Xia Lunong liked his private farm very much. He woke up early the next morning. It was a rare opportunity for him not to stay in bed. He got up and folded the quilt, ready to wash up and take his brother to the market.
His brother got up earlier than him. As soon as he got up, his brother came back with water.
There was no running water in the base, only six or seven wells, and everyone had to fetch water every day.
Xia Lunong wanted to help share the responsibility of fetching water, but his brother didn't let him.
"Brother." Xia Lunong hurried into the kitchen and opened the lid of the water jar to make it easier for his brother to pour water in. "Are we going to the market after breakfast?"
"Let's go to the market to eat." Xia Huoqu said, "There are people selling buns in the market. I'll take you to eat buns."
Xia Lunong's eyes widened, "Is there anyone selling buns in the market?!"
"Yes, there is one, and the craftsmanship is very good." Xia Huoqu put down the bucket, patted him on the back gently, and pushed him out. "You are feeling better now, I'll take you to try something new. Come on, brush your teeth first."
Xia Lunong excitedly picked up the cup and went to the corridor outside, and very tactfully squeezed the toothpaste on his brother.
Xia Huoqu bent down, picked up the thermos at home and shook it. It felt heavy in his hand, but it was still full. He didn't need to get more water. Then he stood up and went out to brush his teeth with his brother.
After brushing their teeth and washing their faces, the two brothers each drank a cup of warm water, put on their coats and prepared to go out.
Xia Huoqu went to the room to get a bamboo basket, put the soybeans in it, and carried it out.
This was the first time Xia Lunong went to the market after waking up for so long.
The market usually opens very early in the morning, and he can't get up in the morning. When he wakes up every day, the market is almost closed, so he has no idea where to start.
Today was his first time to go shopping. He looked around and found that there were quite a lot of people. Everyone was carrying baskets, bamboo baskets, or carrying things, and walking slowly forward.
The market was on the main road, with all kinds of stalls on both sides of the road, selling vegetables, grains, clothes, utensils... everything.
The stall owners kept shouting and selling to the crowd, but there were more people looking than buying.
"This way." Xia Huoqu was behind him, patted his shoulder, and asked him to turn around and walk to the side road.
Xia Lunong took a step forward with his strength, turned around and asked, "Brother, should we go change the seeds first or eat the buns first?"
"Hungry?"
Xia Lunong touched her stomach and nodded honestly.
Xia Huoqu smiled, "Let's go change the seeds first, and see how many soybeans are left after changing the seeds. We can exchange them all for buns."
Xia Lunong turned his eyes to the soybean bag, licked his lips eagerly, and said, "Why not just forget it, food is so precious now."
"Your bit is not a big deal." Xia Huoqu pushed him forward, "Let's go to that stall first."
Xia Lunong looked in the direction he was pushing, and saw a young man with a flat head squatting behind a stall, looking up at the crowd in front of him with boredom.
In front of the young man with a flat head were a lot of seeds in red plastic bags. Xia Lunong looked at them and only recognized corn seeds.
The young man turned his head and happened to meet Xia Lunong's eyes. He was stunned at first, then he saw his brother behind him and immediately stood up to greet him, "Brother Xia."
Xia Huoqu nodded, "Xiao Tang, I'm here to buy some seeds."
"What kind of seeds do you want, Brother Xia? Eggplant, pepper, tomato, winter melon, pumpkin, chayote... we have everything here." The young man called Xiao Tang said enthusiastically, "Are you buying them or bringing them for someone else?"
"I'm buying them, and my brother is planting them."
Xiao Tang looked Xia Lunong up and down, then looked at her a few more times, and asked tentatively: "Is this Xiao Nong? Planting them for fun?"
"No." Xia Lunong took the initiative to answer, "I want to grow some vegetables for my own consumption, and plant five mu of land."
