Chapter 77: Finding a Buyer

  Qī Zhēnér was washing dishes while watching Yè Bái zhǐ wandering around beside her, feeling anxious. She stopped what she was doing and asked: "Sister Bai, is there something on your mind?"

  Ye Baiji furrowed her brow and asked in confusion: "Huh? What's going on?"

  She really beat me! You've been lingering around, wanting to speak but hesitating, can you call that nothing?

  "Baizhi jie, you seem quite annoyed today."

  "Huh?" Ye Baiji was still a bit out of it, and only reacted after a moment, saying: "I don't know either, from the time I found out that Uncle and Aunt wouldn't be helping us with the farm work anymore, I've been feeling really annoyed in my heart, I wasn't like this before."

  Zijin could understand her feelings, in the past, someone had sheltered her from wind and rain, she was like a delicate flower that had been carefully nurtured. Suddenly one day, others told her, "Hey, your master can't take care of you anymore, from today on, you'll have to endure wind and rain just like those wild grasses by the roadside." How could she accept it all at once?

  "Bai Qi sister, don't be anxious. Your family can still make ends meet with the silver you have, look at me and Hu Zi when we first came to Yu Shu village, we had nothing, but now we have our own house, and today I even bought a little piglet. Tomorrow I plan to buy some chicks, won't this house feel more like home? You should know that you not only have food now, it's not like the mountain is exhausted and the water has dried up, and there are still old master and big brother, no matter what, they won't let you starve, what's the hurry?"

  Ye Baiji also knew this truth, compared to Zhen'er, she didn't know how much happier. But later no one gave her support, she was the eldest daughter of the second room, her parents were useless, only she herself stood up straight, she feared that she couldn't bear it.

  "I heard Auntie say that in the past when we were living in the city, you were afraid of Second Uncle wasting money. Every month, you would give Second Uncle some silver to use and manage the rest very well. You don't have to think so much, just do it like before and take charge of the money." Qizhen suggested.

  "How can it be the same?" Ye Baiji thought of the carefree days in the city before and said: "In the past, Third Uncle ran a pharmacy, he earned money from making house calls, and the money from selling medicine in the pharmacy was split 40-60 between my father and him. Our family didn't have to do anything, and we had almost five taels of silver every month. Even if I gave two taels to my father, we still had three taels to spend."

  Zijin'er listened with her tongue tied, no wonder Yeshiyanyan's family used every means to reopen the shop in the city. It turns out there is such a huge profit.

  "Nowadays, farming may not bring in a lot of money, but the harvest is fixed. As long as you're frugal with your spending, it's enough. As for the farm work, neither you nor Auntie are in good health, so there's no need to do it yourself. Just rent it out to someone else like Elder Brother's wife said, and you'll get some rental income every year. Besides, Auntie is skilled at embroidery, and your skills aren't bad either. You can make some embroidered pouches or other things to sell for extra spending money. Your family doesn't have any large expenses, so the money you save will be for your and Baiji's dowry."

  No one had ever calculated it for her like that before, and Ye Baiji felt that it was indeed the case. What was she anxious about?

  The next day was a fine day, and Qizhen and the others were on their way to the market in a horse-drawn carriage. The sun had risen high in the sky. Fortunately, it had just stopped raining, and the ground was too wet to walk on, so they had to wait for another day or two before they could go out. Otherwise, Yeluyuan wouldn't have been able to leave the house today.

  Ye Luoyan seemed to be more familiar with the things in the county town. After getting off the cattle cart, he led Qi Zhen'er through two streets and directly brought her into a large house with an open door. The house looked like a warehouse, with many large sacks piled up in the corner of the wall, and there were several men sitting inside talking.

  A younger one saw them enter the house and asked: "Young man, what's going on?"

  Ye Luyu had only heard of the Zhong Ren, and where to find them, but hadn't interacted with them before, so he was still a bit apprehensive. When he heard the question, his mind went blank for an instant.

  Qizhen'er saw that he looked different and said, "Big brother, I brought some fruit with my brother to sell, but this fruit is precious, and we want to find someone to help us find a buyer."

  Everyone heard that there was something valuable and came with interest, one by one saying: "What thing is it, can still be considered precious? Take it out and have a look."

  Qizhen'er saw that although they were making a ruckus, their movements were also very polite, and no one randomly reached out to flip over the basket she was carrying, so she secretly put her mind at ease.

  Ye Luyuan didn't remember his task for today until he heard the commotion. Seeing that Qi Zhen'er was very calm, he secretly blamed himself for not being as good as a little girl. He calmed down and took over the conversation, saying: "These are our homegrown strawberries, bought from seeds in Lin'an City, which are said to be tributes from foreign countries, very precious. Everyone take a look." Ye Luyuan said what they had previously agreed on, and after seeing that everyone was interested, he removed the cloth covering the basket, picked some strawberries, and handed out a few to each person for them to taste.

  Everyone saw the red fruit and was very curious, it was really something they had never seen before. However, no one wanted to show that they had never seen it before, anyway, it's edible, so they just put it in their mouths.

  The taste is actually quite good, everyone thinks it's great, but since no one has ever seen this thing before, they can't say the price, so they all remain silent, waiting for someone to speak up first.

