Peasant Girl Bookseller

Chapter 12 Humble Wish

Mai Xiang doesn't want to go out with these people, she just wants to go to the temple fair to see if she can find any way to make money, because there is only two chances a month at the Reclining Buddha Temple, and she really can't wait.

In addition, I heard that the temple fair is in some town of Changning. Mai Xiang has been here for a long time, but he hasn't entered the town yet.

"Auntie, do you often go shopping in the town?" Dachun's eldest daughter, Ziju, asked. She is two years older than Maixiang, and she is twelve years old this year.

"I don't go often, I just save up some handkerchiefs and go there again."

"Auntie, if only our Huangye Village is so close to Changning Town, I can go there every day." Mai Huang said.

It was only then that Mai Xiang knew that the place where she lived was called Huangye Village. She seemed to have heard this place name before, but before Mai Xiang thought about it, she was dragged into the crowd by Mai Huang.

The Dragon King Temple in Changning Town is not far from the river beach at the east end of the town. This Dragon King Temple doesn’t look grand at all, even a little dilapidated and old. Mai Xiang took a closer look and found that there were many people coming to the temple fair. is poor.

After thinking about it for a while, Mai Xiang understood the truth. Most of the people who came to the Dragon King Temple to burn incense and pray were the nearby villagers, because they wanted to pray for the Dragon King to bless them with good weather.The serious rich and noble people would not come to this kind of place. If they want to go, they have to go to places like the Temple of the Reclining Buddha.

After understanding this truth, Mai Xiang didn't have the heart to go to the temple fair anymore, she wanted to go to the town to see it.

Winter Solstice didn't have any objections, knowing that Mai Xiang and the others seldom go to the town, and they often go to temple fairs, so they turned around and went into the town with everyone.

Changning Town is a small town without a city gate. There is a long commercial street that is wide enough for a carriage to pass. There are shops on both sides, selling cloth, jade, dried fruits, embroidery, groceries, etc. There are also inns and restaurants.

At the end of the shop is a large courtyard with high walls and a grand gate. There are two stone lions in front of the gate. At this time, the gate is wide open and a table is set up. There is a long queue beside the table. , It was an adult with a child, Mai Xiang watched it on TV, and knew that this was the buyer.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Mai Huang asked curiously.

"Their family is buying people." Dongzhi explained that she had seen Tongfu buying people once.

"This house is really grand, even the courtyard walls are made of green bricks." Ziju sighed.

"This is a big family in Changning Town, the Tong family. I heard that they were originally Han people from the Han Army Banner, but later they lost their registration, and they somehow connected with the Tong family of the Bannerman. That's how they made their fortunes." Winter Solstice said in a low voice.

"The Tong family of the Bannerman, the Tong family of the birth mother of Lord Kangxi? Oh my God, that is really a rich and powerful family, auntie, do you think they can want me?" Zi Ju looked at the crowd enviously.

"You're crazy. If you go in, you'll be a servant girl. If you want to beat or scold me, the master will do it." Winter Solstice pulled Ziju back.

"I was scolded every day at home, and I didn't even have enough to eat, so I could have enough to eat when I went in, right?" Ziju looked at the rags on her body, she was really tempted.

"Go, go, those who want to sell go there and line up, don't block the gate, blocking the way of our young master."

Mai Xiang was staring at the gate and looking in. She was a little curious about what the inside of the ancient mansion gate looked like. Unfortunately, it was blocked by a large screen wall. She was watching, but she didn't know that two people came from behind suddenly, and one of them still knew each other. Yes, a boy who had a double-sided relationship.

This young man is the young master of the Tong Mansion, named Tong Liwen. He just came back from his private school and saw a group of people standing in front of his house. He ordered his servant Feng Nian to chase them away.

"Stupid, what are you talking about? My mother heard it carefully and wants you to slap her mouth again." Tong Liwen knocked on the boy's head and stepped into the gate without even looking at the group of poor people.

"Eldest young master, the young one did as you ordered." Fengnian touched his head, muttered something, and ran in after him.

"So this is the young master of the Tong family. He looks really good-looking, and the clothes on his body are also good-looking." Mai Huang, Zi Ju and a few little girls were still staring at the gate of the Tong family.

"Okay, let's go back." Mai Xiang suddenly lost interest.

She never had that kind of unrealistic Cinderella dream. In the second year of high school, she fell in love with a classmate in the class, but after the other party knew that her family opened a salted duck shop, she turned around and fell in love with another girl in the class. The classmate was lucky, because the father of the female classmate was a big boss in the district.

Fortunately, because of the short time, Mai Xiang didn't lose anything. After entering university, Mai Xiang joined the school's mountaineering club. There were many male students in the club. Mai Xiang got along with everyone like buddies, and didn't have a real boyfriend yet. .

