Chapter 3: Wilderness (three clicks) For a moment, Li Xu's somewhat absent-minded face and Wang Mazi's face no longer looked so disgusting in his eyes. The image of Jin Jin, who was holding a knife in one hand and twisting the chicken's neck with the other, became warmer and warmer.
It’s the oil lamp at home that never lights up too bright, and the way my father and mother were tossing and turning under the oil lamp to arrange their luggage before leaving.
A soft and warm feeling enveloped him, intoxicating him so much that a late guest asked about the price of Sichuan Brocade, but he was unable to answer in time.
"Young man of the Han family, didn't you hear Sister Eru ask you? Why are you in a daze?" A clear scolding woke Li Xu from his memories. This was an authentic Chinese dialect, and the hint of coquettishness in it had already been in his mouth.
The traces are indelible in my memory, so I don’t dare to look up even more if I don’t have to
"Tao Kuo, don't be so rude to your guests!" came another slightly gentle voice, stopping the girl's mischief.
Trying not to look into the guest's eyes, Li Xu stared at the Sichuan brocade in his hand and replied: "Do you want to buy brocade? This is the best Sichuan brocade!"
"When you Han people talk about fine clothes and fine food, do you mean that this kind of fabric is really thick?" The soft Chinese complimented again. Out of politeness, Li Xu had to raise his head to say hello. A goose-yellow dress immediately appeared in front of him.
, was dressed in dazzling aqua blue, so dazzling that he did not dare to look directly at it.
"This is not silk, it is brocade. We usually wear it on very important occasions here!" Xu Dayan's concentration was much better than that of Li Xu. He quickly recovered his mind after being surprised and answered in a very professional tone.
"Sister Eru, why don't you buy one and wear it when you get married? The flowers on the entire grassland will lose their color!" The voice of the girl in blue is as clear and bright as an oriole out of the valley.
"Really? Let me compare!" When the girl in yellow shirt called Eru heard her companion mention her marriage, her face did not show the usual twitching look on women from the Central Plains. Instead, she happily pulled up a corner of the Shu brocade and gently
Put it on the shoulder
She is tall and slender, with fair skin, light blue eyes and blond hair. She looks very bright. At this moment, she is set off by the bright Shu brocade, which immediately makes the evening sun shine a little brighter. Looking at it, looking at it,
Li Xu unknowingly forgot about the embarrassment and looked at the girl quietly with his eyes, as if he suddenly understood what appreciation meant.
Appreciation, appreciation without any impurity. Xu Dayan smiled, watching the girl wrap half of the brocade around her body. The moment he heard that the girl in yellow shirt was ready to get married, he felt a little disappointed in his heart, but soon he felt like this
Loss is replaced by pure appreciation
From the day he was born, fighting for the glory of his family has become the most important thing in his heart. All other things are like passing smoke and can never bring any fetters to the young man's firm determination.
Li Xu felt a little sorry for Xu Dayan. Simply speaking of appearance, the girl in the yellow shirt looked more attractive than the girl in the blue shirt, and her tone of voice was gentler. Xu Dayan was clean, elegant, and well-educated. She was as suave as Pan An.
If the character marries the woman in yellow shirt in front of him, they will definitely become the most eye-catching couple within hundreds of miles, whether outside the Great Wall or in the Central Plains.
"I'll compete too!" The girl in blue shirt saw her sister put on the Sichuan brocade, which made her look even more beautiful. Not to be outdone, she stepped forward and grabbed the other corner of the brocade. The two girls, exuding the breath of spring, played with it like this, and immediately
The eyes of countless people around were attracted. Some people from Xi who came from afar had already bought the things they needed, but they stopped and asked about the market situation of Shu brocade.
Today, Li Xu and Xu Dayan's business is very prosperous. The two of them are more pleasing to the eye than other traders, and the goods they ship are of sufficient size. In addition, Xu Dayan is good at positioning the goods, so it only took half a day to do what Li Xu said.
He brought dozens of kilograms of crude tea and more than a hundred pieces of lacquerware that Xu Dayan used to illustrate the story, and then got rid of them. The only remaining goods were a few pieces of Shu brocade that Li Xu brought. Xu Dayan's pricing method for these twill jacquard brocades was a bit out of line.
