The sun was setting in the west, casting a few rays of dim light, and the evening breeze blew away some of the heat.
Several butcher shops not far from the dock in the outer city have closed their stalls. Only the butcher's stall is still there. But there are no whole meats on the table. They are all the leftover pieces of meat picked by others and some leftovers.
Butcher Gao was bored, holding a shiny fly stick, and swung it from time to time to drive away greedy flies.
Seeing the sound of footsteps, Butcher Gao lazily raised his eyelids and looked around.
When he looked at it, his eyes lit up.
"Boys from the Huo family, come on, I'll save it for you! If it's later, I'll close the stall!" Butcher Gao stood up and waved, with a smile on his chubby face.
"Hello, Uncle Gao," Huo Xi and Yang Fu said hello and ran over.
"Uncle Gao, can you leave the pig's trotters for us?"
"I've kept it. Your uncle and nephew came to the door early in the morning to explain it. How could I not keep it for you?"
"Thank you, Uncle Gao!" Huo Xi was very happy and took out the money bag from his arms.
Butcher Gao took out a pig's trotter from under the desk: "Weighed it, it's two pounds and twenty taels, just give me thirty-two cents."
Huo Xi paused while taking out the coins.
"What, the money is not enough? I don't want the change, just give me a round amount of thirty cents."
Yang Fu looked at Huo Xi who was biting his lip, scratched his head, and whispered: "We only earned twenty-six cents today."
Butcher Gao took an iron thorn and poked a hole in the skin of the pig's trotters. He quickly pulled out two reed poles, twisted them, and was about to string the pig's trotters together. Hearing this, his movements paused.
After two breaths, he waved his hand: "Hey, twenty-six cents is twenty-six cents, and the stall is closed. I just hope you will come back next time." After saying that, he put two reed poles through the holes and strung the pig's trotters together.
, tied a knot and handed it to Yang Fu.
"Hey, thank you, Brother Gao!" Yang Fu jumped for joy and looked at Huo Xi.
Huo Xi was a little embarrassed and looked up at Butcher Gao with a smile on his face: "Thank you Uncle Gao, we have identified Uncle Gao's butcher stall, and we will visit him often in the future. I wish Uncle Gao a prosperous business and continuous financial resources."
."
"Hahaha, okay, then Uncle Gao will borrow Huo Xiaozi's good advice."
Butcher Gao liked to hear the Huo boys say nice things, and he felt comfortable both physically and mentally.
This guy doesn't even have any neat clothes, and he spends a long time thinking about buying a piece of meat. But this guy is exquisite and good-looking, and he also speaks well.
Butcher Gao raised the corner of his mouth as he watched his uncle and nephew walk away. He was thinking about whether to send the two boys at home to study for two years? Otherwise, he would talk rudely every day, which would be unpleasant to listen to.
While I was thinking about it, I felt a pain in my ear.
He turned around and said, "Oh, madam, please be gentle, it hurts, it hurts."
"It hurts you to death! Forget it! Thirty-two cents of meat, but you took twenty-six cents! Is he your son or grandson?"
Butcher Gao cried out in pain and flattered him at the same time: "Hey, my little one's hair is not even long, how can I have such a big grandson?"
Seeing his wife staring at him with her hands on her hips, she softened her posture and went to comfort him: "Don't look at me missing them by a few pennies. Just wait and see. We will definitely have fresh fish and shrimp to eat tomorrow."
The tall butcher's wife retracted her hand, snorted at him and turned around to go inside.
Butcher Gao touched his ears, and the lady's strength...hissed. He quickly closed the stall, leaving a few pieces of minced meat, which he kept for himself to eat and not to sell.
As for Huo Xi and Yang Fu, the uncle and nephew happily walked to the outer city ferry carrying a pig's trotter.
It's not the dock in the outer city where they originally moved their goods. Their little broken boat can't dock there yet, and they can't pay the money for docking.
The ferry is still some distance from the outer city wall.
The two of them walked further and further away from the inner city wall, and the houses became more dilapidated.
The capital is divided into four levels from the inside out: the palace city, the imperial city, the inner city, and the outer city. Due to the well-developed water system of the capital, the inner river is connected to the outer river, and the outer river is connected to the Yangtze River and directly leads to the canal, where people who come to seek life are included.
