“But why are there so many of them?” The other three people on the ox cart asked.
“We found a large patch, so we picked them all.” Jiang Yue said.
“Oh interesting.” the three of them nodded.
Then, someone said, “I don’t know if this is expensive or not. I remember that three years ago, the Zheng family picked up a lot of mushrooms and dried them to sell in town. There wasn’t even a catty, probably about half a catty, and they were sold for twenty to thirty coins. You have so many. Although they are fresh, you should be able to sell them for forty to fifty coins.”
Jiang Yue and Xue Yan didn’t say anything.
Tian laughed as he drove the ox cart, “I don’t care how much it costs. I’ll sell it for as much as I can. If they picked it up from the mountains, it’ll be a waste not to sell it. Why do you think Xue Yan and Jiang Yue are so lucky? They can pick up a basket of mushrooms just by digging up wild vegetables.”
The three of them laughed. “It’s also because Xue Yan didn’t study for nothing. If he hadn’t read about it in the books, we wouldn’t have known that this thing was called moonbelly mushroom. We would have thought that it was some poisonous mushroom.”
“Isn’t that so.” Tian agreed. “It’s better to study, unlike us who are illiterate. We need to find literate people to get documents. I’ve heard that the village chief even asked Xue Yan to write a family separation document last time. how can he not be good at his studies?”
Jiang Yue and Xue Yan weren’t very lively people. They sat on the ox cart, listened to Tian and the other three people talking, and said nothing.
Soon enough, they arrived at the town.
Tian stopped the ox cart at the place where he would rest every time he came to town.
Jiang Yue got off the ox cart first, followed by Xue Yan. Then, she put the basket on her back. The three of them had already left the ox cart and would come back in the afternoon to take the ox cart back.
As they were two children, Tian reminded them again, “Xue Yan, Jiang Yue, I’ll be waiting here. Do you know remember the time I told you just now? I’ll be leaving at that time. Just remember to come back before that time to go home.”
“We will, thank you.”
The two children thanked him.
Xue Yan took out two coins and gave them to Tian. This was the money for him and Jiang Yue to take the ox cart to town. One coin per person, so it was two coins overall.
“Let’s go,” he said. Xue Yan held Jiang Yue’s hand and went to Lakshimi Restaurant as planned.
he was really familiar with this town.
the place where Tian parked his ox-cart was a little far from Lakshimi Restaurant. Xue Yan and Jiang Yue walked four streets before they reached the restaurant.
Xue Yan had come here for dinner with his teacher and classmates before, but he didn’t pay much attention to the shopkeeper at that time, so he didn’t know who Shopkeeper Qiao was. However, Jiang Yue did.
Jiang Yue led him into the restaurant. The little one walked to the counter and tiptoed. She placed her small hands on the counter and shouted at the person who was calculating with his head lowered, “Hello.”
“It’s you, that baby girl!” Jiang Yue had left a deep impression on Shopkeeper Qiao. He immediately put down his newspaper and stood up, walking out from behind the counter.
“Who is this?” Shopkeeper Qiao noticed Xue Yan. He felt that Xue Yan looked familiar, but he couldn’t recall who he was at the moment.
“This is my brother,” Jiang Yue said.
“Oh, it’s your brother. Why is he here with you? Where are the adults in your family?”
“He is waiting for us at the ox cart.” Jiang Yue lied.
“Oh, so why are you looking for me? Did you find something good to sell to me?”