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墨書 Inktalez
"Ha~!"
"What are you laughing about, Willow Stick? Hurry up and call this lady 'Cat's Claw,'" Zhou Xiahe said, busy as ever.
They had been in the Provincial Capital for almost two weeks and had basically adapted to life there. They no longer felt anxious when they saw cars or hesitated to speak, fearing they would be laughed at or beaten for saying something wrong.
In fact, the people from the Province weren't as terrifying as Zhou Zhang described. Most of the customers who came to their store were quite friendly. The aunties and uncles often asked where Yezi had gone and when she would return. Not only that, they frequently brought them food or offered them a piece or two of old clothing. If they refused the gifts, the givers would immediately turn into what Yezi called difficult customers.
"Young comrade, is this list of Mountain Goods from your place?" The elderly lady squinted, worried she might have come to the wrong door. Her neighbor had bought some braised mushrooms from this store yesterday, and the aroma lingered in their courtyard for quite a while.
"That's our Zhoujiatun Specialty Store!" Willow Stick replied proudly, filled with admiration for Sister Ye. Whether it was the self-service shopping method in the store or the cleverly designed promotional flyers for their specialty shop, she was particularly touched that Sister Ye had left the opportunity for her and Xiaohe to shine. Sister Ye was truly a selfless and pure person, a great role model for her. (Yezi: Sister, you're overthinking it; she just didn't print the flyers because the shelf wasn't ready yet.)
Zhou Xiahe handed a small basket to the elderly lady, who showed him her own shopping basket. "Auntie, is this your first time at our store? All our products are packaged in these specially made small baskets from our village. You can choose any local specialties yourself, or we can help you weigh them."
The elderly lady went inside to touch this and look at that. She asked Zhou Xiahe questions, and he answered; if she didn't ask, he let her choose freely.
"You even sell Cat's Claw Vegetable here."
"This is also a specialty from our mountains; how could we not sell it? It's all freshly picked and delicious."
The elderly lady smiled as she looked at Zhou Xiahe. "Young man, I used to eat Cat's Claw Vegetable a lot during those years of famine; it was clearly tough and had a faint bitter taste."
After finishing up with a regular customer, Willow Stick cheerfully introduced how to prepare Cat's Claw Vegetable, while Xiaohe added, "If we're talking about Cat's Claw, stir-frying it with meat is definitely the most flavorful."
The elderly lady pinched a tender stem of Cat's Claw Vegetable and glanced at the price tag before instructing Xiaohe to get her a pound.
She spent over half an hour in the store, buying dried mushrooms and Hazel Mushrooms—two taels each. Under Xiaohe's introduction, she became very interested in Rice Bran Oil but regretted not bringing an oil container.
After finishing her shopping, the elderly lady didn't want to use her grain coupons and happily paid a price that was a quarter more than using coupons to take her items home. Women of her generation liked saving grain coupons, but Yezhi valued cash more; thus, the Local Specialty Store focused on making money.
When things calmed down, Zhou Xiahe asked Willow Stick what he was laughing about earlier.
"I was just thinking about the day before we left, at Sister Ye's house. That kid One Egg really got Sister Ye worked up."
Zhou Xiahe showed a grin, "That kid One Egg really deserves a beating. I wonder if they made up?" That day, One Egg had been kicked out of the Zhou family by Ye.
...
One Egg stared at his classmates who were indulging in food and drink with a face full of indignation.
Dogzi stuffed a Braised Egg into his mouth while holding two more in front of One Egg, shaking them teasingly and saying, "As soon as Sister Ye came back, she said she would take us for a picnic one day. Why didn’t you think twice? You can offend anyone but her!"
One Egg looked at Braised Egg with longing, "Give me one!"
Dogzi quickly dodged; he had worked hard to grab those and wasn’t about to let One Egg have them. Besides, Sister Ye hadn’t even acknowledged him yet, and he didn’t want to end up with the same fate as One Egg.
"Dogzi!" The more One Egg shouted, the faster Dogzi ran.
He glanced at Wolf Child, who was lying eight meters away on a blue cloth, practically burying her face in the cake. He felt abandoned, sitting under the peach tree without appreciating the beauty of the transition from late spring to early summer.
Black Treasure's round figure stood out even more against the pink and green hues of the Peach Orchard. It slowly rolled over to him, shaking its head and patting its big belly.
Having been friends with Black Treasure for many years, One Egg knew it was laughing at him.
"Ah~!" One Egg lunged at Black Treasure. Black Treasure was excited; after eating well, it needed to move around to maintain its good figure. One Egg was just like a worm in its belly.
Despite using all his strength, One Egg couldn’t topple Black Treasure and ended up pinned under its large backside, gasping for breath.
"Is One Egg still not getting over it?" One Egg blinked and finally saw Ye silhouetted against the light.
