When the pears are green

After Song Li returned home, Song Changhe said to her, "I'm going to the town to buy some things tomorrow. Xiaoyue and Xiaoxing are going with me and your mother. Do you want to go?"

Song Li certainly wouldn't miss this opportunity to go to town, she quickly said, "Dad, I'll go too."

After hearing this, Song Changhe smiled and said, "If you go, you have to get up early tomorrow!" Song Li quickly assured that she could do it.

The next day, before dawn, Song Xing came to wake Song Li and the others up.

While eating breakfast, Zhang asked Song Changhe, "Master, how are we going to get there? Should we walk or take the village ox cart?"

Song Changhe looked at Song Li and her two siblings and said, "The children haven't been to town for a long time. Let's go in Old Man Wang's ox cart."

Song Li and the other three cheered after hearing this. Song Li had heard from Song Yue that the town was far away and it would take more than two hours to walk there. Of course, everyone was very happy to be able to go there by ox cart.

Looking at Song Li and her brother wolfing down their food, Zhang said quickly, "Slow down, there's still early!" Song Li and her brother nodded as they ate, afraid to waste any time.

When Song Changhe and his family arrived at the entrance of the village, there were already five or six people waiting there. After seeing the Song family, they came over to talk. Because Song Li and Song Yue were little girls, they did not come forward, but hid behind Zhang.

Soon, the sound of cowbells floated into the ears, and the old man Wang, the driver, arrived. Everyone took out the copper coins they had prepared, handed them to Old Man Wang, and then sat on the rickshaw.

When Old Man Wang saw Song Changhe and his family, he smiled and said, "Changhe, do you want to take them all with you? It will cost a lot of money for the round trip!"

Song Changhe smiled and handed the ten coins he had prepared to Old Man Wang. He said, "Uncle Wang, I just finished my work in the fields and wanted to take them to the town. The children haven't been out for a long time."

Old man Wang took the money with a smile, and said to Song Changhe: "Changhe loves children, you all hurry up and sit down, and we will leave."

Song Changhe asked Zhang, Song Li and Song Yue to sit inside next to the three women, while he and Xiaoxing sat outside with the others.

Although it was only slightly chilly in the early summer morning, it still made people shiver when the ox cart started running. Zhang looked at the shivering Song Li and Song Yue and quickly hugged them in her arms.

When the woman next to them saw this, she smiled and said, "I was wondering, Aunt Zhang really loves her children!" Zhang just smiled and didn't say anything.

After about an hour, the oxcart arrived at the town. Old Man Wang asked everyone to get off the cart and said, "It's still the same old rule. Go back at 3 p.m."

Everyone who got off the bus said okay and then went in all directions.

This was Song Li's first time in town, and she looked at everything in front of her with curiosity.

Song Li had previously thought that towns would also have city walls and moats, but now it seemed that there were none. There was only a stone tablet not far from where Old Man Wang parked his car, with three big red characters written on it.

Song Li ran over curiously. The stone tablet was about the same height as Song Li. Song Li stood in front of the stone tablet and looked at the words on it carefully. It should be Heihe Town.

Song Yue saw Song Li standing in front of the stone tablet, so she ran over. She said to Song Li, who was concentrating on looking at the stone tablet, "Sister, what are you looking at?"

Song Li smiled and said, "It's nothing, I just think this stone tablet is so big, the words are so big, and the writing is so beautiful." Song Yue also imitated Song Li, looked at the stone tablet again and again, then said to Song Li with a smile, "Sister, the words are so beautiful." Song Li also laughed along with Song Yue.

Song Li turned his gaze elsewhere. There were several willow trees planted near the stone tablet. There were five or six ox carts parked here. They should be ox carts from villages far away from Heihe Town.

A flat dirt road about two meters wide extends from south to north, and a tea stall is set up at the beginning of the road.

Song Li walked to the side of the road, stood on tiptoe, and wanted to see what was on both sides of the road.

Zhang walked up to Song Li and said, "Xiao Li, let your father take you for a good look later. You seem curious." Song Li put down her toes embarrassedly after hearing this.

