Xu Ning had already bought all the things for the New Year. Today, he planned to take Xu An and Xu Mo to the city to play for a day. The two children, who had been cooped up at home for a whole winter, were very happy to know that Xu Ning was going to take them to the city to play.
They were going to take a ox cart today. Jianmin, Dalin, Goudan and others were also going with their parents. Many people in the village were going to the city today, and there were not enough ox carts. So the village chief arranged for two men in the village who could drive ox carts to go to the cowshed and drive two more ox carts.
Xu Ning dressed them both warmly, put on cotton hats, and covered their faces with scarves, leaving only their eyes exposed.
The three of them walked to the entrance of the village and saw three carriages parked there. Jianmin saw Xu An and the others coming and waved to them, saying, "Xu An, Xu An, come and take this carriage. We will sit together."
Aunt Dashuan also called out to Xu Ning, "Xu Zhiqing, come and sit down. With you guys in the box, our carriage will be full." The three of them hurried towards the carriage.
Aunt Dashuan saw Xu Mo following behind her and said to Xu Ning, "Is this the kid from the cowshed? Last time Xiao An brought him to my house to play, I thought he was a kid from some family in the village."
Xu Ning nodded and said, "It's him. There's a lot of work to do in the cowshed and no one is taking care of him, so Grandpa Qi let him play with us. We brought him with us when we went into the city today."
Aunt Dashuan sighed and said, "This is a poor child. Jianmin came back and told me that this child is very sensible." Then she touched Xu Mo's head.
Xu Mo smiled and winked at her, Aunt Dashuan was so fond of him that she picked him up and put him on her lap to shield him from the wind.
Xu Ning also took out the coat from his backpack and covered Xu Anjianmin and a six or seven-year-old child in the car. The child's grandmother also said to Xu Ning, "Xu Zhiqing, thank you. I forgot to get a windproof coat for the child."
Xu Ning said with a smile, "Auntie, what's the big deal? Who would be so thoughtful when going out? I even forgot to take the backpack when I went out, and I remembered it halfway and went back to get it."
The few of them chatted as they walked into the city. Just as they reached the archway leading to the city, the ox carts could not go in, so they got off the carts and walked in. There were too many people, so Xu Ning held Xu An's hand with one hand and Xu Mo's hand with the other, and walked them forward, reminding them that if they got lost, they should just follow the original route to the archway, as all the ox carts in the village were parked here.
While listening to the sister's words, the two of them looked around intently. During these days, people from the nearby villages brought any mountain products they had at home to sell, and the black market was also more crowded than usual. The Chinese New Year was coming soon, and every family had to buy New Year's goods. Law enforcement officers also had to celebrate the New Year, so during these days every year, nearby villagers were allowed to take the mountain products to the city to sell, and no one would care as long as they didn't go too far.
Xu Mo stared at the old man selling candied haws until he could not walk anymore. Xu Ning bought a string for each of them. The further they went in, the more people there were. Xu Ning didn't have anything to buy, so he took the two of them around. As soon as they reached the alley next to the black market, they saw Lin Miao going in with a backpack on her back.
Xu Ning took his two younger brothers to the state-owned restaurant. They had been here for so long but had never been to a state-owned restaurant. Today, he planned to take his two children there to have a bite to eat.
There were quite a lot of people in the state-owned restaurant today. It was almost full. Xu Ning found a table and sat down. He saw a sign saying that the items served today were vegetarian dumplings, braised pork trotters, and shredded pork noodles.
Xu Ning ordered one of each, which cost a total of 85 cents, 4 liang of grain coupons, and 4 liang of meat coupons. After the waiter brought the food, the three of them shared it. Since they had no shortage of oil and water during the winter, the three of them ate very conservatively. Xu An commented, "This pig's trotter is not as delicious as the pig's head braised by my sister, and this dumpling is not as delicious as the wild vegetable dumplings my sister made."
Xu Mo also said, "This pork noodle is not as delicious as my sister's."
Xu Ning thought, such delicious food can't fill your mouths, you are really stupid. Xu Ning planned to go back and feed them corn porridge for a few days.
The three of them played in the city for a day. When they got home, the two younger ones fell asleep on the kang. Xu Ning wiped their hands and faces, then went to the cowshed to tell her parents that they were back. When they knew that the three siblings had gone to the city, they were afraid that they would worry.
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