There was indeed a horse on the side street, and its coat was mixed, but the mane was smoothly combed, and its owner pulled the reins of the horse and walked slowly against the crowd.

"Tu Baozi, what's so nice about this, the horse has never seen it, it's a shame." It looks like it should have just come out of the county and city, this small county seat, there are still horses for sale, Chen Pington felt strange, and he didn't know what other shops there were in the county and city.

Chen An pouted, the eldest brother often used the three words soil buns to scold him, he knew what it meant.

"Have you seen it?"

"Definitely, I didn't tell you. In the future, I will definitely ride a tall horse, ride the seven-colored clouds, and marry a beautiful girl. When he came to the county, Chen Pingdun felt that his vision widened up and his pride was stimulated.

"Isn't that a god?"

"Yes, it is to live like a fairy, light and light, chic and casual." Chen Ping pulled Chen An, "Hurry up, Grandpa is going to be gone." ”

The two ran a few steps, followed Chen's father in front, and arrived at the cross street, which is the location in the county and city, and it is even more lively.

The shop is built along the street, with a bamboo pole diagonally inserted outside the store, a silk silk on it, and the name of the line is written.

Wine shops, tea shops, groceries, rice shops, Biluo shops, restaurants, meat shops, silk shops, etc., people come in and out, buy and sell, and business is quite prosperous.

"Grandpa, I want to eat that." When the father and son went out, the father and son had a special meal, and at this time, Chen An saw a steaming steamed cake stall, and he was so greedy that he grabbed Chen's father's burden and didn't leave.

In the final analysis, Chen An is only a six-year-old child, and when he enters the county for the first time, he will inevitably be greedy when he sees so many delicious foods that he has never eaten.

"Why are you hungry again after the meal you just ate?" Chen's father reprimanded, but it was rare for the child to enter a city, so he didn't say more, and took out four yuan, "Go, one for each of you." ”

Chen An took the money, went straight to the steamed cake stall, and asked for two steamed cakes, but he didn't recognize him at all.

"It's delicious, it's so soft." Chen An couldn't wait to take a bite, very satisfied.

Holding the steamed cakes, Chen Ping didn't feel much of it, this thing was almost the same as the steamed buns of later generations, round at the top and flat at the bottom, and a little yellow.

As Chen's father entered the winding alley, the street became narrower, but there were no fewer shops on both sides, and walking on the road became even more crowded.

After walking twenty or thirty steps, that is, thirty or forty meters, the three of them arrived in Beiqu, and Chen's father stopped in front of a grocery store. Chen Ping knew that this must have arrived.

When I was at home, I listened to my parents talk about it, and learned that my uncle's family opened a grocery store in the county seat. The grocery store door is about two steps wide, and it seems to have been changed from a part of the courtyard, because Chen Ping saw the shadow wall inside through the shop door, which should be at least a two-entry courtyard. It seems that the life of the uncle's family is still good, much better than his own family.

There are not many people in the grocery store, four or five, picking out daily utensils, such as pots and clay pots, etc., and there are also oil, salt, sauce and vinegar on the shelf, and a middle-aged man in a robe is greeting from the side.

The middle-aged man has a little white hair on his head, but his face is white, he thought that he was also a talent when he was young, and he could see a little similarity with Chen's father between his eyebrows and eyes, Chen Ping guessed that this should be an uncle.

"Why is your iron pot rusty? You'll have to get another ten pennies down. The guest who looked at the pot pointed to the rust outside the iron pot.

"Oh, you see, I was negligent. A few days ago, I accidentally spilled a basin of water when cleaning, which has passed half a month, and I saw it fine yesterday, but I didn't think that now there are some stains, and this iron pot is also recognized. I'll give you a wipe. Chen Ping patted his uncle's head, as if he suddenly remembered, and then took a piece of linen, stained it with some water, and wiped it a few times, "Look, isn't this wipe just gone?" Our iron pot is from the state, and it is made by craftsmen, so you can rest assured, there will be no problem. ”

"It's really made by craftsmen?"

"And that can still lie to you? Look at this, it's all marked, and it can't be faked. Chen Xiaozhong pointed to a notch on the iron pot, patted his chest and promised, "It seems that you are going to have a happy event at home, right?" ”

"That's right, the boy marries a wife, and this doesn't buy some new utensils." Guest Tract.

Chen Ping's father and son entered the door, and without disturbing Chen Xiaozhong's business, they stood on the side and watched him do business. Chen Ping also looked at the uncle who met for the "first time" with great interest, and when he saw his words, he said that the guest not only bought the iron pot at the original price, but also bought goods such as bowls, chopsticks, sauce and vinegar.

No wonder the aunt's family will take a fancy to the uncle, as far as the uncle's tongue is concerned, he is really a talent.

After sending off this customer and letting go of the money, Chen Xiaozhong came over with a smile; "Why don't you ask someone to greet me when you come, don't stay here, it's noisy, go into the courtyard."

"Look at it like this, you're cured of your cold, right?" Chen Xiaozhong touched Chen Ping's head, "Well, Doctor Hu's medical skills are really good." ”

Chen Ping's belly, where is the credit of Doctor Hu, your own nephew has already left, maybe Chen Ping's death is inseparable from Doctor Hu.

As he spoke, Chen Xiaozhong took out ten cents and gave it to Chen Ping: "The ten cents just after the festival are cheaper for you two boys, go buy some food." ”

"Thank you, uncle." This is the first time Chen Ping touched the money, and took it, the money is outside Guo Kuanping, the square hole is round Guo, and two words are printed on it, Sui uses five baht money, and it is five baht and two words.

