The capital city is divided into four cities, East City, West City, South City, and North City. The East Market is mainly the Imperial City. Nanshi is the area where dignitaries live. West Market is a business district, and most merchants live here. Beishi is a slum area, and the people who live here are poor or low-income people.
West Market is a business district, very prosperous and lively. There are many shops, restaurants and guesthouses here. Both sides of the street are also filled with various stalls. The shouts here ring from morning till night.
Zhao Yao sat on Liang Run's shoulder, looking around curiously. He found that there were many new shops and stalls here since he hadn't been there for a while.
Liang Run saw the stall in front of him buying sugar paintings, so he walked over with Zhao Yao on his back and asked the boss to draw a tiger. There was another seller selling red dates and yam cakes in front, and Liang Run bought some more for Zhao Yao.
Zhao Yao sat on Liang Run's shoulder, eating sweet sugar paintings and delicious red date and yam cake.
Not far in front, someone was performing a show, breathing fire from the mouth, breaking large rocks from the chest, throwing large porcelain jars, etc.
There are many people watching, and when they see something wonderful, they will applaud and praise. At this time, someone came up to everyone with a cymbal, and everyone gave them a few rewards.
Liang Run also gave two copper coins, and then carried Zhao Yao forward. There was another performer in front, an old man directing a big monkey and a little monkey to do various interesting and fun moves, making the onlookers laugh.
These two monkeys have golden fur, handsome faces, and very smart expressions, which are very popular with onlookers.
The big monkey was still performing boxing, and the little monkey walked up to the onlookers with a large cracked bowl, humming and saying something.
Although the onlookers couldn't understand what the little monkey was saying, they could probably guess what it meant, so they tipped a few coins into the bowl.
The little monkey is very understanding of human nature. When someone gives money, it will bow and thank you.
The onlookers liked the little monkey even more when they saw it was so polite. People who originally only rewarded one copper plate would be tempted to reward another one or two copper plates.
After a while, the little monkey walked up to Zhao Yao. Not long ago, Zhao Yao asked Liang Run to put him down.
The little monkey was a little afraid of Lai Man who was following Zhao Yao. Seeing its fear, Zhao Yao asked Lai Man to hide behind him.
"Laiman is very good, he won't bite you." Zhao Yao said, putting the five coins in his hand into the broken bowl in the little monkey's hand. "What's your name?" He asked again, "You're so beautiful. Are you a boy or a girl?" This was the first time he saw a monkey covered in golden fur.
The little monkey felt a kind feeling from Zhao Yao, which made him boldly step forward and make progress. It opened its mouth and said to Zhao Yao: [My name is Xiaoniu, and I am a girl. 】
Zhao Yao knelt down and stretched out his hand towards the little monkey: "Girl, my name is Yao Yao, can we be friends?"
The little girl looked at Zhao Yao with wide eyes, "Can you understand what I'm saying?" 】
Zhao Yao smiled and said, "Yes, can we be friends?"
It was the first time that the little girl saw someone who could understand its words, and her face was full of disbelief. It imitated Zhao Yao's movements and stretched out its right hand.
Zhao Yao stretched out his hand to hold the girl's right hand and shook it gently: "Then we will be friends."
Lai Man stuck his head out from behind Zhao Yao and called out to the girl twice in a low voice; "My name is Lai Man, and I am Yao Yao's friend." Now that you are Yaoyao's friend, you are also my friend. 】
The little monkey was a little frightened and shrank his neck. It looked at Zhao Yao for help.
Zhao Yao reached out and touched the little monkey's head, smiled and said, "Lai Man is my good friend. He is very good and will never bite you. Don't be afraid."
Laiman hurriedly said: [You are my friend and Yaoyao's, I will not bite you. 】
The little monkey nodded, then turned his head and looked at Lai Man: "If you don't bite me, then I won't be afraid of you." 】
Lai Man wagged his tail happily: [Girl, you look so beautiful. 】
The girl who was praised for her good looks had a happy smile on her pretty face.
"Little girl, is this your mother?" Zhao Yao pointed at the dancing big monkey and asked the little monkey.
The little monkey nodded and said: "Yes, it is my mother." 】
"What's your mother's name?"
【Big girl. 】
In the eyes of others, a good-looking child is talking to a good-looking little monkey. The little monkey was chirping. The little boy seemed to understand what it was saying and talked to it seriously. This scene was fun, cute and heart-warming, and everyone present had a smile on their faces.
"Little Master, can you understand what the little monkey is saying?" asked an aunt standing next to Zhao Yao.
"Yes, it says it's called Xiaoniu and its mother is called Daniu."
The aunt pretended to be surprised: "The young master is really awesome." Of course, the aunt didn't really think that Zhao Yao could understand what the little monkey was saying. She thought Zhao Yao heard the old man calling the names of the two monkeys.
"Your child is so handsome." The aunt said this to Liang Run.
People say that a nephew looks like an uncle, and Zhao Yao looks a bit like Liang Run. The aunt thinks that Zhao Yao is Liang Run's son.
