Traveling through ancient times: living a different life

The next morning, at the beginning of the Mao hour, when it was still light, grandma and grandpa got up and got dressed. Grandma boiled some hot water and asked the father and son to wash their faces. She then took a basin of hot water and walked into the room.

He pulled up Biyue, who was still in a daze, and gently washed her face with warm water. He wiped her little hands, washed his own with water in the basin, dried her with the towel, put it on the bedside table, took some cold cream and applied it on Biyue's little face, and also applied some on himself.

Then she changed Biyue into a light blue dress, put on small embroidered shoes, and combed her hair into beautiful double buns.

Grandma walked to the yard and brought the water outside, put it on the ground, and put away the face towel. Fourth uncle also packed up, carrying a small bag and standing in the backyard.

A back door was opened in the backyard wall for the convenience of ox carts entering and exiting.

Grandpa drove the ox cart out of the back door. Grandma carried the small backpack and led Biyue. Fourth uncle closed the back door and parked the ox cart in front of the back door.

After grandma sat down, Fourth Uncle carried Bi Yue into the car and let his little niece sit next to him. The car was padded with a thick straw mat covered with cloth, so the three of them could sit without any discomfort on their butts.

Bi Yue got up early and watched the sky gradually brighten while sitting in the cart. The ox cart was swaying along the dirt road that was more than 2 meters wide. The spring breeze was blowing in the morning and it was a little chilly.

Grandma took a thin quilt from her backpack and covered her with it. "Thank you, grandma."

Grandma is really caring and warm, just like my grandma and grandmother in my previous life.

"Nannan, you got up early. Sleep for a while. Grandma will call you when it's time."

Fourth Uncle hugged Bi Yue, with her upper body leaning in his arms. She felt warm and safe, and fell asleep due to the shaking of the ox cart. While she was sleeping, she seemed to hear Grandma and Fourth Uncle talking in a low voice.

When they arrived in the town, Fourth Uncle gently woke Biyue up. Biyue opened her eyes and looked at the town. The town was not very big and was called "Sishui Town". It was a market day and it was quite bustling with people coming and going.

Grandma hugged Biyue, and Grandpa said to Fourth Uncle: "Let's eat something and then take a bus to the county town!"

"Dad, no need. I'll go there early and eat when I get there. I'm not hungry right now. Yue'er, you have to be good. Next time, don't squeeze in with those brats and hurt yourself. Next time, Fourth Uncle comes back and brings you some cakes from the county town."

"Thank you, Fourth Uncle. You should take care of yourself too."

"Yue'er is so good." The three of them said goodbye to Fourth Uncle, and Fourth Uncle found a carriage to go to the county town.

Grandpa drove the ox cart to the pharmacy in the east. The store was quite big and its name was "Renhe Pharmacy". There were people coming and going on the street. It was still early and there were not many people in the clinic. It was about eight o'clock now. It would take about two hours or an hour to take the ox cart. It seemed that Shuwan Village was not far from the town, and the ox cart was faster than walking. They parked the ox cart outside and Grandpa sat on it to guard the cart.

Grandma took Biyue into the clinic. There were not many people in the clinic now. Only two or three people were queuing in front of the medicine cabinet to get medicine. At this time, the waiter came over and asked, "Do you want to see a doctor or get medicine?"

Grandma responded: "Show it to my granddaughter."

The waiter greeted politely, "Come this way." Walking to the doctor's consultation area, grandma was sitting on a stool holding Biyue.

The doctor asked the two, "There's still gauze on your head. Did you hit your head?"

He put his hand on Bi Yue's hand, felt it carefully, looked at her face, and peeled off the gauze on her head with his hand. He looked at the wound and said, "The wound is scabbed over. No need to wrap it. It will heal quickly if it is left open. I just took her pulse. There is nothing serious. No need to take medicine. It will be fine in a few days. I can treat 50 cases here, so I will only treat 30 for this child!"

"Thank you, doctor. I feel relieved that the child is fine." The grandmother went to the counter, paid 30 cents, said goodbye to the doctor and left the clinic.

When he came out, grandpa asked, "How is Nannan?"

Grandma said, "It's okay. Go home and eat something good. That will make up for the blood you lost."

