"Brother, you're here!" Cheng Mingyue happily went to greet him and swiftly helped to carry his two little nephews down from the bicycle.
Cheng Xiangdong said to Cheng Mingyue, "Mingyue, my brother-in-law and I will carry the things to the market. You push the bicycle and take the two little ones to your sister-in-law's house to play first. When mother and your sister-in-law come later, you can go for a stroll together."
Cheng Mingyue responded crisply, pushing the bicycle while greeting the two little guys who were as excited as little monkeys.
When Cheng Mingyue arrived at Zhang Hongying's house, the old couple were so welcoming. They poured her some water and gave her some homemade fried pumpkin seeds to eat.
Cheng Mingyue had never eaten melon seeds since she came here, let alone pumpkin seeds, so she didn't hesitate and grabbed a handful in her hand.
Aunt Zhang's skill in frying melon seeds is really good. The fried melon seeds are fragrant and crispy. Cheng Mingyue was very happy while eating them and kept praising them:
"Aunt Zhang, your fried melon seeds are so delicious! If you take them to the market to sell, there will definitely be a lot of people scrambling to buy them!"
Aunt Zhang's smile brightened when she heard her sincere praise. "Yue girl, if you like it, I'll pack a big bag for you to take back later."
After Aunt Zhang finished speaking, she seemed to feel that it was not enough and continued, "Last year, I planted a few pumpkins in my vegetable garden. When the pumpkins were all gone, I picked out the seeds, washed them, dried them, and then fried them. It was a lot of trouble, so I kept them for my family to eat. I never thought of exchanging them with others."
The two chatted for a while, and then Zhang Hongying came with Wang Guihua.
"Mom, please try the pumpkin seeds fried by Aunt Zhang. They are so delicious!" Cheng Mingyue held the pumpkin seeds and stuffed them into Wang Guihua's hands as if she was presenting a treasure.
Wang Guihua took it, tasted it, and started praising it, which made Aunt Zhang very happy.
The group chatted animatedly for a while before going to the market arm in arm.
The big market in Lianhua Village is held in the threshing ground of their village, with a long row of goods neatly arranged on both sides of the main road leading to the town.
This was the first big fair in the town in more than ten years, and it was also the members' day off, so almost everyone from the surrounding villages came. Some really wanted to buy something, while others just came to join in the fun.
There are also police officers sent from the town patrolling the area.
In short, the entire threshing ground, including the streets, was crowded with people and was very lively.
However, there are not many types of things sold at the stalls. They are all grown and raised in farmers' own vegetable gardens, or made in their spare time, and they all comply with agricultural policy regulations.
Cheng Mingyue and everyone else looked along the way and saw all kinds of vegetables, a few scattered fruits, or homemade baskets and backpacks, or small stools and the like.
Cheng Mingyue walked up to a stall where there was a small pile of dried red dates.
The stall owner was a man in his sixties with wrinkles all over his face, like old tree bark. When he saw Cheng Mingyue stop in front of him, he immediately started to introduce things to her enthusiastically.
He said he was from the Village Flower Village, and his family was reluctant to eat the dates distributed by the villagers. It happened that the market was open, so he thought of exchanging some money to raise tuition for his grandson.
Cheng Mingyue looked at the old man's rough, cracked skin, and felt a pang of sadness in her heart. She hurriedly said, "I want all these dried red dates."
"You want them all?" the old man asked again in disbelief.
"Yeah." Cheng Mingyue nodded and explained, "My husband injured his leg and lost a lot of blood. I heard that red dates can replenish blood, so I thought of buying more."
The old man understood, rubbing his fingers together and looking at Cheng Mingyue cautiously: "These dried red dates weigh more than eight kilograms. Look at this?"
The old man didn't weigh it. He estimated it to be more than eight kilograms based on his years of experience. He was afraid that Cheng Mingyue would not believe him, and he was so anxious that sweat broke out on his forehead.
"It's just over eight kilograms, so how did you change it?" Cheng Mingyue asked straightforwardly.
"A pound of red dates is sold at the supply and marketing cooperative for 70 cents a pound, and you need a ticket. I need to dry three pounds of red dates to get one pound. What do you think of 1.5 yuan?"
The old man felt a little nervous after he finished speaking. He was afraid that Cheng Mingyue would think it was too expensive and not buy it.
Cheng Mingyue didn't bargain. She took out some money from her pocket, counted out thirteen yuan, and handed it to the old man: "Let's calculate it based on nine kilograms. Thirteen yuan and a half. I'll give you thirteen yuan, is that okay?"
The old man nodded repeatedly. He took the money and carefully put it into the inner pocket of his clothes. After putting the dried red dates in a bag and handing it to Cheng Mingyue, he ran away as if he was afraid that she would go back on her word.
Cheng Mingyue smiled and shook her head, then carried the bag and walked through the crowd to find Wang Guihua and the others.
At this time, Wang Guihua was standing in front of a stall selling wooden basins and couldn't move.
She picked and picked, and finally chose two very smoothly polished wooden basins. When she was about to bargain, she saw Cheng Mingyue coming back with a bag.
"What did you buy? So much?"
"Dried red dates. Lu Chen's leg injury hasn't healed yet, so I'd buy some to nourish him."
There's no need to buy so much, right?!
Wang Guihua called Cheng Mingyue a prodigal son in her heart, but then she thought that if her son-in-law's leg could be healed, it would be worth buying more red dates, let alone drying them.
Cheng Mingyue glanced at the wooden basin in Wang Guihua's hand and asked, "Mom, why did you buy the wooden basin?"
"It's used for washing vegetables and other daily tasks at home, but enamel basins are hard to find, so I can only use wooden basins."
Wang Guihua added, "I'll buy two. We'll keep one at home, and you can take the other one home."
Cheng Mingyang smiled and responded, then lowered her head to look at the stall until her eyes stopped at a wooden barrel that was lower than the usual buckets. She pointed at the barrel and asked the stall owner:
"How do I change this barrel?"
The stall owner was a man in his thirties. When Mingyue asked him, he smiled and replied, "This wooden barrel is three yuan each."
Wang Guihua was unhappy: she felt that the stall owner was dishonest.
"This barrel of yours is so much cheaper than regular barrels, how could it possibly be three dollars?! Look, I need to buy two more tubs, so just name a good price!"
The stall owner praised his wooden barrels and basins to the sky, implying that these things were worth that much money and were not cheap at all.
Cheng Mingyue didn't want to argue with the stall owner. Just as she was about to pay for the item, she saw Li Da Laba waving at her not far away.
It turned out that Li Da Laba and Li Mujiang also brought a lot of wooden products to set up their stall today, but they set out late and missed the tractor, so they just arrived.
Seeing Cheng Mingyue and Wang Guihua looking at wooden basins and barrels at another stall, he became a little restless and waved at them desperately.
Wang Guihua also saw Li Danababa, but she didn't know what to do. She wanted to leave but couldn't save face.
Cheng Mingyue didn't have any other thoughts. She took Wang Guihua's arm and was about to leave, but was stopped by the stall owner:
"You can't leave!"
Cheng Mingyue raised her eyes and glanced at the man, then smiled and said, "Why can't we leave?"
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