"Sister Ye, your heart is smaller than a needle's eye!" After saying this, One Egg felt a pang of sadness and wanted to cry. He only spoke a few honest words to defend Wolf Sister, so why did it have to turn into such a harsh remark? He also had his temper. "Hmph! Hmph!"
Black Treasure plopped down heavily on One Egg, proudly calling out to Yezhi. Yezhi laughed and brushed it off, and the freed One Egg turned his back.
Yezhi carefully sat down beside him. Below the hillside was her home, adorned with peach blossoms that made Zhoujiatun look dreamlike. The wind blew, petals fell, creating ripples of movement and stillness, and the faint scent of peach blossoms intoxicated the heart.
Leaning lazily against One Egg, he shifted to the side. Yezhi chuckled, "You say my heart is small, but yours doesn't seem that big either."
One Egg ground his teeth and resentfully replied, "That's because you forced me!"
"One Egg, why are you still such a Fool?"
"What about being a Fool?" One Egg proudly declared his foolishness, making it hard for her not to laugh.
"You never grow up or learn!" People like Yezhi, who loved to tease, feared that those being teased would not react. The dog, Er Zhu, Zhou Da, Zhou Xiao... growing up wasn't as fun anymore; only One Egg, who maintained his "true nature," was still so amusing. If not teasing him, who else?
"Open your mouth!" Instinctively, One Egg opened his mouth, and a piece of Peanut Candy was stuffed in. The rich peanut flavor and sweet taste immediately comforted him. "Sister Ye, we are reconciled now!"
"Were we ever not okay?" Yezhi pretended to be innocent. Fool tried hard to recall; could it be that he was overthinking? "Then why didn't you pay attention to me? You didn't even invite me for the picnic!" Mentioning the picnic made One Egg feel hurt.
Suppressing her laughter, Yezhi said casually, "Didn't I already say I was going for a picnic? Was there any need to invite you? You could just come on your own."
One Egg widened his mouth in surprise. Was it really like that? No wonder his father always said he had a pig's brain; being silly was one thing, but being stupid was not good.
"Sister Ye, you sit here; I need to go eat something to supplement my brain!" After saying this, he ran over to the dog and snatched his Braised Egg, rummaging through Zhou Xiaomu's pockets.
The dog, Wolf Child, generously shared a piece of cake with him. He instantly bubbled with happiness, repeatedly calling out "Jiajia" this and "Jiajia" that, which made Yezhi want to hit him again.
The dog, Er Niu, brought a bunch of wild garlic in front of Yezhi. "Sister, this wild garlic makes delicious pancakes."
Yezhi felt that the saliva in her mouth was increasing, and the scent of wild garlic kept wafting into her nose. "I can't take it anymore!"
Yu Jianhua saw Yezhi burst in with a gust of wind and couldn't help but nag, "Yezhi, you're a pregnant woman now; don't walk around so carelessly."
"Elder Brother Yu, I want to eat wild garlic pancakes." Yu Jianhua knew well that when a pregnant woman expressed a craving, it had to be satisfied.
He cleaned the muddy wild garlic, chopped it finely, mixed it with salt, brushed oil on a flat frying pan, poured a ladle of batter and spread it out. When the pancake was almost done, he evenly spread the prepared wild garlic on top and fried it until golden brown. It was truly fragrant and crispy; Yezhi couldn't stop at just three.
She packed the pancakes and took them to the Peach Orchard, which sparked enthusiasm among a group of Kids looking for wild garlic.
With food, fun, and harvests, Yezhi thought this outing was quite successful. Maybe they could do it again by the small river at the village entrance tomorrow.
However, Kids' serious teacher Xiao Cheng couldn't stand by. "Right now, One Egg Er Zhu and a bunch of older kids are preparing for their middle school entrance exams. Comrade Yezhi, it's fine for you to have fun, but don't delay the Kids' studies."
"Oh, then you should teach the Kids well. I'll cover two adult literacy classes for you; isn't that quite loyal?" Xiao Cheng looked at her. "Comrade Yezhi, we've had our disagreements lately and even slammed tables."
"Disagreements are due to our differing views; slamming tables was your fault. We once reached an agreement on educating the Wolf Child. You broke the rules first. You should understand from the Wolf Child that even if something seems obvious, it has to be done gradually; it's not something that can be rushed." Xiao Cheng felt frustrated. He knew he couldn't argue against Yezhi; he also realized he was being too hasty regarding both the village's youth and the Wolf Child. But his urgency stemmed not only from ideals but also from concern for the villagers... and to save Yezhi, who often had whimsical ideas and didn't follow common sense.
From the moment she started thinking that everyone was ignorant and easy to manipulate, she had strayed from the right path. As a friend, should he not correct her? Should he just let her be?
If Yezhi knew that expressing some honest thoughts would make Teacher Xiao lose his usual calmness and become concerned about her, she would never have said such things. (To be continued)
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