Village Flowers and Female Scholars

For a few days in a row, there was a small half-day to go up the mountain to find wild goods. In order to make the most of these very rare time, Xie Yan got up secretly every day before dawn, and walked all over the hills behind Cao's house. In addition to fungi, I also found a lot of common medicinal materials, and I have saved money one after another in the past ten days. This is undoubtedly a very exciting opportunity for her. information.

This day, she carried half a basket of wild goods on her back and walked towards the town. As usual, she first went to Uncle Liao's Lucky Restaurant to sell the fungi. There were only a few young ginseng in the basket. .

It was originally intended to be sold in a pharmacy, but I was always curious about the situation of the ancient stalls. After asking about the place, I went there with a basket on my back.

There were quite a few people setting up a stall, so they found a place to sit down, spread a few large leaves on the ground, and placed a few small ginseng on top.

As soon as the stall was set up, someone from the stall manager came to collect the money, and each stall was paid a penny a day.

For Xie Yan, who has already saved a lot of money, a penny is equivalent to one yuan, which is not too much, so she can afford it, but she just came to see the place, picked up the backpack and was about to leave, but heard Someone asked her: "Little girl, how do you sell this little ginseng?"

Seeing a customer, Xie Yan didn't bother to go to the pharmacy, just paid a penny and sat down again.

It's a pity that the man left after inquiring about the price, Xie Yan had already paid the stall fee, so he could only sit down and set up a stall.

Not long after he sat down, two familiar figures suddenly appeared in his line of sight. Looking closely, they turned out to be two women from the same village. His heart skipped a beat. These two women had a good relationship with Mrs. Cao in the past. If I see myself selling things on the street at this time, I will definitely tell Mrs. Cao about it. Then I will be found out that I went up the mountain to find wild goods. Go up the mountain to dig money.

36 counting is the best policy.

However, just as she was packing up her things and was about to leave, another person who inquired about the price happened to come. If she left at this time, it would inevitably alarm the two women, and Xie Yan was in a dilemma for a moment.

Seeing the two getting closer, Xie Yan was so anxious that she didn't even bother to answer the buyer's questions.

"Hey, I'm talking about you little girl. I asked you how to sell ginseng. Why are you silent like a dumb person?"

As the buyer complained, someone looked over. Xie Yan was most afraid of this situation, whispering the price in a low voice, but the other party didn't seem to hear her, so anxious that sweat broke out on her forehead.

At this moment, a small shadow suddenly appeared in front of him, and a figure stood in front of him, followed by a pleasant fragrance. Xie Yan looked up, and couldn't help but linger a few times, looking over from behind , the woman is tall and very refined, she is also dressed in coarse linen, but it is cleanly washed, and she has a bookish look, which is incompatible with these people around her.

This figure is really good-looking, but somehow familiar.

Just as Xie Yan was stunned, the woman naturally took the three small ginseng in her hand, and said to the passers-by who were inquiring: "A piece costs thirty Wen, but you want all of them?"

It was only at this time that Xie Yan realized his current situation. Now that someone was standing in front of him, it was convenient for him to escape.

It's a pity that the three small ginsengs of hers, and I don't know what the origin of this person is, so suddenly appeared, and solved her predicament by accident, but if she directly took the money from the sale of the three small ginsengs at this time, After leaving, I didn't dare to come out to ask her for it.

Xie Yan forced herself to calm down, after all, those three little ginseng trees were nothing compared to her hard work in the past few days.

She gritted her teeth and turned to hide in the small shop behind the stall. She would rather not have the money than the danger of being discovered by a woman from the same village.

The location of the booth was just blocked by the big tree in front of the shop, Xie Yan couldn't see if the woman was still there, but heard the voices of the two women from the same village faintly.

"Zhuang Xiucai, why are you selling ginseng here?"

When Xie Yan heard the words "Zhuang Xiucai", the memory in her mind became coherent. It turned out that this woman was Zhuang Wan, the daughter of the Zhuang family at the head of the village. He was dismissed from office after knowing what he had committed, and died in depression within a few years.

Zhuang Wan also has an uncle who now lives in Yongfeng County and rarely goes back to the village.

And Zhuang Wan lives in the old house in Shangyan Village. There is also an old grandmother named Yu Po in the family. The family also has ten acres of land, which is rented out to others.

In today's dynasty, the last emperor was a female emperor, who promulgated the law that women can study to get fame, so it is common for women to study nowadays, but it costs money to study, and the patriarchal thought is still deeply rooted. Where are many poor people? Women who are willing to send girls to school, and who can pass the exam as scholars are also rare.

Zhuang Wan is one of the rare.

After Zhuang Wan was selected as a scholar, she opened a private school in the village to teach and enlighten children while preparing for the next exam.

Xie Yan who recognized Zhuang Wan was puzzled, did this person suddenly appear here to rescue him?

