Jiang Cheng is just fourteen this year. He has grown so fast recently that he is almost as tall as his third uncle.
Although he had grown in stature, he was still a thin boy. He was so tired that he was sweating profusely after carrying his little cousin on his back for five or six miles.
After all, Yingbao now weighs twenty kilograms, which is very heavy and can catch up with the weight of a little pig.
After finally arriving at the market town, he sat on a stone by the roadside and rested for a while, then got up and walked inside again.
Upon seeing this, Ying Bao took out a cooked water chestnut from her pocket and handed it to her cousin.
Jiang Cheng took three or two bites to eat, and felt a warm current flowing through his body. After a while, the fatigue all over his body disappeared without a trace.
The young man was simple-minded and thought he was hungry after walking, so he ate a water chestnut and felt better.
He didn't know that this water chestnut was a test product that Yingbao soaked with Wudingzhi for one night.
Ying Bao, who was in the basket on his back, was now standing on tiptoes, looking around for his second cousin.
There are not many people in the market today, much less than during the Chinese New Year.
However, there are quite a few stalls, most of which sell seasonal vegetables, eggs and goose eggs, as well as chickens and geese.
There are also sellers of baskets, bamboo plaques, chicken coops and straw sandals, as well as fortune tellers.
Many vendors set up stalls with bamboo fences and put out colorful silk threads, five-poison embroidery bags, moxa tigers, moxa men, and women's headdresses to ward off evil spirits, such as peach wood hairpins, owl charms, etc.
The so-called mugwort is made of dried mugwort into the shape of a tiger, a human, or a scorpion, centipede, or toad, and hung around the waist to ward off evil spirits.
Of course, these woven amulets are dyed with red cinnabar and boiled into a bright red color. The more exquisite ones also have a few tassels hanging from the bottom, which is really beautiful.
The owl talisman is a hairpin made of owl feathers dyed red and inserted into the bun of the hair, which means fighting poison with poison and resisting evil spirits and the five poisons.
Because the day after tomorrow is the Dragon Boat Festival, the vendors also want to take advantage of this opportunity to make a lot of money and put out all the products for the festival.
At a glance, Yingbao saw her second cousin Jiang Quan squatting on the roadside, haggling with a few old ladies carrying baskets.
"Auntie, these are water chestnuts I brought from the county town. I won't sell them for ten cents a pack, so you can't give me only seven cents."
The old lady glared at him and said, "You are so evil-minded. What can be worth ten cents a bag? There are only twenty in a bag. I think these are just water chestnuts in the paddy field. I give you seven cents. That's enough."
"
Jiang Quan was not happy anymore: "Look at what you said, how can the little water chestnuts in the paddy field grow so big? I said, aunt, could you please be more reasonable?"
"I only have seven coins left, no more..." The old lady acted rogue, picked up the water chestnuts wrapped in cattails and left.
Yingbao asked her first cousin to put her down, then she ran to her second cousin, put her hands on her hips, and said with a high air: "You liar! You sold me twenty cents a bag just now, now you're selling it ten cents, hurry up
Give me back the extra money! Huh! I just bought five packs, you can pay me back fifty coins now!"
Jiang Cheng and Dani were stunned. Before they could say anything, Ying Bao turned her head and winked at them.
Jiang Chengli immediately shut up and took his sister to another stall, pretending to look at the goods.
Jiang Quan was smarter and reacted immediately, saying pitifully: "Little sister, it's this lady who keeps bargaining. I always sell it for twenty cents a bag."
Then he turned to the counter-offer lady and said, "Madam, why don't you buy it? I'm still selling it for twenty cents a bag."
"What?" The aunt was not happy when she heard this. "You are so treacherous. You promised ten cents for a package, but then turned around and offered twenty cents. No! I insist on buying it for ten cents."
After that, he left ten coins, picked up a bag of water chestnuts, and left.
Seeing this, two bystanders also bought a pack of water chestnuts for ten cents each, and then left in a hurry, fearing that the salesman would regret it.
In the blink of an eye, two more deals were made. Jiang Quan was grinning from ear to ear. Just as he was about to talk to his little cousin, he saw her nose wrinkled and her eyes glared at him, "Liar! How dare you run away alone without me?"
!”
Jiang Quan touched his nose guiltily and whispered: "Aren't I afraid of losing you? Don't be angry. My second brother will buy you some candied fruits later."
