Walking in the mall for a while, seeing all kinds of cloth sold on both sides, transported from all directions, all kinds of varieties are available, Kang Yuanwai said: "Here is a complete and many goods, and there is nothing special." Although it is cheaper and more convenient, it is crowded and not a good place to go. ”

Jiang Yuanwai said: "Don't say that, it's hard to have all the goods." There is no other place in the world where the fabric is so complete. It's not just the common silk and the like, but also the outside, there are also cotton cloth sellers over there. I heard that Yingtianwu planted grass and cotton in Tangzhou, and it was a great success. Although the cotton cloth is not very good, the jacket made of cotton wool is very warm to wear. It's heavier than silk, but it's much cheaper. - Look, there's something for sale there. ”

Kang Yuan saw it outside and said, "Let's go, go over and buy two pieces for the supervisor at home to wear." They don't have a jacket to wear in winter, which is a little pitiful. ”

At this time, the jacket to protect against the cold in winter was mostly filled with silk cotton, that is, a by-product of silk, and the silk quilts of later generations were similar to this. Silk cotton is light and warm, but it is expensive and not something that ordinary people can afford to wear. At Kang Yuanwai's house, several supervisors in charge of affairs can't afford to wear clothes, but fortunately, the winter in Xiangzhou is not very cold, so it's good to wear a few more clothes. As for those poor families, who can't even afford to buy a few more clothes, they have to fill them with hay, reeds, etc., and barely count them as jackets. The current technical cotton cloth is not well woven, but it is too suitable to be a cotton jacket.

When I got closer, I saw a large row of green robes hanging on the shelf, and the shape was very simple. Open in the middle, a few buttons, and button them up on the body. The opening is a typical right-sided garment, which retains the most important feature of Chinese clothing.

Walking forward, Kang Yuanwai said to the young man who was selling goods, "Bring me one." To be heavy, the price is a little more expensive, there is nothing. ”

The salesman said: "Outside, our coats here are clearly marked with prices, one yard at a price." The yardage is divided into five types: very small, small, medium, large and very large, depending on the figure of each person. If you wear it outside, a medium size is just right. ”

Kang Yuanwai said: "If the price is the same, who doesn't pick a thick one when buying clothes?" ”

The seller laughed: "Don't hide it, our cotton robes here are all weighed when they are made, and they are all the same." ”

Kang Yuanwai asked for one, and said to Jiang Yuanwai beside him: "It's strange, it turns out that this business is done here, but I haven't seen it." ”

The robe was draped on his body, and Kang Yuanwai only felt very heavy, and said: "This robe, wearing it is a little heavier, is there any thinner?" ”

"Nope. I wear it to go out in extremely cold weather. If you wear it on weekdays, there is a small jacket over there, and you can go over to see it. ”

Kang Yuanwai took off his robe, looked at it in his hand for a while, and said, "It's better to buy two." When it is cold, people patrol at night and wear clothes to protect against the cold. I ask you, how much does this robe actually sell? ”

The salesman said: "Outside the staff, we are all clearly marked with prices here, and you see there is a sign hanging over there." If the price does not match, you can go to the yamen of the shopping mall to make a first complaint. This cotton robe, medium size, has always been sold for a price of 050 cents. ”

Kang Yuanwai nodded, and said to Jiang Yuanwai beside him: "It's not expensive." If you buy a cotton robe in the market, you will have to pay three or five times, but this one is more than half cheaper, and it is extremely heavy, and it is no worse than fur to wear it to protect against the cold. ”

Jiang Yuanwai said with a smile: "The fur is going to be dozens of times, how can it be compared?" For one or two dollars, ordinary people can afford it. ”

Kang Yuanwai took out the money, bought two cotton robes, let the entourage take them, and continued to walk forward together.

Now the quality of the cotton grown in Tangzhou is really poor, and it is used for spinning and weaving, and the quality is not high. Du Zhongxiao instructed the camp to continue to improve the varieties on the one hand, and on the other hand, he made this kind of cotton robe and made some money first. This is actually the military coat of later generations, the most common winter winter clothing in the countryside when Du Zhongxiao was a child. The cut is simple, and it is suitable for mass production. The price of a piece is roughly the same money, and after removing various costs, one mu of cotton can earn one or twenty yuan, which is much more cost-effective than growing grain.

Walked through the place where cloth clothes, shoes and socks were sold, and when I arrived at an intersection, I looked around, all kinds of daily necessities and pastries and grains and fruits were sold. Since this is a department store, there should be some food that is not local. Where to sell fruit and the like, let's go and see. Eating oranges every day, the people in the family are really a little tired. ”

Jiang Yuanwai pointed to a sign on the side of the road and said, "It's not written before, it's not a long way forward is a place where fruits are sold." ”

According to the street signs, a few people walked forward a short distance before they arrived at the fruit stall. Looking at the roadside stalls, all kinds of fruits are dazzling and full, and Kang Yuanwai said happily: "This is some fun!" There are so many fruits, not comparable to the outside. ”

In the past, I saw the most locally produced citrus, as well as papaya, sugar cane, and so on. At this time, the earth was warm, and many fruits produced in Lingnan in later generations were produced in the Jinghu Jiangnan area. It is like papaya, not only there are many local products in Xiangzhou, but also famous products in Luoyang. Even lychees can be grown in Xiangzhou, but the quality is not good, not as good as the Sichuan-Shu region and Fujian Road. At this time, the quality of lychees in Guangdong was the worst, but the yield was the largest.