Grandpa said wait a minute, and bought three buns from the bun shop next to the clinic. After paying the bill, he handed the buns to grandma and said, "I bought two and ate them when you came into the clinic. You haven't had breakfast yet."

Grandma handed a big bun to Biyue and started eating it herself. Biyue took the bun and took a bite. The hot meat bun tasted delicious.

The three of them drove the oxcart to the grocery store. Grandpa guarded the cart while grandma took Biyue in. They saw that this ancient grocery store had a lot of things, including mountain products, dried vegetables, bamboo weaving, brown sugar, salt, etc. Grandma weighed the brown sugar and salt, bought a small jar of wine and a small jar of soy sauce, and spent more than one or two taels of silver! The boy helped to move the things onto the oxcart.

The three drove the ox cart to the cloth shop again. The grandparents went in. Bi Yue saw that it was quite spacious. There were rolls of cloth on the counter, mostly black, gray, blue, and white. There were also many ready-made clothes, cloth shoes and insoles, for both adults and children. The clerk greeted them warmly.

Grandma said to the clerk, "Give me a piece of thin cotton cloth, half a piece of pink, two pieces of coarse cloth, one piece of black, and one piece of gray, which will cost about two taels of silver. The store owner also gave me some scraps of cloth, needles and thread, etc. The clerk helped me carry the cloth and put it on the ox cart.

The three of them took a ox cart to the butcher shop and saw a vendor selling candied haws on the roadside. They stopped the car and bought five strings, handing one to Biyue. She took a bite and put it in her mouth. It tasted sour and sweet, not too delicious but not too bad either.

She handed it to grandma, but she didn't want it. Biyue acted coquettishly and insisted that grandma eat one. Grandma agreed, took a bite, smiled and said to Biyue: "Mm, it's so sweet, my daughter is so good!"

The three of them went to the butcher shop and weighed 5 pounds of meat with a lot of fat. When they saw a big bone, they said to the butcher, "Boss, how much do you sell this big bone for?"

"Just give me five cents and take it."

Biyue saw some pig offal in the wooden basin below. Her grandmother didn't want any, probably because she didn't know how to cook it. After paying the bill, the three of them prepared to drive the ox cart back to the village.

In the car, Bi Yue asked, "Grandma, how much is this pork per pound?"

Grandma said, "20 cents. It's cheaper in the afternoon. You can buy it for 18 cents."

Bi Yue thought to herself: This pork is similar to the one in my previous life. It is pure black-haired native pork with no additives. It takes about a year for a pig to grow up. It is not like the pigs in my previous life that were fattened with feed, and they don't taste as fragrant as this pork.

After entering the village, he greeted the villagers he knew, and in less than an hour he was home. He opened the back door and drove the ox cart in. Everyone in the family was there, and they all greeted him. Wang said, "You're back. Is Yue'er okay?"

Grandma smiled and replied to everyone, "It's okay, I'm fine!"

The adults in the family helped to move things, and the three little grandchildren gathered around and called them grandpa, grandma, and sister.

Grandpa and grandma knew that their grandchildren wanted to have some snacks, so grandma took out three strings of candied haws from the oil paper bag on her back and gave them to the younger ones, leaving one string for Tingsong.

He had a day off yesterday and went to school today.

At this time, Tingsong came back and saw that his grandparents and sister were all there. He asked hurriedly, "How is your sister's illness?"

Wang replied, "Don't worry, it's okay."

"Great!" Brother Song put his schoolbag in his room and walked out.

Grandma called him over and handed him a string of candied haws. "This is for you. The four little ones can have some."

"Thank you, grandma!" Second Aunt shouted, "Everyone is here, the food is ready, let's eat!"

After setting the food, those with dirty hands went to wash their hands and sat on the stools to eat around the table. Although lunch was all vegetarian, the family ate happily and contentedly. Biyue was tired after running the market for half a day, so she wanted to sleep after eating.

Wang came over and took her to the room where the three siblings used to live. There were two beds in it. The older brother and younger brother had a large bed for adults, which was placed on the left side of the door, and Biyue had a medium-sized bed of 1 meters on the right. Opposite the room, by the window, was a desk with ink on it, and papers and books in the drawer.

Bi Yue climbed onto her bed and went to sleep.