My 1995 Small Farm.

Chapter 500

In the seventh month of the lunar calendar, there is even more rain.

But it gets even hotter when it doesn't rain.

Today is a sunny day with not a single cloud in the sky.

Chen Ling and his group walked on the road, with cars in front and trucks behind.

Chen Ling and Wang Qingwen were sitting in Zhao Dahai's car.

Wang Jusheng and his brother-in-law sat on a scooter transport vehicle.

Zhao Dahai's car was also packed full.

These were gifts that Wang Susu brought for Zhao Dahai and the two sisters-in-law of Shanmao's family.

In addition, there were also funds given to Liang Yuemin's family.

For example, some wild melons that I picked while picking mushrooms in the mountains yesterday were part of it.

The aroma of this fruit is extremely strong.

On the sixth day of the sixth lunar month, sweet potatoes ripen. By the fifteenth of the seventh lunar month, they're rotten.

Now is the perfect time to eat wild sweet potatoes.

Zhao Dahai sniffed as he drove: "This stuff smells so good, so sweet and fragrant. It smells even better in the car than pineapple."

"That's right, this thing also has another name, it's called 'fragrant all over the ground'."

Chen Ling sat in the back row, reached out and grabbed a few pieces, and shared them with Zhao Dahai and his brother-in-law.

This wild fruit, although called wild ground melon, is actually not as big as a sweet potato.

It is brownish-red, oval-shaped, and about the size of a thumb.

Bringing it over is just for the sake of trying something new.

"Mmm, you have so many good things here. The mountains are like a treasure trove, you can find everything."

Zhao Dahai gripped the steering wheel with one hand while stuffing fruit into his mouth.

"Fugui, do you think if all these roads were repaired, there would be a chance to sell all these good things?"

"How can I say for sure? Whether I can sell them or not depends on whether anyone will buy them."

Chen Ling had thought about this for a long time, but later he realized that some wild fruits only truly left the mountains after e-commerce developed in later generations.

Back then, everything was sold online.

That's not possible now. People from all over the country don't know much about each other's food and fruits and vegetables.

So some things are okay to brag about.

When it comes to actually doing something, it's not something you can just decide on a whim.

of course.

Chen Ling was clearly thinking too far ahead.

Zhao Dahai was quite quick-witted, saying, "Then let's pick out what we can sell and sell it. My dad and Uncle Zhong can save up enough money to buy sheep by collecting cicada shells. How many treasures do you think are waiting for us to develop in these mountains? Once the transportation problem is solved, it will be a natural treasure trove."

Both he and the Lynx families are not short of money.

They are also unwilling to put in the effort to do any business.

He brought this up because he had seen so many wonderful things in the mountains since he met Chen Ling.

Wild mushrooms, seafood, herbs—countless good things.

How much can the mountain people who live by the mountains digest on their own?
The rest were all wasted.

What a pity.

“Yes, Dahai is right. Even ordinary mountain products can make money. Last time, Lingzi met an acquaintance on the way to the village to buy eggs to sell. The acquaintance told him the secret, and he made double the profit by transporting them to the city…”

It was my brother-in-law's first time traveling far from home. At first, he sat in the passenger seat, watching the scenery along the way without saying a word.

Hearing Zhao Dahai's words, he turned around and said, "These are common things. There are also wild chestnuts, walnuts, persimmons picked from the mountains and dried into persimmon cakes, and so on. There are many more."

These items sell really well towards the end of the year.

New Year's goods, after all.

My brother and his group used to harvest their crops at the end of autumn every year and sell them just before the end of December.

It's the same principle as trading grain; you make a profit from the price difference.

"Oh, Qingwen, you know this too."

Zhao Dahai became interested upon hearing this and started chatting with Wang Qingwen.

Chen Ling also chatted with him casually for a few minutes.

I kept bragging and rambling along the way, so the journey didn't feel long at all.

However, since it's summer and we're traveling, even if we bring enough water, we still can't help but stop the car when we pass through some counties, towns, or even clear streams to buy some popsicles or drink some cool stream water to cool off.

It only takes a day to travel from the county town to the city by car.

We'll set off around 7 a.m. and arrive around 11 or 12 p.m.

It sounds like it can arrive on the same day, as if it's not that far.

In fact, in that amount of time, if you take the highway, you can make two round trips from Beijing to Hohhot in Inner Mongolia.

Two round trips.

It's clear how difficult the road is for them, and how arduous the journey must be.

It was a bumpy ride with constant ups and downs, and we had to take detours everywhere.

However, this situation is so common these days that people get used to it.

It was Wang Qingwen's backside that suffered the consequences.

It was numb and painful; I couldn't even walk when we got to the city late at night.

Wang Jusheng and his brother-in-law on the truck were about the same size.

