Chapter 91 Refugees
The second stop was Yongfengzhai. Due to the hot sales of crystal jerky, the new snacks made with brown sugar sent by Sang Luo were also very popular. She was also very popular here with Manager Yan.
Shopkeeper Yan was a polite person by nature, and whenever Sang Luo came to the shop, there would always be tea and snacks served to her. However, Sang Luo was talking business and rarely visited him.
This time, Sang Luo brought her two children with her, and the hospitality was even better. There were several more kinds of snacks served, and most of them were obviously the children's favorites.
Shopkeeper Yan frequently invited the two children to have snacks. Shen An and Shen Ning were outside and followed Sang Luo's instructions. When they saw their sister-in-law nodded and said they could have a taste, the brother and sister only tried one piece each.
Having a full meal at Dongfulou is one thing, and being reserved is another.
Manager Yan didn't know that the two children had already had a big meal in Dongfulou before coming here. He just felt that Sang Luo was well-educated and even taught her sister-in-law and brother-in-law very well, so he liked her even more.
Before leaving, she wrapped all the snacks in oil paper and asked Sang Luo to take them back for the two children.
Taking her two children on this trip, Sang Luo inexplicably experienced the feeling of taking her children around to visit relatives and friends and receive gifts in the first month of the lunar year, as seen in movies and TV dramas.
Walking out of Yongfengzhai, Sang Luo herself felt like laughing. She had never experienced anything herself, but now she was playing the role of a parent, experiencing it with the two little ones, Shen An and Shen Ning.
The business was done here, and Sang Luo took the two little ones to visit the county town.
There was no need to go shopping for food, as the two children not only ate their fill, but also packed up a lot of good things to take back, which are now all in her basket.
Shen An and Shen Ning already felt that they didn't need to buy anything. With so many snacks and food, except for buns and steamed dumplings, most of the others could be kept for a long time, so there was no need to buy anything.
Sang Luo agreed with this. She looked at the two little ones. They were all dressed new from head to toe.
Uh, that’s not right either.
Sang Luo's eyes fell on the two small buns on Shen Ning's head: "Let's go to the clothing store."
Shen Ning tilted her head: “Sister-in-law, we have clothes, new ones.”
Sang Luo smiled and said, "I'm not going to buy you clothes, I'm going to buy you a new hairband."
I don't know how long the little guy has used the hair tie on his head, and it has faded beyond recognition.
Shen Ning reached out and tugged at the hair tie on her head. It seemed to be still usable? However, the new hair tie was bright red and very beautiful.
Thinking of this, joy filled her eyes and she nodded!
Sang Luo smiled and took the two children straight to the clothing shop.
The clothing shop not only sells ready-made clothes, but also various hairbands and pearl flowers. Even if Chen Ning is only nine years old, she is still a little girl, and there is no little girl who doesn't love beauty.
When the shopkeeper brought out three trays of colorful hair ropes, headbands, and pearl flowers, her eyes were overwhelmed because they were all wonderful things she had never seen before.
This one is beautiful, that one is nice-looking, it’s hard to take your eyes off them all.
But it's just the initial visual impact. After looking at it a few more times, people calm down and their thoughts become clearer.
It was obvious that the exquisite items sold in the county shops would not be cheap, so she simply skipped the pearl flowers and headbands as they were not necessary, so she skipped them too, and finally settled on hair ties.
There are really many colors of hair ties, more than a dozen. Shen Ning looked back and forth twice, and finally pointed to the bright red one.
"Sister-in-law, I like this."
Sang Luo smiled and asked the shopkeeper to help her get it, and then asked for a light red hairband, then paid and left.
As for herself and Shen An, Sang Luo felt that it was strange to use bright red, let alone colorful ones. The clothes were originally plain, so a headband made of the same color fabric would be fine.
After buying the hair ties, Sang Luo thought of another thing, so she asked the owner of the clothing store: "Where can I buy pens and ink in the county?"
