The market was not far away, on the open space outside the primary school gate. When Du Jiang and the others arrived, the market was already very lively and noisy. Everyone, who had not seen such a lively scene for a long time, was like a country bumpkin. Looking at the crowded crowd and the countless stalls on both sides of the road, Du Jiang subconsciously stood on tiptoe to look, but there was no end in sight. There was a sea of people everywhere.
"Let's go, let's go too," said Yu's mother, the oldest person in the group.
Du Jiang, carrying a backpack, walked at the back, following the people in front into the crowded crowd. Perhaps because there were too many people, within two minutes Du Jiang completely lost sight of the people at the educated youth site. After looking around, she had to admit that she had indeed lost contact with the others. However, Du Jiang was not afraid of this and continued to walk around.
Looking at the stalls on both sides of the road, their thin and sallow faces were now full of joy, and they were smiling as if they had made a fortune.
"Peanuts, peanuts, peanuts grown in my own private plot of land"
"Tofu for sale, freshly baked tofu"
“Don’t miss these dried vegetables if you pass by.”
“…”
From food to daily necessities, it can be said that everything is very complete. Du Jiang even saw an old man setting up a stall to sell fish. The wooden barrels at home were densely packed with grass carp, catfish and carp of various sizes.
Standing in front of the stall, Du Jiang watched for a long time before going forward to line up. When it was her turn, there were not many fish left in the wooden barrel. Looking at the palm-sized fish that should be called fry, Du Jiang hesitated.
The old man chuckled and said, "Girl, if you're not in a hurry, just wait a little longer. Our fish ponds in Shangzhuang Village have had a bumper harvest this year, and new fish will be delivered to our village soon."
It was so fast that as soon as the words fell, two strong men came over with wooden barrels, shouting, "Make way, make way, we are delivering fish, everyone make way."
Hearing the sound, the crowded crowd made way for them. As the two approached, Du could vaguely see the tail flapping on the wooden barrel, which was obviously just caught.
If you don't buy such an opportunity, what are you waiting for? When the strong man put the wooden barrel on the ground, Du Jiang made a decisive move, "Uncle, give me five, two catfish and three carp, the bigger ones."
The old man suddenly smiled from ear to ear, "Okay, wait a moment," and quickly reached into the barrel and rummaged through it. He quickly found five straw ropes that had been woven in advance and strung them together and weighed them. "Five, 40 cents a pound, a total of 30 pounds. No ticket required."
Du Jiang quickly took out the money and handed it to the old man. Seeing Du Jiang so quick and easy, the old man was very happy. He immediately took out two palm-sized carp and threw them into Du Jiang's backpack. "Little girl, this is for you."
"Thank you, sir," Du Jiang was very happy to have gotten a bargain. Seeing that the line behind him was getting longer and longer, he quickly moved aside to make way for the next stall.
Walking past the vegetable and apple stalls, Du Jiang had sold out all the dried honeysuckle in her backpack, along with the cloth coupons that were due to expire after the year. Now she had some more cabbage, radishes, and four or five pounds of small apples in her backpack.
Continuing to walk forward, Du Jiang calculated in his mind as he walked. Now his supplies were quite abundant, but there was still less meat.
Just as Du Jiang was thinking, the shouts of people selling chickens and ducks came from the front.
"Don't miss it if you pass by. The old hens at home lay one egg a day. You won't be cheated or hurt by it."
"Look at my ducks, the ducks that lay eggs."
The shouts came one after another, each one louder than the last, as if they were in a competition.
When Du Jiang arrived, she found that there were not many people at the two stalls, only a few scattered around. As she got closer, she realized why there were so few people. It was because the chickens and ducks were too thin. Seeing this, Du Jiang was very skeptical about the stall owner's claim of one egg a day, especially when she saw the stall owner's difficult and harsh look, she gave up immediately.
Although there were no chickens or ducks, I did see people selling noodles.
"Fine fine grain noodles, don't miss it if you pass by"
Du Jiang approached and looked at the cardboard box placed on the ground by the stall owner. He squatted down and said, "Auntie, how much are these noodles?"
"Two pounds of noodles a bunch. Trade your grains for wild food. You can also pay with money, but it's one yuan a bunch." The old lady's eyes lit up when she saw Du Jiang's outfit and the basket on her back. She spoke warmly, "Girl, don't be fooled by the dust on the outer packaging of the noodles. It doesn't affect the taste at all."
Du Jiang looked up at the old lady's clothes. He had to say that compared to the patched coarse linen clothes he had seen before, this old lady's clothes were much cleaner and tidier, especially the sleeves. Du Jiang saw that one of the sleeves was stained with powder similar to white flour.
"Auntie, how many bags of noodles do you have? Can you make it cheaper?"
As soon as Du Jiang said this, the old lady's eyes brightened. She no longer cared about the scattered guests, picked up the box on the ground and motioned Du Jiang to follow her.
Seeing this, Du Jiang didn't hesitate and followed the old lady to the grass beside the road. After they walked about a hundred meters away from the market, the old lady stopped and said, "Miss, here are twenty in total. If you want all of them, I'll give you 75 cents each."
"Auntie, are you an employee of the noodle factory?"
The old lady immediately became alert upon hearing this, and even took a step back. Du Jiang quickly raised her hand to signal, "Auntie, I saw the white flour on your sleeve. I want to ask you if this is from a legitimate source?"
"What do you mean? What do you want to do?" It would be fine if you didn't ask, but once you asked, the old lady became more alert.
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