Those who cannot afford to buy a house in the city often live in outer cities.
There are tile-roofed houses, wooden houses and bamboo houses, shacks, and some that don’t even have straw huts.
The further you go out, the worse the houses become and the poorer the people become.
Huo Xi watched greedily all the way. Even after watching it for several months, she still liked watching it. This is living life, with the smoke and fire of the world. It is better than being trapped in a square courtyard.
Yang Fu couldn't understand it.
I don’t know what’s so good about this. It’s just a little better than their little broken boat. It has a fixed residence. Huh? Does Xi’er want to move to land?
Yang Fu tilted his head and looked at Huo Xi, and then began to calculate the family's assets. After calculating, he sighed heavily.
"Xi'er, my uncle will move more goods and earn more money in the future." When they save enough money, they can move to land.
Huh? Huo Xi was a little confused. She turned her head and glanced at him. Just as she was about to speak, Yang Fu suddenly shouted: "Xi'er, run!"
Without waiting for Huo Xi to react, she pulled him and ran away.
"Woof, woof woof!" A native dog ran very fast on four legs and chased them straight after them.
Huo Xicai turned around and glanced, and when she met the dog's bell-like eyes, she trembled with fright and hurriedly ran forward!
Mr. Yu gave birth to two legs. The beast with four hooves ran really fast.
"Uncle, it must be interested in our pig's trotters!" Huo Xi analyzed while running and panting.
When Yang Fu heard this, he quickly let go of Huo Xi's hand and quickly stuffed the pig's trotter he had been holding into his arms.
"Xi'er, don't run in a straight line, run in a twisted way!"
As soon as Huo Xi twisted her short legs to run, she jumped forward and almost fell over. Her heart was beating fast, and she hunched over and flew for several miles with the inertia, then she straightened up and continued running.
When Yang Fu saw Huo Xi running so far away, he hurriedly chose a sunken earth pit and jumped into it. He quickly squatted down, dug up two handfuls of dirt on the ground with his hands and held it in the water.
He saw the native dog also stopped, clawing at the ground with all four limbs and looking towards him in an aggressive manner.
Yang Fu endured his fear and threw a handful of dirt at the dog. The dog took two steps back and then stopped moving.
Yang Fu was searching in the pit. If he caught something, he would throw it to the dog.
The dog throws once and returns once, and throws once and returns again.
A man and a dog faced off for a long time before the dog barked twice and turned away.
Yang Fu was paralyzed on the ground. He touched the pig's trotters in his arms. It was okay, okay, it was still there. He let out a breath.
"uncle!"
"Hey, here it is!"
"Are you okay?" Huo Xi trotted over and pulled him up.
"It's okay. It's just a dog." Yang Fu puffed out his chest and tried to show his demeanor as an elder.
"Next time, let's bring a dog-beating stick." Huo Xi frowned when she saw that there was a big oil stain on his chest.
"Okay." The pig's trotters are still there, and Yang Fu is happy.
The two quickened their pace and finally arrived at the ferry in the outer city.
At this time, the sky was already dim, and the yellow afterglow fell on the water, ripples after ripples.
At this time, there were fewer boats docked at the ferry. Only three or two were dangling in the narrow ferry. The boat rope was tied to the bollard of the ferry, and the water waves carried the boat, rippling and swinging gently.
This is the Outer City Ferry, which is some distance from the Outer City Pier. Merchant ships cannot enter such a narrow river and will not go to the Outer City Ferry, and small fishing boats cannot easily go to the Outer City Pier.
This is a wild ferry, and no one charges a docking fee. When there are many boats, there is a lot of chaos, and sometimes there are fights over people trying to tie up the boats, but usually there are many fishing boats docked.
Huo Xi found her awning boat, jumped from the shore to the stern of her boat, and shouted into the cabin: "Mom, we are back!"
Following Huo Xi's movements, the entire ship shook quite a bit.
Yang Fu also jumped down: "Sister, Xi'er and I are back!"
A woman poked her head out of the cabin, smiled at the two of them and said, "You're back?"