Daily life of farming and supporting a family on the ancient Loess Plateau

Before dawn, Grandpa Ji and his wife got up to pack the things that Ji Manchuan and his daughter needed to take with them to the market.

Grandpa Ji neatly arranged the cages and mats that he and his sons had woven on a daily basis, placed them on the cart, and tied them with straw ropes to prevent them from falling off.

Ji Manchuan also went to the vegetable garden outside the yard and cut some chives to put in the car.

Ji Yongling looked at the dried-up leek leaves that looked like they were malnourished and thought they would probably be hard to sell.

However, Ji Yongling was wrong this time.

From ancient times to modern times, most of the land in China has been used to grow grain, and there is very little land available for growing vegetables. Therefore, most of the vegetables on the tables of ordinary people are wild vegetables, while only wealthy families have estates to grow vegetables for themselves.

Unlike modern times, where every household can eat their fill of vegetables and meat on the dinner table.

Yang hid the astragalus in an upside-down cage and covered it with leaves. She then handed Ji Yongling a satchel containing several vegetable dumplings and two gourds filled with water, and repeatedly instructed him, "Stay close to your father and don't get lost."

As dawn broke, Ji Manchuan set off, pulling the family's heavy cart.

Ji Yongling followed beside the cart, pushing it hard, the reins of the cart leaving a deep mark on Ji Manchuan's shoulder.

On both sides of the road, the rapeseed flowers, some of which are turning yellow, have already produced heavy seeds, and the wheat is also green and stretches as far as the eye can see.

Along the way, there were other people like Ji Yongling and his group who were going to the market. There were men and women, some leading livestock, some carrying baskets, and some pulling carts like Ji Manchuan. Occasionally, you could also see people riding donkeys or pulling mule carts.

In the north, large markets like these are not held every day. It is generally customary to hold them every few days. For example, in Ningping County, markets are held on the 3rd, 6th, and 9th of each month.

When Ji Yongling arrived at the Ningping County market, he learned that the market in this era was not located in the main urban area of ​​the county, but in an area near the western end of the city, which was formed spontaneously by the people.

The market was concentrated on both sides of the main road, and various stalls were already set up in front of the yellowed adobe houses along the roadside, selling food, vegetables, cloth and herbs.

The cooking utensils used for selling food are very simple and rough, basically just a mud stove with a pot on top. Larger stalls might also have a broken wooden table and a stool.

However, there was a wide variety of food available, including steaming hot noodles, freshly fried dough twists and fried cakes, sesame-coated fried dough sticks, and various flatbreads and steamed buns.

The cloth stalls set up by the roadside were rather monotonous, basically just simple white and blue cloth, which were probably coarse cloth woven by the villagers themselves and brought out to sell.

There are some restaurants and various shops in the mud-brick houses behind. Judging from the appearance, the variety and quality of the goods should be much better than those on the roadside stalls, but they certainly can't compare with the shops in the county town.

In this era, most ordinary people were in dire straits. Most of those who came to the market, like Ji Yongling and his daughter, brought their own food and rarely had the means to spend money on food. Therefore, the food stalls here mainly sold to passing merchants or wealthy people from the city who came out for a stroll.

There were quite a few people at the fabric stall, and the sounds of asking prices and bargaining could be heard from time to time.

Because of its convenient geographical location, Ningping County is a necessary stop on the Silk Road between the northwest and the central plains and the south. The market is located on the main road of the ancient Silk Road, so not only villagers from the surrounding area come and go, but also many passing merchants with different clothes.

Ji Manchuan wiped his sweat, looked at the bustling market, and said to Ji Yongling, "Ling'er, stay with your father. There are a lot of people, don't get lost in the crowd. Let's go to the pharmacy first." After saying that, he pulled the cart and squeezed into the crowd.

Ji Yongling dared not slack off in the slightest. She looked at the groups of people swaying in front of her. Most of them were thin and pale, dressed in coarse linen clothes, their hardships evident.

There were also some ragged beggars, carrying a jujube wood stick and a broken bowl, slowly moving in front of the mud-brick shop with numb faces, begging kind-hearted people to show them kindness.

Of course, there were also some wealthy people dressed in silk robes and rich attire, who seemed out of place on this uneven street. They mainly moved around in the mud-brick shops at the back.

Ji Yongling followed closely beside the cart, feeling a little scared, not of getting lost, but of this poor and backward era.

Upon arriving at the entrance of a pharmacy with a sign that read "Helping the World with Medicine - Xu's Pharmacy," Ji Manchuan parked the car, asked Ji Yongling to watch it, and went inside to take a look.

Unlike clinics in the main urban area of ​​the county, this pharmacy is located in the market. It mainly provides medical treatment and sells medicine to ordinary people like Ji Manchuan. It also accepts a small amount of medicinal materials sent by villagers. The prices are fair, and it has a good reputation in the area.

