Lao Mu's words successfully attracted everyone's attention, and Yan Mo also successfully avoided everyone's ridicule.
Si Ze knew that she was a shy person, so he gently turned his body and shielded her behind him without leaving any trace. He took the white handkerchief from her hand and wiped the sweat from his forehead himself. Looking at the pile of tangerines, he asked casually:
"Does grandpa pick those oranges by himself every year?"
"Probably! He even hid it from my mother, so I have no idea."
"How many days will it take to pick oranges? Actually, we can hire some people." Si Ze suggested. Only after picking oranges did she know the hardship involved. Think about her grandfather. It would be more difficult and take longer for him to pick oranges in the entire forest by himself.
Yan Mo followed his gaze and looked around, looking at the bustling and busy villagers, and said:
"I guess we can't even hire anyone we want! They seem even busier."
"That's right." Si Ze didn't continue talking about this topic. He changed the subject and pointed to the stone bench beside him and said:
"You should go and rest! There doesn't need to be so many people in line."
Since Lao Mu had asked people to line up at the beginning, few people would get their turn at this moment.
Yan Mo craned his neck to look at the three or two people in front of him and said:
"It'll be here soon."
"Well," Si Ze didn't force her to rest, but he took the shoulder pole beside him, thought for a moment, and placed it on the two baskets. He patted the shoulder pole and said firmly:
"Then you sit here."
At first, Yan Mo was a little hesitant, but when she looked up and saw that many people around her were sitting like this, she felt relieved and sat happily on the carrying pole.
Soon, it was their turn in the queue. The buyer handed them a ruler arrogantly and asked them to pick out the items according to the proportion. Those smaller than the ruler would not be bought. Seeing that the villagers in front of them did the same, Lao Mu had no choice but to do the same. The three of them took half a quarter of an hour to finish the picking.
"Boss, I've made my selection." Old Wood walked up to the buyer and said with a smile, "Can we weigh it now?"
The buyer looked Lao Mu up and down, ignored him, and said, "Wait a minute!" Then he continued to do his own thing.
After waiting for another half a minute, the buyer spoke and asked Lao Mu to move the oranges over to be weighed.
This time, Si Ze skillfully picked up a load of tangerines, walked to the electronic scale, grabbed two baskets with one hand, and easily moved them onto the electronic scale.
The buyer glanced at Si Ze, picked up a tangerine, and without even looking at it, made an offer directly:
"This fruit has a bad color, 1.8 yuan."
"Hey..." Yan Mo wanted to yell on the spot. The fruits at her grandfather's house were bigger and better than the two pieces she had just given to the other person. How come hers was less than others?
"Hmph, what? Not satisfied? If you're not satisfied, you can take it away. There are plenty of people selling it later." The buyers snorted coldly. The market is not good these days and the trend has changed long ago. It's not them, the buyers, who are begging the farmers to sell.
Lao Mu immediately stopped Yan Mo who was about to say something and said to the buyer with an apologetic smile:
"Sell it, we will sell it. Please help me calculate the price."
Yan Mo wanted to stop them, saying that those were the crops grown by his grandfather with great effort, and were all exploited by these scoundrels. The price in the city was many times higher, and if there was no other way, he could just take them to the city.
"Mo Mo." Si Ze grabbed her hand and shook his head at her, signaling her not to say anything more.
Out of sight, out of mind. Yan Mo no longer cared about how they traded and turned around to walk home.
Lao Mu didn't have many oranges, so he finished the transaction with the buyer in less than a moment. He and Si Ze caught up with Yan Mo.
"Grandpa, actually we can take it to Mo City. The price is higher than here." Yan Mo expressed his opinion.
"It's retail in the city, so of course it's more expensive. It's already December, and after the New Year it will start to rot. What if I can't sell it in the city then?"
"So, Grandpa, you're still planning to sell them all to that Zhou Paopi?" Yan Mo was surprised:
"That's a huge loss, isn't it? In the city, it's at least five or six yuan per pound."
"Silly child, as the saying goes, there is no business without fraud. If they don't want to make some money, why would they do this? Ask your grandson-in-law if this is the case." Old Wood laughed.
Yan Mo looked at Si Ze, and Si Ze nodded.
"Evil capitalists, evil businessmen." Thinking of losing so much, Yan Mo muttered in dissatisfaction.
Si Ze's face was filled with black lines. It seemed that he hadn't offended her in any way! Why did she scold him as well?
Seeing his sad eyes, Yan Mo quickly changed the subject and chatted with his grandfather about other things.
When they got home, grandma had already prepared the meal for them. They washed their hands, changed back into their original clothes, and went to the dining room. Si Ze knew what Lao Mu liked from Yan Mo, so he took the initiative to ask him to have a drink.
By the time they finished drinking and eating, it was completely dark. After running back and forth, grandma and grandpa had gone to bed early. Mu Wanyue was the only daughter in grandpa's family, so he didn't have any taboos and arranged Yan Mo and Si Ze in the room where she used to sleep when she was a child.
"Si Ze, are you comfortable?" Yan Mo, who was sitting at the head of the bed, gently pressed his shoulders with both hands.
Si Zeen made a sound but did not open his eyes. He continued to lie in her arms, enjoying the service from his wife.
"Si Ze, what do you think about me buying grandpa's oranges?" After thinking about it, she still couldn't bear to see her grandpa's hard work being exploited by others. Anyway, apart from looking after two shops and accompanying Si Ze to the banquet, she had nothing else to do. Selling oranges was not bad and she could also earn some pocket money.
Hearing this, Si Ze opened his eyes and looked at her, saying, "Why did you buy so many oranges?"
Her grandfather's oranges didn't have many, but if they were sold individually, it would be difficult to sell them all in a short time.
Speaking of this, Yan Mo perked up. She stopped what she was doing, sat up straight, and spoke her mind with great enthusiasm:
"Look! It doesn't matter how much I give, I give grandpa two yuan, and once we get to the city, I will sell it for five yuan, and I can still make three yuan. I can make three hundred yuan for a hundred kilograms, and I can sell so many oranges to grandpa. What do you think? Isn't it great?" She was completely immersed in the joy of finding a business opportunity.
"Not much!" Si Ze closed his eyes again and said calmly, "Have you calculated the loss? You can buy three pieces on the first day. The unsold ones will remain on the second day. How many pieces will you sell? On the third and fourth days, the fruit will be sold fresh."
"That's right!" Yan Mo fell into deep thought, and suddenly a light bulb went off in his head, and he blurted out:
"I can come and lie down every day."
Si Ze poured another bucket of cold water on him:
"The money from selling the oranges isn't enough to cover the postage and wear and tear."
He opened his eyes again and looked at her, restraining his expression and said seriously:
"Running back and forth? No, don't even think about it." He wasn't so poor that he had to rely on her selling oranges for a living. He felt sorry for her seeing her running back and forth.
"What should I do then?" Yan Mo was in a dilemma. She really wanted to help her grandfather.
Si Ze didn't answer. He got up and hugged her and lay down together. He gently covered her eyes with his hands, whispered in her ear, "Go to sleep, we'll talk tomorrow," and fell into a deep sleep.
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