Baozi Xishi's Struggle

Shen Yu wanted to find a basin to hold water, so he picked up a few clay basins stacked in the corner and took a look. They were all broken and unusable, and his hands were covered with dust. In desperation, he had to hastily wipe his hands and face with a cloth towel, and with his hands covered in dust, he went to knock on the door of Mrs. Liu's house next door.

Mrs. Liu had closed her stall and returned. The family was sitting around the table preparing to have dinner. When she saw Shen Yu's face covered in dust and heard her asking for some water to wash, she hurried to the kitchen, took out a ceramic basin, used a ladle to scoop half a basin of water from the large vat, and brought it to the well.

Mrs. Liu asked Shen Yu to wash his hands and face, and then she went to find a ceramic basin and a small wooden barrel. The basin was a little dusty, probably because it was not used on weekdays.

Mrs. Liu lifted the wooden barrel by the well and drew half a bucket of water. She poured some water to wash the barrel and pottery basin, and said to Shen Yu, "This barrel and pottery basin have never been used since they were bought. They are not used on weekdays and have been placed behind the shelf. There is a lot of smoke and dust in the kitchen. If they are a little dirty, just brush them and they will be used. Sister, don't despise them. Take them to the courtyard and use them. If you need anything in the future, just come to me. If I'm not at home, you can ask my mother-in-law for them. She is also very easy to talk to."

Shen Yu thanked him profusely. After Shen Yu finished cleaning and wiped it with a cloth, Mrs. Liu had already filled the small wooden bucket with water. She helped Shen Yu carry the bucket and the ceramic basin to the door. Seeing Yutao waiting at the door to fetch water together, she handed the ceramic basin to Yutao, watched the two sisters go into the next yard together, and then closed the door and went back.

Shen Yu poured the water into the ceramic basin. Li and the others simply washed their hands and faces in the daylight outside, locked the courtyard gate, and walked out of the alley.

Shen Yu thought that it was dark and there would be no one walking on the street outside. Unexpectedly, when he walked out of the alley, it was still very lively outside. The shops on both sides of the street were brightly lit, and many shops had customers choosing goods. There were also many mobile stalls on both sides of the road with bright candles or oil lamps. There were also half-grown boys carrying large or small baskets covered with white cloths and hawking all kinds of dried fruits, candied fruits, and fruit cakes along the street.

I have been busy moving these days and didn't pay attention to the date. Until I saw people selling glutinous rice cakes and fancy melons on the street market, I realized that today is the Chinese Valentine's Day.

The boys were carrying baskets filled with melons carved into the shapes of flowers, rabbits and birds. They walked and called out, "Qiaoguo, flower-shaped honeydew melons, Qiaoguo is sweet as honey, flower-shaped honeydew melons, come and buy some." Several children could not help but pester their family members until they bought one. Then they held the melon in their hands and happily followed their family members.

The Qiaoguo was just overturned. It is sold in the country markets during the Chinese Valentine's Day and is not uncommon.

But the vividly carved honeydew melons are not found in the countryside.

Yutao and Yucheng had never seen such fancy melons before. They stared at the melon seller's basket as they walked. Li saw this and patted Yucheng on the shoulder, scolding him, "You look useless. Stop looking at me. It's just a melon. Even if it's carved into flowers and rabbits, it still tastes like a melon."

Shen Yu knew that Li was reluctant to buy because of the eager looks in the children's eyes, so she could only pretend not to care and teach the two children a lesson. She smiled and said, "Mom, my brother and sister must be hungry. Let's buy some food and take it back."

Shen Yu walked and looked at what the food stalls were selling. They were just some soup noodles and flower cakes. There was nothing special about the style, just some sweet smell. There was a stall selling all kinds of chicken and duck skewers, fried rabbit, and fried quail. The aroma of fried meat attracted passers-by to buy a few skewers.

Shen Yu saw Yutao and Yucheng staring at the meat skewers, swallowing silently but not asking to buy. He felt a little sad in his heart, knowing that the two of them wanted to eat, but just couldn't bear to open their mouths for fear of spending too much money.

