Chapter 12 Chapter 12 Busy farming season.
Jin was so busy that she crouched down and hunched over as she returned to the east room.
She thought to herself, "We have 20 mu of land, and the rice is growing very well. It's almost harvest time. What's the value of those steamed buns? Can they sell them every day?" She just waited and saw that if the second wife couldn't pay the tax, the head of the household would end up in jail!
Ji Feng carried water into the kitchen and said to Ji Xu:
"It must be my aunt peeking."
She closed the door and said, "Sister, I think we should use the lock from the house to lock the kitchen when we leave home."
Their kitchen was usually not locked, but the sleeping room had an iron lock, and Ji Xu carried the key with him.
Ji Xu thought for a moment and said, "It would be more conspicuous if I locked it suddenly. I'd better take the remaining yeast and brown sugar to the sleeping room and keep it locked as usual."
Ji Feng did as he was told. He tied the two bamboo tubes together with straw and made a knot. He picked up a branch from the pile of firewood under the stove and broke it into a three-inch long piece.
The mud walls in the house were old and cracked, with tiny cracks everywhere. She stood on tiptoe and stuck the branch into the east wall, leaving half of it exposed. She then hung a bamboo tube on it to prevent mice from biting it.
In the kitchen, Ji Xu looked at the unpainted window and thought to himself, after paying the bill, this house must be repaired before winter.
At daybreak, Ji Xu was about to set out with his basket on his shoulder. Ji Zhu had just woken up, her eyes half-closed. She came to the kitchen and said in a tender voice:
"Xiaozhu, go help too."
Seeing that she was very sleepy, Ji Xu tucked her soft hair and softened his heart:
"You're so sleepy, stay home and sleep a little longer. We have quite a distance to walk. Sister, Xiaozhu helped lead the way the past two days, so we're already familiar with the route. I'll go by myself today."
Ji Feng laughed and said, "Sleepy bug, first use your saliva to dissolve those sticky eyelids!"
When Ji Zhu saw Ji Feng teasing her, she immediately widened her eyes, hugged Ji Xu's legs, tilted her face up, and said in a soft voice:
"Xiaozhu is not a sleepyhead. Xiaozhu also wants to help her sell steamed buns."
Unable to resist her nagging, and besides, how could Ji Xu not understand his little sister's thoughtfulness, he finally helped her comb her hair and took her away.
There were three baskets in total, two of which were covered with linen, and the remaining one was bare. Yesterday she had woven a cover for the willow basket. Although there were some gaps, it was able to keep out the dust. She carried two in one hand and one in the other. Fortunately, these things were not heavy.
Ji Zhu stretched out her hand to help carry a basket. After all, she was only five years old. It would be a blessing if she didn't fall down while walking on the bumpy dirt road. So she let her eat the steamed buns in peace. This was breakfast, which she and Ji Feng had eaten earlier.
Some clean straw was stuffed around the basket, and when it arrived at Butcher Li's stall, the steamed buns were still warm.
"You're here early, young lady." Butcher Li greeted her and handed her a bamboo basket to hold his twenty steamed buns.
Ji Xu peeled off a corner and said, "There are also brown sugar steamed buns, which are sweeter, two cents each. Uncle, would you like to buy some to try?"
Seeing the steamed buns as red as jade emitting steaming heat, Butcher Li nodded immediately.
"Then give me five more brown sugar steamed buns."
He went to the livestock farmer's house to slaughter a pig at night, and brought the pig meat to the market to sell. He didn't have time to eat breakfast, so he was waiting for this bite.
He took it, tasted the brown sugar one first, and hurriedly called Ji Xu,
"Take five more!"
There are many people in his family, and there are three teenage boys, all of whom eat like cows.
After finishing his business with Butcher Li, Ji Xu continued to peddle his wares on the streets of the rural market. However, the rural market was exceptionally deserted today.
Ji Zhu couldn't help but wonder, "Sister, did we come too early? There aren't many people here."
Ji Xu thought so at first. When it was daybreak and the market should have been bustling with people, the market was still deserted. Even the woman selling rice cakes was nowhere to be seen.
Not to mention the villagers from nearby villages who came to the market to buy things, even the farmers and peddlers who came to sell goods with their shoulders or carts were sparsely populated. The streets seemed empty, and some of the shops where people could sit and do business had their doors closed.
Ji Xu walked around shouting but received no business. Finally he met a woman and asked her to buy two. While the woman was picking up steamed buns, he chatted with her for a while.
I just realized that farming is very busy these days and every household is busy harvesting rice in the fields, so they don’t have time to go to the market.
Most of the women who were occasionally seen going to the market went straight to Butcher Li's meat stall.
"Give me two pounds of fat!"
"Farm work at home is tiring, so I need to harvest more fat. It's oily and I can eat it to help me work harder."
Ji Xu simply sold steamed buns near Li the Butcher's stall, and there were more people there.
