Chapter 34: Bought a puppy "Sister, you won't cry because of the good food, will you?
The donkey carts were wobbling, and there were fewer vendors along the way. The peddlers carrying loads who usually rested under the shade of the arch bridge were nowhere to be seen.
The three sisters walked for about two quarters of an hour until they reached Fengmen. Seeing the crowded scene in front of them, they had no choice but to jump off the donkey cart and help to urge the cart to adjust the position. Otherwise, if they were not careful and bumped into something, they might end up with the cart destroyed and the goods destroyed.
The surface of the Fengmen River was ablaze with lotus blossoms. The lotus leaves resembled rolling green clouds, and the pink and white lotus blossoms resembled fairies emerging from the water. Wherever the wind blew, the fragrance filled the lake, and the lotus blossoms swayed gracefully. The shore had already been occupied by vendors. Wei Jinyun and her sisters directed the drivers pulling their donkey carts, leaving little room for them to park.
After finally finding a place to stay, the donkey had just stood still when it was startled by the deafening shouting of an old woman in a brown jacket beside it, and almost rushed into the river with Wei Jinyun's snacks.
An old woman sat by the stone steps, her bamboo basket filled with sparkling lotus pods. She peeled the seeds and shouted to everyone passing by, "Freshly picked lotus pods, so sweet they'll blow your mind! Two for a penny!"
Beside her was a little girl with twin buns. In her bamboo basket were small baskets woven from lotus stems, small frogs folded from lotus leaves, and a headpiece made of lotus flowers. Seeing the young ladies in silk dresses, she timidly offered them to them, "Sister, buy a headpiece. It's made from spiritual energy caught in the water... Only one penny each."
Wei Jinyun was just looking at the donkey's head when she saw Wei Fuling holding three little frogs in her hands in the blink of an eye. "One big one, two small ones. My sister and I are three little frogs."
"I don't want to be a little frog."
Wei Fuqiu muttered to herself as she took the little frog. After playing with it for a while, Wei Jinyun gave one to each of them and pinned them on their heads.
The lotus stems, sharpened to a point, could be pinned directly to the temples. The girl was timid, but her business was brisk. Passing ladies bought headbands, and even many talented men pinned lotus flowers on their tasseled hats and buns, drenching themselves in the fragrance of lotus.
The waterway was busier than the shore. Pleasure boats churned alongside one another, the aroma of wine and laughter wafting from their cabins. On the table lay a selection of exquisite snacks and a green tube of wine. I took a large lotus leaf, rolled the center of the leaf into a small tube, poured the cooled Autumn Dew White into it, and sipped from the leaf stem.
In a lotus pond, three little frogs peeked out and finally saw a familiar figure, then they came over in a large group.
Tang Yin led the way, followed by the familiar students from the prefectural academy. The academy had a unique, uniform blue shirt, and anyone enrolled was required to wear it. But today was different; everyone had probably donned their best clothes or had made new ones overnight.
"It's not even 3:00 PM yet, Miss Wei is so punctual."
In just a few hours, Tang Yin also changed his clothes. He wore a round-necked robe embroidered with orchids, and even had two sachets hanging on the leather belt.
"Brother Tang, aren't you afraid of attracting bees and suffocating me to death?"
Zhu Zhishan helped carry the bamboo basket and fanned his nose vigorously with his hand. "Luckily, Miss Wei's snacks are fragrant enough, otherwise I would have fainted here on the spot."
"I don't want to bother with you. This is fine incense. You don't know the value of it."
There were so many people that the donkey started to bleat. Wei Jinyun covered the donkey's head with a lotus leaf and had the cart driver calm it with a ring apple. Once the cart was stable enough, she washed her hands and used bamboo tongs to divide the snacks into baskets. The other girls helped pass her empty baskets and wiped her sweat.
The students lined up in an orderly manner as usual at the gate of the prefectural school, but as soon as the line of more than 20 people lined up, it quickly attracted a lot of people to look over.