Xiao Tang rubbed his hands, raised his eyelids and looked at Xia Lunong, muttering, "Farming is not easy, it's windy and rainy... There are no vegetables that are particularly easy to grow--"
Xia Lunong showed his little white teeth, "I know."
Xiao Tang stared at his smile and hesitated for a moment, "Or you can just buy seedlings? Seedlings are easier to plant than seeds, and easier to get started."
"Ah?" Now it was Xia Lunong's turn to hesitate, he was a little confused, "Buy now? Aren't seedlings more expensive?"
"It's not much more expensive." Xiao Tang had already postponed the business, and he couldn't gain anything, so he simply advised him, "You buy seeds, not all of them can be planted, buy seedlings, as long as there are no insects or diseases, but if there is a drought, they will basically not die."
Xia Lunong looked at his brother, "How about buying seedlings?"
Xia Huoqu nodded, "That's fine."
Xiao Tang squatted on the ground and said enthusiastically, "Brother Xia, you can go to Lao Liu's house to buy them. His seeds are all new seeds, and the vegetables grown are not bitter."
Xia Lunong scratched his head and looked at his brother with a confused look.
Xia Huoqu explained softly, "Some seeds are stored for a few years and the vegetables grown are easy to be bitter, but new seeds are not like this."
Xia Lunong nodded, not quite understanding.
Xia Huoqu said to Xiao Tang, "Do you have any fruits here? Let's take a look first, and then go buy some vegetable seedlings."
Xiao Tang smiled, "Okay, okay, if you want to buy fruits, I have all kinds of fruits here, with labels on them."
Xia Lunong smiled at him, squatted down and looked at them one by one - watermelon, cantaloupe, strawberry, tangerine, orange, peach, loquat, it's really quite complete. Xia Lunong
hadn't eaten any fruit since he woke up, and when he saw the fruit seeds, he swallowed his saliva and instantly felt that he wanted all of them.
After thinking for a while, he turned to look at his brother, "Brother, what do you want to buy?"
"You can choose whatever you
like. Some of them can be planted in the open space in front of the house." Xiao Tang smiled and continued, "The open space outside your house is so big that you can plant many kinds of crops. I also have grape vines. If you want, I'll send you one later."
"How about watermelon?" Xia Lunong said and swallowed his saliva. He quite liked eating watermelon.
"Just watermelon? Pick another fruit tree."
Xia Lunong's eyes wandered among the seeds on the ground, "Then let's pick loquats, they bear a lot of loquats."
Seeing that he had made his choice, Xia Huoqu said to Xiao Tang, "Fifty watermelon seeds and three loquat seeds, I'll exchange them with you for soybeans."
"Okay." Xiao Tang said neatly, "Brother Xia, you pick your own. Ten watermelon seeds for a bowl of soybeans, one loquat seed for a bowl of soybeans, a total of eight bowls of soybeans, and I'll give you ten strawberry seeds or three cantaloupe seeds. We're family, Brother Xia, just give me some capital."
Xia Lunong was picking watermelon seeds. When he heard him say that he wanted both strawberries and cantaloupe, he hesitated for a moment.
His brother knew what he was thinking at a glance, "I want strawberry seeds. Are the cantaloupe seeds and watermelon seeds the same price?"
Xiao Tang smiled, "Yes, they are the same. Ten cantaloupe seeds for one bowl of soybeans."
Xia Huoqu opened the bag and used the bowl Xiao Tang gave him to fill seven bowls of soybeans.
The bag shrunk a little in an instant. Xia Lunong secretly scratched his clothes, feeling a little distressed.
Xia Huoqu didn't pay attention to these details. After quickly replacing the fruit seeds, he took Xia Lunong to replace the vegetable seedlings.
Lao Liu and Xia Huoqu were also acquaintances. When he saw him, he said hello, "Whose family are you helping Deputy Captain Xia to replace the seedlings for?"
"My own family." Xia Huoqu said, "My brother wants to grow some vegetables. Let's see which vegetables are easier to grow."
