Gao Mingcheng got up at around five o'clock the next morning, washed up simply, and drove his tractor to the place where river sand and cement were sold.
The sound of the tractor starting woke up the small mountain village that had been sleeping all night.
On the roadside treetops, early birds flapped their wings and flew, the noise they made complemented the sound of the tractor.
The sun rises early in the summer, and Gao Mingcheng has good eyesight, so he drives steadily all the way.
When he passed by Zhang Chengyuan and Chen Dasong's homes, the people in these two families also woke up one after another. They had to get up early today to go to Xiaofushan to pick bayberries.
Gao Mingcheng was very generous. In addition to paying wages, he would also give other benefits from time to time, so both families worked very hard.
When Gao Mingcheng came back with a truckload of construction materials, Chen Dasong and his team had already picked all the bayberries and were placing them in the shed. There was not only a basket of bayberries, but also a basket of various vegetables and eggs, all produced by Gao Mingcheng himself.
On this trip, Gao Mingcheng not only bought cement and river sand, but also found that there was still some space, so he simply bought seven or eight asbestos tiles, laid them flat on top, and tied them up with ropes.
He unloaded all the building materials from the car, and then said to Chen Dasong who was waiting there, "We have bought almost everything. There is still some wood left. You can pick out some suitable ones for doors, windows and beds. After the construction is completed, let the carpenter come to measure the dimensions."
Chen Dasong looked at the materials, patted his chest and said, "Don't worry, I can do all these jobs!"
It's not a two- or three-story building, just a small bungalow, which is simple.
After Gao Mingcheng explained everything clearly, he did not waste any time. He loaded the bayberries and vegetables onto the truck and prepared to return to the county.
When passing by the pond at the entrance of the village, I saw Gao Zhuang already waiting there pushing his bicycle.
"Brother Mingcheng! Have you had breakfast? My grandma asked me to bring you some cooked potatoes and eggs!" There were some still warm potatoes and eggs in the iron frame in front of Gao Zhuang's bicycle. After seeing Gao Mingcheng, he handed them to Gao Mingcheng.
Gao Mingcheng had a bowl of noodles at a place selling cement and river sand, but this time he didn't hesitate to park the car there and finished all the potatoes and eggs in no time.
While he was eating the eggs, Gao Zhuang also put his own bicycle on the bed so that he could ride it back in the afternoon.
"Hold on tight, we're off!"
"Hey." Gao Zhuang responded with a smile. He sat on the truck bed, looking at the scenery that kept receding. His mood seemed to be flying.
He hadn't seen his wife and children for a month, and he missed them very much.
Along the way, he couldn't help asking about He Xiuman and Xiao Yuanyuan's recent situation.
However, Gao Mingcheng was mostly out in the recent period of time, so he was not particularly clear about their current situation. He only talked about what he knew.
Seeing Gao Zhuang still asking, Gao Mingcheng couldn't help but smile and said, "Why are you in such a hurry? You will be able to see them in a while. It is said that seeing is believing. If you want to know something, go ask your wife yourself later!"
Gao Zhuang just laughed and stopped asking questions.
The cool morning breeze blew on the two young men, blowing their hair back, revealing their shiny and full foreheads, but their tall and strong foreheads were shiny black!
After the tractor drove into the county town, the road suddenly became lively. Some people were carrying loads on their shoulders and walking towards the market, some were walking with empty bamboo baskets, and some were riding old-fashioned 28-bar bicycles.
Gao Mingcheng's clothing store is located in the street garden, not far from the farmer's market. The whole street is lined with various shops, so every time the market comes, the customer flow here will increase a lot.
It was just past eight in the morning, but there were already customers in the store choosing clothes.
Normally, the door can be opened at 9 o'clock, but during market hours, it must be opened at 7:30.
It happened that there was no need for kindergarten teacher training today, so Xuan Xuanmei was also selling goods in the store. As for the two children, they were left to be taken care of by Hu Yinchen and He Xiuman.
However, when Gao Mingcheng walked into the store, he found that Luo Li had also called her eldest sister Luo Fang to help.
