The next day, Yingbao "found" a lot of water chestnuts again.
Water chestnuts are scattered throughout the ditch, a few here, a few there, and a few further away.
She always managed to pull a few trees out of the ditch when Da Ni and Er Ni were not paying attention.
This made Dani and Erni very confused.
Erni was young and inexperienced, and she thought her eyesight was not as sharp as her cousin's, so she didn't notice that there were bachelor grasses hidden in the ditch.
Dani, who was already ten years old, was very puzzled. She didn't understand why her little cousin could pull out several water chestnut-covered sedges in the same place where she had searched and found nothing.
Oh, forget it. Since I can’t find anything, I’ll let my little cousin look for it alone, and Erni and I will follow behind to pick up the things.
So, Dani and Erni followed behind to collect the bachelor's grass that Yingbao had "pulled" out, and gathered them together. There was a big pile.
After Yingbao took out 30% of the water chestnuts in the cave, she stopped in time.
At this moment, Jiang Quan came, followed by two boys.
The two boys are the youngest sons of masons Li Dayong and Li Eryong. One is called Li Dao, nine years old, and the other is called Li He, eight years old.
Their father was making adobe bricks for the Jiang family at Xiaonanshan, and their brothers and sisters were there helping to cut grass and dry the grass stems for use in making mud.
As they were young, they couldn't help much, so they followed Jiang Quan to catch fish and shrimps to improve the food for their family.
"Wow, so many water chestnuts."
Jiang Quan had eaten this thing yesterday and it was so delicious. Now he was so happy to see his sisters found a big pile of it again.
This thing is much more delicious than the wild cherries and sour apricots from the mountains, and it tastes even better when cooked.
"Brother, come quickly and pick them." Dani shouted, "There are so many of them, we can't pick them all."
"Oh." Jiang Quan came over, put down the backpack and scoop net, and squatted down to pick water chestnuts.
The brothers Li Dao and Li He also came to help.
Yingbao washed a few and handed them to the Li brothers: "Let you try them first."
She had eaten the food sent by these two children last year, and now was a good opportunity to return the favor.
Li Dao and Li He were embarrassed to take it at first, but later when they saw Jiang Quan eating it too, they took it.
While eating, Jiang Quan said, "Yingbao, how did you find so many water chestnuts? Why didn't I see them before?"
He often went fishing and catching shrimps with his friends, and had no idea that such good things grew in the ditches here.
Ying Bao said seriously: "You just want to catch fish and shrimp, of course you can't see it."
Jiang Quan touched his nose and felt that what his cousin said made sense.
I really haven't paid much attention to the water plants in the ditch.
"Second brother, we definitely can't finish all these water chestnuts. Tomorrow is the market day, why don't we take them to town and sell them?"
Yingbao was thinking about how to take advantage of the opportunity of selling water chestnuts to get some more. After all, there were still quite a few in the cave, and they would take up space if piled up.
Jiang Quan's eyes lit up and he nodded repeatedly: "Okay, I'll carry it to the market tomorrow."
He is twelve years old this year and has already understood the importance of money.
Not to mention the money I’ll have to spend on getting married and having children in the future, even now I don’t have the money to buy anything I like.
The hundred coins in his hand were given to him by his third uncle last time. He was reluctant to spend a single cent and hid them all in the hole in the wall.
Yingbao smiled and asked, "I'll go too."
She was going to the market to order a leather saddle for the deer so that she could ride it for long distances in the future.
"Ah?" Jiang Quan scratched his head, "What are you going to do?"
My little cousin is so young and can’t walk fast, so it must be very troublesome to take her to the market.
Besides, if I go to the market to sell things by myself and something goes wrong, it would be bad if I lose my little cousin.
"I'm going." Yingbao saw that her second cousin was reluctant and immediately said, "I can walk by myself. I don't need you to carry me."
Jiang Quan twitched his lips and nodded helplessly: "Okay, okay, don't complain about being tired when the time comes."
"Yeah." Yingbao has been exercising all the time, so running more than ten miles alone is no problem for her.
Moreover, he eats a handful of Wudingzhi every day. Now he is stronger than Yuanbao and can run as fast as him.
