Chapter 55 Market

The next day, Yunxi got up early and fed the five chickens in the backyard first, then used the river water in her space to water the vegetable garden.

Only after making sure the entire vegetable garden was soaked did I come out of the backyard.

Yunxi took out the green beans she had stored in her space last night and put them back on the rack to dry. After looking at them, she decided that they could be taken down this afternoon and wouldn't need to be dried again tomorrow.

Then take out the three drying mats. The red peppers on them should be ready to dry in the sun for another two days.

There wasn't anything else to dry for the time being, so we simply used the remaining space to dry mushrooms.

The dried red chilies barely take up half the space of a drying mat, yet there's still enough room to dry a lot of mushrooms.

I was originally thinking of drying the wild vegetables in the space, but then I realized that they hadn't been washed or blanched yet, so drying them directly would definitely make them taste bad.

Although Yunxi herself has never eaten them, the younger Yunxi did. When she was little, she suffered hardships, and it was only later, when her family's conditions improved, that she stopped eating these wild vegetables.

We'll talk about it after we get back from the market, or maybe we can come back in a couple of days and gather all the wild vegetables and kudzu roots together.

Arriving at the rightmost room of the main house, I found some miscellaneous items piled up inside. I picked out a scale from the pile of items, but the scale and weight were rather large, and I felt that carrying them would be too conspicuous.

However, she wanted to sell a large portion of the fish in the space, and without a scale, there was no way to estimate their exact weight.

Looking at the dense white dots on the scale, Yunxi realized she had miscalculated. Even if she took the scale to the market, she didn't think she would know how to use it.

Regrettably, he had to put the scale down and leave the storage room.

Yunxi patted the dust off her body. Few people went into this room; if they did, it felt like they were covered in a layer of dust.

I washed my hands, cooked myself a mushroom soup in the kitchen, and ate it with some steamed buns made from mixed flour.

Because we were going to walk for a long time, I made sure to eat an extra steamed bun to avoid getting hungry along the way.

After eating and drinking to their hearts' content, they picked up their baskets, locked the door, and prepared to go to the market.

When she arrived at the brigade headquarters, Yunxi paused for a moment, wondering if she should tell someone in advance that she hadn't gone to collect pig feed today.

In the end, I decided not to say anything and would go up the mountain again after I returned from the market to finish the task of collecting those two baskets of pig feed.

After Yunxi left the village, she saw the old women from the village walking ahead, each carrying a large basket on their backs.

Judging from the way they carried it on their backs, you could tell that some people had things in their baskets, probably to exchange for some money at the market.

Making money in the village isn't easy. Most people take advantage of the market to sell the vegetables they grow at home or the game they hunt in the mountains to earn some money.

A small number of people had empty baskets, which probably meant they didn't have much to sell at home and were going to the market to buy something.

No one would go to the market unless they had nothing to do. Only the children might, but the old women in the village would never go. They were all too busy to have time to go to the market and come back.

Yunxi didn't walk too far ahead of them, but followed slowly behind, keeping at least 200 meters between herself and the group of old women in front.

Although Yunxi herself had never been there, she didn't need to worry about getting lost, since little Yunxi had been there before. She just needed to follow the route she remembered.

When the market opens, people from all around will come to shop, making it incredibly lively.

Although Yunxi is a fairy who can endure loneliness, she won't miss out on anything exciting to watch.

The market was located right in the middle of the surrounding area, near Grandma Cheng's hometown. That village was considered the very center of the surrounding area, so everyone gathered there for the market.

However, they didn't go into the village; instead, there was a separate, very open area for everyone to go to the market.

Yunxi felt like she had walked for a very long time, and always had a feeling that she hadn't arrived yet. In reality, she was just bored, which was why she felt like she had walked for a long time.

She glanced at her watch; it had been less than an hour, just over half an hour, yet the sheer boredom made time seem to drag on.

This situation would never happen if we were on the mountain. Every time Yunxi goes up the mountain, she feels like she's back at her base camp, and she feels especially comfortable.

From afar, she could see a particularly lively scene ahead, and Yunxi knew that she had finally arrived at her destination.

As expected of a market day on the 10th of each month, villagers from all around came whenever they had free time.

Apart from the first day of work when everyone gathered at the brigade headquarters and saw a lot of people, this was the first time I had seen so many people gathered together.

Seeing such a lively scene, I felt excited and couldn't wait to squeeze into the crowd.

There's a pedestrian walkway in the middle, with various stalls on both sides. They're not selling anything expensive; it's all things that people have at home or that they made themselves and are now selling them.

Yunxi watched with great interest, finding it much more interesting than strolling around town.

Seeing the crowd of people ahead, Yunxi quickly walked over, ready to see what was being sold that had attracted so many people.

I went up to take a look and found that it was actually a fabric store. It didn't look like an employee of the town's supply and marketing cooperative. Otherwise, it wouldn't be wearing a mask on its face. It looked like it was trying to hide its identity.

Moreover, the person selling the cloth seemed particularly panicked, constantly looking around as if he was ready to run away at the slightest sound.

What if Yunxi then began to suspect that all of these fabrics were of dubious origin?

Suddenly, a memory that Yunxi had overlooked came to mind. In that memory, when the landlords were being robbed, many landlords got wind of it and sold their belongings cheaply before others could react.

By the time word got out, the whole family had already fled.

Although Yunjia Village doesn't have this problem—everyone in Yunjia Village has been poor farmers for generations—there are still landlords in the neighboring villages.