As for the two younger sisters, they were left at home to read books.
When Luo Li got married, Huang Dazhi bought her a sewing machine as a betrothal gift, but in the end the sewing machine was left at her parents' home and given to Luo Li's older sister Luo Fang.
In this way, the whole family does not need to spend money to hire a tailor to make clothes. They can buy cloth and make them themselves, which can save a lot of money.
Furthermore, once you have mastered the skills, you can make clothes for others at a lower price.
Luo Li asked Luo Fang to help because she wanted to train Luo Fang, and Luo Fang also knew how to sew trouser legs and could help.
Gao Zhuang looked eagerly at the people in the clothing store, but he didn't see the person he was thinking about.
So he looked at Gao Mingcheng, but Gao Mingcheng was not omniscient, so he asked a lot of questions.
Xuanyuemei said: "There are too many people in the store, they are playing upstairs."
Gao Mingcheng patted Gao Zhuang on the shoulder and motioned for him to go upstairs by himself.
As for him, he moved the bayberries from the truck bed to the door of the store and placed them there. As soon as he moved the bayberries out, someone asked about the price.
"This is Dongkui bayberry. It's big, sweet and sour and tastes good. It costs one dollar per pound." Gao Mingcheng said.
The person who asked the price immediately said it was too expensive.
But Gao Mingcheng insisted on this price. Now the first-class bananas and apples in the fruit store are sold for RMB 1.5, and Guoguang apples are sold for RMB 1.2. However, Guoguang apples bear fruit late, taste sour, are small, and have poor color. The water content decreases over time, and they are not crispy when eaten.
Jiangxi does not produce bananas and apples, so the prices are quite expensive, but bayberry is produced locally, so the price is mostly around 40 or 50 cents.
However, Gao Mingcheng thinks that the quality of his own bayberries is very good and worth the price of one dollar.
Customers who come to the store to buy clothes can afford clothes that cost dozens of dollars, so it is not a big problem for them to spend one dollar to buy high-quality bayberry.
As for customers who think the price is too high, they can just leave.
Bayberry trees bear fruit late, and they will not reach their peak fruit-bearing period until seven or eight years after they are planted. Although the bayberry trees planted by Gao Mingcheng have begun to bear fruit, the yield of the trees is very low. This batch of bayberries only weighs more than 30 kilograms. If they are sold for 40 or 50 cents, Gao Mingcheng is unwilling to pick the bayberries to sell.
Therefore, he priced it at one yuan, and if he didn't sell it, he would use it to make bayberry wine at home.
After the customer who asked about the price left, Gao Mingcheng went back to the store, found a pen and paper, and wrote a price list directly to avoid people asking about the price again.
Gao Zhuang went upstairs and finally saw his wife and children whom he had been thinking about for a long time. All three of them were very happy for a moment.
Hu Yinchen was very considerate. She immediately carried little Xuxu downstairs, leaving the space for the three of them.
Xiao Xuxu was reluctant to leave. During this period, he and Xiao Yuanyuan had a very good time playing together. The two children were of similar age and Xiao Yuanyuan had a good personality. She was willing to play with Xiao Xuxu and make him laugh.
But little Xuxu is still young after all, and Hu Yinchen coaxed him with a rattle to divert his attention.
When Gao Mingcheng saw them coming downstairs, he immediately took Xiao Xuxu in. The father and son played a game of lifting him up high, which made Xiao Xuxu laugh out loud.
Gao Mingcheng said to Hu Yinchen, "I'll take care of Xiao Xuxu. You go to the market and buy two shanks and five pounds of pork belly. We'll cook braised pork for lunch!"
Hu Yinchen agreed with a smile, went to the cashier to get the money for the vegetables, and walked towards the market.
Gao Mingcheng didn't let her buy vegetables because he had just brought a basket of vegetables from the village, enough for his family to eat for two or three days.
In the front shop, several women were busy selling goods. In the backyard, Gao Mingcheng was playing with his little son. He managed to create a picture of a peaceful and tranquil life amidst the busyness.
