Siheyuan: The romantic and suave Xu Damao

Since I have collected so many things, I might as well set up a stall in the ghost market and sell them.

If I sell the dowry box and the Zen stool in my hand to the leaders in the factory, it would be easy for them to find out where they came from, after all, my itinerary is recorded.

Every detail of what film was promoted and screened in a certain village on a certain day of a certain month is recorded clearly.

The real business is to get rid of these things as soon as possible and buy a bicycle.

After riding his bicycle back to the factory, Xu Damao talked to his leader and rode back to the courtyard.

In the compound, Qin Huairu was washing clothes with a big belly. It seemed that this young wife had endless clothes to wash every day.

When he saw Xu Damao pushing his bicycle past, he specially greeted him.

"Da Mao is off work. He went out to show the movie again today."

Qin Huairu stared straight at the rag bag in Xu Damao's hand.

"I'm out. These are some big red dates that my fellow villagers gave me and dried in their home."

As Xu Damao spoke, he took out a bright red dried date, put it in his mouth, took a bite, and began to chew it.

"This date is so red and big, it must be very sweet, right?"

"That's for sure, sister-in-law. I'll catch two for you to try."

When Xu Damao saw Jia Zhang walking out of the room with a sour look on her face, he grabbed a handful of dried dates, about five or six in number, and handed them to Qin Huairu.

"Oh, thank you, brother Damao. This thing is not common in the city."

Qin Huairu rubbed her two water-soaked hands on her body, took the red dates, picked up one and took a bite, feeling the sweetness in her mouth and a satisfied smile appeared on her face.

"Leave sister-in-law!"

"Don't worry, Damao. Do you have any clothes to wash? I'm doing the laundry right now, so can I wash yours as well?"

"No need! You are pregnant, you should pay more attention to rest."

Xu Damao didn't even turn his head. He raised one hand and waved, pushed the bicycle back into the house, locked it, and went straight back to his room.

As soon as Xu Damao entered the room, Jia Zhang walked up to Qin Huairu who was washing clothes and snatched the dates from Qin Huairu's hand.

"Don't eat it. Save it for making soup at night. Let Dongxu have some too. Don't always think about eating it all by yourself!"

After saying this, Jia Zhang walked into the room with her waist as strong as a bucket. As she walked out, she threw a large date into her mouth and chewed it with a smacking sound.

Qin Huairu was not angry, she just frowned slightly and continued washing clothes.

Enter the portable space, take out a grass carp, kill it, leave the fish roe and fish bladder, and throw the rest of the internal organs into the pond.

After coming out, open the coal stove, take out a handful of hay, light it with a tinder and put it into the stove, add small wooden sticks, and put the coal balls in after the fire gets stronger.

There was no honeycomb coal in the capital during this period, only hand-made coal balls.

In order to save money, some people make coal balls by mixing coal powder, coal slag and loess.

Xu Damao also remembered seeing workers who specialized in making coal briquettes.

In early winter, on the school playground, the workers who shook the coal balls wore black cotton coats, cotton shoes, cotton hats, and shoe covers to prevent coal dust from entering. Their faces were always black, even if they had just washed. This shows how hard their work was and that they earned their money through hard work.

Putting an iron pot on the stove, Xu Damao took out some lard from a clay pot and put it into the pot. Then he picked the fish's mouth with one hand and fried the fish in the pot.

When the grass carp has been fried until both sides are golden brown, add a ladle of water, then put in salt, ginger slices and some mushrooms and start stewing.

After a short while, the rich smell and aroma of fish spread all around, filling the entire courtyard.

When people in the yard smelled the fragrance, they couldn't help but drool. At the same time, their hearts were beating fast and the feeling of hunger became stronger.

This statement is not an exaggeration at all. After not eating meat for a long time, the smell of meat is undoubtedly very attractive to people.

Outside, one could faintly hear Jia Zhang's shouting and cursing. Xu Damao ignored them, served the fish, scooped up a bowl of the fragrant fish soup, and began to eat it with the steamed bread.

After eating and drinking, the sky had just started to darken when Xu Damao climbed onto the bed and fell asleep. After all, he still had to go to the Chaoyangmen Ghost Market in the middle of the night.

The purpose of this trip is not only to sell the things I collected, but also to see if I can buy some things at the same time, such as the clothes Xiaofeng needs, and I can also bring two beautiful clothes for Sister Li.

When we say going to the "ghost market", we cannot say go, nor can we say go, and certainly cannot say stroll around, we have to say "trip to the ghost market".

The word "踏" has a lot of knowledge. You have to wade through the water yourself to see how deep or shallow the water is, and how fast or slow the water is. It means crossing the river by feeling the stones.

At two o'clock in the morning, Xu Damao woke up on time, unlocked his bicycle, walked out of the courtyard, and rode straight towards Chaoyangmen.

It was late at night and everyone was asleep. Xu Damao walked slowly forward in the dim moonlight. Looking around, he saw no one on the street.

If it was a full moon, it would actually be quite bright outside. Xu Damao would ride his bike while trying to identify the direction, after all, he had only inquired about the route during the day.

More than half an hour passed and we were about to reach our destination. At this time, more and more people appeared on the street.

Some, like Xu Damao, rode bicycles with side baskets on the back, some carried a large bag, and some carried a cowhide bag, but most of them came empty-handed, ready to buy some items.

It was almost three o'clock in the morning. By the moonlight, one could see that quite a few stalls had been set up along the city wall outside Chaoyang Gate.

The best stalls on both sides of the door were already occupied, so Xu Damao had no choice but to keep moving forward.

The stalls here are located on a first-come, first-served basis, and those who come later will have to find their own stalls. In short, if you want to sell things here, you will not have trouble finding a stall.

There were few people around at that time, so Xu Damao pushed the cart slowly towards the south, taking a look at what others were selling.

Old silver ingots, ancient coins, ancient jade pendants, pots and pans, porcelain, and various wooden furniture, tiger claws, bear claws, rhino horns, and so on.

There are also people selling used clothes, that is, second-hand clothes. Don't underestimate these second-hand clothes, as they are also divided into different grades, and they are one of the best-selling categories.

Nowadays, few families have sewing machines, and it is difficult to make clothes after spending a lot of money to buy cloth.

Therefore, men from ordinary families around the city also like to come here and buy some decent clothes for their wives or children.

Some wealthy families that have fallen on hard times also make a living by selling clothes, antiques, furniture and other items at home.