Baozi Xishi's Struggle

Yutao turned around in surprise when she heard the voice. Seeing that it was her sister, she was about to speak, but Shen Yu shook his head slightly without being noticed, still looking at the stall owner with a smile.

Although Yutao didn't understand what her sister meant, she felt that it was right to do as her sister instructed, so she stepped aside silently and waited with Yucheng.

The middle-aged stall owner saw that the person asking the price was a young girl with a child and thought that a good deal was in store. However, the little girl who had asked the price was timid and it was obvious that she was shopping with her family members, and she definitely had no money in her hand.

The stall owner smiled and said, "Young lady, you have good taste. This pendant is from the south. It is a top-quality glass pendant. If you like it, I won't ask for much. Eighty cents a pair."

Shen Yu sneered in his heart, "Wow, it's gone up by thirty-five cents in a blink of an eye. Do you think I'm stupid and rich and easy to fool?"

She took the pendant and looked at it carefully. This glass pendant was barely pleasing to the eye when held from a distance, but it was not worth looking at if you looked closely. The glass was fine, the peach-pink color should be very tender, but the peach-pink color on this little peach was a little dull. The ear hooks were obviously copper-plated with silver, but due to poor workmanship, the plating was uneven, and copper color was faintly visible in some places.

The middle-aged stall owner looked at Shen Yu holding the earrings in her hand and examining them carefully, with a look of disdain on his face. Before Shen Yu could say anything, he lost confidence and whispered, "If the girl likes it, I can give her some money."

Shen Yu smiled cheerfully, holding the pair of earrings in her hand and looking at them on the stall again, and then pointed to a pair of earrings with a green jade-colored water drop-shaped glass pendant and said, "Two pairs together, thirty cents."

When the stall owner heard this, he shook his head like a rattle and waved his hands repeatedly, saying, "Girl, at this price, I'm going to lose a lot of money. I can't sell it. I can't sell it."

Shen Yuhui smiled slyly and asked sincerely, "Uncle, you really can't sell it? Well, I can't let you lose money, right? Forget it, I won't buy it." She pretended to put down the earrings and was about to leave.

The stall owner saw that the show was over, so he hurried back to make up for it: "Hey, girl, don't go, girl, don't go. If you really like it, give me some more money."

When Shen Yu saw that it was almost enough, he pretended to be reluctant and said, "Add five more cents at most, and forget it if it's more."

The stall owner was helpless, stamped his feet, and said with a look of great loss: "Take it, take it, since you really like it, I will sell it to you at a loss."

Shen Yu achieved his goal. He took out a purse from his sleeve pocket, opened it and counted out thirty-five coins.

The stall owner took the silver and handed over two pairs of earrings tied with red velvet thread.

Shen Yu took it in his hand, waved to Yutao and Yucheng, and continued walking forward with the three of them.

The middle-aged stall owner looked at Shen Yu's receding back, and only then did he realize that the little girl and the young girl were from the same family. He regretted it so much that if he had offered a lower price at the beginning and sold it to the little girl, he could have made more money.

After they walked a little further, Shen Yu stopped and handed over two pairs of earrings with a smile. Yu Tao took them happily. Shen Yu smiled and said, "This pair of green jade water drop earrings is for mom, and this pair of pink peach earrings is for you. When I make more money in the future, I will buy you real gold and silver jade and ruby ​​earrings."

Yutao carefully put the two pairs of earrings into her small purse and kept them away. As she followed him, she asked with some guilt and uneasiness, "What about sister's? I only bought two pairs of earrings. What will sister wear?"

Shen Yu tilted her head and smiled, explaining: "You and mom like to wear earrings, so I only bought two pairs. I don't like wearing these, and I always have to wrap my hair when I do things on weekdays, so I find it inconvenient to wear these. Look, I took off the pair I used to wear for a long time."

