diskusbooks Chapter 26 Dog
Chapter 26 Dog
Basically all the villages within a dozen miles around come to this market. Xu Zhuang is not far away, less than a quarter of an hour's walk. There will be ox carts passing by Xu Zhuang from villages that are farther away, but the villagers of Xu Zhuang usually walk there. No one is willing to spend a penny to take a ride when it's so close.
Xu Xu and Aunt Xu each carried a basket, while Xu Youyin carried a load of bamboo baskets, bamboo baskets and winnowing baskets to sell at the market. These bamboo products were basically woven by Xu Jizong, and Xu Youliang would sometimes lend a hand.
When the group arrived at the market, many people had already set up their stalls and all the stalls with good locations were occupied. Xu Youyin carried his load and found a spot in the corner to arrange the bamboo baskets he brought into different categories.
After helping Xu Youyin set up the stall, Xu Xu looked carefully at the various stalls on the street. Some were selling bamboo baskets like theirs, some were selling home-woven cloth, some were selling poultry, some were selling headdresses, and he even saw someone selling puppies.
Xu Xu thought that she was a woman with several children at home, so she thought about buying a puppy to guard the house and provide early warning of any problems.
Pointing at the stall selling puppies, Xu Xu said to Second Aunt Xu, "Second Aunt, I want to buy a puppy to guard the house."
Xu Youyin looked in the direction Xu Xu pointed and saw three puppies in the cage. They were furry and looked like they were just one month old. They were small and very cute. "Mom, let's get one too."
Second Aunt Xu was impatient to pay attention to Xu Youyin. She was not even full yet thinking about raising a dog. She turned to Xu Xu and said, "Xu Xu, you really need a dog. You are a young woman with several children. It would be better for you to raise a dog. Let's go and take a look."
Seeing that Second Aunt Xu ignored him, Xu Youyin knew that she didn't agree, but he still wanted to give it another try. Maybe she would agree: "Our family is also suitable for raising a dog."
Second Aunt Xu glanced at Xu Youyin and pulled Xu Xu to the dog stall, where they saw three puppies in a cage. One of them was pure black, with watery eyes and looked extremely cute.
There is also a yellow dog with a white spot on its forehead, which is also very cute, and a beige dog, which looks very cool. I wonder if they were born from the same female dog, as she could actually give birth to three dogs of different colors.
Xu Xu squatted down and teased the dog in the cage. The old man selling dogs looked at Xu Xu with a smile and said, "Miss, would you like to buy a dog? The dogs in my family are all descendants of hounds. They can hunt and are smarter than ordinary dogs."
Hearing that they could hunt, Second Aunt Xu was very excited. She wondered if she could go to the mountains to hunt two pheasants when the puppy grew up to improve her food supply. Everyone was afraid to think about it, but pheasants shouldn't be hard to come by. "How much do you sell the puppy for? Can it really hunt?"
The old man looked at Aunt Xu and said, "Sure. Do you want to buy one or all three?"
Aunt Xu asked in confusion: "Why? The prices are still different?"
The old man smiled and nodded: "Of course, I'll give you 250 coins for all three, 100 coins for each."
Aunt Xu complained that it was too expensive: "It costs food to raise a dog to guard the house, and they are selling it for 100 coins each. Uncle, please give me less."
The old man turned around and sat down and started to rub the tobacco: "This is the lowest price. If the price is right, take it. If not, forget it."
Xu Xu saw the old man's attitude and knew that the price was high. He looked at the two dogs, one black and one white, and felt reluctant to give them up. He gritted his teeth and said, "I'll buy all three. Can you give me the cages? Otherwise, I can't take them back."
Second Aunt Xu was shocked: "Why did you buy so many? One is enough for guarding the door. It's not worth eating or drinking. Why did you buy three at once?"
The old man looked at the two of them, wanting to wait until they had communicated and confirmed they wanted to buy before speaking.
Xu Xu took out his purse, counted out 250 coins and handed them to the old man: "I like both dogs, the black and the white. I can't bear to choose either one, so I might as well buy both. I'll give the other one to Youyin, since he likes it too."
Second Aunt Xu looked at Xu Xu as if she was looking at a prodigal. Just as she was about to speak, Xu Xu interrupted her: "Don't talk about money. I like all three, but I can't raise so many at once. Can you help me raise one?"
Aunt Xu simply said to the old man: "Give us the cage." After saying that, she picked up the cage and left. The old man stretched out his hand, but the man had already walked away before he could finish his words. He could only reluctantly withdraw his hand, pack up his things and go home.
Xu Youyin looked at the three puppies in the cage and looked at Aunt Xu in disbelief: "If you don't want to buy, then don't buy. If you want to buy, then buy three."
Second Aunt Xu slapped Xu Youyin on the back of the head and said, "I'm just selling you your bamboo basket, why are you talking so much?" Xu Xu was afraid of being blamed, so he stood far away and watched.
Seeing that it was getting late, Xu Xu dragged Aunt Xu to the pork stall and bought a piece of pork fat, four pig's trotters, a piece of pork belly and a dish of offal. The stall owner saw that she bought so much and gave her a piece of fan bone and a piece of leg bone for free.
Second Aunt Xu disagreed, "Xu Xu, there's no need to buy so much meat. If you buy so much meat, it will be difficult to deal with it next time you change it to someone else's house. Besides, it won't last long in such hot weather."
Xu Xu explained: "I know, I'll just buy some more and put some salt on it for myself. The children are still young, so they need a little meat every day. More oil can increase the nutrition." When it came to the children, Aunt Xu didn't say anything and bought a big piece of fat meat for herself.
After buying the meat, Xu Xu happened to see a chick seller not far away. Xu Xu dragged Aunt Xu to buy chicks. Looking at the yellow fluffy chicks in the cage, he couldn't tell which was male and which was female. Xu Xu asked, "Aunt Xu, I can't tell the difference between male and female. How do you think I can choose?"
"I can't tell them apart either. Pick out the ones that look energetic so that we can take them home and feed them better." Second Aunt Xu also found it difficult to tell them apart.
Xu Xu nodded, and together with Aunt Xu, they picked 25 chicks, 15 for Xu Xu and 10 for Aunt Xu.
Xu Xu also had to go to the grocery store to buy salt and seasonings. Aunt Xu thought that her family used almost all of them, so she had to buy some sooner or later, so she went with Xu.
In the early years, Aunt Xu, like other villagers, thought the seasoning was expensive and didn’t find it unpalatable without it. Later, as she got along more with her sisters-in-law, and got used to eating it for one or two meals occasionally, she began to buy it unconsciously.
At the beginning, I only bought one or two things. Now, the seasonings and spices used in Aunt Xu's home are no less than those in Xu Xu's home. After getting used to them and them becoming necessities, I no longer feel that they are much more expensive. However, I am still relatively frugal in the amount I use.
Back at the stall, Xu Xu and Second Aunt Xu began to count the eggs one by one. Xu Xu found that there were still eggs that he hadn't bought. He wanted to go back to buy some eggs, but Second Aunt Xu stopped him: "You can buy these in the village. How many do you want? I'll take you there later. The prices are the same. There's no need to buy them at the market."
Xu Xu thought about it and said, "Okay, I want to buy 50 eggs first. Does anyone have that many?"
"Why do you buy so much? If one family doesn't have enough, two families can pool their money. This is the thing the village lacks the least." Aunt Xu replied while counting the things.