After transmigrating, he supported his family by working at a garbage dump.

That makes sense, since Zhang He is the kind of person who would rather suffer herself than trouble others too much.

Hu San Niang didn't quite agree with this view, but expressed her understanding.

She felt that since everyone knew each other, it was not a bad thing to interact more. Why bother with those trivial matters and make yourself uncomfortable?

Zhang He wasn't really that desperate. She was mainly worried that if she went inside, Madam Wu would try to get her to have lunch with her again, and she wouldn't be able to refuse then. That's why she didn't dare to go in.

They quickly changed the subject.

"Why hasn't Brother Li returned yet? Isn't he going for a stroll with us?"

Xu Zhuzhu felt embarrassed. After hearing her mother's words, she gently scratched the back of her mother's head to ease her embarrassment.

She personally felt that the topic of her mother was changed too abruptly.

Her brother didn't notice.

After all, from childhood to adulthood, apart from the grand principles her father talked about, her brother had never been very interested in the polite exchanges between adults.

He always listened silently and rarely offered any opinions.

Hu San Niang also realized this, so she stopped dwelling on Zhang He's earlier remarks and instead went with the flow, continuing the conversation directly about Li Quanfu.

"He still needs to go to my elder brother's house to inquire about things at the yamen, and then he needs to go to the school to deliver Xiao Mo and give the teacher his tuition. I'm afraid there will be a lot of trouble ahead of him. Let's take our time strolling around, and when we get tired, we can wait for him at the entrance of town."

Zhang He nodded in agreement; she had no objections, after all, the main character at this market was Hu San Niang.

"Then I'll trouble you to show us around properly, sister-in-law. To be honest, I've always been in a rush when I come to the market before, and I've never really had a chance to explore it properly."

"Don't worry, I've been shopping here since I was a kid, how could I let you shop here for nothing?"

Hu Sanniang smiled and looked at the bustling street, patting her chest and making a guarantee to Zhang He and her two children.

Xu Zhuzhu was also infected by this smile, and skipped to Hu Sanniang's side, saying in a clear voice, "Godmother! Take me to eat candied hawthorns!"

She was indeed craving it; she had loved it in her past life. Unfortunately, traditional candied hawthorns were a rare treat in the south. Even if you wanted to eat them, you might not be able to find a place to buy them. You had to go to places like pedestrian streets to look for them, and only then might you occasionally come across them.

Back in Qingzhou, when she was teething, her mother kept a close eye on her and she never got to eat it more than twice. Now, just thinking about it makes her crave it even more.

Hu Sanniang hugged Xu Zhuzhu, pinched her cheek, and coaxed her with a laugh, "Alright, alright! There's one over there on the street, your godmother will take you there."

Next, Hu San Niang led the mother and her two children nimbly through the streets and alleys of Qingshan Town, looking here and there.

It was much better than when they were wandering around aimlessly; this trip brought many pleasant surprises.

Zhang He came to the city today mainly to visit Granny Mi, and also to buy some needles and thread. In case of any unforeseen circumstances, she also took Xu Wenjie's advice and brought a string of cash with her.

Who knew that while browsing around, I would end up spending two or three hundred coins.

Seeing the nice fabric, I couldn't resist buying a few more feet to make a little bib for Xu Zhuzhu. I also saw some nice rabbit skins being sold by a hunter, and the price was reasonable, so I bought two more to make hats and gloves for the child.

In the end, a lot of money was spent, but the needle and thread were still not bought.

Hu San Niang walked ahead to lead the way, and they strolled around together. She bought quite a few things, though not as many as Zhang He, but she still had a great time.

At this moment, the group of people were standing in front of a fish stall.

"It's so cold, yet there are still such fresh and large fish. That's quite rare." Hu Sanniang squatted down, looking at the fish jumping around in the basin, quite puzzled.

After asking, I learned that the fish were not sold by weight, but by the piece, regardless of size, for a flat price of eight coins per fish.

Xu Zhuzhu was surprised. The fish stall owner was clever. This way, he could sell much more fish than by weight, since people love to get a bargain.

Coincidentally, Zhang He thought about how weak Xu Wenjie had looked these past two days, so she decided to buy him a tonic to help him recover. However, after looking around, she couldn't find one that satisfied her.