Lin Ren was surprised, so he saw a lot of high-end products like this, but very few actually made up his mind to buy them.
"This is not thick silk. It's strong but expensive, so it makes sense!" Li Xu saw more and more women from the Xi tribe gathered around him, so he tried his best to explain in Turkic language.
Zhang Sanshu and others had guessed correctly in advance that the people of the Xi people could not tell the difference between Su silk. The difference between Zhejiang silk and Lu silk was different from the appreciation of the Central Plains people. Their enthusiasm for the slightly higher-priced, soft and delicate Su silk was still high.
It is not as good as the slightly thicker Lu silk. As for why the Lin people chose this way, Hao Laodao, who is familiar with the character of the grassland people, explained to everyone: "Both men and women like to ride horses. The thick Lu silk is more durable in their eyes."
Grind! Su silk is light and soft, but it makes them feel unreal!"
The thickness of Shu brocade is several times that of Lu silk, so Li Xu directly used thickness to explain the reason for its high price.
Although the goods look beautiful when placed on the stand, they are not so beautiful that they are irresistible. When placed on the two girls, it is equivalent to allowing all the onlookers to imagine the specific image of this thing if it is cut into clothes and worn on their bodies.
Several young women from the Xi tribe were obviously moved. They came over one after another and turned over other Shu brocades with their hands.
"Brocade, how many pieces of rawhide are these!" A tall man from the Sichuan tribe, with his arms crossed and many copper bells tied in his hair, stepped forward and pointed at a roll of scarlet Sichuan brocade. Maybe there is no brocade in Turkic language?
This noun, so he pronounced it in Chinese pronunciation. It sounded weird, as if someone had just broken the bridge of his nose.
"Red, for festive occasions, rawhide, enough. If you don't exchange a silver bell for a foot for a copper bell, you will need twenty!" Li Xu gestured with the ruler in his hand, and followed Xu Dayan's previous instructions.
It is his exclusive product, so he is not afraid of other traders blaming him for disrupting the market.
The silver bells that the women decorated on the edges of their clothes and on their wrists were smaller than the copper bells, but the three of them together weighed half a penny. The copper bells that the men decorated on the edges of their clothes and on their hair were very large. Twenty copper bells were taken to the Central Plains.
If you go and sell it, it can be sold for hundreds of yuan. Therefore, any scroll of Shu brocade in Li Xu's hand can be sold, allowing him to fully earn the initial capital.
The young Xi tribe man touched the thickness of the brocade with his hand, looked at the color at the setting sun, showed a satisfied expression on his face, shouted something into the distance, and called a girl from the Xi tribe who was about the same age as the girl in yellow.
, discussed with the other party in a low voice for a while, and began to untie the copper bell from the hair downwards.
The woman obviously didn't want to damage her husband's majestic image. She stretched out her hand and gently took the man's arm and scolded her husband in a low voice, as if saying that her husband was too extravagant. Then, she took off a bracelet decorated with thin chains and small bells from her wrist.
Come down and put it in front of Li Xu
"Dang!" Li Xu was startled by the sweet sound of the silver bell. It was too much. It was enough for one or two silver coins. If it was turned into silver cakes and exchanged for copper coins, it could be exchanged for two thousand coins. Moreover, the style of the bracelet was really novel. If it could be sold directly
If you give it to a wealthy family, you can probably exchange it for 3,000 yuan.
But Xu Dayan didn't feel surprised at all. He put away the silver bracelet, unfolded the red brocade neatly, and measured one foot to ten feet. He smiled kindly at the man from the Xi tribe and added another foot.
The head was cut open with a knife, rolled up, and placed respectfully in the hands of the couple.
The man of the Sichuan tribe shook out his Shu brocade in the wind, folded it into three folds in the air, and draped it thickly on his wife. The young wife's cheeks were dizzy under the red brocade, and she gently leaned her head on her husband's chest. The two of them were facing each other.
