Chapter 81 Grass Market, Borrowing a Cart

As soon as Mingdai entered the main room, she saw Mrs. Huang squatting on the ground and putting firewood into the kang.

When he saw someone coming in, he looked up and greeted her in surprise: "Oh, sister Xiao Ming is here, come and sit on the kang."

As for Zhou Sinian who was behind her, she politely ignored him and did not dare to greet him.

Mingdai followed her in with a smile. On the kang, Aunt Huang was doing needlework facing the window, while Tiedan and Goudan were lying on the kang playing catching stones.

Seeing Ming Dai and the others coming in, Huang Mazi hurriedly called out, "Little Miss Ming, come here quickly. The kang is very warm! You two naughty monkeys, go play on the kang!"

Ming Dai waved her hands quickly: "Auntie, let them play here, I'll just sit on the edge of the kang."

Aunt Huang wouldn't let her and had to drag her up, so Mingdai had to take off her shoes and go up. Zhou Sinian sat in the position she had just sat in, looking curiously at the stones that Tiedan and Goudan were playing with.

Aunt Huang looked at Zhou Sinian's expression and thought, well, he was in a good mood.

Then he started to greet Mingdai: "How is your kang? Is it warm? If not, let your elder brother take a look for you."

Mingdai put the basket on the kang table and replied with a smile: "It's hot. I don't dare to sleep on the kang at night. I have to sleep in the middle."

Aunt Huang rubbed her hair with a needle and said, "Yes, you are not used to sleeping on the kang, so sleep in the middle first. Put a basin of water in the room, otherwise you will get angry easily."

Mingdai nodded and took the things out of the basket.

Aunt Huang looked at him and said angrily, "What are you doing bringing things here again?"

Ming Dai looked at Zhou Sinian and said, "Bring him here to play. He needs to eat, too."

At the same time, I was also a little surprised: "Why are there no yellow peaches and yellow apricots?"

Aunt Huang pouted, "Her mother took her to her grandmother's house. Her mother's house collapsed, so she went back last month to help rebuild it. The second child also went, but it's still not finished in a month. The clay bricks were all made fresh."

Mingdai nodded. No wonder she didn’t see Mrs. Zhou either.

She took four pieces of peach cakes and four pieces of tiaozi cakes, thinking that they would give one piece to each of them, and now she gave them all to the two brothers.

"Tiedan, you and your brother have two pieces each, eat them."

Tiedan smiled and said thank you before taking the paper bag. After hearing what his brother said, Goudan also said thank you loudly, looking very smart.

I have to say that the two children of the captain are well raised.

Mingdai took out two more pieces of pine nut candy and four chestnuts and handed them to them. She put the rest in the basket and handed it to Zhou Sinian.

Zhou Sinian is satisfied with the QQ paper bag, he has a lot.

Ming Dai took out the comic book and asked, "Is the book I gave you last time still there? I brought a new one."

Aunt Huang nodded quickly: "Yes, yes, I'll put it away, just in case the two of them tear it apart."

Then he shouted towards the outer room: "From the old house! From the old house!"

Mrs. Huang responded and came in with a basin of water and a rag soon.

一個月的相處，她可記住了瘋子愛幹淨的事情，她進來手腳麻利的把炕梢擦了一遍，尤其是她男人常睡的地方，就怕瘋子聞到一點臭味，不滿意開揍！

Aunt Huang rolled her eyes at her actions and said, "You also know that your man's feet smell!"

Why didn’t you work harder before?

When she was done, Auntie Huang spoke up: "Where are those two comic books? Hurry up and find them for Xiao Ming. I've brought two more."

Mrs. Huang responded, rubbed her wet hands on her cotton-padded jacket, walked to the corner and opened the cabinet.

The movements were so smooth and flowing that Auntie Huang's eyes twitched. One has smelly feet and the other doesn't like to clean. These two are a perfect match!

The book was brought to her by her. Mingdai flipped through it and found it was well preserved. She handed the new one to the two children.

"This is new. Take a look at it first. I'll change it for you after you finish looking at it."

The two were about to take it with joy, but Auntie Huang slapped their hands away: "Wait and see, your hands are covered in oil."

