The bustling East Market is not a place for hawkers to make a living. They have to walk through the streets and hawk loudly to make a living.
Mr. Wu put down his burden, wiped his sweat with his sleeves, and took a short rest.
On the shelves, there are everything from rouge, gouache, dolls, candied needles, thread, and silver filaments.
Children's crying could be heard from inside the house.
When the business came, Wu Merchant immediately cheered up and sounded the rattle.
"Seller, come this way."
Two women held a child and waved.
He rummaged around on the shelves and picked up various objects to amuse his children. Children as young as three and four years old also picked at the shelves curiously.
"Would you like some candied fruits?" the woman asked, turning out a few packages. "Hey, what is this? I've never seen it before."
"There is something written on it, what is it written on?" Another woman also came over and asked.
Wu Merchant looked at it, astonished.
This is the tribute I got from Xuanmiao Temple yesterday.
what do you say that is?
Mid-Autumn Festival, reunion...
"Moon cakes." He said, "This is a tribute from Xuanmiao Temple. The fairy there said that during the Mid-Autumn Festival, eating this cake means reunion. Look, it is round, like the moon."
Before the woman could take a closer look at it, the child next to her grabbed it and tore the oil paper apart.
"There are flowers, there are flowers." The child looked at the mooncakes in his hands and shouted, opening his mouth to bite them.
"Oh my, can you eat it?" the woman exclaimed, but it was still too late. After taking a bite, she could not return it to others, so she had to pay reluctantly, "How much does this cost?"
"Madam, if you only want this, I don't need any money. This is just for the joy of the temple. How can I accept the money? Let's share the blessings." Wu shopkeeper said with a smile.
The two women were very happy when they said this. They picked a few more lines and paid before giving up.
These women love to take advantage of small things. With a little pride, Mr. Wu dared to walk away, shaking his rattle and shouting. He met a chubby old man wandering over, and a child from a distance shouted when he saw it.
"grandfather."
The fat man quickened his pace and picked up the child who was running over. The child held a mooncake in his hand and rubbed it against his face.
"What is this?" the old man laughed.
"It's the moon." The child shouted, remembering the few words he had just heard.
The old man let out a surprised sound, and the child had already raised the mooncake to his mouth.
"Yummy, yummy," he shouted.
The old man opened his mouth and took a bite, his eyes suddenly lit up.
"Huh?" he said, swallowing a few mouthfuls, feeling a little unfinished, he leaned over and took a bite again, "Not bad, not bad, not bad."
A child's cry could be heard in the alley.
"Grandpa, you ate up my moon..."
"Good boy, good boy, grandpa will buy some more for you...Seller, shopkeeper...Seller, walk slowly..."
When Cheng Silang walked into the courtyard, several girls were gathering together and chatting lively.
Cheng Silang was a little unhappy and stamped his feet, and the girls hurriedly dispersed.
"Young master came back early today." Chunlan hurriedly greeted him and took Shiro's cloak.
"A guest will be coming soon," Cheng Silang said.
Chunlan responded yes.
"Tea or wine?" she asked.
"Tea." Cheng Silang said, stepping into the house, and Chunlan followed.
"Sir," she hesitated for a moment, but couldn't help but said, "there is another girl at Xuanmiao Temple."
Cheng Silang hummed, but didn't realize what it was for a moment.
"My dear girl, the girl who replaced Banqin has also left." Chunlan said hurriedly, and couldn't stop her chatter. "It turns out that the master called her here yesterday for this reason. She was sent to Mrs. Zhang's house, saying she was doing something.
The dim sum is delicious…”
Cheng Silang was stunned for a moment, someone else was replaced again? Someone asked him to leave again?
Is it possible that this silly little girl can’t be kept, or is she too in demand?
"Young Master, the Zhang family's young master is here."
The sound outside the door interrupted their conversation.
"Sister, these snacks are not enough."
A girl in the room said, looking at a plate of snacks.
"There are a few more here." Another girl said, picking up two or three candied fruits wrapped in oil paper from the table nearby.
"Where did it come from?" The girl took it, "Hey, there are words on it."
"Are you ready?" Chunlan came in and urged, "Master Zhang is here."
The two girls did not dare to neglect, so they quickly put away the snacks and followed Chunlai towards the study.
The gentlemen chatting and joking among themselves did not need girls like them to be around. Even Chunlan, the personal maid, could only stand outside the door and wait for the call.
In the room, we talked about poetry and painting, laughed and talked about the wind, until sunset, before we left with unfinished thoughts.
"Oh, by the way, Shiro, your snacks are pretty good. Why don't I take some back to my Thirteenth Niang to eat? She loves this the most." Mr. Zhang walked to the door of the house and thought of something again.
"It's easy to talk about." Cheng Silang said with a smile, "Which one do you like?"
"It's the peach strips in the paper bag." Mr. Zhang said, pointing at it.
Cheng Silang then asked the girl to get it.
After waiting for a moment, the girls came over in panic.
"Sir, this is not from home." One replied.
Mr. Zhang was a little surprised, while Cheng Silang was a little embarrassed.
