Chapter 26: A Peach Blossom Scene
No money required, no one can refuse these three words.
The girl took the cattails she handed over and looked at her again: "Really? I don't have to pay if I don't buy them, right?"
She was afraid that Sang Yu would force her to buy, but Sang Yu shook her head helplessly and smiled bitterly: "I don't want money even if you don't want to buy it, just consider it a gift from me."
The girl then dared to put it in her mouth. She had never seen cattail before and didn't know what it tasted like. At first, she only dared to bite off a tiny bit carefully.
A sweet taste flashed across the tip of the tongue, and the girl's eyes lit up instantly. She stuffed the whole piece of cattail into her mouth and chewed it.
What is this cattail? It tastes sweet!
She hadn't eaten sweets for a long time, and she didn't expect to taste sweetness in the dish.
The cattail was only half the size of an index finger, but even though she chewed it very slowly, it soon disappeared.
The sweet taste seemed to still linger in her mouth, and she wanted to buy it back for her parents and younger sister to try!
He made up his mind, but pretended to be disgusted on the surface: "Your dishes don't taste good. If they are cheaper, I'll buy two piles for one penny."
When Sang Yu heard that she wanted to bargain, she was not angry at all. Bargaining meant that the other party wanted to buy it.
If he really disliked it, he should have left immediately after eating. He wouldn't have the time to bargain with her.
She smiled slightly and said, "Miss, this is a small business, no bargaining."
After haggling with her for a long time, almost talking her lips off, Que'er still couldn't get the price down.
She thought about going to buy some wild vegetables, but she couldn't move her feet.
Seeing her firm attitude, Que'er gritted her teeth and decided to be extravagant this time today. If her parents were not full, she would eat less.
"Okay, a penny is a penny, you fill that pile for me."
She pointed to the portion that looked the largest, unwilling to let Sang Yubao take out a piece to taste from.
In fact, the quantities of the five portions are almost the same, but even if they are two identical items, some people can pick out the better one, let alone buying vegetables.
As long as she was willing to pay, Sang Yu didn't care which pile she bought.
Upon hearing this, he wrapped the pile of cattails with leaves and tied it up with the cattail leaves he brought. In a blink of an eye, it became a triangular bag with a handle.
Que'er was just thinking that these cattails were difficult to carry, but she didn't expect that they had been wrapped in the blink of an eye.
She picked up the handle and shook it gently twice, and found that there was no sign of looseness or breakage. She nodded with satisfaction. The dish was a bit expensive, but the service was really good.
Ever since wrapping the cattails, Sang Yu has been looking at Que'er eagerly, thinking that it's time for the customer to pay.
Que'er had no intention of refusing to pay, so she reached into her belt and took out a penny and handed it to her: "Here, the money is for you."
After paying, she slowly left with the packed cattails.
Sang Yu curiously picked up a large number of copper coins in his palm. They were round on the outside and square on the inside, and were brown in color. One side was engraved with the words "Daying Tongbao" and the other side was engraved with "Yi Wen".
So this is just one penny. I wonder how many pennies it would take to buy a house in Lingnan City.
The thought flashed through her mind, and Sang Yu couldn't help but find it funny. She had just earned a penny, but she dared to dream of buying a house in the city.
It was early in the morning and many people came here early to buy vegetables.
Although Sang Yu's cattails were expensive, they were still within an acceptable range. Moreover, she was willing to let people taste them for free. Soon, all five piles of cattails were sold out.
She carried an empty basket on her arm and five cents in her hand as she walked towards the oil and salt stall she had seen earlier.
"Stall owner, how much are the oil and salt?" Sang Yu called out softly and began to ask the price.
The man selling oil and salt was a young man, about the same age as Sang Xingjia.
He lowered his head to flip through the book in his hand. When he heard someone asking for the price, he replied without looking up, "Bitter salt is three cents per ounce, loose salt is four cents per ounce, and oil is ten cents per ounce."
Originally, Sang Yu thought that five cents was a lot for him, but now he sees that it is not enough to buy oil and salt.
"Then I want an ounce of bitter salt." She also wanted to ask if the oil could be sold for half an ounce, but even if it could be sold, she couldn't afford it.
Hearing her say she wanted to buy something, the boy first carefully put the books away in a clean place, and then picked up a fist-sized pottery jar.
He walked towards the two salt jars on the ground, opened one of them and scooped out a full spoonful, which just filled the clay pot to 80%.
He put the lid on the pottery jar and handed it to Sang Yu.
"This spoonful of mine is exactly one ounce. If you want to keep the jar, you can pay an extra penny. If not, I will return it tomorrow."
A small clay pot certainly doesn't cost a penny, but many families don't have anything else to store salt in. If it's left open, it will easily get damp and clot, making it inconvenient to use.
He didn't force them. Those who were willing to keep it could add a penny, and those who didn't want to could go back and dump it anywhere they wanted, and the jar would be sent to him the next day.
Sang Yu took the jar and looked at it for a moment. It felt similar to a modern seasoning box, except that it lacked a spoon.
She didn't want to make another trip just for a jar, so she handed over four cents and said, "I'll buy the jar."
The five cents earned from selling vegetables were reduced to only one cent in an instant. Sang Yu clenched the coin in his hand and suddenly remembered something.
She looked at the young man who had picked up his book and was studying hard again and asked politely, "Stall owner, is there a millstone nearby?"
The grain seeds at home have not been shelled yet. Although we can now find cattail leaves as the staple food, who can refuse a bowl of fragrant rice?
With so many people gathered here, there might be a large stone mill.
The young man still kept his head down, stretched out his right hand and pointed to the east: "There's one in the village over there."
Village? Sang Yu raised his eyebrows. There was actually a village here.
She looked curiously in the direction of his finger and found that it was the end of the stall she had passed once before.
Could it be that the village is even further inside? Wouldn't that mean we have to go into the mountains?
Sang Yu turned around and looked at the boy who was reading. No matter how she looked at it, she felt that the other party did not seem to be deliberately lying to her.
To be on the safe side, she walked a distance to the east and asked a girl at a stall again. She got the same answer and she was completely relieved.
Walking eastwards, after leaving the stall area, it starts to look a bit desolate, with felled tree roots everywhere on the ground.
After walking a little further, Sang Yu widened her eyes in surprise. In front of her was a canyon sandwiched between two mountains.
A stream flows through the center of the canyon, with huts running along both sides of the stream and thatched houses farther away.
Originally, Sang Yu was wondering why there were only men and young men outside, but no women. Only then did she realize that all the women stayed here.
Many of the huts near the stream were probably built not long ago and are quite simple.
Those thatched houses that are farther away from the stream are much older.
The peaks on both sides of the canyon are hidden in the clouds. Women are washing clothes by the stream, and young children are laughing and playing nearby.
If you ignore their skinny bodies, it can be considered a paradise scene.
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