These were her true feelings. She really didn't like wearing them. She felt that she had to take them off before going to bed and put them back on in the morning, and they could easily get caught on her headscarf. It was really troublesome. When she first came, she endured wearing them for a few days, then took off the pair of copper-plated silver clove earrings and put them away, and never wore them again.

Yutao thought about it and realized that she hadn't seen her sister wearing it for a long time. Then she believed it and became happy again.

Although Yucheng was walking nearby, his mind was the same as Maodou's, his eyes fixed on the small stalls on both sides.

Shen Yu took the three people for a walk, bought a puppet that could somersault by itself for Yucheng, bought a large wooden sword that Maodou had long liked, and bought a bag of osmanthus candy and a bag of water water chestnuts. He then took the three people to pick a good seat early and sat on the steps at the entrance of the temple, waiting for the dragon and lion dance team to arrive.

Not long after, they heard the sound of gongs and drums in the distance. The people who had been waiting stood up upon hearing the sound. Shen Yu also hurriedly pulled Maodou to his side and looked towards the entrance of the venue.

As a drum beat passed by, an acrobat in colorful clothes ran into the venue, dancing with a big hydrangea in his hand, followed by a big red lion in colorful clothes, shaking its head and tail. The lion dance was performed by two people, both wearing colorful clothes. The person in front danced the lion's head, and the person behind, under the lion's body, danced the lion's tail, coordinating the movements of the person in front.

The lion's eyes are movable. As it moves, its big round eyes blink, causing the watching children to scream loudly with excitement. For a moment, the venue was filled with the sounds of gongs and drums and the children's laughter, making it extremely noisy.

The red lion and the artist holding the embroidered ball played around the venue, and then, a gong sounded, and another lion came in. It was also dressed in colorful clothes, but it was all golden. As the lion moved, the golden sequins on its body shone brightly, dazzling the eyes. After the two lions met, the gong and drum beats became more frequent. Following the rhythm, the two lions made different movements, rolling forward, flipping backward, jumping, and playing, which made people dazzled, followed by tension and laughter.

Shen Yu had never seen a lion dance performance at such a close distance before, and he watched it with great fascination.

It was the first time since she came here that she was able to enjoy the sights in such a relaxed manner. It was also the first time that she had money in her hands to buy her favorite food. Standing beside her were her caring and sensible brothers and sisters. Although she was holding the chubby hands that kept moving like a loach, her crisp and loud "Sister Shen" made her feel that Edamame was also cute.

The two lions roamed around the fighting arena, squatting on either side, shaking their heads and looking left and right.

At this time, the artist holding the hydrangea announced and began to ask the people watching around for auspicious plaques.

The auspicious blessing plaque is a small rectangular wooden plaque that is polished to a smooth surface. It is decorated with curling grass patterns around it. In the middle is the word "Ji" (good fortune), on one side, and the word "Fu" (good fortune), with a red silk tassel tied at the top.

The auspicious plaques were placed in a large bamboo basket, with a smaller bamboo basket on each side, one wrapped in red cloth and the other in yellow cloth. The crowd watching the dance battle lined up and walked over one by one. If they thought a lion dance team performed well, they would take the plaque in the middle and throw it into the basin of the corresponding color. Shen Yu couldn't help but smile, isn't this just anonymous voting?

It was their turn. Shen Yu led Maodou, followed by Yutao and Yucheng. When they arrived in front of the bamboo basket, Shen Yu picked up the sign and raised it to the small red basket.

The red lion squatting next to her winked at her, tilted its head and bowed, causing the people around to laugh.

Shen Yu was in high spirits and playfully took back her hand, then raised the small sign in front of the yellow bamboo basket. The yellow lion saw it and immediately rolled over in front of Shen Yu. It nudged Shen Yu's hand with its head and blinked its big eyes like a well-behaved big cat, causing Maodou to scream excitedly in a high-pitched voice, "Sister Shen, Sister Shen, I like this one, I like this one."