The next morning, Chen Lan made sweet glutinous rice balls and sweet rice wine eggs, which both Xu Mingxuan and Xiang Xi loved, for everyone. After a warm and delicious breakfast, they changed into their outdoor clothes. Feeling warm all over, the group prepared to set off for the border market with a cart full of grain.
Er Zhuang drove the ox cart along the shortcut, bringing everyone to the border market set up in Dabai Building. They arrived early today, and the sun had just risen by the time they reached their destination.
The border residents from both countries were just beginning to set up their stalls. Since there was too much to carry from the ox cart, Chen Lan asked Er Zhuang to park the cart outside the courtyard of a house relatively far from the stalls. Apart from Er Zhuang, who remained to guard the cart, Chen Lan, Xu Mingxuan, and Xiang Xi got off the cart. Each carrying a heavily laden basket, they began to wander through the market.
Xiang Xi went directly to the stalls on the Russian side. Today, Chen Lan and Xu Mingxuan, as a couple, first visited the stalls on the Chinese side. After browsing, they discovered that the vast majority of stall owners were exchanging their household necessities for grain! These items were truly diverse, including mountain goods collected from the forest, millstones, water buckets, kerosene lamps, large floral bowls, vases, pickled vegetable jars, and so on. Some people were even exchanging cotton-padded jackets! One middle-aged man, shivering with cold, was trying to trade a cotton-padded jacket.
Chen Lan thought to herself, in such cold weather in the Northeast, someone was trading a cotton-padded jacket for grain. Their family must be nearly starving! Seeing this, the couple knew it was time for them to step in.
Chen Lan signaled Xu Mingxuan to go and talk to the middle-aged man, while she continued to wander with her basket. Xu Mingxuan led the shivering middle-aged man to where Er Zhuang's ox cart was parked. Without beating around the bush, Xu Mingxuan said directly, "Brother, please put on the cotton-padded jacket first. With a shortage of medicine now, what will happen to your wife and children if you catch a serious illness from the cold?"
The middle-aged man said in a trembling voice, "Young brother, thank you. I'm not cold. Please take a look at this cotton-padded jacket. Although it's not new, it was made two years ago, and I haven't worn it much. My wife is meticulous and takes good care of things. Every year, she takes it apart and washes it clean. Young brother, please look closely, this padded jacket is very warm."
Xu Mingxuan glanced at the old cotton-padded jacket in the man's hand and continued, "Brother, please put on the jacket first, and then we can talk."
The middle-aged man stubbornly refused to put on the jacket and, shivering, said, "Young brother, to be honest, my family is running out of food. My wife has caught a cold and cannot get out of bed at home. We don't have anything valuable to trade. I'm really at a loss. I came to this market today hoping to exchange this cotton-padded jacket for some grain or medicinal herbs. Young brother, please take a look at this jacket."
Xu Mingxuan sighed, took the cotton-padded jacket from the middle-aged man, and draped it over his shoulders. Before the middle-aged man could speak anxiously, he said, "Brother, don't be in a hurry to speak. Listen to me first. Brother, I've seen you before. I know your family lives in Kuangou Village, right?"
The middle-aged man nodded blankly. Xu Mingxuan continued, "Brother, I recognize you, and you don't need to be surprised. It's because I've seen you leading the villagers to pay public grain. We all live our lives, and everyone has their difficulties. I have some grain here that I'd like to lend you to help you through this tough time."
As soon as Xu Mingxuan finished speaking, the middle-aged man was so startled that he waved his hands repeatedly, repeatedly saying, "I can't accept this, I can't accept this! Young brother, we are not related!"
Xu Mingxuan was at a loss at this point. He thought, no wonder Ar Lan was so frustrated back then saying, "It's so difficult to even give something away! Why is it so hard to give someone something?" He had told Ar Lan she was overthinking things then. Now he finally understood Ar Lan's feelings at that time.
With this thought, Xu Mingxuan decided to change his approach. He continued, "Brother, I'm lending this to you to build good karma. I don't mean anything else by it; I just want to help. However, I do have a condition! As I said, no one knows what difficulties they might encounter one day. Don't worry, I'm not a bad person, and I won't ask you to do anything illegal. My condition is very simple: if one day I run into trouble and need your help, I hope you'll be able to lend a hand. Besides, your wife and children are waiting for you to bring back medicine and grain, aren't they?"
The middle-aged man listened to Xu Mingxuan and, after opening his mouth, couldn't think of any rebuttal. He nodded and said, "Brother, thank you. I understand your intention; you want to help me. I, Zhang Ergou, am a sensible person and not ungrateful. I will remember your kindness! My home is in Kuangou Village. My name is Zhang Ergou, and I'm a team leader in the village. My cousin is the accountant in Kuangou Village. My home is easy to find. Just go to the village and ask for Zhang Ergou, and people will take you to me!"
The two men didn't say much more. Since Kuangou Village was not far from Dabai Building, and the amount of grain borrowed was quite a lot, Xu Mingxuan asked Er Zhuang to go along to identify the house and deliver a bag of potatoes, a bag of sweet potatoes, and a bag of corn kernels to Zhang Ergou. He then asked them to wait a moment. Xu Mingxuan found Chen Lan, who was busy exchanging goods, and took some cold medicine for treating wind-heat cold and anti-inflammatory drugs from her, then returned to where the ox cart was parked.
After clearly explaining the usage and precautions for the two types of pills to Zhang Ergou, he had Er Zhuang escort Zhang Ergou back to Kuangou Village.
Watching the ox cart recede into the distance, Xu Mingxuan let out a soft sigh of helplessness. The drought had only passed for a year, and some villages were already on the brink of starvation. How would the villagers endure for the next two years? He could only help one person at a time!
Xu Mingxuan turned to look for Chen Lan and found that she had almost exchanged everything at the stalls here. She was now standing at a stall exchanging a millstone, talking to an old man and a young man. As Xu Mingxuan walked closer, he heard Chen Lan pointing at several bags of grain and saying, "Grandpa, please take the grain home first, and you can use the millstone at your home for now. I'll be going on a long trip to visit relatives soon. When I return from out of town and have time, I'll drive the ox cart to your home to pick it up. You should use the millstone often; don't let it gather dust, don't let insects nest in it, and don't let it get too dirty."
Watching the father and son, who were exchanging the millstone, drive away in their ox cart, Xu Mingxuan finally walked up to them.