Chapter 10: Going to the Market
Old Zhou had decided to let his daughter learn from Mr. Zhuang, so he had to make good preparations. So the next day, even the eldest daughter didn't go out to work.
Old Zhoutou directly asked him to borrow a cart from the village chief and move two bags of grain out of the warehouse.
The whole family stood at their respective doorways, watching. Old Zhou, seemingly oblivious to the anxiety in his daughters-in-law's eyes, instructed the eldest and third daughters to bundle up the grain. Then he told Zhou Erlang, "Go to the market, exchange the grain for money first. Buy your mother three days' worth of medicine, and then buy some meat. I want pork belly. It would be even better if you could buy bacon."
Old Zhou thought for a moment and said, "See if anyone in the market sells any good cotton cloth. If so, buy some and make Mr. Zhuang a set of clothes. Oh, and don't forget to buy some good fabric for shoes and socks."
Zhou Erlang wrote them down one by one.
When Xiao Qian and the others heard what they were going to buy, their hearts began to beat fast. These were two bags of grain.
Old Zhou was more distressed than them, but when he heard the laughter coming from outside, he could ignore this distress. When he saw that everything had been explained, Old Zhou waved his hand and told everyone to go back to their work.
Manbao woke up early in the morning and dragged Wulang and Liulang to pick wild flowers.
When the family was ready, they were ready too. They took the baskets woven by Zhou Erlang and filled them with wild grass and flowers, and followed the adults happily.
Feng, who had gone with them, looked at the things in their baskets and couldn't help but ask, "What are you going to do with all this?"
Daya said, "My aunt said she wanted to sell it."
Feng's eyes widened slightly. "This kind of stuff is everywhere. Who would buy it?"
Manbao was being carried on Zhou Wulang's back at this time. Hearing this, he shouted, "Second sister-in-law, I will buy it. I am willing to buy anything that looks good."
This is truly a prodigal son.
Feng couldn't help but ask, "Auntie, do you have money?"
Manbao shook his head honestly, "Not now, but there will be in the future."
She is very confident in herself. Even Koko says she is very smart, so she must be very capable and will certainly have no problem making money.
Feng didn't stop them, she just treated it as a children's game. After all, the things were theirs to take.
Once we arrived at the market, everyone started looking for a place to set up their stalls.
Zhou Erlang made a lot of baskets and winnowing baskets to sell. He took a spot where he knew the place well, put the things down and asked his wife to sell them. He also told Zhou Wulang and Zhou Liulang, "Keep a close eye on Manbao and Datou. Don't let them run around."
Before Zhou Wulang could say anything, Manbao patted his chest and said, "Don't worry, second brother. I will definitely take good care of my nephews. We are not going anywhere."
Zhou Erlang smiled and reached out to touch her head.
Then he pushed the cart and went to sell grain with Zhou Dalang.
This market is held every five days. Several nearby villages gather together to form a market in the relatively large Dali Village.
Because there is a mountain here, and there is a Taoist temple on the mountain, with several Taoists in the temple. Every year on the 19th day of the first lunar month, there is a particularly grand temple fair here, and even some people in the county town will come from afar to participate.
That is the big temple fair, and the other small temple fairs are held during important solar terms. These traditions have been around for many years.
According to what Manbao heard from the elders at the village entrance, these customs have existed since they were children.
For this reason, Keke was particularly regretful, saying that it was a popular science system dedicated to collecting biological materials. They also had a system in their encyclopedia dedicated to collecting this kind of folk customs. It was unknown how many sub-tasks could be derived from the formation of this temple fair, and it would definitely earn a lot of points.
At that time, Manbao felt that Keke was a little sad, so he threw sweet words at her without asking for money, "But I just like Keke, I don't like other systems."
In short, this is a big market where villagers exchange what they have with each other.
So the question is, does everyone barter with money?
Of course not!
When Manbao saw his second sister-in-law put out the baskets, winnowing baskets, etc., they immediately put down their baskets full of wild grasses and flowers, forming a row with Feng's goods, and then squatted behind them, holding up their little faces and looking at the people passing by.
Zhou Erlang had been doing business at the market for many years and had a good reputation. So soon after he put his things on the market, an old woman came up with a basket on her back, looked through the winnowing basket and asked, "Can I trade for eggs?"
Feng thought for a moment and then agreed, saying, "Eggs are still two cents for three now, right?"
The old lady should be.
Feng began to calculate how many eggs she should give her, "Then you give me..."
She calculated and felt that her calculation was wrong, and her forehead was sweating. In the past, these things were done by her husband, and she always calculated the money when selling things.
Feng wiped her sweat. Seeing her sister-in-law was stumped, Manbao quickly jumped up and said, "Second sister-in-law, second sister-in-law, I know how to do it. Is our winnowing basket still 15 cents a piece?"
Feng knew that her aunt was clever and could do math. She loved playing the game of adding one penny and two pennies to figure out how much money was worth, so she nodded repeatedly and said, "Yes, our prices never change."