Butcher Li thought of his own daughter who was about the same age as her. There was always meat at home, and she was raised to be twice as strong as him.
Ji Xu was so thin that his clothes were too loose for him, and he had a younger sister with him. He looked like a sensible girl from a poor family, so he couldn't help but feel pity for her and helped her shout,
"That girl's steamed buns are delicious. I just bought some and tried them. Can you lie?"
In this way, Ji Xu sold three or five, but this was obviously not enough.
As it was getting closer to noon, the number of people was dwindling. Butcher Li had very little meat left and was about to close her stall, but most of the steamed buns in her willow basket were still unsold.
Ji Xu said goodbye to the butcher Li and left the city with Ji Zhu.
"Sister, are you not selling steamed buns anymore?" Ji Zhu asked, curious why she went back before selling all the steamed buns.
"Yes, but there are not many people in the market. Let's go to the fields to sell."
After leaving the town, looking up, you can see golden rice fields on both sides of the dirt road, extending all the way to the foot of the mountain in the distance. People are busy working, all of them are families, such as harvesting rice, carrying baskets, and crushing rice grains... Under the scorching sun, they are so busy that sweat is pouring down their faces.
Ji Xu walked along the ridges of the fields, shouting his wares from house to house in his clear and melodious voice.
"Steamed buns, filling and sweet white jade steamed buns..."
"It's the girl from the market yesterday!"
In the field, a little boy with a cloth wrapped around his head, bare chest, calf-nose trousers, hemp shoes, and holding a handful of rice ears recognized her.
"Aunt! You said yesterday you would buy me white jade steamed buns!"
He turned his head and called out, and the person who was bending over to harvest rice was his grandfather.
The man was harvesting rice, also wearing a calf-length pants and a linen shirt. Upon hearing this, he raised his head and wiped the sweat off his face with the towel draped over his shoulders.
Yesterday at the market, his son saw the plump white jade steamed buns in someone else's hand and started asking for them. However, when he asked, they were sold out. So he promised his son that he would buy them for him next time he went to the market.
The whole family was harvesting rice today, so naturally they had no time to go to the market. Unexpectedly, this girl happened to come to the fields of their Jin family to sell her goods.
"Okay, Jiang Niang, let's have steamed buns for lunch. You don't have to make any other lunch." He said to his wife.
On weekdays they eat two meals a day, but farming is hard work and they may not be able to survive with only two meals a day. The women in the family will prepare an extra meal and put it in a rice basket and send it to the fields.
In this way, firstly, manpower must be spared to go back and cook; secondly, women have to work in the fields and cook at the same time, which is also very tiring.
Fortunately, there are people selling steamed buns in the fields, so it is convenient to buy them. I don’t ask them to be very delicious, but at least they are made of flour and can fill me up.
"Okay."
The woman called Jiang Niang also agreed and came over to buy Ji Xu's steamed buns.
Her little son immediately came forward. How could he not be hungry after being busy in the fields since early morning?
The woman looked into Ji Xu's willow basket and wondered why the steamed buns were so smooth. She thought to herself, no wonder her son couldn't forget them after seeing them in the market.
Ji Xu introduced: "White jade steamed cakes are one coin each, and brown sugar steamed cakes are sweeter, two coins each."
The woman saw that her steamed buns were very solid, each one was as big as a bowl and could fill her up.
There were two adults and one child in her family, so she said, "Give me three white jade steamed cakes."
"Mom, I still want to eat that brown sugar!" said the little boy.
"You're just wasting money," the woman scolded him, but she finally softened her heart. "Never mind, give him another brown sugar steamed bun."
"Please wait a moment, young lady. I have to go home to get some money. It's not convenient to carry money with me when I go out to work in the fields. I might lose it somewhere and it would be a pity." The woman said shyly.
"It's okay. I just need to sell things nearby, so I won't go far." Ji Xu first gave four steamed buns to the boy.
The young man, tanned, held the steamed bun in his thin arms. He took the brown sugar bun and took a bite. It was so sweet! Even though it was cold, it was still soft and not hard at all.
He ran to Aung and raised his hands, "Aung, try this! It's delicious!"
"Eat it yourself." However, the child insisted on letting him taste it, so the man had to take a small bite.
My mouth and heart were filled with sweetness, and I ate the white jade steamed bun, which was soft and fluffy. I finished the whole thing without realizing it, and it took a lot of strength to pick up the sickle.
The young man in the calf-nosed pants took another bite of the brown sugar bun, which was still half left. He thought of leaving it for his mother, and then he picked up the white jade steamed bun to eat. He took a bite and felt so satisfied.
The fields of each family were connected, and the people in the neighboring fields saw that they were eating delicious food here, and they also waved to Ji Xu.
"Girl, come here, let me see your white jade steamed cakes!"
More and more people came to the fields to buy steamed buns. Ji Zhu was very happy to see that there were fewer and fewer steamed buns in the willow basket.
The author has something to say:
----------------------
Baozi collects it, love you~
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
