CHAPTER 192: CHAPTER 192: GRATITUDE BEYOND WORDS

Maybe seeing Xinyan frown, he quickly explained after putting away the money: "I’m sorry, I didn’t mean anything by it. My grandmother is sick and can’t eat anything else, but the other day I used the fish you gave me to make fish soup for her, and after eating it, she didn’t feel unwell. If it’s convenient, please let me know where the fish came from."

Xinyan thought for a moment: "The fish was caught from the Yuquan River."

The young man’s eyes lit up: "Thanks."

Xinyan thought of something, put down her basket, opened the lid, and took out a small bag of red dates, weighing about two pounds: "This is for you, you can soak it in water for the elderly to drink, it’s good for the blood."

It’s just a compensation for the fish issue, which I couldn’t tell you the truth about. Hopefully, these dates can help the sick old person.

Seeing Ling Tianze standing there dazed: "Take it, it doesn’t cost much, it’s just a little token from me."

Seeing he didn’t take it, she put it in the basket by his feet, said no more, and turned away, quickly squeezing into the crowd.

A realization hit Ling Tianze as he was left behind, slapping his forehead in frustration, lamenting how he just let her walk away like that. Watching Xinyan’s distant figure, he felt an inexpressible gratitude.

Xinyan walked around but couldn’t find what she needed, then headed to the exit, locating the person she’d heard others talk about before, and lowered her voice: "Sister, I have a batch of goods I need to offload, are you interested?"

In this black market, those familiar with Wang Yali called her Sister Yali. Don’t be fooled by her being a woman; she’s got her own way of doing things. Even the men messing around in the black market have to give her some respect.

Xinyan had heard about her in her previous life, hearing that after the reform and opening-up, Wang Yali was among the first to get rich. It was because she had guts, had drive, and of course, had accumulated capital in the black market before. Her way of doing things was fair, which is why her reputation was quite good.

The reason for finding her was, firstly, because of her reputation, and secondly, because she was a woman and never took advantage of newcomers.

Wang Yali looked at the dowdily dressed young woman in front of her, immediately knowing that she wasn’t showing her true face: "Sister, do you know me?"

Xinyan smiled: "I’ve heard others mention you, so today I took the liberty to find you."

Wang Yali, seeing that she wasn’t pretentious, developed quite a liking for her: "So, tell me, what do you want to offload?"

Xinyan didn’t have much time, because she couldn’t stay out for long. Although she left a note for Teacher Cao when she left, she was afraid the teacher would worry, so she directly put down her basket, opened the lid: "Everything is inside, you can see the quality at a glance."

Wang Yali saw how efficient this girl was, which was to her liking. She took out a flashlight from her pocket, looked inside the basket, and saw three small cloth bags. After opening them one by one and looking, she was somewhat shocked: "How much of this stuff do you have?"

Upon hearing the question, Xinyan already had a plan: "Two thousand five hundred pounds of rice, the wheat hasn’t been ground into flour, but you can see the quality of the wheat grains yourself; there are about two thousand five hundred pounds, and not many red dates, only over three hundred pounds."

Wang Yali, upon hearing the numbers Xinyan reported, got a bit excited: "Come on, let’s talk over there."

Xinyan thought briefly, then followed Wang Yali up ahead. When they entered a courtyard, Wang Yali looked at Xinyan: "You really do have some guts."

Xinyan gave a faint smile: "Before I came, I inquired about your character, and only came because I trusted you. Besides, as a young woman, you could probably guess why I dared to come alone."

What she wanted to say was that without some ability to protect herself, she wouldn’t have dared to come, but hearing this, the others present took it to mean she had people backing her.

Wang Yali laughed heartily: "You’re interesting, I like this kind of personality, let’s talk inside."

Xinyan did not intend to waste time, and after entering the room, spoke directly: "Sister, I’m in a hurry, let’s make this quick."

She wasn’t at all worried that saying this would lead Wang Yali to push down the price.

Wang Yali also understood that people who came here didn’t want to stay longer than needed, as they were all taking risks: "Since you came because of my reputation and your personality is one I like, I won’t beat around the bush. Your stuff is all premium, I’ll offer forty-five cents per pound for the rice, thirty-five cents for the wheat grains because I have to process them, and as for the red dates, the quality is impeccable too, I’ll offer four cents per pound, how about it?"

Xinyan was quite pleased with this price, as it was five cents higher than what she expected: "Deal."

As previously discussed, they’ll bring new burlap bags. The place was one she had already scouted; there was a pump house, which she’d seen was just barred with a wooden stick, making it easy to get in and out, and the inside was spacious enough to store those things.

After the deal was made, Xinyan left first.

A man behind Wang Yali spoke: "Boss, do you really trust her that much?"