The Dragon Boat Festival passed quickly, Shen repeatedly checked Zifu's luggage, and gave Zifu five small silver tickets of ten taels of silver, Ziqing's body also hid fifty taels, because there were three classmates and their families went together, this time Zeng Ruixiang did not send it to the provincial capital, only hired a carriage, after four or five hours of turbulence, Ziqing no longer had the initial interest, and the skeleton seemed to be scattered. Fortunately, when it was just dark, several people rushed to a small town outside the provincial capital to settle down, and the city gate must have been closed by this time.

On the second day, everyone cleaned up, ate some breakfast indiscriminately, went on the road without delay, and walked for more than half an hour before coming to the high city gate, Ziqing opened the small curtain on the carriage, and looked at the two big characters "Changzhou" on the city gate, after entering the city, the streets were much more spacious and prosperous than in Anzhou City, and two or three carriages could be walked side by side. There are more buildings, but the highest is only three floors, most of them are two-storey, there are few young girls on the street, only some little girls and older women, presumably the young lady of the big city still has to be raised in the boudoir. Ziqing was in a reverie, Zifu wanted to rub her sister's head, but found that there was an outsider, so she had to knock her head and said, "It's here, what do you want?" ”

Ziqing followed and got out of the car, and saw a courtyard door, it turned out that a classmate surnamed Li of Zifu had a fairly solid family background, and his father asked someone to rent a house here, because the location is good, close to the examination room, every year there are students rushing to take the exam to rent, and the rent is naturally not cheap, and it took less than two months to ask for four taels of silver.

There are only four rooms in the main house, fortunately, two side rooms were built, and each of the four people brought their families to come, the Li family is a long and father, and there is also a family surnamed Liu is also accompanied by a sister, and a family surnamed Zhou is followed by a father, Zifu saw that there were many people and the main house was not enough to live, so he took the initiative to ask to live in two side houses, and the sister surnamed Liu Fang was twelve years old this year, and asked to live with Ziqing. Several people negotiated the rent, and the Li family's two main houses were one or two, and the Liu family was one or two. Zifu has 800 texts, and the Zhou family has 700 texts. Eat each tube separately.

Ziqing saw that everyone was busy cleaning up, so she asked Zifu to take her out to buy some daily necessities and rice, noodles, vegetables and vegetables first, fortunately, there was a market when the alley went out, and after the two came back, Ziqing hurriedly cooked first, and Zifu packed her luggage. By the time they were all busy going out to buy, Ziqing and Zifu were already sitting in the room and eating.

After settling down, Zifu began to study, and Ziqing and Liu Fang would go to the nearby street market if they had nothing to do. I will also buy new and small things, such as delicate hairpins and delicate flowers. Wood or jade carved knick-knacks.

On this day, I passed by a pawnshop on the street, and saw a man holding a Western table clock and scolding out, Ziqing guessed that the man wanted to use the clock, and he was reluctant to negotiate the price, so Ziqing took the initiative to talk to him: "This big brother." Do you want to use this bell as a clock? ”

"Ah, do you recognize this as a grandfather clock? The little second dog there looked at people and said that he didn't know them, and said that it was neither gold nor silver, so he gave me ten taels of silver. If I hadn't been in the emergency, I would have been it? The man said angrily.

"Then how many silver taels are you going to make?" Ziqing asked.

"Twenty taels at the minimum. Something has happened to my family. I urgently need silver for the time being, so I have to take it out as a last resort, which I bought from the Westerners in Yuecheng near the sea earlier, do you want to buy it? ”

"Well, I wonder how many silver taels you want to sell?" Ziqing then asked.

"If you really want to buy it, at a fixed price, thirty taels of silver, I'll show you, it's new and new, and I didn't bump it at all."

Ziqing took it and looked at it carefully, the table clock was about fifty centimeters, there were Arabic numerals on it, and the surface should be gold-plated, Ziqing was very happy, and she couldn't figure out the current time, and it was much more convenient to have it.

Ziqing bought it for thirty taels of silver, and after the man taught Ziqing how to wind it, seeing Ziqing's generous hand, he asked: "Girl, I still have some good things, shiny green stones, if you want to buy them, I will give you cheaper." It was also bought from foreigners. ”

When Ziqing heard that it was estimated to be jadeite, what she saw here were white jade and red jade, as well as black jade, and she had not seen jade yet, Ziqing asked, "How many do you have?" How much silver? ”

Knowing that the other party had two intact seeds, Ziqing was overjoyed, and the more difficult party would sell it to her for only ten taels of silver, Ziqing wanted to follow him to his house to get it, Liu Fang grabbed her, Ziqing was also a clever person, so she made an appointment with the man to meet again after an hour.

Ziqing hurriedly went home and happily showed the clock to Zifu, and Zifu asked in surprise: "Qing'er, you are so bold, you actually spent thirty taels of silver to buy this object, how much silver is it to buy an hourglass?" Go home carefully, and your mother scolds you for spending money indiscriminately. ”

"Brother, that's different, this is an ornament, and practical, I won't look at the hourglass, but with this I will look at the time." Also, don't talk about it yet, accompany me to buy another thing, I'm afraid I won't be able to take it. ”

Ziqing couldn't help but pull Zifu out of the door, and when she arrived at the place, Ziqing saw that the man just now was looking around, and she was very happy to see Ziqing, Ziqing squatted on the ground and looked at two large green stones the size of watermelons, which were very watery and transparent.

