"Auntie, give me three bowls of wontons, no dietary restrictions."
Zhao Fangchu is very mischievous. Every time he goes to the market with his brother, he always likes to pester his brother for delicious food. He has tried everything, such as fresh meat wontons, plain noodles, candied haws and red sugar date cakes, but his favorite is this wonton shop.
A small stall was set up on the roadside, with three small square tables beside it. The woman selling wontons looked very friendly and smiled as she invited them to sit down.
The steaming wontons were quickly served. The soup base was slightly yellow and fragrant. The wontons were large in filling and had thin skin. When you took a bite, oil and water sizzled out.
The three of them had been busy for the whole morning and were starving. They finished a bowl of wontons in no time and felt warm all over.
Yang Donghu took advantage of the time when Zhu Cuilan was tidying up the cart and not paying attention to quickly pay the bill.
The wontons were made with plenty of ingredients, and fifteen cents a bowl wasn't expensive. However, Zhu Cuilan lived a very frugal life, and he was afraid that if she heard about it, she would feel bad about the money, so it wouldn't be worth it.
Anyway, it’s still early. I’ve finally made it to the market, so I might as well buy some daily necessities to take back with me, so I don’t have to make another trip in a couple of days.
The clothes Yang Donghu was wearing were all old clothes brought from the Yang family, and the cuffs and collars were already frayed.
Before leaving, Zhao Luochuan gave Zhu Cuilan two hundred coins and asked her to help choose some good fabrics to buy two sets of clothes for Yang Donghu.
Zhu Cuilan refused. She treated Zhao Luochuan as her own son. As an aunt, buying two sets of clothes for his new husband was her duty. There was no need for the younger generation to pay for it.
It was difficult to pull the cart on the street, so they greeted the lady selling wontons and asked her to help look after the food and come back to push the cart after they bought the things.
It’s not easy to come to the street, so Zhu Cuilan gave Zhao Fangchu some money and asked him to buy something he liked.
The two juniors were together, and Zhu Cuilan was afraid that they would feel restrained, so she asked Yang Donghu and the other two to go shopping and buy some things, while she went to the cloth shop.
After noon, there were not so many people.
"Fang Chu, please accompany me to buy some things first."
"Okay, Brother Dong, what do you want to buy?" Zhao Fangchu asked curiously.
Yang Donghu was thinking about his grandmother. If it weren't for his grandmother's kindness, he would never have been able to escape from the Yang family's den of tigers and wolves. He had no way to repay his grandmother's kindness, so he could only try his best to show more filial piety in small things.
When she was young, Old Mrs. Yang had to take care of the whole family and even had to wash clothes in the river in winter. She developed a chronic illness, and when the weather got cold, her hands would ache from the cracks between her bones.
Yang Donghu asked, "Is there a better clinic in town?"
Zhao Fangchu is familiar with the streets, so it would be a good idea to ask him.
"Yes, there's a Sui'an Hall on the street. The doctor there is a well-known expert in the area."
"Then take me there."
Zhao Fangchu was happy to be able to help his brother Dong. Most of the houses in the town looked the same. He led Yang Donghu left and right in the street, and then stopped under a plaque with the big words "Sui'an Hall" printed on it.
"Right here, Dong brother, are you feeling uncomfortable?"
Yang Donghu shook his head: "It's not me."
Zhao Fangchu didn't ask any more questions. He didn't like the smell in the clinic, so he didn't go in and waited for him at the door.
There were not many people in the clinic at the moment. There was only a man about fifty years old tending to the herbs. He seemed to be the doctor in the clinic.
Hearing someone come in, he looked up and asked, "Do you want to get medicine or see a doctor?"
"Get some medicine." Yang Donghu described the symptoms of his grandmother's hand pain one by one.
It wasn't a difficult or complicated illness. After hearing this, the doctor took out a small jar of ointment from the medicine cabinet and handed it to Yang Donghu: "It's not a serious illness. You don't need to take any medicine. Just apply some ointment. When you go back, remember to rub your hands with ginger to warm them up, then apply the ointment evenly. Apply it once in the morning and evening, and then take it out when you're done."
"Thank you, doctor." Yang Donghu carefully wrote down the doctor's instructions, took a few plasters for sprains, and paid for them.
Zhao He sprained his back at work and applied some safflower oil. Since he was already at the clinic, buying medicine was a good idea. Besides, the Zhao family treated Yang Donghu well, and respecting his elders was his duty.
After paying the money and saying goodbye to the doctor, Yang Donghu left the clinic.
The novel things on the street were dazzling, and Zhao Fangchu wanted to buy everything he saw.
The two of them walked and stopped along the way, and they couldn't carry all the things they bought with both hands.
Zhao Luochuan was not at home, and Yang Donghu was afraid of being alone at night, so he agreed to stay at his aunt's house for a few days and sleep with Fang Chu.
He went to the meat stall specifically to buy fresh pork ribs to make soup, and also bought a piece of fatty pork belly to make braised pork.
Passing by a stall selling hairpins, Yang Donghu stopped and put down the things in his hand, carefully selected a green bamboo-shaped one, brought it to Zhao Fangchu, and asked him if it looked good.
"It looks good. It will definitely look good on you, Brother Dong."
Yang Donghu took the hairpin and gestured twice on Zhao Fangchu's head. The green bamboo joint did not have any other fancy decorations, only a few exquisitely carved bamboo leaves on the end of the hairpin, exuding a sense of classic elegance, which matched Zhao Fangchu's bright eyes and white teeth.
"It looks great." Yang Donghu exclaimed with a smile, then turned around and asked the stall owner, "How much is this?"
"My dear, you have a good eye. This is the best-selling item here. The style is not available elsewhere. I am selling it to you sincerely. I won't say anything empty. Just take it for fifty cents."
Zhao Fangchu was so frightened that he waved his hands repeatedly: "Brother Dong, what are you doing? I don't want it. It's too expensive. I already have one on my head."
Boys and girls living in the village like them would tie their hair up with simple wooden hairpins decorated with carved cloud and leaf shapes.
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