm tools on their way to the fields.
The piece of land was finished yesterday, and today we are going to another piece of land.
The land we were going to was just across the village, not as far away as the land we went to yesterday.
After arriving at the fields, as usual, some people turned the soil, some people sowed seeds, and some people applied fertilizer and covered the soil.
The sun in the east had reached the center without anyone noticing.
Ji Zheng felt that the temperature today was hotter than yesterday.
He felt his back was sore from the sun, and sweat was pouring down his forehead and cheeks like water.
I was also very hungry. The little food I had in the morning had been completely consumed by such high-intensity "exercise".
He and his elder brother Ji Feng and second brother Ji Cheng were in charge of turning the soil. At first the three of them were chatting casually, but gradually they all fell silent.
Fortunately, the land today is much smaller than yesterday and is closer to home. Song's mother told them to go home for lunch first and come back to work in the afternoon when it is not so hot.
After packing up, the family set out on the journey home one after another.
The people in this village were relatively simple, so they did not take the farm tools back with them. They left them on the fields since they had to come back in the afternoon after all.
What's more, there are people from the village living in other fields adjacent to this one, so there is no need to worry about the land being stolen.
Father and Mother Ji walked at the end, and they talked about this year's weather and harvest.
My eldest brother and his family of three walked in front. The couple were talking and laughing, looking very warm.
As for my second brother’s couple, I don’t know where they went.
The only one left was Ji Hean, who had been lagging behind but following Ji Zheng closely.
Ji Hean was more than a head shorter than Ji Zheng, barely reaching the height of Ji Zheng's shoulders, and was very thin, which led to Ji Zheng wondering how old Ji Hean was every time he saw him.
"Ji Hean, how old are you this year?"
Ji Zheng thought this was an opportunity, so he asked.
Ji Hean didn't expect Ji Zheng to speak to him so suddenly. For a moment he wondered if he had heard it wrong. He looked up at Ji Zheng hesitantly and cautiously.
Ji Zheng was admiring the scenery on both sides of the road. It was spring, so there were many flowers blooming on both sides of the road.
There were all kinds of them, colorful and very beautiful. He was thinking in his mind whether he should buy two to take back.
Seeing Ji Zheng like this, Ji Hean thought he had just hallucinated, so he retracted his gaze and started walking attentively again.
After a long time without hearing Ji Hean's answer, Ji Zheng was puzzled. He leaned over and looked down, and saw Ji Hean's neck that was sunburned and peeled.
Ji Zheng had been sunburned before, but that was because the school organized a mountain climbing trip. He did not wear sunscreen and got his arm sunburned. Although it was only a small area, he could still feel the burning pain of the sunburn.
The sunburn on the back of Ji Hean's neck was very large, and almost the entire area that was exposed was sunburned and peeled, which was frightening to look at.
Turning his gaze, Ji Hean was still walking with his head half lowered, as if he could not feel the pain in his neck.
It’s not that Ji Hean doesn’t feel the pain, he’s just used to it and doesn’t care. After all, the pain in his neck comes to him every summer.
And even if he cared, he had no choice but to endure it. He got used to it year after year.
One summer he got sunburned very badly. He couldn't help but tell his parents about it. As a result, his parents scolded him, saying that he not only had a young master's life but also had a young master's disease.
From then on, Ji Hean endured the pain and kept silent no matter how much it hurt.
Looking at Ji Hean who acted as if nothing had happened, Ji Zheng felt a little uncomfortable.
He was not a fool. From Ji Hean's malnourished appearance and timid personality, he knew that Ji Hean must have been unloved since childhood.
Being unfavored means being ignored, so it’s not that Ji Hean can’t feel the pain, but that they are used to the pain.
Feeling Ji Zheng's eyes on him, Ji Hean felt a little uneasy. After hesitating for a long time, he raised his head slightly and nodded and asked, "Ah Lang, is there anything I can do for you?"
After hearing Ji Hean's question, Ji Zheng realized that he had been staring at Ji Hean when he was thinking about something just now.
Being able to make someone as timid as Ji Hean take the initiative to talk to him, it is estimated that the glance just now must have scared Ji Hean a lot.
After thinking for a while, Ji Zheng lowered his voice and said, "It's nothing, I just want to ask you how old you are this year?"
It turned out to be just this matter. Ji Hean breathed a sigh of relief and replied, "After autumn, it will be seventeen."
