Chapter 27 In full swing

Chapter 27 In full swing

"I heard you're selling sugar-roasted chestnuts here. They're really delicious. Do you have any left? I want to buy a pound to bring back for my mother to try."

An uncle wearing a green gown and looking particularly elegant came over and asked.

"Uncle, I'm sorry, we have sold out this pot just now. We are going to fry the second pot right now, and it will be ready in more than two quarters of an hour. Uncle, you can come back later to buy more." Qianhuan said with a smile while putting firewood into the stove.

"Okay, then I'll take a look first. If I can't make it in time, please leave me a pound of this after it's cooked, and I'll definitely come and get it." The uncle was a little disappointed at first, but when he thought that he could still buy it in half an hour, he became happy again.

"Okay, uncle, don't worry, I will definitely leave a pound for you after this pot is cooked." Qianhuan agreed immediately.

Seeing that the first pot of chestnuts was sold out so quickly, Liu quickly started to stir-fry the second pot.

The second pot was quickly sold out until only one pound was left, and Qianhuan wrapped the last pound in oil paper.

At this time, an old man came over to buy the remaining pound of chestnuts.

"Grandpa, I'm so sorry, this pound has been reserved. We are going to fry another batch, you can come back to buy in half an hour." Qianhuan said to the old man apologetically.

After hearing this, the old man had no choice but to go somewhere else for a stroll.

"Qianhuan, why don't you sell it to this old man? What if the person who wanted to buy chestnuts before doesn't come to buy? We have to be flexible in doing business. We will sell to whoever pays first." Seeing that the old man had left, Liu began to educate her daughter.

"Mom, we have to be trustworthy when doing business. Since we promised that uncle, we have to do it. Don't worry, since he asked us to keep a pound, he will definitely come back to buy it."

Originally, the uncle didn't give money, Qianhuan could have sold the chestnuts to the old man first.

But when she thought of the disappointed look on the uncle's face when he heard that the chestnuts were sold out, and how he asked her to leave one pound for him, Qianhuan felt that he would definitely come back to buy more, so she decided to leave the one pound of chestnuts for the uncle.

As expected, the uncle came over after the third pot of chestnuts had been fried for a few minutes.

"Are the chestnuts sold out again? Did I miss the time again?" the uncle asked with a disappointed look on his face.

"No, I left a pound for you." Qianhuan quickly handed over a pound of chestnuts wrapped in oil paper.

"Little brother, thank you for leaving me a pound. Here are ten copper coins. Keep them."

The uncle took the oil paper bag and handed over ten cents. He felt that this young man selling sugar-roasted chestnuts had a really good service attitude and was very trustworthy.

"Okay, uncle, take care. If the food tastes good, come back next time." Qianhuan stuffed the money into her arms.

When the last pot was being fried, Master Cai came over with his younger brothers.

"I heard that your sugar-roasted chestnuts are selling very well today. I can smell the fragrance from far away."

Master Cai squeezed through the crowd and stood in front of the stove.

The younger brother behind him was also about to squeeze in, and he scolded him: "Stand outside the crowd and wait. Can't you see so many people waiting to buy things? You are still squeezing in. You really have no vision."

"Master Cai, thanks to you, business is booming today. This pot will be ready soon. I'll pack a pound for you later. You can take it and your brothers to try it." Qianhuan's face was full of smiles, and she chatted with him politely.

"Okay! Then I'll wait." Young Master Cai was holding a dogtail grass in his mouth and was actually waiting in front of the stove.

While Liu was frying the chestnuts, she stole a few timid glances at him.

She really didn't want this man to eat her chestnuts for free, but she didn't dare to offend him, so she could only continue frying the chestnuts in silence.

The last pot was finally out of the pot. Qianhua packed a pound of it and handed it to Mr. Cai, reminding him, "It's just out of the pot, it's still a little hot, please be careful when handling it."

Master Cai took the chestnuts, counted out 10 copper coins from his pocket, handed them to Qianhua and said, "This is the money for the chestnuts."

"How can I take your money? Please take it back." Qianhuan quickly refused.

"If you eat without paying, wouldn't that make you a bully? I, Master Cai, am not that kind of person. Just keep the coins I give you." As he said that, he stuffed the copper coins into Qianhuan's hand unhappily.

Qianhuan had no choice but to accept the money. She thought to herself: Although this Mr. Cai looks a bit ruffian as he brings his brothers to collect stall fees, I didn't expect that he is actually quite principled in doing things.

It seemed that she had misunderstood him before.

It was all because of the TV dramas. She had seen too many scenes on TV where thugs extorted protection fees and took things from stalls for free, which led her to think that Mr. Cai was that kind of person.

Liu didn't expect that he would actually give money, and her impression of him changed greatly.

The last pot of chestnuts was sold out in no time. Those who didn't buy any stood in front of the stove and refused to leave. Someone asked, "Can you leave me a pound for the next pot? I've been waiting for a long time and still can't buy any."