His brother-in-law got carsick on the way and had a very difficult time. After getting off the bus, he was sleepy and felt unwell.

He's never been as energetic as he was in the village.

"Is this our city? Where's the statue of the sacred bull? I can't see it."

Wang Qingwen rubbed his backside and craned his neck to look around near the stone lions in front of the vegetable market.

“Brother, this is a vegetable market. We’re here to sell vegetables. The sacred ox statue is in the big square near the riverbank. It’s there to suppress floods, not to protect the vegetable market.”

When Chen Ling saw his usually serious and upright brother-in-law making such a comical appearance, he found it both funny and speechless.

We quickly pulled him away from the stone lions in front of the market gate.

At night, in the dark, people might urinate or defecate near the lion statue, which could easily lead to a dangerous situation.

"The market only starts to get busy around 2 or 3 a.m., so I'll find a place to sleep for a while now and then go home to catch up on my sleep after I've sold all my vegetables."

Chen Ling pointed to a spot not far away where people were sleeping soundly on their beds next to many vegetable transport trucks.

Little Sheep then led Wang Jusheng to untie the canvas cover of the transport vehicle to let the vegetables breathe, and then took down some urea bags, mats and other items for everyone to spread on the ground.

In summer, there aren't many rules; you can just lay down on the ground and sleep.

The little lamb got used to this routine and wasn't sleepy.

Chen Ling, who was equally energetic, sat by the car chatting idly while waiting for the market to open.

During this period, vehicles of all sizes continued to arrive one after another, some carrying various goods, and others arriving empty to look for wholesale purchases.

Not far away, some distance from this old town market, is a livestock market.

It is extremely convenient to supply raw meat to the market.

The area was now filled with vehicles.

However, the livestock market opens late, and people don't arrive until five or six in the morning. Now it's dark, just like the vegetable market. Some people are gathered in groups chatting quietly, some are sleeping or resting by the trucks or behind them, and some are wandering around with their hands behind their backs, looking here and there, and getting closer to look at some of the goods.

Wang Qingwen and the other two couldn't sleep even after lying down. This vegetable market was so big, with so many vehicles coming and going. Every now and then, the headlights of cars would shine on them, then stop and turn off, just like them, on high alert.

I found it somewhat novel and inexplicably exciting.

It felt like I had suddenly seen a whole new world.

Then the three of them stopped sleeping and started wandering around, looking around like Grandma Liu visiting the Grand View Garden. Several times they were mistaken for thieves.

"Tsk tsk, how many cars have arrived? How many tens of thousands would it cost to buy one of these big cars? No wonder they're keeping a close eye on it."

After Zhang Erlengzi arrived in the city, he became very dull-looking and spoke in a dull manner.

The little lamb told him, "It's not just about looking at the vehicle; the key is to look at the cargo and the fuel tank."

Wang Qingwen was also filled with emotion. He sat with Chen Ling and said that it was no wonder that people went to such great lengths to collect eggs from the mountains and bring them to the city to sell. With such a big market and so many trucks coming to pick them up, how could they not sell them and make money?
Zhao Dahai was extremely familiar with the city and didn't find these things particularly interesting. After driving all day, he lay down in the car with the door open and fell fast asleep.

I originally thought I would have to wait until the market opened.

Unexpectedly, because the tarpaulin on the truck was open, all the vegetables were visible when the lights were turned on. Many vendors who had arrived in the early morning saw this and got off the truck to come up and ask questions.

The bidders were all eager to make their bids, as if they were afraid of losing the bid to someone else.

"What to do? What to do?"

"Brother-in-law, the offer is so high, why don't we sell it quickly? There are so many other cars waiting over there!"

"Don't panic, don't panic, listen to your brother Fugui, we'll sell whenever he says we'll sell."

Although Wang Jusheng was trying to reassure his brother-in-law not to panic, he was actually trembling even more violently.

Damn it, city people have gone mad.

Purslane, which is free in the village, can sell for more than one yuan per kilogram in the city.

It's somewhat understandable that green beans and eggplants are sold at a higher price.

Purslane is a wild vegetable that grows haphazardly in fields and along roadsides. In the eyes of farmers, it is not much different from grass.

This applies to common vegetables and wild greens.

Wild mushrooms are even more frightening.

After Chen Ling carried a basket down, the group shone a flashlight on it and quoted a price that sent chills down one's spine.

Moreover, several types of wild mushrooms have different prices.

Each one is more expensive than the last.

It's actually more expensive than meat.

While they were still in a daze, Chen Ling waved his hand and said, "No, you've lied quite a bit about this price. Let's talk about it when the market opens."

We prefer to sell them individually.

Selling them individually fetches a higher price.

Chen Ling complained that they were driving down the price of wild vegetables too much, and then tried to drive them away.

