Seeing that it was almost Shen Shi (3-5 PM), Li Mai quickly led Zhou Tao to the market to see if they could buy any speckled chickens or chicks. After buying them, they would have to catch the oxcart back to the village.
Unfortunately, the local market was not quite what she had imagined.
The market here is desolate. There are no vegetable vendors, only a few butcher shops and a few people with stalls in the open space in the middle. They seem to be buying animal skins. Li Mai saw someone selling rabbit skins.
Although the original owner had often come to town before, she had never been to the vegetable market before. Seeing it like this, Li Mai knew that she would have made a wasted trip today.
Seeing the two girls come in looking around, several men standing next to the fur stalls walked towards them.
Li Mai noticed, grabbed Zhou Tao, quickly turned around, and hurried outside.
"Hey, don't go!" Hearing that the people behind them were actually chasing after them, Li Mai grabbed Zhou Tao and started running.
"Damn, are these two women foxes? They're running so fast!" One of them cursed under his breath after recognizing Li Mai's face.
"Ah Rong, they're just two girls. If you can't catch them, just give up." A few people caught up from behind and said, panting.
"You know nothing! Those two women are quite pretty. If we knocked them out, we could sell them for a lot of money in the county town. Too bad they're too cunning; they managed to get away." The man in the lead cursed as he turned and went back.
The others who hadn't seen Li Mai and Zhou Tao's faces clearly asked, "Should we chase after them?"
"Forget it, this isn't our territory. If we cause trouble outside and those people find out, we won't fare well either!" The man waved his hand and went back to collecting rabbit skins.
Li Mai and Zhou Tao didn't dare to stop and ran all the way to the gate of his in-laws' house where Zhou Wuping had parked his oxcart on Friday.
Zhou Wuping's wife's family lived in this town. Every day when he came to town, he would stay in the south of the town. During his lunch break, he would stay at his wife's house and wait for the people to return to the village.
When Li Mai and Zhou Tao ran here, they were both panting heavily. They leaned against the gate to rest for a while before they could catch their breath.
Just then, Ping had harnessed the oxcart and was coming out when he saw the two of them like this. He asked in surprise, "What's wrong with you two? Did you run here because you were afraid of being late?"
Li Mai shook her head and told him about their trip to the market.
After hearing this, Zhou Wuping exclaimed, "Ah, luckily you two ran fast. In that place, vegetables are only sold in the morning and all are sold out by noon."
"In the afternoon, that's where some out-of-town peddlers set up their stalls, and there are also a few meat vendors there. I heard that some of those out-of-town peddlers are江湖人 (jianghu people, meaning people from the underworld or江湖江湖义气, a code of honor among the outlaws), and they're very wild. Ordinary girls wouldn't dare to go there in the afternoon."
"Luckily you ran fast. You didn't mention going to the market when you came, so I forgot to tell you." Zhou Wuping shook his head, thankfully nothing bad happened.
Li Mai then understood what was going on.
"Fifth Uncle, do you know where in town I can buy Luhua chickens or chicks?" Li Mai asked.
"Yes, I know. You want to buy it?" Zhou Wuping asked curiously.
"Yes, we only have one laying hen at home. We'd like to buy two more so we can use the eggs to nourish Zhou Quan and Zhu Zhu," Li Mai said with a smile.
"Okay, we'll go buy it once everyone's here," Zhou Wuping replied, letting the first few people get on the oxcart and head to the alley entrance to wait for everyone else.
Before Li Mai and Zhou Tao, three villagers had already arrived.
They were all from the Zhou clan, one man and two women. However, the three of them were not familiar with Li Mai and Zhou Tao, so they didn't speak.
On Friday, Ping noticed the box of books that Li Mai was holding and asked in surprise, "Did you buy a box of books?"
"Yes, they want our third child to go to school," Li Mai replied.
The third one refers to Zhou Lei.
"Oh, Xiao Lei, that kid really should go to school. He's very smart and quick-witted," Zhou Wuping praised.
Li Mai nodded, "Yes!"
Soon, two more people arrived, making a total of seven, filling the oxcart. Zhou Wuping led them eastward and stopped in front of a house.
Looking at the chicken droppings piled up on the open ground opposite the gate, Li Mai knew that this family raised chickens.
With Zhou Wuping leading the way, the family readily agreed to sell Li Mai three large speckled chickens for a slightly higher price of 150 coins each, since they would start laying eggs as soon as they got home.
In addition, Li Mai bought ten chicks from her family, each costing fifteen coins.
Zhou Ping did not go in with Li Mai to choose the chicken on Friday, so no one saw Li Mai pay the money except for Zhou Tao.
This family was very kind; they put the adult chickens and chicks in two round baskets, and told Zhou Wuping to bring the baskets back tomorrow.
Li Mai thanked the man, who then helped carry the basket out.
The carriage was full of people. Zhou Wuping helped tie two baskets to the outside of the carriage shaft. He walked along the road to drive the carriage, while the others sat in the sedan chair.
Zhou Wuping's oxcart was a sturdy structure he built himself using bamboo poles. In the summer, he covered it with a bamboo curtain for sun protection, and in the winter, he covered it with a sheepskin blanket for warmth.
It's warm in winter and cool in summer because he thought things through. He's been doing this business for almost ten years.
The cow was changed once along the way.
Someone suggested he switch to a donkey, but he laughed and said that donkeys run fast and are prone to bumps, making it uncomfortable for everyone to ride.
The reason is that although he has earned so much money over the years, most of it has been used to support his son's education, and he hasn't saved much money. He is also reluctant to buy a new donkey.
But he was too embarrassed to say that in front of everyone. Everyone thought that he had been a traveling agent for so many years and that his family was doing well, so they all looked up to him!
Zhou Wuping was a very kind person. People who didn't have money for the ride could give him things from home to pay for it. Some women in the village would give him four or five eggs as payment if they rode in his car when they went to town to sell eggs.
Today, he helped Li Mai carry two baskets. He didn't expect that when he arrived at Zhou Laosan's gate, Li Mai got off the cart and gave him ten extra coins, saying that it was for the chicks' ride.
Zhou Wuping suddenly thought highly of Li Maigao. Just then, Old Man Zhou and Zhou Lei heard the noise and came out to greet them. Zhou Wuping praised Li Maigao to Old Man Zhou, saying that she was smart and sensible.
Old Man Zhou chuckled and thanked Zhou Wuping, then he and Zhou Lei each carried a basket into the yard.
"Fifth Uncle, I'll bring the basket to the village entrance for you first thing tomorrow morning," Li Mai said after watching Zhou Wuping walk away.
"No need to deliver it, I'll come pick it up before I leave tomorrow morning." Zhou Wuping waved his hand and left.
He was quite happy to have earned ten more coins than usual today.
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