Chapter 139 Chapter 139 Update.
Ji Xu went to a big shop in the East Market and looked around. Some of the tiger and leopard skins still had the tails of the animals retained; some fox skins also had the heads retained for the sake of appearance.
The shopkeeper kept asking her to touch the leather and see how smooth and beautiful it was. However, she felt as if she could see the appearance of the animal itself, so she didn't dare to touch it anymore, and she couldn't get over this hurdle in her heart.
Besides, most of these skins were made into various kinds of precious fur coats for wealthy families to wear. They were expensive, more than ten taels each. She couldn't afford them with her money. Moreover, if she bought these furs but didn't preserve them properly, she would end up losing money.
Therefore, I still plan to buy wool or wool products, which makes me feel at ease.
Because she got up early to make braised food, Tian told her to get enough sleep in the second half of the day to recuperate. Seeing that she came back at this time, she told her to go to bed and not to touch these miscellaneous things, leaving them to her and the three little ones.
If you can't get a loan, you can only do what you can with the money you have. After all, a mortgage is a large sum, and you can't expect to earn enough all at once.
She asked the mercenary Zhang Er to inquire about this matter, and she told him that she could only stockpile 21 taels of rice in the near future.
Zhang Er also did the same thing, looking for cheap wool for her from everywhere, and then facilitated the transaction in the future, and collected some money from the wine sales.
In the blink of an eye, it was the last day of October. The imperial court held the Grand Nuo Ceremony on this day every year. Along the Wei River, there would be Grand Nuo dancers performing Nuo dances for a whole day, with the sound of drums thundering, and the scene was very spectacular.
The Imperial College and the Elementary School gave their students a day off on this day. Ji Feng loved to join in the fun and had been looking forward to this day for a long time. She got up early in the morning and combed her hair in front of the diamond-shaped mirror.
Because the Imperial College was on holiday, Tian Shi did not go to Huai City to set up her stall that day. Instead, she took over Ji Xu's stewed food stall at Jiaomen City and said:
"Don't be so busy. Go watch the fun with your sisters. Just watch for a little while at the east end of Wei Bridge. Don't follow the Nuo dance too far. Who knows if there are any kidnappers among the crowd."
The east end of Weiqiao is right next to Jiaomen City. These children usually play in this area, not far from home. Tian has repeatedly warned them,
"Especially Xiaozhu and Xiaoyao, you two, follow your elder sister and second sister and look around at the east end of Wei Bridge. Even if you get separated, you can return in two steps.
You must not follow strangers, or they will sell you as slaves and lock you up with the cattle and sheep, and you will never see your family again."
The two of them agreed, especially the youngest one, who probably remembered the time when she lived in the same pen with cattle and sheep, and nodded her head like a stone pestle for pounding rice.
"We can't be caught by Madam Xiao!"
She held Ji Xu tightly and gestured.
This was all what Tian had been telling her every day, saying that the Xiao woman had a sweet exterior but a bitter heart, and that she was a cannibal from the mountains who ate children. If they weren't tasty, she would sell them as slaves so she could use the money to buy better food.
"It's a good thing that Xiaoyao came to my house, otherwise she would have been living outside, suffering hardships and being a slave for the rest of her life."
Tian often said this to Xiaoyao, pointing at them to let her know that this was her family, and pointing to the yard to teach her, and Xiaoyao would gesture:
"Home, Xiaoyao's home."
"The yellow cattle at home, the cat at home, the little starling at home, the hen at home, the spider at home."
He pointed everywhere, and finally pointed at Tian, gesturing:
"Mother!"
Tian's heart softened, and she hugged her, kissed her, and called her her good daughter.
Because Xiaoyao was taken in, and Chang'an is so big, and the world is so big, I'm afraid I will never be able to find my true relatives again.
Furthermore, after spending time together, Tian also fell in love with her and planned to adopt her as her daughter and raise her to adulthood. However, because she was not her own daughter, she was afraid that she would not be able to raise her close to her, so she often used these words to recite in her ears. On the one hand, she would only recognize her as a human being after she was familiar with her; on the other hand, it would teach her a taboo in her heart so that she would not be deceived by thieves again.
Therefore, the little one never played outside alone. Sometimes when he saw a stranger passing by in the alley, he would pull Jizhu and run into the house and lock the door.
What's worse, there was a girl named Xiao who lived at the entrance of the alley. She also smiled at everyone she met. She was afraid of that woman. Every time she heard people talking about Mrs. Xiao, she would be startled and run to hide in Tian's arms.
Tian taught her, "That's the neighbor, not the woman Xiao who ate the child. Think about it, Xiaoyao, they look different, don't they?"
After a while, I was no longer afraid of that girl.
It was winter now, and the banks of the Wei River were freezing cold. Ji Xu didn't like such a lively atmosphere, but he was worried about the little ones coming, so he came. Now he was holding the little one's hand and tightening his cotton coat.
There were a few local people stationed by the water, looking forward to the arrival of the Nuo ceremony while eating the cooked food they bought at Jiaomen Market, which smelled like meat and leeks.
Seeing this, Ji Feng was greedy. She brought a purse with change and went to the store to buy mutton Hu pancakes to share with them. Ji Xu had just finished his breakfast and was not greedy for the greasy Hu pancakes at the moment, so he told Ji Feng not to buy hers.
"When will you come?"
"It's almost here. They set out from Maoling Town and have always passed by us at the hour of Chen in previous years."
The people were talking about it.
“Here it comes!”
Ji Feng was chewing on a Hu pancake, jumped three feet high, and pointed to the distance.
There were only shadows on the waterside. Nuo people were wearing wooden beards, with their exposed upper bodies painted in bright colors. They were dancing Nuo dances with great vigor and chanting songs to drive away evil spirits and eliminate epidemics.