"No, no, no, brother, don't be in such a hurry. Business is about give and take. We can talk things over."

"Yes, yes, look at all those vegetable trucks still rushing here. Once the market opens, they won't be able to take care of you anymore."

A group of people started talking all at once, and before long, the vegetable trucks next to them were already negotiating prices even before the market opened.

They all started shouting.

Most of the trucks at this market are there to buy vegetables; there aren't many selling vegetables.

Those who live nearby or were prepared in advance will be more likely to be sent to the hardest-hit areas.

Over here, there are actually more people transporting livestock.

Pigs, cattle, sheep, and donkeys.

So these vendors went around for a while and then came back to Chen Ling.

The same principle applies: mountainous areas have small plots of land, not even enough to grow grain, unlike plains areas where there are dedicated vegetable bases, making it easy to harvest a truckload of vegetables and transport them one truckload at a time.

Even if you can get a truckload of vegetables from the mountains, it will take a long time. For example, in Kuliu County, Tongshi County, and Wangbacheng near Lingyun, there are few things in the mountains, which are not as rich as Wuyun Mountain and Lutou Mountain, which are adjacent to the Qinling Mountains. You can't even gather some wild mushrooms to make up the difference.

"Lingzi, I saw that those people had a lot of taro and arrowhead on their tractors. They looked quite fresh and of good quality. Why didn't any of them want them?"

The brother-in-law sneaked out to find out what was going on, and when he came back, he pulled Chen Ling aside and whispered to him.

"Brother, they are right not to. After the flood, so much grain and vegetables will be destroyed, but taro and arrowhead will be harvested in abundance."

These things, used to make up the numbers, won't sell for much."

Chen Ling shook his head and smiled. Nobody is stupid. They would use wild vegetables to make up the numbers. People who live right next to the water would also use their brains to find things in the water.

Unfortunately, this approach wouldn't work in years with floods.

"Brother, don't worry about anything else now. You should learn how to negotiate prices first. In the future, call on Second Brother. It will be very useful for the three of us brothers in our business."

After Chen Ling finished speaking, he turned around and went back to negotiating prices with the vegetable vendors.

With just a few words, the price was raised several notches.

The difference between these two words can be several thousand or even tens of thousands of yuan.

Seeing this, the brother-in-law couldn't help but feel his heart race and his emotions surge.

Damn it, now that the business has grown so big, it really feels like you can turn the world upside down with just a flick of your wrist.

I wonder where my brother-in-law learned his bargaining skills.

As luck would have it, they had just finalized the price.

"Clang-dang-"

The gates were wide open, the lights were on, and the market had finally opened for business.

Everyone who was sleeping jumped up in a flash.

Some, like Chen Ling and his group, had already made arrangements and were pushing large scales around, shouting as they came to have their scales weighed.

Little Lamb guarded the vehicle, while Chen Ling led his men to weigh the vegetables under the vehicle, and Wang Qingwen held a notebook, his face serious as he kept accounts.

Under the lights, everywhere you look, you see figures sweating and working hard around the vehicles.

Finally, around 5 a.m., the weighing was completed, the money and goods were settled, and everything was done.

Clutching the heavy sum of money in their tattered schoolbags, Wang Jusheng, Wang Qingwen, and the others still felt it was unreal.

"A truckload of vegetables, more than 60,000 yuan, I feel like I'm dreaming."

“How about it, Jusheng? What did I tell you? Follow Fugui and make big money. Now, who in the village will dare to look down on you? Your parents will regret it to the core.”

"Yes, brother-in-law, I picked the mushrooms myself, and after splitting the money, I got almost a thousand yuan."

If they come a few more times, my family will become a ten-thousand-yuan household, won't we? A ten-thousand-yuan household, hehe, what's so great about being a ten-thousand-yuan household, hehehe.

"Pfft, Er Lengzi, what's wrong with you? Have you really become an idiot?"

"Ignore him, this kid is probably too happy to think straight."

As everyone talked about him, he himself was beaming with joy, and even the little lamb was beaming with happiness, walking with a slight sway.

However, when we set off to have breakfast, we had just left the old town and arrived at a breakfast stall near the riverbank.

Little Lamb walked up to Chen Ling and whispered, "Uncle Fugui, it seems like someone is following us. They've been following us since we came out of the market, all the way."

"What? Someone's following us? Are they here to rob us?"

Zhang Erlengzi was young and inexperienced, and his face turned pale with fright.

Seeing this, Wang Jusheng frowned and kicked him: "What are you yelling about? Look at your pathetic self. Do you still want to work for your Brother Fugui in the future?"

Chen Ling pretended to casually look around, then went to the back of the car to urinate. When he came back, he said, "Don't rush. They probably see that we're selling a lot of goods at the market and want to steal our business."

(End of this chapter)