The next morning, Yingbao got up early, fed the deer first, and then scattered some wheat produced in the cave for the chickens.
After quickly washing up, he grabbed a piece of egg pancake that his mother had just made and ran to the front yard.
I came to my uncle's house in the front yard and looked everywhere for my second cousin, but I couldn't find him.
After asking my aunt, I found out that my second cousin had gone to the market early in the morning carrying water chestnuts on his back.
Yingbao was stunned for a while, then suddenly raised her neck and cried out, her cry was so earth-shaking.
Of course she wasn't really crying. Her age in her past and present lives combined was not young, and she had never encountered any sad things, so she couldn't shed tears.
But she was too angry. She was angry that the boy went back on his word. He had clearly agreed on something, but he actually broke his promise.
I will not be willing to do this unless my aunt gives him a good beating today.
As expected, the aunt panicked and quickly hugged her niece to comfort her, "Baoer, what happened?"
Yingbao howled at the top of her lungs, and did not hesitate to accuse her second cousin, "My second brother said he would take Baoer to the market, but he actually ran off alone... Wuwawawa... He didn't keep his word and lied to Baoer..."
The auntie had no choice but to pat her and coax her: "Be good, Bao'er. When your second brother comes back, I will spank him hard. Okay, stop crying. I just made some water chestnut cakes. I'll give them to Bao'er after they're steamed."
Grandma Jiang Liu was also startled by Yingbao's howling and kept asking what was going on.
Knowing that it was the second grandson who didn't bring the little granddaughter to the market, she stamped her feet and cursed: "When he comes back, grandma will scold him, you little brat, how dare you bully my little sister."
Then he called out to his eldest grandson loudly: "Dacheng! Dacheng!"
Jiang Cheng was ventilating the bamboo shed. When he heard his grandmother calling him, he responded, "What's up?"
"You don't have anything to do today, so take your cousin to the market. Grandma will give you twenty cents. If you see anything delicious at the market, buy some and try it."
Last time, her third son gave her one string of silver at a time. Now Jiang Liu was well off and was happy to use the money to make her little granddaughter happy.
"Oh!" Jiang Cheng agreed, "I'll be there right away."
Yingbao knew when to stop crying, rubbed her eyes and stopped crying.
"What a good child." Jiang Liu took Yingbao to sit down at the small table in the yard and took a clean cloth to wipe her face.
Jiang Cheng came out of the bamboo shed and asked with a smile, "Yingbao wants to go to the market?"
Yingbao nodded rapidly, "I do."
"My eldest cousin will take you there." Jiang Cheng said, "Dani also wants to go to the market, so you two can go together."
Yingbao jumped up happily, hugged her eldest cousin's calf, and tilted her neck to compliment him: "Big brother is the best, better than second brother."
Jiang Cheng smiled and picked up Yingbao, put her in a backpack and carried her on his back.
Dani ran out happily, without even lighting the stove fire. She went back to the house, changed her clothes, and followed her eldest brother.
The aunt took out a few pieces of hot water chestnut cake from the steamer that had just been opened, wrapped them in clean reed leaves, and stuffed them into the backpack where Yingbao sat, and said, "Wait until it cools down before eating, and be careful not to burn yourself."
Yingbao nodded vigorously: "Yes. Thank you, auntie."
Then he said sweetly, "Bao'er, go to the market and bring some delicious food for Auntie and Grandma."
She had a lot of copper coins in her pocket, and there was also a five-liang silver ingot in the cave.
Zhou touched Yingbao's head and said with a smile, "Okay."
Jiang Liu took out twenty coins from the house, gave them to her eldest grandson, and told him, "Take good care of your sister."
"I know, grandma, don't worry."
After taking the money, Jiang Cheng carried his little cousin on his back and led his younger sister Dani towards Chuanhe Town.
Dani rarely has the opportunity to go to the market, and today her elder brother wants to take her with him for the first time, and she is so happy.
The little girl, who was usually talkative, chattered all the way to her elder brother and Yingbao, asking this and that, and was very happy.
Yingbao smiled and peeled out the cooled water chestnut cake, handed a piece to sister Dani, and another piece to her eldest cousin.