It is spring now, and there is still half a year before autumn. Strictly speaking, Ji Hean is only sixteen years old.
Two years younger than him, coincidentally, Ji Zheng and this body are both eighteen years old.
After getting the answer in his heart, Ji Zheng stopped talking.
After returning home, Song's mother and Ji's father sat in the yard to rest, while the others went back to their rooms to change clothes, wash up, etc.
Ji Zheng was tired after a whole morning and returned to his room.
After taking off the outer layer of dirty clothes, Ji Zheng lay straight on the bed, looking at the dark "ceiling" with eyes full of confusion.
To put it bluntly, he was only eighteen years old, just reaching adulthood, and had not yet entered society. Yet, he was suddenly transformed into a married man in an ancient society.
Ji Zheng was very confused and scared about the days ahead.
But since he was already here, he couldn't just die. Ji Zheng decided to take things one step at a time. After all, there is a saying that goes, "When the car reaches the mountain, there will always be a way; when the boat reaches the bridge, it will naturally straighten out."
Thinking of this, he felt a lot more relaxed, but at the same time, his body became tired and he felt a little drowsy.
Just when he was about to fall asleep, the unique creaking sound of the wooden door was heard and someone came in.
I sat up and saw that it was Ji Hean. He was holding a basin of water with a handkerchief next to the basin.
Ji Hean put the water on the table by the door, then lowered his head and said to him, "Alang, wash up first, and the meal will be ready in a while."
After saying that, he turned and left, as he still had to cook.
Ji Hean went out and closed the door. Ji Zheng got up, walked to the door and started washing his face.
After washing his face, Ji Zheng was no longer sleepy. He opened the door and poured out the dirty water in the basin.
There was no one in the yard, and no one knew where Ji's mother and father had gone.
Ji Zheng walked around boredly for a few times, and finally found a shady place to sit down.
A cool spring breeze blew by, and Ji Zheng squinted his eyes in comfort.
At this time, the voice of the peddler was heard outside.
Peddler is a self-employed business. They often go from street to street selling goods, and the baskets they carry are filled with all kinds of things.
There is everything to eat, use and play with, just like a treasure box.
The places that peddlers often go to are usually remote villages that are some distance away from the town.
Although Shiqiang Village is not far from the town, it is the busy farming season and every household is busy sowing seeds and has no time to go to the town to buy things.
If there was anything missing, they would just wait for the peddler to come and buy from him.
If he doesn't have it there, just tell him and he will bring it to you next time you come. This is very convenient for people who don't have time to go to town.
The two seasons when peddlers make the most money are spring ploughing and autumn harvest.
The peddlers would carry a copper bell with them. Whenever they arrived at a village, they would ring the bell to indicate their presence and that people in the village who wanted to buy things could go find them.
They would also bring some snacks to sell, so when the children in the village heard the sound of the gong, they would pull their parents to buy snacks.
For example, Ji Hui is currently pulling Ji Feng to buy candy.
Ji Feng and Song Meilan doted on their only son and were willing to spend a penny or two to buy him some candy.
Ji Feng came out of the room with a smile on his face, and picked up Ji Hui who was pulling his trousers, "Stop pulling, you've torn your trousers."
"Daddy, buy me some candy, buy me some candy." Ji Hui repeated in a baby voice while pulling Ji Feng's collar, looking like he really wanted to eat candy.
"Buy it, buy it for you." Ji Feng said with a smile.
When he passed by Ji Zheng, he smiled and said, "Third brother, do you want to go with us?"
Ji Zheng nodded. It was boring to stay here anyway.
As the two walked out the door, Ji's mother's voice came from behind, "Boss, wait a minute."
Ji Feng turned around and looked at Song's mother, "Mom, what's wrong?"
Ji Zheng also stopped and turned to look at Song's mother who was walking towards him quickly.
Song's mother walked up to Ji Feng and took out a few copper coins from her purse, "Buy three bowls."
Ji Feng said "oh" and took the money.
The Ji family has not yet split up, so the financial power of the family is still in the hands of Song's mother. All the food and daily necessities in the family are bought by Song's mother.
Of course, the money they earned had to be handed over to Song's mother.
In the past, when they were still single, all the money they earned had to be handed over to Mother Song. Later, when they got married, they only had to hand over the bulk of the money.