"Whose dim sum shop's car is this? They ordered so many... Is it Xu's?"
"If Manager Xu dares to hire a young lady like this as a loafer, you'll see her and her bedding thrown onto Shantang Street tomorrow morning."
"There's no way he has bedding. He'd be lucky to get a straw mat. What nonsense are you talking about? This exquisite thing must belong to a teahouse."
"This is the snack stall in front of the prefectural school. I know it."
A woman in a green skirt, waving a round fan, stared at the pastries in Wei Jinyun's pastry shop and suddenly realized, "My husband bought some for me after work. I thought they tasted good, so he bought them for me twice more. But her business has been so good these pastries these days that I can't get any. I have to hurry up early."
Amidst the discussion, Wei Jinyun had already packed all the snacks into baskets one by one. She handed a whole basket of lotus cakes to Wu Sheng, who was standing silently by the side. "Mr. Wu, these are the snacks I gave to everyone. Please take them and distribute them to them."
Wu Sheng had initially been reluctant to come to Fengmen to participate in the Lotus Festival. Booking a pleasure boat and buying snacks would have cost a fortune, and he didn't want to spend too much of his family's money. However, his classmates persuaded him, and his mother persuaded him to go. His mother even stuffed small change into his hand, laughing and remarking, "Did you really think selling egg pancakes wasn't profitable? She'd even saved enough for his marriage."
His father worked the land for the provincial school, while his mother ran a stall. Most of his classmates were well-off, and he felt unrefined, so he was particularly quiet during his first days at the school. Fortunately, however, Brothers Tang and Zhu were excellent people. They took the initiative to talk to him, discussing academic matters with him, and helped him teach those who had looked down on him when he first arrived. He was deeply grateful.
Afterwards, no one brought up the matter anymore, because if the dean knew about it, he would definitely chase everyone in the house with a ruler and scold them, saying, "Whose ancestors didn't go to the land?"
Wu Sheng was too embarrassed to help carry the snacks, but with such a large basket of lotus cakes in his hand, he could go to different pleasure boats to distribute them to them and do something for them, which made him very happy.
He took the basket of lotus cakes and looked at Wei Jinyun with clear eyes.
"I'll eat two later."
Master Lu appeared beside Wu Sheng at some point, grabbed two lotus cakes, and ran away on the spot.
After the boat feast, Lu Heng didn't tell his granddaughter that Master Lu had consumed so many snacks and pork knuckles. He was just being driven home drunk, muttering, "'Old Su, another drink!' 'I'll have another piece!' 'I love the skin of this pork knuckle stewed with chicken. It's so sticky it melts in one bite. Don't touch it, it's all mine!' ... Ugh, I didn't vomit. It's only two pounds. When I was young, I used to drink twenty pounds. Ugh."
When he sobered up in the morning, he slowly woke up and caught a glimpse of the extremely kind eyes of his wife and granddaughter while frowning.
Of course I had to come to the Lotus Festival, but I didn't even think about eating dim sum. I could only gaze at the source of these dim sum from afar on the pleasure boat, and said longingly that I wanted to buy a hair flower for my wife, so I slipped over.
Just as he grabbed the lotus cake in his hand, he saw Lu Lantang coming towards him from a distance, and ran!
Lu Lantang knew that the students of the prefectural school had ordered snacks from Wei Jinyun, so she had already seen her figure. However, her donkey cart had stopped at the hair flower vendor, and although she had seen the hair flowers, she had not seen her father-in-law on his way back.
Before she even reached Wei Jinyun, she had already pulled out a rolled-up piece of drawing paper. She said leisurely, "Miss Wei, guess what's inside?"
"A copy of this painting personally created by Miss Lu, the tea master."
"Yeah, smart and clever."
Lu Lantang nodded with satisfaction, "Then do you know how Miss Wei can get this handwritten painting?"
"That's where it went."
Wei Jinyun pointed in the direction where Master Lu slipped away.
“Very clever.”
