Chapter 66 The Water Vendor
After the farmland in suburban rural areas was expropriated, people arranged to bring water from the mountains down the mountain using ditches or pipes.
People in the city can get water at any time if they want, and there is no charge.
Some people were smart and filled a lot of containers with water and transported them to the city to sell. Some people who had a lot of surplus food at home and were too lazy to go to the countryside to fetch water would choose to spend their supplies to buy water. The price was not expensive, 1,000 milliliters of water for half a pound of food, and anything could be used to exchange it.
The vendors collected these supplies, kept the ones they could use for themselves, and put the ones they couldn't use up for sale when they sold water.
There are often vendors coming to the entrance of Chenyang Community. It is very lively after get off work and some people even set up stalls at the door.
Xia Xiaoman was kneading dough and making buns at home when a loud speaker came from the entrance of the community, "Buy chicks! Three chicks for 5 kilograms of food! Selling at a loss!"
Xia Xiaoman paused in kneading the dough, immediately stood up, opened the door, ran outside and listened carefully. The sound of selling chicks came from the loudspeaker again.
After making sure she heard correctly, she told the twins not to open the door to strangers and went downstairs carrying a few bags of pearl rice, which she didn't like.
Fluffy chicks were placed in baskets, and several 1.8-meter-tall strong men stood behind the baskets with hoes, creating a strong sense of oppression. Passersby who were interested in the chicks were frightened by the scene and did not dare to come forward.
Xia Xiaoman ignored the burly men and walked to the basket and stared at the chicks inside for a while. "How much are the chicks?"
The leader said expressionlessly, "Five pounds of food for three chickens."
"Can you have less? I'll buy a few more."
The man shook his head. "It can't be less. It's already very cheap."
"Okay, then I'll buy 12 chicks." After Sun Qing and the others left, room 1503 became empty, perfect for raising chickens.
After picking out 12 chicks that were in good spirits, Xia Xiaoman asked, "Do you have eggs and hens? How much are they?"
The man shook his head, "The hens and eggs are not for sale."
Fertilized eggs can be used to hatch chicks. If they sell too few unfertilized eggs, they will suffer a loss. If they sell too much, no one can afford them. So they might as well save them for their own consumption.
It is even more impossible to sell the hens, which are their source of income.
Xia Xiaoman expressed her understanding. If it were her, she would not be willing to buy it either. "You are from a nearby village, right? In addition to chickens, do you have any other agricultural products to sell?"
The man hesitated for a moment and said, "Do you want a rabbit?"
"Hare?"
"Meat rabbits, raised at home."
Xia Xiaoman's eyes lit up, "Brother, sure! We have chickens and rabbits."
The man pursed his lips and said nothing. They were able to save the chickens and rabbits thanks to the old hunter in the village who reacted quickly and asked everyone to pack up and run to the mountains before the flood.
But they would not tell these things to others to avoid bringing disaster to the village.
"Meat rabbits are more expensive, and one rabbit costs 5 kilograms of food. If you want them, I'll bring them over by this time tomorrow."
"Okay, catch me two pairs of rabbits. They should be healthy. I don't want sick ones."
After finalizing the deal, Xia Xiaoman carried a bag of 12 chicks home, and turned around to meet Su Ran and Zhou Qiuyang who had returned.
The two men were in a very bad state, their clothes were torn into rags, and their bodies and faces were covered with bruises. The bicycles and water bottles they had taken out were all gone, and they returned empty-handed.
"Didn't you go to carry water? Where's the water? And where's my bicycle?" Xia Xiaoman asked.
Su Ran pulled the corner of her mouth, "Sister Xiaoman, I'm sorry, your bicycle was stolen."
"Who is so bold as to rob in broad daylight?"
After more than a month of post-disaster reconstruction, the public security in Fucheng is much better than during the flood. Basically, no one dares to rob in broad daylight for fear of being caught by soldiers carrying out post-disaster reconstruction nearby.
Su Ran said aggrievedly, "Brother Yang and I came back from fetching water, and an old lady thought we were selling water and stopped us to buy water."
"We tried to explain to her for a long time but she didn't make us happy, so we had no choice but to sell her a bottle of water. As soon as we handed the water to the old lady, a group of people suddenly rushed over and said that we broke the rules by selling water in their territory. Without saying a word, they beat us up and robbed us of our things."
Xia Xiaoman frowned. It was understandable to sell water by dividing the territory. If Su Ran and the others deliberately went to sell water and steal people's jobs, they deserved to be beaten. But they didn't do it on purpose. It was really unfair to be beaten and have their supplies robbed.
"Where was it robbed? Where are those people now?"
Su Ran pointed in a direction and said, "It's on the fourth street ahead."
Xia Xiaoman threw the chick to Su Ran and said, "Help me take it upstairs. Zhou Qiuyang, take me over to have a look."
Seeing that she was about to fight, Su Ran pulled her arm and said, "Sister, there are a lot of them, more than ten of them holding carrying poles. Don't be impulsive. Let's discuss it when Uncle Wen comes back."
"Don't talk nonsense to me here, escort my chicks home. If you dare to lose them, I will tear your head off!" Xia Xiaoman shook off his hand and strode away with Zhou Qiuyang.
How dare you steal her bicycle? You must be tired of living!
The group of vendors still wanted to sell water and did not leave the street. Xia Xiaoman and Zhou Qiuyang found them in a short while.
The group of people were pushing her bicycle and selling things along the street. Xia Xiaoman walked up to the bicycle and grabbed the front of it.
The man pushing the cart thought she wanted to buy some water and greeted her with a smile, but when he saw Zhou Qiuyang behind her, his expression immediately changed. “What are you doing? You haven’t been beaten enough just now, do you want to be beaten again?”
Xia Xiaoman said coldly, "This bicycle is mine, and the water is mine too. They just got entangled by the old man and had no choice but to take a bottle of water out. You beat people up and robbed the bicycle without any explanation, shouldn't you give me an explanation?"
"What explanation? Selling water on this street is not allowed, whether intentionally or unintentionally. You dare to come to our territory to cause trouble, beating you up is the least of your punishment. Get out of here! Don't delay our business!"
The man pushing the cart was extremely arrogant and didn't take Xia Xiaoman seriously at all.
Xia Xiaoman's eyes turned cold, and she raised her foot and kicked the man in front of her. The man was caught off guard and fell to the side.
The three or four people around were stunned for a moment. They didn't expect that this thin woman would actually take action.
When they came to their senses, they saw Xia Xiaoman pulling the man's hair with one hand and holding a fruit knife with the other hand, with the blade against the man's neck, "Everyone, step back, or I'll kill him now!"
The man who was caught was tough and shouted loudly: "Don't listen to her, a little girl who doesn't even dare to kill a chicken, how dare she kill people?"
Xia Xiaoman sneered. Dare to question her? She stabbed the knife into the man's shoulder.
"Ahhh!! You fucking stab me!" The man screamed in pain, and everyone around him who tried to move forward stopped.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
