Chapter 209 Influence (Happy Dragon Boat Festival)
Zhou Erlang's eyes almost popped out of his head, and Manbao couldn't help but let out a cry. Finally, he couldn't pretend to be honest anymore. He poked his head out from behind his second brother and asked, "Have the prices of beans increased?"
"Beans? They've gone up, but not that much. They seem to be twelve wen a bushel right now," the stall owner said in a low voice, glancing at the crowds pouring in to buy. "But I reckon the price will go up further, so if you have any grain, don't sell it to grain merchants easily. Hold back a bit, and you might get a higher price."
Zhou Erlang's eyes lit up, yet at the same time, he felt heartbroken. After the autumn harvest last year, his family had sold a batch of grain. If they had kept it then, they would have earned at least double the money by now...
Manbao's eyes lit up as well. He took one look at their tofu, then he grabbed his second brother's shoulder and whispered in his ear, "Second brother, the price of our tofu has to go up."
Zhou Erlang quickly came to his senses, looked at their tofu, and then looked at the street where the flow of people was gradually increasing.
He carefully observed their faces, clothes and expressions, and soon found many unfamiliar faces.
By the same token, Luojiang County is only this big, and there are only so many villages nearby. Zhou Erlang has seen most of the people who come to stroll along this street.
He is good at remembering people, not as good as Manbao who has a photographic memory, but he can remember people after meeting them a few times, or at least his faces will seem familiar to him.
And now he didn't know quite a few of the customers picking things on the street.
He coughed lightly, carried Manbao to the back of the stall and stood there, lowering his voice and saying, "Don't move, Lao Liu, you take them here to watch the stall, I'll go take a look."
Of course, you can't just raise prices at will. You must first look at the market conditions of others.
Zhou Erlang often inquired about other people's prices. He coughed lightly, put his hands behind his back and went shopping leisurely.
Zhou Liulang squatted behind the stall and asked Daya to start wrapping the flowers on the small bamboo basket, while Manbao was responsible for taking the candy out of the cloth bag and putting it in.
He stared at his second brother and asked Manbao, "Where did you go, second brother?"
"Just ask the price," Manbao said as if it was normal. "I don't think we need to ask. We're the only tofu seller on the street anyway, so there shouldn't be any price difference."
Having said that, Zhou Erlang still walked from the end of the street to the beginning, asked the prices of most of the stalls, and observed the business situation of other people.
Then he came back excitedly.
He said, "The price of bamboo weaving hasn't increased, but the price of everything we eat has, including vegetables. I think their business is pretty good, so I'll try selling some today. If it's good, I won't bring bamboo weaving tomorrow, I'll just bring vegetables."
Manbao said, "We don't have many vegetables at home."
Although the vegetable garden was not flooded, many vegetables had rotten roots due to heavy rain.
Zhou Erlang comforted her, "It's okay. When the time comes, ask your sister-in-law to bring out the pickled vegetables at home."
Manbao: ...I don’t want to eat pickles, I want to eat fresh ones.
Zhou Liulang and Datou Daya couldn't help but look at Zhou Erlang.
Zhou Erlang reached out and straightened their heads, saying, "Don't look at me. Our family is short of money, so we must seize the opportunity to save more money."
Manbao felt that nothing was bigger than food, so he said, "Sister, don't be in a hurry to get money."
"It's not about paying back Big Sister, it's about the autumn tax," Zhou Erlang lowered his voice and said, "Dad calculated it a couple of days ago. Even if God is kind and the weather is good until the autumn harvest, I'm afraid our family's grain won't be enough for us to eat. What are we going to do about the autumn tax?"
It was because Manbao was a scholar and understood all these things that Zhou Erlang explained them to her. If it were another child, he would not say much and would just suppress them with force.
Look, Datou and Daya were confused, obviously half understanding and half not understanding, but Zhou Liulang also understood, he sighed sadly and asked: "Then second brother, are you still going to the county government office?"
Zhou Erlang hesitated.
Daya secretly poked Manbao.
Manbao immediately put aside the mess of autumn taxes and looked at Zhou Erlang with a sharp gaze. "Second brother, why don't you wait here for us? You see, there are a lot of people on the street, but it's not a big deal. We can go by ourselves."
Zhou Erlang saw the light in her eyes and looked a little sad. "Manbao, do you dislike your second brother so much?"
"No, no, I don't dislike my second brother. I just feel that I can't delay my second brother from making a lot of money."
Zhou Liulang and Datou Daya nodded vigorously at the same time and replied, "Yes!"
Zhou Erlang glanced at the people passing by on the street, hesitated for a moment, and said, "Okay, Lao Liu, you watch them come, hand in hand, and don't let them get lost. Also, don't argue with anyone. If you accidentally get into trouble, give in if you can. Be patient and don't get violent. If all else fails, call the bailiffs. Got it?"
"clear!"
Zhou Liulang immediately went to carry the backpack containing the small bamboo basket, Datou rushed to carry the backpack containing the flowers, Daya carried the flower basket she had just woven, and Manbao also grabbed two. Then the four of them happily waved goodbye to Zhou Erlang.
Zhou Erlang saw them like fish taken out of a fishing net and put into the river, wagging their tails happily and disappearing in a flash.
He couldn't help but shook his head. The stall owner next door had obviously seen it, and he was also quite familiar with these children, especially Zhou Liulang. He smiled and said, "Your children are really smart."
Zhou Erlang laughed and scolded modestly, "What's so clever about them? They're just having fun. But there are so many strangers in the county town now. How dare I let them wander around? I won't bring them here next time."
"It's okay as long as they don't have any money on them," the stall owner said. "There are people stealing money and food in the city now, but there are really no people who take pictures of children."
The stall owner said, "Children are worthless these days. I heard that outside, a 60-jin bag of millet can buy a girl of seven or eight years old. If she's younger, you can buy her for 20 jin."
Zhou Erlang was stunned. "Is this really that serious?"
He looked around and whispered, "That's right! I have an uncle who sells food on the official road. He told me that the entire Yizhou area was washed away by the flood. Not only was there no food, but even the roofs of houses were gone. Many people were swept away and disappeared in an instant. Just imagine, they lost their houses, let alone food. Many people who escaped had only the clothes they had on, and some even lost their shoes."
Zhou Erlang's face turned pale.
The stall owner sighed, "Look at this scene, doesn't it resemble the severe drought of the eleventh year of Dade? Fortunately, the flood here is not particularly severe. Although the crops in the fields are definitely not good, at least there is some harvest, unlike the eleventh year of Dade..."
Zhou Erlang's vision went dark, and the stall owner's voice seemed to be getting fainter and fainter, but he still heard it. "We were in dire straits back then. My brother and sister both starved to death. I was the only one left in my family... Zhou Er, what's wrong with you? Why are you so pale?"
Zhou Erlang leaned against the wall to stand up, forced a smile and said, "It's okay, it might be the sun."
Today is the Dragon Boat Festival. Have you eaten zongzi?
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
