Rebirth of an Old Farmer: Escape from Famine with Children and Grandchildren

"In Lushui County, only wealthy families would spend their spare money on these snacks, but that woman just now took away three kilograms without blinking an eye."

“I think there is still room for prices to rise.”

Sun Wan and the others unconditionally agreed with Aunt Chi's words. After all, she was a very knowledgeable business person!

Aunt Chi smiled embarrassedly again.

Sun Wan turned her head and glanced at the stall next door selling backpacks. Suddenly, an idea came to her mind: "Aunt Chi, why don't we buy some backpacks to replace these gray ones?"

"If anyone buys more than three pounds of pine nuts, we'll give him a backpack. How about that?"

Aunt Chi thought about it, and a gleam of light flashed in her eyes: "Good idea!"

They did it right away. Aunt Chi was busy dealing with the next customer who asked for the price, while Sun Wan walked towards the backpack seller.

If you get something for free, you naturally can’t choose a big one, otherwise you will lose out.

But don't pick one that's too small, or it'll look shabby.

Sun Wan picked and chose until the seller almost lost his patience, and then she chose a backpack that was neither too big nor too small, with handles on both sides.

"How much is this backpack?"

The seller glanced at it and said, "Five cents."

Sun Wan thought for a moment and bargained with him: "I'll buy all of this size. How about a wholesale price?"

"See that pine nut stand over there? I'll come often to take care of your business. What do you think of our long-term cooperation?"

The man selling backpacks noticed early in the morning that their business was booming. After thinking about it, he felt that this deal was a good deal, so he packed them all up and gave them to Sun Wan at the price of three for ten cents.

Sun Wan quickly bought nearly twelve and hurried back. When Aunt Chi saw her come back, she immediately gave one to the customer in front of her.

When the customer found out there was a gift, he was delighted and happily left with the new backpack.

With these two transactions, everyone’s pine nuts were sold out in one morning!

During this period, Sun Wan also ran to the backpack stall and bought out all the medium-sized backpacks in one go.

The man selling the backpacks was so happy that he couldn't stop smiling. He asked Sun Wan, "Sister, are you coming tomorrow?"

Sun Wan smiled and replied, "Of course I come. It's not easy for business to be so good."

"We should bring more pine nuts tomorrow. Please prepare more baskets like these. Don't make any that are too big or too small."

The eldest brother was even happier: "Okay! I'll work overtime tonight to edit it for you."

He thought about it and decided to deepen their friendship: "Big sister, considering your sincerity, I will earn less and just consider it as making friends."

"Tomorrow I'll sell you four of these baskets for ten cents each!"

Sun Wan was overjoyed after hearing this: "That's great!"

The two of them were very happy when they finalized the deal.

On the other side, Aunt Chi and Su Rongze also settled today's profits.

They picked a total of 76 kilograms of pine nuts. Although everyone's bargaining skills were different, Aunt Chi insisted on the bottom line that the price could not be lower than 66 cents per kilogram.

After the settlement, he actually made a profit of six taels, eight hundred and thirty-two coins!

Everyone's eyes were curved with laughter.

This was a fortune that could be considered picked up for free, and it only took one night and one morning!

Everyone was very excited and decided to wrap the money carefully in several layers and put it on Su Rongze, who was the largest.

If anything unexpected happens, he will run the fastest.

With the money, everyone excitedly rushed to the grocery store.

Grocery stores also sell grain, although the quality and source are not as good as regular grain stores.

But they don't ask for much, just to fill their stomachs.

When Aunt Chi inquired, she learned that the cheapest brown rice was priced at 150 yuan per stone.

Now that she had enough money, Sun Wan bought five stone, a total of six hundred kilograms of grain without saying a word.

Seeing that their clothes were shabby, the shop assistant kindly gave them some extra old, worm-infested brown rice.

This rice is hard to sell anyway, so it might as well be a good deed.

Everyone was moved to tears of gratitude, and Su Rongze and Kou Zhong were busy loading the food onto the truck.

The waiter's good intentions led Sun Wan and the others to have a brief discussion and decide not to run around looking for it anymore, but to simply complete the rest of the shopping list in this grocery store.

Oilcloth, salt, window paper, quilts, large iron pots, pots, pans, and all kinds of daily necessities were piled up like a mountain, and the hard-earned money was spent like water.

But these are all necessities for life. Although it costs a lot of money, no one feels sorry about it. Instead, the waiter is stunned watching from the side.

When he first saw these people with tattered clothes and haggard faces, he thought they were just a poor family who had fled here for war. He didn't expect them to be so generous.

The waiter looked at the generous gesture and gave two extra bags of salt, thinking that in business, it’s always a good idea to be generous. If the customers are satisfied, repeat customers will naturally come.

Sun Wan and others expressed their gratitude repeatedly for this unexpected surprise and returned home with a full load.

Every face on the way back was filled with irrepressible joy.

Passing by Xinghua Village, I happened to run into a few aunties who were chatting animatedly at the village entrance.

Winter is the slack season for farming. Except for a few engaged women who are unable to go out, the women in the village like to get together, eat melon seeds and chat.

As soon as this group of people appeared, they immediately became the center of discussion.

The women recognized Sun Wan and her group at a glance. After all, it was hard to find anyone in the village who was dressed more poorly than them.

They looked at me from a distance, their eyes a little critical, but they still greeted me warmly: "Hey, you just came back from town, right?"

The children who were traveling with them seemed a little reserved, so Sun Wan had to respond on their behalf: "Yeah, we just got back."

Upon hearing the response, several aunties immediately became excited and gathered around, stopping the cart. "Wow, you bought a lot of things, that's great! These daily necessities are indispensable for settling down."

After that, two people took the initiative to look through the books, and all they saw were cheap groceries. They exchanged a subtle look, their lips curled slightly, but their words were still warm: "Did you buy these at Qianji?"

“Their products are really good, especially at affordable prices.”

This tone, which seemed approving but was actually full of thorns, made everyone on the cart look unhappy.

Sun Wan seemed calm. While tidying up the oilcloth, she inadvertently used her hands to block the two exploring hands.

"People who are fleeing cannot afford to be so particular. They dare not even think about buying valuable things. They also have to save money to build a house, so naturally they save as much as possible."

The two aunts were blocked by this, their faces changed slightly, and they withdrew their hands in dismay, muttering: "Who wants these things?"

The people in the car secretly clenched their fists, their expressions solemn.

Su Rongze was even more displeased. He whipped the horse to signal it to move forward. "Whoa!" The horse snorted in dissatisfaction, scaring the women around him so much that they all took a few steps back, inevitably feeling resentful.

"Humph, which family doesn't build a house? Our ancestors also went through hardships before they could gain a foothold here." As soon as these words came out, the tone lost its initial amiability.

"Could it be that someone showed up expecting a free meal? But if you want to save money to build a house, you'll probably have to wait until the sun rises in the west."