The happy little days of the Ye family

When Ye Qingqing and her daughter arrived at the stall, the items were almost sold out. There were still two spring bamboo shoots that were not in good condition and two or three kilograms of water celery left on the stall.

Father Ye didn't want to wait any longer. He had to go to the dock later, so he just disposed of everything at half price.

"There are so many things, are you going to rob the cloth store?" Looking at the two people carrying large and small bags, Father Ye couldn't help teasing them.

"Stop talking nonsense, quickly pack up the basket and put the things on the donkey cart, and then we will go to the dock."

Mr. Ye couldn't bear to see Father Ye acting like a careless second-rate person. No matter how old you are, you are still not in shape.

Mr. Ye even spoke out, and Father Ye did not dare to continue playing tricks. With quick hands and feet, he stacked several baskets and baskets together, and then took Mother Ye's heavy basket, and the family went to put things away while talking and laughing.

Ye Qingqing, a little money-lover on the road, couldn't help but secretly asked in his father's ear: "Dad, how much money did the mountain goods cost this time?"

"Guess, guess how much money we sold this time, I'll give you three chances, plus or minus 20 cents. If you can guess right, I'll buy you candied haws." Father Ye teased his little girl in a low voice.

"900 Wen?" Ye Qingqing was very cooperative, even more active than Ye's father.

Last time I sold it for more than 700 Wen in the town. The price in the county was slightly higher than in the town. Ye Qingqing estimated that it should be more than 900 Wen.

Father Ye shook his head with a smile, flicked Ye Qingqing's forehead lightly, and said proudly: "It's less."

"A gentleman talks with his words but never with his hands. Grandpa, please take care of your son. How old is he and he still bullies a child?"

Ye Qingqing covered her head and shouted exaggeratedly that it hurt, while not forgetting to complain to Mr. Ye.

"Grandpa is old and can't control it anymore. You can solve it yourself." Mr. Ye and Mother Ye were watching the show happily, with only a handful of melon seeds in their hands.

"Complainer, guess again, you guessed it, there is candied haws on a haws of water!" Father Ye continued to tease Xiao Qingqing in a cowardly manner.

"950 Wen?"

"It's still less, but it's very close." Ye's father looked at his daughter's cute appearance and couldn't help secretly expressing his feelings.

"980 Wen, I must be right this time." Ye Qingqing felt that she must have guessed it right this time, and she was sure to eat the candied haws.

"It's so smart, it's 978 Wen."

Ye's father gently patted Ye Qingqing's little head twice, messing up Ye Qingqing's hair. Seeing that Ye Qingqing didn't notice, Ye's father secretly put down his hand and walked to Ye's mother as if nothing had happened.

Ye's mother, who was watching the show, had already noticed that Ye's father had messed up Ye Qingqing's hair, and did not remind her daughter. She covered her mouth and almost laughed out loud.

When passing by a stall selling candied haws on a stick, Mother Ye took out a few pennies and asked the couple to buy candied haws on a stick.

The pier is quite lively, with many stalls on the side. The outermost ones are some small stalls, some selling dry goods such as dried bamboo shoots and dried mushrooms, some selling home-woven homespun cloth, some selling bacon and bacon, and nearby fishermen selling their own salted fish and kelp, and more. It sells tea and food.

Close to the pier are some larger stalls. There are two types of large stalls. One is the stalls rented by local merchants, who display their own goods for sale, and the other is the stalls rented by merchants from other places. The stalls sell goods from other places.

The stall was crowded and bustling. Ye's father and Mr. Ye specifically told Ye's mother and Ye Qingqing not to run around, especially Ye Qingqing, who must follow them closely.

These stalls serve as a display platform where merchants display their goods. Merchants who purchase goods first select the goods they want at the stall, and then go to the warehouse next door to inspect the goods for transactions.

Foreign merchants first sell the goods they bring to get money, and then buy some specialties from Weihai County to sell back to their hometown. Local merchants also first exchange their own goods for money, and then buy some goods from other places to sell back. In this way, you can make two money every time.

However, there are also some merchants who directly exchange things for things. There are merchants from Shu who use Shu's unique fabrics to exchange things with local tea merchants. When Ye's father saw it, he was very grateful for the interest and peeked for a long time.

