I traveled back to ancient times, but I was able to lie down and relax.

"Are people in the village harvesting vegetables too?"

Liu Nanjia was taken aback for a moment, but not very surprised. Selling vegetables doesn't require much skill; once someone does it, anyone can do it.

They've been selling for over half a month now. At first, some people were hesitant, so they received relatively few vegetables. Later, the amount gradually stabilized at about 100 jin of vegetables and 70-80 eggs. Each trip would earn them about 40 wen.

At the beginning, this income was quite good for them.

But now that I have a fried chicken business, this amount of money is not enough.

Especially these last two times, Liu Yanxi had to go to sell vegetables in the morning and rush back, and then go with her to sell fried chicken in the afternoon. It was really hard work, and he didn't have much time to read.

There are only so many people in the village. If another vegetable buyer comes along, the amount they can collect will decrease.

Otherwise, should we just give up?

Liu Nanjia shared her thoughts: "Since someone has already bought it, let's not sell it anymore. My brother makes two trips to town every day, and I see how tired he is."

Aunt Wang thought of their current fried chicken business and agreed, but she was still a little unwilling: "I heard that the person who buys vegetables is Feng Mazi from the village. He's always been a scoundrel."

Liu Nanjia racked her brains for Feng Mazi and remembered him. Every village has a few good-for-nothings, and Feng Mazi was one of those people in Dushui Village. He didn't do anything worthwhile, but whenever something bad happened in the village, people would think of him.

Indeed, only someone with that kind of personality would blatantly steal business like that.

Aunt Wang hesitated for a moment before continuing, but still said, "It seems... your aunt and Fang Shi were also involved in selling vegetables. It's said that they started it together."

Fang family?

Liu Nanjia was somewhat surprised. However, Fang Shi was indeed not a peaceful person. Last time, she refused to accept her vegetables in front of so many people in the village, which made her lose face. It would be unlike her if she didn't cause some trouble.

"Aunt Wang, do you know what price they pay for vegetables?"

"It's a bit more expensive than ours. 10 eggs cost 9 coins, and vegetables cost 6 catties for 5 coins. Otherwise, we wouldn't have been collecting so many fewer eggs these past two days."

Liu Nanjia was delighted by the price. It was clearly aimed at them. According to their prices, 10 eggs cost 8 coins and 6 catties of vegetables cost 4 coins, which was exactly 1 coin higher.

"How can they make money with such high prices? Vegetable prices in the city are all about the same; if they set the price too high, they won't be able to sell them."

Liu Nanjia was a little confused.

Aunt Wang didn't know either: "Then I don't know. Sigh, you guys sell vegetables and fried chicken, it must be exhausting. If it were anyone else, I'd let them have it, but Fang Shi and Feng Mazi..."

Indeed, Liu Nanjia originally didn't really want to continue selling vegetables. If it were other villagers, he could have talked to them nicely and they might have agreed to let him have the vegetables.

Those two were clearly engaging in malicious competition, specifically targeting them.

"How about this," Liu Nanjia said after thinking for a moment.

“Aunt Wang, I really don’t want to continue selling vegetables anymore. My brother hasn’t had time to study these past few days. Aunt Wang, are you worried that those two are unreliable and don’t want to sell the vegetables to them? Well, you can sell them yourselves then. I’m a little reluctant to give up this business to others, but it’s perfectly fine for you to do it.”

“How can we do that? Wouldn’t that be taking advantage of you?” Aunt Wang’s first reaction was to refuse.

“How is this taking advantage of us? They should be helping us share the burden,” Liu Nanjia advised.

“I only sold vegetables when I was short of money, because it required little capital. Now that we have a fried chicken business, we don’t need that income anymore. The money we earn isn’t even as much as what I make selling a single chicken. I only continue because I can help the villagers sell their things.”

"Besides, my brother needs to study, and I don't want him to spend so much time on these trivial matters. Aunt Wang, please take it. I need quite a few eggs every day, so you can consider it as helping me collect eggs."

Aunt Wang was persuaded by Liu Nanjia. She was reluctant to give up her current income from selling vegetables, but she didn't want to deal with those two people and was unwilling to sell her vegetables to them.

"Alright, then I won't stand on ceremony. Just tell me how many eggs you need, and I'll pay you back the price I paid."

"Okay, it's settled then," Liu Nanjia said with a smile, no longer dwelling on the matter.

Afterwards, Liu Nanjia took out a few egg racks and handed them to Aunt Wang, telling her how to use them and instructing her to sell them for 20 coins if anyone wanted them, and also to promote that they could be bought from the carpenter's shop in town.

Aunt Wang looked at the oddly shaped egg tray and exclaimed in amazement, "How did your little brain grow like that?"

Upon hearing that it could be sold for 20 coins, he hurriedly tried to return it, saying, "This thing is so expensive, I can't take it."

Liu Nanjia had no choice but to continue persuading, "Aunt Wang, this thing is just for holding eggs. A few are enough for my family. Why do you need so many? If you don't take them now, the eggs will break on the way tomorrow. How will you make money then?"

“I can’t just take yours for nothing. It’s 20 coins, right? I’ll buy it.” Aunt Wang gritted her teeth and prepared to spend the money. She was going to buy several, which was not a small amount for her.

Liu Nanjia was moved by Aunt Wang again. She had done her best to help them when they were in trouble before, and now she insisted on not taking advantage of them at all.

"Aunt Wang, how about this? Consider these a loan to you. When you're selling vegetables, please help me promote them. For each one you sell, I'll give you one coin as payment. I bought these for 15 coins each. Once I sell 15, I'll consider it one of these. Don't be so polite with me. You've helped us so much before. If you don't even accept this, I won't dare ask you for help in the future."

Aunt Wang finally agreed, "Okay, okay, then I won't keep you from making fried chicken."

Liu Nanjia saw her off, saying, "Tomorrow you should continue collecting vegetables as usual and see how those two act. With such a bad reputation, there must be others like you who don't want to sell their vegetables to them."

Aunt Wang felt a little relieved and then left.

The next day, when Aunt Wang came to deliver the eggs that Liu Nanjia needed, they chatted about what happened that morning. Just as she had said the day before, some people were still worried about Feng Mazi and chose to sell their vegetables to Aunt Wang, whom they knew well.

However, some people wanted that extra penny, so Aunt Wang and the others received less today than before.

"Although it was less, I still earned twenty or thirty coins, and it only took a morning. It was still much better than going to town to find that kind of hard labor."

Aunt Wang was quite happy and satisfied with the situation.