Dinon

A shopkeeper, as the name suggests, is a person who sells groceries through villages and alleys with goods.

Most of them are dark-skinned peasants. Their fields were flooded or robbed by landlords. They had no choice but to take bamboo poles and two bamboo boxes and walked from village to village.

Most of them tie a bell on the shoulder pole or put a child's rattle on the top of the bamboo box, and it will ring wherever they go. If they want to buy something, just listen to the sound of "jingling" in the village. Just get up.The stuff in the shopkeeper’s bamboo box is quite miscellaneous, ranging from hair oil for women to malt candy that children love, if you want to just exchange things with him.Whether it is the newly harvested rice at home or the floral cloth embroidered by a girl who has not yet left the pavilion, as long as it can be exchanged, after the salesman arrives at the village with a jingle, these rural women and children will swarm over with their things and surround them. The peddler in a bunt with curly hair clamored to exchange something with him.

And the salesman didn't shirk, and took out the things that the villagers wanted from the bamboo box one by one, such as scissors for the mother-in-law, castors for the daughter-in-law, sesame oil, sesame oil and private salt, everything that one expects to find.And if you want to exchange some salt and oil, you have to exchange grain.For example, exchanging rapeseed for sesame oil, exchanging rice for salt, these rules are dead, no matter how much you bargain with the shopkeeper, it will not work.After all, he also wants food and clothing, doesn't he?When all the people who wanted to exchange things slowly dispersed, the shopkeeper took the burden unhurriedly, took a sip of the wine just exchanged from the gourd in his waist, and walked slowly to the next village.

Because of the peddler, the people in the village don’t have to take the plank road to go to the town to buy things, but they still go there on big days, such as the Chinese New Year, because the peddler’s products are limited, and the peddler’s visits in a year are also seldom. .

The rooster had already crowed three times, Tuo Bachen frowned, raised his hand slightly to support his forehead, and slowly woke up.What caught the eye was a large expanse of snow-white skin, which was icy and cool to the person's body, and felt tight and comfortable.She went blank for a while before she realized that last night Yuan Shuyi fell asleep and rolled into her arms again.Tuo Bachen rubbed his eyes, struggling to stay away from that snow-white skin, but unexpectedly got closer to that skin—just as she was about to sit up, she was pulled away by Yuan Shuyi who had been hugging her in the arms since last night From the corner of the clothes to the bed, the two lay facing each other, and Tuobachen could even clearly see the long eyelashes of the sleeping soundly opposite person in the dim light of the morning sun.

"Well...it's still early..." Yuan Shuyi was dissatisfied with the soft pillow in her arms and left, and said reluctantly, her voice was soft and soft, "Good girl... sleep with my sister for a while." The person in her arms He babbled inarticulately and said some nonsense, while talking, he pulled people towards himself again.Tuo Bachen sighed, this sister must grab something and hold it in her arms every day when she sleeps, and she will not give up until the sun is up, but she doesn't like to wear clothes when she sleeps, and she even has to take off her bellyband. Every time she wakes up, she sees a naked beauty lying in her arms. It is indeed a beautiful thing for others, but it is indeed a little frightening for her.

Especially if she likes to get up early.The rooster crows when she usually wakes up, and it takes an hour for Yuan Shuyi to wake up.

Tuo Bachen sighed, it was a mistake for her to decide to sleep with Yuan Shuyi in the first place.

"Didn't you say what you're going to do today?" Tuo Bachen whispered in her ear, "It's getting late in the sun. Didn't you say that you've been dark lately?"

Mentioning this, Yuan Shuyi's sleepy eyes, which were originally half-closed, suddenly opened.She has always been proud of her beauty. Unexpectedly, in this place, the daily wind, sun, and fatigue have greatly reduced her beauty. When she was dressing up yesterday morning, she saw a pimple on her face. What can't be tolerated!

He numbly lifted the thin quilt that Tuo Bachen had put on her for fear that she would catch a cold, she jumped out of bed and was about to wash up, but Tuo Bachen with a helpless expression grabbed her wrist.

"Put on your clothes first." As he said, Tuo Bachen got up and put on his coat, picked up the clothes that Yuan Shuyi took off last night and put them aside indiscriminately, folded them neatly, put them on his arms for washing, and then He turned around and went to the closet to take out a clean dress, and said to the beauty who was ashamed because she was naked, "Yesterday I saw that your clothes were dirty, I... just made them, you can make do with them. Let's cook." Then, she put down the clean clothes, lifted the curtain of the room and walked out.

Yuan Shuyi only realized her state suddenly when she uttered the first sentence. At night, she could strip naked and wander around in front of Tuo Bachen unscrupulously. So, after a scream that resounded through the sky, she got into the quilt with a "swipe", and covered her head with the quilt that still smelled like a girl, as if that could cover her embarrassment.

Through a thin layer of somewhat transparent gauze-like cloth, Yuan Shuyi heard her words and saw her series of movements, feeling mixed emotions in her heart.

Tuo Bachen is a good girl.

Breakfast was still porridge and wild vegetables, Yuan Shuyi rarely said anything, just sat quietly on the bamboo stool and ate quietly with bamboo chopsticks.She sat upright, and her every move was graceful and decent. She really didn't like the person who liked to tease her every day and like to act like a baby.

