Back to 1984: Earning Money, Raising Kids, and Keeping the Household Busy

Chapter 26 Selling Things at the Market

Lin Yi thought of the vegetables he had brought on board and instructed Chen Wenjun, "If you go to sell the fish, you can also sell the vegetables. There are too many for us to eat, and it would be a waste if they spoiled."

Vegetables can't be sold in the village, but they can sell some in the city.

Lin Yi agreed.

When it was time to go to bed that night, the whole family discussed how to arrange things.

The final decision was to have Lin Qin sleep in the back cabin with the two children, while Lin Yi and Chen Wenjun would sleep in the front. If Lin Yi needed to get up at night, Chen Wenjun could help.

Chen Pingan remained silent about this arrangement.

It wasn't until Lin Qin led him to the back cabin and saw the little guy looking helpless that she realized what was going on. She quickly picked him up and placed him next to Liu Yaya, gently patting his head. "I'll get some hot water for you to wash your hands and faces. After you're done, we'll go to sleep, okay?"

Seasick Liu Yaya couldn't hold on any longer. She nodded listlessly and lay motionless on the bed.

Lin Qin washed their faces one by one, made them lie down and covered them with blankets, poured the dirty water into the Nanxi River, closed the bamboo shed, and lay down with the children.

Before going to bed, Lin Qin whispered to Chen Ping'an beside her, "When the weather gets warmer, Auntie will give you a haircut and a good bath."

She fell into a deep sleep without waiting for Chen Ping'an's reply.

Chen Pingan slowly opened his eyes in the darkness, looked in Lin Qin's direction, and secretly moved closer. He was a little excited and a little timid. After a while, he felt sleepy and fell asleep.

When Lin Qin woke up in the morning, she found that both children were clinging tightly to her, and her arms were being held by the two children, making it impossible for her to move.

I could only carefully pull it out and sneak it out.

Seeing the boat moving meant that Chen Wenjun had woken up and might already be setting up the trap.

Lin Qin quickly went over to help.

When we got to the front, we found several buckets on the deck, all of which were filled with something.

Seeing that she was in good spirits, Chen Wenjun's smile widened unconsciously. "Look, one of the traps had a great catch last night. It caught three river eels and more than a dozen bamboo bream. Another trap also had five crucian carp weighing four or five ounces each."

The bucket is already more than half full of river shrimp. Let's sell these today; they're worth quite a bit of money!

The river shrimp in Nanxi are not big; they can be described as tiny shrimp. These shrimp can only grow to this size. Restaurants in the city use these river shrimp to make batter and deep-fry them. They are extremely fragrant and can sell for about two yuan per pound.

Because they are small, these shrimp are hard to catch. If you use a trap, you usually only catch a few, not even enough to fill a bowl. So very few people go to the city to sell these small shrimp.

It can only be said that they were incredibly lucky after their rebirth.

The two were grateful, but dared not express it.

Thinking of Lin Yi's instructions yesterday, Lin Qin hesitated and said, "Do you want me to go with you? I'll sell vegetables, and you can sell fish. We can help each other out and sell everything sooner."

"Are you sure?" Chen Wenjun asked, somewhat surprised.

In her previous life, Lin Qin rarely disembarked from the ship after boarding it. When she had to disembark, she did so discreetly, especially afraid of the world's gaze. Her timid and hesitant manner only drew more attention, causing her to become increasingly self-conscious and fearful.

I remember one year at the end of the year when we went to the market. He had too many things to carry, and Lin Qin offered to help. But when we got to the market, she was so tense because of the crowds that she didn't say a word. She didn't even dare to respond when we called her.

Chen Wenjun had never seen her do business with anyone.

Lin Qin nodded emphatically, "The shadows I couldn't get over in my past life are no longer my concern. God has given me a second chance, and I can't be so pathetic again. Don't worry, I'll definitely be fine."

Chen Wenjun thought about it again and realized that it made sense, so he agreed.

The two made breakfast for Lin Yi and the children. Before leaving, Chen Wenjun made sure to arrange the things Lin Yi needed and asked Chen Ping'an to lend Lin Yi a hand.

Once everything was arranged, Chen Wenjun brought the small cart from the fishing boat ashore.

The small cart couldn't hold much, but it could easily fit a basket of vegetables and a bucket of fish. Lin Qin pushed the cart, while Chen Wenjun carried two large buckets of water on a shoulder pole.

Lin Yi and his two children watched them leave, feeling worried.

Lin Qin and Chen Wenjun were so focused on getting on their way that they didn't care about anything else.

To avoid running into the Liu family, Chen Wenjun didn't choose to sell fish in that area this time, but instead took a detour to the Xiatian area.

The area around Xiatian is full of workers' family housing. The people living here are relatively well-off and are willing to spend money on food and clothing.

This year, a temporary market street was also opened here, but Chen Wenjun hasn't been here yet.

The two arrived at the market street around 7 o'clock, right in the middle of peak hours, and it was packed with people everywhere.

Chen Wenjun was a little worried about Lin Qin and focused all his attention on her, but Lin Qin pointed to a small empty space not far away and said excitedly, "Let's go over there and set up our stall."

Chen Wenjun followed her instructions and carried the shoulder pole over.

As soon as the items were put down, the vegetable vendor next to them craned his neck to look over.

At that time, there were no large-scale wholesalers selling vegetables; everyone brought out the vegetables they grew themselves to sell, and each stall had very limited selections.

As soon as Chen Wenjun lifted the bucket, he started to drink, shouting, "Fish for sale! Fresh bamboo shoots, eels, crucian carp, carp, and bighead carp! Come and see!"

When he shouted, four older women actually gathered around.

"Young man, where is Fatty?"

What do bamboo shoot husks look like?

How big is the crucian carp?

"Wow! Such tiny river shrimp? How did you catch so many!"

The four older women each said something, clearly indicating that they had different interests in different things.

Chen Wenjun quickly took out the cutting board and cleaver for killing fish, and also prepared the scale beam and weights.

Lin Qin was in charge of catching fish for them to see.

The old woman's eyes lit up when she saw the big, fat cat. "It's alive! How much?"

"Auntie, the supply and marketing cooperative sells it for 1.6 yuan a jin, but I'm selling it for 1.5 yuan. I can't go any lower. Look, I'm still alive and kicking!"

As if to confirm Chen Wenjun's words, Fatty flicked his tail and sprayed water all over the old lady's face.

The old lady leaned back slightly, slapped her thigh, and exclaimed, "Goodness! This is the perfect size! Cut it a little lower, and I'll make a tofu soup with it—it'll be delicious!"

Chen Wenjun told everyone to step back a few steps, then chopped the fish several times with his broadsword, hooked it, weighed it, and did it all in one go. After the old lady paid, he even thoughtfully helped cut off the gills and chopped the fish into pieces.

The old lady beamed from ear to ear, "This makes things so much easier for me! Young man, I'll definitely come back to buy from you next time!"

As soon as the old lady left, people started scrambling for the remaining fish tail.

Chen Wenjun sold the fish tails first, and then did business with other people.

The old lady who bought the crucian carp was mainly trying to help her daughter-in-law, who was in postpartum confinement, produce breast milk. Coincidentally, all of Chen Wenjun's crucian carp were alive and about the same size, so the old lady bought them all.

They even went back to get a bucket to fill it.

While waiting for the old lady, we sold a few more carp and bamboo shoots.

(End of this chapter)