Xie Yan looked through the original owner's memory carefully, but racked her brains but couldn't think of any intersection between the two.

After the two women had left, Xie Yan crept out of the shop behind, walked up to Zhuang Wan and said, "Zhuang Xiucai, I won't ask you for the money for that ginseng, I thank you just now Help me a lot, but you can't tell the Cao family about me setting up a stall outside to sell goods when you go back."

Although he said so, he still couldn't help but feel a little pain. You know, the second uncle Cao Hong worked as a butcher with his father-in-law, and it only cost ten yuan a day, and he spent a lot of time digging these small ginseng. .

But Xie Yan didn't want to make matters worse, what if Zhuang Xiucai also ran to Mrs. Cao to gossip, what should I do? Forget it, let's just spend money to buy peace.

After speaking, she walked past Zhuang Wan puffed up with her chest out and her backpack on her back.

Hey, it's a pity for those dozens of pennies.

Unexpectedly, before he took two steps, he was stopped by a soft voice from behind: "Wait a minute, I don't want your money."

As soon as the voice fell, Zhuang Wan came up from behind, grabbed her hand, spread it out, and put the money in her palm.

The moment the hands touched, Xie Yan's callused fingers couldn't help trembling a bit.

She has always disliked skin-to-skin contact with people. In modern times, she was so focused on her studies that she didn't make many friends, let alone find a partner. The intimacy of hand-to-hand contact made her a little uncomfortable, but After retracting, I felt a little regretful.

But he couldn't help thinking, so what if he was touched by a beauty.

The copper coins in her palm still carried the warmth of the female scholar's hands, making Xie Yan inexplicably feel a little hot, she raised her head calmly and asked, "Why did you help me?"

"It's nothing, it's just a matter of raising your hands, be careful next time."

After speaking, he turned around and left, leaving Xie Yan standing there alone thinking.

Seeing her going away, Xie Yan wanted to say thank you but had no chance, so she had to put away these thoughts for the time being. After buying the buns, she hurried back to the mountain to bury today's harvest in the old place. I took some herbs and put them in the basket.

As usual, she put the meat buns in the hole behind the firewood room, and then entered through the front door, but when she reached the front door, she saw Mrs. Cao standing at the door of the firewood room with her hips akimbo. Long.

"It took Xiaolang hoofs to dig two herbs for more than half a day. Your younger brother is already alive and kicking, so what kind of herbs are you digging? You are not allowed to go tomorrow. Go with your mother to pound rice."

Xie Yan turned her head and saw that Xie Yuangu was leaning against the door with his head bowed, holding two small bamboo dragonflies in his hands, presumably he was caught by Mrs. Cao when he was playing in the woodshed.

Forget it, from the beginning of the rain that day to the present, I went up the mountain for ten days and saved a lot of copper coins. Now I have picked almost all the wild goods on the mountain by myself, and I will not gain much if I continue wandering around. Don't go there, think about other ways to make money.

Thinking like this, he didn't talk back to Mrs. Cao, put down the basket with a low eyebrow, picked up the scarf and was about to go to the grain farm to meet his mother.

Now that Xie Yuangu had been found to have recovered from his illness, he didn't want to stay in that cramped firewood house, grabbing a bamboo dragonfly and following Xie Yan.

Granny Cao punched under the cotton, and was so angry that she saw the medicinal herbs in the small back basket, grabbed them, and took them all into her room.

When we arrived at Guchang, we still only saw Cao E busy alone, and the old man Cao kept guard nearby.

Of course, Xie Yan knew why his grandfather, who was often moody and angry, stayed here early in the morning. It was nothing more than when the rice was pounded, and the white rice came out, afraid that their mother and son would hide the food.

When Cao E saw her younger son coming up behind her daughter, she knew that pretending to be sick would not work tomorrow, and she didn't know what her daughter would do next.

When Xie Yan came back, she hid a meat bun in her sleeve, but it was not easy to take it out in front of Old Man Cao, so she could only silently help with the work.

It wasn't until the old man called Cao Xingshou, Cao Xingyue and others to carry the rice home basket by basket that he pulled his mother behind the straw stack and secretly stuffed the buns to her.

Cao E got up early in the morning to work, and was already very hungry. In the past, she could only drink water to bear it. Now her daughter brings buns back every day, but it is to replenish her long-lost body.

When Xie Yuangu came out, the remaining steamed buns were still hidden at the entrance of the cave, but now seeing his mother drooling with greed while eating the steamed stuffed buns, Cao E hurriedly tore up more than half of them and gave them to him, but the little boy shook his head. Shaking his head, he said: "Mother worked hard, mother eats, and Gu'er will have it when he goes back."

Seeing their mother's kindness and son's filial piety, Xie Yan smiled and let them go.