Looking at the two yellow and thin faces, and then at Li's thin figure, Shen Yu stopped and walked to the food stall, bought ten fried quails and a bag of fried rabbit, a total of thirty-five coins, and packed two large bags in his hand. He then went to the stall selling Hu pancakes and bought five crispy and fragrant white sesame Hu pancakes, and five vegetarian Hu pancakes.

A Manchu Hu Bing costs five cents each, and a Su Hu Bing costs three cents each. The cakes are thin and large, and most people will feel full after eating one or two.

Li saw that she had to buy meat and cakes. In the blink of an eye, seventy-five coins were spent. She became anxious and pressed Shen Yu's purse, which was about to pay. She gritted her teeth and whispered, "You silly girl, you can't do it. Buying all this meat and cakes at once is as much as two days of wheat flour for our family."

Shen Yu patted Li's hand soothingly, pulled out the purse that she was holding, paid for the cake, took the cake that the shopkeeper had wrapped in lotus leaves, handed the cake, fried quail and rabbit meat to Yutao and Yucheng, and asked them to take them. He then pulled Li, who looked unhappy, forward.

After walking for a while, they arrived at the alley leading to the inn. They turned in and entered the inn. Seeing the two children put the food on the table, the four of them sat around. Shen Yu then said to Li: "Mother, don't be unhappy. I know you are worried about the money and think you shouldn't buy this meat and cakes. You should buy some cheap food to save some money."

The door was closed at this moment. Seeing that there were no outsiders, Li's voice became louder and she immediately said, "I know you still want to buy. Look, if we buy all vegetarian cakes, we can eat them and drink some tea, and we can still be full. With the same amount of money, we can buy a lot more vegetarian cakes."

Shen Yu listened to her complaints patiently, and then said, "Mom, today is our first day in the county, and it's also Chinese Valentine's Day. It's not too much for us to have something good to celebrate the beginning of a new life. Besides, look at the faces of my brother and sister. They can't eat vegetarian food every day. We're moving to our rented house tomorrow. If we don't eat well, how can we have the strength to move our luggage?"

Li wanted to complain a few more times after hearing what was said before, but when she heard that Yutao and Yucheng were thin, she was speechless and kept silent. After a long while, she sighed and opened several packages of food by herself. She said, "Don't drool over it. Go and get some water and eat quickly."

When Yutao and Yucheng heard their mother's words, they cheered softly and hurried to get bowls and teapot. It was July and the weather was very hot, so the cold tea in the big teapot tasted very refreshing.

Shen Yu washed his hands, took the bamboo chopsticks, tore open the two layers of a sesame-covered Hu pancake from the edge to support the opening, stuffed some fried rabbit meat into the pancake, and handed it to Li. Li took it, looked at it, and passed it to Yucheng. Yucheng couldn't help it, but after looking at Li and then at her sisters, she felt embarrassed to eat it, so she just held it in her hands and couldn't help swallowing.

Shen Yu burst out laughing and said, "Yucheng, Mom loves you, you can eat first, everyone has it, and there are a lot of them."

Seeing that the table was indeed full of food, Yu Cheng lowered his head and started eating the cake in big mouthfuls.

Shen Yu followed suit and made two sesame pancakes stuffed with rabbit meat and handed them to Li and Yutao. He then took a vegetarian pancake without rabbit meat in it and picked up a fried quail to eat with the pancake.

Yutao took the cake and started eating it in big mouthfuls. Li was about to eat it, but when she saw that Shen Yu didn't eat rabbit meat, she hurriedly handed the sesame cake in her hand to him and wanted to take the vegetarian cake from Shen Yu to eat it herself.

Shen Yu hurriedly stopped them, saying, "Mom, you three just eat. I'm tired of eating these in the restaurant every day. I just want to eat some fried quail, which is a bit salty." As he spoke, he tore off a piece of quail meat and deliberately ate it with relish.

Li was half-believing and half-doubting, but seeing her two children eating with relish and smelling the aroma of rabbit meat, her stomach, which usually lacked oil, could not resist the temptation of the oily aroma, so she stopped refusing and started eating.