Chapter 10
The next morning, when Mao Xi arrived at the stall, there were already several regular customers waiting there.
In addition to the porters who often visit to do hard work, there are also two or three housewives.
I never thought that there would be a regular buyer.
A charming little lady wearing a peach blossom hairpin saw Mao Xi setting out the food and squeezed to the front.
"Girl A-sun, I want to buy your soy milk. You can take this bamboo cup with you, right?"
"If you take away the bamboo cup, the set meal costs 10 yuan."
"Bring me a sweet potato and soy milk combo, and take it away in a bamboo cup."
"Chuntao, don't squeeze me, I want a share too, just like her!"
Another young lady in a yellow skirt pushed Chuntao aside.
Seeing everyone's enthusiasm, Mao Xi quickly reassured: "We all have a share, please take your time!"
Xiaodouzi skillfully wrapped the roasted sweet potatoes in paper, while Mao Xi was responsible for making soy milk.
After the young ladies paid, it was the turn of the regular porters.
Brother Dali, the porter, complained a little: "What happened today? So many young ladies came to compete with us for roasted sweet potatoes. They usually don't get up so early."
Chuntao and Guizhi, who bought the set meal, walked to Guanyun Bridge and chatted while drinking soy milk.
"Guizhi, are you sure that what Mr. Nalan drank yesterday was this soy milk?"
"Yes, I passed by the entrance of Songjian Academy yesterday and saw him holding this soy milk cup in his hand~"
Mao Xi heard the conversation between the two and wondered who was in the car yesterday. It actually had an idol effect in ancient times!
The stall was closed early today and after packing the cart, Mao Xi went to the vegetable market to buy some vegetables and then went home to do farm work.
Mrs. Chen was working in the fields, and the guy from the farm implement shop came to install the bobbin truck early in the morning, and it was mostly healed.
Ah Miao and Xiao Douzi also came to the fields to help.
Most of the mustard greens in the vegetable field are ripe, and Mrs. Chen is harvesting them.
"Ah Shu, Mu Yuan was nowhere to be seen early this morning. Where did he go?"
Mao Xi was also a little puzzled. He usually got up to help when preparing the roasted sweet potatoes for the stall.
"Auntie, Brother Muyuan may have gone into the mountains to chop bamboo. The bamboo cups and set menu for breakfast were all sold today."
"Just sell it. It's hard for him to help these days. I don't know when your father will be able to return to his hometown."
She put the chopped mustard greens in the basket and asked Mao Xi to take them home first.
"Mommy, there are so many mustard greens that I can't finish them all. If I take them to the market, I won't be able to sell them for much."
"If you can't finish it, I'll use it to make sauerkraut and set up a stall later to sell it for some money."
"Mommy, are the red mushrooms dried?"
"It's all dried, I'll put it in a bag for you."
Mao Xi and Mrs. Chen returned to the yard carrying mustard greens together.
Mrs. Chen pulled two ropes, turned the mustard greens upside down, inserted them into the ropes, and hung them in a ventilated place.
During lunch time, Mao Xi was in charge. Today she bought some tofu and lean meat from the vegetable market and planned to make a dish of Yong Tau Foo to reward everyone.
When it was time for dinner, Mu Zhiyuan hadn't come back yet, and Shu Xi was a little worried.
Before dawn the next day, she took the sickle for cutting wood and went to the back mountain alone.
"I hope nothing happens to him in the back mountain."
Recalling the day when she met Mu Yuan in the grass, his shoulder was still injured, a trace of worry flashed in Mao Xi's eyes.
The big yellow dog was not seen by the stream. She returned to the sunny slope covered with myrtle and looked down from the top of the mountain.
At the bottom of the hillside, there seemed to be carriages and horses passing through.
"This place is usually deep in the mountains and old forests, so how come there are suddenly carriages and horses..." Shui Xi muttered to herself, but she didn't realize there was a person standing next to her.
It was Mu Zhiyuan. When he saw the carriage and horses approaching, he pulled Mao Xi and squatted down slightly, hiding behind the bushes.