Lu Lantang held up her round fan and laughed so hard that her body shook with laughter. "Then this is a reward for the clever young lady."
She didn't chat with Wei Jinyun much, but shoved the drawing paper into Wei Jinyun's hand and headed in the direction she pointed. Master Lu was always respected, and many people knew him. It wouldn't be long before Lu Lantang caught him.
Wei Jinyun carefully unfolded the drawing paper. Inside was a design for her shop, drawn by Lü Lantang herself. She usually enjoyed painting landscapes, flowers, and birds, and knowing that Wei Jinyun often asked customers for good, affordable restoration artists, she volunteered. After strolling through Wei Jinyun's shop to take measurements, she also stopped by for lunch.
Lu Lantang knew a craftsman from Xiangshan and had been exposed to painting since childhood, so he had superb painting skills. After some thought, he really figured out some tricks.
Wei Jinyun stared at the design in amazement. Not only was it exquisitely and elegantly designed, reflecting the artistic conception of Xiangshan craftsmen, but it also incorporated some of the modern decor she had described, leaving no wasted space. She hadn't let her work go to waste; she had taken back the six strings of cash she had earned from Lu Lantang for making tea party snacks.
After the three sisters divided the snacks among the students and paid the donkey cart fare, Wei Jinyun stood in the crowd with a basket of snacks that had been cut into sample sizes and asked people to try them.
How could she be so precise with the quantity of pastries? She'd rather make more than less. Taking advantage of the Lotus Festival today, she'd kneaded extra dough and packed samples to promote her pastry shop.
There was no need for her to shout more, as the scene had already attracted many people to look over here. Now that they knew the snacks were free, everyone wanted to come and try them.
There was a basket of snacks cut into small pieces. He tried it, she took a bite, and they had finished them all in less than two minutes.
Wei Fuling wore the "Yun Lai Xiang" banner from her cart, while Wei Fuqiu held a small flag embroidered by Wei Jinyun specifically for Wang Qiulan. The small flag also had a sign embroidered on it, intended to be placed on a bamboo basket as an advertisement. She wouldn't carry the banner outside, but she couldn't resist these two enthusiastic sisters.
They pulled her around the crowd, and the banners and flags swayed in the wind. Everyone who saw them had to stop and taste a piece, and then stare at the words on them curiously.
"Alright, this banner is very heavy, please take it down quickly. And Sister Qi, are your arms sore from holding it up?"
Wei Jinyun and her sisters squeezed out of the crowd, found a small stall to sit down, took down the banners and rolled them up properly, stuffed the small flags into the bamboo basket, and bought some snacks for them to enjoy.
"As long as my sister is happy, we will be happy too." The two of them said in unison while sitting on the bench.
"Sister, you won't cry because of the delicious food, will you?"
Wei Fuling sat upright, holding the snail tail with her left hand, and slowly twisting the bamboo stick with her right hand, picking out the snail meat and putting it into her mouth.
“Tsk.”
Wei Fuqiu gave her a word.
"Oh, it's a hot day, I'm sweating."
Wei Jinyun took the handkerchief and wiped his forehead, then wiped the corners of his eyes.
Snails are an extremely cheap dish; a large plate can be purchased for just a few coins. Because they are not very elegant to slurp, and when they are difficult to slurp, one has to poke with a bamboo skewer to get to the meat inside, a seemingly crude gesture, they are rarely served to literati.
There are a lot of snacks at the Lotus Festival. The three of them finally finished a whole plate of stir-fried snails, and then went to buy frosted jade bees and fried pork cutlets.
Wei Jinyun initially thought the sugar-frosted jade bees were fried silkworm pupae. After all, the Yuan dynasty called them "bees," and she had only ever seen salty, crispy silkworm pupae, a delicacy favored by some. But where could she find one with sugar frosting? It sounded like a unique flavor. When she followed the instructions and bought some, she realized it was actually fried lotus seeds in honey.
