CHAPTER 29: CHAPTER 29: SOLD TO THE GRAND RESTAURANT

Seeing how cautious Chen Wenjun was, Lin Qin wasn’t worried at all. In no time, she caught another big carp weighing around two pounds.

Chen Wenjun helped her take it off, and she quickly cast her line again.

This time, it was still a carp.

With four or five more all being carp, just as Lin Qin was suspecting they had hit a carp nest, white carp came up next.

The largest was four or five pounds.

The speed at which they were being hooked was incredibly fast, almost giving them no time to catch their breath.

Luckily, it was nighttime, and no one saw their feat; otherwise, their family would have become famous.

Because they kept getting catches, Lin Qin didn’t want to stop at all until Chen Wenjun pointed out that they had too much stuff to take out tomorrow, and she finally agreed to stop.

Lin Qin woke up around five o’clock the next day.

She thought of setting off early, hoping to reach the market street by six and starting to set up a stall, surely allowing them to finish selling early.

Since they had too many fish, Chen Wenjun didn’t go to collect the fish baskets, intending to sell these first.

There were hardly any people on the streets in the early morning.

The two could push their things carelessly along the main road.

When they reached the Xiatan market street, they found the stall-setting grannies and aunties had already arrived.

There were quite a few people already there for the morning market.

With yesterday’s experience, Lin Qin was even more at ease this time. As soon as they had set up, she started yelling like Chen Wenjun did yesterday, "We have big grass carp, big white carp, and big carp today, all fresh! Auntie, want to buy some fish today? All big fresh fish today!"

Lin Qin squatted there, pointing at the water bucket.

Passersby all took several glances, found the fish indeed quite large, and immediately gathered around.

"Can I just have half a fish head?" a young and pretty woman asked shyly, seeming to think her request was a bit excessive, and quickly explained, "At home, it’s just me and my child eating, buying a whole one is too much."

"No problem! Half is fine, if we can’t sell it, we’ll just take it home and eat it ourselves!" Lin Qin was momentarily stunned, then immediately agreed.

The woman picked a fish, and Chen Wenjun slaughtered it on the spot.

The people beside noticed the fish was fresh, and the other half of the fish head was soon bought as well.

As soon as the fish buyer finished paying, someone else came over to ask the price.

The two of them, one responsible for killing and selling fish, the other for bagging and collecting money, doing business together.

Before they knew it, the sun was shining on their spot.

Chen Wenjun was about to move to another spot when Zhang Youren, that big guy, appeared again.

"Got any river shrimp today?"

Chen Wenjun chuckled and shook his head, "Unfortunately, I didn’t have time to collect today, don’t know if there’s any stock, it’s all big fish today."

"Why none!" Zhang Youren was particularly disappointed, glanced around, and set his eyes on those carp, "How are these priced?"

"Yesterday it was one pound fifty, these are much bigger than yesterday’s, still the same price, what do you think?" Lin Qin asked.

Zhang Youren initially wanted to haggle, but upon hearing Lin Qin say this, he didn’t push further, "Alright then, pack them all for me... Oh! There’s a big soft-shelled turtle too! How much?"

"Same as the supply and marketing cooperative, two yuan twenty, just this one," Chen Wenjun quickly replied.

Zhang Youren frowned, "How about a bit less? I’m buying so much carp already!"

Chen Wenjun immediately put on a sad face, "Boss, it’s not that we don’t want to lower the price, but the turtle is hard to catch, it’s just this one, rare as it is!"

"What did you just call me?" Zhang Youren’s eyes lit up.

Because of that "Boss," he didn’t haggle further and let Chen Wenjun pack the turtle as well.

By about eight o’clock, there were still a few big grass carp and white carp that hadn’t been sold, but the rest had sold out.

Unwilling to give up, Chen Wenjun packed up the stuff and said to Lin Qin, "I’ll go ask the restaurants if they’d buy them."

The most famous restaurants in the city were Guoxing Restaurant and Patriot Restaurant, both of which were in the city center and took half an hour to get to from there.

Lin Qin pushed the empty bucket and scale weights, following Chen Wenjun, sweat rolling down her face, yet she did not feel any bitterness or hardship, only endless anticipation for life.

The two talked as they walked, arriving first at Guoxing Restaurant.

People were diligent these days, especially private business owners, wishing they could open as the day broke and stay open until dark.

The restaurant opened in the morning too, mainly selling porridge and small dishes.

They carried the bucket inside, and Zheng Guoxing, the boss, thought they were there to eat and quickly asked, "What would you like to eat?"

Chen Wenjun mustered his courage and asked, "Boss, want to buy some fish? Fresh big white carp and grass carp."

Zheng Guoxing curiously came forward for a look and even reached in to grab one, the fish struggled and splashed water all over.

Zheng Guoxing laughed, "Not bad, not bad, how much?"

"One pound is one yuan fifty."

Zheng Guoxing nodded, "Can it be a bit cheaper?"

Chen Wenjun quickly responded, "Boss, at the supply and marketing cooperative, it’s one pound sixty, it’s already ten cents cheaper, look, these fish are fresh!"

Zheng Guoxing didn’t deny, "Okay! I’ll take them all, help me bring them to the kitchen."

After Zheng Guoxing settled the bill, Chen Wenjun casually asked, "Boss, do you take river shrimp?"

"We do! But we won’t take small amounts, at least five pounds for a start! If you have that amount, you can send it over, as for the price! We’ll match whatever the supply and marketing cooperative offers! If you have some bamboo shoot fish, we’ll take those too."

Zheng Guoxing straightforwardly listed what their restaurant needed, then muttered, "Actually, we take any big fish, many people have been saying the National Restaurant’s dishes aren’t tasty recently, but I have the skill, just hard to get good ingredients. If you have any rare goods, you can send them to me, I’ll take them!"

"Okay, okay, I’ll check back if I can gather five pounds of river shrimp in the afternoon, send them over then, how’s that?" Chen Wenjun happily agreed.

Zheng Guoxing nodded, "But be early, best to send them by three o’clock."

Chen Wenjun agreed.

After they left Guoxing Restaurant, the two quickly headed home.

This time, Chen Wenjun pushed the cart, putting all the other things on it, and Lin Qin walked empty-handed.

Passing a steamed bun stall that was about to close up, Lin Qin quickly asked, "Boss, any buns left?"

"Yes! How many would you like?"

"Give me ten."

"Alright! Ten for seventy cents."

Lin Qin paid and took a large bag of buns from the boss, couldn’t help expressing, "See, these buns are big and fragrant, how much for one! Who would’ve thought, in another twenty or thirty years, one wouldn’t be less than seventy cents!"

Chen Wenjun thought the same, "If you like them, eat more, next time we come to the city, we’ll buy more!"

"Such reckless spending!" Lin Qin gave him a playful glare, feeling sweet inside.

Back on the fishing boat, the first thing they did was tally the accounts.

"We sold all those fish today at one pound fifty each, carp brought in twenty-four yuan; white carp brought in sixty yuan; grass carp brought in fifty-five yuan; bamboo shoots brought in nine yuan thirty-six cents, that turtle was four yuan fifty, and the other various blackfish, eel, and crucian carp totaled seven yuan eighty, and we spent seventy cents on the bag of buns, so we have here one hundred fifty-nine yuan ninety-six cents."