These days, there are people at home, and Zi Qing doesn't need to stay home alone anymore. Zi Qing thought about going to the market to find something new and interesting. She still hasn't found sweet potatoes yet, but heard that someone is growing them. Zi Qing mainly wants to grow sweet potatoes for easy pig feed, and dried wisteria leaves can be stored until winter for the pigs to eat too. Also, there are fruit trees, but she doesn't know if anyone sells saplings?

  On the tenth day, early in the morning, Ziqing asked Shen Shi for some money, saying she wanted to go with her elder brother and others to take a look at the market. Shen Shi didn't ask much, since buying small chickens and selling couplets, she had trusted that the children wouldn't waste money, besides, in her opinion, without Ziqing's purchase of sweet potato seeds, there wouldn't be today's good days.

  As they were about to leave, Zilu and Zishou both followed them out. Zifu untied the string of copper coins and gave twenty to each of Zilu and Ziqing, and five to Zishou, keeping the rest for himself.

  Four people arrived at the town's market, it was too crowded, and being summer, all sorts of stenches and sweat smells mixed together were really unbearable. Just as they were thinking of leaving, Zishou shouted: "Isn't that Ah Po? What is Ah Po doing?"

  Zi Fu said: "Auntie is selling cool tofu. Let's go."

  "Big brother, I'm hungry and I have money," said Zi Shou.

  At this point, Zǐ Fú also didn't know how to explain it to his younger brother.

  Ziying took a look and found that Tian Shi had already seen them, so it was better not to leave. So he walked over to greet him, and it turned out that Tian Shi was selling liangfen made from lotus root powder, which is called green bean jelly here. Adding some sugar and vinegar makes it sour and sweet, very suitable for summer. In the past, Ziying's mother would make it herself. There's also a black one called grass bean jelly, made from a kind of wild herb cut from the mountain, with a very low cost. Ziying had eaten it before too. After standing there for a while, Ziying found that the black one was 1 cent per bowl and the green bean jelly was 2 cents, business wasn't bad.

  A few people stood there, and Tian Shi didn't seem to want to give them food either. He suddenly turned to Erzi Fu and said: "Someone is coming home to visit relatives the day after tomorrow, ask your dad to come over once, nothing important, bring your younger brother and sister back early, it's too hot today."

  "Grandma, I want to eat cold tofu." Zi Shou looked around for half a day but no one helped him get the cold tofu, so he spoke up himself.

  Tian heard this and used his hand to scoop out some crumbs from the bucket, stuffed them into Zishou's mouth, saying: "Alright, you've eaten, go home now, Grandma still needs to make money."

  Zi Shou struggled free from Tian Shi's hand and said: "Auntie, I want a whole bowl of it, with sugar in it, just like theirs."

  "What's wrong with all of you, acting like a bunch of hungry ghosts? Didn't I say that Grandma wants to sell the house? Hurry up and go home."

  "Grandma, I have money, look." After finishing speaking, Zi Shou took out the five copper coins from his pocket.

  Tian's family was stunned, and he really stretched out his hand to take the copper plate. Zifu's face changed quickly, and Ziqing was also very angry. He wanted to pull Zishou away, but the copper plate had already reached Tian's hands. Not eating it would be a waste for her. As expected, Tian's craftsmanship was not bad either. In a short while, she made four bowls of black-colored, sour-sweet, and icy-cold dishes using well water. Zishou quickly finished eating them. Ziqing asked him: "Little three, do you want to eat more?" Zishou nodded.

  Ziying asked Tian to make another bowl of grass tofu, but Tian was somewhat displeased. However, she quickly realized that she had received five copper coins from her grandson and hastily made another bowl for Zishou.

  After eating, Zi Qing suddenly wanted to continue strolling around. "Big brother, what is 'looking at relatives'?" Zi Qing recalled Tian Shi's words from earlier.

  "Looking at relatives is what the matchmaker said was a good family, if they are interested, then take a look. It's about the little girl's family, don't ask about these things." Zi Fu explained.