Liang Run was very happy when his nephew was praised for his good looks, and said with a smile: "He looks just like his mother." Yaoyao looked very much like his sister, especially their eyes, which were exactly the same.
"Auntie, you're good-looking too." Reciprocity was the norm. People complimented him on how good-looking he was, so of course he would also compliment others on how good-looking they were.
The aunt suddenly smiled like a flower: "Young Master's mouth is so sweet." After saying that, she took out an apple from the basket she was carrying and said, "Young Master, let's eat it for you. It's very sweet."
Zhao Yao was not polite, stretched out his hands to take it, and gave the aunt a bright smile: "Thank you, aunt."
The aunt couldn't hold it back and reached out to touch Zhao Yao's head, "You're welcome."
"Auntie, can I give the apple you gave me to the little girl?"
"sure."
"Thank you, Auntie." Zhao Yao turned around and put the red apple in his hand into the bowl in the little girl's hand, "Little girl, here you go."
The little girl liked eating apples very much and immediately thanked Zhao Yao: [Thank you Yao Yao. ] After saying that, he returned to the old man with the apple and gave the apple to the old man.
The old man bowed his hand to Zhao Yao to express his gratitude, and then placed the apple in the bamboo building aside.
The girl continued to hold the bowl and begged the onlookers for money.
Seeing Zhao Yao staring at the little monkey, Liang Run picked him up and asked, "Yao Yao, do you like these two monkeys?"
"Well, they are beautiful and very smart." Monkeys are smarter than other animals. The most important thing is that monkeys can do many things like humans, which other animals cannot do.
"If you like them, we'll buy them."
"Second uncle, that old man probably wouldn't sell the little girl and them." Zhao Yao could tell that the old man liked his two monkeys and treated them as his own children. The most important thing is that the two monkeys can make him money and allow him to survive in this world. "But, second uncle, we can ask the old man to take the little girl and the others to work for us."
"Doing something?" Liang Run asked, "What do you do?"
"Second uncle, there are so many things they can do." Zhao Yao said with a deep smile, "Second uncle, let's come find them again after their performance is over."
"Okay." Liang Run couldn't see anything special about an old man and two monkeys.
Zhao Yao followed Liang Run to the teahouse not far ahead. They sat by the window on the second floor, just in time to watch the performance of the old man and the two monkeys.
After about half an hour, the performance of the old man and the two monkeys ended. Upon seeing this, Liang Run hurriedly walked out of the teahouse and walked up to the old man. He said something to the old man, and then the old man walked into the teahouse with two monkeys following him.
The little girl was very happy to see Zhao Yao and ran towards him jumping up and down.
Zhao Yao hugged it, and it held Zhao Yao's neck with both hands and rubbed Zhao Yao's face. Zhao Yao rubbed its face back.
The old man held the big girl and greeted Zhao Yao politely.
Zhao Yao asked the old man to sit down.
Liang Run poured a cup of tea for the old man.
The old man has been traveling around the world and performing arts for decades, and has long since developed his "dazzling eyes". He could tell at a glance that Zhao Yao had a distinguished status, and he also saw that Liang Run respected Zhao Yao.
"Grandpa, how old are the big girl and the little girl this year? Have they been following you?"
"As for the young master, the eldest girl is three years old this year, and the little girl has just turned two this year." The old man said in a respectful tone, "More than a year ago, I accidentally rescued the eldest girl and the little girl who fell into a trap..."
The big girl and the little girl fell into a trap set by humans and were seriously injured. The old man took them both home for treatment. Under the careful care of the old man, the older girl and the younger girl gradually recovered.
After the injury healed, the big girl did not take the little girl back to the forest, but chose to stay with the old man and live with him.
The old man was childless and alone, so he was naturally happy to see the two monkeys willing to stay with him. So, they adopted them.
The big girl and the little girl are very smart and can understand what people say. So, the old man trained them to perform arts to make money. Although the money earned is not much, it can support the three of them. In this way, the three of them depended on each other.
"Grandpa, are you willing to take the older and younger girls to work for me?" Zhao Yao said, "I will pay you wages every month and provide you with a place to live, so that you don't have to perform around."
"Young Master, what do you want us to do for you?"
"Grandpa, don't worry, I won't let you do bad things." Zhao Yao touched the little girl's belly and said to the old man, "Grandpa, you should know that you will not always be safe when you bring the big girl and the little girl to perform. Sooner or later, older girls and younger girls will also be coveted by others. After all, older girls and younger girls are too eye-catching, and then danger will come to your door."
These words spoke to the worries deep in the old man's heart. He knew very well that the big girl and the little girl were not only good-looking, but also very intelligent and humane. The most important thing was that they could make money by performing arts, which would make people with ulterior motives worry about them. With his ability, he couldn't protect the big girl and the little girl.
"Young Master, we are willing to help you." The old man has always wanted to live a stable life and no longer wants to wander around. Now someone is hiring them and giving them a place to live, which is exactly what he wants.