"Shh!" He reminded Mu Xi not to make any sound, keeping his eyes fixed on the carriages and horses below.
Mao Xi's heart tightened. Could it be that Brother Muyuan wanted to rob the passing carriages and horses?
"Brother Mu, are these carriages and horses the convoy that Brother Peixing said was returning to his hometown to worship his ancestors?"
"Ah millet, these are official grains for disaster relief. The spring harvest was not good. They were meant to be distributed to the people, but they were probably diverted for personal use and hidden in the valley."
Mao Xi was puzzled that Mu had originally saved him with a flying knife, but now he was ambushing him to inspect the official's food supply.
"Brother Mu, are you a government agent?"
"Um... not really." Mu Zhiyuan did not follow Shu Xi's guess, "I was just entrusted by others."
"The official rations have been found, but are they directly returned to the people?"
"It's dangerous here, you go home first..." Before he could finish his words, Mu Zhiyuan started to chase after him, leaving Miao Xi alone.
"Brother Mu... remember to come back for dinner!"
Mao Xi no longer planned to set up a stall, so she entered the space again.
The mall is still being upgraded, and the space only contains some rice, potatoes, and sweet potatoes that she bought from the mall, and there is still a lot of space for stocking up.
Wouldn't it be perfect if the food stolen by corrupt officials were moved into this space and distributed to every household? A plan was born spontaneously.
I never thought that I could be like the heroes of the Water Margin in ancient times, doing chivalry and righteousness, and I get excited just thinking about it.
After waiting for a while and seeing that Mu Yuan still hadn't come back, Shu Xi continued to explore the back mountain alone.
Although she often went up the mountain in the dark before dawn, it was slightly cold in autumn and there were snakes, insects, rats, and ants in the mountains, so she was a little scared.
"If I had known it, no one would have gone up the mountain." Shui Xi regretted a little and was about to retreat.
A shadow appeared in front of him, it seemed to be Brother Mu.
She bravely followed, and there was a cave at the end of the mountain road, hidden among the weeds.
Seeing the black shadow find an opening to enter the cave, Mao Xi did not dare to say anything and followed quietly.
Wait for yourself to find out the situation in the cave first, and when there is no one around, move them all to your own space, and use an empty city strategy.
Mu Zhiyuan carefully looked through the goods on the cart in the cave. The upper layer was covered with sacrificial paper gold ingots, and the lower layer was all food.
There was a sound at the entrance of the cave, and Mu Zhiyuan jumped into one of the cars to hide, covering his body with sacrifices.
Mao Xi was petite and hid under the car.
The tall boy said: "I really don't know what you are thinking. The superiors came to check, so they hid the food here and asked us to patrol it every morning and evening."
The short boy echoed: "Isn't that right? Just like before, send them to Nanzhou and sell them to merchant ships at a high price, then it will be settled once and for all."
The tall boy: "You don't understand this. Now that the checkpoints are strict, the adults have no time and can only hide here. When the official ration data is verified by the general inspection, everything will be fine after returning to Beidu. We don't have to come every day." Patrol in this barren mountain."
The short boy opened the lid of one of the carts and exclaimed: "Who would have thought that hidden under the sacrifices are disaster relief rations allocated to farmers in the entire county. My second aunt is also in Liujia Village. She is so poor that she goes digging in the mountains every day. Eat wild vegetables.”
The tall boy whispered: "How about we secretly move a few bags of rice and hide it, and then take it back to our hometown after the storm has passed. Anyway, if we investigate it, we will just say that it was lost on the way to the mountains, so we probably won't find it. On our heads.”
"I think it's okay, then let's move the innermost car."
Seeing that the two were getting closer and closer to the grain truck hidden by Mao Xi and Mu Zhiyuan.
In desperation, Mao Xi triggered the space and brought people and cars to her small warehouse.
"Hey, where's that cart of grain?" The tall boy was puzzled. Why did he disappear out of thin air in front of his eyes just now?
"I think you are sleepy and dazzled! Where are you?" The short boy hit the tall boy hard on the back.