"Sister, sister, come quickly!"
Hua Shi had just come out of the house, and before anyone arrived, Hua Li ran over excitedly, pulled her sleeve, and walked towards the wooden wheelbarrow.
Hua Yu and Hua Xiao stood at the back, leaning their heads over to look from afar, their eyes attracted by the objects on the wooden cart.
"Girl, take a look, is there anything you like?"
The old man lifted up half of the cloth covering it and said to Hua Shi happily.
Hua Li had already been lying next to the cart, his big eyes full of curiosity and desire as he looked at the things on it.
"What is this?" Hua Li pointed to a square object wrapped in butter paper, sniffed it, and seemed to smell the scent of sugar.
"That's brown sugar cake." The old man said, reaching out to lift the butter paper wrapping it, revealing the neatly cut and folded brown sugar cake inside.
When Hua Li saw the thing, his eyes suddenly lit up. He swallowed, said nothing, and turned back to look at Hua Shi.
"Uncle, what is that? Can you show it to me?" Hua Shi suddenly noticed something tucked in the corner, with only a little bit of it exposed.
She thought it looked familiar, red and pointed, like a chili pepper.
The old man took a closer look, took the thing, and said with a sigh, "This is not a valuable thing, just a small red pepper. It's spicy and irritating, but it can warm your hands and feet. I push this thing around to sell. If you feel cold, just take a bite and it will definitely make you feel refreshed."
As he spoke, he spread out all the red peppers in his hand, handed them to Hua Shi to show her, and said, "These are the only few left. If you want them, I'll give them all for a penny."
There were indeed only a few left. Perhaps because they had been wrapped for too long, the skin of the peppers was wrinkled. It must have been several days since they were picked.
Hua Shi paused, then looked at the things next to him on the cart. He pointed at the chirping chicks in the bamboo cage and said, "How many chicks are there in here?"
The old man fiddled with the wilted peppers in his hand before replying, "Eight, seven copper coins each."
Hua Xiao, who was not far behind him, heard this and hurried over. He tugged at Hua Shi's sleeve and whispered in a low voice, "It's too expensive. The chickens sold by the aunties in the village are only five cents, and this one costs seven cents."
Hua Xiao thought she had lowered her voice sufficiently, but she did not realize that the old man, standing close to her, heard her words clearly. He blew his beard and glared at her, saying unhappily:
"Little girl, don't talk nonsense. I pushed these things from far away. The journey was time-consuming and laborious. If I don't sell them for a few more cents, how can I make back my investment?"
Hua Xiao tiptoed, realizing he had heard everything she said. Unashamed, she put her hands on her hips and said, "Look, your chicks are frozen and wilted. Who knows if they'll survive after you buy them? They're so expensive."
Hua Xiao didn't say this on purpose to lower the price. The chicks had been pushed around for several days. Although the weather was getting warmer, it was still choking for the fragile chicks. Their cries were weak now, and several of them were huddled in the corner, as if they had stopped moving.
The old man became even more unhappy after hearing this. His good mood was gone in an instant. He frowned and said impatiently, "Okay, okay, if you don't buy it, I'll go to the next store. Don't waste my time."
As he spoke, he was about to pick up the things and push the cart away.
Hua Xiao stared with his eyes wide open and puffed out his cheeks, looking very unhappy.
She was telling the truth, why doesn't this old man allow others to tell the truth...
"Hey, sir, don't go. I didn't say I don't want to go." Hua Shi called out to the man.
She was calculating in her mind, how could she not...
She wanted to get all the little peppers. She went into the mountains several times but didn't see any wild peppers, so she thought there were no wild peppers at that time.
She vaguely remembered that chili peppers seemed to have been introduced from outside. She didn't know when this unknown dynasty was introduced. If it didn't exist, it would probably be normal.
When she saw him take it out just now, Hua Shi's eyes flashed slightly, but a penny is still money, and five or six of these things are not worth spending money on.
"I want all eight of these chicks. The one next to them is a hen that lays eggs, right? I want one too. I'll take a look at the other things later. Since I bought so much, can you give me a discount? Okay?"
Hua Shi said in one breath.
The old man's face had been drooping, but after hearing Hua Shi's words, he smiled again. "This is not cheap. However, this bamboo basket is supposed to cost one penny, but since you bought the whole thing, I won't charge you anything."
He said this with a smile, and it was obvious that he had a very firm attitude. Seven cents was seven cents, and it was impossible to get it cheaper.
"If you take good care of this hen, it can lay eggs for several years. I'll sell it to you for sixty cents." The old man pointed at the bamboo cage and said as he estimated.
Hua Xiao glared at him and shouted unhappily, "You're paying ten cents too much! An old hen in our village is only fifty cents!"
So cunning!
"You already said it's an old hen. My hen can still lay eggs for a long time, so of course it's more expensive."
Hua Xiao: "Is this more expensive? It's already ten cents more expensive!"
Ten cents is not a small amount of money!
Seeing that the old man's face was about to droop again, Hua Shi said, "Okay, sixty cents is sixty cents, but you have to give me those little red peppers in your hand."
"Okay." Seeing that she agreed readily, the old man agreed without much hesitation.
"One hundred and sixteen pence in all."
Hua Shi counted out the silver from his purse and took the heavy copper coins. The old man smiled so hard that his teeth were showing and handed him the two bamboo baskets, and also gave him the small red peppers.
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