FARMER QUEEN

 The mirror is round, simple and quaint, without any complicated decorations. It has a thick patina on it, and it seems to be quite old. The back is a layer of green copper rust, covering the decoration on it.

  The elders give it, and you can't refuse it.

  Caiwei thanked him and took it. Without taking a closer look, she stuffed the mirror into her arms and said anxiously to Shopkeeper Li, "It's going to snow soon. We must find a way to move the old man into the house." Shopkeeper

  Li rubbed his nose, stood up, and shouted at the top of his lungs, "Monkey boy, monkey boy, where have you gone?"

  "Hey, here..."

  After a loud response, the young man in the cloth shop pushed through the crowd and squeezed in. Caiwei was slightly startled. The young man was the one who bought cloth from Caiwei and Du. The young man also recognized Caiwei. After a pause, he didn't pay much attention to her. Then he turned around and said to Shopkeeper Li, "Old shopkeeper, the car is ready. Let's carry the person back..."

  ...

  With Caiwei's assistance, the old beggar was carried back to the cloth shop. After settling him down, Caiwei was worried about her mother in the restaurant. She said goodbye to Shopkeeper Li and left.

  It was past 3 p.m., and the sky was as dark as night. Large flakes of snow fluttered in the air like goose feathers. The market was closed early, and the farmers who came to the market were in a hurry to go home...

  In the small restaurant, Mrs. Du was like an ant on a hot pot, anxiously walking back and forth, looking out the door from time to time. Her daughter had been gone for two or three hours, and she hadn't come back yet. Could it be that she met a flower photographer? Or, a kidnapper?

  The more she thought about it, the more scared she became. Mrs. Du was so anxious that she couldn't stand and almost went out to look for her. At this time, a familiar figure rushed back across the street in the wind and snow.

  Mrs. Du greeted her happily as if she had picked up a gold ingot, and said angrily: "Where have you been, Wei girl, why did you take so long? I was so worried..."

  Caiwei's heart was warmed. She remembered that a book she had read said that the happiest thing in the world is that no matter where you are or what you are doing, there will always be someone who cares about you silently...

  At that time, she thought this sentence was very hypocritical. What if someone cares about you? What if no one cares about you? She is who she is, and she will not change just because someone is worried about her.

  However, when she saw her mother's anxious face, and then saw her relieved smile when she came back, she truly understood this sentence. It is indeed a kind of happiness to have someone care about you.

  Holding her mother's hand, Caiwei comforted her softly and changed the subject.

  She didn't want her mother to know those bad things. Her mother was kind-hearted. If she knew that a life was accidentally injured because of Caiwei's negligence, she would be traumatized for the rest of her life. Therefore, she would never let her mother know about this.

  Mrs. Du was relieved that her daughter was back. She took Caiwei to another street.

  Because the horse of her uncle's family was frightened and could not be contacted for a while, and it snowed again, the road was slippery and difficult to travel, so the mother and daughter had to hire a carriage to return to the village. Mujia Village is not far from the town, only more than 20 miles away. On weekdays, you can hire a covered carriage for only 30 coins, but today, because it was snowing, she added 10 coins to hire a carriage.

  Mrs. Du felt that it was not cost-effective. The carriage charged per person. Even if the mother and daughter were empty-handed, they still charged 40 coins. With an unbalanced mentality, Mrs. Du planned to pick up the things that were not needed at home and buy a large cart to take back, so that the 40 coins would not be wasted.

  Most of the shops on this street sell food. There are shops selling grain, meat, fish, and vegetables and fruits.

  Outside the shops, some small businessmen set up a lot of small stalls, selling pancakes, noodles, steamed buns, wontons, etc. Pancakes cost two coins each, vegetarian noodles cost three coins a bowl, shredded pork noodles cost eight coins, wontons cost five coins a bowl, and vegetarian stuffing, if it is meat stuffing, you have to add five coins. Vegetarian buns cost one cent each, meat-filled buns cost two cents each, and steamed buns cost one cent for two, but they were the kind of coarse flour steamed buns mixed with cornmeal.

  Mrs. Du bought ten meat buns and ten steamed cakes, and happily prepared to go back to improve the lives of her children.

  Caiwei disagreed. She pointed to a butcher's shop and said, "Mom, the buns are not very delicious. Why don't we go buy some meat?"

  Mrs. Du couldn't bear to refuse her daughter, so she nodded helplessly.

  In the butcher's shop, the greasy-faced butcher saw the customers coming and immediately greeted them with a smile on his face: "Sister-in-law, do you want to buy meat? This is a big fat pig that was just killed this morning. It's fresh! Look, how thick the meat is..." As he spoke, he turned the fat on the chopping board to attract the attention of the mother and daughter.

  On weekdays, pork is 20 cents per catty. Because it is close to the end of the year, prices have risen, and now pork has been sold for 30 cents per catty.

  Mrs. Du was picking at the meat counter, preparing to buy a piece of fat meat to take home. It can be used to make oil, and the meat residue can also be used to make dumplings. It smells very good!

  "Boss, how much is a pound of pork?"

  "Thirty cents a pound, the price is the same in the whole town, and our shop is absolutely fair to everyone." The boss patted his

  chest, trying his best to make this deal. "Okay, thirty cents is what you want. If I buy ten pounds of meat, can you give me those as a bonus?" Caiwei asked, but her eyes were fixed on some broken pig skin and some cleaned large bones thrown in the corner of the shop.

  The boss was stunned. He was going to take those things home to feed the dog. They were not worth much at all. If these things could be sold for 300 cents, he would naturally be happy to give them away.

  "Okay, okay!" The boss, who came to his senses, agreed immediately. As if he was afraid that Caiwei would regret it, he took out a straw basket and put the pig skin and large bones on the ground into it. She quickly entered the case, holding a shiny bone-cutting knife, and prepared to cut the meat.

  Mrs. Du hesitated for a moment and said, "Wei'er, we can't eat so much meat. I think we should just cut two pounds first."

  "Mom, it's freezing cold now. If we can't eat it, we can freeze it. We can eat it anytime. Besides, Aunt Zhou has helped us a lot over the years. Uncle Zhou and Jiujin helped carry the wild boar back this time. We should thank them, right?"

  Mrs. Du was very pleased to hear her daughter's words. Her daughter had grown up and understood the ways of the world. As a mother, she naturally couldn't hold her back, so she took out her purse and paid the bill.

  Ten pounds of meat is not light, plus the two large bags of cotton cloth and cotton that I bought originally, it is impossible to carry them while shopping. Mrs. Du and Caiwei discussed it, and finally Mrs. Du sat in the car and looked after the things, while Caiwei was responsible for buying household items.

  Caiwei breathed a sigh of relief after getting her mother's purse. Finally, she could buy things happily without seeing her mother's painful expression!