Traveling through the mountains and farming

The next day, July 28th, was the opening day of the Taohua Village market in Nanxi Township where Lin Wan and her friends were scheduled to go.

The Taohua Village market is held twice a decade, on the third and eighth days of the month.

According to the original body's memory, in the area under the jurisdiction of Nanxi Township, there are a total of four markets set up in the east, south, west and north directions, and Taohua Village Market is the southernmost market in Nanxi Township.

The last time she came to this market was more than a year ago. At that time, her brother brought her here secretly without telling her stepmother.

Taohua Village Market is the closest market to Quanshui Village, about five or six miles away. According to the walking speed of Lin Wan and the other two, it would take about fifteen minutes to get there.

In order to arrive at the market as early as possible, Lin Wan got up at about four or five in the morning and started making ice jelly.

Since it was her first time setting up a stall, she didn't dare to do much and planned to make one bucket first to test the waters.

While waiting for the ice jelly to solidify, she woke up the two little ones, washed and had breakfast together, and then started loading the truck.

The three men encountered problems when loading the truck.

If the wooden barrel filled with ice powder is not fixed properly, it will easily shake, especially when the cart goes up and down hills or hits stones on the road, the ice powder will easily spill.

So Lin Wan found the remaining kudzu vines that were used as clotheslines at home and tied the wooden barrel to the boards on both sides of the cart, while Li Chongle stood by to support it.

There is also an empty wooden barrel on the car, which is used to hold water for washing dishes. There are also bamboo bowls, bamboo spoons, bamboo tubes for packaging, etc.

The most precious sweet soup was carried by Li Ke. Lin Wan couldn't bear to let the little girl suffer too much, so in order to reduce the weight, she cooked concentrated sweet soup in the morning and put it in a bamboo tube. A small spoonful of sweet soup was enough with a bowl of ice jelly.

At daybreak, Lin Wan hung the "bicycle trip" tied to the two handlebars on her right shoulder, held the shaft tightly with both hands, leaned forward slightly, and pulled the cart out of the yard.

Li Chongle held the wooden barrel with both hands on one side of the cart, while Li Ke followed closely behind with a small backpack on his back. The three of them set off towards the market.

We walked and rested along the way and arrived at the entrance of Taohua Village before dawn.

The market is located in the square at the entrance of the village. The area here is very large, and the surrounding area is relatively flat with some large trees scattered around. Lin Wan saw that many stall owners had already arrived and were sorting the items for sale in the positions they had occupied.

She noticed that the spots under the tree were the most popular and were almost all taken.

At this time, the two siblings reacted very quickly. They ran to an empty space under a big tree, picked up the basket and the wooden barrel and put them on the ground, thus occupying the space.

She followed, pulling a cart, and the three of them unloaded the things. This location was good, as there was extra space at the back to place the cart.

Then she told Li Chongle to watch the stall, and she took Li Ke towards the well in Taohua Village. They needed to fetch a bucket of water for washing dishes.

When they walked through the market area, they saw that most of the stalls were mainly farm-raised, agricultural products, and handmade products, such as vegetables, fruits, grains, wheat, soybeans, chickens and ducks, as well as hand-woven cloth, bamboo products, wooden products, straw shoes, etc. There were also stalls selling small farm tools and livestock.

Near the entrance of the village, there are several shops that are open every day: a grocery store, a small noodle shop, a pork shop, etc.

When the two men came back with the water, they saw villagers coming one after another and starting to walk along the stalls, looking for things they wanted to buy. The lady selling eggs on the left side of their stall had just completed a sale.

Seeing that many people had already started buying and selling, Li Chongle squatted in front of his stall, staring eagerly in the direction where Lin Wan was coming back, looking a little anxious.

While he was waiting, he had already set up a simple display table as Lin Wan had said. He placed four flat stones found nearby on the ground and then placed the wooden board used for dining at home on top of it.

Everything is ready, just waiting for Lin Wan to come back and open the stall.

"Sister-in-law, how much is our ice jelly?" Seeing Lin Wan coming back, he immediately walked forward, took the wooden barrel and put it down, and asked anxiously.

