Chapter 18 Industry Rules and Experience
Lin Guoqing refused. Shen Chunhua also knew how to make shoe soles, and she was very good at it. If he offered to trade the potatoes and radishes he bought for three cents a pound for shoe soles, Shen Chunhua would slap him in the face with them.
The woman sighed regretfully, but still asked Lin Guoqing to weigh 5 kilograms of potatoes and radishes, a total of 10 kilograms. Lin Guoqing had a great start in business. In less than half an hour, he had earned 50 cents, a net profit of 20 cents.
The uneasiness he had just felt had dissipated by half, and he suddenly had much more confidence in his vegetable business.
But for the rest of the time, I just sat there doing nothing. In the early morning of early spring, the dew would wet my clothes in a short time. When the cold wind blew, I felt sleepy, cold, and hungry.
Lin Guoqing ate quite a lot in the evening, consisting of lard and eggs with rice. When the children finally left the table, he licked the bottom of the pot and bowl clean.
But this was not enough for him to walk up and down the mountains and fields for three or four hours that night. Now he was sitting by the wall with his stomach rumbling.
The guy in overalls was closest to him and heard his stomach growl. "Brother, you didn't bring any food?"
Lin Guoqing nodded.
"You're carrying something so heavy for hours, how could you not bring some food? You have to go back soon..." The eldest brother sighed, then thought, "Is this your first time doing this?"
Lin Guoqing nodded again. That’s right. If it weren’t for his wife’s instigation, he wouldn’t have known that this place was so lively at night.
"Tsk!" He really guessed it right. The eldest brother had a look of disgust on his face, as if he was stupid. Then he turned his head to the other side and called the person who was sitting not far away from him.
"Old Wu~Old Wu~" The voices were all lowered to the lowest level, even a little strangled, which inexplicably had a bit of a comedic flavor.
Old Wu looked like an old man, older than Qi Caigen, and seemed a little hard of hearing. The man in work clothes called him for a long time but he didn't respond. He just sat there with his head down.
The woman sitting opposite Old Wu was the one who had just asked Lin Guoqing if he had bought potatoes and radishes. Seeing that Old Wu didn't respond for a long time, she squatted down and walked over to the opposite side and nudged him, "Old Wu..."
Old Wu jumped up with a start, "They're here to arrest me... mmmm..."
The guy in overalls who had been sitting there unwilling to move suddenly jumped out and covered Old Wu's mouth to prevent him from shouting any more.
"What are you doing? Are you putting on a show?" the workman growled in a low voice. "I've been calling you for ages and you haven't responded. The moment you do, you're like, 'Wow!' Are you trying to get us all killed in one fell swoop?"
Old Wu finally regained some of his composure amidst the shock. He clasped his hands together and said sheepishly, "Sorry... I just fell asleep. We've been very busy during the day lately, so I'm a little tired at night..."
The woman straightened her clothes, grinned and walked back to her seat. The workman pointed at Lin Guoqing and said to Old Wu,
"This guy didn't bring any food and his stomach is growling. Can you sell him a cake at a lower price?"
When Old Wu heard this, he picked up his two baskets and ran to squat in front of Lin Guoqing. "Brother, do you want salty or sweet? The salty sesame cakes are three cents each, and the sweet ones are four cents each. If you buy two, I'll give you a penny off!"
Lin Guoqing blinked and swallowed involuntarily, "Cake?"
Old Wu lifted the cloth covering his baskets, revealing two baskets of cakes, one on the left and one on the right. "The left one is salty, the right one is sweet. They're all freshly made by my wife today. Feel them, they're still warm!"
Lin Guoqing couldn't help swallowing after listening to this. It was the middle of the night, he was cold, hungry and thirsty, and suddenly two baskets of hot pancakes were placed in front of him. How could he bear it?
I thought that since I had already earned 20 cents, I could still buy a cake.
"Give me something salty." Lin Guoqing took out the Mao Zedong notes that were still warm in his pocket, counted out three cents and gave them to Old Wu, then took the pancake he handed over and took a big bite.
The pancakes are big but not thick, and they cost three cents each. What else do you want? It would be great to have a hot one at a time like this.
Old Wu put away the money and the basket and happily returned to his seat. Before leaving, he told Lin Guoqing to eat slowly and to call him again if he needed more.
Lin Guoqing resisted the urge to stuff the whole thing into his mouth, and tried his best to chew the biscuit ten times before swallowing it. While eating, he nodded to Old Wu and thanked the brother in work clothes.
The eldest brother waved his hand to indicate that it was no big deal.
"You're welcome. It's only natural to take care of newcomers. The first time I came here, I didn't know anything. It was snowing and I was squatting here before midnight. I almost froze to death. Back then, an older brother took off his cotton-padded jacket and wrapped it around me, and even gave me hot water from his thermos to drink."
Lin Guoqing swallowed a mouthful of bread and sighed, "Such a nice guy! So he hasn't come yet?"
"No, he just went in before the New Year."
Lin Guoqing: ...the cake in my hand suddenly didn’t smell good anymore.
"To put it bluntly, our business is like that. If you get caught, you'll definitely go to jail. That's normal! If the amount is too large, you could even lose your life."
The eldest brother was probably bored squatting there, so he just started chatting with Lin Guoqing.
"I'm telling you, if you really run into patrols, forget about those two baskets. How can you run fast with them so heavy? Just throw them away. They might be too busy picking up things to chase you..."
Lin Guoqing held a pancake in his hand and listened to his elder brother sharing his work experience, nodding seriously from time to time.
The eldest brother said his last name was Shi, but he wouldn't reveal his first name. Although everyone here was familiar with each other, they all called each other Old Shi and Old Wu, and they didn't reveal their names to each other. After all, if someone was caught, those with weaker mental state would pour out all the beans like beans, so they simply didn't know and couldn't tell.
The woman selling shoe soles was surnamed Zhang, so everyone called her Sister Zhang. There were two other people, one selling rags, called Sister Li, and the other selling fish, called Old Wang.
"Fish? Can it survive without water for one night?" Lin Guoqing lowered his voice even more because he was talking about someone else.
"Salted fish." Lao Shi also lowered his voice and whispered to Lin Guoqing, "He seems to have a way to get salt. It's five cents a pound cheaper than the supply and marketing cooperative! If you want to buy salt, you can find him!"
Lin Guoqing's eyes widened in shock. "Holy crap! This guy is a salt smuggler! He should be in jail at any time!"
He silently wrote down everything Brother Shi said, and planned to give Shen Chunhua detailed instructions after returning. By then, they had to decide what could be bought and what could not be bought.
Finally, he remembered something, "Hey, Brother Shi, what are you selling?"
Lao Shi opened the tin box he had placed on the ground,
"Tickets! Do you want them? I have grain tickets, oil tickets, sugar tickets, and cloth tickets. A few days ago, someone asked me to collect a bicycle ticket. Come and get the ticket today by paying. Hey, if there's any ticket you want, tell me and I'll definitely get it for you!"
Lin Guoqing: ...Brother, do you think I look like a rich man?
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