After walking for a while, Pei Yao saw an old man selling candied hawthorns.
Pei Yao felt a pang of guilt when she recalled what had happened that morning and how she had frightened Pei Yichen.
So I thought of buying him a candied hawthorn skewer to mend my little cousin's wounded heart.
Without turning her head, Pei Yao asked, "Pei Yichen, do you want some candied hawthorns? I have money, I'll buy them for you."
But Pei Yao waited for a while and still didn't receive a reply from Pei Yichen.
Pei Yao thought he hadn't heard her, so she asked again, "Do you want some? I have money, I'll buy it for you."
"......"
There was still no answer.
Pei Yao turned around impatiently, just about to ask him if his ears were blocked by donkey hair and he hadn't heard her.
But when he turned around, he found that Pei Yichen was no longer behind him.
Pei Yao's heart tightened immediately.
Where is Pei Yichen?
Pei Yao quickly walked back, her eyes searching the nearby streets for Pei Yichen's figure.
Fortunately, after a short while, they saw Pei Yichen squatting by the roadside not far away, and they breathed a sigh of relief.
Pei Yao patted her chest in relief, thankful that she hadn't lost anything; it had given her quite a fright.
I thought I was walking too fast and the kid hadn't kept up and got lost.
In a place where even basic communication functions are lacking, it would be really difficult to find someone if they got lost.
Pei Yao thought Pei Yichen was a kid who didn't like talking to outsiders. He was unfamiliar with the place and probably wouldn't even ask for directions if he got lost.
"Pei Yichen!" Pei Yao called out to him through gritted teeth.
Then I walked over, just about to say a few words to him, like he shouldn't run around like that.
Then they saw Pei Yichen squatting on the stall in front of them, staring blankly at the two little rabbits.
Seeing Pei Yao walk over with a dark face, Pei Yichen raised his head, his eyes shining as he looked at her pointing at the little rabbits. His voice rose several octaves with joy: "Cousin, look! These three little rabbits are so cute!"
Pei Yao's anger subsided a little when she saw the happy smile on the boy's cute face.
Looking in the direction he pointed, three fluffy baby rabbits were being kept in a bamboo frame.
Pei Yao “.......”
I don't know if it's cute or not, but it should taste delicious as a spicy rabbit head.
"You like it?" Pei Yao asked.
"Mm." Pei Yichen quickly nodded.
“Okay, I’ll buy it if you like it.” Pei Yao readily agreed. As a food blogger, she knew many ways to cook rabbit meat, and she could guarantee that the aroma would be irresistible.
"I love it! Can I really buy it?" Pei Yichen was surprised that his cousin was so agreeable, and he happily grabbed Pei Yao's hand.
Pei Yao nodded and looked at the old man selling rabbits, asking, "Uncle, how much is this rabbit?"
The old man originally thought that since the two children and their parents weren't around, they would probably just look around and not buy anything. He didn't expect the little girl to actually ask him the price.
He gave them a simple, honest smile and said, "Little girls, these rabbits are all offspring of our own female rabbits. They're 15 coins each, 45 coins for three, so I'll give you 40 coins. That's two females and one male. Just feed them some grass and they'll live. These rabbits are easy to raise, grow quickly, and are very prolific when they grow up."
“Okay.” Pei Yao counted out forty-five coins for him without hesitation: “I’ll give you five more coins, can you give me this cage too?”
He made the cage himself out of bamboo, and it had been used for a while. He never expected to be able to exchange it for five coins, so he was naturally very happy to do so.
He immediately handed the rabbit, cage and all, to Pei Yao and the others with a grin.
These rabbits are usually the hardest to sell. Occasionally, one or two young ladies from wealthy families will be attracted by their cuteness and buy one or two to keep as pets.
But to my surprise, three were sold today, and the owner was quite happy.
Pei Yichen looked at the little rabbit, holding it in his hand with great fondness, and was extremely happy with it.
As the two walked back with the rabbit, they passed by an old man selling candied hawthorns again, and Pei Yao asked, "Want some candied hawthorns? I have money, I'll buy you some."
Pei Yichen shook his head, holding the rabbit cage in his arms, and said, "I don't want to eat it, but Xuan'er kept saying she wanted to eat it, so let's buy her a skewer."
Pei Yao watched as he said no, but his eyes never left the candied hawthorn.
She walked over and ordered three skewers: "Boss, three skewers of candied hawthorn, please."
The shopkeeper smiled and handed Pei Yao three skewers of candied hawthorn: "Miss, five coins a skewer, three skewers for fifteen coins."
Pei Yao counted out fifteen coins for him; these ancient candies were indeed very expensive.
After paying, Pei Yao directly handed Pei Yichen a skewer: "Eat it, you don't need these five coins."
The remaining two strings were collected and taken back to Pei Xuan and Shen Cong, those two children.
Pei Yichen hadn't expected to have any, but seeing that his cousin hadn't eaten and had instead put it away, he asked, "Aren't you going to eat any?"
Pei Yao shook her head: "Only children like to eat this. I don't like it."
Pei Yichen: "......."
He didn't say "You're only four years older than me," and silently started eating his candied hawthorn.
When the two returned, Yunniang and the others had not yet come back.
Pei Yichen carefully placed the little rabbit in the corner of the oxcart and sat down next to it.
Niu Qingshan glanced at the little rabbit, somewhat puzzled: "Xiao Chen, did you buy this?"
Pei Yichen nodded and patted the little rabbit's head: "Yes, my cousin bought it for me."
After hearing this, Niu Qingshan glanced at the three little rabbits and his lips twitched, looking as if he wanted to say something but couldn't.
Pei Yao asked, "What's wrong? Brother Qingshan, is there something wrong with this rabbit?"
Niu Qingshan scratched his head and still asked, "Yaomei, you didn't overpay for this rabbit, did you?"
Pei Yao: "Forty-five coins including the frame."
"That's good." Niu Qingshan breathed a sigh of relief. He was worried that Pei Yao would be tricked into buying something at an inflated price.
"Sister Yao, you don't know this, but rabbit meat doesn't taste very good when stir-fried, and the texture isn't very good either, so people around here don't really like to eat it."
Pei Yao became interested upon hearing this and asked, "How do you cook rabbit meat here?"
"Just stir-fry it with some salt, ginger, and scallions. Restaurants would add some soy sauce," Niu Qingshan thought for a moment before answering seriously.
Pei Yao immediately understood. The people here prefer to cook lightly, so when they cook rabbit, they just stir-fry it briefly and call it a day.
That definitely won't taste good. Rabbit meat is naturally bland, so you need to add more seasonings to make it delicious.
Pei Yao thought that anyone who said rabbit meat was not tasty must not have tried the various rabbit dishes from Sichuan and Chongqing, such as cold-cooked rabbit, cold hand-shredded rabbit, cold rabbit cubes, and spicy rabbit head.
Otherwise, they would definitely fall in love with eating rabbits just like I do.
Pei Yao was overjoyed; it seemed that if rabbit meat could be successfully produced, it would definitely have a market.
“It’s okay, we bought the rabbit as a pet.” Pei Yao didn’t intend to explain too much to Niu Qingshan.
It just so happens that Pei Yichen wanted this rabbit anyway, so Pei Yao wasn't exactly lying.
Yunniang and the others returned just then.
Yunniang and Chen Fang bought some old rice and several kilograms of pork belly, as well as some materials for making shoes.
Then everyone hurried home.
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