However, the two strokes of the five characters are straighter, and there is a vertical painting near the piercing, which is not easy to recognize. The baht word gold head triangle is oblique inward, and the head of Zhu is folded, and you can see it if you look closely.

Chen Xiaozhong has an old servant in the family, seeing that the master's family came to relatives, he immediately let go of what he was doing, and went to take care of the business in front of the shop, Chen Xiaozhong led Chen Ping's father and son to the shadow wall, turned into the weeping flower gate and entered the courtyard, the front courtyard, and it was really a two-entry house.

Spacious, the courtyard is paved with several green brick roads about two feet wide, plants and flowers are symmetrically planted in the open space, the verandah on both sides is green tiled edges, and the rammed earth foundation below is padded with blocks of masonry.

An old mother came over and led Chen Xiaoyi to put the rice and others she brought into the kitchen. The courtyard is wide, and the kitchen is a separate room, not in the hall.

"Mother Chen, steam the river crab. This is a good thing, where did you catch it, second brother? "It's all a family, Chen Xiaozhong is not polite to Chen Xiaoyi, and the selling price of river crabs in the county is nearly ten yuan a piece, and they may not be able to buy it.

Chen's mother is the old mother invited by Chen Xiaozhong, and she is not a slave, that is, the identity of a helper. I am usually busy cleaning, or helping with cooking, and I have a salary of dozens of yuan a month, which is much easier than that farming.

"Okay, this river crab is really fat." Chen's mother answered, and the kitchen had already started cooking, washing the river crab, steaming it in a steamer, and it could be put on the table in a quarter of an hour.

In the hall, Chen Xiaozhong made tea soup for the three of them and sat down with them.

"This is caught from the river, and I specially picked the fat river crab and sent it to you, uncle." Chen Andao.

"Oh? There's such a good thing in the water. However, you should be careful when catching river crabs, the water does not recognize people, so don't fall down. Second brother, you have to watch these two babies closely. Chen Xiaozhong said worriedly, although he doesn't often go back to the village now, but Chen Xiaozhong also knows what happened in Baitu Village, and in recent years, there have been a few drowning people in the river, both adults and children.

Chen Xiaoyi was not used to drinking tea soup, so he put it down after tasting it, and didn't move again: "It's all caught by the eldest child, and on the river beach, the shallow water is not in the way." If he dares to go into the water, see that I don't break his legs. ”

Chen Ping didn't ask for the tea soup with ingredients, but asked the uncle for a small cup of tea cakes, which were directly washed with boiling water. This tea is much stronger than the well water at home, with a faint fragrance and refreshing spleen.

"This kid, how can you eat tea like this, it's a monster." Chen Xiaozhong saw that Chen Ping was eating tea strangely, and scolded with a smile.

"I can't get used to eating tea with so many ingredients, but it's a waste, it's not as good as this clear tea, without the interference of green onions, ginger and other materials, but it has a fragrance." In this era, eating tea is like an uncle, but smelling the taste, looking at the turbid tea soup Chen Ping felt his stomach twitch.

This is tea, this is obviously a dark cuisine.

"Huh?" Chen Ping's rhetoric surprised Chen Xiaozhong, and then looked at the eldest nephew sitting on the wooden chair, and secretly thought in his heart, "My nephew has been sick, but it seems to be a different person, looking at this bearing, it looks like that scholar." ”

At this moment, a woman came out of the east room, walking quickly, fair-skinned, slightly fat, not pretty, but free and capable in her body.

"Auntie."

"Hello aunt."

This woman is Chen Xiaozhong's wife, the aunt of the Chen Ping brothers, Yang, but she has a national surname, but she has nothing to do with Hongnong Yang. Chen Ping knew from his memory that his aunt's family was somewhat of a power class in the county, although it was only the bottom of the power pyramid, it was much better than ordinary people.

It is precisely because of this relationship that Chen Xiaozhong was able to buy such a courtyard house and open such a grocery store in this county and in the center of the county, without having to work hard in the field.

Surely you need money to buy a house? Chen Ping's grandfather didn't have that extra money, this money was from the Yang family's mother's family, and it was considered a dowry money for Chen Ping's aunt.

This dowry is really rich.

The mother's family is so strong, and the Yang family also has the confidence to be half of the family in this family, but even so, Aunt Chen Ping is not domineering. On the contrary, she took good care of her husband's poor brother.

"Why do you just eat tea? Such an unpalatable thing also let the second uncle follow? As far as you like it, I don't know where to learn it. When Yang saw the tea bowl on the table, he immediately counted Chen Xiaozhong, "Aren't there still pastries in the kitchen, and I don't see them coming." ”

"Isn't this going for lunch?" Chen Xiaozhong was a little embarrassed to be counted down by his wife in front of his younger brother and juniors, but his wife's temper Chen Xiaozhong couldn't be clearer, but he was not annoyed, "How can you eat after eating pastries?" ”

"How old is that pastry? It's rare for my nephew to come once, what's wrong with eating a few? Yang said, and then turned to the Chen Ping brothers, "Do you want to eat crisp cakes?" ”

The best food Chen An has eaten in his life is river crabs, and he has never seen dim sum. Listening to my aunt like this, her little head was hula-hula, and she didn't care about Father Chen's face on the side, she was unbearable.

"Children are greedy, you might as well, your own family, what are you doing with such restraint." This was said to Chen Xiaoyi, and Yang led Chen An to the kitchen by himself.

"Eleven this year, huh?" Chen Ping's age, Chen Xiaozhong still remembers, "Did you worship the master?" ”