Leaning on each other, carrying tea leaves, silk satin, lacquer trays and other items in exchange, they separated from the crowd and walked away slowly.
A woman watched the couple leave with envy. She mentioned the red brocade in front of Li Xu and compared it with hers. She sighed again and left with her head lowered. However, more women came around and touched her wrists and clothes.
Tear off the silver bell and replace it with Shu brocade clothes
Before heading north, the Sichuan brocades Li Mao chose for his son were all in bright red and purple colors. For Han women, this color was a bit too bright on the grassland, but it just matched with the fresh and bright scenery around it, so this rich color
On the contrary, the color is my favorite. I caress them one by one and can't put it down.
Seeing that the red brocade was about to be torn away by the women, the girl in blue became anxious and stepped forward to grab Li Xu's hand and ordered loudly: "I will wrap up the rest to make a wedding dress for Sister Eru!"
Before Li Xu could express his position, the woman in yellow shirt whispered, "Little sister, if this is not good, there are other colors to choose from. I like the gold color, it just goes with their tribe's battle flag!"
"I, I still have a piece, enough, enough to make a wedding dress!" Li Xu blushed again at the girl's reckless behavior and stammered.
Although the people from the surrounding Sichuan tribe couldn't understand Chinese, they guessed from the girl's expression that she wanted to buy all the remaining red Shu brocade. They thought she was preparing for her future, and laughed with good intentions.
"I didn't tell you earlier!" The girl glared at Li Xu fiercely, two red clouds flew up on her face, she stamped her feet and moved to the side.
"It's only a few feet long, not a whole piece!" Li Xu explained with a red face, but he couldn't make the girl understand the custom that non-whole pieces of cloth would not be placed on the stall.
The girl in the yellow shirt, pronounced Eru, looked slightly older than the girl in the blue shirt. She held her sister and slowly looked through the other colors of Shu Brocade. After Li Xu had sent away all the guests, he put on his clothes.
He put the yellow brocade on his shoulder back into the stall and asked Li Xu in a low voice: "Are the ones of this color sold the same as the red ones?"
"One, if you buy the same thing, you can use less and calculate less!" Li Xu felt a little guilty after making money. Before heading north, his father exchanged all the copper coins collected at home and a few pieces of jewelry from his mother at the bottom of the box for Shu brocade. The expenses at that time were
Although it was very big, he had made ten times the return in just half an hour. If he followed Xu Dayan's instructions and sold the price at a high price, he felt that he was really greedy.
"I want to make two wedding dresses, one in the style of the Central Plains, one in red and one in the style of our people, and one in golden color. Look at how many feet I need to buy. The price is the same as others. I can't be bullied.
Guest!" Eru asked in a low voice, refusing to ask for Li Xu's discount.
Her Central Plains speaking is very fluent, with a hint of the charm of the Wudi area. It is different from the bright and fresh pronunciation of the girl in blue. Listening to it makes people feel another kind of comfort.
"This, this, I, I don't quite understand! How about you take both this piece of yellow brocade and this piece of red brocade?" Li Xu took out another piece of red brocade from under the stall and placed it next to the yellow brocade.
, asked tentatively, "I can only give you half of the price!"
"Thank you, but I can't take advantage of you!" Eru once again declined Li Xu's gift, picked up two pieces of brocade, and weighed them repeatedly, but finally couldn't make up her mind on how many feet to buy. The grasslands were not rich in products.
Even if you are born into a patriarchal family, your excessive waste of things will still be condemned by everyone.
"Sister Eru, why don't we take these two men back and let Aunt Qing measure you, yes, tailor-made, I remember this word!" The girl in blue shirt clapped her hands and said, while the silver bell on her wrist jingled.
Once again, Li Xu's heart was shaken
"That's not good. It's getting late! Besides, there may be deviations when measuring under the lamp." Xu Dayan cupped his hands and rejected the other party's suggestion. Going to visit a strange woman's felt tent in the evening was nothing in his eyes.
polite behavior
At this time, the sunset has already set at the end of the grassland. Most of the vendors have closed their stalls and persisted until now. Only he, Li Xu and a few other people selling specialty goods are doing good business today. It is estimated that they will continue to sell all day long tomorrow.
