CHAPTER 26: CHAPTER 26: GOING TO MARKET TO SELL GOODS

Lin Yi thought of the vegetables on the boat and reminded Chen Wenjun, "If you go to sell fish, you can sell the vegetables too. There’s so much we can’t finish, it would be a pity if they spoiled."

In the village, vegetables don’t sell well, but in the city, they can sell a bit better.

Lin Yi agreed.

At night, the whole family discussed how to arrange things.

Finally, it was decided that Lin Qin would sleep in the back cabin with the two children, while Lin Yi and Chen Wenjun would sleep in the front. At night, if Lin Yi needed to get up, Chen Wenjun could help.

Chen Ping’an remained silent about this arrangement.

Until Lin Qin took him to the back cabin. When she saw the little one was at a loss, she understood immediately and quickly put him next to Liu Yaya, gently stroking his head, "I’ll heat some water for you to wash your hands and face. After that, we’ll sleep, alright?"

The seasick Liu Yaya was already struggling, nodded weakly, and lay unmoving on the bed.

Lin Qin washed their faces one by one, and helped them lie down and cover up with the blanket, then poured the dirty water into Nanxi River, closed the bamboo canopy, and lay down with the children.

Before sleeping, Lin Qin softly said to Chen Ping’an beside her, "When it gets warm, auntie will cut your hair and give you a nice bath."

Without waiting for Chen Ping’an’s response, she fell asleep soundly.

Chen Ping’an slowly opened his eyes in the dark, looked in the direction of Lin Qin, secretly moved closer, feeling both excited and timid, until after a long while when sleepiness came, he finally fell asleep.

When Lin Qin woke up in the morning, she found both children clinging tightly to her, her arms held in their small arms, unable to move.

Carefully she extracted herself and quietly slipped out.

Seeing the boat moving meant Chen Wenjun was already awake, probably had started the traps.

Lin Qin quickly went over to help.

Upon reaching the front, she saw several buckets on the deck, all containing something inside.

Seeing her looking spirited, Chen Wenjun couldn’t help but smile wide, "Look, a trap exploded last night, caught three river eels, over a dozen bamboo fish, and another trap has five crucian carp weighing at least four or five ounces each.

We’ve already filled half a bucket with river shrimp, let’s sell these today, they’re worth quite a bit!"

The river shrimp from Nanxi aren’t big, just small shrimps that can only grow this size. Restaurants in the city use them to batter and deep-fry, turning out incredibly fragrant, and can sell for around two dollars per pound.

Due to their small size, they’re difficult to catch, and when traps are set, only a little bit is caught, not even filling a bowl, so few bother going to the city to sell these small shrimps.

All one can say is they are indeed incredibly lucky in their new lives.

Their hearts were filled with gratitude, unable to express it.

Lin Qin recalled Lin Yi’s instructions from yesterday, hesitantly said, "Should I go with you? I’ll sell vegetables, you sell fish, we can help each other and finish selling things earlier."

"Are you sure?" Chen Wenjun was a bit surprised.

In past lives, once Lin Qin was on the boat, she rarely went down. If she had to get off, she did so discreetly, especially afraid of people’s judgment, and her timid demeanor drew more attention, causing her to feel increasingly insecure and fearful.

Remembering one time during the year-end market, when there was too much stuff for him to carry, Lin Qin offered to help, but at the market she tightened up due to the crowd, not saying a word, and even when called she dared not respond.

Chen Wenjun had never seen her doing business with people.

Lin Qin nodded firmly, "Those past shadows don’t concern me anymore, heaven has given me another chance, I cannot be cowardly again. Don’t worry, I’m certainly up for it."

Chen Wenjun thought for a moment, realizing it made sense, and agreed.

The two made breakfast for Lin Yi and the children, before leaving, Chen Wenjun arranged everything Lin Yi would need, reminded Chen Ping’an to help Lin Yi out.

After everything was sorted, Chen Wenjun brought up the small cart from the fishing boat onto the shore.

This small cart couldn’t hold much, but a basket of vegetables and a bucket of fish was no problem.

Lin Qin pushed the cart, while Chen Wenjun carried two large buckets on a shoulder pole as they hit the road.

Lin Yi and the children watched them leave, inevitably feeling worried.

Lin Qin and Chen Wenjun concentrated on traveling, completely ignoring everything else.

To avoid crossing paths with the Liu family, this time Chen Wenjun chose not to sell fish in that area but took a detour to the rice field.

The rice field area comprised staff family courtyards, the residents here were quite well-off, willing to spend money on food and clothing.

This year, a temporary vegetable market street opened here, Chen Wenjun hadn’t been here before.

The two arrived at the vegetable market street close to seven o’clock, hitting the market’s peak time, people everywhere.

Chen Wenjun felt worried about Lin Qin, focusing his attention on her, but Lin Qin excitedly pointed to a small open spot not far away, "Let’s set up there."

Following her direction, Chen Wenjun carried the shoulder pole over there.

As soon as the items were set down, the neighboring vegetable sellers craned their necks to look over.

At this point, the vegetable sellers hadn’t formed into large-scale wholesalers, they were all selling their own homegrown produce, with each stall having a limited selection.

Chen Wenjun opened the buckets and began shouting, "Selling fish! Fresh bamboo fish, river eels, crucian carp, bighead carp, come take a look!"

His shout attracted four older women around.

"Young man, where’s the bighead carp?"

"What does bamboo fish look like?"

"How big are the crucian carp?"

"Oh! Such small river shrimp? How did you catch so much?"

Each of the four women asked a question, clearly attracted to different items.

Chen Wenjun hurried to set up the fish cleaning board and knife, preparing the scale and weights.

Lin Qin was responsible for fishing the fish out for them to see.

When the woman saw the bighead carp still alive, her eyes lit up, "Still alive! What’s the price?"

"Auntie, it’s one dollar six at the supply and marketing cooperative, I sell for one dollar five, no less, you see, my bighead carp is still lively!"

As if to prove Chen Wenjun’s words, the bighead carp’s tail splashed water on the woman’s face.

The woman leaned back, slapped her thigh, "Awesome creature! Just that one head! Chop a bit more for me, stew it with tofu, savory!"

Chen Wenjun asked everyone to step back a bit, chopped swiftly with the big knife, proceeded to weigh it, and in one go, after receiving payment, even helped cut off the fish gills and chop the fish into pieces.

The woman smiled widely, "This saves me a lot of trouble! Young man, next time I’ll definitely come to buy from you!"

After sending off the woman, immediately others scrambled to buy the remaining fish tail.

Chen Wenjun sold the fish tail first and then continued with other customers.

The woman buying crucian carp wanted them mainly to help her daughter-in-law, who was in confinement, increase milk production, and it just so happened these crucian carp were alive with similar size, she bought them all.

She even specially went back to get a bucket for storage.

While waiting for the woman, a few carp and bamboo fish were sold in succession.