When the pears are green

Ruyi, who was not far away, did not hear Song Li's shout. She was still looking around among the crowd coming and going, as if looking for something.

"Let me go!" Chen Yuan stretched out the iron ruler in his hand to stop Song Li who wanted to come out of the stall. He quickly merged into the bustling crowd and walked towards Ruyi against the flow of people.

Chen Yuan stopped a foot away from Ruyi. He wanted to reach out and pat the thin girl's shoulder, but when he slowly extended his hand and was about to touch Ruyi, he quickly retracted it. He knew that he could not ruin Ruyi's reputation in public.

Chen Yuan called out softly, "Ruyi."

A gentle voice floated into her ears, and Ruyi quickly turned around, looking at Chen Yuan not far away with a happy expression.

Chen Yuan took another step forward and asked with a smile, "Ruyi, what are you looking for? I noticed that you have been looking around non-stop."

"Detective Chen, I'm looking for... you. Have you seen my cousin?" Ruyi changed the subject, and Chen Yuan's face looked a little lost.

Chen Yuan pointed to the stall next to the sycamore tree and told Ruyi, "They are right there. Madam Jiang called you just now, but you didn't hear her."

Ruyi followed the direction Chen Yuan pointed and saw Song Li and Jiang Qingzhou looking at her with a smile.

Song Li noticed Ruyi's gaze. She smiled and took out the love knot from her bag, then pinched the knot with her fingers to signal Ruyi.

Ruyi withdrew her gaze from the bright red in Song Li's hand. She whispered to Chen Yuan, "Detective Chen, when are you leaving? I heard from my cousin that Ping An's slingshot was given by you. I also made some small items for you."

Ruyi did not take out the knot from her bag. She did not dare to give the knot to the man in front of so many people, so she wanted to find a relatively secluded place to give it to Chen Yuan.

When Chen Yuan saw Ruyi say this, he did not ask what Ruyi was. He asked Ruyi to go find Song Li, Jiang Qingzhou and the others first, and he would go over later.

Chen Yuan watched Ruyi walk to Song Li, then turned and walked towards Li Sheng who had been staring at him. He patted the smiling Li Sheng on the shoulder and told Li Sheng to mind his own business and stop staring at him.

Li Sheng smiled and teased Chen Yuan: "Brother, you have a good eye. This girl is good-looking and seems to be a decent person. Look at her figure. She will definitely be able to..."

"Li Sheng, don't talk nonsense." Chen Yuan hurriedly stopped Li Sheng from speaking. These people in the yamen were used to joking and could say anything irrelevant.

Li Sheng knew that Chen Yuan never liked people making jokes about him, so he smiled and whistled, then pulled Chen Yuan to continue patrolling.

Song Li pulled Ruyi into the stall. She smiled and asked Ruyi, "Ruyi, have you asked Constable Chen?"

"Cousin, how can you believe what you see in dreams?" Ruyi lowered her head and answered Song Li embarrassedly.

Ruyi repeated to Song Li what she and Chen Yuan had said. Song Li then whispered to Jiang Qingzhou, "Qingzhou, this is the first time I've truly felt that being reserved isn't a good thing. What about you?"

"Me too. Let them take their own course. I'm not at all reserved with Xiaoli." Jiang Qingzhou said in a voice that only he and Song Li could hear.

Song Li patted Jiang Qingzhou's arm gently, reminding him to pay attention to the occasion.

Seeing that Song Li and Jiang Qingzhou's bean sprouts had been sold out, she didn't want them to accompany her here waiting for Chen Yuan, so she asked Song Li and Jiang Qingzhou to go about their own business.

Song Li looked at the sky. She still wanted to buy cloth for Song Yue, so she gave the pottery jar of sweet and sour garlic to Ruyi and asked Ruyi to pass it to Chen Yuan, saying that it was a thank you gift for using Chen Yuan's cart.

Song Li originally wanted to ask Ruyi about Yuchang on her behalf, but she was afraid that she might misrepresent the matter, so she decided to wait until she met Chen Yuan next time before asking.

"Ruyi, Qingzhou and I are leaving first. Be careful and don't run around." Song Li admonished Ruyi as if she was admonishing a child.

Ruyi smiled and urged Song Li and Jiang Qingzhou to go to the cloth shop quickly. After watching them leave, she stood under the sycamore tree holding the pottery jar and waited for Chen Yuan.