"Brother, quickly bring the scale and bags. Someone wants to buy bayberries!" Gao Shufang's voice interrupted the conversation between father and son. Gao Mingcheng then remembered that he had written a price list but forgot to bring the scale and bags.
So he walked to the front holding Xiao Xuxu in one hand and the scale and bag in the other.
As expected, the one who was willing to buy the expensive bayberries was a customer in the store. When she saw the tempting colors of the bayberries in the bamboo basket, her mouth began to water. Because she had just bought a set of clothes, Gao Shufang generously agreed to let her try one.
After tasting it, the customer expressed his willingness to buy it.
Although it is a bit expensive at one dollar per pound, the bayberry tastes good!
If the bayberry is sour and astringent, no one will buy it at 10 cents per pound. For example, no one picks the wild bayberries in the mountains of Gaojia Village, and they are left to rot in the fields every year.
After Yangmei opened his shop, his luck seemed to improve and he sold several kilograms of goods.
So Gao Mingcheng brought a cart, put Xiao Xuxu in the cart, and sat next to it to sell bayberries.
There were people coming and going on the street. Someone was carrying candied haws and selling them. Gao Mingcheng stopped the man and bought two strings.
The hawthorns in the candied haws are locally produced. They are not as big as those produced in the north. They taste sour and floury, and are quite good when eaten with the sugar coating.
After Gao Mingcheng bought it, he handed a string to Xiao Xuxu and asked him to play with it. As a result, Xiao Xuxu stuffed it into his mouth without any instruction and ate it with relish. Unfortunately, after eating for a long time, the candied haws only suffered superficial injuries.
Soon, Gao Zhuang and his family came down from the building.
Gao Zhuang held Xiao Yuanyuan in his arms and said to Gao Mingcheng, "Brother Mingcheng, I'm going to the market. Grandma asked me to buy some things to bring back."
"Okay! You have to come back for lunch! Come, Xiao Yuanyuan, have some candied haws!" Gao Mingcheng gave another string of candied haws to Xiao Yuanyuan.
Gao Zhuang immediately said, "Why spend this money? Brother Mingcheng, why don't you just make the bayberries into candied haws and sell them!"
Gao Mingcheng smiled and said, "Do you think anyone can make good syrup? But when you are free at noon, you can try it."
"Hey, I'll go buy some things first." Gao Zhuang laughed and merged into the crowd with his wife and children, becoming one of the hustle and bustle.
The sounds of hawking, shouting, and bargaining kept ringing in my ears.
Gao Mingcheng sat on a small bench, quietly feeling the slow pace of the times.
In later times, with the rise of e-commerce and the decline of physical stores, fewer and fewer people participated in the market. Except for big cities, many small cities lacked the bustling scene.
Gao Mingcheng was feeling deeply moved when Maozi emerged from the crowd and walked towards him.
"Hey, Brother Mingcheng, can you take a look at this, how much is it worth?" Maozi took out a few ancient coins from his trouser pocket.
When Gao Mingcheng saw the ancient coin in Maozi's hand, he immediately took it and said, "I have to take a look before pricing it."
"Look, look." Maozi said hurriedly, sitting obediently on the steps, not daring to urge Gao Mingcheng at all.
Ever since helping his friend Archie sell the bunk bed at home, Maozi has seen the profit in it.
Since he had no job, he wandered the streets every day and knew a lot of people, so he became interested and started to pay attention to old things himself.
These ancient coins were obtained by him through various means. Some were bought from others with money, and some were won from bets.
Gao Mingcheng looked carefully at the ancient coins in his hand. There were eight in total, each of which had a heavy feeling left by time, and one of them was covered with green copper rust.
The ancients cast coins with copper. Iron rust is red, and copper rust is green. Therefore, by looking at the rust, one can distinguish the material of the ancient coins.
Maozi watched Gao Mingcheng read the coins seriously and his heart couldn't help but pounding, because he couldn't understand half of the words on the coins. Even for the parts he understood, he only knew a rough idea. For example, those with the word Kangxi were from the Kangxi period, and those with the word Qianlong were from the Qianlong period.
