After returning from Yao Dayong’s place, Chen Qiaoyu cleaned the wild amaranth she had picked, packed it into a basket along with the other vegetables from Second Aunt Jin, tucked two eggs into her pocket, and—whoosh—arrived in the modern world.
As usual, she changed her clothes and appearance, then headed toward the pedestrian street.
Having been there twice now, she knew the way well. Chen Qiaoyu found Grandpa and Grandma Han’s sock stall as before.
The elderly couple greeted her like a granddaughter, inviting her to sit down and fanning her with a palm-leaf fan.
When Grandpa Han saw the wild amaranth, he grinned from ear to ear. “Yes, yes, that’s it! This is the perfect time to eat it. Blanch it, mix it with sesame oil and minced garlic—so fresh!”
Grandma Han also loved the eggplants and green beans Chen Qiaoyu had brought. “Qiaoyu, who grew these vegetables? They’re wonderful. You can tell no pesticides were used.”
“My aunt grew them,” Chen Qiaoyu replied, seeing how much the elderly couple liked them. She seized the opportunity to ask, “Grandma Han, do you think I could sell these vegetables? My aunt’s family grows quite a lot, and they can’t finish them all themselves. They were thinking of selling some to supplement the household income.”
The elderly couple had lived through the hard times and were no strangers to that kind of life.
They already knew Chen Qiaoyu’s family was poor, so her mention of supplementing the household income didn’t surprise them at all. “There’s a vegetable market at the east end of the pedestrian street, but the stall fees there are expensive. Your small amount of vegetables wouldn’t be worth the cost of getting a stall there.”
“Don’t go inside the market. Just set up at the entrance. Every day around quitting time, a lot of young people go there to buy vegetables.”
Chen Qiaoyu listened carefully, committed the instructions to memory, thanked the two elderly folks, and headed toward the vegetable market.
Sure enough, she saw many people set up stalls at the market entrance—just a piece of plastic sheeting on the ground, with greens, cucumbers, eggplants, and beans laid out. That was a vegetable stall.
Just like a rural market fair.
Feeling a sense of familiarity, Chen Qiaoyu found a corner that didn’t block anyone and set down her basket.
She was mindful of proper etiquette. The auntie at the neighboring stall glanced at her, saw that Chen Qiaoyu only had a small amount of vegetables—about four or five bunches, plus a few cucumbers and eggplants—and didn’t pay her any further attention.
Chen Qiaoyu wasn’t in a hurry to sell. First, she observed how others were selling and how they priced their goods.
After watching for a while, she decisively divided her vegetables into small bunches, tying each bunch with a long bean.
The eggplants and cucumbers were small, so she grouped a few together into little piles.
She didn’t have a scale, so she couldn’t sell by weight.
But she had already estimated each bunch. Each one was certainly between one and a half and two catties. Even if weighed on a scale, it would be a generous amount—she wasn’t about to shortchange anyone.
Yet after a while, no one had asked for a price.
Chen Qiaoyu had to keep observing and learning. She was a slow learner, so she used a slow learner’s method: she kept her eyes fixed on the other vegetable stalls. Gradually, she came to another realization—the people here didn’t like to buy large quantities.
Zhou Xiaoling had mentioned that this area was an urban village, mostly filled with young migrant workers like herself.
These people didn’t want to buy too much at once—just half a catty, or a small bunch.
Chen Qiaoyu bent down and untied the bunches she had just assembled. She divided the vegetables, which had been nearly two catties, into three small bunches, so each bunch was just over half a catty.
She did the same with the cucumbers and eggplants, making them smaller. She even created three combinations: cucumber-cucumber, cucumber-eggplant, and eggplant-eggplant.
She found a piece of cardboard nearby, borrowed a pen in exchange for a cucumber, and solemnly wrote down the price she had settled on after careful consideration—one yuan.
Sure enough, after this reorganization, her little vegetable stall finally attracted a customer.
A young woman looked at the vegetables in front of Chen Qiaoyu, poked around a bit, saw they were fresh, and quickly picked out two cucumbers. Then she pulled out her phone. “One yuan?”
Chen Qiaoyu was thrilled inside and repeated, “Yes, one yuan.”
Then the young woman looked at Chen Qiaoyu.
Chen Qiaoyu looked back at the young woman.
A few seconds passed. Then the young woman asked Chen Qiaoyu, “Where’s your code?”
Chen Qiaoyu was taken aback. Why is she cursing at me?
Fortunately, the young woman’s next sentence cleared things up: “Don’t you have a payment code?”
Chen Qiaoyu held back her confusion and shook her head. “No.”
The young woman gave her a skeptical look. These days, it was standard practice for vegetable sellers to have a payment code. Chen Qiaoyu didn’t look that old—how could she not have one?
Still, the young woman was kind-hearted. She put her phone away and fumbled in her bag for change as she said, “If you’re going to sell vegetables long-term, you should really get a payment code. It’s way more convenient.”
Chen Qiaoyu made a mental note. Just then, the young woman finally fished out a coin. “Good thing I got a coin back from the shopping cart at the supermarket last time. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been able to buy anything today.”
With that, she picked up the cucumbers. Seeing that Chen Qiaoyu made no move, the young woman asked again, “No plastic bag either?”
Chen Qiaoyu: “…No.”
Luckily, the two cucumbers she bought for one yuan weren’t very big. The young woman, somewhere between amused and exasperated, stuffed them into her small crossbody bag and left without making a fuss.
Chen Qiaoyu looked around and thought to herself, There’s really a knack to doing business. It’s not just about taking money and handing over vegetables.
You needed bags, you needed a scale, and you needed that so-called payment code. Some people’s codes could even talk—”Three yuan received!”
But those devices didn’t look cheap. Compared to improving life in the 1970s, the need for one wasn’t as urgent.
For the rest of the time, Chen Qiaoyu threw caution to the wind. Whenever she caught someone’s eye, she proactively called out to them.
When people asked about payment codes and plastic bags, she would smile and say, “These are just vegetables grown at home. There aren’t many. I’m not a regular vendor, so I didn’t prepare any of that.”
Who knew? This approach actually worked even better.
The young people were already drawn to the single-serving portions. But when some older folks heard Chen Qiaoyu say the vegetables were homegrown, they came over to take a look too.
The look of farm-fresh vegetables couldn’t be faked. On top of that, Chen Qiaoyu had nimble hands—the vegetables were clean, neatly tied, and pleasing to the eye. They gave an instant impression of freshness, cleanliness, and care. Soon, people were grabbing them left and right.
Out of the whole basket of vegetables, she had given a small portion to Grandpa and Grandma Han. The rest, sold at one yuan each, earned her seventeen yuan.
Chen Qiaoyu packed up her basket, along with the piece of cardboard. Her heart raced with excitement. She clutched the seventeen yuan as if it were a fortune, walking on air.
From observing and learning to selling, it had taken her less than half an hour in total.
She had made 17 yuan?
Her first attempt had gone so smoothly.
Chen Qiaoyu felt like the word “GETTING RICH” was written all over her face.
Adding the one yuan she had saved from last time, she now had 18 yuan in her hand.
As the saying goes, money in hand eases the mind. She strolled along the pedestrian street in a relaxed mood, feeling that the night market never got old.
But as she looked around, she couldn’t find anyone selling brown sugar anywhere.
There were two ice jelly stalls advertising “brown sugar ice jelly,” but they both used brown sugar syrup. Chen Qiaoyu didn’t see the kind of granulated brown sugar she wanted to buy.
What’s going on? Don’t people here sell brown sugar?