Chapter 694: Agricultural Merchants Came To Purchase

It was the first time for He Xiyan to see such a scene. Before, Chen Jiahang came alone. She had been confined at home for more than two months and could not go out. Then she refused to eat anything for two days, which frightened Chen Jiahang to tears, then he could only set her free.

She looked at a board brought by the merchant, which showed the purchase price of various agricultural products:

Local chicken: 8 yuan/jin

Local duck: 6.5 yuan/jin

Bacon: 7 yuan/jin

Local eggs: 0.3 yuan each

Local duck eggs: 0.4 yuan each

Dried chili pepper: 4.5 yuan/jin

Dried fish pieces (bullhead or grass carp): 6 yuan/jin

Fire-dried fish: 7 yuan/jin

…

What a low price! So cheap?

Looking at the price list, He Xiyan could not help sighing deeply, indeed feeling sympathy for the villagers living here. These agricultural products must be sold in the city market at least four times the purchase price, and some even more than five or six times the purchase price.

The profit was earned by the middlemen. The peasants here worked hard and ended up with a little income. Nevertheless, they had no other way. With no knowledge and a little literacy, they didn’t know how to sell their products. What was worse, the traffic here was inconvenient. Living far from the city, they had been in the mountains all year round, having no way to get to know the outside world.

“Here are ours, eight old hens and seventy eggs. You calculate them for me.” A woman in her fifties pushed herself into the crowd, who, appearing quite aggressive, pushed the other villagers in front of her away directly.

Then she waved her hands, motioning her son to pull everything over.

Her actions quickly aroused some people’s discontent. After all, everyone was queuing in line.

“Well well, sister Li, are you going to sell all your chickens? Why don’t you save a few for your new daughter-in-law?” A woman teased.

This Wang family was widely known recently. It was said that the daughter-in-law bought by his family had tried to run away several times and that she was locked up at home after being caught back, mad and insane.

Sister Li looked very unhappy with her face pulled long. “What do you care so much?” She said angrily, casting a fierce look at the meddler.

Merchants quickly did the account for Wang Zhi’s family. Eight chickens totaled 27 jin, 216 yuan and 70 local eggs totaled 21 yuan. So she sold them for 237 yuan altogether.

After counting the money over and over again and making sure that there was no mistake, she put all the money into her pocket, leaving no penny to her son Wang Zhi.

It was now Chen Jiahang’s turn. Because he couldn’t speak, he just put everything he brought in front of the merchants, including 35 bottles of chopped pepper sauce and 2.5 kilograms of dried fish.

He Xiyan stood beside him. She went to the merchant and looked at him, who seemed to be very good at making business. She leaned down and smiled at the man in front of her.

“Brother, can you give us a more reasonable price?” She smiled and said.

The merchant, named Liu Mingdong, had been dealing local products for more than ten years and owned several stores in downtown county and provincial capital. It was the first time for him to see a sister bargaining with him. After all, in this rural area, there were few merchants coming to purchase local products, so he could keep the price down.

He looked at the sister with some doubts, who, white and pure, did not look like a rural resident at all. She also spoke standard Mandarin, unlike villagers who spoke dialect or nonstandard Mandarin.