Chapter 23 Chapter 23 Visiting the city.
Ji Huhai also wanted to eat steamed buns, but he was afraid of being spanked by Jin, so he went to the next door and pulled his grandfather's clothes.
"Aunt, Tiger Boy also wants to eat meat steamed buns."
Ji Fu was worried about the money, but he was used to playing the good guy. He glanced at Jin and said, "Runiang, why don't you buy some for the child?"
Ji Zhi nodded in agreement. She saw the food they were eating, with its thin skin, rich fillings, and sizzling oil, which made her very greedy.
Ji Yuan turned his face away and said, "I don't want to eat it."
She thought to herself that the people in Shengchangli could only look down on Ji Xu's craftsmanship, but it seemed that their level was just so-so.
Jin rolled her eyes and glared at them. "Are you a greedy ghost? I won't buy it! After all, I am your daughter. When you get home, your mother will make you steamed egg custard."
Ji Fu naturally gave up. It would be great to save some money. It cost two cents each, which was quite expensive. It looked like it was only the size of a fist.
Jin was filled with resentment and could only comfort herself by saying that the conditions of the second branch of the family were far inferior to hers. Their living conditions alone were much worse than theirs.
When Liao, who was queuing at the back, saw this, her face was full of smiles. She looked at Ji Xu selling steamed cakes as if she was watching her making money for her family. She even patted her husband and asked him to look.
"I've paid all the money I calculated mentally, and business is so good, I still think the marriage is possible."
Jin, who was walking hurriedly ahead, pulled Ji Huhai, who was licking his fingers to satisfy his craving for steamed buns, and said jokingly with an unhappy look on his face:
"Mrs. Jin, your niece is so promising. As her aunt, why don't you take care of her business?"
"I just didn't bring any extra money, otherwise my fellow villagers would definitely buy some."
Jin didn't have time to talk and left without looking back.
However, Cui Guangyao, Liao's youngest son, heard this and pulled her aside, saying, "Mom, didn't you bring your purse?"
"Why buy anything? When I marry you in the future, you can eat as much as you want." She was not going to waste the money, she was just bragging.
"My family is an old customer, why don't you sell it to me first? Don't even think about doing business with my Feng family in the future!"
It was the turn of Mrs. Xu from the Feng family to pay the money. Her granddaughter Feng Fuzhen looked around and also wanted to buy some to eat.
Unfortunately, the last ten were taken by the girl from Shengchang with just one sentence.
Feng Fuzhen didn't buy the steamed bun, and the resentment that had accumulated at the intersection just now was now vented towards Ji Xu.
First come first served, Ji Xu naturally went to the girl who wanted to buy everything first, and she was already helping people pick.
Then he apologized and said, "This girl requested the meat filling first. There are also some white jade steamed buns. Sister Fuzhen, would you like to pick some to eat?"
Feng Fuzhen was also very hot-tempered. She pointed at the last ten and said, "I want the ones with meat filling."
The girl in Shengchangli was about the same age as her. She had lived here for generations and was a wealthy local family.
Seeing that the one who snatched the steamed buns was actually a member of the Feng family, she knew the Feng family's secrets very well. She looked at the vulgar silk flower on Feng Fuzhen's head with contempt and spoke with sarcasm.
"A servant surnamed Feng has come to my territory in Shengchangli and dares to come and shout?
Go back and learn from your ancestors how to be humble and subservient when they were slaves."
"You!" Feng Fuzhen bit her lip, and when this spot was poked, her face turned the color of liver.
Seeing this, Ji Xu quickly handed the steamed bun wrapped in jujube leaves to the girl surnamed Ni, sent her away, and coaxed Feng Fuzhen in a gentle voice.
"Don't be upset, Sister Fuzhen. I'll be home soon. I'll make some for you right now. I want it warmer. Just order as much as you want."
"Who calls me your sister? You're just a cook, and you're worthy of calling me your sister?" Feng Fuzhen was so angry that she threw her hand away.
Ji Feng immediately became angry when she heard this, and she stepped between the two of them with her hands on her hips.
Although she was a pig herder at the Feng family, she was upright and earned money through hard work. She was not the type to flatter her master. Now she was like a lit firecracker, exploding towards Feng Fuzhen.
"You're such a slave! My sister politely calls you sister, and you get even more angry..."
Her small body only reached Ji Xu's chest, and she protected her like a hen with its feathers standing on end.
Ji Xu covered Ji Feng's mouth from behind. If he made too much noise, he would attract the attention of the higher-ups, which would be bad news. He smiled and said:
"Since the girl doesn't want to, then I won't do it. If we make a fuss about it, the people in Shengchang will laugh at us."
When Feng Fuzhen heard this, she immediately shut her mouth and touched the silk flower on her hair. She didn't know if it was an illusion, but she always felt that people around her were pointing fingers at her.
He must have said that she was a house slave and was not presentable, or something like that.
She glared at Ji Xu angrily and turned away from the threshing ground.
A village official nearby had a unhappy expression on his face. Although there was no law prohibiting the sale of steamed cakes at this time, the team was noisy and looked undisciplined.
Ji Xu put on a smile and stuffed a white jade steamed bun into her palm. She found it delicious and didn't come to drive Ji Xu away. Fortunately, she sold it quickly and didn't stay long.
"Sister, why did you cover my mouth just now? You should have taught me to give Feng Fuzhen a good scolding."
On the way home, Ji Feng talked about this and his expression was still depressed.
