"Girls, do you want some autumn shepherd's purse?" The old lady looked nervous. Seeing Yun Qiao nod, she quickly shook out the bundle at her feet and said, "I've already picked it out. This big bundle must weigh at least three or four pounds. If you want it, just give me a sum of money."
One coin for one pound. This big bag weighs three or four pounds, which means one pound only costs three cents.
Yun Qiao went forward to take a look and found that the plants were indeed picked very cleanly, with few weeds and all the yellow leaves had been picked off.
She was quite satisfied, so she nodded and said, "Okay, I'll take them all."
Yun Qiao put down the basket in his hand, paid the old lady a small amount of money, and asked her to put the shepherd's purse on the eggs.
Yun Qiao really likes the taste of shepherd's purse. Whether it is used to wrap meat dumplings or egg dumplings, it tastes especially good.
Although shepherd's purse grows everywhere, digging it is really tiring work. You may have to squat on the ground and dig with a sore back for an hour, but you may not be able to dig up many pounds.
Yun Qiao felt that he had taken advantage of the old lady after buying three or four pounds of freshly picked shepherd's purse for a small amount of money.
For the old lady, one coin could buy half a pound of salt.
She thought it was a great deal to exchange the wild vegetables that were everywhere for half a pound of salt.
Both sides felt that they had taken advantage of the other, and the smiles on their faces when they spoke were very sincere.
The old lady helped Yun Qiao to prepare some shepherd's purse. She looked at her expectantly and said, "Shepherd's purse can grow until October and will be available before the snow starts to fall. Girl, if you like it and want to buy more, I'll dig some more, dry it into dried shepherd's purse, and save it for you. Is that okay with you?"
"Sure." Yun Qiao agreed.
The taste of dried shepherd's purse after soaking is almost the same as that of fresh one.
There is a shortage of vegetables in winter, so it is a good idea to prepare some dried shepherd's purse.
Coming out of Laohugou Village, Gao Qian said in confusion, "Shepherd's purse isn't a rare thing. It's everywhere in the mountains. If you want to eat it, just take a shovel and go dig it up yourself. You can dig up seven or eight pounds in an afternoon. Why bother buying it?"
"If I feel like the work isn't worth the reward," Yun Qiao explained, "I can buy three or four pounds for a penny anyway, so there's no need to spend the whole afternoon digging in the fields. I think I'd be better off reading a book with that time."
"What's the point of reading?" Wang Li muttered, "It can't be eaten."
Yun Qiao smiled and didn't respond. Differences in perspective, no need for further explanation.
Anyway, in her opinion, there are many benefits to reading.
Xia He moved to help Yun Qiao and said, "Doctor Qin is a doctor, after all. Doctors keep learning until they grow old. Otherwise, why do people respect veteran Chinese medicine practitioners? Isn't it because they know more as they get older?"
Wang Li curled her lips and didn't say anything more.
Gao Qian, trying to liven up the atmosphere, changed the subject and brought up the military gathering they were holding today. The others chatted and laughed as they walked around the base, seemingly not feeling tired at all.
When Gao Qian came, she was carrying a backpack with her daughter Xinxin in it. On the way out, she put eggs in the backpack and let Xinxin get out and walk on her own.
The little girl was full of energy. She walked a long way up and down the mountain without complaining of being tired. When she saw butterflies on the road, she even had the energy to chase them.
Yun Qiao watched Xinxin chasing butterflies and couldn't help but think of her former lover. The corners of her mouth curled up unconsciously. When Gao Qian saw this, she couldn't help but tease her a few more times, telling her that if she liked daughters, she should give birth to one of her own as soon as possible.
Yun Qiao pretended to be shy, pursed her lips and said nothing.
Arriving at the station, Yun Qiao and Gao Qian waved goodbye to Xia He and Wang Li at the gate of the family compound. Xia He and Wang Li both lived in the west district, which was not on their way.
Yun Qiao wanted to go to the grocery store to buy some meat and make shepherd's purse dumplings.
Gao Qian said, "Pork is in high demand at the grocery store. It's always sold out by midday. It's almost ten o'clock now. If you go now, it's probably gone."
"Let's go take a look first," Yun Qiao said. "The dumplings stuffed with shepherd's purse and pork are the best. I wouldn't want to leave without checking out the grocery store. If they don't have any, I'll make some with shepherd's purse and egg."
"Well, well, go ahead. I won't accompany you." Gao Qian waved at Yun Qiao, "You go ahead. I'm leaving."
Yun Qiao was also lucky. When he walked to the grocery store, there was only one piece of pork left at the pork counter, weighing about one pound. Yun Qiao couldn't tell what part of the pork was from, but it was one part fat and nine part lean, which looked suitable for chopping into stuffing and would not be greasy at all when made into dumplings.
However, there was an old lady standing in front of the pork counter. Following the first-come-first-served rule, Yun Qiao didn't bother to cut in line to grab the pork. She was extremely anxious and secretly prayed that the old lady would not buy all the pork and would leave some for her.
The lady in the front was not very satisfied with the meat. She thought it had too little fat and too much lean meat, and the stew would not taste good. She wanted the man selling the pork to cut it in half. She wanted the half with fat and didn't want the other half which was all lean.
The man selling pork thought her pork was too big and refused to cut it in the middle.
The aunt hesitated and thought for a long time but still didn't buy it. She turned around and went to the vegetable counter next door, bought a bunch of green vegetables and left.
When it was Yun Qiao's turn, he said without hesitation: "Comrade, I want all of these. Weigh them and see how many you have."
"One jin and one liang, seven jin and seven," the pork seller said, "Just give me the meat coupon for one jin. It's the last piece of meat, and any more isn't worth the trouble."
Yun Qiao quickly took out the money and the meat ticket from his wallet and said with a smile, "Thank you, comrade."
There were still two green onions at home, so Yun Qiao went to the vegetable counter next door and bought a piece of ginger.
She didn't know whether He Tingjun liked to dip his dumplings in garlic sauce, so she bought two lumps of garlic to prepare so that she wouldn't have to go out to buy some when she wanted to eat them.
After buying everything, Yun Qiao carried the basket and walked towards Hutong No. 6.
It's surprising that the auntie she just met at the grocery store was walking ahead of her. After walking for a while, she even entered Hutong No. 6 before her. It turned out that she was a neighbor who lived in the same alley.
Yun Qiao had just gotten married, and at this stage she only knew the families living on either side of the left hutong. Besides that, she knew that Cui Xuezhi lived in Courtyard No. 9 in the alley. As for the other families, she was still relatively unfamiliar with them. She had never seen this old lady before, and she didn't know whose elderly family she was.
When she got home, He Tingjun was not at home. Yun Qiao took out the eggs from the basket one by one and put them into the egg basket in the cupboard. Then she tied an apron and started busying herself with making bread and dumplings.
Yun Qiao was not very curious, and once he got busy, he completely forgot about the neighbor aunt's child.
She didn't know that just after she walked into the house, the old lady soon walked into Courtyard No. 9 deep in the alley.
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