"Where did you buy it? Just go buy some more." He said.
"No, no, tell me where to buy it, I'll just go there." Mr. Zhang said with a smile.
The girls looked at each other and looked at Chunlan.
"Sister Chunlan brought it back," they said.
Chunlan was stunned for a moment.
"Oh, it's that..." She remembered something, "the snacks from Xuanmiao Temple?"
"Xuanmiao Temple?" Young Master Zhang asked repeatedly.
At the same time, many people in the city were pronouncing this name.
"Xuanmiao Guan." They read, looking at the patterns on the paper packages in their hands, and then looking at the steward in front of them, "Is this the Mid-Autumn Festival return gift specially sent by Mrs. Zhang?"
For the Taoist nun of Xuanmiao Temple, life is the same as before, but it is also different.
Because a girl left the Taiping Palace on the mountain.
"Master will live in the Taiping Palace from now on. Junior Sister and Second Senior Sister will follow and help there. Linghui, you watch the incense." A Taoist nun said to another Taoist nun, "I will make a wedding ceremony."
"Senior sister, it's okay. Don't be nervous. The two of us are enough. No one is coming anyway..." Taoist nun Linghui said.
Before he finished speaking, there were footsteps outside the mountain gate.
"Fairy aunt, fairy aunt."
Someone came in shouting.
As soon as I said that, someone came, and two Taoist nuns were busy doing plastic surgery to greet them.
"Do you make mooncakes here?" The visitor, an old man, asked.
As soon as he finished speaking, several more people came in from outside the door.
"Xiangu, are there any more Mid-Autumn Festival tributes?"
"Fairy aunt, I wonder if I can pray for blessings?"
"Xiangu, do you serve vegetarian meals and snacks here?"
A flurry of questions came flooding in. The two Taoist nuns were confused and didn't know who to listen to and who to answer.
What's going on here?
Why are so many people here?
Two people are not enough in a Taoist temple!
The Taoist temple at the foot of the mountain is bustling, but the Taiping Palace on the mountain remains the same.
The smell of the two girls doing something unknown and the chatter and laughter came from the kitchen.
A child came from the front hall and first looked into the room, but there was no one in front of the screen.
"Madam, madam." The child was a little scared and shouted hurriedly.
No one in the house answered, so the child hurried to the kitchen and asked the two girls.
"We were sitting on the porch just now." The two girls said, looking outside, "Oh, this fool is really fast, and he ran away without telling me where he went."
"Just watch it," the kid said anxiously.
"Who is watching? You are watching the door. What do I want you to do? Are you eating and drinking from our house for free?" The two girls shouted without showing any signs of weakness.
The child was frightened and took two steps back.
"Go find it quickly." The two girls raised their eyebrows and pointed.
The child was so frightened that he turned around and ran away. Before going out, he tripped on the threshold and stumbled, causing the two girls behind him to laugh.
The child was so ashamed and afraid that he was about to burst into tears, and he looked around anxiously.
The master and senior sister accompanied the lady in the evening. They were busy making up for their homework. She then went to check the incense in the temple. When she came back, she could not see the lady. What if this fool fell down the mountain?
"Madam." She cried in a crying voice.
"Um?"
Someone at the side door answered.
The child hurriedly raised his hand to wipe his tears, and then he saw a girl walking in. She was wearing the same plain satin coat, cinnabar skirt, wooden clogs and white socks as always, with long hair hanging down her waist. It was Cheng Jiaoniang.
"Madam..." the child shouted as he hurriedly took a few steps.
Cheng Jiaoniang looked at her and twisted the branch in her hand into a flower.
"How?" she asked.
"You, where have you been?" the child asked.
"Take a walk." Cheng Jiaoniang said and walked straight to the small pavilion.
When Sister Banqin was here, their master and servant would go wandering in the mountains every day. The boy breathed a sigh of relief, but now, there was only one person wandering around.
"Madam, if you want to go out next time, call me." The child felt a little sad, and hurriedly followed him and said loudly, slowing down, "Call me. Look, I met a wolf and he will eat you."
Cheng Jiaoniang had already sat down on the pedestal of the pavilion. Hearing this, she looked at her with the corners of her mouth curled up.
"Okay." She said, holding the branch downwards and writing on the ground.
"Madam, do you want some water?"
"...The stone is cold, let's go back?"
"Madam, are you hungry?"
The child asked from time to time, but Cheng Jiaoniang did not answer, but concentrated on holding the branch and bending it horizontally.
"Madam, what are you drawing?" the child asked curiously, walked over a few steps, and looked down.
The scratches and scratches on the ground were a mess, and it seemed to be a single word, but soon the branches were scratched across, and the original handwriting was lost.
It's just scribbling.
The child raised his head and saw Cheng Jiaoniang changing the branch from her right hand to her left hand and continuing to write on the ground.
The kid was sure of the scribblings. No one writes with their left hand.
"Madam, madam."
Guanzhu Sun's voice came from the front hall. Cheng Jiaoniang and Xiao Tong looked for the sound and saw Guanzhu Sun running over to the house in a hurry.
