The street was quite wide, with stalls lining both sides. It was a market specifically for vendors, and oxcarts stopped here too; they would take the oxcarts back from here. Xiaoli followed her mother and third aunt, walking towards the neatly arranged houses.
After walking for a while, we saw another street. There were far fewer stalls here, and most of the shops were selling grains and oils, snacks, furniture, and some general stores.
Xiao Li felt like she couldn't see enough; the quaint shops and the trinkets on the stalls were all quite interesting to her.
Mo Xiaoyue pulled Xiaoli into a fabric shop, and that was it.
Xiao Li surveyed the fabric shop, a room of about twenty square meters, divided into two parts. The larger part had ready-made garments hanging on the walls, with rolls of fabric piled on the shelves below. The smaller part had some tables, also piled with fabric, arranged by color and condition.
It was around nine or ten o'clock, a busy time when business was booming. Groups of two or three people were selecting fabrics, while others were looking at ready-made garments.
Yun Yuniang and Huang Chunhua headed straight for the brightly colored fabrics to make spring clothes. Xiao Li and Mo Xiaoyue followed. Huang Chunhua picked up a pink piece and held it up against Mo Xiaoyue, asking if she liked it. Mo Xiaoyue liked it too and chose a light green one. Yun Yuniang also bought several feet, and also chose a dark blue, a light blue, and a dark gray.
After choosing the fabric, Yun Yu Niang bought some scraps of cloth to make shoes. Mo Xiao Yue pulled Xiao Li along to look at hair ornaments and chose two pairs of pink silk flowers, one pair for each of the sisters. Xiao Li didn't refuse and took out a copper coin from her small purse to pay for them.
Emerging from the store, we were both covered in a light sweat, but thankfully we had a fruitful shopping experience. Judging from Huang Chunhua's smiling face, we must have found fabrics we were satisfied with.
Following Yun Yu Niang on her shopping spree, Xiao Li watched as her mother bought grains, oils, salt, and some spices. Suddenly, Mo Xiao Yue pulled her along, and she couldn't move anymore. Following her gaze, she saw a silver shop called Huanxi Pavilion.
Mo Xiaoyue jogged over and grabbed her mother: "Mom, let's go see if we have any little lilacs. Didn't you say you'd buy me a little lilac?" As she spoke, she touched her bald ear.
Huang Chunhua smiled and said, "Then let's go for a stroll."
The four of them then entered Huanxi Pavilion, where there were two counters. As soon as they entered, a shop assistant greeted them: "What would you like to see? What kind of things would you like to see?"
"Let's look at some small accessories, like silver earrings..." Huang Chunhua said somewhat reservedly.
"This way, please, please wait a moment." The clerk then told the other clerk at the counter what they needed. The clerk then took out a large box filled with various small ornaments, including silver stud earrings, silver earrings, and small rings... as well as some bracelets inlaid with small gemstones and silk flowers.
These silk flowers are much prettier than the ones I just bought, but they're also more expensive.
Mo Xiaoyue looked closely and immediately spotted a small lilac-shaped earring with a stamen in the center, which looked very delicate. She pointed to it and nodded to Huang Chunhua. Huang Chunhua also thought it was pretty and told the shop assistant to wrap it up.
Yun Yu Niang also asked Xiao Li if she had anything she liked, but Xiao Li shook her head. Her family wasn't very wealthy, and they had spent a lot of money on medicine during her illness, so she shouldn't buy anything indiscriminately. Yun Yu Niang was relieved to see that her daughter truly didn't want anything.
Xiao Li looked around at the furnishings in the room. Behind the counter was a shelf displaying various exquisite jewelry. Behind another counter were various gemstones and jadeite. On that shelf was a large jadeite ornament shaped like a cabbage, which looked incredibly lifelike. Xiao Li felt a strange attraction to that cabbage and really wanted to touch it.
"Could it be that she wants to eat cabbage?" Xiaoli thought to herself. She touched her hands, pulled down her sleeve, and covered them. By then, the earrings had been wrapped up, Huang Chunhua paid, and everyone left.
Yun Yuniang took Xiaoli's hand and said to Huang Chunhua, "Sister-in-law, let's go have lunch. It's already noon. After we finish eating, we can go see if there's anything we need to buy and then we can go back. It's too late and it might be difficult to catch a ride."
“Second sister-in-law is right. The children must be hungry. Let’s go to the market over there to eat. There’s plenty of food there, and it’s easier to catch a ride.” Huang Chunhua nodded in agreement.
So the group decided to return the way they came and go back to the market to eat.
There was indeed a wide variety of food at the market, all kinds of pastries and snacks, the aromas alone were enough to make one's mouth water. Yun Yu Niang picked out two of Xiao Li's favorites, wrapped them up, and took them home to eat slowly. The group then chose a stall selling wontons, each ordering a serving before sitting down to wait.
As they walked along, they saw a seed vendor. Xiaoli wanted to buy some seeds, so she said to Yunyu Niang, "Mother, I just saw a vendor selling candied hawthorns over there. I'd like to buy one."
Without a second thought, Yun Yuniang gave her four coins: "Go ahead, buy two, one for you and one for Xiaoyue."
Mo Xiaoyue quickly declined, "Second Aunt, I'm already so old, Xiaoli, you can eat it yourself, I don't want it."
Yun Yu Niang insisted, "It's a rare treat to come all this way, can't we even have a candied hawthorn? Second Aunt is treating, let's eat together, Xiao Li, go on your way."
Xiao Li took the money and got up to leave. She had taken her small purse with her when she left, which contained her allowance. She had counted it. There were fifty-six coins. She had just spent one coin on silk flowers, so she had fifty-five coins left. That should be enough to buy seeds.
Xiao Li arrived at the seed stall and looked around. The seeds all looked pretty much the same, packaged in small packets. She really didn't recognize them, so she had to ask the stall owner.
"Auntie, what kinds of seeds are these? Could you tell me about them?"
The stall owner was a woman in her thirties or forties, with a smiling face: "Young lady, what kind of seeds do you want to buy? I have most of the vegetable seeds here, as well as some flower seeds and some saplings. See if you need any of them."
"How are they sold? How much is a packet of seeds? And how much is a sapling?" Xiao Li asked.
“Vegetable seeds are one cent a packet, with about 50 seeds in it. Some vegetables are more expensive and have fewer seeds. Tree seedlings are two cents each.”
Xiao Li thought for a moment, then pointed to the vegetable seeds and said, "How about this, give me a packet of each type of vegetable seed, but we don't need the flower seeds. And give me one of each of the saplings except for the peach, pear, and jujube trees."
"Auntie, can you calculate how much it costs?" Xiao Li touched her purse.
The stall owner quickly packed the items as requested, including the saplings. After calculating, he said, "It's forty-one coins in total, but I'll only charge you 40. We've sold almost all the flower seeds here, so I'll give you the rest for free."
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