But there was one coin with "Qixiang Chongbao" written on it. Maozi racked his brains but still couldn't figure out whose reign title Qixiang was. He even went to ask people, but it turned out that no one knew which emperor's reign title Qixiang was.
Therefore, Maozi believed that the coin he received was a fake.
At this moment, his heart was pounding, because he was afraid that Gao Mingcheng would see that the coin was a fake. He brought the fake coin with him, just in case Gao Mingcheng didn't recognize it and directly bought it?
Holding on to this glimmer of hope, Maozi waited impatiently for Gao Mingcheng to speak.
Gao Mingcheng looked at them one by one, and finally picked up the Qixiang treasure with his thumb and index finger and looked at it carefully.
Seeing this scene, Maozi's heart beat faster.
Gao Mingcheng noticed that his heart rate was abnormal, and asked in surprise: "What's wrong with you? You seem very nervous?"
Maozi gave an awkward smile and said, "I'm afraid of losing money."
Gao Mingcheng understood and learned that Maozi had paid for it, so he asked, "How much did you pay for it in total?"
Maozi chuckled and then stretched out four fingers.
"Forty dollars?"
"hey-hey."
Gao Mingcheng glanced at him and felt that this Russian was dishonest and must have raised the price too high.
However, these coins are indeed genuine, especially the Qixiang Chongbao, which is a rare coin.
Because the reign title "Qixiang" only existed for one month in history, and later when Empress Dowager Cixi took power from behind the scenes, she changed the reign title to "Tongzhi".
The so-called antiques are, firstly, very old and secondly, rare.
Scarcity determines their price. The rarer something is, the more expensive it is!
Gao Mingcheng accepted all eight coins, and then said to Maozi, "These are Qing Dynasty coins, they are recent, and there are many of them on the market. Some of them are not in good condition, with a lot of rust. But I won't let you suffer a loss, a total of fifty yuan, do you want to sell them?"
"Sell!" As soon as Gao Mingcheng finished speaking, Maozi couldn't wait to say the word "sell".
The actual amount of money Maozi spent on these coins did not exceed ten yuan, and he even exchanged one coin for a handful of fruit candies from a child's shuttlecock.
Some of them were won from betting and cost nothing at all.
When Gao Mingcheng asked him how much he paid for it, he naturally wouldn't tell the truth. He held up four fingers, hoping that Gao Mingcheng would pay for it for forty yuan.
It turns out that Boss Gao is very generous!
Boss Gao is willing to buy it for fifty dollars!
If you still hesitate and miss the opportunity, you will regret it to death!
Seeing Maozi's anxious look, Gao Mingcheng laughed, but he did not regret it. Instead, he took out fifty yuan and handed it to Maozi.
Maozi took it immediately, counted it carefully, and when he found that the number was correct, he immediately put it into his trouser pocket.
He looked at Gao Mingcheng with enthusiastic eyes.
"Brother Mingcheng, can I sell all these things to you when I receive them in the future?"
"Okay, but it has to be the real thing. If it's a fake, I don't want it." Gao Mingcheng nodded deliberately to prevent the Russians from taking advantage of him.
Maozi immediately stated: "I would never dare to cheat you with fake things!"
He spoke with great confidence, but was secretly delighted in his heart. Among those ancient coins, there was a fake one, and Gao Mingcheng hadn't recognized it, hadn't he?
When he thought of this, he couldn't help feeling proud.
Gao Mingcheng glanced at him and felt that this Russian was up to something bad.
But he didn't care. As the saying goes, when enemies come, we must fight them with soldiers; when water comes, we must block it with earth. Buying and selling antiques depends on one's own eyesight. If you have a good eye, you can find a bargain. If you don't have a good eye, you will be fooled.
How much you earn depends entirely on your own ability.
Thinking of this, Gao Mingcheng remained calm.
He even hoped that Maozi could collect more old things so that he wouldn't have to run around.
He told Maozi about the scope of his goods, which were mainly small items, as large items were inconvenient to stack and transport.
"We also want any old plaques, paintings, etc." (End of this chapter)
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