Starting with vegetable greenhouses in 1988

Chapter 42 Fighting
November 3, No. 3, Row 5, Chongwenmen Vegetable Market.

"Cough cough..."

The middle-aged woman with gray hair covered her mouth with a handkerchief, hunched over, and coughed violently a few times.

Sun Tao patted his mother's back quickly, "Mom, you're still not fully recovered, go home and rest. I can manage the stall by myself."

"What do you mean, 'okay'! The other day you abandoned your stall and went to sell vegetables at the Dongdan market. Luckily, someone helped watch over it, otherwise who knows who would have stolen your radishes and cabbages!"

"Hey! Do you think I'm just messing around?" Sun Tao said in a low voice, making a gesture. "You have no idea, I made this much money in just one morning."

"I know you're capable. I'll take care of this stall, you go do whatever you need to do. I'm dressed warmly today, I won't get cold."

"Alright! I'll bring you a military water bottle tomorrow and fill it with piping hot tea."

"Don't bother! Making yourself sick by drinking water and then having to find a toilet in this freezing weather is just torture." She lowered her voice, "Tao'er, do you think those guys are coming today?"

"There's no sure thing..." Before Sun Tao could finish speaking, his eyes lit up when he saw a familiar figure and ran over to greet him.

"Uncle Li, please rest. I'll help you carry the groceries." Sun Tao took the cart from Old Li and looked back at it. "My brother Li isn't here today?"

"They've arrived. They got off halfway to get their documents done. I'll keep an eye on this stall."

"Uncle Li, what vegetables are you selling today? Do you still have cucumbers?" As Sun Tao asked, several other stall owners gathered around him.

"Yes, we picked about 120 jin today." Old Li's voice was weak, and he was unsure of himself, afraid that the cucumbers would not sell out. Last time, everyone ate them for the novelty. These things are precious, and no one can eat them every day.

Sun Tao smiled broadly, "Uncle Li, I need to talk to you about something. Could you give me another thirty jin of cucumbers today?"

"Taozi, there are only 120 jin of cucumbers in total. You want 30 jin. How are we supposed to divide them?" The female stall owner in her thirties next to her said with a smile. "Uncle Li, could you spare me 20 jin of cucumbers too?"

The female stall owner is named Li Jinxia, ​​nicknamed "Xi Shi of the Market". She is wearing a maroon headscarf with curled hair peeking out from the edge. She is a bit plump and has frostbite cracks on the web of her left hand.

"Taozi, Jinxia, ​​you two are really unfair, taking half of it right away, what are we supposed to do?" Several familiar stall owners gathered around and said all at once, "Uncle Li, give me twenty jin too."

"Uncle, I'm right across from your stall. We chatted the other day. I don't need much, just ten jin will do."

"Uncle, you smoke, but these are high-quality imported cigarettes..."

Old Li was dumbfounded. What's wrong with everyone? They weren't like this last time.

"What are you doing? You've surrounded my stall. Are we still supposed to do business?" Sun Tao's face turned ashen. These guys hadn't shown themselves before, but as soon as the Li family appeared, they swarmed around like wildcats smelling fish.

Zhao Tiezhu and Li Weidong were also confused about what was going on, so they rushed over to help.

Old Li snapped out of his daze, a smile involuntarily spreading across his face. “Everyone, don’t rush. Take turns saying how many cucumbers you want. Tell me your numbers first. But let me make this clear: my cucumbers have high growing costs, so they’re expensive to sell. They’ll cost five yuan a pound.”

“Uncle Li, I don’t care about anyone else, just based on the relationship between our two families, you can give me thirty catties first.” Sun Tao took out a handful of bills from his pocket and quickly counted out a stack of money. “This is one hundred and fifty yuan, please count it.”

"Alright, that basket of cucumbers is yours." Old Li took the money and pointed to a basket that Zhao Tiezhu had just brought over.

The others, unsure of the relationship between the two families, didn't argue with Sun Tao. They simply announced their own numbers, "Uncle Li, I want twenty jin too."

"I want ten pounds."

"Give me five jin."

"I want ten pounds..."

"That's all, that's all, not that much, only 120 jin in total." Old Li waved his hand to stop everyone from continuing to fight and said, "How about this, you guys each take ten jin, and we'll sell the rest ourselves."

At this point, the onlookers finally understood what was going on, and one by one they spoke up, "You vendors are really outrageous! Who gets their goods from the market? Are we still going to buy anything?"