There were many people following along the riverbank, most of them were from Maoling. The sound of drums was getting closer and closer, and the tapping of shoes sounded like thunder, creating ripples on the Wei River.
Hundreds of people suddenly gathered around the place where they stopped. The drumbeats were deafening and they had to put their ears close to hear what they were saying.
"Sister, sister!"
Ji Feng was so happy that he clapped his hands and cheered. After calling out to her a few times, Ji Xu vaguely heard her and lowered his head to listen.
"Sister, do you remember that when we were in our hometown, we also watched the Nuo dance on the day of the Eighth Festival? But the number of people was not as large as this group. There must be at least a hundred people here!"
Ji Xu remembered and smiled, "We even got half a jar of honey that time."
“And snail paste!”
Jizhu was also deeply impressed. She was naturally happy to get these good things.
Ji Xu still remembered that the leader of the Nuo dance at that time was Tian Shefu. He took a look at the person leading the team now and found that he was a stranger. It was said that this team was composed of strong soldiers trained in the military camp.
The Nuo ceremony was carried out along the shore. Seeing that his sisters were not enjoying the performance to their heart's content, Ji Xu followed the crowd for a while, but not too far. He lowered his head and said,
"If we walk any further, we'll be in the city. Let's go back."
Suddenly, a strange woman with a crazy look on her face grabbed Xiaoyao and muttered something that was hard for others to hear.
"You are one of our family, I won't mistake you."
He even pulled and snatched the little one, and regardless of Ji Xu's attempt to stop him, he hugged her and turned around and left.
"Someone come! Someone's kidnapping! Someone's kidnapping!"
The strong woman was so powerful that she actually managed to carry the man away. Ji Xu was no match for her and started shouting, but his voice was drowned out by the increasingly intense beating of the drums.
Here Ji Feng obediently stopped dancing with the Nuo dancer and wanted to withdraw. When he turned around, he disappeared.
I vaguely saw a strange strong woman carrying Xiaoyao away. Xiaoyao was so scared that he started crying and opened his arms to ask Ji Xu.
It's a kidnapper!
She was so anxious that she jumped up and down, holding Ji Zhu tightly, squeezed into the crowd, and followed, shouting all the way:
"The kidnappers are kidnapping people! The kidnappers are kidnapping people!"
"This is unbelievable, this is unbelievable!"
Here, the big yak ran panting to the Jiaomen Market, weaving in and out of the tunnels, bumping into someone and falling flat on his face. He ignored the people cursing at him, got up and ran to the braised food area, sweating profusely, and shouted to Tian:
"Auntie Tian, this is terrible! Your little one has been kidnapped!"
This big yak is the grandson of Aunt Liu from Sangshu Lane. He often plays Cuju with Ji Feng in the lane. This morning, he was also watching the Nuo performance on the Wei River, right next to the sisters. He also chatted a lot with Ji Feng, so he watched the whole process and ran here to report the news.
Tian was selling braised food here. Upon hearing this, he didn't care about anything else and rushed out of the market.
There were a bunch of customers left in front of the stall. One of them paid, but the braised food on the table was only half cut. He called out twice from behind, but Tian didn't even turn his head.
They also understood the anxiety of losing their child and thought of dispersing and coming back next time.
Aunt Meng, who was selling melons and vegetables nearby, stopped these people and helped collect money and pick braised food for them. She was usually taken care of by Ji Xu, and seeing Ji Xu doing a lot of business every day, she knew the prices of various things, so she naturally lent a hand.
Tian followed the yak all the way to the bank of the Wei River, calling out to the crowd:
"Xiaoyao! Xiaoyao!"
"Xu'er! Xu'er!"
After searching around, they found the four sisters in a secluded place under a willow tree, away from the crowd. The youngest sister was sobbing.
A strong-looking woman in blue cloth was squatting nearby, trying to reach out to Xiaoyao, who dodged out of fear.
Here Ji Xu was hugging her to comfort her, when suddenly a figure rushed out from the corner of his eye and grabbed the woman tightly. It turned out to be Tian, and she was holding a cutting knife from the braised food table in her hand.
"You black-hearted bastard, come with me to see the authorities!"
Tian said she wanted to see the official, but she was so angry that she wanted to hit him. Ji Xu hurriedly stopped her:
"Mother, this is Xiaoyao's old friend!"
Feng and Zhu also stepped forward to stop them, saying it was a misunderstanding.
Just now.
Ji Xu caught up with the woman who had left the crowd, grabbed her and said:
"You, sister-in-law, put the child down!"
"This is someone from my Yan family!"
"Xiaoyao, Xiaoyao, I finally found you! Come home with me...
He yelled and muttered, even looking at Ji Xu with vigilance, holding the little one in his arms, as if Ji Xu was the one who stole the child.
The drumbeats were weak in this secluded place. When Ji Xu heard her call him "Xiao Yao" and talk about the Yan family, he remembered that Xiao Yao had written the word "Yan" crookedly in the past.
At the time, I thought it was a coincidence and didn't think much about the surname. Now that I realized something, I didn't grab it, but just followed closely and explained:
"This child was once sold into slavery and was adopted by my family. Are you her relative?
You scared her like this, let me hold her and comfort her."
After hearing these words, the strong woman finally let down her guard, because Xiaoyao had completely forgotten her and kept twisting his buttocks in her arms to resist.
When she was in Ji Xu's arms, she hugged her tightly and refused to let go. She shed tears on her shoulder and babbled as if she was telling something.
Although Kuang Xiaoyao was not dressed richly, she was clean, her black hair was combed into a cute bun, and her face was chubby. The strong woman looked at her and believed Ji Xu's words. The two of them stopped under the willow tree and started talking.
Immediately afterwards, Tian rushed forward with a knife.
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