Chapter 19: Shop, Shop, Shop

After leaving the government office, Ning Dalang was drenched in sweat. Ning Xin wasn’t any better off.

“Father.”

“Let’s go.”

The father and daughter waited until they were a bit farther from the office before they began to breathe heavily.

“Father, I was so scared.”

“I was terrified too,” Ning Dalang said, taking a few deep breaths.

Once they had calmed themselves, they decided to buy some things.

“Shopkeeper, two jin of sunflower seeds and three jin of peanuts, please.”

Ning Dalang called out, and the shopkeeper smiled as he hurriedly weighed the goods and packed them into the cloth bag Ning Dalang had brought.

Ning Dalang glanced over at Ning Xin, who was peering into the shop, then added a jin of rice candy and half a jin of candied fruit.

“Father...”

Ning Xin tugged at Ning Dalang’s sleeve, reminding him that Mother had not asked for candied fruit or rice candy.

“Father knows what he’s doing,” he replied.

After leaving the dry goods shop, they went to buy liquor.

“Do you want sorghum liquor, bamboo leaf green, or Huadiao wine?” The prices varied, and naturally, the flavors differed as well.

“Buy two jin and get a wine jar free,” the shopkeeper said, catching both Ning Dalang and Ning Xin’s attention.

Especially since the Huadiao wine jar was beautiful; once the wine was finished, it could be used as a flower vase.

Ning Xin tugged at Ning Dalang’s sleeve again, signaling him to look at the Huadiao wine.

“Shopkeeper, how much is the Huadiao per jin?”

“Fifty wen per jin.”

Two jin would be one hundred wen. Ning Dalang winced at the price, but Ning Xin wanted the wine jar.

Liquor was brewed from grain, expensive indeed, and something he usually wouldn’t dare to buy.

He gritted his teeth and bought two jin.

After leaving the liquor shop, they went to buy glutinous rice.

With so many people at home, ten jin wouldn’t be enough. Ning Dalang thought for a moment and asked for twenty jin.

He also bought three jin of raw peanuts; frying them the next day would make a nice dish to accompany the wine.

Ten jin each of red beans, green beans, peas, and sorghum rice were also purchased.

These were staples consumed in large quantities at home. After bargaining with the rice shopkeeper, they were given a bamboo woven basket as a gift.

They filled the basket to the brim.

How could one eat dumplings without vinegar?

The vinegar seller said if they bought three jin, they would receive a jar for free. Ning Dalang and Ning Xin looked at each other and silently agreed to buy three jin.

“What about soy sauce?” Ning Dalang asked.

“Same deal — buy three jin, get a jar.”

The price was the same, and more jars meant more convenience.

“Add three jin of soy sauce, please.”

This was how the various bottles and jars at home gradually accumulated.

Ning Xin, carrying tens of jin of grain on his back, told Ning Dalang he would carry it.

“Father, let me carry it. You walk slower with all that weight,” he said bluntly.

Ning Dalang sighed helplessly and went off to buy pork.

At this hour, the pork wasn’t exactly fresh, but to Ning Xin and the others, any meat would do.

Ning Dalang hesitated between three and five jin.

Three jin wouldn’t be enough, but five jin would nearly exhaust the five qian silver that Ning Xin’s wife had given him.

“Father, buy five jin. It’s been so long since we had dumplings,” Ning Xin urged.

Besides, everyone at home could eat it. Dumplings with three jin of meat would be fine, but definitely not as tasty as with more meat.

Then Ning Dalang recalled that Ning Xin had earned five taels selling wild boars.

He steeled himself.

Buy it!

On the way home, Ning Xin carried the grain while Ning Dalang bore the pork, soy sauce, vinegar, peanuts, sunflower seeds, rice candy, and liquor.

The two of them hurried along, their minds fixed on returning. Neither spoke; they simply focused on their journey.

Ning Dalang felt joyful thinking about the upcoming house repairs.

Ning Xin, anticipating having his own room, was also happy.

Ning Family Village.

The Ning family’s main house.

Madam Meng had already prepared the flour for leavening; dried radish was soaked and chopped finely; chives were washed and placed in a bamboo basket.

Ning Nuan and Ning Huan were hanging clothes to dry, while Ning Kui and Ning Zhuang had returned carrying a bundle of dry branches.

Everyone eagerly awaited the evening dumplings, ready to eat their fill.