The tycoon's wicked wife from the era of literature has been reborn.

Chapter 25 Catch the big market

Around four o'clock in the morning, lights began to come on one after another in Shanghe Village.

Today is the town's bi-weekly market day.

While Gao Qinghe was still asleep, her family had already gotten up and started preparing.

All the dried sweet potato noodles were divided into bundles of ten jin each, tied with cloth strips, and put into clean fertilizer woven bags.

Huang Ying planted two acres of sweet potato fields last year and harvested more than 1,000 jin of sweet potatoes in the autumn.

They kept the remainder for their own consumption, and made sweet potato starch from a thousand kilograms of sweet potatoes.

I've been busy since before the Lunar New Year, for more than two months now, and I've dried 210 jin (100 catties) of sweet potato vermicelli.

The dried rice noodles were so bulky that it took four woven bags to fit them all.

Gao Qingmiao was eager to take on the task, but she didn't know how to use her shoulders properly, and she started hissing and gasping for breath as soon as she lifted it up.

Huang Ying gave him some pointers, and after a while, he was able to carry it with difficulty.

As for Huang Ying, when she was eighteen, she dared to go to the construction site with Zheng's two stepbrothers to help people carry bricks and secretly earn pocket money.

A 100-pound load is a piece of cake for her.

Grandma Tian collected a basket of farm eggs, forty in total.

Each one was wiped clean with a dry towel. They were small and could be held in one hand, and they looked round and plump.

After packing up and putting things in the yard, the family waited until breakfast was ready before calling Gao Qinghe to get up.

The family sat together, ate a simple sweet potato porridge, and then set off.

Although Gao Chongyi no longer works in the fields, he has lived in the countryside for so many years that he has long since become half a rural person.

He carried the load better than his son; the father and son each carried a load of sweet potatoes and walked ahead.

Huang Ying carried the eggs and walked behind, helping her husband and son to keep them from accidentally breaking her sweet potato noodles.

Gao Qinghe then took her grandmother's arm and followed behind, still half asleep.

When they arrived at the village entrance, they realized that the family had arrived rather late.

There's only one bus going into town in the morning, and it makes a detour in the town when there's a market.

To attend the market, villagers from all around come out, and it's not always possible to catch the morning bus.

This is why the villagers get up before dawn to prepare.

If you can't squeeze onto the bus, it takes an hour to walk to town.

The villagers who didn't bring any goods have already left in groups.

Those who stayed behind were like Gao Qinghe's family, who brought their goods to sell in town.

Many villagers grow sweet potatoes, and making sweet potato noodles is a tradition every year.

However, as people's lives get better and better, most of them simply sell their sweet potatoes.

Only a few diligent people, or those whose families were extremely poor, had the patience to turn sweet potatoes into noodles.

Gao Qinghe yawned, looking at the misty mountains surrounding the village, feeling as if she were in a dream.

A commotion suddenly broke out in the queue waiting for the bus.

Everyone enthusiastically shouted the same name, "Secretary Zhou".

Gao Qinghe, who was leaning lazily on her grandmother's shoulder, turned her head to look.

It was Zhou Zhenghua and his elder brother and sister-in-law.

The elder brother and sister-in-law carried a heavy load of sweet potato noodles, while Zhou Zhenghua walked in front of them empty-handed, having come specifically to see them off.

The villagers greeted him warmly, and Zhou Zhenghua responded to them all, asking them to help take care of his sister-in-law.

After giving his instructions, he left.

He left and went to take a look at Gao Qinghe.

Then Gao Qinghe's head drooped down and she buried her face in her grandmother's shoulder.

A loosely tied, messy braid hung down behind her head, then swung to her chest with her movements, obscuring most of her face.

All that could be seen was a patch of pinkish-white cheeks beneath the playful wisps of hair.

Zhou Zhenghua felt he must be mentally ill to think she was like a lazy, clingy white cat with three long hairs on her lips that tickled his heart.

