Chapter 7 Frozen Mushroom Why don’t you be my sister-in-law?
Yan Xue really wanted to go to the town to tell Shan Qiufang that she had met the person and let Shan Qiufang rest assured, and by the way, to see Daqiang who fell into the water yesterday.
The reason why it was not arranged for today from the beginning was mainly because she was unfamiliar with the place and didn't even know what time the train would arrive.
If they hadn't been making pancakes, Yan Xue said so, Liu Daniu's wife would have taken them along. But she couldn't leave at all, so she had no choice but to go out and ask around, and asked an old man who was also going to the town to sell things, "This is my daughter Chuncai's first time going there, Uncle Wang, please help take care of her."
The old man, also carrying a backpack and wearing a somewhat blackened old cotton-padded jacket tied tightly with a belt, agreed immediately after hearing what he said, "Okay."
Now the little girl Liu Chuncai felt relieved. After all, she was a child. The joy seemed to fly out of her face, especially after the train came and she, Old Man Wang and Yan Xue got on.
"I heard from my mom that you are Brother Qi Fang's relative. Sister, are all your family members so good-looking?" She asked Yan Xue curiously on the way.
"Maybe. My parents and brother are all good-looking." Yan Xue smiled and talked to her, "I think you are pretty too."
"How can I be as pretty as you? I've been a blonde since I was a child." Liu Chuncai pulled the end of her dry braid, feeling a little frustrated.
People don’t eat well these days, so not only do their hair become frizzy and split, but five or six out of ten children have yellow hair, which doesn’t get better until they’re in their teens.
"Your family is pretty good. Old Liu at least knows how to hunt and can get some game. Other children's hair is not as good as yours." Old man Wang, who was sitting on the other side of the aisle, interjected.
Yan Xue took the opportunity to ask about hunting, "Is hunting still allowed now? Is there no one in charge of the forest farm?"
"Why not?" Liu Chuncai said, "There are so many wild animals on the mountain. If you don't attack the forestry security department, you have to attack them. Otherwise, they will hurt people every year and destroy the crops of the agricultural team."
It seems that the gun ban at that time was not as strict as in later generations, and wild boars and the like were not so rare that they became national protected animals.
Yan Xue looked at the basket the little girl was carrying. "What are you going to sell? Mushrooms? Fungus? It can't be the skins you just picked, right?"
"They're frozen mushrooms. My grandpa and dad come down to sell the skins. They say I'm a kid and don't know the price, so I'm easy to be cheated."
That's true; mushrooms and the like have a standard price, and you just sell them that way. But skins, on the other hand, depend on size and condition; the same animal can have wildly different prices.
"That's pretty impressive. It's so cold, but few people want to squat outside in the small market."
Yan Xue knew that children needed encouragement. Liu Chuncai must have rarely heard such words. Her face turned red. "This is my first time too. Besides, mushrooms are sold before the New Year. We buy them before the New Year to stew chicken for the New Year. Not many people are willing to buy them during other times."
It was probably a good time to sell mushrooms before the New Year. When I arrived at the small market in Chengshui Town and took out the things in my backpack basket, I saw that Old Man Wang was also selling frozen mushrooms.
This mushroom has a low yield but a good taste, making it the most valuable of all mushrooms. However, it's not very costly, as it takes 12 kilograms of fresh mushrooms to produce just one kilogram of dried mushrooms.
An old man and a young boy each had a small stall. Yan Xue saw that there was no one who needed her here, so she said hello and left the market to find the supply and marketing cooperative.
Shan Qiufang was waiting for her at the station in the freezing cold, and she had to accompany her to the forest farm for a blind date. It was not logical for her to go empty-handed. Besides, the child had fallen into an ice hole yesterday and must be sick now. A cold or fever was probably the least of her worries.
Unlike county-level and higher-level stores, where there were department stores, grain and oil stores, and vegetable and non-staple food stores, everything in town was sold in the supply and marketing cooperatives. They had candy and biscuits, daily necessities, shoes and socks, and even hardware tools like wire and shovels.
Yan Xue walked around and finally bought two cans of food. She went to Shan Qiufang's house according to the address given by her great aunt before she left, but she didn't see Shan Qiufang.
