CH 9

The sky was still bright. Since it rained last night, it was a little cold in the morning. Xu Qing pulled up the hem of his garment and carefully avoided the long grass on the path so not to wet the clothes with dew.

“Knock, knock, knock. It’s me, brother Qing.”

With a ’click’ the courtyard door was opened by Uncle Xie, “quickly come in. Your aunt woke up a long time ago. He was as excited as when he was young.”

“Thank you, Uncle Xie!” Xu Qing responded obediently. As they entered the house, Aunty Xie said as soon as he saw Xu Qing, “why didn’t you wear more clothes? Come. Put this coat on. You’re an unmarried ger. You need to dress properly.” After speaking, he put another one on himself.

Xu Qing was a little confused, “Uncle Xie will also go with us?” He saw the man begun to put on the shoes to go out.

“I asked him to borrow a donkey cart from someone else’s house yesterday. But he only went earlier this morning and missed the driver so, we have to go by ourselves.” Aunty Xie pulled Xu Qing out of the courtyard, and they waited for Uncle Xie to bring the donkey cart over.

“With the donkey cart, we can avoid the mess caused by the rain last night.”

Xu Qing nodded. Indeed, if they were to walk to the market now, he wondered how dirty they would be. The country road after the rain could be very annoying.

“It’s here. Let’s go, brother Qing.”

Uncle Xie waited for the two to get inside. After they settled in properly, he yelled at the donkey and drove away from the fork at the end of the village.

“Uncle Xie knows how to drive a donkey cart?” Xu Qing adjusted his clothes and asked in passing knowing that donkey carts in this era were more like the motorcycles in the modern day, bull carts were like Volkswagen, and horse carts were like Mercedes.

Aunty Xie pulled Xu Qing‘s slightly cold hands into his own to warm them, and when he heard him speak, he was a little nostalgic, “speaking of which, your father taught him how to drive.”

Xu Qing thought about it carefully. In his memory from the original body, he has never seen the image of father Xu driving a cart.

Uncle Xie, who was driving the donkey cart, explained with a loud voice “you don’t know, when your father was in the military, he was doing work on the horses for the real army masters practicing equestrian. I remember that when he came back, he tried it with the donkey, and found it wasn’t so difficult so, he taught me how to do it.”

“The real army masters?” Why does this sound a little weird?

“New recruits are assigned in military camps only to do chores in the beginning. They can only enjoy life in the army after a few years, and the whole person will be more prosperous. If you want to be a real soldier, you have to pass various tests before you can become one,” said Uncle Xie. 

It turns out that this is the case. It seems that the emperor of this dynasty really thinks very comprehensively to ensure that the lives of the common people are stable.

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“Here we are.”

When they arrived the place where the donkey carts park, the sky was already bright. It was about half an hour earlier than the last time they went to the market.

Xu Qing felt that it was not so cold anymore so, he took off the coat put on by Aunty Xie. 

They said goodbye to Uncle Xie and walked to the place where Liu Mo and her husband usually set up the stall. They should have arrived by now since they always get up earlier than others to do business.

Xu Qing wore clothes made of the dark blue fabric. The gers’ attire is similar to that of the men in the Qing dynasty in ancient China. They were all buttoned robes. Most of the men here wear short sleeved shirts and trousers. The inconspicuous red mole between the eyebrows indicates whether the person is a ger or a man.

The dark blue robes set off Xu Qing’s fair complexion, but highlighted the red bumps on his face into red dots. Although they were still scattered all over the face, at least they were not as horrible as how they were before. Just like this, people could see how Xu Qing would look like without the red dots.

Xu Qing’s skin is very fair so, the red spots on his face are more noticeable. His nose is straight, and his lips are slightly thin. The most eye-catching feature of Xu Qing seems to be the pair of obsidian eyes, which are bright and clear. They are full of life when he’s looking at you. In general, besides the red spots on his face, Xu Qing is the kind of boy who is very good looking and very vibrant.

Li Changfeng got up early in the morning. Yesterday he promised butcher Li to help him drive the piglets to the market today. After he put on the clothes, he rinsed his mouth with water and went straight to butcher Liu’s house without even eating breakfast.

“He woke up so early and made loud noises banging this and that. Keeping people from sleeping.” After Li Changfeng left, there was a grumble of dissatisfaction in the Li’s house. Wang Li turned over and carried the child on his back. Li Laosan didn’t speak; he patted his three-year-old son in his wife’s arms. His slender eyes no longer showed sleepiness. He felt sorry for Li Changfeng.

Xu Qing and Aunty Xie were standing in a corner of the street opposite Liu Mo’s stall. 

“Do you think we’re too obvious?” Xu Qing looked around awkwardly. Now there was only a few people who came to shop so early; the rest of the people in the market were shopkeepers. 

From the store opposite Liu Mo’s, only the two of them were standing around not doing anything. It was very weird.