"Who says it isn't? Is nobody in charge?"

"Weigh out two jin for me. I missed out last time, so I have to try it today to see what it tastes like."

"Give me a pound too."

"Me too." "Okay, okay, everyone, don't rush, everyone has one." The vendors can wait, but the customers who buy vegetables cannot be neglected. Old Li and his two companions hurriedly served the customers. Some wanted a pound, some wanted two pounds, and some just bought one to try. After this wave of customers passed, they sold more than 20 pounds directly.

Several vendors stood by, watching eagerly, afraid they wouldn't get any points.

Most of the customers had left, so I gave each of the vendors ten jin of cucumbers. However, there was no discount today; they were all still five yuan per jin.

After seeing all these people off, 120 jin of cucumbers were gone.

"Dad, is this how it was sold last time?" Li Weidong was dumbfounded, feeling a bit unreal, but the wad of banknotes in his hand was real.

Old Li waved his hand without answering. He had never seen such a scene before, and it was not much better than what his eldest son had seen.

“Brother, I’m Sun Tao’s mother. Sun Tao asked me to ask when you’re coming next time. He wants to pre-order thirty catties of cucumbers.”

Old Li was using the Sun family's stall, so he treated Sun Tao differently from other vendors. "How should I address you, elder sister?"

“My surname is Ma. My son said we can pay a deposit of fifty yuan in advance.” Old Mrs. Ma took out five ten-yuan bills from her pocket.

Old Li waved his hand in refusal, saying, "Sister, please keep the money for now. I can't make the decision on this matter; I need to go back and discuss it with my son."

"When will you come next time?"

"Tomorrow is unlikely, probably the day after tomorrow." With the cucumbers sold out, Old Li felt relieved and decided to chat with Old Ma to find out about the market.

They didn't bring many radishes and potatoes this time, and by the time Li Zhe returned, they had almost all been sold.

Looking at the empty stall, Li Zhe joked, "Well done, you guys have business acumen. I won't need to come next time."

"Second brother, you didn't see what happened just now. Those vendors almost came to blows over vegetables," Li Weidong embellished the story.

Li Zhe stroked his chin, a thoughtful expression on his face. "Alright, since the cucumbers are sold out, let's go home."

The group walked towards the entrance of the vegetable market. Old Li handed the green backpack to Li Zhe, saying, "It's 610 yuan in total. The potatoes and radishes didn't even sell for a few yuan. If you ask me, don't bother next time."

Li Zhe didn't reply. He had also thought about this problem. Radishes and potatoes only cost two or three cents a pound. Let alone making money, they wouldn't even cover the cost of fuel. But selling only cucumbers would be too conspicuous.

The four of them left the market and found their own tractor, "Iron Bull".

As soon as Li Zhe climbed onto the truck bed, he saw a young man with a ponytail sticking out of the back of his head blocking the way. He had a half-smoked cigarette in his mouth and said with a sidelong glance, "Hey, we've been watching your truck for so long, and you're just leaving without saying goodbye."

"Who are you?" Li Zhe squinted.

"I'm Liu the Boss, the Cleaver. Who do you think I am? Enough nonsense, don't you know the rules?" The thug with the pigtail rubbed his fingers together.

Fearing his son might act impulsively, Old Li grabbed his arm and whispered, "I heard from Grandma Ma that Cleaver Liu is the local thug boss, and he controls the entire market. Anyone parking nearby has to pay an extra fee. Cleaver Liu has killed people; we can't afford to mess with him."

Li Zhe countered, "Everyone pays?"

Old Li nodded.

Li Zhe was long past the age of being aggressive and combative. He asked Xiao Bian, "I'm new here and don't know the rules very well. How does parking work here?"

Xiao Bian replied, "A monthly subscription costs four yuan, and a break costs two mao. You can calculate how much that works for you."

Li Weidong loosened his clenched fist. He had earned 610 yuan in just one morning. He couldn't bear the shame of fighting over two cents.

Li Zhe pulled out two cents. "What if something happens to my car?"

"Hey, this is disrespecting us men. Go ask around, with Boss Liu protecting us, who dares to act recklessly around here? As long as you pay the money, I'll find even a missing screw on your tractor for you."

"That's all I need to say." Li Zhe handed over two cents. "This is our parking fee. Here you go."

The man with the braid stuffed the money into his pocket, made a gesture of invitation, and said, "Have a safe journey, sir."

(End of this chapter)