Chapter 36 actually requires crawling through a dog hole?
Logically speaking, since Li Shiyang has put his mind to this point, generally speaking, no one should object.
So everyone naturally followed Li Shiyang's arrangement, which allowed Li Shiyang to lead Li Shiyue and Li Wangshui to find the gap in the city wall so as to complete their purpose of entering the city—to buy salt.
But Li's father was no ordinary person!
Father Li flicked his sleeve and looked at Li Shiyang with a forced smile: "Nephew Shiyang, I came out with you this time to buy medicine at the clinic. You only went to buy salt and didn't buy any medicine. Isn't it a waste of my time to come out with you?"
Let me go with you; I'm nimble-footed and won't be a burden!
Li Shiyang had long since figured out what kind of person Li's father was, but while he could disregard his father's words, he still had to give Li Shiyue face.
So, after glancing at his father, Li Shiyang went to look at Li Shiyue. Li Shiyue looked constipated and cursed his father in his heart, but he still had to put on a dark face and ask his father, "Father, what medicine do you want to buy?"
"Give me a list, I'm good at remembering things, I'll memorize it all. If we can go into town and have the means, I'll buy it for Father, okay?"
"...What could a little girl like you possibly know? I'd better go myself."
Li Shiyue was unwilling to take her father along.
With a father like Li, so cold-hearted, it would be a miracle if he didn't go out and cause trouble for others.
Therefore, Li Shiyue frowned, her lips pursed tightly, and her hand touched the wood-chopping knife at her waist. Her tone was also somewhat impatient: "Father, you'd better not go. I think Qin Tao's health is good, and there's no need for her to take medicine."
If we need to prepare any medicine, we can buy it in the next small town we arrive at after we leave the prefectural city.
There's really no need to buy medicine in this prefectural city.
We went into town to do something important, like buying salt for everyone. I had already asked my brother Shiyang to let me bring my father along when we left.
Now that we know the situation in the prefectural city, Father, please don't add to the trouble.
As he spoke, Li Shiyue drew the woodcutter's knife from his waist, stared at Li's father, and then twirled the knife.
Anyone with eyes could see that this was a conflict between Li Shiyue and her own father.
Regardless of the fact that Li's father and mother had already divorced some time ago, even if they hadn't, Li Shiyue is Li's father's biological daughter, and it's never good for outsiders to interfere in the conflicts between the father and daughter.
Therefore, seeing Li Shiyue threatening her father, everyone around looked up at the sky and the ground but not at the two of them, and no one came out to say anything to smooth things over.
Finally, Li Shiyang stepped forward: "Since Uncle Wangguang cares so much about buying medicine, let's go together."
"Let me make this clear from the start: I, Sister Shiyue, Uncle Wangshui, and I are going to buy salt for everyone. If we can get into town, Uncle Wangguang can do as he pleases; we won't interfere."
Li Wangguang was taken aback by Li Shiyang's retort and began to have second thoughts.
But Li Wangguang remembered what Qin Tao had told him before he left: "Wangguang, this recipe was given to me by a sorceress from my maternal family. She said that drinking this will definitely give birth to a son!"
"Wangguang, go buy some for me to drink, and I'll give you a son to carry on the family line!"
Thinking of Qin Tao's words and his son, Li Wangguang mustered his courage and stiffly agreed to Li Shiyang's words.
After agreeing on the time and place to meet Ma Zi and Wei Zi, Li Shiyue gave Li Qiutian some instructions and then followed Li Shiyang with Li Shiyang, Li Shiyue's father, and Li Wangshui to the west side of the city wall.
As a result, around noon, after walking for more than an hour, they finally found the gap.
Looking at the dog hole that Li Shiyang had dug out, which was hidden by weeds, Li Shiyue felt a surge of unease.
Li Shiyue's expression clearly conveyed the message, "It's a dog hole." She tilted her head, looking at Li Shiyang with a mixture of amusement and exasperation.
Li Shiyang squatted down and removed the tattered wooden planks that had been deliberately placed behind the weeds. He looked up and smiled at Li Shiyue, saying, "Otherwise, why do you think it was a loophole in the city wall?"
This hole looks like a dog hole from the outside, but it's actually quite big inside. It's been dug out quite a bit, and an adult could easily crawl through it.
However, it has been a long time since I've been here, so I don't know what it's like over there.
"Here, let me use the knife. I'll crawl through first and check. If it's alright, then you can come over."
After a short while, Li Shiyang emerged again. He smiled and handed the wood-chopping knife to Li Shiyue before saying to the three of them, "There's no one over there. They look pretty much the same as I've seen before, nothing has changed."
"You guys go first, I'll cover the rear."
After Li Shiyue crawled inside, he took a few steps and indeed realized that the hole had been enlarged by human hands, large enough for an adult to crawl through on their stomach.
After emerging from the other end of the city wall, Li Shiyue brushed the mud off his body and observed the exit. It seemed to be a dead end in the city, with the entrance blocked by a pile of broken baskets.
The group carefully left the alley. Li Shiyue looked at the street outside. Although there was no bustling crowd, it was not completely silent either. There were a few people scattered around.
Seeing the scene outside, Li Shiyang turned around and bowed to his father, saying, "Uncle Wangguang, let's part ways here."
I went with Sister October and Uncle Wangshui to buy salt, while Uncle Wangguang went to buy medicine.
As we agreed beforehand, we'll meet tonight under the jujube tree outside the city.
Li Shiyang straightened his expression and solemnly continued to say to his father, "If Uncle Wangguang does not arrive at that tree on time, I will not wait for you."
Li Shiyue didn't even want to look at her father, turned around and followed Li Shiyang out of the alley and onto the street, leaving her father alone.
Li Shiyue hid her wood-chopping knife in the basket on her back. Li Wangshui was also carrying a basket, which she had picked up in the dead end earlier.
The basket wasn't exactly broken, just a bit dirty, but it was still usable.
"I know a salt shop. Let's go ask about the price first, and if it's reasonable, we'll buy it there."
If all goes well, we'll go to the pharmacy. We're bound to get headaches and fevers on the road, so it would be good to have some medicine on hand.
When Li Shiyue arrived at the salt shop, he saw that even the lowest grade of toxic black salt was priced three times higher than usual. He immediately understood why there were so few people at the salt shop.
It's probably because salt prices are too high, and city dwellers are reluctant to buy it, or perhaps they simply can't afford it.
Li Shiyue naturally didn't want to buy this lowest grade of black salt. This black salt contained many impurities and a toxic substance that people at the time called "salt poison." Eating too much of this salt would make you sick.
But even Li Shiyue, who carried gold coins, couldn't bear to buy the better quality salt.
In the past, the Li family ate yellow salt, which was better than black salt. As the name suggests, yellow salt has a brownish-yellow color, which is lighter than black salt, but not as bright white as green salt.
Thinking about what her family would need along the way, Li Shiyue used all the silver her mother had given her to buy one and a half catties of yellow salt.
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