Zhang called Song Yue over again and said to them, "You must follow me and your father closely. Don't get separated. Do you understand?"

Song Li and Song Yue nodded repeatedly. Zhang held Song Yue's hand with one hand and Song Li's hand with the other, and Song Changhe held Song Xing's hand. The family walked along this road towards the depths of Heihe Town.

On the way, Song Yue would occasionally lean over to let Song Li look this way and that way. Soon Zhang got annoyed, so she let Song Li hold Song Yue's hand while she held Song Li's.

There were some shops scattered on both sides of the road. Song Li took a look and found that most of them were grocery stores, grain stores, butcher shops, as well as a cloth shop, two or three restaurants and two drug stores.

Song Li also saw people sitting under the shade of trees, selling eggs or vegetables they brought.

From time to time, there would be peddlers carrying shelves and hawking their wares along the street, but there weren't many pedestrians on the road.

It seems that Heihe Town is not a prosperous town.

Song Li asked Song Changhe in confusion: "Dad, this town isn't lively?"

Song Changhe smiled and said, "Xiao Li, if we go another 15 miles south from here, we will reach the county town, so those who live close to the county town have all gone there. Besides, there is no market today, so naturally there won't be many people."

Song Li asked hurriedly, "Dad, when is the market?" Song Changhe smiled and said, "The first, third, fifth and eighth days. The first and fifth days are small markets, and the third and eighth days are big markets." Song Li said "Oh", and then silently wrote down the days Song Changhe mentioned in his heart.

Song Changhe said to Zhang again, "You three mothers must follow me closely and don't run around, okay?"

Zhang glared at Song Changhe and said, "I understand. We will go wherever you go." After hearing this, Song Changhe laughed and continued walking forward.

Song Yue and Song Xing were also looking at everything around them with curiosity. They even thought that the tung tree in front of the shop was novel.

Song Changhe first took his family to the grocery store. The house was running out of salt, and Song Changhe wanted to buy some salt for his family before going out.

The waiter, who was originally feeling sleepy, instantly woke up when he saw a customer coming.

Although Song Li's family were dressed in ordinary clothes, with puddings visible everywhere on their clothes, the waiter still happily entertained them.

The waiter asked, "Brother, what do you want to buy? This is the most comprehensive grocery store in Heihe Town." Song Changhe looked at the dazzling array of items in the store and said, "I want to buy some salt. How much is salt now?"

After hearing this, the waiter said happily: "The price of salt is a little cheaper now, twelve cents per ounce."

After hearing this, Song Changhe frowned and thought for a while, and decided to order half a catty, which is eight taels. After hearing this, the waiter happily went to weigh the salt for Song Changhe.

After the waiter weighed the salt and packed it up, he did some calculations and said to Song Changhe, "Brother, the total is ninety-six coins."

After hearing this, Zhang said to the waiter, "We need so much at once, how about 90 coins?" The waiter said hurriedly, "Sister-in-law, this is not possible. I am just a shopkeeper and cannot make the decision."

After hearing this, Zhang said to Song Changhe unhappily, "Boss, don't ask for so much. You can't even give a fraction."

The waiter smiled and said, "Sister-in-law, it's not that I'm stingy, it's that I really can't make the decision. The boss is not here, he went to the county town. Otherwise, I will send something." After that, the waiter went to the side and took out some cloth scraps, and then said to Zhang, "These cloth scraps just came in two days ago. The boss originally asked to sell them for three cents a bag. Since sister-in-law has mentioned it, I will give them to you, and let the two girls go home and make some small items to kill time."

After hearing this, Zhang flipped through the scraps of cloth and happily handed them to Song Yue. After receiving them, Song Yue smiled happily at Song Li.

After paying the money, Song Changhe took his family to another place.

There was no shortage of other things at home, so Song Changhe took them for a stroll in Heihe Town.

Just as Song Changhe was considering whether to eat in Heihe Town or go home, a familiar voice called him: "Uncle, I thought I was seeing things, it turns out it's really you."

Song Li recognized that it was Jiang Qingzhou's voice. She turned around happily and saw Jiang Qingzhou standing not far away, smiling at her.