  It was Xia Yu's fault after all, and Zi Qing still felt some sympathy for her second aunt, having heard that she had been ill as a child.

  After looking around, there wasn't a single good-looking pear. The pears were that awkward color and not big, but the plums were still okay. However, these fruits couldn't be put on display. Zi Qing wanted to find those large, shiny pears that could be sold at a high price. Most importantly, she wanted to find some sweet oranges that could be kept until Chinese New Year, which would be auspicious and delicious, and definitely sell for a good price. But where could they be found?

  "Big brother, what's your favorite fruit?" Zi Qing asked, wanting to get a glimpse of his preferences from the side.

  "Fruits, our family's living conditions in the past couldn't afford to eat fruits, and it wasn't until this year that my brother had his first taste of watermelon."

  "Big brother, you must have eaten some free fruit before, you must have seen what kind of fruit trees other people's homes have." Zi Qing continued to ask.

  " Fruit trees, that's right, didn't you always go with Xiushui and others to steal peaches from the door, and oranges from the neighbor's tree? Didn't Xiuying and Xiushui's aunts let you keep watch while they used bamboo sticks to pick them? You said their oranges were delicious, with powder on them. Don't you remember?" asked Zifeng.

  "Brother, I asked if you have seen him, not me." Luckily, I reacted quickly.

  "I remember that last Mid-Autumn Festival, Eldest Sister brought back some green pomelos from her hometown, they were very sour. And also pomegranates." Second Brother recalled.

  Tangerines are worth considering, but they can't be kept for as long as sweet oranges. Moreover, sweet oranges can sell for a higher price. Zi Qing's favorite is still sweet orange, such as the Gan Nan sweet orange that she loved to eat in her previous life. If it tastes good, it can sell for a good price. Since we're going to plant them, we should plant high-quality ones, just like watermelons. However, the returns on fruit are not visible in the short term.

  Zi Qing is worried that more and more people will grow watermelons, and their family's income will decrease year by year, so they need to find alternative products. However, it's clearly not the season for various types of tangerines and oranges to be on the market now, can only go to Anzhou during Mid-Autumn Festival to take a look. Apples are not suitable for cultivation here, but saw a kind of small apple called Sha Guo, which is not delicious at all.

  After searching for half a day, Ziqing found another type of melon, but locally it's called pear melon. Although the price is not high, planting some in our own vegetable garden can still satisfy our cravings. Ziqing picked a few, and also picked a few pears, only finding six fist-sized ones in the whole market, hoping for a genetic mutation in the future. Peaches are gone too, they went out of season early.

  "Ah, little sister, I remembered that in Ah Po's vegetable garden, there are two trees that are either tangerine or orange trees, and they're already over a foot tall. Ah Po said we should dig them up, afraid that if they grow bigger, it'll be hard to get rid of them, and the kids will steal the fruits and ruin the vegetable garden." Zi Fu said.

  "Then you remember to dig it up in winter, and tell Grandma about it, so she can keep it for you." Zi Qing said.

  "Also, isn't there a pomelo tree in the newly built kitchen of your mother's house? It's just that it hasn't borne fruit yet, I don't know if it tastes good or not?" said Zi Lu.

  "That tree is too big, Auntie wouldn't be willing to give it to us." Zifeng said.

  This child is not worried, as long as there are results, they can eat a few and keep some for themselves.

  Back home, Zifou told his father that Ah Po had asked him to go over the day after tomorrow, as someone was coming to pay a visit. Shen Shi said: "It's so hot now, isn't it too urgent to come and pay a visit? Generally, isn't it usually during the autumn harvest when people are free?"

  "Who knows what's going on, we'll find out the day after tomorrow. Xia Yu is also sixteen this year, if we drag it on any longer, it will delay Qiu Yu's matters too." Mother is worried in her heart as well," said Zeng Rui Xiang.

  Zi Qing only then realized that the girls here usually get married at fifteen or sixteen, and if they are late, they cannot be later than eighteen, otherwise they will be laughed at.