Mr. Ye only cares about whether dry goods such as dried bamboo shoots and dried mushrooms can be sold. He keeps an eye on the stalls selling dry goods and mountain products.

Ye Mu took Ye Qingqing to a stall selling fabrics and needlework. Ye Mu took a fancy to a piece of patterned cotton cloth from Shu. The pattern inside was even more beautiful than the piece of cloth given by Shopkeeper Yang.

This fabric is very expensive at first glance, and it is not something ordinary people like Ye Mu can afford. Ye Mu asked the price without giving up, and one horse actually cost 5 taels of silver.

After hearing the price, Ye Mu slowly put the cloth back into place and reluctantly pulled Ye Qingqing away.

The goods in the big stall were relatively expensive, and Ye Mu couldn't afford them. Ye Mu was not interested in continuing to look at them, so she took Ye Qingqing back to the small stall to look for Mr. Ye.

When the mother and daughter found Mr. Ye, there happened to be a middle-aged man looking at dry goods. From the accent, he knew he was a businessman from out of town.

After listening carefully, I found out that the man was from the north. Bamboo cannot be grown in the north, so there are no bamboo shoots in the north. The man was very interested in dried bamboo shoots and sour bamboo shoots.

The owner of the stall asked for 13 Wen per catty for dried bamboo shoots and ten Wen per catty for sour bamboo shoots. After some fierce bargaining, the man finally bought all the dried bamboo shoots at the stall for 12 Wen per catty.

Sour bamboo shoots are not easy to preserve, so the middle-aged man only bought a small can and planned to eat it with dry food on the road.

When Father Ye came over to the stalls, the stalls selling dry goods and the stalls selling delicacies were almost sold out, with only a few scattered items left on the stalls.

Father Ye and Mr. Ye went to get close to the owner of the stall. It turns out that the climate in the north is very different from that in the south. Many things grown in the south are not available in the north.

Merchants in the north like to buy specialties from the south to sell back. Things are rare and expensive, but worthless things here can be sold at high prices when shipped back. Now Mr. Ye feels a lot more relieved. The output from the mountain can be sold as dry goods.

A few people were getting ready to have lunch, when a big ship came to the pier, and men doing manual labor rushed aboard.

Several people were very curious, but they didn't dare to get close to the big ship, so they just watched it from a distance.

Young and strong men moved boxes or bags of goods off the ship. A man in black clothes directed the porters on the dock to move the goods to the nearby warehouse.

"There's nothing to see. Let's go get something to eat first."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm so hungry." Ye Qingqing touched her flat belly. In fact, she had been hungry for a long time.

Next to the stall selling dry goods, there was a stall selling noodle soup. Many porters on the dock ate noodles there. They must have tasted good, so Mr. Ye took them to the noodle stall.

As soon as he sat down, a pretty little girl came over to sell some snacks. Father Ye bought a pound of dried fish and a pound of melon seeds, and then took the dried fish and melon seeds to the table next door.

Father Ye came back from the next table after all the dishes were served. Father Ye whispered: "The most common people on the dock are merchants from Shu and merchants from the north."

"Are those patterned fabrics from Shu?" Speaking of Shu, Ye Mu thought of those exquisite patterned fabrics again.

"Yes, the textile technology in Shu is exquisite and can weave all kinds of patterned fabrics. Shu is close to here. Almost every day, merchants from Shu bring fabrics from Shu to the dock and sell them to the whole country. Merchants from all over the country then buy some aniseed ingredients such as peppercorns, chili peppers and star anise from the dock."

"Zanthoxylum bungeanum? Is it the kind we picked from the back mountains?"

Ye Qingqing and Mrs. Ye went to the back mountain to pick peppercorns last year. At that time, she also found some pepper seedlings and dug them home to plant.

"The kind of pepper that comes from the back mountain costs tens of dollars per pound. We can also plant some pepper trees in the small back mountain."

Father Ye took a sip of tea, moistened his throat and then continued: "The north is rich in furs. Every year before winter, northern merchants will transport the furs here to sell them, and then buy some of our local specialties to sell back. Winter in the north There is a shortage of vegetables, and businessmen in the north like our dried bamboo shoots and vegetables the most.”