The lotus pod resembles a honeycomb, and the seeds resemble jade pupae, hence the name "Sugar Frosted Jade Bee." It's elegant yet incredibly sweet, so sweet that they'd have to subdue it with a crispy, fragrant fried pork cutlet coated in flour.
Wei Jinyun led her two younger sisters to the water's edge, holding various snacks in their hands.
"Look, there's a dog seller over there."
Wei Fuling was sharp-eyed and ran ahead clutching the oil-paper bag, quickly arriving in front.
Everything was for sale in Fengmen, including live animals of all kinds: cats and dogs in bamboo cages, goldfish in water tanks, and mynah birds in small cages. When the crowds gathered, they would flutter their wings and imitate the vendors' calls, and although their chants were incoherent, they still made people laugh.
Wei Fuling squatted in front of a bamboo cage where a few yellow-haired puppies lay. They looked like a full moon, huddled in a corner chewing their paws. Their fur was neatly groomed, their black eyes were wide open, and they wagged their thin tails and hummed when they saw people looking at them.
The dog seller was wearing a blue short-sleeved shirt and waving a palm-leaf fan. When she saw Wei Jinyun coming, she straightened up immediately and said, "Look, young lady! The puppies born by our bitch are very human."
She picked up the puppy and held it in her palm. Seeing that the child in front of her seemed to be traveling with the woman, she showed it to her, "Look at its fur, baby. It's so shiny and sleek. It's perfect to keep in the yard as a guard dog. It barks at strangers but never bites its own family. It's very obedient! Ask your family to buy you one?"
As soon as Wei Fuling's fingertips touched the puppy's head, the little guy came over to lick her hand, his warm tongue slightly moist. She couldn't help but continue to touch its head. "It's so small, even smaller than a Yuanbao."
Her mouth was smiling so wide that it seemed to reach the sky.
"Looks pretty good."
Wei Jinyun smiled and asked, "How much?"
She was originally planning to buy a dog to guard her house. She was still frightened by the thief she caught a few days ago, and she wished she could invent a security door that would sound at any time.
Her family had a little dog named Tangyuan, who grew up with her. Even when she went to and from school, her grandfather and the dog would escort her. Tangyuan was a yellow dog with short legs, but when she got home from school, he would run faster than anyone else.
Later, Little Tangyuan grew into Big Tangyuan, who loved to share Grandmother's stewed meat with her. Big Tangyuan took one piece, and she took one. Later, Big Tangyuan became Old Tangyuan, quietly nestling beside her legs. Old Tangyuan also loved meat. His last meal consisted of half a stewed pig's trotter. He happily wagged his tail at her and licked her hand, just like when Wei Jinyun first met him...
It is a good thing for children to have cats and dogs as companions.
"Not much, seventy cents."
The woman put the dog into the bamboo cage and rubbed her hands. "This cub is strong and healthy. It will be easy to take care of it when you take it home. It will save you the trouble."
Before Wei Jinyun could speak, a gruff voice suddenly interrupted him. It was a man in his fifties, his gray cloth jacket stained with mud, and a broken bamboo basket at his feet.
There was a skinny black puppy lying in the basket, its fur tangled and covered with grass debris. It trembled when it saw people and let out a few painful whimpers from its throat.
"Miss, buy mine. I'll sell it to you for fifty cents."
The man pushed the broken basket forward and said, "Look at this dog. Although it's a little thin, it's smart. Once it's trained well, it can still guard the house!"
The woman immediately glared, her brows raised high. "Zhang Mazi, you think I don't know where your dog came from? I'm afraid it's a stolen stray dog. Mine is a legitimate domesticated dog, it's in good condition!"
"What do you care where I come from?"
The man stiffened his neck and spoke quickly and hurriedly, "They are all dogs. As long as they can guard the house, that's all that matters. Look at hers, young lady. It's so delicate and small. How can it be as tough as mine? Fifty cents. Buy it and feed it with some rice soup and it will survive."
As he spoke, he kicked his broken basket. The black dog shrank into a ball in fear, its eyes becoming wet.
"elder sister."
