When Yao Xiujuan woke up, she saw a basket full of grapes and a small ceramic jar on her dining table. She was curious about what was in the jar, so she carefully lifted the cloth covering the mouth of the jar. When she looked closely, she found that it was something very familiar. When she smelled the familiar scent, her eyes lit up.
"Brother Tian, can Brother Weiguo buy yogurt?"
"ah····"
Chu Tian was brushing his teeth when he saw Yao Xiujuan excitedly coming to him with the ceramic jar brought back by Sun Weiguo. It was the first time that Chu Tian saw Yao Xiujuan so excited. He forgot that there was ointment foam in his mouth and opened his mouth to speak. He felt something was wrong after saying only one word and quickly rinsed his mouth.
"Ah, yes, what's wrong? By the way, how did you know it was yogurt?"
Chu Tian wiped his mouth and looked at Yao Xiujuan strangely. Logically, since supplies were not circulating, yogurt could not be packaged and sold, so the yogurt made by ethnic minorities was usually digested internally by themselves, or made into yogurt lumps that could be stored for a long time, and rarely circulated.
Yao Xiujuan narrowed her eyes, looking particularly happy. "I know, Brother Tian, have you forgotten? The military corps where my mother's family lives is close to Nanshan, where many Khazars live. Before we got married, we often didn't have meat to eat. My father was afraid that we would be greedy, so from time to time he would use some grain or vegetables to exchange for some snacks like yogurt and milk lumps to satisfy us siblings' cravings."
Chu Tian nodded thoughtfully, "So, you like eating dairy products?"
Yao Xiujuan nodded, "Yeah."
Chu Tian looked at Yao Xiujuan in confusion, "Then why don't you like milk powder?"
Hearing this, Yao Xiujuan thought of the milk powder Chu Tian asked her to drink every day during her pregnancy, and she touched her nose embarrassedly, "I don't know, I always feel that the milk powder has a strange smell..."
After a pause, he added, "But I quite like drinking fresh milk."
“·····”
Chu Tian understood. After all, he also had his own preferences. For example, he liked to eat carrots cut into strips or shreds, but not carrots cut into cubes. He would eat any eggs, but not boiled eggs.
"Okay, if you like it, I'll ask Weiguo to see if he can buy some more every time he goes to the regiment."
Yao Xiujuan rarely refused, but said embarrassedly, "That will trouble Weiguo."
Chu Tian smiled indifferently, "It's okay, it's just a question, it's not a big deal."
In fact, the main reason was that when he was collecting supplies, he only thought about buying milk powder, and forgot to buy packaged milk, yogurt and so on. Otherwise, why would he need to ask Li Gang to buy them?
At the end of July, Sun Weiguo came back from the regiment after delivering goods. After handing the money he earned from selling supplies today to Chu Tian, he pulled him out of the yard.
"Brother Tian, this morning Brother Li Gang said that the day after tomorrow is the twelfth day of the sixth lunar month, the traditional Eid al-Adha festival for ethnic minorities. He plans to go to the Grand Bazaar in the city tomorrow, where ethnic minorities gather. Do you want to join in the fun?"
"Of course I'm going. I'm planning to take your sister-in-law and the others with me."
The original body had no memory of having been to the Grand Bazaar, but heard from people in the team that every year before Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha many people would gather in the Grand Bazaar to exchange supplies, and even buy and sell supplies.
To put it bluntly, only at this time every year, only on the day before these two festivals, and only for one day, the militiamen with red tags turn a blind eye and pretend not to see anything, and can buy and sell freely.
(I don’t know if this is allowed, just writing it casually!)
In other words, anyone who wants to exchange some supplies that cannot be purchased normally, or sell some extra things at home, will choose these two days.
Sun Weiguo blinked, "I'm planning to take Meiling with me, but she's over five months old now, and it'll take five or six hours to go back and forth by carriage. I wonder if I can go?"
Chu Tian thought for a moment and said, "If she's in good health, there shouldn't be any problem, right? Your sister-in-law Xiujuan went back to her parents' home for more than seven months and nothing happened."
After a pause, he continued, "Put a thicker mattress on the carriage for her to sit on. It shouldn't be too bumpy, so it should be fine!"
Sun Weiguo nodded, thought for a moment, scratched his head, and said, "My father made a lot of straw huts with wheat straw when he was free during the slack season. Do you think I can sell them?"
Chu Tian thought seriously about what the straw lid looked like. "Is it the kind that's similar to a pot lid, but can be used to cover jars and basins? Is it the one you used to cover my jar before the New Year?"
Sun Weiguo nodded, "Yes, that kind, they come in different sizes, and can be used to cover a bowl or plate."
Chu Tian chuckled, "Sure, why not? Although there is a lot of wheat straw after the autumn harvest every year, it is rare to find someone skilled enough to weave it into a lid!"
"But I don't think it will fetch much."
Sun Weiguo was pleasantly surprised to hear this. As for Chu Tian's point that since it was made of wheat straw, it probably wouldn't sell for much, it didn't matter. Anyway, his father had made them when he had nothing to do, so his father would be very happy even if he could only sell them for a few cents.
Chu Tian sat at the dinner table, drinking rice porridge while looking at Yao Xiujuan who was feeding her son rice porridge across from him. "Xiujuan, Pingping is only a little over four months old now. Isn't it too early to eat now?"
Yao Xiujuan took the small spoon and fed Pingping another small mouthful. Hearing this, she smiled and said, "It's just a few mouthfuls of rice soup. It's okay. Besides, if a child has rice soup for just a few months, it means that the family is well-off. The child will enjoy a good life in such a family!"
Old Madam Chu picked up a scrambled egg with her chopsticks and put it into Wu Ya's bowl of rice porridge. "Xinxin, eat it with the rice porridge."
Xinxin's face wrinkled up, "Too naive, Xinxin doesn't like scrambled eggs..."
Mrs. Chu shook her head. "No, you have to eat it. Eating eggs will make you smarter."
Xinxin scooped up the egg with her little spoon, and put it into her mouth as if she mustered up great courage. Her little eyebrows were wrinkled, as if she had eaten something particularly disgusting, which made people laugh.
Chu Tian found it funny, thinking that Xinxin liked boiled eggs the most, but she would eat egg custard and fried eggs, but she didn't like scrambled eggs. It was the exact opposite of him, because he liked scrambled eggs the most, and he could eat anything else, but he didn't like boiled eggs...
"By the way, Weiguo told me this morning that the day after tomorrow is Eid al-Adha, and the city's Grand Bazaar will be open tomorrow. Grandma, Xiujuan, you two should go with us?"
Yao Xiujuan was surprised. "Is Eid al-Adha coming so soon? I've only heard of it, but I've never been there..."
Old Mrs. Chu was puzzled. "Eid al-Adha? What kind of festival is that? Why haven't I heard of it?"
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