Mingdai handed the letter to her with a smile, and Aunt Huang put it in the sewing basket.

"Now we can still go out and visit friends, but once the snow blocks the door, we won't be able to go anywhere."

Mingdai thought about the news from her previous life and nodded in agreement.

"In two days, when the people in the mountains come out, there will be a grass market here. I'll call you then. There are a lot of mountain products there that you can buy and exchange."

Ming Dai was surprised: "Won't the commune arrest them?"

Aunt Huang shook her head: "It's only once a year, the commune has tacitly agreed not to arrest them. There is little land in the mountains, and not enough food. If they don't come out to exchange some food before the New Year, they will starve to death the next year. The commune must also consider the actual situation."

Mingdai then understood that, yes, policies also had to be decentralized according to local conditions.

(This is just a plot setting, readers, please don’t take it too seriously.)

She was immediately interested: "What are they?"

Aunt Huang described to her excitedly: "There are so many good things in the mountains, mostly food. Large hazelnuts, pecans, pine nuts and red dates. The ones I gave you last time were brought back from my parents' home.

As for fruits, we need frozen pears and frozen persimmons to survive the winter. You don’t need to buy them. My parents’ home and your eldest sister-in-law’s parents’ home both gave them to you. Just give some to you.

There are also various kinds of dried meat, and if you are lucky you can buy fresh ones. There are also plenty of other dried wild vegetables.

Oh, and there are also many people selling medicinal herbs, but most of them are sent to the commune's purchasing station, and few are sold at the market."

Mingdai thought that she could buy something that was not available in her space.

She also brought up the matter of exchanging supplies. Many things in her space could be exchanged.

"Auntie, I'm planning to write back and exchange some things before the New Year. Do you have anything to exchange?"

Aunt Huang looked up in surprise: "Oh, this is great. Last time I came back, I heard that the old sisters all wanted to change something. These families are in need of everything."

Ming Dai nodded. "My father has connections with enamel factories. He can get enamel basins and enamel pots in exchange. He also has connections with towel factories, glove factories, and soap factories. They may just have more defective products."

Aunt Huang was very surprised, because in their commune's supply and marketing cooperative, everything had to be snatched away!

"These are good enough. We don't care whether they are defective or not. Country people don't care about that."

Ming Dai smiled and said, "These are all exchanged at a discount, which is quite affordable. I also exchanged them for some defective items in the city."

Aunt Huang looked at Mingdai's beautiful smile and liked her more and more.

Why didn't you give birth to a good child? You missed out on a good girl!

She is unlucky!

"I'll go back and ask. I'll go to your house tomorrow to find you. Don't worry, they all have tight mouths. I won't call the one with a mouth as big as the waist of cotton pants. I'll give you an estimate of how much you need to exchange. I know the prices at the supply and marketing cooperative. These shameless people will definitely bargain with you because you look young!"

Ming Dai was overjoyed: "Thank you, Auntie, you have helped me a lot!"

Aunt Huang said to her with emotion: "You are the one who has helped us a lot. These people exchange things because their families are going to hold weddings. It would be nice to exchange something as a betrothal gift or dowry. We are far away from the commune, so we can't get anything good, so the dowry and betrothal gifts nearby are not very good."

Ming Dai nodded: "Then I will write a letter to pick out something festive, perfect as a dowry or betrothal gift."

Aunt Huang smiled so hard that her eyes were not visible: "That's great! If you have pillowcases with red double happiness or goose patterns, please leave me one set. My niece is going to get married down the mountain at the beginning of the year, and it will be just right for her dowry."

Mingdai thought that there was just enough space, so she nodded.

"Auntie, you don't have to come to my house to see me tomorrow. I want to borrow a flatbed truck and go to the mountain to dig some soil tomorrow. The roots of chives have sprouted, and I plan to plant some to try."

Aunt Huang was very surprised: "How come you are so capable? You actually managed to grow the crops?"

Ming Dai nodded with a smile: "It has sprouted, I don't know if it can grow. I plan to dig some rotten soil from the mountain, it has high fertility."

Aunt Huang nodded: "Indeed, you can use the cart later to take it away, but you won't need it now."

Mingdai nodded.