All the aunts and ladies were carrying a basket in their hands, and some were carrying a backpack on their backs.
Song Jinxiu and the other two only had a small cloth bag on their backs and a water bottle on their bodies, looking so out of place.
The kettle was a khaki-colored, 1950s-style wooden cork kettle, also bought by Song Jinxiu in Shanghai. It was a new product, so valuable.
The small cloth bag was also given to Liu Ankang by Song Jinxiu, so that if he bought anything he liked, he could put it in his bag.
Now there are only some candies in the bag, ready for him to eat on the way.
"Xiao Song is here." The village chief's wife came over and greeted Song Jinxiu.
"Auntie, have a steamed bun." Song Jinxiu took out the steamed bun and handed it to the other party.
"No, no, I came out after eating." The village chief's wife waved her hand and said quickly when she saw the white flour buns.
People’s conditions have improved in the past two years, but white flour buns are still a precious commodity.
"Eat it, Auntie. I just steamed it this morning." Song Jinxiu stuffed two buns into her mouth. "I always come to you for help. What's wrong with eating two of my buns?"
Then he took another one and gave it to Liu Ankang, who had also finished the bun in his hand.
"You kid!" The village chief's wife did not hand the steamed bun back. The steamed bun was still warm in her hand.
"Why did you bring Niu Wazi with you? It's so inconvenient to take a child out with you!
Let him stay at home and have lunch at my house." said the village head's wife.
"It doesn't matter. An An doesn't make trouble anyway. Take him out to play. It's boring to stay at home every day." Song Jinxiu said with a smile.
"Oh, you call me by my real name. It sounds much better than Niu Wazi. From now on, I will call you by your real name too! Hahaha!" The village chief's wife teased Liu Ankang with a smile.
Everyone arrived quickly, with two ox carts in front and Song Jinxiu's donkey cart at the back.
The village head's wife sat directly on Song Jinxiu's donkey cart. The three of them ate steamed buns and chatted in the cart.
"Our town holds a small market on the 2nd, 5th and 8th of every month. The town next door is bigger and they hold a big market on the 9th of every month.
People from the surrounding villages basically go to buy and sell things on that day." The village head's wife said to Song Jinxiu.
"Wow, there aren't a lot of people there. Is there such a big place in the next town?" Song Jinxiu asked.
"The town next door is more than twice as big as ours. It has two relatively large markets and many scattered small markets." said the village chief's wife.
"An An, do you hear me? You must follow me closely when there are many people around. Don't run around. If you get lost, you won't be found again." Song Jinxiu said to Liu Ankang.
Getting lost would be troublesome in the future, let alone in this era without surveillance. If you get lost, you really have to prepare for the worst.
Liu Ankang finished the last bite of his steamed bun and nodded.
Looking at the two people getting along so harmoniously, the village chief's wife smiled with relief.
From the conversation, Song Jinxiu learned that the young man driving the coach was called Dalinzi.
The car was shaking all the way, and Song Jinxiu felt that the car was going to overturn several times, but it kept moving steadily.
She felt that it was not so difficult for her to climb the mountain before. Could it be that the darkness affected her vision?
The sky gradually brightened. Although there were trees all around, Song Jinxiu still felt that the road seemed a little different from the last time she took.
It was not until the donkey cart went down the mountain that Song Jinxiu was sure that this was not the way she had gone up the mountain!
"Aunt, this road seems different from the one I took into the mountains before!" Song Jinxiu asked as she looked at the unfamiliar scenery around her.
"You should have started from the town. Now you are going to the next town. This road is faster. The direction is different. Look, Xiaohulu Village is in front of you!" The village chief's wife said, pointing to the village in front of the right.
Song Jinxiu took a closer look and found that it was just an ordinary village, which seemed to be more lively than Dahulu Village.
And it doesn't look like a gourd at all.
Song Jinxiu had some questions in her mind, so she asked them.
"Hahaha, take a look when you leave the village later. The entrance to the village is just a cave. It's only wide enough for two carriages to pass through.
Don't underestimate the small gourds because they have many people. They have little land. We in the big gourds have fewer people but more land.
Connected like this, it looks like a gourd!" What the village head's wife didn't mention was that this terrain was easy to defend but difficult to attack.
As long as the entrance to the village is guarded, it will be difficult for people from other places to enter.
Moreover, Big Gourd was the base camp of Small Gourd. In the past, when the Japanese invaded, everyone would run to Big Gourd. Without an acquaintance to lead the way, ordinary people would not be able to find Big Gourd.
Even if we find the big gourd, don't be afraid. It will be difficult to find it if we hide in the mountains.
There are mountains on all sides, so it is not easy to find someone.
When we arrived at the village entrance, we found that the entrance was just a cave at the bottom of the mountain.
The cave is so big that it must have been cultivated by humans.
It’s a pity that the passage isn’t that long, otherwise this would be another version of Peach Blossom Spring. Hahaha!
The road became much easier to walk on after leaving the village, and the donkey cart wobbled all the way to the next town.
When they arrived at the place, it was already bright and the sun was rising. Song Jinxiu took off their coats and put them on the donkey cart.
There is a place at the entrance of the town where ox carts are parked, but it is unattended.
Three young men from the village were left behind to guard the ox cart.
In fact, only one person was needed to stay behind to guard the place, but the three young men said they didn't want to go shopping, so they all had to stay behind to guard the place.
A group of aunts and grandmas had to go out on their own.
Dalinzi wanted to go together, but since no one else was going, he was too embarrassed to ask for permission alone.
"What do you want to buy?" When they arrived in the town, everyone separated into groups of three or four.
Aunt Cuihua was with a few aunts that Song Jinxiu didn't know. When she saw the two people who were alone, she asked.
"We're just strolling around, there's nothing special we want to buy," said Song Jinxiu.
As soon as she got off the car, she held Liu Ankang's hand tightly because there were so many people.
If you are not careful, you will be dispersed by the crowd.
"Then don't go too far, just hang around here. If you have any problems, go to the ox cart to find Dalinzi and the others." Aunt Cuihua advised.
Before getting off the bus, everyone had agreed on a gathering time in the afternoon, and the time in between was free time.
"Okay." Song Jinxiu nodded in response.
Several aunts were chatting as they walked in.
"Is this Niu Wazi's sister? She's so fair and clean. What did she do in the past?"
"I'm not called Niu Wazi anymore, I'm called Liu Ankang. When the little kid grows up, he'll be called by his real name."
"Hahaha. The kids in our village don't have any real names! We're all used to calling them by their nicknames."
"Go home and ask their father to give the kids full names too. They're free now. If you call them by their nicknames, people will laugh at you."
"What a joke! We all dig for food in the soil, so we're all the same."
The sound of conversation was gradually drowned out by the crowd. Looking at the bustling street, Song Jinxiu felt indescribable.
She felt excited but also helpless. She really didn't like places with too many people.
But looking at the excited little guy next to me, I had no choice but to rush forward.
I am also very curious about what the market was like in the 1950s.
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