Chapter 13: Spending More Than Earning
“How much are the peaches?”
Jian Xingxia quickly set down her fried dough stick and greeted the customer warmly, “The large ones are four yuan a jin, and the small ones are three yuan. Would you like large or small ones?”
Jian Xingxia definitely wasn’t planning on taking any of these peaches back with her. Everything had to be cleared out by the end of the day. Calling out like this gave buyers options, which would keep them at her stall a little longer.
Sure enough, the buyer squatted down to take a look, picked up a small one, set it down, and then picked up a large one. He grumbled slightly, “They don’t look very fresh.”
A buyer who doesn’t nitpick isn’t a serious buyer. If someone squatted down, the probability of a purchase was over ninety percent.
Jian Xingxia didn’t get annoyed either and spoke honestly, “They were picked yesterday because we had to wake up early to catch the market today. But the peaches are absolutely fresh. Let me cut a piece for you to taste.”
Auntie Lu nimbly handed over a small knife. Jian Xingxia sliced off a crescent piece of peach and handed it to the buyer to sample.
The tree-ripened peach had a rich, fruity aroma and was sweet and smooth upon entering the mouth.
The buyer was very satisfied, “Weigh out three jin for me!”
This wasn’t a large order yet. For a market day ending in five, those who woke up early to catch the market were all making major purchases. But having the first order open smoothly was a good omen.
Sure enough, people subsequently came over one after another to inquire. The peaches inside the marketplace were five yuan a jin, and some weren’t even as good as Jian Xingxia’s. Most of the peaches outside were three or four yuan a jin, but their size and eye appeal were much worse.
“Weigh out two jin for me.”
“I want five jin.”
“I want ten jin, can you make it a bit cheaper?”
Jian Xingxia nimbly weighed and packed the peaches, “This is already an honest price. How about I throw in an extra one for you!” She picked out a medium-sized but bright red peach and stuffed it into the bag.
The buyer was fully satisfied, “Alright, forty yuan. I’ve scanned and sent it to you.”
Jian Xingxia didn’t have a printed QR code, so she just pulled up her phone’s receiving code, which worked just as well to collect the money. Auntie Lu had exchanged some change for her, so she could break cash if someone occasionally used it.
One picky buyer walked around for a couple of laps before returning, wanting another sample, “What variety is this peach? The flavor is quite good, it can compare to a honey peach.”
Jian Xingxia wanted to mention this too. The old peach tree at home looked plain and ordinary, but the fruit it bore was large, sweet, and beautiful, very different from the local peaches. She felt there was a secret to this peach.
She said what she could, “It’s not any extraordinary variety, but it’s an old peach tree passed down from our ancestors. There’s only this one tree, and the peaches it bears are exceptionally delicious. It only produces this one crop every year.”
Hearing this and savoring the peach aroma in his mouth, the buyer wanted to buy six jin.
“Pack them in two bags, I’ll share some with my sister and her family.”
“Coming right up!”
Jian Xingxia was young, quick-witted, patient, and spoke softly and gently. Whether people bought them or not, she let them have a taste. Soon, a small crowd gathered around her stall. This in turn boosted the sales of Auntie Lu’s fresh jujubes and the neighboring stall’s lotus roots.
Fangfang helped Jian Xingxia as an assistant, also raising her voice to shout.
“Fragrant and sweet big peaches from an old tree! More delicious than honey peaches! Get them before they’re gone!”
The morning market was crowded. Before eight o’clock, of the more than two hundred jin of peaches Jian Xingxia had brought, only the last thirty or forty jin remained. She gathered the remaining peaches together and helped Auntie Lu sell her jujubes for a while.
Auntie Lu’s jujubes were ten yuan for three jin. With the electronic scale, they sold much faster. In the past, when using a steelyard balance, young people didn’t know how to read it and were unwilling to buy. The elderly would fret over the blurry markings on the beam, arguing over which end was higher or lower, adding and subtracting, which consumed a lot of time.
Today, using the electronic scale, the moment the items were placed on it, the weight and price were displayed together, removing the need for calculations. They sold in a flash.
Auntie Lu was overjoyed, “I’ll go buy an electronic scale in a bit. We’ll use one next time we catch the market.”
During this time, if someone came to ask about the peaches, Jian Xingxia would sell them for three yuan. She waited until after eight-thirty to publicly call out the three-yuan price. By this time, most of those who had bought them for four yuan before eight o’clock had left. Even if a few hadn’t left, seeing the remaining peaches on the stall after so long, they knew it was an issue of eye appeal and size. It was easier for people to accept than if she had shouted three yuan immediately after someone else bought them for four yuan.
With the peaches mostly sold, Jian Xingxia left the remaining twenty jin for Auntie Lu to help sell while she and Fangfang went to buy things.
Auntie Lu handed Fangfang fifty yuan, “Buy some snacks to eat with your Sister Xiaxia. If you see anyone selling electronic scales, ask about the price, but don’t rush to buy.”
Fangfang accepted it with a grin.
Jian Xingxia counted the cash, and adding the scanned mobile payments, she had sold a total of 852 yuan today. There were still twenty jin of peaches left, which could bring in a bit more.
