Early the next morning, Huo Xi woke up and turned around.
Climbing out of the cabin, I picked up the silk cloth soaked in rice water and looked at it. I saw that the mildew spots on it were a little lighter. I rubbed it gently, but there was still a light yellow trace left.
Yang heard the noise and came out of the cabin to follow.
"This has not been removed." He frowned. What a pity, such a good cloth.
"Mom, it's not that easy to remove. Otherwise, it won't fall into our hands."
Yang nodded. After thinking about it, if the kudzu they wore had stains, they would rub them with charcoal ash or plant ash, and the marks would fade away.
Then he said: "How about using charcoal ash and plant ash?"
"No. Plant ash is highly alkaline, and silk fabrics are not alkali-resistant and will corrode the fabric."
What to reduce? Yang didn't understand, but she only knew that it wouldn't work. She frowned, picked up the silk cloth, looked at it, and sighed.
After breakfast, Huo Xi said to Huo Erhuai and Yang Fu, who had collected the fish and prepared to take them to the city to sell, "I'll go with you."
Yang Fu thought of what happened yesterday and said, "Xi'er, please help at home. My brother-in-law and I will bring you whatever you want to buy."
Huo Xi shook his head: "I won't enter the inner city."
Rice water is of no use, and she will only be anxious if she stays.
He told Yang to get some more cloth to soak in, and waited at the ferry, then followed him into the city.
"Dad, please bring me a new pot later. I want it to be bigger."
"Hey, dad knows."
"Xi'er, aren't you going to sell fish with us?" Yang Fu turned to ask her.
"You and dad go to sell fish, and I'll go buy things myself, so that we don't get delayed at both ends."
"Can you do it by yourself? How about I go with you?"
"You help dad sell the fish. If you finish selling it early, you can come back and help me."
"Okay. You know, be careful." Yang Fu warned her a few words with some worry.
Huo Xi waved to the two of them, turned around and left.
Rice water and light salt water are not good at decontamination, and alcohol cannot be refined to the required concentration. I can only try soapy water and citric acid.
I probably can't buy lemons, so I have to extract them from oranges.
Huo Xi first went to a grocery store and a rouge shop to buy some spices. She didn't want the expensive ones, but only picked out defective ones and those in bad condition.
They were all made of the same raw materials, so there was no need to spend so much money on the expensive ones. They were as small as half a palm and cost ten and twenty cents each, which made her want to sell them.
I spent one tael of silver to buy a big bag. I put it in a backpack and carried it on my back. I also went to the pharmacy to buy some lime. Then I went to the place selling melons and vegetables to look for oranges.
September is the season when melons and fruits are fragrant. There are many mandarin oranges in the south of the Yangtze River, and many fruit farmers have set up stalls to sell them. Everyone says that the oranges they sell are as sweet as honey, and if they are not sweet, they are free of charge.
But Huo Xi only wants something sour. The more sour the better.
"Selling oranges, Yingzhou mandarins, not sweet, no money required!"
"They sell tangerines. Come and see the tangerines in Huangyan. If they're not sweet, I'll give you some money!"
Huangyan Milk Mandarin? The Huangyan Milk Mandarin that "cuts open the fragrant mist and tastes sweet nectar in the mouth"?
Let's take a look. Huo Xi squeezed forward.
I handed over five cents and asked for one. I used my hands to tear open the peel, and sure enough, I saw a burst of fragrant mist splashing with wine, and hit my face. I picked out another piece, carefully tore open the fruit membrane, and sure enough, I saw the pulp was condensed.
Milk, no wonder it’s called milk orange.
Put it into your mouth again, it's full of juice. Sweet!
Sure enough, someone paid a few cents or ten cents a pound, but he wanted five cents a pound. It was worth it!
I squeezed in and bought ten. After thinking about it, I took out my money and bought ten more.