“Ah, there is no other way. Who told them to set up the stall all alone on the street?” Aunty Xie also blushed a little.

“Look, the one in the black sleeve shirt and trousers is Li Changfeng! Look. Look!”

Xu Qing followed Aunty Xie’s instruction and saw that in front of Liu Mo‘s stall, there was indeed a tall man standing with his back towards them. He was helping butcher Liu settling in the piglets. He stood up to about 1.8 m, and his figure was also very magnificent from the back. Xu Qing was a little expectant, and his heartbeat speeded up. Just from his figure alone, the man met 95% of his standard.

When the man turned around, Xu Qing saw his face clearly. The man has sword eyebrows. It’s just that the skin is a little dark, and it gives people a very serious impression when he flattened his lips.

From the modern aesthetic point of view, he is a handsome man.  This is exactly the type he wants. That’s awesome!

“Well, I guess you can pick a day so that you can look for a matchmaker.”

Xu Qing said do the surprised Aunty Xie in a tone close to eagerness.

“OK, leave it to me.”

Aunty Xie was more excited at this moment than when he married his husband. He knew the two would be a great match. Xu Qing can finally get married, and he would now have something to explain to the deceased father Xu. 

Xu Qing thought of the medicinal materials in his own space so, he told Aunty Xie that he would go to the toilet and asked him to wait in the fabric shop, “I plan to buy some new sheets and quilts. You can pick them out for me first. When I’m done, I’ll come to meet you there.”

Aunty Xie first didn’t want to agree Xu Qing’s decision, but he didn’t think that Xu Qing would have something else to do other than what he just said so, he anxiously agreed and walked to the fabric shop in a hurry. Many shops were already opened at the moment. There were more options to choose earlier in the day.

Xu Qing looked at Aunty Xie’s retreating back, turned around, and pulled a person to ask the location of a well-known pharmacy; then he rushed over.

The pharmacy wasn’t big; the door was already opened.  A young man was cleaning the ground. He saw Xu Qing come in and greeted, “Hello, this customer, if you’re here to sell herbs, what a coincidence, the doctor is working in the backyard.  Wait a moment, eh?”

Xu Qing was received very comfortably by the shopkeeper’s attitude.  No wonder the reputation here was the best.  He placed the wild ginseng and other medicinal materials, taken from the space, on the counter.  After a while, the shopkeeper and a 50-year-old man came in.

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“Brother, show your products to the old man. He’d give you a fair price so, don’t worry.”

Xu Qing pushed the contents on the counter towards the doctor who was a little surprised when he saw some of the items still covered in mud, “Are these what you just picked?  They look fresh and smell good.”

“No, they were harvested yesterday evening.  Sir, how about the price?” Because the medicinal materials were kept in the space, they looked the same as they were freshly picked. 

“Amazing, no one has brought in a sun ginseng for two years.  My name is Lin.  If you get any good medicinal materials like this this in the future, I’ll make sure to give you a good price.”

“Of course, Doctor Lin.”

In the end, the price was negotiated and Xu Qing got 80 taels of silver in total.  He felt the price was right. After bidding farewell to Boss Lin, Xu Qing walked to the fabric shop. He was gone for a while; he didn’t want Aunty Xie to worry.

“Changfeng is gone?” Liu Mo asked Butcher Liu when he didn’t see Li Changfeng after he came back from shopping. Butcher Liu replied, “he left. I don’t know if Brother Qing saw him though.”

“He saw, he saw. I met Xie family’s wife, and he said it was done.”

Li Changfeng bought two handkerchiefs for Li Xiao’er from the shop and prepared to go home to the little brother. As soon as he looked up, he saw a ger clad in dark blue entering the opposite fabric shop. He was a little surprised. That face full of red spots seemed to be still in front of him; so, it was Brother Qing.

Fabric shops are the place where gers go, and it is not convenient for him to go in.  So, after buying the handkerchiefs, he thought for a while. Li Changfeng still stood not far from the fabric shop and waited to see Xu Qing come out. He didn’t know why; he wanted to see Xu Qing again. He felt like seeing him more.

When Xu Qing arrived the fabric shop, Aunty Xie had already selected everything, including the clothes for the bride and groom. Xu Qing didn’t really expect this, “then, I’ll have to trouble you to make them for me again.”

Aunty Xie: “What are you talking about? Don’t be so stubborn this time. I wont charge money for making wedding dresses. It’s unlucky.”

Xu Qing was taken aback for a moment. He couldn’t believe it, but he shouldn’t be blamed for this though. He was just afraid that Aunty Xie would work again without accepting the payment.

All the materials – the bed sheets, quilt covers, cotton wool, and fabrics – cost a total of two taels of silver. Because there were so many things, Aunty Xie asked Xu Qing to go back to the place where the donkey cart was parked to find Uncle Xie and tell him to drive the cart over to unload the things.