, everyone can pack up and return south the day after tomorrow.
"We Lin people don't have so many rules!" The girl in blue shirt and Xu Dayan competed with each other to see whose eyes were bigger, and said with a slightly raised eyebrow.
"Then, I'd rather be respectful than obey your orders!" Xu Big Eyes bowed his hands as a gift, and was neither sullen nor angry. The woman named Eru and the girl named Si in front of him must be the apple of the patriarch's eye. He and Li Xu wanted to stay here for a while.
, there is no harm in establishing a good relationship with the two women. Moreover, although the girl in blue shirt has a somewhat wild temperament, her essence is like a lake of clear water in the wilderness, untainted by any dust in the world.
Li Xu saw the look of longing on the face of the woman in the yellow shirt, and couldn't help but feel soft. In addition, he had indeed taken off the girl Tao Kuo in the blue shirt and had no choice but to clean up the stall, wrapped the remaining Sichuan brocade tightly in a bag, and entrusted it to the watchers.
The lively Hao Laodao brought back the felt tent where everyone stored the goods, then led the animals, put most of the golden ones and several feet of bright red ones on the back of the mule, and followed the girl to meet the Aunt Qing in their mouths.
When the girl named Eru saw that the other party had made so many concessions, she thanked the girl in blue shirt repeatedly but refused to appreciate it at all. She looked at the distance between Li Xu and Xu Dayan and her sisters, and commented unhappily: "
Come closer, what are you afraid of? Isn't it also the rule of you Han people to not walk side by side with women?"
"Gentleman..." Xu Big Eyes handed over his hands again. For some unknown reason, he, who had always been free and easy, became extremely fond of handing over his hands in front of two girls. He wanted to quote an ancient sage's words to explain his behavior, but suddenly he thought of
No matter Confucius, Mencius or Zengzi, I am afraid that they have no deterrent effect on these two wild men, so they bite the bullet and walk a few steps quickly, walking side by side with the two women, but there is a distance of two people's width between them.
Looking at Li Xu, he was even more cautious. He was holding his mount, and the distance between him and the girl was three horses' width.
"The rules of you Han people are really weird. You have to go around the bush to do everything! Aunt Qing is also from the Central Plains. She heard that someone from her hometown was coming, and she wanted to see her. I asked her to come, but she said that a woman can't do anything without her husband's order.
You should take the initiative to entertain distant guests..." The woman in blue shirt couldn't help Xu and Li. They shrugged their shoulders and continued to scold.
"Is the Aunt Qing you are talking about from the Central Plains?" Xu Dayan did not take the girl's ridicule at all. Instead, his curiosity was aroused by the Central Plains woman mentioned by the girl.
"Yes, her name is Chen Wanqing. She came to the grassland more than 20 years ago. Her father originally wanted to sell her to the Great Khan, but he met a horse thief on the way. My father saved their father and daughter, so Aunt Qing married her.
That old man father is really weird, he actually has the heart to sell his daughter as a commodity!"
"Goods?" Li Xu asked in surprise. His intuition told him that the father and daughter mentioned by Tao Kuo Tuosi did not have a real family relationship. In his hometown, there were also cruel parents or poor people who really couldn't make it.
Daughters are sold to rich families as slaves and concubines, but they would never be so ruthless as to sell their daughters thousands of miles away. Moreover, the journey north is long. Selling a daughter to a foreigner, the ultimate benefits are incomparable with the risks on the road.
"They are not the real father and daughter!" Xu Dayan thought to himself. He had already guessed this the moment the girl in blue shirt said Aunt Qing's full name. The name Wan Qing sounds very poetic, but it is not
It is not common for the daughters of small families in the Central Plains to have such charming names. As for the daughters of wealthy families, it would be disrespectful to give such a name.
So, the only conclusion is that the Aunt Qing mentioned by the girl in blue shirt may be a promiscuous woman who was sold outside the Great Wall by human traffickers for a high price.
"A woman who is worthy of such a big risk for human traffickers must be extremely beautiful. But beautiful prostitutes in the Central Plains
