Zhang Xiuli was worried her daughter wouldn’t know what to buy, so she told her directly. After all, in their rural area, when an aunt returns home, she always has to bring something for the children.
Those with money might buy two or three sets of clothes, or even expensive ones. If money was tight, they’d buy just one set, something cheaper.
“Mm, I know!”
If her mother hadn’t mentioned it, she would have forgotten. By then, she probably would have just brought some fruit or something home. Maybe she wouldn’t have brought anything at all—such things simply didn’t cross her mind.
“Alright then. Call home when you’re about to arrive, and we’ll come pick you up. If there’s nothing else, I’ll hang up now.”
Zhang Xiuli was concerned about spending too much on phone calls. Besides, as long as her daughter was fine, there was no need to waste money.
“Okay, Mom. I’ll call you when I’m almost at town!”
If it weren’t for the fact that the town was still quite far from home and there was no direct transportation, she wouldn’t have troubled her family. All along, she had been the pride of the family because she had gotten into university.
Back then, getting into university was something to boast about in the village. But as times changed, money became increasingly important in people’s eyes. Many who returned home after making money were highly praised and celebrated.
Her status as a university graduate wasn’t worth much anymore, especially since she had been studying all these years. After graduation, she had just started looking for a job. Without any connections, finding a good job here was nearly an impossible task.
If it weren’t for the part-time jobs she had taken on while studying, she probably wouldn’t have saved up five thousand yuan, and Zhao Yi might not have broken up with her.
Wei Lihua was now realizing more and more the meaning of the saying, “Money isn’t everything, but without money, you can’t do anything.” When she first started university, she still had a bit of pride, but now, although she had lost that initial arrogance, she still held onto her principles.
Otherwise, with her looks, making money would have been easy. She could have just followed the example of those who relied on their appearance. But Wei Lihua had never liked doing that. She stuck to her principles, even if everyone called her foolish. She never gave up.
“Alright, I’ll hang up now. I’ll let your brother know.”
With that, Zhang Xiuli ended the call. Wei Lihua held the disconnected phone, staring blankly into space. Sometimes, she really felt tired. Back then, she had Zhao Yi by her side. Now, even though she was earning money, her heart still felt like rootless duckweed.
Forget it, she shouldn’t dwell on it. She should continue packing. Once she was done, she’d go into her Space. There was still so much work to do in the Space—the muskmelons hadn’t been picked yet, and the vegetables weren’t fully planted.
She hadn’t even prepared the vegetables she planned to sell tomorrow, especially since she wanted to sell more these next two days. That way, she wouldn’t have to worry about making money here once she left.
Although she could sell vegetables at home, many people wouldn’t be willing to spend that much on her produce. If she wanted to sell vegetables at home, she’d have to go to the city. But going to the city took a long time, and if she sold vegetables there for too long, she’d likely run into the same problems as she did here.
If she didn’t have a place to grow vegetables then, things would become even more troublesome.
These two days were the final opportunity; going home to sell vegetables would have to wait until she had land.
However, she would have to contract the land herself. If she used the family’s land, her sister-in-law probably wouldn’t be willing.
The family now relied entirely on the land to earn money. Although her sister-in-law and her husband worked outside, they only earned money in the city.
During busy farming seasons, they would still come home to help.
If she used the land, it would be hard to explain to her parents.
But she didn’t have much money, and even if she wanted to contract land, it wouldn’t be enough.
Money—how could she earn more!
Eventually, Wei Lihua was so exhausted she couldn’t move anymore. Even using the water from her Space didn’t help.
She returned to her room and fell asleep on the bed. Since she had set an alarm in the morning, she wasn’t worried about oversleeping.
After all, she had prepared a lot of vegetables today. She wanted to take them out and set them up before everyone arrived.
She also needed to prepare the vegetables for the hotel, so she planned to get up around three or four in the morning and go to the market.
When she arrived at the market, no one had set up their stalls yet. She made several trips back and forth.
Fortunately, the gatekeeper uncle saw she was too busy and helped watch her stall.
Otherwise, she wouldn’t have been able to make multiple trips—she could only have managed one.
However, Wei Lihua knew that although the gatekeeper uncle had a good temper,
he helped partly because of the two bundles of vegetables she gave him. After all, her vegetables weren’t cheap.
Those two bundles alone were worth over a dozen or twenty yuan—earning in an hour what others had to fight for.
Anyone would be happy to help under such circumstances.
This showed Wei Lihua knew how to handle people. In the past, she wouldn’t have known how to navigate social situations.
But after spending so much time on her own, she gradually learned these things.
By eight in the morning, Wei Lihua saw the hotel manager, but she was incredibly busy by then.
“Little girl, I’m here. Have you prepared my vegetables?”
The hotel manager had actually wanted to come earlier, but after thinking about it, he decided to come at eight.
Although the market opened early, he felt Wei Lihua wasn’t someone who would break her word.
“They’re ready, in the cart. I didn’t take them down. Everything in the cart is yours. As for whether there are three hundred jin, I’m not sure. As you can see, I’m swamped right now.”
