Yingbao was listening intently when she heard someone calling her, "Hey! The pancake seller! Come here!"
When I walked over, I heard the man say, "Give me two sesame cakes."
Yingbao took out two sesame cakes and gave them to him. "Twenty cents for the price."
"Twenty cents?" The man slammed the table, puffed his beard and glared: "Before, it was at most three cents each, how can you sell it for ten cents?"
Yingbao took the pancake back and turned away, not caring how the old man yelled at her and she didn't look back.
After standing on the street and thinking for a while, Yingbao decided to go to the county government office to take a look.
Passing by my shop, I saw that two specialty shops facing the street had been burned down, but the house at the back was still there.
Including the newly built two-story house next to it, it is also standing well.
However, it seemed that someone was living in the new house.
After asking the nearby vendors, I learned that the house was occupied by Cao Shen's confidants, and his entire family had moved in.
Yingbao sneered and walked quickly towards the county government office.
Before we got close to the county government office, we saw the road was full of soldiers, with swords hanging from their waists. There was a guard post every three steps and a sentry every five steps. When they saw civilians, they shouted at them and forbad anyone to approach.
Yingbao stepped back and ran to the brothel again.
I bought a lot of candied fruits and other snacks from the vendors and put them in my basket.
The dancers in Wuchunyuan love to eat these things, so she wants to go there to solicit business.
"Selling candied fruits! Sweet and sour apricot and peach preserves, you won't get fat even if you eat more!"
The masters of Wuchunyuan strictly forbid the dancers to eat too much rice to prevent them from getting fat, so many dancers like to buy some snacks and dried fruits and eat them when they are hungry.
After a while, a few heads popped out from the pavilion of Wuchunyuan and waved to Yingbao: "Little brother! What's in your basket?"
Yingbao looked up at them with a smile: "There are preserved apricots, peaches, and candied fruit and milk cakes."
When the dancers heard about the milk cake, they smiled brightly: "Then come up quickly and show it to us."
"Okay, sisters, please tell the gatekeeper so that I can go in." Yingbao said.
She had stayed in Wuchunyuan for several years in her previous life, and seeing some familiar faces today made her feel very close.
Entering from the back door of Wuchunyuan, there is a large courtyard where several teenage girls are practicing the Huxuan dance.
If she made a mistake, the master would beat her calves with a bamboo stick, making the little girl cry.
Yingbao seemed to have returned to her previous life, where she had been beaten many times.
A little girl about ten years old came down from the attic and waved at her from the stairs.
Yingbao walked over quickly and followed her upstairs.
There were three little dancers sitting upstairs, all of them looked about thirteen or fourteen years old. One of them, about seventeen or eighteen years old, was putting makeup on someone.
The two dancers took the basket from Yingbao's hand and began to pick out preserved fruits and milk cakes, throwing them into their mouths as they picked.
Yingbao looked at them quietly, feeling a little amused.
Taotao and Yingying's nature of loving to take advantage of others is exactly the same as in their previous life.
They finally picked out the preserved fruits and milk cakes and paid for them. Seeing that Yingbao was still not leaving, they couldn't help but smile and said, "Let's see how much money we have to pay."
Yingbao smiled at Taotao: "Actually, I can also dance the Huxuan dance."
Taotao looked at the vendor in front of her, covered her mouth and chuckled: "Really? Dance for us."
"Okay, help me play the drums." Yingbao put down the basket, straightened her clothes, and stood on a round dance mat.
Seeing that the vendor was serious, Taotao became curious and took a leather drum and started beating it with her hands.
The drumbeats became faster and faster.
Yingbao was spinning faster and faster, like a flying butterfly.
Dancing the Hu Xuan dance must not only be fast, but the movements must also be light and rhythmic, and the steps must not go outside the two-foot-wide dance carpet.
The little dancers watching were stunned, and even the dancers who were helping them with their makeup were shocked.
After practicing hard for several years, they are still not as good as a small vendor. How embarrassing it is for them.
The drumbeats gradually stopped, and Yingbao also stopped.
"Good!" The foreman went up to the attic at some point and clapped his hands.
He looked at Yingbao with a smile and asked, "What's your name, young lady? Who is your master?"
Yingbao looked at him and said seriously, "My name is Huanxi. I learned the Huxuan dance from my aunt. Now she has passed away, so it is inconvenient to mention her name."
The squad leader still smiled: "Huanxi? That's a good name. I see you look unfamiliar. Are you new here?"
Yingbao nodded: "I am not from the county town. I went to the city to sell preserves a few days ago, but I was trapped in the city and couldn't get out. Now I don't even have money to stay in the inn."
The squad leader pretended to sigh: "Alas, what an unexpected disaster, Huanxi, why don't you stay in Wuchunyuan and wait until the city gate opens, then you can go home."
Yingbao immediately bowed to him: "Thank you sir for taking me in."
The head of the dance class said, "Don't thank me. To tell you the truth, I see that you are very good at the Hu Xuan dance, and I am short of people, so I want to invite you to be the dancer of my dance class."
Seeing Yingbao's hesitation, the team leader said, "Don't worry, I will pay you for every performance."
Yingbao lowered her head and thought for a while, then asked, "How much will the master pay me? If it's too little, I won't jump. If my fellow villagers see me and tell my family, they will definitely scold me."
The squad leader curled his lips and said, "Two hundred coins per show, how about that?"
Yingbao shook her head: "Forget it then."
"Three hundred, three hundred coins for a show. If you don't want to, forget it." The squad leader lifted his robe and sat down beside him, his fox eyes full of calculation.
Yingbao hesitated for a long time before nodding: "Okay, then, I will live here from now on. Sir, you won't charge me for accommodation, right?"
The class leader smiled and said, "No, but you have to perform every day."
"Yeah." Yingbao responded obediently.
The head dancer stretched out his jade-white fingers to pluck the robe and said to the 17 or 18-year-old dancer, "A Lian, take Huanxi to wash and change clothes, and let her go on stage with you later."
"Okay." A Lian took Ying Bao to the bathroom, had someone bring in water, and gave her a bath and changed clothes.
When Yingbao changed into a red dance dress and appeared in front of everyone, everyone fell silent.
The class leader looked Yingbao up and down, marveling in amazement.
I didn't expect that this child is so beautiful. I'm really lucky.
The squad leader smiled even more kindly and immediately ordered someone to make a bowl of bird's nest.
"Huanxi, are you really a country kid?" asked the squad leader.
Yingbao: "Yes, I grew up in the countryside."
"Are your parents still alive?"
"My parents are here. My family is from Simen Town. My brother is still young and cannot be away from home. Otherwise, my mother would have come with me to the county town to sell candied fruits."
"I see." The squad leader pondered for a moment and said, "When the city gates are opened, I will go to your house to visit your parents and brother."
"Okay." Yingbao showed a happy expression, "I will treat you to my best dish then."
Humph! I can't kill you with a beating!
An old woman came in with a food tray and placed a bowl of bird's nest on the low table.
The squad leader smiled and gestured to Yingbao: "Eat it, I cooked it especially for you."
Yingbao didn't hesitate to sit cross-legged on the round carpet and ate the bird's nest spoonful by spoonful.
The taste of the bird's nest is the same as in the previous life, with a fishy smell and not delicious at all.
But she had to eat it, because only after eating the bird's nest would the team leader let down his guard.