The thin young man was holding an end of Gebu. His mother was bedridden from years of overwork and wanted to buy some eggs and corn from the market to nourish her body.
Year-round single diet and malnutrition made this young man skinny, with a stooped back and shoulders that were taller and shorter.
He was walking in the market, looking around to see if anyone was carrying eggs.
Suddenly I heard someone yelling: "Don't you have eyes?"
The young man held Gebu in his arms and turned around to look around. He saw a tall man a few steps away, pointing at him and saying, "Don't you see an ant on the ground?"
Are you scolding him? The young man holding Gebu looked at him in confusion.
Although he was confused, he saw that the other party was tall and strong, wearing a military uniform that was completely different from that of the villagers around him. More importantly, he had a long knife hanging on his waist. The young man did not say anything, hugged Gebu tightly in his arms, bowed his head and held his hands, and hurriedly walked away.
Got here.
The young girl, Ah Tang, stood there with some fear, and she gently took half a step away.
The woman who was stepped on carefully checked her Gebu shoes to make sure they were fine, then bent down and put them on again.
Looking up, he saw Ah Tang holding the bamboo basket and standing there helplessly. A dark-skinned young man who looked very untouchable stood behind Ah Tang.
The woman who was about to scold her shut up, thinking that this careless little lady might get into trouble.
"I'm sorry, Auntie." Ah Tang stood in front of the shed. There were troubles both front and back, but no matter how he looked at it, it was easier to solve it with the woman in front.
The woman looked carefully at Ah Tang's face and saw that she was a young girl with a fresh and delicate face, about the same age as her daughter.
"You're such a careless girl." The woman showed a bitter look, tugged on Ah Tang's sleeves, and pulled her in front of her.
"If you step on my shoes, I will definitely pay for it." The woman grabbed Ah Tang's arm and squeezed Ah Tang painfully with her skinny chicken claw-like hands.
Ah Tang was about to argue, but she was not trampled, when she heard the woman approaching her and whispering: "Let's go."
Ah Tang was startled, stopped struggling, and followed the woman's strength to walk into the crowd.
"Hey, wait!" The young man, who had been dazed after cursing, hurriedly called out as if he had regained consciousness.
The woman paused and glanced at Ah Tang, who had a look of panic on his face.
Slowly he let go of his hand.
"Auntie." Ah Tang begged and held the woman's hand.
The woman is determined to save her, but everything must be done on the premise that she is not harmed.
Seeing the young man carrying a knife approaching who looked untouchable, the woman showed an apologetic look to Ah Tang, hurriedly shook off her hand, and walked quickly into the crowd of onlookers.
The movement here attracted the attention of many people.
There is no explicit ban on carrying knives in the village, but ordinary villagers would not have such a fine iron long knife.
There was also a young man who was tall and tall in contrast to the short and squat villagers around him. Everyone didn't want to get into trouble and stayed away.
When the woman shook her hand away, Ah Tang was frightened. He raised his head to look for his father, but considering that his father had no hands, he would definitely suffer a loss if he had a conflict with this person.
She lowered her head, hoping that the market steward would find out what was going on.
Just as he was thinking about it, a tall figure blocked his sight and walked in front of Ah Tang with a pair of big feet. Ah Tang's heart suddenly started beating wildly.
She waited with bated breath. The tall man raised his hand, and Ah Tang couldn't help but shrink his shoulders.
But something was handed to her.
It is a handful of dried fruits spread on leaves.
Most of them are purple mulberries, mixed with some chopped apricots and plums.
"I'm sorry, I bumped into you. I'll pay you. I'll pay you for it."
Ah Tang raised his head in surprise, his black and white eyes looking at the young man with a fierce voice.
The young man held the leaf in both hands and handed it to Ah Tang. A blush appeared on his face, which made his skin darker.
"Ah?" Ah Tang was stunned by such a sudden turn of events.
There was an uproar among the passers-by who were staying away but paying attention here with their ears raised, and then bursts of snickering came out.
"That's it. He also said that this little lady is afraid that she will get into big trouble."
"Look carefully, this girl is pretty."
…
The noise a few steps away reached Ah Tang's ears. She suddenly woke up and took a step back with a blushing face: "I don't want it, you take it."
"Then what do you want?" The young man held the dried fruit wrapped in leaves in his hand and refused to withdraw his hand.
"What are you looking at?" He turned around and scolded the people around him who were watching and giving advice, but his awkward appearance was no longer a deterrent.
He turned back and handed some of the dried fruits in his hand to the girl, "I bumped into you and I will compensate you. You take these first. If you want anything else, I will go find it for you."
Ah Tang only felt that his face was hot, his head hung down, and he refused to answer.
After turning sideways to avoid it, the young man walked around to her persistently, holding the leaf stubbornly.
Seeing that the two were about to stalemate, the man and woman behind the high cabinet in the shack laughed out loud.
"He Shichang, don't make things difficult for me, my little lady." The woman smiled and persuaded her to come out of the siege. As she spoke, she walked out from the small door at the back of the shack.
She patted Ah Tang gently and pulled Ah Tang, who seemed relieved when he saw her, to her side.
Even though he was a little fierce at first, he really didn't mean to make things difficult for others. He Zhou, who had been promoted to a senior position and was sent to maintain the peace of the market, dropped his shoulders in frustration, and his whole person shrank.
Ah Tang hid behind the woman and took a careful look. Somehow, he suddenly thought that someone had just taken the puppy that they wanted to exchange for piglets.
Those black and yellow puppies also looked like this, squatting listlessly in the basket.
The woman's name is Achan. She was originally a maid in the main house. The market in the village has reopened.
Lady Yan wants to show the banker what the labor points can be exchanged for.
Therefore, two of the maids and servants in the residence were selected to introduce and answer questions to the villagers in the market, so that they could more actively participate in the recruitment of workers in the village.
Ah Chan was the one who had relatively good grades and was very agile when she started her studies in the main house.
A-chan could not be more honored and proud to be assigned such a task by her master.
So take the initiative to come out and smooth things over.
She looked at He Zhou, then at Ah Tang, and reached out to take the dried fruit in He Zhou's hand.
"Take it, otherwise He Shichang will have to stand like this for a whole day." Ah Chan wrapped the dried fruit in the leaves again, opened the basket in Ah Tang's hand, and threw it in.
"Thank you." Ah Tang thanked her as thinly as a mosquito.
A-Chan took a closer look at A-Tang's expression and saw that she was shy but not disgusted, so she couldn't help but smile.
"My name is A-Chan. I saw that you seemed to be looking at something here just now. How about I come and talk to you?" A-Chan took advantage of the situation and took A-Tang's hand to coax her.
"Yeah." Holding Ah Chan's arm, Ah Tang seemed to have found a backbone and gradually recovered from his previous shyness.
She glanced carefully at He Zhou, who was following the two girls, and nodded slightly.