The shopkeeper was a little surprised to hear her asking about writing brushes and ink, but he still gave her instructions: "You have to go to the side of the former county school. There is a writing brush and ink shop over there."
Why do we say it is the original county school? Because the Qiyang County school was opened for a few years under the decree of the previous emperor, and was abolished under the decree of the previous emperor. The current emperor has issued an edict to reopen the county and township schools, but the order has not been carried out yet, and Qiyang County has not resumed school yet.
Therefore, the children of wealthy families in the county nowadays either rely on family education or private schools to learn to read and write.
Sang Luo thanked the shopkeeper and took her two children out of the clothing shop to the old site of the county school.
She had the memories of her original self. With her original self's background, she didn't need to go out to buy pens and ink. Her servants would do it, or her father and brothers would choose them for her. But her original self knew some common sense. For example, most of the so-called pen and ink shops in small places were not specialized pen and ink shops, but shops that also sold incense, candles and groceries.
That's right, before the Dagan Dynasty, social classes were extremely distinct. Scholars were born only in a specific class, and only a very small number of ordinary people were literate. Even when the emperor of the Dagan Dynasty issued an edict to establish schools, this situation did not improve much because the schools did not last long and were abandoned halfway.
Therefore, except for the provincial capital or the capital, the consumption of pens, ink, paper and inkstones among the common people in the counties and prefectures was very small. There would be no shops specializing in selling pens, ink, paper and inkstones, and of course, there would be no bookstores.
At this time, books were mainly privately collected and copied. If one wanted to buy one, one could go to specific book fairs in big places like the capital or provincial capitals. As for the county level, it was a non-best-selling item. Perhaps someone would still sell it when there was a county school, but as the county school has been closed for so many years, that might not be the case.
Chen An's heart started pounding when he heard his sister-in-law asking about the pen and ink shop. He was learning to write and had seen books and other things, so he knew what pens and ink were used for.
As soon as they left the clothing store, Chen An said, "Sister-in-law, are you going to buy us some pens and ink? Those things are really expensive, right? I think using a sand table is fine. It can be used to write just as well, and it doesn't cost money."
Shen Ning also nodded: "I also think writing on the sand table is good."
Shen Ning didn't know whether the pen and ink were expensive, but she could use something that didn't cost money, so she might as well not spend money, right? She saw that her sister-in-law only bought her a hairband and didn't buy anything for herself, and she regretted spending money.
Two hair ties and two headbands cost six cents, which is enough to buy a piece of tofu filter cloth if converted into cloth.
Sang Luo smiled: "I have other uses. You will find out when we get back."
After walking for about half a quarter of an hour, I arrived at the street where the county school was located. Sure enough, when I glanced over, I saw a shop selling incense, candles and groceries.
"Let's go." She called the brother and sister.
Shen An and Shen Ning followed Sang Luo to the door of the incense and candle shop and stopped. The brother and sister had a lot of question marks on their heads???
"Aren't you buying pens and ink? This is selling incense and candles."
Sang Luo smiled and said, "This is it."
Lead the two little ones in.
When the shopkeeper saw the three people coming in, he looked Sang Luo up and down and asked with a smile, "What do you want to buy, young lady?"
"Do you have any pen and ink?"
The shopkeeper frowned and smiled, "Yes, yes."
As he spoke, he bent down and rummaged around in the cabinet, and soon took out a brush and an ink stick: "Young lady, take a look."
Well, don't ask why there weren't dozens of items on display for her to choose from. It's good enough that there are items to buy. Choosing? Don't force it. It's not only difficult for the shopkeeper's cabinet, but also for her own wallet.
Sang Luo picked it up and looked at it. She herself didn't recognize it, but the original body recognized it. It was a relatively cheap goat-hair brush, and the ink was just low-grade ink.
When I asked the shopkeeper about the price, he smiled and said, "A brush costs thirty-five coins, and an ink stick costs one hundred and fifty coins."