Manbao looked at the old lady curiously, "Where are your eggs?"
The old lady herself couldn't count, but before she went out, her family calculated the number of eggs she would need, but she still hoped that the Zhou family had made a mistake.
She came up quickly just now because she saw Zhou Erlang was not there.
She put down the basket and opened it to show Manbao her eggs. "They are all laid by our chickens. They are very good."
Manbao said, "Let me count."
The old lady was not happy. "You haven't told me how many eggs you want."
Manbao stared and asked, "I haven't counted them. How should I know how many eggs I need? I have to count them."
Hearing this, she knew that he was not going to do it. The old lady was amused and did not try to stop him. She said with a smile: "Then you better be careful not to break the eggs."
Manbao assured: "Don't worry, if anything gets broken, it's my fault."
She took the eggs out and piled them in piles of three, three more, until there were eight piles in total. The old lady counted the eggs, her heart skipped a beat, and she was about to take the eggs back.
Manbao clapped his hands and said happily, "I've counted it out, I've counted it out, sister-in-law, look, this is two coins, this is two coins, two coins, two coins... a total of sixteen coins."
The stall owner across the street watched the whole process and said happily, "This little girl is really smart."
Feng was very proud. "This is my sister-in-law. She is the smartest in our family."
Zhou Wulang and Zhou Liulang were also very proud, puffing out their chests and saying, "My sister!"
The old lady glanced at the two strong boys and swallowed the words on the tip of her tongue. She said, "Your winnowing basket is fifteen cents, but you charged me one cent more. I'll just put this pile away."
Manbao thought it made sense, so he took the initiative to take the two smallest eggs from the pile and gave them to her, saying, "Fifteen cents, I should give you back one and a half eggs, but half an egg can't be divided, so we're losing a little. You can take these two back."
The old lady choked.
Feng also saw the old lady's actions and responded with a smile. She quickly put the eggs into their basket and smiled as she asked the old lady to choose the dustpan she liked. She also said, "We won't be picky about the size of the eggs. Let's exchange them like this."
Although she did not suffer any loss, the old lady was still a little unhappy. She looked at Manbao and said, "This child is white and fat, he doesn't look like he comes from our village."
Feng smiled and said, "My aunt is the youngest in the family. Her parents-in-law love her dearly, and her brothers also love her, so they raise her with great care. I'm not bragging, but there's no girl in the surrounding villages who's prettier than our aunt."
Everyone looked closely and found that it was true.
This child not only has cute facial features, but is also white and chubby, with a round and rosy little face. You can tell at first glance that he is a blessed person.
The old lady's worries disappeared, and she nodded with a smile, "Yes, she is beautiful."
Manbao was immediately delighted by the compliment and enthusiastically introduced his wares to the old lady. "Auntie, take a look at my things too. Look at my flowers. They're so beautiful. Take them home and put them on the windowsill. Just looking at them will make you feel better."
Being called "Auntie" made the old lady feel younger. She said happily, "You gave it to me? Look how polite you are."
Just reach out and take it.
Manbao's eyes sparkled as he said, "It's not a gift. It's only one penny a handful. It's not expensive at all."
The old lady withdrew her hand with a whoosh, and asked with wide eyes, "What? These wild flowers cost money? Aren't there all over the mountain?"
"Yes," Manbao said confidently, "but I took it off."
Feng quickly said, "Don't mind me, Auntie. These are just the kids playing around. They've been clamoring to do business at home, so I brought them out to see for themselves."
The old lady felt a little better, but she didn't reach out to take the flowers again, for fear that Manbao would ask her for money.
So he picked up a dustpan and left quickly.
Manbao watched her leave with a look of longing, and sighed with his friends: "Why don't you buy some? Our flowers are so beautiful."
Friends: ...We had expected this a long time ago, so we have no regrets at all.
The little friends looked at the people coming and going on the street with great interest. They were very happy to be able to come to the market.
People came one after another to buy baskets and winnowing baskets. Manbao always helped his second sister-in-law to count the money, and then recommended his own flowers and plants. Every adult was happy to reach out to take them at first, but immediately withdrew their hands when they knew they had to pay.
As the market day was almost over, not only did the eldest and second brothers not come back, but they couldn't sell any of their flowers and plants, and the flowers were even a little wilted.
Manbao looked at it with a worried sigh. Seeing that there was not much left in the winnowing basket in front of his second sister-in-law, but there was still a lot left in the basket, he arranged her flowers and plants in the basket.
Feng looked at her with a frightened look on her face. "Auntie, you're not going to ask your guests to buy your flowers and plants if they buy baskets, are you?"
Manbao, who simply felt that the flowers and plants would be wasted if they couldn't be sold, was planning to give them away when his eyes lit up. "Oh, Second Sister-in-law, you're so smart. Why didn't I think of this idea?"
Feng wanted to sew her mouth shut.
(End of this chapter)
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