"Da Qiang had a fever again this morning, so Aunt Qiufang took him to the hospital for an injection." The little girl wearing ice skates was playing outside the door yesterday.
The door of Shan Qiufang's house was not locked, and the two little ones were asked to be looked after by the mother of the girl next door. Yan Xue asked her about the time she went out and waited for a while at the door.
Unfortunately, almost an hour passed, and Shan Qiufang and her son still hadn't returned. Yan Xue, worried about Liu Chuncai, who was selling things at the small market, could only put her things inside and asked the mother of the little girl across the street, who was washing clothes, to help convey the message, "Tell her that I've seen them, and let her rest assured. I'll come back another day when I have time."
Unexpectedly, the round trip took only over an hour, and when they returned to the small market, Liu Chuncai actually started arguing with Old Man Wang.
The two people who had been getting along harmoniously before leaving, now stood there angrily, with his face and eyes redder, while the other was calm, with his hands tucked into the sleeves of his cotton-padded jacket, as if the other was being unreasonable.
"You promised my mom to look after me. It's fine if you don't, but why are you taking my business?" The little girl's voice was so shrill that it almost cracked.
Old man Wang didn't even raise his eyelids. "Your products are not good. Who can you blame if you can't sell them?"
"Who said my stuff is bad? My mom and I picked it up and dried it in the fall!"
Yan Xue listened outside for a while, but didn't rush to intervene. Instead, she found someone who was also setting up a stall nearby and craning his head to watch the fun. She whispered, "Comrade, what's going on?"
Gossip is definitely a nature shared by all human beings. As soon as she asked, the other party immediately told her everything.
It turned out that Old Man Wang had promised to help Liu Daniu's wife look after Liu Chuncai, but whenever someone came to buy mushrooms, he would tell them that Liu Chuncai's mushrooms were not good, as they were all out of season, and that they should buy his.
In those days, there were no preservatives. Winter was fine, but mushrooms would get infested with worms after the summer heat, so naturally, no one bought from Liu Chuncai anymore. The girl held back at first, as she was the elder, after all. But after being robbed three or four times in a row, she finally couldn't help but explode.
The stall owner smacked his lips after saying this. "That old man is really something. Why would he bully a little girl? After such a long time, she only sold two taels."
A small handful of dried mushrooms can be soaked to make a lot of them, and they are usually bought at two or three taels each, which means that Liu Chuncai only sold one batch in half a morning.
It costs them money to take the train, 80 cents for a round trip. If they sell too few, they will lose money on the trip.
Seeing the little girl start to wipe her tears, Yan Xue took out a handkerchief from her pocket, walked up to her and handed it to her, "Wipe it, let's go to another place to sell it."
"Why doesn't he change places!" Liu Chuncai was really angry.
Yan Xue just smiled and said, "You stepped in a pile of shit when you went out this morning. Instead of moving to another place to clean it up, you just kept standing there?"
This description is much more interesting than the one where a dog bites you and you bite the dog back, which sounds satisfying.
Someone nearby laughed out loud, and upon hearing that, Liu Chuncai forgot about crying. Only Old Man Wang had a grim expression, as if he had just swallowed something raw.
Yan Xue bent down to help the girl pack up her stall. "Let's go to another place. I guarantee you can sell better than him and earn more than him."
Old Man Wang sneered at this, "You little bastard, you don't even know the difference between frozen mushrooms and hazel mushrooms? You're so arrogant."
"Why would I know that?" Yan Xue blinked innocently, her tone not showing any anger from beginning to end. "I just need to know the difference between humans and animals."
Liu Chuncai was still young after all, and didn't understand the meaning of these words, but the people around her who were watching the fun started laughing again.
The little girl is young, but she has a hot temper. She can mock people as soon as she opens her mouth, and she can also scold people without using any dirty words.
Even though she didn't understand, it didn't stop Liu Chuncai from trusting Yan Xue. The girl quickly packed up her things, picked up her backpack, and followed Yan Xue to the other side of the market.
Watching the two people setting up their stalls in a similar manner, Old Man Wang snorted with a dark face, "They can't even shout, let's see how they can sell their goods."
