Chu Tian, "How can I feel good about that?"
Chu Jie grinned, "What's there to be embarrassed about? I'm riding your bike!"
Chu Tian laughed. "What do you mean by yours and mine? When I'm not around, grandma and Xiujuan and her two children have to rely on my brothers to take care of them. Whenever you need a ride, just come and ride."
Before Chu Jie could say anything, Old Madam Chu came out of the house and said, "It's their duty to take care of him. After all, he's the older brother!"
Chu Tian quickly turned around and looked at Old Lady Chu, "Grandma, why are you up so early? It's only dawn now, why don't you sleep a little longer!"
Old Madam Chu waved her hand, walked forward, took Chu Tian's hand and said, "As we get older, we sleep less. Grandma will not feel at ease until she sees you go..."
At this time, Yao Xiujuan had also prepared the meal that she had originally intended for Chu Tian to take with him on the road. After thinking for a moment, she called out, "Brother Tian, since Brother Jie wants to send you off, why don't you finish your meal before leaving?"
Chu Tian nodded and said "OK" and looked at Chu Jie, "Brother Jie, let's eat together."
Chu Jie didn't refuse and nodded, "Okay."
After breakfast, Xinxin and Pingping were still sleeping. Chu Tian kissed both children on the cheek and hugged Yao Xiujuan. "I'm leaving now. I've put fifty yuan and some coupons in a box in the cabinet. If you want to buy something, go ahead and buy it. Don't be reluctant to spend money. You earn money to spend it!"
"I know····"
As she spoke, Yao Xiujuan hugged Chu Tian's waist, her tone full of reluctance.
"Brother Tian, I can't bear to leave you..."
Chu Tian smiled and patted her back gently, "Don't worry, it's just a trip to Southern Xinjiang. I think I'll be back in half a month at most!"
"Um····"
Chu Tian took it for granted. He overestimated the speed of cars in this era, and also overestimated the road conditions in this era. There were no desert roads or spacious highways in this era. There were only dusty trails. It took Chu Tian and his team ten days to get from Urumqi to southern Xinjiang, not to mention a round trip of ten days. Of those, seven or eight days were spent on traveling, and the remaining two days were spent on repairing the cars...
Chu Tian and Zuo Zhuang, the disciple who was assigned to him by a relative, stood in the distance, looking at Captain Meng who was talking to someone who looked like a leader not far away. The two looked at each other.
"Master, what goods are we bringing this time? It's mid-March, during the lean season, what is it that requires us to travel so far to transport..."
Chu Tian thought about the many walnut and red date trees he had seen on the way here, so he thought for a moment and said, "I think they should be red dates and walnuts, right?"
Zuo Zhuang was surprised. "These red dates and walnuts haven't borne fruit yet. How can there be any ripe ones?"
Chu Tian, "It should be the inventory from last fall, right?"
Zuo Zhuang nodded, "Oh, I think so..."
After a pause, he continued, "This is my first time in southern Xinjiang. I didn't expect that even though we're in Xinjiang and spring plowing has just begun in Urumqi, the leaves here are already so lush..."
Chu Tian smiled and said, "This is all part of Xinjiang. However, Xinjiang is very large and is divided into southern and northern Xinjiang. Some places in southern Xinjiang can have two seasons a year, but that's not the case in northern Xinjiang..."
As he spoke, he saw Captain Meng in the distance shaking hands with the other person. The other person said something, turned around and rode away on his bike. The two looked at each other and walked away.
"Captain Meng, is it settled?"
Captain Meng looked back at Chu Tian and Zuo Zhuang and explained, "They will go back now to count the goods and deliver them tomorrow morning. If nothing unexpected happens, we can go back tomorrow."
After a pause, he continued, "Is this your first time in Hotan? If you're bored, go walk around the city or the surrounding areas. Just be back before dark."
Before Chu Tian could say anything, Zuo Zhuang asked doubtfully, "Why don't we just drive a truck?"
Captain Meng had always been indifferent to this relative, but when he heard his question, he still explained, "Their warehouse is located in a place where trucks can't drive in, and it's not easy to drive in, so we just wait here."
Zuo Zhuang said "Oh" and continued, "Well, then I'll go take a look."
Then he looked at Chu Tian and said, "Master, do you want to go together?"
Chu Tian smiled, "No hurry, you go first, I'll talk to you later."
Zuo Zhuang nodded, turned around and walked towards the busiest road in the city with another driver.
Captain Meng looked at Chu Tian who was still standing in front of him. His attitude was completely different from his attitude towards Zuo Zhuang. He asked with a smile, "Chu Tian, why aren't you going?"
Chu Tian just smiled and said, "I'm not very familiar with Hotan. I want to ask the captain, where do you usually go when you come here?"
Captain Meng looked Chu Tian up and down, and remembered that it was Li Gang who introduced him to the transport team. Then he thought about what Li Gang did, and he smiled.
"What do you want to change?"
"I don't know what else I can exchange in Hotan besides red dates and walnuts?"
Chu Tian never thought of hiding anything from Captain Meng. Every time the transport team's drivers went to a place, they would exchange some local things for the goods and bring them back. This was something everyone knew.
Captain Meng thought for a moment and said, "We are in a county not far from the city. They are famous for a kind of chicken. It is the kind of chicken that is completely black, not a black chicken. The meat is very delicious, but..."
"But in this weather, we can't bring live chickens, and we can't take slaughtered chickens back either..."
"Yeah, I know."
Chu Tian knew that the chicken Captain Meng was talking about was a famous kind of chicken in Hotan, called Niya Black Chicken. It was a kind of chicken that had existed for more than 1,700 years, so most tourists who went to Hotan would eat this kind of chicken.
Captain Meng nodded. "Although you can't take it with you, you can spend some money to go to the village ahead and find a family to cook for you. I'll tell you one family. Every time we come to Hotan, we go to their house and ask them to buy chicken and cook for us."
After a pause, he continued, "There's also a kind of melon from Hotan that's pretty good, but it's not in season right now. Besides, there's not much else available. There's nothing much to buy, like the carpets the locals weave themselves..."
After listening to Captain Meng's introduction, Chu Tian said he understood, so he said goodbye to him and walked towards the city. However, before he reached the city, he changed direction and walked towards the village by the river.
What to buy in Hotan? Actually, he already had an idea in mind. If the price was particularly low, he would buy a large quantity of red dates, walnuts, etc., and then bring them back to Urumqi and sell them to Li Gang. He also planned to buy more Niya black chickens as long as they were available. His family was a big meat lover, and he didn't know how long they could survive relying solely on the meat in the space...
The most important thing is that the chickens in this era are all real free-range chickens, which are very fragrant.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