Wei Fuling came over and pointed at the yellow-haired puppy, "This one is cute, with soft fur, but that one looks a bit pitiful."
Wei Fuqiu looked at the black dog and said, "Sister, it seems very scared."
Wei Jinyun didn't answer. He turned around and asked the woman, "Will you sell it for sixty cents? I'm buying it to keep it in the backyard to guard the house. If it doesn't work for me, I'll come back to you."
The woman hesitated for a moment, then slapped her thigh and said, "Okay. You're a straightforward person, so sixty cents is sixty cents. I'll pack it up for you."
"Hey hey hey, little lady."
Seeing how quickly she was doing business, the man got anxious and said, "This one of mine is really good. Baby, talk to your sister and I'll sell it to you for thirty cents!"
He grabbed the black dog and brought it to Wei Fuqiu. The puppy was so frightened that it trembled, but did not dare to bite anyone. It just shrank into his arms.
Wei Jinyun looked from left to right at the black dog, then at the yellow-haired dog wagging its tail in the bamboo cage. Seeing his sisters squatting on either side, he smiled softly and said, "I want both."
Wei Fuling took the yellow dog, and Wei Fuqiu took the black dog from the man. The latter trembled violently in her arms, but carefully sniffed her sleeve with its nose.
"This yellow one is the guard."
Wei Jinyun paid the money and said, "I wonder if that black one will become Master Yuanbao's follower in the future? It looks so timid."
Wei Fuling got the puppy, and her eyes curved into the shape of moons. Wei Fuqiu gently touched the black dog's head, and the little guy stopped shaking and just looked at her timidly.
The woman took the sixty coins, muttering, "Young lady, you are so kind." The old man held the thirty coins, chuckled twice, turned around and disappeared into the crowd without even taking the broken bamboo basket.
Wei Jinyun had originally intended to take them shopping for some snacks, but instead, they ended up with two puppies. A bamboo basket for food naturally couldn't hold a dog, so Wei Jinyun bargained for a little over ten cents and bought two small bamboo baskets, giving each of her sisters one to carry.
With the puppy, snacks no longer tasted sweet, and little treats no longer had a good flavor. She was only busy playing with the puppy. Fried food lost its flavor when it got cold, and she had to eat the cold food quickly. So much food went into Wei Jinyun's stomach, making her feel bloated.
As dusk approached, the scene became even more lively than the day itself. Wei Jinyun, not wanting to be home too late with her sister, bought a few lotus lanterns early and set them on the riverbank, entrusting her wishes to the flowing water, the stars, and the moon.
"I want to stay with my grandmother and sisters forever."
Wei Fuling made her little wish on the lotus lantern stroke by stroke.
After she put the lantern into the river, she moved closer to Wei Fuqiu and tried to look at it. However, she almost circled around her, but she still couldn't see what Wei Fuqiu had written.
Wei Jinyun wrote densely on the note, leaving no space at all, mostly words wishing his family good health and a prosperous business.
The three of them returned home early, taking advantage of the still-light sky. Their lotus lanterns swayed with the flowing water, mingling with those others had set off, drifting deeper into the river. The flickering candlelight within the lanterns reflected countless wishes.
Or achieve fame and fortune as soon as possible.
Or may your family live a long and healthy life.
Or find your ideal husband.
Or maybe, I hope Fairy Sister will come to see me in my dreams more often, and I hope Dim Sum Sister will gain weight quickly.
They didn't call a donkey cart when they went back. The three sisters walked and talked all the way, slowing down their pace. It took them a long time to get back to the shop.
The dusk was getting darker, the gorgeous sunset glow was slowly fading away, and the banners of the shops were swaying gently in the evening breeze, making long dragging sounds.
A horseman, dressed in a crimson suit, slowly approached from the front of Tianqing Temple. Lu Lan pulled the reins, and the horse snorted. He looked over and saw a figure.
He dismounted swiftly, holding only the reins, and walked towards her step by step.
"Lord Lu?"
