After Jiang Ling finished her lunch and reopened the wooden door, the moon had turned over here, and the sun had risen.
It was already the next morning.
Blue skies, white clouds, and the sun shining brightly.
It had finally cleared up!
The villagers of Jishui Village, carrying hoes and baskets, walked along the muddy paths toward the fields.
The heavy rain had just passed; they needed to check if the crops had been affected. Some crops might have been knocked down, but if straightened in time, they could still recover.
As noon approached, the sun grew stronger.
Heat waves rose from the fields, and the villagers, sweating profusely, packed up their farming tools to head home.
Perhaps because the signboard was now hung, the villagers finally noticed that a grocery store had opened here.
“Eh? This old house… since when has there been a shop here?”
“That’s right! Hasn’t this place been abandoned for decades? How did it suddenly open?”
“Old Zhangtou, you know a few words. What’s the name of this shop?”
Old Zhangtou had studied since childhood, achieving the rank of Tongsheng, and knew quite a few characters.
After failing the imperial examinations for over a decade without becoming a Xiucai, he finally gave up and returned to farming.
On weekdays, he helped villagers write letters or couplets to earn some extra income.
Old Zhangtou looked up at the signboard. The characters were easy to recognize, in regular script with a touch of elegance, the strokes firm and vigorous.
“Auspicious. That’s a lucky name!”
“I wonder what this shop sells?”
“Looks like you haven’t seen much of the world. A grocery store naturally sells everything!”
“The outside of this shop looks rundown, but the interior decoration is quite refined.”
Country folks hadn’t seen much of the world. They didn’t dare call it strange, fearing ridicule, so they could only call it refined.
They had come out for farming and hadn’t brought any money, so they didn’t dare enter the shop.
They could only peek inside from outside.
Jiang Ling, sitting at the counter, saw this.
Since she had decided to do business, naturally, she needed to do some promotion and advertising.
She turned and walked to the refrigerator, taking out two large bottles of chilled plum juice, frosty with cold. The transparent bottles refracted light under the sun.
She also took a dozen disposable cups, filled them, and carried them outside.
Jiang Ling smiled warmly. “Esteemed villagers, our little shop officially opens today. Given the hot weather, we’ve prepared some chilled plum juice to help everyone cool off. It’s complimentary. Welcome, everyone, to come and have a taste.”
The villagers were accustomed to such gestures. After all, living in the same village, whenever a shop opened, the owner would usually invite the villagers to come in, sit down, and have some tea.
However, this was the first time the villagers had seen Jiang Ling, so they felt a bit shy.
“Then I won’t stand on ceremony. Thank you, shopkeeper.” The bold Auntie Zhao was the first to step forward. She had been working in the fields all afternoon and was already thirsty.
Following her example, several aunties familiar with her also stepped forward and took a cup. “Thank you, shopkeeper.”
A cool sensation spread from their fingertips!
Auntie Zhao exclaimed in surprise, “Oh!” and took a big gulp.
As the cool plum juice flowed down her throat, it felt as refreshing as rain quenching a fire!
“Wow! It’s really cold!”
“Sour and sweet, with a unique fragrance! Better than Zhou’s in town!”
“So comfortable!”
They had thought the shopkeeper’s “chilled plum juice” was merely cooled in well water, never expecting it to be so icy cold.
Seeing that several aunties had already started drinking, the other villagers no longer hesitated.
They stepped forward in an orderly manner to take a cup.
The more considerate ones even said thank you and wished the shopkeeper prosperity!
Soon, all the plum juice on the tray was gone, and every villager at the door had a cup.
For a moment, sighs of comfort and praise spread among them.
Jiang Ling smiled and said, “The sun is strong outside. Why don’t you all come in and have a seat while you drink?”
The villagers waved their hands in refusal.
Auntie Zhao spoke up, “We’ve just been working in the fields and are sweaty and dirty. We wouldn’t want to soil your tables and chairs.”
The other villagers chimed in agreement.
“That’s right, we’re covered in yellow mud and sweat.”
“We still have to go home to cook, so we won’t disturb you, shopkeeper.”
“Thank you for your kindness, shopkeeper!”
Just then, a woman hurriedly entered the shop, holding something wrapped in coarse cloth.
She was a woman in her early thirties, wearing patched homespun clothes, her face pale and her eyes red and swollen.
She glanced around anxiously but didn’t dare speak.
Jiang Ling went up to her. “Welcome to Jixiang Grocery Store, ma’am. How may I help you?”
The woman pursed her lips, as if steeling herself, before speaking.
“My father-in-law was originally an artisan at the official kiln but was later expelled for making a mistake. This… this was something he obtained from the official kiln… My family is from Xianshui Village downstream. It was flooded by the river two days ago. My younger brother was rescued but caught a severe chill and has been running a high fever that won’t subside. The doctor said if his fever doesn’t break today, there will be no hope…”
As she spoke, the woman began to cry.
Outside, the villagers who had been about to head home now stopped to watch, drawn by the commotion.
“I heard about it too. Baiyang Village and Xianshui Village downstream flooded two days ago when the dam broke. Many houses were submerged, and quite a few people died!”
“Isn’t the young wife from the Zhao family next door from Baiyang Village? She rushed over early this morning. But I heard her family was lucky—no casualties, just their house destroyed.”
“Thank goodness our Jishui Village is located upstream, or we’d be the ones flooded.”
“I heard the flood came suddenly, and the army was involved in the rescue?”
“That you don’t know? That army was transporting provisions, just returning to the capital to report on duties. They happened to be camped at the foot of the mountain when the flood hit, so they could join the rescue in time.”
“To have such luck, you could say the villagers of Baiyang and Xianshui had accumulated blessings. Without the army, who knows how severe the casualties would have been.”
Jiang Ling listened for a while but couldn’t quite grasp the point.
“So, ma’am, what would you like?”
The woman stopped sobbing and carefully unwrapped the coarse cloth, revealing a celadon-glazed vase about half a foot tall.
“…Shopkeeper, I… I’d like to sell this vase to you, to get some money… for my brother’s medicine. Would that be possible? I don’t need much, just a hundred wen would be enough.”
Jiang Ling was taken aback and smiled awkwardly. “But ma’am, this is a grocery store, not a pawnshop.”
First, they treat her place like a restaurant, and now a pawnshop?
Although she sympathized with the woman’s plight, she really couldn’t help.
The celadon vase looked nice, but she wasn’t interested, and more importantly, she had no money!
She had already exchanged the copper coins she had earlier, and now she only had one silver ingot left.
Auntie Zhao spoke up from outside. “I say, Dashan’s mother, the shopkeeper is right. This is a store selling goods, not a pawnshop. If you need money urgently, you should take it to a pawnshop.”
“That’s right, that’s right.”