The main reason is that her family doesn't really like to eat fish, and when she was in the north, she didn't know how to cook it, so she bought less fish. She just followed her grandmother's example and made a crucian carp and tofu soup.

Of course, Xu Zhuzhu wasn't in this "family." Xu Zhuzhu was still drinking milk a year after she was born. After her grandmother passed away, her family's diet consisted of food prepared by her father, who was in mourning. They were forbidden from eating meat and fish, which is quite funny.

She's lived here all her life, and it seems she's never even eaten fish before...

Zhang He was still hesitant, but in the end Hu San Niang helped her choose. Since she had bought crucian carp, she naturally had to buy tofu to make soup, which cost her even more money. Although tofu was not expensive, Zhang He felt that she had spent too much.

I feel uneasy about spending this money.

Even though Xu Wenjie had specifically told her not to overthink it, and that she intended to use the money to shop around today, she couldn't control her feelings.

Seeing that she was buying more and more and more, and that she was starting to lose control, Zhang He hurriedly urged Hu San Niang to take her to find needles and thread.

Hu San Niang was somewhat conflicted.

It wasn't that she was unwilling, but the weather was bad, and she was a little unsure of what to do. "It's cold, and I don't know if the old woman is old or if she's even here yet."

"Let's go take a look. If we can't find it there, we'll just try looking at the clothing store," Zhang He said readily, not dwelling on the details.

Hu Sanniang nodded in agreement. She agreed, saying they would find out when they got there, so there was no need to think about it now. As they talked, Hu Sanniang led Zhang He toward the end of West Street.

Xu Zhuzhu's family's snack stall isn't located here, but I've heard that West Street mainly sells chickens, ducks, and poultry, and occasionally fruits and vegetables.

I didn't know they sold fabrics and needles here.

Xu Zhuzhu guessed that the old woman probably wouldn't get a good spot.

Sure enough, Hu San Niang immediately explained, "The old woman is too old to get a good spot. There are many people selling chickens and ducks over there, and the smell is a bit unpleasant. But fortunately, ordinary people won't think that the old woman is stealing their business or anything, and they won't make things difficult for her."

Hu Sanniang sighed, "She's a pitiful person too. I only discovered her by chance."

As for the old woman's story, she didn't go into details, but judging from this, being in this position wasn't necessarily a bad thing.

Soon, Hu San Niang led the mother and her two children past two or three stalls selling poultry and stopped in front of a stall at the street corner.

The table was there, with two wooden buckets on it. Obviously, these two buckets couldn't possibly contain needles, thread, or cloth.

Looking closer, there were hardly any people behind the stall, and naturally, the so-called old lady was nowhere to be seen.

Hu San Niang had expected this, but she was still a little disappointed. "It seems we won't meet. He Niang, I'm really sorry. The thread from your mother-in-law's house is really good."

This is also something that can't be helped.

"No problem?"

Zhang He smiled and continued, "This is something that can't be forced. Perhaps the road is difficult to travel and the old lady can't come. It's not a big deal. We can just go to the clothing shop."

Although the ready-made clothing store has a wide variety of thread colors, the quality is indeed not very good.

The thread Zhang He bought at the clothing store was indeed spun too finely. It was fine for embroidering flowers and handkerchiefs, but it wouldn't be very durable for making clothes or sewing quilts.

Last time, she had to thread four strands of thread together to make the quilt. When she pulled two strands together, it broke after just a couple of pulls.

It cost her quite a bit of money!

Of course, this is also a good thing for clothing stores, and it will probably be a business opportunity for them.

Xu Zhuzhu didn't understand any of this, so she stopped listening and stayed by her mother's side, staring at her brother blankly, not knowing what they were doing.

Just as I was feeling bored, a commotion suddenly broke out from the chicken stall behind me.

"You damned little bastard! You dare steal my chickens? I'll beat you to death!"

A burly, middle-aged man with a stubble beard cursed, accompanied by the constant sharp cracking of a whip and the painful, fearful whimpers of animals.

Hearing the sound of flesh being torn apart, Xu Zhuzhu was startled and turned around, feeling extremely angry.