Ying Bao snorted and turned around to find his cousin.
She asked her cousin to take her to a saddlery shop so that she could customize one for Youyou so that she wouldn’t have to be carried anywhere else.
Hum, it is better to seek help from others than to ask for yourself. From now on, she will definitely be a self-reliant person.
So Jiang Cheng carried his little cousin on his back and took his eldest sister to the market together.
I saw a food stall selling owl soup, which was also served with steamed glutinous rice dumplings or water chestnut rice dumplings.
The owl soup is made from owl meat, with salt, spices, and cornel powder added to it, and then blended with wheat flour. It is thick, spicy, and very delicious.
Owl soup is also a food often eaten by people during the Poison Month, which means fighting poison with poison and resisting evil spirits.
When Jiang Cheng smelled the fragrance, he couldn't help but swallowed his saliva and asked his little cousin:
"Yingbao, are you hungry? How about we have a bowl of owl soup?"
"good."
In fact, Yingbao didn't want to eat the soup made from owl meat, but her cousin and Sister Dani both wanted to eat it, so she had to make do with it.
So the three brothers and sisters sat down and ordered three bowls of owl soup and six green dumplings from the stall, which cost a total of eighteen cash.
The stall owner stirred the pot with a large spoon and filled three large bowls with it. The aroma was fragrant.
He took six more green dumplings from the steamer, each wrapped in a mulberry leaf, and placed them in front of the three of them.
Yingbao only ate one green dumpling and drank a small sip of soup, then she said she was full.
Jiang Cheng took over his little cousin's bowl and didn't dislike it. He ate and drank it while snoring, not even letting go of the shredded pork at the bottom of the bowl.
After eating and drinking, the three of them continued wandering around.
Seeing the winter melon candies, Yingbao bought a few packs, keeping one pack for herself and letting her cousin take the rest back to share with grandma and auntie.
"Brother, where can I find a leather saddle maker? I want to order one for Youyou." Yingbao asked from the carrier.
This Jiang Cheng knew, "There is a saddlery shop over there on North Street. However, a saddle costs a lot of money."
"I have money." Ying Bao said proudly while sitting in the backpack: "I have a lot of money, enough to order the best saddle."
Jiang Cheng said oh and didn't take it seriously.
The three of them walked and watched, and soon came to the harness shop.
There were many people gathered around the door of the shop, as well as several mules and horses.
Two men were shoving the mules and nailing iron shoes.
"Does your family make leather saddles?" Jiang Cheng asked.
One of the waiters straightened up and asked, "Of course. What leather saddle do you want? For a donkey or a mule?"
"Pair it with a deer." Jiang Cheng said.
The guy thought he heard it wrong, "What?"
"Pair it with a deer." Jiang Cheng said, "I want a deer to have a leather saddle."
The waiter was displeased and glared at Jiang Cheng: "Are you kidding me? No one here has ever wanted to saddle a deer."
"Who are you kidding?" Jiang Cheng was also a little unhappy and said coldly: "Just tell me if your family can do it."
The waiter curled his lips and ran into the shop to ask the shopkeeper.
Several people standing at the door laughed, and one of them said: "Brother, you might as well bring the deer over and let us see what kind of deer needs a saddle."
Jiang Cheng ignored them and only looked at the shop.
After a while, the waiter came out and said in a loud voice: "The shopkeeper asked you to bring the deer so we can measure it."
Jiang Cheng turned around and asked his little cousin: 'Should we bring the deer?'
Ying Bao nodded, stood up from the basket on his back, and asked the waiter: "How much does a pair of saddles cost?"
Seeing that the person asking the question was a two or three-year-old kid, the waiter twitched his eyes and reluctantly replied: "A pair of cowhide saddles is eight."
Yingbao: "You are talking about the big saddle for the mule, right? My deer is smaller than the donkey, but it also has to be eight in size?"
The waiter wiped his nose and said, "Is that so? The smallest saddle we have here is for donkeys. It's always two."
"Oh." Ying Bao nodded to the waiter, "I will bring the deer over tomorrow."
The boy turned his face away and snorted secretly.
Even if I beat him to death, he wouldn't believe that a two- or three-year-old boy could be the head of a family, and he even brought a deer with him. Damn it!