Liu Chuncai doesn't know how to shout, mainly because he is young and a little embarrassed to do so. However, Yan Xue grew up in the market with her father in her previous life.
When Yan's father was laid off and had an accident that resulted in one leg amputated, he couldn't find a job, so he used a wheelchair to transport goods to the market to sell, to support her studies and raise her.
Later, when her family encountered another crisis, Yan Xue worked in the market for half a year before she managed to scrape together enough money to start her business.
As soon as the things were poured out, she said to Liu Chuncai, "Let's pick out the biggest ones and divide them into two piles."
"Why do you want to pick it out?" Although Liu Chuncai didn't understand, she still did as she was told.
Yan Xue: "We'll sell it at different prices later."
Yan Xue had observed that Liu Chuncai's frozen mushrooms were no worse than Old Man Wang's, and in fact, a bit better. But the quality wasn't noticeably better, and there were many smaller ones mixed in, making it impossible to tell without careful observation. The person who had bought her mushrooms before must have had a keen eye and noticed the difference.
The two of them quickly finished picking out the things. She put the large pile in front and put the small ones in a bag, placing them in an inconspicuous place at her feet.
Just after the distribution, someone passed by the stall and immediately noticed the difference in the appearance of the frozen mushrooms. "How much are you selling these frozen mushrooms for?"
"Three dollars and four cents a pound." Yan Xue raised the price by two cents without blinking.
Sure enough, the visitor asked, "Isn't it three dollars and twenty? I see others are selling it for three dollars and twenty."
Liu Chuncai was also a little puzzled, and then she saw how Yan Xue blew, oh no, how she sold things.
Yan Xue grabbed a handful of mushrooms from each pile and compared them. "We have the 3.2 yuan ones here, but they're not as good as these. These are the first batch of mushrooms. They've grown for a long time, and the fragrance hasn't even left their mark yet, so they're picked. They taste good, look good, and are more suitable for gifts, both in terms of color and texture."
It's not a problem if you don't know the goods, it's a problem if you compare them. The comparison between the two piles of mushrooms Yan Xue picked up was immediately obvious, and hesitation appeared on the other party's face. "Can't you make it cheaper?"
"Then you should buy this one. The texture and taste may be a little worse, but you won't be able to tell the difference if you don't eat it carefully." Yan Xue put the good one back directly.
But the more she said this, the more he glanced at the better pile. Finally, he said, "Then buy this one and weigh two taels for me."
Anyway, it's only a difference of two cents for one or two taels. Who would want to buy the first-rate one when you can buy the good one?
Liu Chuncai quickly weighed the mushrooms and collected the money, while Yan Xue helped pack them with old newspapers. "Don't worry, our mushrooms are definitely delicious. If they don't taste good, come back and find us."
In fact, it is hard to say whether they will come to set up the stall again after selling out today. Where can we find them?
However, after hearing this, the man's face became even more satisfied. He even didn't leave after buying the goods, but stood in front of the stall and chatted with the two people for a few words.
People tend to follow the crowd, and as soon as they see someone buying, even if it's just asking the price, they can't help but stop and ask. Before long, Yan Xue and Liu Chuncai sold their second batch.
It's not like everyone was reluctant to spend a few cents. Yan Xue, with her sharp eyes, noticed that the other party really thought it was expensive, so she immediately changed her tone, "If you're eating at home, you can buy this. It's just a little smaller, so it might look a little worse, but it won't be that noticeable when you eat it. It's also affordable, so you won't feel bad about making a big pot."
Then Liu Chuncai watched helplessly as she sold the three yuan and two taels of silver for another three taels...
The little girl's eyes widened. "Sister Yan Xue, you are so amazing! Even Grandpa Wang can't sell things as fast as you!"
After all, this was my first time hanging out at a small market, and I couldn’t find a better reference than Old Man Wang.
But her admiration was absolutely genuine, and she couldn't help but hold Yan Xue's arm, "Why don't you be my sister-in-law? I have a brother who is only a few years older than you."
I just helped her sell some mushrooms, and she wanted to sell her own brother. This brother-sister love is so touching.
Yan Xue was a little amused and about to say something when she caught a glimpse of a figure out of the corner of her eye. "That Grandpa Wang is here."
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