Personal Experience
Moreover, being trapped at home was one of her few hobbies.
Man Bao took out a large bag of sugar wrapped in oil paper for Fu Wenyun. Since Fu Wenyun couldn't count, Qiu Yue gave her a string of money. Qiu Yue then escorted her to the door, saying, "If you have time to visit the county town, you must come and see me."
Man Bao nodded vigorously and added, "My second brother might be starting a stall in the agricultural street in the southern city recently." If you want to write to me, please contact my second brother, Qiu Yue.
Fu Wenyun expressed her understanding.
The two friends waved goodbye.
This area was where the families of county officials, county officers, registrars, and other officials lived. Zhou Rilang, familiar with the area, led them to knock on the doors directly.
Perhaps due to the influx of refugees, the individual opening the door would first ask, crack it open, confirm if they knew the person, before fully opening the door.
Zhou Rilang attracted a diverse range of customers, including elderly women in their sixties and seventies, as well as children as young as five or six.
Of course, the latter were mainly customers of Zhou Wulang and Zhou Liulang.
The children in this area particularly enjoyed the candy they sold.
When the children inside heard Zhou Liulang's voice, they ran out one after another and crowded at the door to see him. "Are you selling candies today?"
Zhou Liulang nodded, "Yes, how many do you want?"
"I want ten!"
"I want five!"
"I will ask my older sister for some money because she has it."
"Yes, let the elder sister buy some more."
A slightly older girl arrived, accompanied by others. Their family only had two servants: one was working in the kitchen, and the other was standing by the door, preventing anyone from running out.
The young girl was obviously familiar with Zhou Liulang and asked, "Have you been to the county magistrate's house?"
"Yes."
"Did you see Miss Fu Er?"
Zhou Liulang was about to speak, but Man Bao secretly tugged at his sleeve and said from behind, "Have you seen Qiu Yue?"
"Oh," the young lady's interest waned a bit as she looked at the candies being sold to their younger siblings, and asked, "Are the candies you sold to Miss Fu Er the same?"
Man Bao nodded, "Exactly the same."
The young lady was satisfied, nodding, "Whatever Miss Fu Er bought, give me the same amount."
Man Bao rudely reached into the cloth bag, took out a bag of candies wrapped by Keke, and handed it to her, saying, "One bag contains one hundred pieces."
The young girl's face stiffened slightly. One hundred pieces were equivalent to one hundred wen. Even though her father was the registrar, it was still a significant amount for her.
Once the words were spoken, she couldn't take them back. She grabbed the bag of candies, her face tense. "Wait here, I'll get the money."
Zhou Liulang went to examine Manbao's cloth bag and exclaimed, "I thought your bag could only fit two bags of candies, but it can actually fit three!"
Man Bao nodded proudly; she could fit as many as she wanted.
While she went to get the money, Man Bao asked Da Ya to bring out several flower baskets, gave them to these young customers, and said, "Thank you for always supporting our family business." "These flower baskets are gifts for you."
The young customers exclaimed in delight as they accepted the baskets, appreciating the gesture even though they were not particularly attractive. They were thrilled.
Moreover, these flower baskets were quite beautiful.
Two girls, who were of a similar age to Man Bao, felt that the flower baskets they bought were more valuable than the candies and were embarrassed to accept them.
However, Man Bao was generous, waving her hand and saying, "Take them as a gift."
A young customer asked, "Are you coming tomorrow?"
Man Bao said, "If you want candies, come."
"Well, I'll ask my dad for money tonight so I can buy candies tomorrow."
The young girl took quite a while to return, but Man Bao did not find it boring at all. She was talkative and could chat with anyone.
When the young girl returned with a string of money, her younger siblings were sitting at the doorstep chatting with Man Bao. Not only did Man Bao know how many people were in their family, but she also knew which village the girl's mother came from, so she naturally knew that this was the registrar's family in their county.
Upon careful inspection, Man Bao peered inside and noticed that, while the house was pleasant, it was smaller than their own.
The young girl, unaware of this, handed the money to Man Bao, who also gave her a flower basket.
Initially feeling a bit reluctant about the money, the young girl became happy upon receiving it, setting aside her reservations. She asked, "Did you make this?" "It's really beautiful."
And so, the four of them went door-to-door selling candies. Along the way, they also distributed flower baskets.
Even if occasionally a family's child didn't purchase anything, Man Bao still gave them a flower basket. After all, the family had been managing their business for a long time, hadn't they?
By the time they finished distributing all the flower baskets and selling out the bag of candies at retail, everyone clapped, feeling satisfied, and then returned to look for Zhou Erlang.
Before returning, Man Bao led the group to buy buns.
After being out for so long, she was indeed a little hungry.
Considering the financial needs at home, Man Bao, feeling remorseful, chose not to buy meat buns. Instead, he said to the stall owner, "I would like ten vegetable buns."
The stall owner brought out a large dried leaf, quickly separated and picked out ten buns for her, five in each bag, totaling two bags.
Man Bao counted out ten wen and handed it to him. The stall owner was a bit stunned, looked at Man Bao, feeling a little unfamiliar, glanced sideways at Zhou Liulang, before recognizing them, "Oh, it's you, young man." How long has it been since you last came to town?
When he saw that they didn't take the money, he said, "It's been a while." "What's the matter?"
Upon regaining her composure, Man Bao recalled the stall owner's earlier mention of rising rice prices. Unable to resist, she inquired, "Has the price increased?"
The stall owner, somewhat embarrassed, wiped his hands and said, "Indeed, the prices of grains in the store have skyrocketed." "If I don't increase the price, I won't be able to sustain this business."
"So, how much are the vegetable buns now?"
"Two when each."
Man Bao breathed a sigh of relief. Although expensive, it was still within her budget.
She counted out another ten wens and handed them to him.
Only then did the stall owner accept the money. Looking around, he whispered to Zhou Liulang, "It's two wen now, but in a few days, it might go up by another wen."
He sighed in distress, "This morning, a dou of rice was still thirty wen, but at noon, the people buying rice said it had already risen to thirty-two wen."
Not only Man Bao, but even Zhou Liulang was stunned. "Isn't that too fast of a rise?"
"It is, it's rising too fast."
After the excitement of earning three hundred wen faded, Man Bao, feeling low-spirited, followed Zhou Liulang back.