"Okay, let's go back. I'll buy you some Shaqima. The ones sold in the town are better than those sold at the temple fair," Dongzhi said.

Mai Xiang saw that this winter solstice was considered a generous person. Although he was young, he looked a bit like an elder.

While talking, Winter Solstice took everyone back. When they passed by a pastry shop, they bought Saqima worth ten cents. Xiao Er cut it into small pieces and carefully wrapped them in paper, saying that he wanted to take them home to eat alone. One piece, because there are still a few small ones that have not followed.

When I got home, before others said anything, Fang clicked his tongue first, "My aunt really has these nephews and nieces in her eyes. It's rare for these nephews and nieces to see my aunt spending money once."

"Sister-in-law, I only spend this money once a year, and my nephews and nieces are all here, so no one takes advantage and no one suffers." The winter solstice talk is also very fast, and I guess I often quarrel with Fang.

"Okay, let's set the meal, the children only come here once a year." The old lady spoke with a sullen face.

"Set the meal, the children have been shopping for half a day, I'm afraid they are all hungry." Uncle Zhao Yuanjiang saw the old mother was angry, and glared at his wife.

Fang muttered and called Ziju to help, and set up two tables on the kang.

The Zhao family’s dinner was dry rice mixed with millet, corn, and sorghum. In addition, each person shared a piece of spring pancake. In addition to a pot of bean sprouts rolled into the spring pancake, there was also a large pot of sauerkraut. There should be some fat in it. It has a meaty smell, and the wheat fragrance is quite delicious, but there are too many people, and a few chopsticks per person will almost bottom out.

No matter what, on this day, Mai Xiang had two full meals.

After the meal, the three sisters of the Zhao family accompanied the old lady and still chatted about the family affairs, but Mai Xiang didn't bother to listen to how difficult those days were and how bad the harvest was.

A few older girls were also gathered around, and Mai Xiang heard them talking about who was rich in the village, or what rich lady she saw when she went shopping in the temple, how she was dressed, etc.

Mai Xiang is not interested either. She wants to know who the current emperor is, how far the capital is from here, and how she can get out. Unfortunately, it is difficult to ask these questions.

"My eldest sister and I went to the Temple of the Reclining Buddha yesterday to pay homage. We saw a Princess with two maids. The clothes and jewelry on her were really beautiful." Mai Huang said.

"What's Gege? Last year, I followed my father to the emperor's palace to repair flowers and plants, and I saw a promise. Tsk tsk, the patterns on his clothes are so beautiful." Ziju said.

"What you said is nothing. Last autumn, Lord Qianlong passed by here. We were all watching the excitement on the side of the road. A little princess in a carriage opened the curtain and took a look. The pearls and gemstones on her head It dazzled my eyes." The speaker was Fang's eldest daughter, Zhao Qiaohong, who is 13 years old this year.

Mai Xiang was drowsy at first, but she woke up when she heard the word "Qianlong". Qianlong, now is the reign of Qianlong.
"Hey, I don't know what our grandpa thought back then. Well, why did he have to go out of the flag? Otherwise, my aunt and sister Qiaohong have reached the age of the draft. If we are lucky, we may be able to enter some palace to be a concubine. "Ziju said with emotion.

"That's right, I also said the same thing, it's better than staying in a hard life like this." Zhao Qiaohong also said.

Winter Solstice heard this, looked at these people, and said with a smile: "With your appearance, you still want to go to the draft? The low-level people like us don't have any good things to do. The eldest sister, the second sister, and the third sister are the first. They were sent back without passing the test.”

And on the other kang, Dachun was also complaining to the old lady that he should have listened to the old man back then and had taken off his banner, so he didn't get any benefits at all. Otherwise, at least the father of the child can still get one, two, five a month. Silver off a stone of coarse grain.

After hearing this, the old lady patted her twice, and said, "It's your father-in-law who wants to leave his citizenship, so he can rely on your father. Besides, even if you didn't come out back then, you don't want to come out now? Sooner or later The thing is, if you come out early, you can give a few taels of money to settle down, but the amount of money that comes out later will become less and less, and in the future, even if you don’t want to, you can get it, and you don’t even have any money from the An’s family.”

"What mother said is true. If you want to blame, you can only blame us for not going to the Three Banners. Even if it is the coating of the three banners. It can subsidize the family." Zhao said.

"That's not the case, at least you can supplement the family with enough food and clothing." Dachun also sighed.

When Mai Xiang heard this, her heart turned cold. No wonder Ziju and the others are willing to be maids, because the wishes of these adults are so humble in the first place.

(End of this chapter)