"Xiao Nong."
Old Liu's kind eyes fell on Xia Lunong. Seeing that he looked sickly and bookish, he said, "If you want to talk about easy things to grow, just plant eggplants and peppers, a few beans, some winter melons and pumpkins, and three or two tomatoes, bitter melons, cucumbers, and loofahs. Just change what you like to eat. There is nothing particularly difficult to grow."
Xia Huoqu felt a little relieved. He squatted down to look at the seedlings. "Brother Liu, we brought soybeans. Take a look at how
"I want to exchange 10 tomatoes, 21 eggplants, 21 peppers, 21 beans, and two each of winter melon, pumpkin, and bitter melon." "Okay." Old Liu squatted down to help him choose the seedlings. "Pumpkin and winter melon are best
planted outside the house. When they
climb out, they will take up a lot of land. It's a pity to plant them in the fields." "Ah?" Xia Lunong turned to look at his brother. He had just planned to plant fruit outside the house. If he planted pumpkins and winter melons,
there would be no place to plant fruit.
Xia Huoqu said, "We'll build a rack and put them on the tree."
Xia Lunong breathed a sigh of relief and nodded.
Xia Lunong looked at Lao Liu, pondered for a while, and wanted to bargain.
Lao Liu said first, "You bought so many, see what else you want to plant, I'll give you two plants."
Xia Lunong didn't expect him to be so straightforward. She looked at the stall and thought for a while, then asked Xia Huoqu, "Brother, do you eat lentils?"
Xia Huoqu nodded, he was not picky about food.
Xia Lunong asked for two lentils. Lentils also climb vines, so they could build a rack on the side of the house and let the lentils climb on it. It wouldn't take up much space.
The two quickly picked out the seedlings.
The seedlings were planted in the mud. Old Liu looked at them and said worriedly, "You didn't bring a dustpan, how are you going to carry them after you pick them?"
Xia Huoqu had not planned to buy seedlings before. Hearing what he said, he said, "I'll leave them here for now. We still have to go shopping. After shopping, I'll go home and get a dustpan."
"That's too much trouble? How about you leave them here with me, and when the market is over, I'll take them to your house?"
They are all in the same base, and the area is not that big.
Xia Huoqu nodded, "Thank you for the trouble."
"Why are you being polite?" Old Liu smiled, "You can go shopping, and I'll take you there at noon."
After buying the seeds and seedlings, Xia Huoqu took his brother to eat steamed buns.
The steamed buns stall was on the right hand side of the market entrance today. Xia Lunong smelled the smell when he came. His stomach was rumbling with hunger. When he heard that he was going to eat steamed buns, he felt his stomach twitching.
Xia Huoqu heard the movement of his stomach and pinched the back of his neck, "There is still half a bag of soybeans, enough for you to eat."
Xia Lunong was hungry and reluctant to give up the soybeans, so he said, "There is no need to exchange so much. Let's exchange two to satisfy our hunger and we can have lunch soon."
Xia Huoqu didn't listen to him and took him to the steamed buns stall and asked the boss, "What is the filling of the steamed buns today?"
"Deputy Captain Xia?" The boss of the steamed bun stall looked up and smiled from behind the steamer, "One with shredded radish and one with sauerkraut. Two?"
Xia Huoqu picked up the bag in the backpack and handed it over, "How do you exchange it for these soybeans?"
The boss took it, wiped his hands on his apron, opened the bag and grabbed a handful, looked at it carefully in the sunlight, and smiled, "Your soybeans are good. How about one and a half bowls of soybeans for a steamed bun? My buns are big, made of white flour, with thin skin and big fillings, and there's meat soup inside."
Xia Huoqu nodded, "Then you can exchange all these soybeans for buns."
"No, no." Xia Lunong hurriedly hugged his brother's arm to stop him, "Just exchange two to try."
The boss held the bag and waited for their decision with a smile.
