Chapter 9: Rushing to the Market

  The seventh and eighth days of the twelfth lunar month have arrived, and the cold crows are frozen to death. The two coldest days of winter have come.

  Along with Grandma's letter came twenty dollars and several grain coupons and cloth coupons. This was almost a huge sum of money at that time.

  It's undeniable that Zhao Juan really let out a sigh of relief. Since Nini got sick, the family had almost spent all their money and borrowed a lot of external debt.

  She lay awake night after night, worrying about the future. With the New Year approaching, her home was empty and bare. The adults could endure it, but Nini was still young and needed nutrition; how could she not eat well?

  With the money she sent, she finally solved her urgent need. Not only can she have a good holiday, but also pay back a small part of it, and the burden on her body has finally been alleviated a little.

  On the seventh day of the twelfth lunar month, Zhao Juan dug Song Jie out of her warm bed early in the morning to take her daughter to the town market.

  The bed on a winter day is always the most reluctant to leave. Song Jie woke up with sleepy eyes, refusing to get up, and when she was dragged up, she lay back down again. She had already forgotten that it was her who insisted on following the crowd to the fair yesterday.

  Finally, Zhao Juan had no choice but to threaten: "If you don't get up now, Mom will leave by herself and won't take you with her, hurry up!"

  How can that be? Song Jie finally came to her senses, quickly got up and put on her clothes. Zhao Juan looked at her with a mixture of laughter and tears, she was indeed a treasure.

  The mother wrapped her daughter up completely, leaving only her eyes exposed, and the two of them stepped out into the cold wind.

  The only tractor in the village was already waiting under the big tree at the entrance of the village. The town's large market is held every single day, and because tomorrow is Laba Festival, many people went to the town to buy things, filling up the car almost full.

  Nini was handed over to the car, and Zhao Juan struggled to climb up. The tractor started with a "tutu" sound after several more people came, heading into the distance.

  Song Jie looked around with a pair of big eyes, this was her first time traveling far. This year was a warm year, and the snow only fell a few times, occasionally in extremely remote places, you could still see the unmelted accumulated snow.

  The surroundings were bare, the leaves on the trees had all fallen off, and as the tractor drove by, a cloud of yellow dust rose up behind it. The ground was not flat, but bumpy and uneven, causing the car to jolt back and forth, enough to make one's intestines turn over.

  The old women in the car didn't care, they were loudly discussing this and that. The tractor's noise was particularly loud, if you spoke softly no one could hear you.

  After walking for almost an hour, they finally arrived at the market. From a distance, they could see people crowded together and hear the hustle and bustle of voices. After getting off the tractor, Zhao Juan stomped her numb feet and tightly grasping her daughter's hand, walked into the crowd.

  Song Jie felt a wave of heat rush towards her, colliding with the cold air on her body earlier, and she couldn't help but shiver. She had never been in such a crowded crowd before, with pedestrians walking past her one by one, but all she could see were people's legs. Song Jie was feeling a bit depressed at this moment, once again cursing her short stature.

  Through the gap, she could see the stalls on the ground. All kinds of goods were dazzling, and there were many things that even Song Jie couldn't name.

  The breakfast stalls were already bustling with activity, with steam rising everywhere. The most popular ones were the fried dough stick and mutton soup vendors, where people ate with oil dripping from their mouths.

  Song Jie looked at the golden oil strip, suddenly her mouth felt sour and her mouth was full of saliva. She involuntarily swallowed once. Careful Zhao Juan discovered her daughter's abnormality, followed her line of sight, and found that her daughter was staring at the oil strip on someone else's stall without blinking.

  Zhao Juan led her daughter to the stall, bought two fried dough sticks, put them in a bag, and paid.

  Turning around and walking out of the stall, Zhao Juan squatted down, stuffed the fried dough stick into her daughter's hand, and said: "Hold it and eat, don't stain your clothes."

  Song Jie suddenly blushed, feeling that she had also lost face for the reborn person. She had never seen such a oily strip in eight lifetimes, and her mouth was watering, it was too embarrassing! Too embarrassing!

  Luckily her face was covered, otherwise she would have really wanted to find a crack in the ground to crawl into.

  Pulling down her collar to reveal her mouth, Song Jie walked hand in hand with Zhao Juan while eating a fried dough stick.

  She took a bite, ah! It was so delicious, she had never eaten such a tasty fried dough stick. She hadn't had oil and water for a long time, Song Jie couldn't bear to finish it in one go, so she slowly savored each small mouthful, letting the flavors linger in her mouth for a while. For some reason, she felt as if she had tasted the flavor of happiness.

  No matter how delicious something is, there's always a time when it gets finished. She couldn't bear to throw it away and picked up every last bit from the bag before throwing it away. Her mouth was still savoring the lingering fragrance.

  Zhao Juan came to the grain store and bought a catty of rice, several catties of flour and various types of beans.

  When Song Jie saw the beans, she thought of bean sprouts. In winter, there really aren't many vegetables to eat, and it's been a long time since they've had any. Many people grow green beans, and they're very cheap; buying just a few can produce a lot of bean sprouts. If you can't finish them at home, you can even sell some, earning some household income, which is a win-win situation.

  How can I tell mom? Should I pretend to be spoiled? It's terrible! But it seems like there is no other way.

  "Mama, mama, buy beans."

  Zhao Juan was puzzled: "What's the point of buying beans, tomorrow's porridge is already enough! These are not toys, would you like Mom to buy you some candy?" She had always been lenient with her daughter.

  Song Jie rolled her eyes in her heart, thinking "I don't love eating sweets at all".

  "You can grow bean sprouts by buying beans, and you can eat the bean sprouts." Song Jie wouldn't give up.

  After listening to her daughter's words, Zhao Juan was somewhat surprised: "How did you know that beans can be sprouted? Who said so?"

  "The old man said that bean sprouts can be sold"

  "Which old man?"

  "That's the old man."

  Zhao Juan knew it was pointless to ask any further. Children usually can't tell who's who and being able to remember anything is already quite good.

  Finally Zhao Juan said: "But mom won't send soybeans either."

  Song Jie's small face lifted: "I will."

  Zhao Juancan didn't think so, but she couldn't bear her daughter's repeated requests, so she bought two more catties of green beans. Song Jie saw that her goal had been achieved and didn't bother to argue anymore, waiting a few days to see the results before speaking again.

  In the north, it's traditional to eat dumplings on the eve of the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month. Since we're doing well financially now, let's make a good meal for our daughter.

  Zhao Juan bought a big Chinese cabbage at the stall and then went to the meat stall to buy a piece of fatty five-flower pork, preparing to make dumplings for tomorrow night.

  Thinking that the New Year is approaching, other people's children all have new clothes to wear, and Nini's clothes at home are too small, so it's time to make a new set of clothes. Zhao Juan gritted her teeth, took the fabric ticket to the supply and marketing society not far from the market, and bought a piece of floral cloth.

  They came with empty hands but left with a full load. The mother and daughter continued to stroll until noon, when they took the tractor that had been waiting for them and headed home.