I got up early to see my brother and sister-in-law off, making grand pronouncements, but really I just wanted to see if she was there too.

But when he actually saw her, he didn't want her to know that he had come all this way just to see her.

So, against her true feelings, she turned and strode away, leaving the villagers staring at her with curious eyes.

A few days ago, I even stood on the stone bridge waiting for the Gao family girl to return.

Are you just going to ignore us today and not even say hello?

Sister-in-law Zhou shook her head, telling everyone not to speculate wildly, it was all baseless.

The villagers only stopped gossiping when the crowded bus finally arrived late.

Gao Chongyi put all his family members on the bus and loudly instructed Gao Qingmiao.

"Take good care of Grandma and your sister. Remember to check your belongings after you get off the bus!"

Gao Qingmiao was squeezed so much that she could only stand sideways, but she tried her best to shout, "I know!"

Today is the first day of school, so Gao Chongyi can't go to the market with everyone.

He watched the bus drive away before turning back towards the school.

After more than twenty minutes of traffic congestion, we arrived in town.

It was only a little past seven in the morning, but all the shops along the street in town were already open.

Breakfast stalls were set up, and customers kept coming in waves, keeping the owner extremely busy.

The town has only one long street, and villagers gather on this street when they go to the market.

There were vendors selling vegetables, medicine, clothes, and various farm tools, as well as aluminum pots and pans.

The most eye-catching were the vendors who came from the county in pickup trucks and vans.

Their cart served as their stall, filled with baskets of trendy snacks, cookies, candies, and even fashion sneakers.

It can cater to the needs of everyone from children to the elderly.

The largest crowds gathered around the cart stall.

Children are greedy and cry for candy. Adults are reluctant to spend the money and are too embarrassed to scold them in front of so many people, so they buy them a little bit.

Teenagers like Gao Qingmiao can't resist colorful trendy clothes and sneakers.

Gao Qinghe had to twist his ear to pull him away.

There is a small sweet potato starch factory in the town, and they collect all the sweet potato noodles from the villages.

After walking through the entire long street, you'll see "Mo's Sweet Potato Noodles Shop," where quite a few people are already queuing to have their noodles weighed.

The family of four split into two groups.

Gao Qinghe and her grandmother were looking for a stall to sell eggs in a bustling part of the market.

Huang Ying and Gao Qingmiao lined up to be weighed at the sweet potato noodle shop.

Gao Qinghe was lucky; they arrived early and hadn't seen any other vendors selling free-range eggs yet.

As soon as Grandma Tian lifted the basket full of eggs, someone came up to ask the price.

"Two cents each."

The buyer shook his head, complaining it was too expensive, and asked for a smaller price.

Grandma Tian hesitated, "Everyone's paying this price, there's really no way to lower it."

Seeing that there was no room for negotiation, the buyer decided to leave.

Gao Qinghe hurriedly said, "Sister, the price is indeed going to be high, but I feel a special connection with you the moment I see you, like you're my own sister. So, if you buy a lot, I'll give you one for free if you buy ten."

Seeing that the other person had stopped again, Gao Qinghe quickly took out two and handed them to her to look at.

"These are all eggs laid by our own hens. Don't be fooled by their small size; they taste absolutely authentic and are delicious whether boiled or stir-fried."

"If you take the whole basket, I can give my sister less."

Buyers found Gao Qinghe's smiling face pleasing to the eye.

Seeing her looking at him expectantly, he did the math in his head and realized that buying ten and getting one free was indeed a good deal.

He squatted down again and tentatively asked, "How much less will I get if I buy a whole basket?"

Gao Qinghe lowered her voice: "Seven yuan and two jiao, that's the only price I'll give you. Don't let anyone else know, or my business will suffer."

"Okay, my sister is so generous, I'll take them all."

Gao Qinghe exclaimed with delight, "I'll pack it all up for my sister right away!"

(End of this chapter)