Huai’an county town had a square layout.
The old, tall city wall had been scorched black by fire, marked everywhere with the scars of blades.
The countless wounds seemed to silently tell everyone of the cruelty of war.
Directly to the south was a wide moat, spanned by a broad wooden bridge.
At this moment the city gate was bustling with people coming and going.
After entering the town, Old Li set the carrying basket down on a patch of open ground.
Zhou Daya lifted Chen Xiaoman out of the basket.
“Xiaoman, sit here and play by yourself for a while. Once we sell the tobacco and get the money, Mother will take you around.”
Chen Xiaoman nodded hard. “Mm!”
No sooner had she spoken than someone came to look at the tobacco.
Zhou Daya and Old Li hurried over to attend to them.
Chen Xiaoman looked around and caught sight of a woman with a stall set up nearby. She grinned at the woman, showing a pair of little canine teeth.
The woman smiled back, delighted, a child this endearing wasn’t easy to come by.
She waved Chen Xiaoman over and pointed to the bamboo basket set in front of her.
Chen Xiaoman crouched curiously by the basket and looked inside.
Inside were many jet-black berries, tiny round clusters bunched together, forming fruit about the size of an adult’s fingertip.
The woman called out warmly, “These wild berries are very sweet, want to buy some to try?”
“A perfectly good medicinal herb, and it’s being sold as wild fruit, what a waste, not recognizing its worth!”
Half-Immortal Zhang sighed inside Chen Xiaoman’s heart.
Chen Xiaoman’s eyes lit up. “Can it be sold for money?”
“Take it to a medicine shop and it should sell, though Wupao is an ordinary medicinal herb, it won’t fetch much.”
Chen Xiaoman wasn’t the least bit disappointed.
Anything that could be sold for money was a good thing.
She pointed at the berries eagerly and asked the woman, “How much for this?”
The woman said quickly, “One coin for two… three… four… five catties, how much do you want?”
She’d come before dawn, and it was already the afternoon hours, and she hadn’t sold even a single catty.
It was rare to have a child come ask, she’d certainly be generous.
Chen Xiaoman clasped her small hands and, tilting her head up, negotiated with the woman. “I don’t have money, can I trade a corn cake for it?”
“Trade! As much as you want to trade!”
These were just wild berries some kids at home had picked, and being able to trade them for grain was a real profit.
Wild berries didn’t fill your stomach!
Only a child who didn’t know any better would be willing to trade for them.
Chen Xiaoman took out the corn cake, the size of an adult’s palm, from inside her clothes, and handed it to the woman.
The woman happily took it. She took a lotus leaf and wrapped up a full package of Wupao for her.
Looking down, she saw Chen Xiaoman’s round eyes staring at her.
The woman’s heart softened, and she immediately took another lotus leaf, grabbed two big handfuls, wrapped them up too, and set the bundle in Chen Xiaoman’s arms.
Chen Xiaoman smiled, her eyes curving. “Thank you, Auntie!”
The woman looked away, a little guilty.
“It’s just wild berries that cost nothing, it’s nothing.”
But Chen Xiaoman said, “Once I have another cake, I’ll come trade with you again.”
The woman nodded awkwardly. “Good, good, good.”
She glanced at Zhou Daya and Old Li, who were busy, then hurriedly picked up her basket and walked seven or eight zhang away before stopping.
Chen Xiaoman hugged the two lotus leaf packages and sat quietly on a stone, waiting.
Plenty of people in the county town smoked tobacco, and it sold well.
In less than half an hour, the whole basket of tobacco was sold out.
Having sent off the last customer, Zhou Daya turned to look at Chen Xiaoman.
“Xiaoman, what are you holding?”
Chen Xiaoman toddled over to Zhou Daya, unsteady on her feet.
She held up the two lotus leaf packages toward Zhou Daya as if offering a treasure.
“Mother, this is the medicine I traded my corn cake for.”
Zhou Daya took it and opened it up.
Old Li leaned over to look, then stamped his foot hard. “I told you to leave her at home, but you insisted on bringing her to the county town. Now she’s even traded away our grain for wild berries, what a waste!”
