Chapter 119 Selling Vegetables at the Market, Life, Land Deed Acquired
With a single sentence from Lai, the final price was set. Seeing that Lai had no room for further negotiation, and that the green beans were so delicious that he couldn't bear to give up, the merchant finally agreed on a price of thirteen copper coins per pound.
To prevent the green beans from being crushed, Lai used a basket given to him by Guge. The basket was very sturdy and could hold a lot of green beans, so he couldn't just give it away easily.
Ray and the two vendors worked together to carry the green beans to the public weighing area, where they weighed more items at once. The total weight, including the green beans and baskets, was over 180 pounds.
After weighing the green beans, they were poured directly into the vendor's cart, and then the weight of the basket was weighed again.
The two baskets of green beans weighed 167 pounds net, and Lai earned 2,171 copper coins, equivalent to 21 silver coins and 71 copper coins, which was a very high price.
After the bulk of the goods were sold, only some ordinary vegetables remained. Lai wasn't in a hurry; he opened the tailgate of the truck bed and placed the vegetables at the rear of the truck for passing vegetable vendors to choose from.
Neil sat near the mule, carefully hiding the glass lamp under the blanket, afraid that a stranger might steal it when no one was looking.
Although he was yawning from exhaustion because he had gotten up too early in the morning, he was in high spirits. He watched the vegetable farmers and vendors coming and going around him like a spectator, listening intently as they chatted and talked about all sorts of things while selling vegetables.
“Neil, it’s still early. If you want to go for a stroll, go ahead, but don’t go too far and come back early.”
"Okay! Brother, I'll just take a look around and see what everyone's selling."
"Go ahead, be careful."
"Um!"
Neil climbed down from the side of the truck bed, stomped his feet, and stretched his limbs on the ground.
"Wait."
Ray called out to Neil, who was about to leave.
"Take this."
A small bag was handed to him, making a rustling sound inside. Neil opened it and, sure enough, found some loose change inside. He couldn't help but feel a little happy.
He knew his older brother cared about him and would specially prepare some pocket money for him. The money was secondary; it was his brother's care that mattered to him the most.
"Buy whatever you want, and come back immediately if you find anything wrong."
"Yes, don't worry, brother!"
The market was crowded and chaotic, and logically Neil should have stayed in the truck bed. But considering that Neil was already a teenager and would have to go to town alone to study in the second half of the year, Ray agreed to let Neil go down for a walk.
Neil set off from his mule cart and followed the crowd.
The vegetable farmers, without anyone maintaining order, conscientiously arranged their produce in two rows, leaving space for people to walk in between.
The vendors who came to buy vegetables stopped nearby because it was too crowded here and their horse-drawn carts were quite large.
The market sells all kinds of things.
Cabbage, spinach, persimmons, loofah, and even dried tobacco leaves were on display; Neil was overwhelmed by the variety.
The vegetable farmers sat either on the edge of the truck bed or on their own small stools, watching people come and go, hoping that some vendors would stop by their stalls.
Among them were elderly people with gray hair and middle-aged people with dark skin. Their clothes were not very clean, and their trouser legs and shoe soles were covered in mud.
The vendors who came to buy goods were dressed cleanly, with fashionable styles and good materials, and looked very wealthy.
But these vendors don't give up haggling just because they have full wallets. Their goal is to get the best vegetables at the lowest price and then sell them at a higher price.
Neil, with one hand in his pocket, held his money bag tightly as he strolled around.
The teenagers were wandering around the market, dressed in ordinary clothes, probably children from the neighborhood. The farmers let Neil wander around as he pleased, busy selling their vegetables, and didn't bother to greet him.
At this time, the vegetables weren't very ripe, so there were few sellers and many buyers, making business relatively easy. Some farmers who had sold all the vegetables they brought were already packing up, preparing to head home.
Some vegetable farmers were selling off their last few vegetables at low prices. Neil spotted a stall with only a few persimmons left and decisively spent fifteen copper coins to buy them all.
He remembered that his brother liked to pick and eat those green persimmons.
The persimmons at this uncle's stall weren't the kind he grew at home, but they tasted good, sweet and sour. They looked like small peaches, red on top and green on the bottom, with a crisp texture.
The uncle placed several large leaves underneath, wrapped them up a few times, and then secured all the persimmons with hemp rope, leaving Neil stunned.
"Uncle, you're amazing!"
"Haha, what's so great about it? It's just about saving some money."
Worried that the leaves wouldn't bear fruit, Neil carried the persimmons back to his mule cart. Lai was already chatting with the vegetable farmer selling vegetables next to him, and the conversation was all about his small plot of land.
"Hey, your brother's back with a bunch of stuff."
Ray and the vegetable farmer both turned their gazes toward Neil, who was putting things into the truck bed.
“Neil, call me Uncle.”
Hello, Uncle!
"Oh, good boy."
Neil gave two persimmons to Ray and one to the old man.
"Spring peaches? Bought at the market?"
"Um."
Neil nodded, and Ray rinsed them with water and ate them in two bites.
"Not bad, it tastes pretty good."