She was a very protective person, not to mention that the man looked down on Ji Xu, her elder sister, her relative in this world.
Ji Xu felt that having a hot temper and being able to curse and fight was also a way to protect himself. For example, during the years when Tian was a widow, it was her fiery temper and reputation that frightened the men in the village who had evil intentions.
In addition, the village elders now hold meetings from time to time to educate the villagers, popularize various extreme punishments for breaking the law, and warn that those who commit violence will be punished by castration.
The so-called castration is castration, which turns a person into a eunuch and forces him to do forced labor for the rest of his life.
The security in the village was better than in the early years, and the widowed mother and her orphan daughter were able to live in peace.
And during the six months that Tian was gone, she did not suffer any loss thanks to Ji Feng's personality. In addition, the village still gave some special care to orphans. Some wealthy families would also treat orphans well in order to gain fame or to seek good karma.
In the past six months, my two younger sisters have not been cheated.
Therefore, Ji Xu would not restrain Ji Feng's counterattack, but the situation just now was special, so she said patiently:
"If it were any other time, you could scold me, but it was inappropriate just now. If it gets out of hand, the village head will come and take advantage of it.
After all, this incident was caused by us selling steamed buns. We will definitely be reprimanded, and we might even be fined and have all the money we earned confiscated. That would be too unfair."
Ji Feng was still furious, "From now on, Feng Fuzhen, don't even think about getting a good face from me."
Ji Zhu's little hand pulled her, and she said in a crisp voice, "Don't be angry, second sister. You look better when you smile."
Ji Feng was amused by her and scratched her nose with his finger, "Little brat!"
Ji Zhu pouted and said tenderly, "It's not the little brat, it's Xiao Zhu."
The three of them laughed and played, and they felt very relaxed after paying the money calculated orally.
By the way, they also went to the market in Shengchangli.
You won’t know until you see it. You will be shocked when you see it. The market in Shengchang is not inferior to the rural markets outside. There are merchants sitting in the row houses and hawkers hawking their wares. There is everything you can think of, and the prices are mostly the same as those in the rural markets.
However, as soon as the three Ji Xu sisters came in, they attracted the attention of a group of snack vendors on the street.
One of them was a man of medium height, wearing a small hat and a brown short jacket. He had his hands in his sleeves, which were stained with oil. The Hu pancake oven in front of him was his.
He glanced at the three people with his small eyes, leaned forward, and whispered to the woman next to him:
"That's the girl who sells steamed buns with meat filling in the threshing ground."
The woman had her hair combed into a sleek bun, and wore a knee-length apron over her half-worn gray cloth skirt. She lived nearby and often pushed a wheelbarrow to the market to sell ointments and rings.
Her paste ring is also a pasta. She kneads flour into a dough, rolls it into eight inches long, then connects the ends to form a ring, puts it in a pot, and fries it with lard.
What she had in front of her was an iron cauldron, which showed that she had some wealth.
They were all ordinary people in Shengchang, and news spread quickly. How could they not know that the meat-filled steamed buns were being looted in the threshing ground?
Her shrewd triangular eyes squinted and she sneered:
"What a bold woman! She actually dared to come to my territory of Shengchangli to peddle her wares."
"Look at her carrying a basket. I'm afraid she's going to sell steamed cakes in the market?" The man selling Hu Bing was in a bad mood. Today was the day for paying taxes, and business was already slow.
The woman with the ointment ring said: "If she dares to shout, I will make her know whose territory this market is!"
How could Ji Xu not notice the unfriendly looks from people around her, but her steamed cakes had already been sold out in the threshing ground, so now she was just another customer, here to buy some things.
Although the vendors in the inner city were not as enthusiastic towards customers from outside as they were towards local customers, they would still sell things to her, after all, it was a business.
She bought five pounds of meat to make steamed buns. The price of meat was about the same as outside, and she spent fifty cents.
I saw an old farmer squatting on the roadside selling duck eggs and asked the price.
"Duck eggs, one penny each."
I saw some fluff on the outside of the green-skinned duck egg. Maybe the duck was well fed and was big enough.
It was more economical than what was sold outside. Ji Xu made up his mind and bought all the ones in the basket, a total of fifty.
"Sister, why did you buy so many duck eggs at once?"
Ji Feng was puzzled when she saw this. No matter how delicious it was, she couldn't finish so much.
"I'm going to make some other food to sell," Ji Xu said, as he went to buy a clay pot. He spent twenty coins on it, which was big enough to hold all the duck eggs, and held it in his arms.
Ji Feng was extremely curious, "What delicious food is Sister going to make?"
Ji Xu kept the secret here, saying that he would let her know when he did it, which made Ji Feng anxious.
Ji Xu then took them to a pharmacy and asked the shopkeeper for twenty coins of lime.
Isn't lime a cure? When villagers developed malignant sores or leprosy, and the flesh rotted and died, the herbalist would treat them with lime mixed with water. While the vapor was still there, she would apply it to the sores, burning away the rotting flesh. She'd witnessed the screams of pain and remembered the lime remedy deeply.
I was completely bewildered. How could lime, used to treat scabies, be used as food? I became increasingly curious and eager to get home.
The author has something to say:
----------------------
Lime was used as a medicinal herb in the Western Han Dynasty. According to the Shennong's Herbal Classic, "Lime is pungent and warm. It treats carbuncle, scabies, heat, malignant sores, leprosy, and dead skin cells..."
Please add to collection [scatter flowers]
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