Lin Wan said calmly, "Put out the food for tasting first, then scoop out four or five bowls of food for sale, and wait for me later."

Then the two siblings cooperated with her to put the ice jelly in the wooden barrel into small bamboo tubes and bowls, and placed them on both sides according to size.

The ice jelly for tasting was served in a bamboo tube that they made yesterday, which was four inches in diameter and three inches deep, just enough for a big bite.

When they scooped out the ice powder, it immediately attracted the attention of several stall owners nearby. Seeing the crystal clear ice powder, the jelly was shiny and trembling. The lady selling eggs on the left asked curiously:

"What are you selling, young lady? They look really nice."

Lin Wan picked up a small bamboo tube and handed it to the old lady with a smile: "It's a new food called crystal ice jelly. Please try it, old lady."

Although the old lady was curious, she didn't dare to reach out to take it, thinking that she would have to pay for it after eating it.

Lin Wan saw the old lady's concerns and said with a smile, "You can try it for free. If you think it tastes good, you can consider whether to buy it. It's also okay if you don't want to buy it."

Hearing that it was a free sample, the old lady happily took the bamboo tube and said, "It's delicious, icy and sweet. You even put sugar in it."

The old lady was still not satisfied and thought that if the price was right, she would buy some back for her grandson to eat: "How much do you sell this for?"

"It's three cents a bowl. You can eat it here or take it away. It's four cents a bowl to take away, and it will be put in a bamboo tube for you." Lin Wan replied.

"I don't need your bamboo tube? Is it also three cents?"

"Yes."

Three cents, about the same price as an egg, plus sugar water, the old lady thought it was a good deal, picked up her bamboo tube of water and handed it to Lin Wan, "Give me a bowl."

Lin Wan filled a bowl for the old lady. Seeing that there was still space in the bamboo tube, she scooped out another spoonful. "Auntie, you are my first customer. I will give you an extra spoonful. Thank you for your patronage."

The old lady thought that this young lady was really good at dealing with people, so she readily handed over three copper coins and also helped to promote the delicious crystal ice jelly.

Several stall owners and passers-by who had been keeping an eye on the situation nearby were excited when they heard about the free tasting. When they heard the lady say it was delicious and that it came with sugar syrup, they thought the price of three cents a bowl was acceptable, so they took action immediately.

"I want to try it."

“I want to try it, too.”

……

There are quite a lot of people who want to try the food. Almost everyone who tries it will buy a bowl. Some people eat a bowl on the spot and take one or two bowls away.

Lin Wan's business was booming and many people gathered around waiting to buy ice jelly.

As the crowd gathered here, many people in the distance became curious.

"What are they selling over there? Why are there so many people around?"

"What kind of powder is it?"

"It's crystal ice jelly, a new food, and it's delicious." A customer who had just finished eating ice jelly at Lin Wan's stall passed by and answered kindly.

At this time, the stall owner's voice could be heard from afar:

"Crystal ice powder, specially made for summer, cools you down and quenches your thirst. One sip will cool you down and one sip will make you feel sweet."

“It’s delicious and inexpensive, made with real ingredients, and suitable for men, women, young and old.”

"A bowl costs only three cents, the price of an egg, and you can enjoy a bowl of new food."

When the stall owners around heard Lin Wan's shouting, they were all stunned. They didn't know that setting up stalls could be done this way?

Although Li Chongle and his sister had never seen this way of shouting and setting up stalls before, they were loyal fans of their sister-in-law. They thought that whatever their sister-in-law did was right, so they immediately joined her hawking team.

"Come and see, come and see, you can try it for free, but you don't have to buy it."

"Crystal ice jelly is soft, smooth, cool, sweet and delicious."

……

After the initial flurry of activity, the three gradually found the rhythm of cooperating with each other. Li Chongle was responsible for collecting money, Lin Wan was responsible for scooping ice jelly for customers, and Li Ke was responsible for collecting and cleaning the bowls that had been used on site.

They shouted while busying themselves with their work.

In just half an hour, they only had one last bowl of ice jelly left for sale.