Jian Xingxia’s savings +852, remaining balance 4,413.
Her savings had finally increased. Aside from her joy, Jian Xingxia wished she could make the old peach tree bear hundreds of jin of fruit every single day. But looking at the state of the old peach tree, she could at most pick another two hundred jin.
The progress for the manor upgrade requirement finally showed some movement as well.
[Current Manor Upgrade Progress:
- Manor temporary worker employment reaches 10 person-times, progress: 2/10;
- Cultivated land area of the manor reaches 1,000 square meters, progress: 0/1000;
- Manor income reaches 10,000 yuan, progress: 852/10000.]
Taking advantage of the fact that the market hadn’t dispersed yet, Jian Xingxia and Fangfang quickly swept through the stalls.
Jian Xingxia had a lot of things to buy. The old house only had a shell, a few tables, chairs, stools, and a bed; almost everything else needed to be added.
She bought a jug of rapeseed oil, which was freshly pressed by the town’s oil mill, for 80 yuan. A bottle each of sesame oil, soy sauce, and vinegar cost 20 yuan in total.
Jian Xingxia bought a lot of sugar and salt. She figured she would hire another temporary worker upon returning to the mountain today; regardless of which dynasty they came from, salt and sugar were always bound to be needed. Five jin of brown sugar and five jin of salt, weighed loose, cost her 45 yuan.
Jian Xingxia felt that the brown sugar at the market was slightly more expensive than online. In their college dorm, they had a habit of buying brown sugar water for their menstrual periods. A few of them would often buy five jin together, and online shopping only cost twenty-odd yuan. The same went for salt; it was only one yuan a bag when the supermarket had a discount, and a bag was half a jin.
Although it was only a difference of a dozen or so yuan, Jian Xingxia supported herself and was used to budgeting meticulously. She pondered about shopping online in the future and having it delivered to the town, then collecting the goods altogether the next time she caught the market.
She didn’t have time today. She was waiting to hire temporary workers to reclaim the wasteland and farm, so she could fulfill the manor upgrade conditions as early as possible. She had to buy some first.
The iron pot also cost 45 yuan. The bamboo chopsticks weren’t expensive, 10 yuan for a bundle of ten pairs.
She had agreed not to buy bowls and plates, but catching a promotion, Jian Xingxia snagged twenty pieces of slightly blemished bowls, plates, and cups for 50 yuan. The glaze was a bit rough, but using them for temporary workers meant she didn’t need to expend energy explaining them.
Mosquito coils, toilet water, insect repellent, and snake repellent were all bought from a roadside stall. The brands were unknown, but the stall owner beat his chest and guaranteed that he came to every single major market day, so they were definitely effective.
The mosquito coils were ten yuan for two bundles—not the coiled type, but individual sticks that were forty centimeters long, suitable for lighting outdoors. Rat poison was ten yuan for five packets, insect repellent was ten yuan for eight packets, and the ant chalk was one yuan and fifty cents a piece, thicker than a finger.
The most expensive item was the toilet water, eight yuan a bottle. It was a brand Jian Xingxia had never seen, but when smeared on mosquito bites, it truly stopped the itching. Fangfang also verified, “I’ve seen him before. The villagers have bought his medicine, and the effects are decent.”
Jian Xingxia stopped overthinking it and spent 60 yuan to buy a whole bunch. The stall owner bagged the items for her happily, “A major client! Come back if it works well!”
The last things she bought were seedlings. Jian Xingxia had originally wanted to buy seeds, but it was already too late in the season to sow and raise seedlings for some varieties, so she selected some existing seedlings instead.
“Large tomato, cherry tomato, yellow tomato, and pink tomato seedlings, two of each.”
“Loofah, bitter gourd, autumn cucumber, and zucchini, two of each.”
“Amaranth, spinach, leaf lettuce, Chinese cabbage, coriander, and water spinach, one packet of seeds each.”
“And cowpeas, green beans, corn, autumn radishes…”
There were quite a few people selling seedlings at the rural market. Fangfang picked out the ones that looked familiar and pointed them out to Jian Xingxia. Jian Xingxia bought a little of each and remembered the sellers; if the seedlings sprouted and grew well, she would buy more next time.
In the past, her academy had an experimental field. Aside from the plots with school regulations and special crops that couldn’t be cross-planted, the remaining corner plots were utilized by the students. The crop planted the most was tomatoes because they grew fast and bore a lot of fruit; more importantly, they could be eaten as fruit. The students couldn’t get around to cooking vegetables, and regular fruits took too long to bear results. Only tomatoes were the absolute safety net choice for impoverished students.
But things were different now. Jian Xingxia had massive plots of land; she could plant whatever she wanted.
The seeds, seedlings, fertilizer, and basic tools like sickles, shears, hoes, and shovels cost Jian Xingxia a total of 460 yuan. Finally, she bought ten jin of loose flour, ten jin of dried noodles, and two flats of eggs, which cost 80 yuan.
Savings -80, -20, -45… Going to a market day had cost a total of 850 yuan.
She had spent more than she earned.
Her balance reset to 3,563 yuan.
Jian Xingxia felt a pang in her heart.