Tuo Bachen put down his chopsticks and looked at her, with a lingering light in his eyes.

Salt has been under the administration of the government since ancient times. Not only is it forbidden to privately traffic in the salt, but even the time used by the royal family is recorded by the salt official.Although salt is not a precious thing, it is much easier to get some money from this aspect than fishing.

When Yuan Shuyi came to Kyoto from the grassland at the age of 12, he happened to meet people from Dali Temple who were pressing a salt-trafficking businessman to the execution ground.It was the first time she saw someone being killed by her step-uncle, so she couldn't help taking a few extra glances out of curiosity, but when the businessman's prison van passed by her, under the cover of the chaotic crowd The book just fell under her horse.She was young and rebellious, so she dismounted and picked up the book and hid it in her bosom regardless of the chaotic crowd at that time.

The book records the method of making salt in detail, and it is believed to be kept by the merchant privately.Later, when she lived in Liuhua Palace, her step-uncle saw that she was bored and asked her to go to Dali Temple to relax and investigate the case.

She still remembers that the first case she tried was a salt merchant who smuggled salt privately.

Curious why everyone was so enthusiastic about the death penalty, Yuan Shuyi carefully investigated the salt sale, only to find out, oh, it turns out that there is so much oil and water here.

Salt is divided into sea salt, well salt, alkali salt, and cliff salt according to production and origin. Except that sea salt and cliff salt can be obtained directly from the seaside or the edge of a cliff, both well salt and alkali salt must be extracted.

Yuan Shuyi was very happy to see such a high mountain outside the village where Tuo Bachen lived, thinking that she could get salt from the cliff and boil it in stew, how easy it is!But the tragedy is that the next day after waking up from her injury, she found that her lightness kung fu was locked by that little bitch Tuo Bahong.Therefore, climbing such a high mountain, unless she doesn't want to die, otherwise this method will never work, and there is no mine to dig in this village or close to the sea, there is no way, she can only find alkaline soil This is the only way.

Alkaline soil is one of the most proud masterpieces of nature that grows all things. It is not ordinary soil, but soil mixed with a lot of salt.Get all the soil back, boil it with water, leave some salt mixed with mud, and then boil it again with marinade to extract all the salt.Alkaline soil is also easy to distinguish, as long as there is no grass around it and there are places that are muddy and dry all year round.

After confirming that she would rely on this road to help Tuobachen save money, Yuan Shuyi quickly recalled the whole process of making salt. Speaking of which, it was also thanks to that book and her photographic memory. .

After breakfast, Yuan Shuyi happily wore the white dress that Tuobachen made for her, led Tuobachen who was leaning on a wooden crutch, locked the door, and left the small courtyard of Tuobachen's house.

Before walking a few steps, someone shouted from a long distance, "Dead man! Dead man! The grandson of Lao Li's family fell into the river and drowned!" As soon as Tuo Bachen heard the word "drown", his face turned pale. The color of blood has faded, and it is as pale as white lime.

Yuan Shuyi didn't want to deal with these unlucky and sad things at first, but she just dragged Tuobachen to continue walking towards the small river, thinking that the closer to the water, the more alkaline soil should be.Thinking about it, Yuan Shuyi clenched Tuobachen's cold hand and continued to walk forward.

Just before she took a step, she was held back by Tuo Bachen, "Let's go and see, okay?" Tuo Bachen begged, she was cold all over, and her teeth were chattering when she spoke.Surprised by her reaction, Yuan Shuyi still agreed with her consideration.

The old Li family whose child died was passed down from generation to generation. Now that the only doll is gone, the whole family is crying to death, especially his grandma, who wished to bump her head to death on a pillar and follow her grandson.When Yuan Shuyi followed Tuo Bachen to a thatched house, he saw a half-grown boy lying on a wooden board with a wet body and a pale face. There were several adults beside him, howling and crying. What is strange is that next to the dead boy, there is a clever little girl sitting there kneeling with tears on her face, she seems to be frightened and pitiful as she looks motionless.

"Hey, didn't you say that Lao Li's family has only one grandson? Who is that little girl next to her?" After such a thing happened, the villagers had already gathered in Lao Li's house, surrounded by several people on the inner and outer third floors. lock up.At this time, everyone was busy comforting Lao Li's family, no one noticed the two middle-aged women who were gossiping in the corner, except Yuan Shuyi.

"Hey, isn't that the bride that old Li trusted his grandson to find?"

"Hey, auntie, don't scare me, his grandson is dead now." The woman patted her chest and said.

"That's so strange," the woman continued, as if showing off, "You are not from our village, so I don't know. Here, babies who died young, especially those who drowned, cannot be buried in the ancestral grave. It can be cremated. But any parent doesn’t want their baby to go to the underworld, so let’s spend some money to find a wife for my son, so that she can take care of her when she gets there.”

"Hey, then this little girl..."

"Just wait, I'm going to sink her into the water when I put on this young man's mourning clothes."

……

Yuan Shuyi's chest felt cold when she heard that, she looked at the lively and lovely little girl, it was really hard to imagine that she would be sunk into the icy water.

That is a living life!