Chapter 193
"Girl, what were you talking about on the way here?"
Uncle Wang glanced at the village chief and Hu San, who were walking away and heading towards Tianshan Town and further inland.
While on the road, he was so focused on catching the train that he didn't hear what they were talking about. He vaguely overheard them talking about bear meat and something like that.
But just now, when Village Chief Fu parted ways with them, he asked if they had been setting up their stall here all day. He was a little confused about what the other party meant.
Fan Xiaoxiao glanced at their slow-moving carriage, then quickly helped Uncle Wang carry a plank off the roof of the carriage and hastily set it up to become a long table.
She placed the bear meat on her hands and feet, and sneered without even looking up.
"We talked about some business matters, Godfather. You can take a look. I guess we'll be able to go home soon today."
Uncle Wang was somewhat skeptical of Fan Xiaoxiao's words. Although bear meat was rare, it was precisely because of its rarity that ordinary families simply couldn't afford to eat it.
He was still somewhat skeptical about whether he could even sell them, so how could he talk about buying them quickly and taking them home!
"You don't believe me? Let's make a bet. If I agree, we'll use the money to buy some cloth and make some clothes for everyone."
Uncle Wang was both amused and exasperated; what kind of bet was Fan Xiaoxiao's?
"This bet doesn't count. Let's choose another one. If it actually sells, you'll keep the money. Your godfather won't care how you spend it."
"Um... then... then if I win, you'll teach me how to drive a carriage!"
Fan Xiaoxiao didn't dare to dream of riding a horse, but she felt she should learn how to drive a horse-drawn carriage. That was equivalent to a luxury carriage in ancient times!
"Alright, whatever you say!"
Uncle Wang smiled and shook his head, placing the bear head from the very back of the carriage in the center of the table. The head had been skinned and looked quite terrifying.
However, thanks to it, it immediately attracted the attention of people around. Many people gathered around, pointing at the bear's head and starting to chatter amongst themselves.
"My God, what is this?! Its head is so big!"
"Is it a bear? The face looks somewhat like one."
"I don't think so. How could someone survive such a huge bear? They must have incredible abilities!"
"Exactly! Ordinary people would be running away as fast as they could, how could they possibly sell it in the market!"
Fan Xiaoxiao listened to their back-and-forth conversation, then turned and walked into the carriage.
A moment later, when the people who came to collect the sample looked at the bear skin that had been stretched open by the bamboo pole, no one questioned whether it was actually bear meat.
"My lady, how much are these...?"
After looking around for a while, someone finally stepped forward from the crowd to inquire about the price.
"Bear meat costs one jiao (0.1 yuan) per jin (0.5 kg). If you buy a lot, we'll give you a bone stick as a gift. But bear paws are more expensive, half a tael (0.5 liang) per paw."
"Wow? It's so expensive!"
“Young master, you can’t say that. We risked our lives to get this bear. If it weren’t for my elder brother’s martial arts skills, we would have been eaten by the bear long ago. We wouldn’t have this opportunity to sell bear meat here.”
The man looked more troubled after hearing what Fan Xiaoxiao said, but he did not give up the idea of bargaining.
“What you say makes sense, but is there really no way to lower the price any further? To put it bluntly, young lady, if you sell it like this, I’m afraid none of the villagers passing by will be able to afford your bear meat.”
"Yeah yeah."
"Young lady, please sell it at a lower price so we can afford it."
After hearing what the man said, the onlookers started to jeer.
Fan Xiaoxiao smiled and shook her head at the man despite the pressure from everyone: "My lord, I'm really sorry, but this bear meat was obtained by trading my father's and my lives. If you're bargaining over the price of bear meat, doesn't that mean you can bargain over the price of my father's and my lives? That's really hard for me to accept. If we can't sell the meat today, we'll just keep it for ourselves."
Her words were firm, and the man standing in front of the stall chuckled awkwardly, then turned and left the vicinity of Fan Xiaoxiao's stall.
The people who had been waiting to see what was going on gradually dispersed after learning the price.
Looking at the now empty stall, Uncle Wang asked Fan Xiaoxiao in a low voice, somewhat puzzled, "Girl, our price was indeed a little too high. Why didn't you listen to what price that person wanted?"
The person hadn't gone far yet, and Fan Xiaoxiao glanced at his tiny steps, which were even smaller than those of a young wife.
“Godfather, if you really want to do business with us, you have to tell me how much you want first. That young man just now came up and didn’t say how much he wanted, he only talked about the price. He doesn’t seem like he’s serious about doing business with us.”
"and……"
Fan Xiaoxiao paused slightly as she looked at Village Chief Fu and his group, who were approaching in an oxcart, and gave them a meaningful smile.
"I'm afraid someone will want our stuff very soon."
"Oh? Someone will want it soon? We weighed this meat yesterday, and there are nearly 500 jin here! And that doesn't even include the bear paws and bear heart."
Fan Xiaoxiao slightly curled the corners of her lips, but didn't reply. Uncle Wang looked puzzled, but the next moment, he understood where Fan Xiaoxiao's confidence came from...
"Miss Xiao, you're still here. How's business?"
For once, Village Chief Fu took the initiative to greet Fan Xiaoxiao, and even had a rare smile on his face, looking like he was in a great mood.
Fan Xiaoxiao smiled slightly, guessing that his mood was probably related to the bear meat. So she said with a smile, "Thanks to you, business is good. A young man just came in and ordered all the bear meat from here. He will come over to pay in a little while."
As expected, the smile on Village Chief Fu's face froze immediately upon hearing this. Fan Xiaoxiao thought to herself, "As expected," and then immediately added, "Of course, this is just my hope. Alas, you don't know, I've been open for half a day and still haven't had a single customer. This is driving me crazy."
"Hehe, so it was a lie."
Village Chief Fu chuckled twice, then didn't reply. Instead, he suddenly changed the subject, saying, "I'll wait for Hu San here for a while. He's gone to run some errands and will be back in a bit."
"Oh, that's no problem at all. Please feel free to sit down."
Fan Xiaoxiao waved at him nonchalantly and then continued hawking bear meat. She paid special attention to the village chief's demeanor and noticed that he would become unusually nervous whenever someone stopped to inquire about prices at their stall.
Fan Xiaoxiao narrowed her eyes slightly, keeping a bit of attention in mind.
Half an hour later, Hu San finally returned, followed not far behind by several people dressed in Tianshan clothing.
After recognizing the person who had arrived, Village Chief Fu breathed a slight sigh of relief. This action didn't escape Fan Xiaoxiao's notice; a slight smirk appeared on her lips—business had arrived!
(End of this chapter)
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