  As soon as the quilt was lifted, a person's eyes in the group sparkled. After tasting it, their eyes burst out with an even more astonishing light.

  Ye Luoyu had been paying attention to everyone's expressions and seeing that they all thought it was delicious, he asked: "Everyone take a look at this, what price can you give for it?"

  Everyone looked at me, I looked at them, and there was a hint of confusion in their eyes. One of the older ones spoke up, saying: "We've never seen this thing before, so we can't give you a real price for it now. Let's go find some buyers later, and you come back after two hours, how about that?"

  Ye Luyu heard that they had never seen each other, and his heart felt a bit chilly. He heard that he would have to come again after two hours, looked at Qi Zhen'er, saw her nod, and said: "Then I'll trouble you all, I'll follow my sister in two hours."

  Left some strawberries for everyone to take as a reference when looking for buyers, re-covered the cloth, and Qi Zhen'er carried the basket with Ye Luyuan out of the warehouse.

  "Where are we going now?" Ye Luyuan's enthusiasm had decreased a lot. It didn't matter how rare it was, as long as no one recognized him, even the most precious thing would be worthless.

  Zijin'er was not as pessimistic as him. She knew the value of strawberries, and she didn't believe that no one else knew about them. Strawberries were a tribute from foreign countries every year, otherwise even the emperor wouldn't be willing to bestow such a small gift on his ministers.

  Moreover, the emperor has a habit of rewarding his great ministers, so it won't be just those few people who have eaten this strawberry. She had thought about it early on, if no one in this county town can recognize its value, she would go to the prefectural city, and she didn't believe that even if a bright pearl is covered in dust, there really wouldn't be anyone who recognizes it.

  But morale still needs to be boosted, "Otherwise, let's go ask that bigger grocery store?"

  A slightly larger grocery store, Ye Luyuan thought for a moment, anyway, he had to stay in the city for two hours, so he might as well take a stroll, maybe they would run into someone who knew this guy.

  The two regained hope and just turned around the corner with their baskets when they heard a shout from behind, "Little brother, little girl, wait!"

  Ye Luyu and Qi Zhen'er turned their heads around, only to see a person panting and running over, who was one of the middlemen just now.

  "What's up, uncle?" Ye Luyuan asked.

  That man took a few deep breaths and said: "Little brother, I see that fruit of yours, is it strawberry?"

  Ye Luoyan and Qi Zhen'er were both taken aback, they didn't expect to actually find someone who appreciated their goods.

  "It's strawberry," Yelü Yuande said with certainty, and felt a little curious. "Uncle knows, why did you pretend not to recognize it just now?" This question was asked directly, and the man's face flashed with a hint of embarrassment, but they were all old hands at this, so he quickly composed himself and said: "Little brother, I might as well tell you, I also recognized the strawberry by coincidence. At first, I thought it was unbelievable, because ordinary people don't recognize this thing at all. I was afraid of misidentifying it. After you left, I tasted it again, and only then did I confirm that it's strawberry. That's why I chased after you."

  Ye Luoyuan thought his words were reasonable, and he asked directly because he was afraid the man had some bad ideas. Now he felt relieved and asked: "Well, uncle, what price can you give for this strawberry?"

  That man hesitated for a moment, then said: "To be honest, little brother, although I know him, it's not easy to find that buyer right now. Moreover, I've heard that the transportation and storage of strawberries are not easy, so can you let me ask one of my old customers? They have a big business in Lin'an Prefecture too, let me see what price they can offer, how about that?"

  Ye Luyuan was about to agree when Qi Zhen'er interrupted, "Uncle, since you're going to contact the buyer, we'll come back in two hours. Why bother chasing us out?" Ye Luyuan thought it strange and realized he had been too careless.

  "I was thinking of saying, can little brother give me some more strawberries later, so I can take them to the host family to try?"

  It turned out to be this reason, Qizhen'er also didn't think it was a big deal after hearing it, took a small cloth bag, packed some strawberries and handed them over to that person. That person took the bag and hurried away.

  Ye Luoyu and Qi Zhener went through the two famous grocery stores in the county town, one of which was Qianji Grocery Store, which she had heard many times. Unfortunately, only one of them recognized the strawberry and offered a price of 50 cents per catty. The person from Qianji Grocery Store didn't recognize the strawberry and said it was precious, offering a price of only 10 cents, making Qi Zhener almost vomit blood. However, Qi Zhener remembered the warehouse on the other side and didn't say anything conclusive, just saying that she would go home and discuss with her parents.

  Ye Luyu and Qi Zhen'er strolled around for a while before returning to the warehouse, where those middlemen were still sitting inside, laughing and chatting loudly.

  "Hey uncle, can you give me a price for this strawberry?" Yeluyuan, who had followed his father around and was quite worldly, had just lost his composure for a moment, but now he was much better, responding with ease.

  The old man who told them to come back in two hours spoke up, "Young man, I just ran an errand and found a buyer. He's heard of strawberries before and says they're similar to your fruit, but he can't be sure. He'll give you 60 cents per catty, but strawberries can't be transported long distances. This time he only wants 300 catties, if it's really strawberries he'll buy in bulk next time, what do you think?"

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