Sang Luo smacked her lips, it seemed that her original family had spent a lot of money on pens, ink, paper and inkstone in the past.
She took out two strings of money from her purse, counted out 185 coins and handed them over. The shopkeeper took it with a smile, and while counting, he also had the time to ask Sang Luo if she needed paper and inkstone.
Sang Luo quickly shook her head.
If you don't like inkstones, you can still make one if you don't have one. As for paper, although paper was available at that time, the output was extremely small. Except for the government, most people in the folks couldn't afford it.
For example, Zhou Lizheng used paper issued by the government, and big restaurants like Dongfulou also had paper, which was used for writing contracts and receipts. Contracts and receipts were actually cut into small strips to save paper. As for passes, wooden signs were still used.
Even the accountant in the restaurant uses money frugally, let alone her who has to make a living in the mountains?
After buying pens and ink, Sang Luo passed by a drugstore on the way. She remembered that there was not much gypsum left at home, so she went into the drugstore and stocked up some more. Of course, she also needed some aniseed, as she had to make dried bean curd every day, and the aniseed was used up very quickly.
But considering that people might associate aniseed with dried bean curd and then with gypsum, Sangluo bought the aniseed from another pharmacy.
Now that all the important matters were done, Sang Luo took the two children to visit the East and West markets, and also to see Qin Fangniang and others who were setting up stalls.
When she entered the market with her load on her shoulder, she was inevitably stopped and questioned as if she was setting up a stall. She checked the jars and saw that they were empty and the things in them were a mix of various. She knew at a glance that they were things she had bought for her own use, so she put the things in directly without asking her to pay the market tax.
In the morning, the brother and sister strolled around the county's main streets, restaurants, snack shops, clothing shops, and even saw a shop selling pens, ink, and incense and candles. But once they entered the East Market, they saw a completely different scene, with all kinds of stalls.
It was like their big market, but not like that. The big market didn't have so many stalls, and the things sold weren't as diverse, fine, and detailed as those in the East Market, which dazzled the brother and sister again and again.
Sang Luo found everything they looked at interesting. If they looked at a food stall for a few more seconds, she would ask if they wanted to buy some. No matter how much the brother and sister looked at them, they would shake their heads so quickly when they heard the eldest sister-in-law ask if they wanted to buy!
"Need not!"
There are so many snacks in the basket!
Sang Luo didn't say much, and the two little ones would definitely not be short of food for the next seven or eight days.
"Okay, if you want to eat or buy anything, just tell me."
After walking around, they came to Qin Fangniang's stall and talked with her.
The brother and sister looked at the new and interesting East Market and thought that everything was good and bustling. In fact, Qin Fangniang, who set up stalls, and Sang Luo, who used to come here often, knew that the market was still quite deserted.
Sang Luo was thankful that all three families had restaurant or food business. Nearly half of the goods were delivered to the restaurants and food stores every day, and the remaining half was sold at the market, which was just right.
When Qin Fangniang saw Sang Luo bringing Shen An and Shen Ning over, she had to buy some food for the two little ones, but Sang Luo stopped her and said, "They can't eat that much. Look at them, their bellies are still round."
After chatting for a while, they went to the West Market for a while. When Qin Fangniang and her friends had sold all their things, they met up in the East Market. Sang Luo bought two more jars and borrowed Qin Fangniang's cart to pull them back.
Just out of the county town, not far away, I saw a few people in ragged clothes on the mountain road in the distance. When they got closer, Sang Luo's pupils shrank: "Wait."
She pulled Qin Fangniang. Qin Fangniang was a little stunned at first, but when she saw the four or five people in front of her clearly, her body stiffened and her mind went numb.
Refugees! ? ?
Qin Fangniang and Sang Luo, who escaped the disaster, were very familiar with the expressions and eyes of the refugees.
Sang Luo held a child in each hand and said, "Let's go back to the county first!"
Qin Fangniang nodded, turned the car around, and several people quickly walked towards the city gate.
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