"Dear fellow villagers, I'm sorry, our sugar-roasted chestnuts are sold out today. Friends who want to eat them can come back tomorrow to buy them." Qianhuan was packing up the stall and told everyone that she would come back tomorrow to set up the stall.

The onlookers could only leave with some disappointment.

"Qianhuan, we didn't bring enough chestnuts today. Let's bring more tomorrow."

Liu's hands were so tired that she could hardly lift them, but she was extremely happy in her heart. She had not expected that the sugar-roasted chestnuts made by her daughter would sell so well.

Qianhuan went to the west city wall to call Old Man Wang over. At this time, Liu had already packed up the things for the stall.

Old Man Wang helped to load the things onto the ox cart, then went to wait for a few guests under the city wall, and then set off back to Yunfeng Village.

Today they sold all the chestnuts in three or four hours, and it was just past eleven o'clock when they returned. Liu sat on the ox cart, took out the coarse grain pancakes she had made in the morning, and she and Qianhuan each ate one.

It was already past twelve o'clock when they got home. Old Man Wang helped carry the things off the cart, and Qianhuan gave him 5 cents for the ox cart fare as usual.

"Grandpa Wang, I'll have to trouble you to pick us up at our doorstep tomorrow morning. Remember to save a seat for my father as well. My father is going to the city tomorrow as well."

"Okay." Old man Wang was very happy when he heard that there would be one more person riding the ox cart tomorrow.

His ox cart is not always fully loaded with people, so he can earn an extra 2 cents for every extra person.

Liang Laoer was originally in the main room making small cuts on each chestnut. When he heard the noise, he hurried out of the house on his crutches.

"Qianhuan, Chunxiang, why did you come back so early? Is it because the chestnuts are not selling well?"

Liang Laoer thought that the more than 50 kilograms of chestnuts would take at least the afternoon to be sold out and returned home. Now that he came back so early, he was afraid that no one would buy them.

"Dad, you guessed wrong. They were too easy to sell. We sold them all in one morning."

Qianhuan told her father about today's achievements with pride.

"Really? That's great. Dad was worried that you wouldn't be able to sell them." Liang Lao Er was very happy to hear that.

Qianhuan entered the house with a scale and a large spatula.

Liu also followed behind with a stove in her hand. After all the tools were picked up and the gate was closed, Qianhuan poured out all the copper coins she had earned that day.

Liu took a rope and strung the copper coins together one by one, counting them as she went along. There were exactly 540 copper coins in total, no more, no less.

They took out 55 kilograms of chestnuts. Qianhuan took out one kilogram for people to taste, and a total of 54 kilograms of chestnuts were sold.

She originally prepared five kilograms of chestnuts for tasting, but who knew that the aroma of the roasted chestnuts would serve as free advertising, and after the one kilogram of chestnuts for tasting were distributed, everyone came to buy them.

"Qianhuan, this money is earned by you, so you can keep it." Liu handed over the string of 540 copper coins.

Qianhuan didn't bother to be polite with Liu. She took the copper coins and put them away. She planned to save the money first. After the chestnuts at home were sold out, she planned to use it to purchase chestnuts in the village.

"Dad, you will come with us to town on the ox cart tomorrow. We will bring a stool with us, and you can sit on it to stir-fry the chestnuts. Mom was so busy frying chestnuts today that she could hardly lift her hands."

"Okay, Dad will go over and help tomorrow. Chunxiang, thank you for your hard work."

"Her father, all our chestnuts have been sold. I am very happy even though I am tired. We didn't bring enough chestnuts today, so we can bring more to the county town to sell tomorrow." What Liu regretted most was that she didn't bring enough chestnuts.

"Well, I have to bring more chestnuts to sell tomorrow. Dad, how many pounds of chestnuts did you cut out this morning?"

"I lost 80 to 90 kilograms."

"Then please take out another 120 kilograms. I plan to take kilograms of chestnuts to the county town tomorrow."

"Okay." Liang Laoer took the kitchen knife and continued to cut holes in the chestnuts.

"Dad, can you make a small stool? My mom and I didn't bring any stools today, so we are so tired from standing. If you can make a small stool, please make two." Qianhuan thought that if her father couldn't make it, she would have to go to Carpenter Sun's house to order two.

"The stool is very simple. It won't be a problem for Dad. Once Dad cuts open the chestnut, I'll make two stools and take them to the county town tomorrow."

Liang Laoer felt much better when he saw that he had a place to use his skills again.

"Mom, please go to the back mountain and collect more firewood. I'm going to go to the kitchen to fry some more cooked sand. Tomorrow we will fry 20 kilograms of chestnuts in one pot."

"Okay, Mom will go to the back mountain to collect firewood."

Although she was tired after a whole morning, Liu was still full of energy at this moment. This was the first time in her life that she earned money by setting up a stall and doing small business. Business was so good today that she really wished she could split herself into two people so that she could fry two pots of chestnuts at once.

The family of three divided the work and began to prepare for setting up the stall tomorrow.