There is only one cloth shop in Heihe Town. Since many village women can weave cloth, the business of the shop is very bleak.

When Song Li and Jiang Qingzhou walked into the store, the owner was teasing a tabby cat with a piece of cloth out of boredom.

When the tabby cat heard the footsteps, it meowed and rushed to the feet of Song Li and Jiang Qingzhou, baring its teeth and claws.

The shop owner looked up and saw that a customer had come.

The owner was a plump woman in her early forties. She first smiled and said to the tabby cat, "Don't be rude, cat. This is our guest." Then she drove the tabby cat out of the store.

The shop owner looked at Song Li and Jiang Qingzhou with a smile, then asked with a smile: "What do you want to buy? Our shop has linen, cotton, and some silk from Jiangnan."

"Boss, we want some cotton cloth. Is there any suitable for girls around fourteen years old?" Song Li asked the owner with a smile.

"Yes, yes." The shop owner put a few pieces of cloth on the counter. She pointed at the cloth and introduced it to Song Li: "My lady, these are the best cotton cloths, with the popular colors in Jiangnan. Blue, apricot yellow, peach red, pink, and emerald green."

Song Li looked at the pieces of solid-colored cloth in front of her. She didn't believe that solid-colored cloth was popular in the prosperous Jiangnan region since ancient times.

"Boss, how much do you sell these materials for?" Song Li asked again.

The shop owner smiled and replied to Song Li: "To be honest, since you are the first wave of customers today, I will give you a discount, one hundred and twenty coins per piece of cloth."

Song Li looked at Jiang Qingzhou who was standing beside her. Jiang Qingzhou walked up to her and touched the fabric, then whispered to Song Li, "Xiao Li, this fabric is indeed good."

Song Li also reached out to touch it, and it was indeed good. Blue and pink were relatively thicker, suitable for spring and autumn clothes; apricot yellow, pink, and emerald green were relatively thinner, suitable for summer clothes.

"Boss, I want one. Can you give me a discount?" Song Li tried to bargain with the shop owner.

The shop owner looked at Song Li with an embarrassed look on his face: "Young lady, this is fabric from Jiangnan, and this is already the lowest price."

"Boss, don't lie to me. Although I have never been to Jiangnan, I have heard of its prosperity. This cloth doesn't even have a pattern, how can it be said to be from Jiangnan?" Song Li continued to argue with the owner.

After several rounds of negotiation, the shop owner finally gave Song Li a discount of three cents.

"This lady is really calculating. She asked me to pay three cents less for a piece of cloth, and that's for two and a half pieces." The shopkeeper shook her head. She didn't want to sell it this way, but business was really bad. It was better to sell it than to keep it in her hand.

After Song Li paid the money, Jiang Qingzhou picked up half a piece of blue and half a piece of apricot yellow cloth on the counter and followed Song Li out of the store.

Ruyi was still waiting for Chen Yuan under the sycamore tree, holding the pottery jar. It was not until the vendors in the market started to pack up that Chen Yuan hurried over from somewhere else.

"Ruyi, sorry to have kept you waiting." Chen Yuan felt a little embarrassed. He didn't expect that someone would really cause trouble at the market today, which delayed him until now.

"It's okay, I didn't wait long. My cousin and cousin had something to do, so they left first. They asked me to give this pottery jar to you, saying it was a thank you gift for using your cart." After Ruyi finished speaking, she handed the pottery jar in her arms to Chen Yuan.

Chen Yuan took the pottery jar and asked Ruyi with a smile: "Ruyi, where is your thank-you gift?"

Ruyi blushed and pulled her fingers out from Chen Yuan's palm. She took out two knots from her bag and handed them to Chen Yuan.

"What is this?" Chen Yuan stretched out his left hand to take it, and he kept looking at it in his hand.

"It's a double connection." Ruyi replied in a low voice.

"Double connection, good luck connected, it does have a good meaning. Where did Ruyi learn it from?" Chen Yuan asked.

"It's Li..." Ruyi was interrupted by Chen Yuan before she could finish her words.

When Chen Yuan heard the word "Li", he knew who it was. He clenched the double knot tightly in his hand, then handed the pottery jar to Ruyi and asked Ruyi to help take it back home.