Xia Huoqu looked at his brother and saw that his eyes were reluctantly fixed on the bag of soybeans. He sighed slightly and said, "Then exchange it for four, two with radish filling and two with sauerkraut filling."
The boss smiled, "Okay, four buns for six bowls of soybeans."
As he said that, he opened the bag, scooped out six bowls of soybeans with the bowl inside the bag, put them into a cloth bag filled with soybeans, and then handed out Xia Huoqu and his friends' bag of soybeans, of which only the bottom was left, "Done."
Xia Lunong swallowed her saliva and watched the boss open the steamer and use cabbage leaves to hold four buns out. He instructed, "Whatever filling is placed on the seal is the filling. Be careful not to burn them."
The buns were very large, estimated to be less than a pound each, white and plump, with a unique aroma of flour and oil.
Xia Lunong just felt sorry for his soybeans, but now he didn't feel sorry for them anymore.
He wanted to take the buns, but he looked down at his hands. There was dirt on his hands from picking up the seedlings just now, so he had to wash them first.
The boss looked at him like this and nodded, "There is a well over there, you can wash your hands."
Xia Huoqu also knew this, so he held the buns and led Xia Lunong to the well.
There were people fetching water to drink by the well, and when they saw their brothers coming, they made way for him.
Xia Lunong couldn't wait to take the bucket, threw it down to fetch water, let his brother wash his hands first, and then he used half a bucket of water to wash his hands. After washing them clean, he couldn't wait to wipe them on his clothes on his chest and abdomen, and first picked up the buns with shredded radish, held them in both hands and took a big bite.
The meat juice from the buns came out with a "sizzle".
His brother warned him, "Be careful of the burns."
Xia Lunong's eyes were full of tears, his mouth was swollen, and he could no longer speak.
He took a bite and first tasted the grease-soaked dough, then the carrot.
The radish was sweet and slightly chewy, with a slightly spicy taste. When mixed with the gravy, the full radish flavor burst in the mouth as soon as it was chewed. It was so delicious that Xia Lunong could not help but speed up his chewing speed and almost bit his tongue.
It was so delicious!
It was the first time that Xia Lunong had eaten a bun that perfectly blended the sweetness of radish, the freshness of gravy, and the spicy flavor of chili. In particular, the bun skin soaked in gravy gave the bun a perfect sense of heaviness.
Even before the disaster, when Xia Lunong went to eat those big buns that cost tens of yuan each when traveling, they were not so delicious!
He held the big bun with care, and his eyes were almost filled with tears.
Xia Lunong ate it carefully, one bite after another, and finished the big bun in a short while.
He wiped his mouth, his heart filled with an indescribable sense of happiness.
Seeing that he had finished eating, Xia Huoqu took a pickled cabbage bun, broke it in half and handed it to Xia Lunong, "Try this."
Xia Lunong smelled the sour aroma of the pickled cabbage, and felt that her stomach, which had just been full, was hungry again.
He swallowed his saliva and pushed his brother's hand, "No, you eat it yourself, I'm full."
Xia Huoqu stuffed it into his hand, "Try it, it won't taste good if it's cold."
Xia Lunong took it and took a bite cherishingly.
This time, he almost burst into tears again.
The pickled cabbage stuffing is also very delicious. It is a little spicier than the radish stuffing, and has a little more fat. The sour and fragrant taste is placed in the dough, and it is just right to chew.
After taking a bite, Xia Lunong's appetite was aroused. His stomach, which was originally a little full, seemed to have digested everything. If there were enough buns, he could have three or four more.
"Delicious!" Xia Lunong held the buns and sniffed, "This boss's cooking is really good."
"If it's not good, I can't open a bun stall." Xia Huoqu ate the buns slowly, "Grain is much more affordable than buns."
Xia Lunong looked at the buns in his hand, and for the first time, he didn't agree with his brother's words.
Even if grain was more affordable, he would rather eat buns, even if he was hungry for one meal or three!