"Master, here." The boy called hurriedly.
Only then did Guanzhu Sun see them, and he hurried over, his steps stumbling and panicking, which made the two girls standing at the door of the kitchen laugh again.
"This has become their Buddha. They become so panicked when they don't see him for a moment." One said with a smile.
"That's not true. Without this silly little girl, their mysterious view will collapse." Another said, "Look, you might have to ask this silly little girl where to burn the next stick of incense.
OK."
These two girls were right in guessing.
"Madam, what do you think is going on? Why do so many people come all at once..." Guanzhu Sun asked.
Cheng Jiaoniang raised her eyes to look at her, but she still held the branch in her hand.
"Sanfu," she said, "have you forgotten?"
Guanzhu Sun was stunned for a moment when he was asked. Looking at the girl's dull expression, he calmed down.
"You mean, the one the day before yesterday, delivering tributes to passers-by at the foot of the mountain?" she asked, looking surprised.
Just because of that? No way.
"That's one, and there's another one. I think I'd like to thank Banqin a lot." Cheng Jiaoniang said.
Banqin?
Guanzhu Sun was stunned again, thinking that on that day, Banqin also packed a basket of dried fruits as tribute, saying that he was going to give it to his father-in-law in the city, and then left and never came back.
The father-in-law has an extraordinary status. He received these gifts for the sake of Banqin, so he made their Xuanmiao Temple famous?
"That's what those smart people are like. Food is given to them for free, but they can never eat it. They have to do something to feel at ease." Cheng Jiaoniang said, twisting the branch in her hand into a flower.
It's so refreshing to have flexible hands and feet.
I guess it won't take long before she can speak freely.
Just after she changed her hand again and wrote a few words, Sun Guanzhu finally figured it out. Looking at the girl who was still sitting indifferently in front of him, his heart was in turmoil and could not be calmed down.
I have to thank Banqin, I have to thank my father-in-law, and ultimately I have to thank the person in front of me.
She asked whether she wanted a nickname or a big name, not whether she wanted to be famous. It seemed that becoming famous was the easiest thing for her.
Sure enough, in just a blink of an eye, fame really came.
"Thank you, madam." She saluted solemnly.
Cheng Jiaoniang didn't say anything, stood up and put down the branch in her hand.
"Madam, then, these tributes have been used up. Can we do something immediately?" Sun Guanzhu thought of something and asked hurriedly.
"Xiangu, you forgot again." Cheng Jiaoniang looked at her and said, "You are a Taoist temple, not a food shop."
Guanzhu Sun was so excited that he calmed down.
"Things that are rare are more valuable." Cheng Jiaoniang said, walking past her and walking towards the house, "The most valuable thing is the essence."
Guanzhu Sun recited silently for a moment and laughed a little.
"I have practiced cultivation for so many years in vain." She shook her head and said,
"That's not true." Cheng Jiaoniang turned around and said, "Xiangu, she is just in it."
Guanzhu Sun saluted her again with some shame.
After Cheng Jiaoniang walked into the house, she turned around and walked down the mountain. Compared with when she came, she walked calmly and looked calm.
Cheng Jiaoniang and Sun Guanzhu went their separate ways, leaving the little child standing alone by the small pavilion.
What did the master say to this silly girl just now? Why did the two of them seem to be having such a good time talking to each other? Why didn't she understand a word of it?
"Could it be that I am actually a fool?" she murmured.
A crowd of people were waiting in the Taoist temple at the foot of the mountain. With the sound of Dharma chants, they looked at the temple leader, the fairy lady, who stepped in. She looked solemn and walked happily. At this time, the autumn sun was getting higher, and the sunlight was draped on the body of the temple master, with a bit of dazzling effect.
It also makes this dilapidated Taoist temple a little more spiritual.
This mysterious view is indeed somewhat unusual. This thought flashed through the minds of everyone present at this moment.
Mr. Zhang, who was riding in the donkey cart, looked away from the bustling Xuanmiao Temple and looked at the girl standing beside the cart.
The girl looked sad and tried her best to restrain herself, so much so that her body was trembling.
"Banqin, are you unwilling to follow us to the capital?" he asked.
The girl regained consciousness as if she was frightened.
"No, no, Master, I am willing," she said tremblingly.
Old Mrs. Zhang laughed.
"If I believe this, then wouldn't I be a fool?" He smiled and said, "A gentleman does not take what others like, so go ahead."
After saying that, he stretched out his hand and pointed, which was in the direction of the Taiping Palace on the mountain.
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Four thousand words, one update, no more at noon or evening, don’t wait.
Recommended: "Full-time Farmer Girl" by Canghai Qiuye ISBN 2634168
Her father cheated on her and her mother disappeared, and her paternal grandparents treated her as a loser and threw her to her grandma's house...
Her cousin who never came to the house forced her to be the wife of her sick son...
The peasant girl "Min" still straightened her back and behaved herself under such a bad situation, looking at this farce with cold eyes and cold eyes.
Punch the bitch mistress to seek justice for the mother...
When she made a fortune with the alien treasure in hand, those people came again (to be continued)