Let’s look at those Yingzhou mandarins. Well, they’re not bad. They cost fifteen cents per catty, so I bought several catties. Then I’ll share them with everyone in Taoyedu.
I saw a little kid, wearing kudzu and looking inconspicuous, but I didn't expect that he was picking out good oranges to buy. The vendors on the left and right immediately greeted him: "Little kid, the ones I have here are also sweet. If they are not sweet, I will not accept them."
money.”
At the same time, he generously handed his own oranges to Huo Xi to taste.
Huo Xi shook his head all the way.
There was a lot of juice floating in my stomach. I was almost full.
"Little baby, what kind of food do you want to buy? Although the price of mine is not as good as the one from Huangyan Yingzhou, it costs only five cents per pound and the taste is almost the same."
"It's almost the same, why don't you sell it for five cents a piece?" Others joked.
The stall owner choked.
Huo Xi looked around: "Is there anything particularly sour? I want something sour?"
Ah? Are there people here who are specifically looking for sour ones to buy? If you eat half an orange, your teeth will be sore, and you can’t even bite tofu. Are there still people who eat that stuff?
"Oh, is there a pregnant woman at home?" Someone reacted immediately.
"Huh? Well, yes, there are pregnant women." Huo Xi nodded repeatedly.
Immediately an old woman came to greet her: "Little baby, come to my place. I have some at home, which are very sour. I guarantee your satisfaction."
The vendors on the side looked straight at him.
There are people who specialize in looking for sour oranges! There are also people who specialize in selling particularly sour oranges and guarantee customer satisfaction?
Huo Xi was pulled by the old woman, and she couldn't break away immediately. She pulled her to her stall.
An old man was guarding the stall, looking bored. His business was booming, but his business was deserted and no one cared about it. Two baskets of oranges were sticking out of their heads and had been placed there for a long time, but they were nowhere to be seen.
When the old man saw that his old woman was bringing in business, he hurriedly lifted his butt off the pole and said in a clumsy tone: "Little boy, look at it, look at it."
At first glance, it seems that he doesn't know how to solicit business, and he looks simple and honest.
The vendors on his left and right were watching the excitement. How could anyone buy something so disgusting? But it’s easy to fool other people’s children.
The old woman hurriedly picked one out of the basket, cut it open in the middle, and handed it to Huo Xi for her to taste.
Huo Xi took half of it, picked one, tore off a few strips of white fascia, and put it in his mouth...
Immediately, my eyes were so sore that I narrowed them, my face became ferocious, and my whole body trembled. My mother, I felt so sour that my teeth were about to fall.
"Are you sour?" The old woman kept staring at her, a little nervous.
Huo Xi was so sour that she couldn't open her eyes, and nodded repeatedly: "It's sour. It's too sour." It's strange that business can be good if it's so sour.
The uncle looked disappointed. His oranges were more sour than others. They couldn't afford to hire fruit farmers for grafting, and they were all secret skills. No matter how much they were willing to spend money, they couldn't hire them.
There are about a dozen orange trees at home, which can produce hundreds or even thousands of kilograms of fruit every year, but they cannot be sold and rot on the trees. The children in the family don't like to eat them. They are so greedy that they only pick one or two to eat, but they don't want to.
have eaten.
Compared with the disappointment on the uncle's face, the old woman was very happy: "The little baby, can it meet your requirements? Can you buy some?" She stared at Huo Xi nervously, refusing to let go of any of her expressions.
"How much does it cost? If it's cheap, I'll buy more."
The old woman was overjoyed and thought for a while: "Look, little kid, you are as big as my grandson, and you only have two pennies per catty. If you want it, it will be cheaper for you."
The street vendor next to him stared wide-eyed. Their tangerines only cost five cents a pound, but you, a sour person, still sell them for two cents?
"Three cents and two pounds, I want them all."
"You want them all? These two baskets must weigh fifty or sixty pounds!" The old woman was shocked, and the old man was also stunned.
"Well, three cents and two pounds, I'll take them all."