Ziqing couldn't put it down, she had always liked jade in her previous life, every time she went shopping and saw the green jade bracelet in the window, she thought about how beautiful it should be to wear it on her hand, but unfortunately every time she was very frustrated by the five or six zeros behind its price, this time don't miss anything. Ziqing happily took out ten taels of silver tickets, and Zifu dragged Ziqing to the side and asked, "Are you sure you want to spend ten taels of silver to buy two stones?" How can I explain to my mother when I get home? ”

"Brother, don't worry about it, when did you see me wasting money? Don't worry, my mother has me there. You'll know in the future, if you only make money and don't lose money, I'm too little? Ziqing couldn't explain it to Zifu.

After speaking, Ziqing returned to the man, handed him ten taels of silver tickets, and said, "If you still have such a stone in your hand, or if your friend has it, I am willing to buy it." There are other novelties that can also be brought to me to see, regardless of whether they are Western or our country's own, as long as the novelty is rare. If you're looking for me, I'm still here, and I'll always come here to hang out during this time. Ziqing kept a heartfelt eye and did not tell the other party where she lived, and she still understood the truth that wealth was not exposed.

The man saw that Ziqing was very happy to buy things, and he was a knowledgeable person, so he naturally agreed.

Ziqing happily followed behind Zifu with a stone, and when she saw a silver building, Ziqing remembered to ask, and asked Zifu to go in with a piece, and asked how much silver it would cost to polish bracelets and hairpins with such stones? The shopkeeper looked at the stone in Ziqing's hand with disdain, and said that he wanted ten taels of silver. Ziqing thought that there was not much silver at hand, so it was better to go back to Anzhou, completely ignoring the other party's disdain.

In the next few days, after Ziqing finished cooking, she ran outside when she was free, but unfortunately she never ran into that person again. After Ziqing was disappointed, she settled down to take care of Zifu's food.

The weather in Changzhou is a little hotter than that in Anzhou, Zifu has no appetite, Ziqing can only make something light, remembering the white chopped chicken that his mother used to make in his previous life, he tried several times and succeeded, and also tried to make some cold vegetables, such as cucumbers, kelp shreds, daylily, etc., Zifu ate a lot, and his classmates also borrowed a lot of light.

Zifu's classmates heard that Ziqing dared to spend thirty taels of silver to buy a Western clock, they were very surprised, Zifu has always been relatively low-key in school, they thought that Zeng Zifu was born in a farmer's family, and the conditions at home were very ordinary, but they didn't expect it to be very solid, and the two of them looked at Ziqing differently. Ziqing didn't take it to heart, An An prepared her own meals in parts, except for going out to buy vegetables, she embroidered at home, and her accosting them was indifferent, Zifu observed it a few times before he completely relieved himself.

More than a month passed quickly, Zifu finished the exam, and said that he would not be able to come out of the list until half a month later, so it was better to go home and wait. The two looked at the remaining more than fifty taels of silver in their hands, and decided to go to the street to bring some gifts to their families, after all, it is not easy to come to the provincial capital.

The two of them first went to the cloth shop to pick out some good fabrics, Ziqing saw a lot of special processed fabrics, and when she asked, she realized that it was outdated in the old year, Ziqing thought that her home was in the countryside anyway, it didn't matter if the new and old styles were old, it was also good to give favors, not to mention that the price was really cheap, Ziqing picked a lot, so Zifu asked her: "Look at you buying cloth, you feel as if you don't spend money?" It's too much. ”

Ziqing smiled when she heard this, and said: "This kind of cotton cloth can only be worn for a year, who doesn't want to make two clothes in the four seasons at home?" What do you know? If my mother comes, I can only buy more than me. ”

Ziqing picked out a full twenty pieces of cloth of various patterns, and spent less than ten taels of silver, and the two saw that there were too many things, so they could only send them back and come out again. I went to the silver building to pick out a new style of openwork silver hairpin and silver bracelet for Shen and He, spent two taels of silver, and then bought some delicate dried fruits and snacks, Ziqing also went to the grocery store to buy some soap for bathing, tooth powder for brushing teeth, etc., the two of them walked back with a lot of things, who knew that someone behind suddenly shouted: "Little sister, little sister, little sister who bought stones, wait a minute." Ziqing looked back, wasn't he the man who sold jade?

The man panted and ran over and said, "Little sister, you are really hard to find, I have been looking for you for almost half a month, I come to guard you every day, I can't find you today, I will go out, my friend still has two stones in his hand, similar to my one, do you want it?" ”

"Yes, did you bring it? We're planning to go back to our hometown tomorrow, and that's a coincidence. Ziqing was very surprised.

"Big old and heavy things, how can I take them out every day, you wait, I'll come back in half an hour."

It just so happened that Zifu Ziqing and the two also needed to send things back, and the two made an appointment to meet again in half an hour.

After buying the stones, Zifu saw that his own things were a little too much, so he hired a carriage alone, Ziqing felt that this trip to the provincial capital was really worth it, and he was smiling all the way, and he didn't feel that the road was bumpy. (To be continued)