One of the most famous poems about lychees in later generations, Su Shi's "300 lychees a day, no matter how long you are a Lingnan person", often makes people misunderstand that Lingnan's lychees are good at this time, but they are actually many and cheap. Su Shi was degraded, his income was not high, and he was often so poor. It's like going to Huangzhou to eat pork, which is most often taken out to prove that pork in the Song Dynasty was cheap. In fact, in that place in Huangzhou, everything was cheap in this era, and fish and the like were not even sold in catties, but in piles. Dozens of dollars can make a few families eat. It is also the main production area of cattle in the Song Dynasty, and a cow is a dollar or two, and if you can really slaughter the cattle and sell it, beef will be cheaper than pork. The rivers and lakes are full of swamps, which are not suitable for raising sheep, and mutton is expensive.

The transportation is not developed, the commercial circulation is inconvenient, and the local prices vary greatly at this time. Kaifeng Mansion is undoubtedly expensive for everything, so there are often officials who ask for foreign appointments, and some people say it very bluntly, that is, because of the same Yulu, the living standard in other places can rise a lot.

Several people outside the staff are rich and noble, and they usually eat a lot of local fruits, and they all want to change their tastes. Walking forward a few stalls, Kang Yuanwai's eyes lit up: "It's here!" You see, this side sells from the north, and the other side comes from the south, and the varieties are complete. ”

Walk in front of the northern fruit stall and see that there are small signs standing on it, writing the name of the fruit and the place of origin. At this time, the most developed places for fruit cultivation in the north are Hebei Road and Jingxi Road. Through the train, the people sold here are mainly from Jingxi Road, and all kinds of famous products.

Kang Yuanwai pointed to a big pear and said: "Zhengzhou Yuer pear, known as the first in the world, can be more than a catty." I used to eat it by chance when I was in Kaifeng Mansion, and it was extremely sweet. Are your Yu'er pears here really from Zhengzhou? ”

The little guy smiled all over his face, and said: "Outside, it clearly says that it is produced in Zhengzhou, how can it be wrong?" This kind of big pear can't be grown anywhere else. If you like to eat pears, we have several varieties here. You see, Luoyang's Sydney pears and Fengqi pears, Chenzhou's green sand rotten, we have them all sold here. There is also the goose pear of the Daimyo Mansion on Hebei Road, which is extremely sweet and delicious, and it is a tribute. ”

Kang Yuanwai said: "Take ten pieces of each with me, wrap them up, and calculate the price together." ”

The little guy said: "Outside the staff, we are different from the hawkers outside, we don't sell by the piece, we sell by the pound." Different varieties have different prices. Since there are ten pieces of each, the small ones are weighed for you, so let's write them down here. ”

As he spoke, he took a variety of pears and asked another little guy to weigh them. At this time, the winter fruits are mainly citrus and various pears, and the most common apples in later generations are still primitive species, small. There are also some differences in the name, later generations called the pear in the north mostly Ya pear, but at this time it was called goose pear, and the most produced in Hebei Road was the best.

After wrapping the pear, the little guy pointed to a kind of peach and said: "Outside, this one is a winter peach, which is produced in Mi County." Unlike other peaches, they are not ripe until winter, just in season. This peach is sweet and delicious, and there is no seed in the middle, which is a treasure in the world. ”

It is not easy to eat peaches at this time, so Kang Yuanwairang took ten of them and weighed them well. This winter peach is very famous in the Central Plains, and Du Zhongxiao also bought it to eat. It is said that when this peach is ripe, it will crack on its own, and the peach pit will fall out of it, and then it will grow again, and it will be seedless. Du Zhongxiao always felt that this statement was unreliable and too magical. I have always suspected that the growers there may have used some special method to remove the kernels inside. It's just that the law is not spread, outsiders don't know, and the more it is spread, the more outrageous it becomes.

I bought some common northern fruits such as chestnuts, persimmons, walnuts and ginkgo, and Kang Yuanwai and others went to the southern fruit stall.

The citrus of Zhejiang, the lychee and sugarcane of Fujian are all famous fruits at this time, which are selected and processed and spread all over the world. However, it was difficult to eat fresh food before, so Kang Yuan bought more outside. Although there is no way to buy lychees, there are no fresh fruits to buy, and the others are watery.

It was really rare before, and there were kumquats produced in Jiangxi Road. This fruit is very famous at this time, and it was sold in Xiangzhou by chance in the past, but there is everything here. There are also coconuts and olives from Guangdong Road, which have never been seen before, and Kang Yuan bought a lot of them.

Seeing that a few of his entourages were full, Kang Yuanwai said: "I knew that the goods here were so complete, so I brought a few baskets, otherwise I would buy too much and take them back?" Let's do it today, and buy it in a few days. ”

The little guy said: "Outside, turn around from here, there is a monopoly basket, you can go over and buy a few." ”

Kang Yuan said goodbye to each other, exchanged dozens of money, asked an entourage to buy a basket over there, and accompanied several other members to watch outside. This kind of scene is rare, and everyone outside the staff bought a lot of tricks and went back to satisfy their hunger.