"Why did you ask Cuifang to buy so much stuff? You can't take it all with you. Doesn't Grandma have one of these big iron pots? One is enough."
The Holy Maiden looked at the two neatly arranged pages in Miao Cuifang's hand. They contained the missing items that Huo Xiaolong had been working on all night. Although there were many snakes and insects in the Miao village, there really weren't any in the houses or courtyards.
After all, they are professionals.
"My family is large, one pot isn't enough!"
Huo Xiaolong and the Holy Maiden squatted on the ground, poking at the soil with small wooden sticks in their hands.
Before meeting the saintess, the little dumpling's impression of the saintess was that she was mysterious, wore a veil, and was very unapproachable.
Anyone who wants to see her has to go through a lot of trouble. Then she sits on a high stone bench deep in the mountains of the Miao village, covered with a tiger or bear skin.
The way you look at people must be condescending and arrogant, and your voice must have a reverberating quality.
Upon seeing it, Huo Xiaolong accepted it.
After all, how mysterious could a place be that could produce someone as silly as Master Miao? The fact that the Holy Maiden could play with her in the dirt is within the little girl's comfort zone.
"Why did you buy a whole box of these candles? They're expensive. And the oil lamps too, buy a whole bunch of them." The Holy Maiden felt a pang of heartache looking at the list. What if Huo Xiaolong and the others didn't take them and left them in the Miao village? Then her family would have to pay them back in silver.
Their mother-in-law taught them from a young age that they should not take things from others for free.
"Light it up. The oil lamp is for seeing the road in the morning. The fog is so thick in the Miao village in the early morning. What if all those elderly people fall?" Huo Xiaolong took out a large silver ingot from his purse and handed it to Miao Cuifang, while also speaking to the Holy Maiden.
"My grandparents wouldn't hurt you even if you dropped it, don't worry." The girl still didn't want the people from Fengyuelou to spend money.
"And what are you doing buying so much of this ink, paper, and inkstone?" the saintess continued.
"Studying? Don't you kids need to read and write?" the little dumpling asked.
“We would pass the same book around from house to house, and we would write on the floor.”
"That won't do. We have to learn the Central Plains dialect. We can't be half-illiterate. We need to not only be able to speak it, but also to be able to write it and recognize it."
Thinking that the girl might be worried about money, the little dumpling patted her purse and said...
"It's okay, I'll pay for it. I have money, you don't need to give me any."
"No need, I have it here. If I take your money, your sister Liuxu will be angry."
Master Miao has saved up quite a bit of money at the brothel over the years. Although he sent most of it back home, Cen Ang is willing to take care of him and lets him run errands for him. He even gets extra money for looking after the children.
"Oh, then buy me some snacks, Master Miao, and buy everything on this list. Use my money first, and when I run out, you can give me some more."
Unable to dissuade Huo Xiaolong, Master Miao obediently went down the mountain to buy things, and before leaving, she gave instructions to the Holy Maiden.
“Tie a communication gu on her head. You wouldn’t have guessed how naughty this child was when she was in the red-light district. Especially since we live in the mountains, it’s already a favor that she doesn’t try to jump off a cliff.”
The girl swallowed hard, feeling a bit pressured.
"No, brother, I'll go buy it. You watch the child."
Huo Xiaolong got angry when he heard this, threw the small wooden stick on the ground, and shouted.
"I'm eight years old! I don't need anyone to look after me!"
The man winked at his sister, "You'd better keep a close eye on things, or they'll disappear in no time."
The little dumpling was led by the Holy Maiden to run wildly all over the mountain. The mountains in Miao territory were different from the deep mountains back home. Every few steps there was a snake, and every few more steps there was a centipede. The centipedes were so big that Huo Xiaolong was a little scared.
"This thing is delicious when roasted," the saintess said to Huo Xiaolong, holding a large spider in her bare hands.
The little dumpling looked incredulous and wanted to get away from the saintess, but there were some insects behind her, so she said...
Do we really have to eat it?
"Why don't you try some?"
When the girl handed her a half-cooked, large spider, Huo Xiaolong's face contorted in disbelief. She couldn't quite accept it, but she closed her eyes and took a bite.
Then his eyes lit up as he said...
"Like a crab."
"What's a crab?" the girl asked.
"It's something from the sea too. You went at the wrong time this time, and there were no crabs left. You can go next summer. I'll take you to Hujia Village then, the place where my family gets squid. They have tons of crabs there, so you can eat as many as you want."
"OK!"
Looking at the clusters of bright red chili peppers emerging from the jungle, Huo Xiaolong asked...
Why don't you pick these and sell them?
"The road is troublesome, and many families outside grow chili peppers."
"But your chili peppers are delicious."
Last night, while we were having dinner in the Miao village, we were truly amazed by the chili peppers there. If Sister Erya were here, she would definitely have carried several horse-drawn carts of them back with her.
"Why don't you sell dried chili peppers? I'll buy some," Huo Xiaolong said to the girl.
The saintess thought it was the young lady of the house who couldn't bear to see them suffer and was kindly helping them. She shook her head and said...
"It's alright, our lives are much better than before. Don't worry, things will only get better. There's no need to push yourself so hard. Even a brothel like Fengyuelou can't consume all the chili peppers in the village."
“It’s not just brothels,” Huo Xiaolong said.
“We still have a brothel and a restaurant in Beining, so we can sell them. Besides, there aren’t many chilies left after they’re dried, and luckily they won’t spoil. Trust me, you’re sure to make a profit!”
The Holy Maiden is the next High Priestess. She also wants to make the Miao Village better, but she needs to discuss these things with Mother Cen. Huo Xiaolong is still a child, and she is afraid that the little dumpling will not be able to make decisions.
So the girl nodded.
"Okay, I'll discuss it with my employer when I get back."
Huo Xiaolong will never forget this day. She had previously thought that Huo Shuwen was a bit rough in raising children, bringing home poisonous toads for her to play with.
There were other adults in the woods besides her and the saintess, with their children playing.
She watched as a Miao man grabbed a five-step snake and handed it to his child, who then played with it for a while before throwing it into a bamboo basket.
The snake stood up several times as if to bite, so the Miao children went up and gave it two big slaps.
That child wasn't even as big as me; his little hands were only that small.
The five-step snake was completely dumbfounded.
"Come on, Miss Dong."
The saintess felt that her brother was exaggerating. Clearly, the young lady of the house was so obedient and always followed her. Her brother was just talking nonsense.
Huo Xiaolong: If you had any less spiders, ants, insects, or snakes in your house, would I have run away? I'm afraid that if I got bitten, I wouldn't even be able to enter the space and would just faint.
Seeing the little boy staring intently at the five-step snake, the girl continued...
"That doesn't taste good. It's caught to make poison. If you like, I'll catch one for you to play with in a bit."
Huo Xiaolong shook his head vigorously, swallowed hard, and took the saintess's hand.
"I don't want that thing. Let's play a little longer and then go back to eat."
"OK."
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