This is also the reason why Ji Feng had money to buy candy for his son, and why Ji Zheng had money to buy a bowl for Song's mother.
However, Ji Zheng had just gotten married and actually had very little money in his pocket. Excluding the bowl money he gave to Song's mother that day, he had a total of eleven cents, which was pitifully poor.
Peddler usually sells things in the center of the village. As soon as Ji Zheng went out, he saw people coming towards the center of the village from all directions.
When he reached the center of the village, Ji Zheng saw a group of people together.
I guess the person being surrounded is the peddler.
There were too many people, so Ji Feng and Ji Zheng didn't go forward, thinking of waiting until there were fewer people.
There were a few people standing and waiting like them. Since they were all from the same village, Ji Feng started chatting with them.
Everyone in the village knew that Ji Zheng was not talkative, so no one went out of their way to chat with him, and most people just greeted him.
Ji Zheng was quite happy about this. As he didn't know much about the world, he would probably make more mistakes if he said more, so it was better not to say anything.
After a while, when the people who had gathered around had mostly bought their treats and dispersed, Ji Feng took Ji Hui up to buy a few pieces of candy.
It's just some simple maltose, five small pieces for one penny.
"Third brother, do you want to buy something?" Ji Feng walked up to Ji Hui, who was eating candy, and asked.
Ji Zheng nodded, "Let me take a look."
Having said that, he walked forward.
As he got closer, Ji Zheng discovered that there were quite a lot of things, and it seemed that all the basic daily necessities were available.
Thinking of Ji Hean's sun-injured neck, Ji Zheng wanted to buy some medicine to apply on him.
He asked the peddler, "Do you have any sunscreen lotion?"
In fact, few people in the village would get sunburned. Even if someone did, it was not serious and could basically be cooled down with well water.
The reason why Ji Hean’s condition was so serious was due to his physical condition.
Few people in the village would buy such things, and without a market there would naturally be no peddlers to sell them.
"I'm sorry, I don't have it here." The peddler grinned and said, "But if you want it, I can bring it to you next time."
Ji Zheng pursed his lips and asked, "When can you bring it?"
"Well...I'll come again in about two or three days," said the peddler.
Two or three days? Ji Zheng frowned. He felt that it was a bit too long. "Isn't tomorrow okay?"
Of course not. If he came every day, the peddler wouldn't make any money and would waste his time. Besides, they had already agreed on which village to go to at which time, and it was impossible for them to disrupt the schedule just for Ji Zheng.
Ji Zheng had no choice but to agree. It wasn't that he didn't want to go to the town, but firstly, it was the busy farming season and he couldn't leave, and secondly, he had to take a ox cart to go to the town.
The family with the ox cart in the village is now busy with farming, and no one is trying to catch up with them.
Because it was a specific item, Ji Zheng had to pay a deposit of two cents first.
"That medicine costs ten cents. You need to pay a two-cent deposit first," said the peddler.
After hearing the price, Ji Zheng didn't know whether to be glad that he had eleven cents or sad that he only had eleven cents.
In fact, that kind of medicine only costs eight cents in the town's clinic, and the peddler is a middleman, so he only makes two cents.
After paying the deposit, Ji Zheng saw a straw hat on the peddler's shoulder pole.
Then he asked, "How much is the hat?"
Straw hats are actually not worth the money. Every household can weave them themselves, so basically no one buys them.
The top on the peddler's shoulder pole was something he picked up from home. His mother was weaving it when she had nothing to do. When she saw Ji Zheng asking about it, she generously said she didn't charge for it and gave it to Ji Zheng.
Ji Zheng thanked him several times and used the only penny he had left to buy five pieces of maltose.
After finishing shopping, it was almost time.
Every household goes home to eat, take a nap, or work.
Ji Zheng, holding a straw hat, walked side by side with Ji Feng on the way home.
"Third brother, why did you buy a straw hat?" Ji Feng asked.
"The sun is too strong, I need to put on sunshade." Ji Zheng replied, "Besides, I didn't buy this, it was given to me by the peddler."
Hearing Ji Zheng talking about sun protection, Ji Feng laughed, "You are thick-skinned and yet you are afraid of the sun."
Ji Zheng smiled and didn't answer.
Ji Feng was used to Ji Zheng's taciturn nature, so he didn't bring up the topic again, but said something else.
The two were talking and talking, and in the blink of an eye they arrived home.
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