Just after turning out of the street of stalls, I saw an agricultural wholesale market on the left at one glance.
I wanted to find some ginger; the seafood there was always boiled in clear water and steamed, without any flavor, and I really could not get used to eating it that way.
Just as I approached a stall, a Tender Pumpkin rolled down from a large truck unloading goods.
It happened to roll right to Jiang Tang's feet and stop, and the person moving goods on the truck did not even look at it.
This surprise came too suddenly, and Jiang Tang did not know whether to pick it up or not.
She looked at the person busy moving goods on the truck, then looked at the pumpkin on the ground.
In the end, she picked it up, but did not put it directly into her basket. She took the pumpkin over and asked the person unloading the goods, "Uncle, this pumpkin fell off your truck."
She could not bring herself to keep something that someone else had dropped; her conscience would be uneasy.
"The skin is bruised, I don't want it." The man unloading the goods took it and tossed it into the trash can nearby.
Jiang Tang looked up, and good heavens, there were several bruised Tender Pumpkins thrown in the bin, as well as a few broken Carrots.
"Uncle, are the pumpkins and carrots in the trash can no longer wanted?" Jiang Tang confirmed again.
"Don't want them anymore, the skin is damaged, and the Customers don't want them either." The man unloading the goods was the Stall Owner.
"Then can I pick them up?"
Jiang Tang felt it was necessary to ask clearly; otherwise, what would she do if she picked them up and was later accused of stealing?
She did not have an identity here.
"If you want them, go ahead and pick them up, but don't come looking for me for compensation if you get a stomachache." The Stall Owner said casually.
"That cannot happen, boss, you are a good person, I am so full of Gratitude to you."
These words made the Stall Owner feel sweet inside, and he immediately picked up two zucchinis from the stall and handed them to her; their skins were also slightly bruised.
These tender melons are the most fragile; if you are not careful, the skin gets worn out.
"In our market, every stall has these bins specially for throwing away damaged fruits and vegetables," the Stall Owner pointed out enthusiastically. "If you don't mind, go around more, and you are guaranteed to find quite a lot of good items."
It was called a trash can, but it was actually more like a "defective pile."
The Stall Owners only threw vegetables and fruits with poor Quality inside, and the actual trash was cleared by the cleaning Auntie.
Therefore, the ground of the entire agricultural wholesale market was always clean.
Jiang Tang had exactly that intention, thinking of finding a few more bins to look through, hoping she might run into ginger thrown away by others, saving her from spending money to buy it.
She went through the bins of several stalls in a row. She did not see any ginger, but she found a Surprise behind a stall specializing in chili peppers; the trash can was piled with quite a lot of chili peppers.
The top layer was millet chili, and underneath were screw peppers, line peppers, thin-skinned peppers, and pointed peppers. Although some were rotten, after careful selection, the good ones actually made up the majority.
Picking out some good ones to stir-fry with seafood would be nice, and if she could not finish them, she could dry them or make them into chili sauce.
As for making chili sauce, she should not even think about it; she did not have the conditions for that!
She also met a few "fellow workers" who were all there to pick up vegetables.
Those people seemed to know the ropes, specifically picking the vegetables they liked and walking to the corresponding stall's trash can to rummage, their movements very nimble.
Jiang Tang followed suit and picked up a few bunches of fresh green vegetables, a few broken cucumbers, and a few slightly wilted eggplants; her basket gradually became heavy.
Just as she was thinking that if she really could not find ginger, she would grit her teeth and buy some.
Her eyes suddenly lit up. The Shop owner at the stall in front was pouring a pile of ginger ends into the bin; they looked like they were covered in wet soil when dug up, and some were already rotten.
Perhaps fearing that the rotten parts would infect the good ones, the Shop owner broke off the rotten section along with a good section below it and threw them away together.
This was truly finding a treasure! Jiang Tang broke off the ginger ends that still had good flesh one by one and threw them into her basket.
Before she knew it, the basket was already full to the brim with fresh vegetables and fruits.
Ao Hai Village had little land; apart from the sea, there were only mountains, and there were no extra plots of land to grow vegetables.
The limited fields the Villagers had all had to be prioritized for growing grain to pay taxes; usually, it was very difficult to eat fresh vegetables.
These picked-up vegetables were enough for her, her grandmother, and her Younger brother to eat for quite a few days.
Just as Jiang Tang was about to leave, the fruit wholesale stall directly in front suddenly dumped out a box of apples.
"Wow! Apples. An apple a day keeps the doctor away."
The apples were not rotten, but there were cracks on the skin, as if the skin had burst open.
Jiang Tang did not mind at all and picked them all into her basket.
These were the legendary ugly apples; they looked ugly, but they were very sweet, and maybe they even had sugar hearts.
Walking forward, two pieces of Pork Lard hanging in front of a pork shop caught her eyes.
The oily and shiny lard glistened in the morning light, making Jiang Tang swallow hard.
Thinking of that bland Mixed Grain Porridge from last night, she really could not resist the temptation of this fat.
Just thinking about the fragrance of vegetables stir-fried in lard, and the taste of pork cracklings mixed with Wild Vegetables in dumplings, made her crave it.
In her past life, people always said lard was unhealthy, but for those who could not get enough to eat or wear, that simply did not exist.
Lard could even be considered a type of traditional medicine; the world laughed at it for being unhealthy, but it looked at the world...
Eating lard can help resist the cold. It does not consume much Energy, and when boiled with green vegetables, it can also promote the Absorb of fat-soluble vitamins.
"Boss, how do you sell this Pork Lard?"
"Five per catty, no bargaining." The boss did not even lift his head, his hands busy cutting the fatty meat off the Lean Meat bit by bit. "This is local pork lard, it's thick."
Looking at this posture, it was clear he had just been bargained with, and his tone still carried a bit of impatience.
"I want both of these pieces, please weigh them for me."
Jiang Tang saw that the lard was indeed thick and shiny in the sunlight; it would definitely be able to Render oil, and this price was worth it.
The boss's hand paused, he stopped his work, and looked up to size her up.
His eyes were full of surprise; this young lady was covered in patches, and she did not look like someone who could afford two pieces of lard at all!
Seeing him stunned, Jiang Tang called out "boss" again.
The boss finally came back to his senses, coughed twice in embarrassment, and said, "Little beauty, are you sure you want both pieces?"
It was not that he looked down on people, but her attire was truly too surprising.
"Yes, I want both." Jiang Tang nodded, her eyes falling on the fatty scraps he had cut off, and she asked in confusion, "Boss, why do you cut these fatty scraps off?"
"Sigh, life is better now, everyone only likes to eat Lean Meat, and they find even a little bit of fat greasy." The boss sighed.
It was true that people's lives were much better now, and most of the pork on the market was from pigs raised on feed.
The meat quality was not as fragrant as local pork, but local pork also had quite a lot of fat, and many people were willing to spend money to buy Lean Meat and did not want this fat.
"Then how do you sell these fatty scraps?" Jiang Tang pointed to that large basin of scraps.
Her eyes shone; if these were rendered into oil, it would be enough to eat for a long time.
"If you take these two pieces of lard, I'll give you this basin for free." The boss waved his hand, very generously.
These scraps could not be sold anyway; either they were thrown away, or he would take them home to Render oil, but his wife did not like lard, so it was a pity to throw them away.
"Boss, do you have these fatty scraps every day?" Jiang Tang's heart stirred, and she inquired further.
"You want them?" The boss saw through her thoughts at one glance.
Jiang Tang did not hide it and said frankly, "Yes, if you don't mind, boss, could you leave these scraps for me in the future? I will pay for them."
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