C77
C77
"Are you sure you're paying for it?" Old Liu finally spoke. I nodded.
"Are you sure you have nothing to do?" Old Liu continued to ask. I nodded again.
What a joke, what a waste! Just my family? If I want to lose, I'm afraid I haven't even gotten anything!
"Then what do you want these things for?" Old Liu continued to ask.
I thought for a moment and said, "I'll feed it to the people of the city!"
"Humph!" It was better if I didn't say that. Old Liu stood up angrily after he said that, obviously angry. He gave a fierce snort. However, perhaps it was because I was the only university student in the mountain, or perhaps it was because of his relationship with my father before he died, or perhaps it was because my parents were both missing and somewhat pitiful now, so I didn't curse loudly. However, it was obvious that he had endured for a long time. Finally, he sat back down on the chair and said, "Lucky brat, it's not like I'm talking about you. As a person, you still have to be honest …"
When I heard this, I immediately understood. Old Liu misunderstood me. He quickly said, "Elder Liu, you misunderstood me!" Saying that, without waiting for Old Liu to say more, I briefly introduced my reason for coming here. It was nothing more than four reasons. First, the city people now pursue homecoming, pursuit of nature, like to eat wild vegetables. Hearing this reason, Old Liu nodded his head. Indeed, an old man like him, who was born in the mountains and grew up in the mountains, only knew the word "natural". Secondly, the people of the city are also curious, of course, the ordinary vegetables are also eaten, but they seem to be more concerned with wild vegetables, which are useless in our eyes and can only be used to weed pigs, but to them, that is not necessarily the case, we have many wild vegetables in the mountains, we can send some outside, and since it is to feed the people of the city good things, we can also earn some pocket money; and fourth, I will be the middleman, but considering my own ability, I would like to ask Elder Liu to help me, and furthermore, to take charge of the overall management.
At this point, Old Liu finally understood that I didn't mean to hurt anyone, so he was slightly relieved. He thought about it for a while and finally agreed. After discussing the details with Old Liu, he told two of his daughter-in-law, five of his grandchildren, two of his daughters, and a few of his grandsons and granddaughters who could walk, to send a message to the nearby families, asking each family to send someone over tonight with a basket of wild herbs for a discussion.
Seeing that everyone had left, I took the initiative to discuss the price with Old Liu. I thought about it for a moment. The hotel there offered 30 yuan per kilogram, and besides the transportation fees and other necessary transportation charges, the net price should not be less than 20 yuan per kilogram. If I earn a portion of the money, then I should be able to get at least 10 yuan per kilogram for these mountaineers. I was just thinking about it when Old Liu thought for a while and said, "Zhang Yun, how about this. These wild vegetables will be settled at the price of thirty cents per kilogram!"
Ah!" I screamed! Yes, scream, it was a scream.
Thirty cents, how much is that? It was exactly the triangle money! Every kilogram of the triangle only cost sixty cents! That was too low! I thought about it and was about to say something when Old Liu said, "If you think it's expensive, then you can just press your own price!"
I screamed again in my heart and almost fainted!
Finally, under Old Liu's astonished gaze, he sat down and thought for a moment before saying to Old Liu, "Old Liu, I don't think the price is too high, but rather too low?"
"Too low? Not low! When I was working in the city, I knew that the side dishes (green leafed vegetables) in the city sold for one yuan per catty. These are all wild vegetables. We beat them up to feed the pigs, but they can still sell for money. Furthermore, you will be responsible for shipping them out, and you will have to use money! " Old Liu glanced at me and didn't let me say anything more. He continued, "It's decided. Every pound is worth two dollars!"
I could not express anything in words, nor did I dare to state the true price at this moment, and only nodded in agreement; but there was another thought in my mind: I will not be greedy for the money alone! I will think of a way to use this money to return to the mountains! In the end, I will make all the villages here rich!
Having made up my mind, I chatted with Old Liu for a while and discussed some details. Then, I went home and picked some wild vegetables. When I got home, I picked a big bundle and tied it with some wild rattan sticks. According to my estimations, this bundle should be close to three kilograms! When I got home, I took my tools and went back to picking wild vegetables. By the time the sun set in the afternoon, I was sure that the wild herbs I picked would not be less than 15 kg!
Like breakfast and lunch, dinner was filled with a cold potato. He took the money and headed straight for Old Liu's house. Arriving at Old Liu's house, I took a deep breath. That was because in the threshing floor of his house, there were several piles of wild vegetables. Amongst them, there were three types of bamboo shoots: two small hills for winter bamboo shoots, and a small hill for Carrying Chicken Sage bamboo shoots. Moreover, the mountain people all washed themselves in small bundles and tied them up in perfect order, forming a neat little mountain like this. It looked like Old Liu's demand for wild vegetables from every family had been firmly implemented! I calculated in my heart, according to the accounts in this mountain, the amount of wild vegetables provided by each family would probably not be less than 12 kilograms!
When they saw me coming over, everyone greeted me warmly. It was all a group of women or elderly people. I noticed that there seemed to be people coming from the families of the three mountains and eight miles away. Everyone went to the ground and sat down on a stone. These women were all having tea brewed from mountain spring water and joking around with each other while the few old men sat in a circle with Old Liu, sipping on the wine brewed from Old Liu's head and chatting merrily.
This tea is a special feature of our mountain, nothing more than sesame seeds, beans, tea leaves, and some ginger slices, herbs, and so on." These things were common in the mountains, but the quantity was not much. They were either important guests or people who had important affairs at home, and the owners usually did not want them. When they came, they could only drink some cold mountain spring water. As for the fruit rice wine, most of the families on the mountain had brewed their own. I have always had a different view of these wines, because in many cases, the mountain people simply don't produce enough food to fill their stomach, but each family would rather spend some time eating porridge, but they would leave some grains, mainly rice or corn, to brew rice wine. It seemed that the man at the top of the mountain only had this much to drink. Some of the women in the mountain could even have a few drinks.
Of course, no matter how much food there was, it was not enough. People would then pluck some unknown fruits that grew throughout the mountains and fields. Together with the grains, they would brew this unique fruit wine.
Seeing me come over, a few old men invited me over for a drink. I gave each of them a round and found that the taste of the wine was quite good.