Several people were already waiting to get their medicine in the pharmacy. When the apprentice saw Ji Manchuan enter, he asked, "Sir, are you here for a medical consultation or to get medicine?"

Ji Manchuan looked around, a fawning smile on his face, and asked, "Young man, is your boss here? Does he buy astragalus?"

The apprentice looked Ji Manchuan up and down and said, "Yes, I will. Please wait a moment, sir."

Seeing the apprentice go to call the master, Ji Manchuan went out the door, carefully took out the Scutellaria baicalensis from the cart, and led Ji Yongling back to the pharmacy.

Ji Yongling looked around the inside of the pharmacy and saw that the medicine cabinets were filled with all kinds of medicinal herbs, some of which she recognized and some of which she did not.

In the corner by the window on the left side of the pharmacy, an old doctor was seeing patients, stroking his beard as he took the pulse of the person in front of him.

A faint medicinal fragrance filled the pharmacy, and Ji Yongling was somewhat dazed.

Ji Yongling's grandparents used to pick Chinese herbs and dry them at home. There was a row of old-fashioned Chinese medicine cabinets in the house. She used to help her grandparents dry and grind the herbs.

A short while later, a middle-aged man in a long robe came out; he appeared to be the owner of the pharmacy.

When Ji Manchuan saw his employer approaching, he bowed slightly and said, "Hello, employer. This is astragalus that my son and I dug up in the ditch. It's genuine astragalus. Please take a look." With that, he handed over the astragalus in his hand.

The pharmacy owner sized up the Ji father and daughter, took the astragalus from Ji Manchuan's hand, examined it carefully for a moment, then smelled it, nodded, and said, "It's top-quality astragalus, no doubt about it, and it's aged enough. How much do you plan to sell it for?"

Upon hearing this, Ji Manchuan was overjoyed and quickly said with a smile, "Master, please give me a price. Everyone within dozens of miles says that your family is the fairest."

The landlord pondered for a moment and said, "Our Ningping County area doesn't really produce much astragalus. Your astragalus is of superior quality, a rare nine-jin (2.5 catties) variety, which is truly exceptional. So, I won't lie to you, I'll give you two taels of silver per jin, how about that?"

Ji Manchuan quickly calculated in his mind that the price was much higher than Yang's expected, and was about to nod in agreement when he saw Ji Yongling tugging at his clothes.

Ji Manchuan immediately understood, and then tentatively asked, "Master, could you add some more? Look at this, it's at least ten or twenty years old, and it's rare even in Dingyuan, which is famous for producing astragalus."

The pharmacy owner glanced at him and laughed, "You young man know how to do business. How about this, I'll give you two and a half taels per catty, how about that? This is already the highest price, and it's only because a group of southern merchants are passing through the county these days and want to buy some top-grade medicinal herbs to send to some prince. Otherwise, I really can't give you this price."

Upon hearing that it was two ounces and five mace per pound, far exceeding his expectations, Ji Manchuan knew he couldn't argue any further. He quickly nodded and said, "Then thank you, sir."

The pharmacy owner had his apprentice weigh the astragalus root, and it turned out to be nine jin and eight liang.

Actually, Grandpa Ji weighed it at home the day it was dug up. It weighed a little over ten jin. Everyone thought that after two days, it would lose some water and definitely lose a lot of weight. But to their surprise, it didn't lose much weight at all.

Ji Manchuan was thrilled to receive the silver from the pharmacy owner. It was the first time he had ever handled so much silver, and he was somewhat at a loss for words.

Ji Yongling was also excited, staring intently at the gleaming silver in Ji Manchuan's arms. This was the first time she had ever seen ancient silver.

Ji Manchuan turned his head and looked around. Seeing that no one in the pharmacy was paying attention to him, he quietly pulled Ji Yongling aside.

He took out four taels and five mace and gave them to Ji Yongling to carry, intending to use them to buy things later, and repeatedly told him to hide them well.

He wrapped the rest of the silver in a cloth bag and hid it in front of his chest.

Ji Manchuan tightened his belt and jumped twice to make sure the silver in his arms wouldn't fall out before confidently leading Ji Yongling out of the pharmacy.

As they left the pharmacy, Ji Manchuan waved his hand excitedly and said, "Come on, Dad will take you to buy rice, flour, and cotton."

Looking at her father, who seemed a little giddy with excitement as if he had won the lottery, Ji Yongling chuckled inwardly and said, "Dad, are we bringing all this stuff to the truck here and then bringing it home?"

Ji Manchuan slapped his forehead and said, "Oh, oh, oh, I forgot everything in my excitement. Let's go, let's find a stall quickly."