Wei Jinyun looked up and saw that although he had his eyes downcast, he couldn't hide the weariness between his brows. She whispered, "Are there a lot of pirates lately? Lord Lu, please take care of yourself."
The time she saw him at the gate of the prefectural school was when Lu Lan was supposed to be off duty. By this time, it was already very late. Seeing how tired he looked, it seemed that he had been worrying about a lot of things recently.
Lu Lan hummed, and took a bundle from the horse's back, "Ten strings of cash, count them."
Wei Jinyun hurriedly took the whole bag of money and thanked him, "Thank you, Lord Lu. The government office refused to exchange such a large bag for silver. Lord Lu, you have worked hard."
Lu Lan looked at the little frog on her head and pressed the corners of her mouth hard, "Nod for a moment?"
"No, no, give it to Lord Lu."
Wei Jinyun waved his hand quickly and handed a newly bought candied jade bee to Lu Lan. "This thing is not available in Changmen. I bought it in Fengmen. I wonder if you like it."
She had originally intended to ask Zhan Ziming to bring this honey-fried pancake to Lu Lan, after all, Zhan Wenxing had repeatedly said he loved sweets. It was so incredibly sweet, and she'd thought of Lu Lan first, insisting he try it! Now that the real person was in front of her, she told Zhan Ziming to stop being a jerk for once.
"For me?"
Lu Lan hesitated a little, "I got off work a little late today, and many vendors went home. I didn't bring you anything..."
"Well, why calculate so clearly? Lord Lu brought me ten strings of cash."
Wei Jinyun stuffed the oil-paper bag into Lu Lan's arms. "You're welcome. Sir Lu, are you leaving now? Let me see you off."
"No need."
Lu Lan clenched the oil-paper bag and coughed softly, "You go in first."
Wei Jinyun nodded and bowed, without saying anything more to Lu Lan. He turned around and went to take care of the newly bought puppy with his sister.
Zhang Renbai had just finished his meal and was leaning against the door of the shop. He had heard her talking to Lu Lan a long time ago. Her voice was so clear that he could always hear her voice before seeing her.
Lu Lan stood where she was, picked up a lotus seed with a bamboo stick and put it in her mouth, then sealed the oil paper bag and put it neatly in her arms.
Noticing Zhang Renbai's gaze, he turned around and looked at him.
Zhang Renbai hurriedly called out "Master Lu" in embarrassment.
Lu Lan nodded slightly, got back on the horse and went home.
Looking at the red shadow on the horse's back, Zhang Renbai clenched the door frame of the shop with his palms.
When did they become so familiar with each other? In his eyes, she was clearly not the kind of person his father described, so why did she get so close to the rich and powerful?
Was it Lord Lu who forced her to do this, or was she doing it of her own free will? It was just some snacks, there was no need to smile so happily.
Why does she smile like this at every man?
When she said that he and she were worlds apart, did she look down on him? Wasn't there also a world of difference between her and Lord Lu?
Zhang Renbai stayed there for a while, then knocked heavily on the door and entered the shop.
As soon as Wei Jinyun entered the shop, he couldn't wait to run to the second floor to count all the money he had earned since coming to Pingjiang Prefecture.
Her daily profit from the stall reached about 300 wen, and she had been doing it for 20 days. She earned 11 wen from boat sales, 10 wen from the flying money bounty, and about 6 wen from the recent snack orders from her, so the stationery shop could currently earn 5 wen.
Wei Jinyun was so excited that she didn't fall asleep until midnight.
The next day, as soon as the rooster in Zhaoji Delicatessen crowed, she rushed to the Changmen market.
As soon as Mr. Zhou, the owner of Zhouji Brick and Tile Shop, opened the door of his shop, he saw Miss Wei waiting for him at the door, smiling at him.
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Author's words: Jinyun: Lord Lu has worked hard, I'll give you some snacks, thank you for the reward. [Rainbow fart]
Lord Lu: She was wearing a little frog [poor thing] and she bought me some fried honey.
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