Back to my 1980s

Deep in the town market.

Zhao Hua glanced around.

Finding a corner, he put the bucket on the ground, gave all the small fish to Zhao Ru, and kept the larger carp, silver carp, and grass carp for Zhao Hua.

Zhao Hua laid the burlap sack on the ground, took out a silver carp and a common carp and placed them on it, laid another burlap sack to the side, and sat down.

The other two girls followed behind him, looking down at him. They were seventeen or eighteen years old with faces full of collagen, and their eyes looked at him with a hint of shyness. He had heard a saying in his later years: there are no ugly young girls, and it was indeed true.

They glanced at each other briefly, then avoided each other's gaze like mimosa plants. Zhao Hua found this amusing and laughed, "Alright, I'll stay here today. You can go back and find Zhao Ru. Just call me if you need anything."

The two girls didn't answer, but nodded, linked arms, and ran off in a flash.

Zhao Hua stood up and watched their backs. No one bothered them until they got close to Zhao Ru. Only then did he look away, bend down to straighten the sack, and sit down again.

It was around six o'clock in the morning. There were quite a few people at the market, but it wasn't the busiest time yet. The people who came to the market now were mostly elderly men and women, like Zhao Jun, who came to sell some of their family's agricultural products.

Next to Zhao Hua was an uncle who sold fish. He looked about the same age as Zhao's father, but he didn't have as many fish as Zhao Hua, and he only had one basket.

Seeing Zhao Hua sit down, the middle-aged man leaned over for a glance and asked tentatively, "Oh! Young man, are you here to sell fish too?"

"Yeah, are the fish selling well? I'm bored at home, so I caught some fish to try and sell them." Zhao Hua sat down, reached into his pocket, took out a Daqianmen cigarette, and handed it to the uncle.

The uncle next door glanced at the cigarette in Zhao Hua's hand, took it, and asked in surprise, "Daqianmen? Is it that good?"

Zhao Hua chuckled but didn't reply.

He then asked, "You have quite a few fish. How did you catch them?"

Zhao Hua laughed and said, "My home is right by that big river, so it's more convenient for catching fish." He then nodded towards the direction of the Qinghe River.

"Oh! No wonder there are so many fish. I thought they came from somewhere else." The uncle said sarcastically.

Zhao Hua almost snatched the cigarette from his mouth, then cracked his neck and laughed, "How could I dare to take it now? I caught these myself, just came here to try my luck, haha."

"Well, how much do you plan to sell these fish?"

"Look at your prices, I'll just go with yours." Raising the price of crucian carp was to prevent Zhao Ru from being taken advantage of, but he himself wasn't afraid. He had so many friends, and if he didn't bully anyone, the market management office should have given him an award.

The uncle clicked his tongue, asked no more questions, and retreated to his stall.

Zhao Hua ignored him and focused on tending his fish stall, eagerly awaiting customers to come up and ask about prices.

The market was getting more and more crowded, and some younger faces began to appear.

Zhao Hua sat there, while the uncle next to him had already sold out and packed up his stall, but he still hadn't made a single sale.

When the elderly men and women buying vegetables saw that such a young man was selling fish, they all avoided Zhao Hua's stall...

Zhao Hua observed this and secretly thought, "I don't look that fierce..."

He sat there for a while, pondering to himself. They probably thought he was the kind of young man who frequently cheated, swindled, and stole. It's true that young people in rural areas are often quite unruly these days, but he really had never cheated or swindled anyone. He felt so wronged…

Zhao Hua was muttering to himself when he suddenly felt the light in front of him being blocked.

"How much is this fish?" A clear, soft female voice asked, tinged with a girlish shyness.

He suddenly looked up and saw a girl about the same age as Song Xueping standing in front of him, and a companion standing not far behind her, covering her mouth and secretly laughing in their direction.

"Um... ah! Which kind of fish are you asking about? Carp is one dollar a pound, silver carp is 5 cents, and I also have grass carp here, grass carp is 7 cents!"

The girl frowned slightly and muttered, "Why is it so expensive... pork is only one yuan and thirty cents."

"That requires a ticket, but I don't need one here!" On his first day of business, Zhao Hua spoke with unusual gentleness, even unconsciously lowering his posture.

She glanced back at the other girl who was snickering, then turned to Zhao Hua and said, "Then show me the grass carp!"

Zhao Hua responded and scooped a small grass carp from the bucket. He had caught three in total; the other two were too big, and he had chosen a medium-sized one so as not to frighten the girl.

The girl shifted her body a little shyly, glanced at her companion, and then said softly, "I'll take this one. You weigh it."

He quickly weighed the fish, showed her the scale, threaded a thick hemp rope through its gills, and then handed it over: "Two catties and three ounces, that'll be one dollar and sixty cents."

The girl didn't take the fish first; instead, she took out some change from her pocket and handed it to him.

Zhao Hua took the money and casually added, "The fish is still lively and jumping around, be careful not to get your clothes dirty."

She took the fish, winked at her companion behind her, and the girl immediately came up and took her arm. The two whispered to each other as they walked away quickly.

Zhao Hua clenched the change in his palm, which still seemed to retain the warmth left by the girl. Watching the two figures gradually disappear into the distance, he shrugged, stuffed the money into his pocket, and continued to wait for the next customer.

However, before the next customer arrived, Zhao Ru came first...

"Brother?" Zhao Ru looked at the bucket in front of Zhao Hua and the sack on the ground in shock.

"What? What's with that expression?"

The remaining three girls winked and smiled at Zhao Hua.

"You didn't sell a single one?"

"Nonsense!" Zhao Hua glared at Zhao Ru and said, "What are you doing here? Are all the fish sold out?"

Zhao Ru tilted the bucket in her hand towards Zhao Hua and laughed, "Sold out! Look, not a single one left! Unlike some people."

"Pretty fast! Yours are all small fish! Of course they sell well! Mine are all big fish, and people can't finish them all in one meal! Isn't it normal for them to sell slower?"

"Tsk!" Zhao Ru put down the bucket in her hand, placed the scale on the sack behind Zhao Hua, took out all the money from selling the fish and handed it to Zhao Hua, then pulled over her girlfriends and they all stood beside Zhao Hua.

Zhao Hua sneered. He was curious to see what kind of trouble this younger sister was up to. However, he didn't expect that as soon as Zhao Ru stood to the side, people started asking about the price. Before long, the fish in the bucket were all sold out.

The group strolled leisurely home. Ever since Zhao Ru's three girlfriends witnessed Zhao Hua's blunder, they dared to gather around and laugh together on the way home.

"Brother, how much money did you make today?"