Wearing a smile on her face, Xiaoguo apologized continuously until everyone had dispersed. When they were gone, Xiaoguo breathed a sigh of relief. What a morning it was.
Initially, she was prepared to sell her noodles till noon, but they were all sold out by the morning. Now, she could do some shopping and go home early. Zhuang Zhuang must be missing her by now.
Feeling happy, Xiaoguo picked up speed and loaded everything onto the cart. Then she rode the cart and steered it into a small quiet lane. After ensuring that there was no one around, she stopped and opened her pouch to count the money she had made for the day. The coins had completely filled up her pouch. Xiaoguo counted them one by one. There were five taels and six coins in total. She took out another coin pouch she had prepared earlier and put six coins into it. The rest of the money was carefully kept in the original pouch and tied to the pockets of her undergarments. The pouch with six coins was then stuffed into her coat. She would use it to buy things later.
After hiding the silver, she drove the donkey cart towards the direction of the market. On the way, she was still thinking about Zhuang Zhuang and wondering if he had taken his meal.
The donkey cart clattered towards the entrance of the market and could go no further beyond it. Xiaoguo got off the cart and tied the donkey to a tree before entering the marketplace. It was still early and Xiaoguo walked from stall to stall, thinking about the things she needed to buy. She had to get books, paper, and writing materials for Zhuang Zhuang as these were necessities. They had run out of rice and noodles at home and there was also no meat left in the house. She needed to buy fabrics to make clothes for Zhuang Zhuang and also get new shoes for him. Then there were vegetable seeds, fresh vegetables, and the list went on… .
Xiaoguo, who was shopping in the olden times for the first time, was in high spirits. The last time she came, she was too shy to buy anything. This time, she had money in her pocket, so she is going to buy a lot of things.
The dazzling array of vegetables and steaming hot food made Xiaoguo feel right at home.
In this era, the prices of goods were ridiculously low. One could buy a lot of things with just a few copper coins. The last time Xiaoguo wandered around, she came across a stall selling fabrics. A meter of cloth only costs five copper coins. This time, she had to buy more things no matter what.
Xiaoguo first arrived at a bookstore. As soon as she entered the stall, someone greeted her. Even though Xiaoguo was dressed like a village woman, the shop owner did not look down on her. He patiently asked what Xiaoguo wanted to buy—Xiaoguo was very satisfied by his service.
"Let's go with these three books." Xiaoguo pointed to the three books the man had picked out for her. He had recommended them when Xiaoguo had asked him about some introductory books. The book titles were a hundred family names, a thousand classic characters, and three-character scriptures.
The man nimbly packed the three books and continued to ask Xiaoguo if there was anything else that she needed. Xiaoguo looked around and asked for a roll of rice paper, calligraphy pen and ink. Buying paper in a roll was cheaper. She could just go home and cut it into smaller pieces herself. It served the same purpose.
The man wrapped up everything and handed it to Xiaoguo. "That'll be sixty wen," he said.
Xiaoguo paid for the items and left. She put the package in the basket she had brought with her and continued walking along the row of shops. Soon she arrived at the cloth shop. As soon as Xiaoguo entered the shop, one of the shop assistants lazily opened his eyes and looked at Xiaoguo with intense disdain. Xiaoguo frowned but didn't take it to heart. Now she knows that such people exist in any era.
While Xiaoguo was looking around, the shop assistant did not go over to serve her right from the beginning. Xiaoguo wasn't affected by it and continued shopping. This shop was the largest in the marketplace, and had the most affordable things. This was what Mrs. Yang had told her.
After a while, a woman came out from behind the store. When she saw Xiaoguo, she quickly walked up and asked her what she needed with a smile. Xiaoguo looked at the person in front of her and told her what she was looking for.
"I need fabrics to make some clothes for a little boy."
Upon hearing this, the woman brought Xiaoguo to another corner of the store and said warmly, "This section is filled with fabrics that are suitable for boys. The colors are not too bright, and the material is very durable."
Xiaoguo spotted a bolt of cloth. "How much is this?" Xiaoguo asked, pointing at a bolt of navy blue cloth.
"It's one of the latest batch of fabrics we've brought in. We're the only store in this marketplace that carries this fabric. It costs five wen a foot."
Xiaoguo thought it was affordable and said, "In that case, give me three feet of it. And I would like three feet of this and this too… "
Xiaoguo asked for three pieces of fabrics in one go. "By the way, do you have any fabrics for making underwear?" Xiaoguo thought that since she was buying the materials for outwear, she would have to prepare some for Zhuang Zhuang's underwear too.
"Yes, yes," the woman said enthusiastically as she led the way to another section of fabrics. "The fabrics here are meant for making underwear."