"I bought a whole bunch for fifteen copper coins!"
Neil boasted with a touch of pride, and Ray, as usual, offered a few words of praise, creating a warm and harmonious atmosphere.
About an hour later, it was broad daylight, and there was no longer any need for candlelight. People began to pack up and leave one after another, and there were not many people left in the market.
There were still some vegetables left from what Lai had brought. Vegetables weren't expensive; this small amount would only fetch one or two silver coins. He reattached the tailgate to the cart, tidied up, and took Neil home.
Lai set off early, and few people in the village knew about it, but when he returned, he met many villagers, and the news that Lai was selling vegetables in town spread throughout the village in just one morning.
They sell vegetables openly and honestly, and cultivate the land diligently and conscientiously, without worrying about what others might say.
They all praised Lai for being down-to-earth and hardworking, but as the conversation went on, they inevitably mentioned the deceased Victor and his wife, which led to another round of sighs.
Ray knew all of this.
But people can't avoid gossip when they live in this world. I'm just afraid that Neil will hear these words and what impact they will have on him.
After observing for a few days and finding that Neil did not show any emotional change, Ray put his mind at ease.
The vegetables in the field ripened one crop after another. Lai and Neil would pick green beans and leafy greens in the early morning and afternoon when the sun wasn't too strong, store them in a cool place, and sell them every two or three days.
The bean vines climbed up the trellis and grew tall. The leaves and stems were covered in tiny, prickly hairs. Ray, Neil, and Lamb, who came to help, often had red marks on their arms and legs from these pricks.
It didn't hurt, but it was still quite uncomfortable. Fortunately, all the effort paid off.
Lai sold green beans three or four more times, with prices fluctuating, but he happened to catch the peak season for green beans and earned a lot of silver coins.
As the vegetables in the fields ripened, the price of green beans began to fall. The price quickly dropped by half a percent. Green beans that people wouldn't sell for twelve or thirteen copper coins in the past, now farmers would rush to buy them for seven copper coins a pound.
The villagers were envious, and those who grew a lot of vegetables at home started carrying their own vegetables to the market.
There was some impact, more or less. Perhaps there were more vegetables in the market, and the prices of various vegetables dropped by one copper coin.
Once Ray saw the situation clearly, he began to sell off his green beans at a low price, and sold no less than 500 pounds of them.
The price is lower, but it's still better than letting it rot in the ground.
It is said that more money can be made by transporting goods to more distant places. However, the speed of a mule cart cannot compare with that of a horse-drawn cart. Even if the journey is so far, it is not guaranteed that more goods can be sold, and there is also the risk of not being able to sell them.
In the end, Ray didn't choose to transport the vegetables to a more distant place. Ray didn't do that, but a young man in the village chose to take the risk.
That was a few days after Ray had started going to the market. That morning, the young man also set off in his mule cart, even earlier than Ray.
He wore coarse cloth clothes with several patches, had short hair, and his skin was tanned dark and somewhat peeling.
Lei had met him a few times, only exchanging nods as a greeting.
I learned from others that his name is Mark, he's the eldest son of the shrew Maggie, and he married a cousin. He's going to be a father this fall, around the same time as Reese and Farah's second child, who will be born in about a month.
Lai had a good impression of him; he was honest, capable, and always carried the vegetables himself to the vegetable vendors' trucks. He would also enthusiastically help other vegetable farmers.
He always came to town alone to sell vegetables, and occasionally a somewhat sly young man would follow him in his vehicle.
As the prices at the market decreased over time, Lai turned his attention to the town's market.
I still go to the morning market, but less often. It mainly sells large quantities of things like green beans, focusing on volume rather than price.
He rented a fixed stall in town for a month, selling vegetables there every morning and returning to the village after noon. He sold a small amount here and there, which was definitely not as much as at the market, but the prices were much higher.
In this way, the money in Lai's hands is now legitimate, and there won't be much questioning about him taking out so much money at once.
Finally, a month later, Lai, with a small amount of gold coins and a large bag of loose silver and copper coins, went to the city lord's mansion and exchanged them for a real land deed.
The money and the contract are exchanged simultaneously, and the transaction is completed.
The miniature magic circle on the land deed recorded Lai's handprint and magical aura, making him the master of that low mountain for an unlimited period of time.
In other words, as long as it has not been resold or gifted, the mountain belongs to Ray during his lifetime. He can dispose of it as he pleases and can also pass it on to others as an inheritance.
In addition to giving him the land deed to Lai, the butler also gave him a metal magic item that was said to be able to activate a small magic circle.
The large bag of money was eventually exchanged for a light contract, and Ray felt his pockets were now heavy.
With such a large expenditure, Lai only had a dozen or so gold coins left. After deducting Neil's tuition and living expenses for the next semester, as well as the water elemental stones that Tata needed, Lai was under a lot of pressure.
While there is pressure, there is also a greater sense of purpose.
He needs to make another trip to the low mountain to take a closer look at the specific conditions there before making a proper plan.
After all, you can't just buy it and leave it there unused, can you?
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Author's note: Keep going! Keep trying! Don't give up!
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