The vegetables Wei Lihua had placed in the cart should have been about that much. She had worried there wouldn’t be enough at first.
Later, she tried to fill it as much as possible without packing it too tightly, but there were quite a few baskets in the cart.
They were stacked as high as a person, looking wobbly and precarious, which made the hotel manager a bit concerned.
“Alright, don’t worry about it. I’ll find someone to move them myself.”
The hotel manager could tell Wei Lihua was genuinely busy, not pretending. Fortunately, he had foresight.
He had brought a driver with him. If he hadn’t, he would have had to move everything himself.
“Good. Just pay me when you’re done!”
As for whether he might run off without paying, Wei Lihua wasn’t worried. Even if he did, it wouldn’t be a big deal.
At most, she’d lose some vegetables—after all, she still had plenty in her Space.
“Deal.”
Seeing Wei Lihua being so straightforward and apparently trusting him, the hotel manager expressed his satisfaction.
After the vegetables were moved, the hotel manager paid directly. As for exactly how many pounds of vegetables there were, the manager said he had already weighed them.
“Little girl, it’s a total of 1,232 pounds. Here’s 7,400 yuan for you!”
If he didn’t know how good these vegetables tasted, he would have felt a pang of regret just handing over the money.
Seven thousand yuan—though it couldn’t buy enough vegetables for their hotel for a whole day, it still covered most of it. Yet today, he had only bought a little over a thousand pounds. The difference was really too big, and these were the kind of vegetables that didn’t weigh much per unit. If he didn’t know he could make money from them, he would never have been willing to spend so much.
“Alright, I’ll take it. As for the exact amount, I don’t have time to check now. Just tell me—do I need to give you change?”
Wei Lihua really didn’t know the exact amount, but she felt that with 7,000 yuan, the hotel manager probably hadn’t shortchanged her.
“No need.”
It was just a matter of a few yuan anyway. Since he was already paying six yuan per pound, he could consider it as if she had given him two pounds less.
“Then let me add two extra handfuls of vegetables!”
Even though she wasn’t sure if he had overpaid, Wei Lihua decided to give him two extra handfuls of vegetables. As for the exact weight, she didn’t mind.
“Alright.”
Whether it was a loss or a gain was something they each kept to themselves.
Wei Lihua was very busy now and didn’t have much time to talk.
“Then come again tomorrow at eight. I’ll weigh them for you first—300 pounds of each type. I’ll weigh them in advance so you won’t have to bother with it later!”
Actually, Wei Lihua didn’t know the exact weight of the vegetables, but she had a rough idea in her mind.
“Why don’t you just sell all the vegetables to me tomorrow? You’re so busy—it would be better to just sell them to me!”
The hotel manager knew that Wei Lihua only had one more day left. If she sold all the vegetables to him directly, he would be thrilled. After all, he still hadn’t forgotten the taste of those vegetables.
“How can you say that? We’re all here to buy vegetables. How can she only sell them to you?”
At this point, an elderly woman beside the manager spoke up.
“That’s right! My little grandson is waiting to eat the vegetables. If she sells them all to you, what are we supposed to do?”
An elderly man nearby chimed in as well.
“Exactly! My little granddaughter has been loving the vegetables these past few days, especially the ones bought here!”
Another elderly woman wasn’t happy either. The hotel manager had clearly stirred up public anger.
“Even if she doesn’t sell them to me, the girl only has one more day left tomorrow. She won’t have any more stock.”
When he said this, the hotel manager clearly had ulterior motives. He was thinking that if he spread the word and Wei Lihua was persuaded by these people, it would save him trouble later. If Wei Lihua insisted on not selling vegetables anymore, he wouldn’t lose anything either.
“Is that true, girl?”
Those people didn’t know the twists and turns in the hotel manager’s mind. What they knew was that if Wei Lihua stopped selling vegetables, what would they do when their children became picky eaters in the future? Especially since nowadays, families only had one child—each one practically a little emperor or princess.
“Yes, I really am out of stock. Otherwise, I’ll sell everything to you tomorrow and not to the hotel anymore.”
Like passing the buck, he thought he was so clever.
Others might not understand the hotel manager’s intentions, but Wei Lihua saw right through them.
You’re just thinking that I’ll either keep selling vegetables or sell them all to you. Well, I won’t sell to you anymore—I’ll sell everything to someone else.
“Alright, if you really don’t have any more of these vegetables, then we’ll buy more tomorrow. Just don’t sell to the hotel anymore. Whether they have them or not makes no difference anyway.”
Upon hearing Wei Lihua’s plan, the buyers’ eyes lit up. Although they knew that if Wei Lihua truly ran out of stock, there was nothing they could do. Since tomorrow was the last day, why not just buy a bit more themselves?
“Alright, let’s do it that way. Just as this lady said, the hotel’s little bit of vegetables isn’t worth it. Just sell them all to us.”
No one here was a fool. At first, they might not have thought that far ahead, but now, after Wei Lihua’s explanation, they all agreed with her.