Zhou Daya’s face darkened, and she glared fiercely at Old Li. “Is this how a father is supposed to act, all you can do is talk nonsense from the sidelines.”
Old Li shrank his neck and muttered under his breath, “She’s not even my own blood.”
If she were his own, he’d have hit her by now.
Zhou Daya ignored him, and turned to Chen Xiaoman. “Mother will get the cake back for you!”
Chen Xiaoman shook her head like a rattle drum.
She also lowered her voice mysteriously. “Grandpa Half-Immortal said we can sell it at the medicine shop for lots and lots of money.”
“These wild berries can be found near the village, all the village children pick them and eat them, I’ve never heard of them being some kind of medicine.”
Old Li said angrily, “What Grandpa Half-Immortal, he’s probably some kind of swindler.”
Just here to cheat him out of his grain!
Chen Xiaoman clenched her little fingers and said in her babyish voice, “Grandpa Half-Immortal said he didn’t cheat me.”
She’d just asked Grandpa Half-Immortal about it.
Old Li couldn’t see any Grandpa Half-Immortal, and naturally didn’t believe it.
“That corn cake was saved for my son Chuyuan. If you’re not going to eat it, go get it back.”
Chen Xiaoman lowered her little head in disappointment.
Zhou Daya reached over and pinched the soft flesh at Old Li’s waist.
“Hiss!”
“She’s the one who wasted the food, why are you pinching me?”
Old Li felt very wronged.
“If it weren’t for you telling her to earn money, would she have skimped on grain to trade for wild berries?” Zhou Daya said through gritted teeth.
Such a small child, already thinking about earning money, all because this stingy old man pushed her to it.
Old Li hurried to placate her. “Fine, fine, fine, I won’t say anything more.”
Zhou Daya let go, patted Chen Xiaoman’s little head, and comforted her with a smile. “Let’s go try the medicine shop first.”
Once the medicine shop told them these were just wild berries, she’d never trade grain for them again.
Chen Xiaoman abruptly raised her little head and nodded hard. “Mm!”
Zhou Daya picked up Chen Xiaoman and headed toward the medicine shop.
Old Li grumbled angrily, “She’s the bane of my Li family!”
He stacked the two baskets together, hoisted them onto his back, and followed along.
The medicine shop was on the next street over, just around the corner.
The shopkeeper was sighing at his medicine cabinet when he heard a little girl ask him in her babyish voice, “Shopkeeper, do you want Wupao?”
Wupao!
The shopkeeper spun around abruptly, but saw no one.
His heart pounded wildly.
Had he run into a ghost?
A small hand stretched out from under the counter.
“Mother of mercy!”
The shopkeeper jumped back with a start, bumping the medicine cabinet behind him so hard it rattled loudly.
Then a small head poked up over the counter, showing a pair of round, watchful eyes.
Seeing him, she smiled, her eyes curving.
Only then did the shopkeeper’s heart settle.
He patted his chest.
Somehow, he found himself smiling along with the little girl.
“Where are your parents?”
The little girl rose up on tiptoe and pointed toward the door.
“My father and mother are outside.”
An old couple walked in through the door.
The moment the old man entered, he pulled an apologetic smile and said, “Shopkeeper, my foolish daughter-in-law heard from somewhere that wild berries are medicine, and insisted on coming to have you take a look. Don’t mind her.”
The shopkeeper said, “Eh,” and asked, “Aren’t you here to sell Wupao?”
Old Li was about to speak when Zhou Daya beat him to it. “Shopkeeper, please take a look first.”
As she spoke, she opened the lotus leaf packages and set them on the counter in front of the shopkeeper.
The shopkeeper glanced at it and nodded excitedly again and again. “This is Wupao!”
He’d been scratching his head these past few days trying to collect Wupao.
He hadn’t been eating or sleeping well.
Who would have thought it would come right to his door today.
How could he not be excited?
Chen Xiaoman’s smile grew even brighter.
She cheered inwardly in delight, “Grandpa Half-Immortal is amazing!”
“This is nothing. I’ll teach you to recognize more medicinal herbs later.”
“Thank you, Grandpa Half-Immortal!”
She was going to learn to recognize lots and lots of herbs, and earn lots and lots of money!