Starting from selling lunch boxes at the construction site

Chapter 5

At four o'clock the next morning, the alarm clock was turned off as soon as it rang. Xu An quietly turned his head and looked beside him. The two little people were fast asleep, and they didn't seem to be disturbed at all.

He got up from the bed lightly, washed up in the yard, heard the movement of grandma turning over in the room, and went in to see that grandma was awake.

"Grandma, turn on the light when you wake up, once the electricity is enough to keep the light bulb on for a whole day."

Xu An stretched out his hand and pulled the rope at the head of the bed, and the light bulb emitted a soft yellow light.

"The moonlight is so bright, you can see it clearly, don't waste electricity." Grandma Xu raised her hand and pulled the rope, and the light went out.

Since grandma didn't want to turn on the light, Xu An didn't force her, and helped her up to sit against the wall by the moonlight.

"I'll go to the vegetable garden to pick some vegetables to sell in the market, and I won't be back until eight or nine o'clock. Last afternoon when they were sleeping, they had a nightmare saying that I don't want them anymore. I was afraid that they would cry again if they woke up and couldn't see me. "

"I don't know why, the two children are getting more and more attached to you these days." Grandma Xu said with a smile on her face, "Maybe I know that you are going to college soon. It will take half a year to go to college, and you will have to cry when the time comes."

There was a pause in the movement of wringing the towel with his hands, and then he squeezed the water out of the towel suddenly, and handed the wrung towel to Grandma Xu.

Grandma Xu took the towel and wiped her face and neck carefully.

Xu An stared at the rippling water patterns in the washbasin in a daze.

If I go to school by myself, there will only be an old man with limited mobility and two four-year-old children who can't walk well. How will I live in the future.

It would be fine if I was reborn and went back to before the college entrance examination. I don’t remember anything. The test scores will definitely not be able to go to college, so I can justly stop going to college.

Grandma Xu passed the towel to Xu An's hand several times, but Xu An didn't see it. Turning her head, she saw Xu An was in a daze, thinking that Xu An was worried about the tuition fee.

"I asked a few households in the village who were admitted to university. The tuition fee of a public university is several thousand yuan a year. Although our family is a little poor and I spent a lot of money on my legs, the tuition fee is still affordable. .”

"Don't worry about tuition fees. The state has student loans and poverty subsidies."

"Loan? This is borrowing money from the country."

"Yes, there is no interest, and you will pay it back after graduation, and pay back as much as you borrow."

"This policy is good."

After Grandma Xu finished washing, Xu An came out of the room with a washbasin in her hand, poured the water into the yard, looked at the moon reflected in the water stains, and felt that the world was a bit fucked up.

If you choose to go to university, even if you disagree, your younger siblings will most likely be taken away by your sister-in-law; , Maybe he will send away his siblings without telling him.

After all, to grandma, no matter how bitter and mean my sister-in-law is, she is still a relative with the same blood.When the two children arrived at the sister-in-law's house, they didn't say that they would live a good life, at least they could have enough food and clothing.

Xu An rubbed his face hard.

Don't think about it, let the younger siblings stay at home and not be taken away by the sister-in-law, and then think about the next thing.

Before going to bed last night, Xu An prepared the things he would use this morning. There were two baskets and a pole. In the baskets were a knife, a flashlight, a small wooden stool and some odds and ends.

A basket is tied to the front and back of the shoulder pole and placed on the left shoulder. The left hand rests on the pole to keep balance, and the right hand turns on the flashlight and walks towards the vegetable garden.

What Xu An wants to catch is the morning market in the town, which starts at 05:30 and closes around 07:30.After eight o'clock, the city management will come to inspect. If you want to continue to display, you have to pay five yuan for the booth fee.

In order to save the five yuan stall fee, people like Xu An who set up a stall to sell their own vegetables will go to this morning market.

Walking along the way, I could see several vegetable gardens with people picking vegetables with flashlights. When they saw Xu An, they raised their heads and said hello.

Xu An quickened his pace and entered the vegetable garden to work.

The output of the vegetable garden is good today. The most productive one is tomato. We have picked more than 20 of them, which is conservatively estimated to weigh seven to eight catties. The second is green pepper, which weighs about five catties. Two bitter gourds and three eggplants.The remaining corners are planted with green leafy vegetables that are only enough for the family to eat.

When we walked to the market, it was already dawn, and more than a dozen small stalls had already been set up in the open space in front of the market.

When Xu An was looking for a vacant seat, someone beckoned to Xu An to let him go. It was Xu Guoqiang, who had to be called the second uncle according to the seniority in the village.

"It's a bit late today, if you are later, you will have no place and can only find a corner where no one sees you."

"I was delayed while picking vegetables. Fortunately, my second uncle also came to the market today."

"It just so happens that the cabbage and green beans grow together, and I don't finish eating them at home, and they will be old after two days, so I just pick them up at the market."

Speaking of which, Xu Guoqiang picked up a cabbage and handed it to Xu An, and said in awe, "How is it, is it juicy?"

In Xujia Village, there is one person, and they are all good at farming. The vegetables they grow are three times more juicy than those in other villages, and the taste is better.

"That's right, this cabbage looks energetic and absolutely delicious."

Hearing Xu An's praise, Xu Guoqiang put the cabbage back on the stall with satisfaction, picked up the watering can and sprayed it on the cabbage, the luster of the cabbage became more attractive.

Xu An took out the washed red, white and blue from the basket and spread them on the ground, and neatly stacked the vegetables on the red, white and blue.After tidying up, I took out the watering can and sprayed it on the vegetables. The bright red tomatoes, purple eggplants, and green peppers and bitter gourds were all covered with dense drops of water.

In summer, the daylight is relatively early, and the sky is already bright before six o'clock, and there are many more people in the market, and the sound of hawking, quarreling and bargaining keeps coming and going.

Those who get up early to buy vegetables include the elderly who can't sleep and wake up early, housewives who want to buy fresh vegetables, and workers who have to go to the construction site to work.

In recent years, the economy has developed rapidly, and various projects, large and small, have been opened in the city.If there are too many projects, the workers will not be able to get enough points, and the wages will be higher, which attracts many capable men and women in the town to work on the construction site.

The wages for those who know technology are higher, which can be two to three hundred a day.Those who don't know the technology but have the strength will be lower, but there are also one or two hundred.Those who don't know the skills and don't have much strength can find a master to be an apprentice, and they can earn 80 yuan.

The town is not far from the construction site, basically it takes more than half an hour to get there.No matter how good the accommodation and food on the construction site are, they are better than at home. As long as they can go home, everyone chooses to go home and cook for themselves.

These people will go to the market early to buy vegetables and put them at home, and then go home to cook and eat after work in the evening.

"The eggplant in your house looks fresh, it can't be from pesticides." A strong older lady wearing a dirty hard hat squatted in front of Xu An's booth, stretched out a thick finger to scratch on several piles of vegetables : "How much is a catty?"

"Two pieces of eggplant and tomato, two pieces of green pepper, and three pieces of bitter gourd. These are grown at home to eat, and those that are in excess are sold in the market. You happened to meet today. Wait for the batch in a few days." It's gone when you're done eating."

Xu An understood that this person said this not because he disliked the bad food, but as a means of bargaining.

To do business, you need to be friendly and make money. There is no need to talk to others, just report the price of the vegetables in a few words and then explain.

In order to reassure the elder sister, Xu An picked up a smaller tomato, wiped it casually on her clothes, and put it in her mouth. After biting into it, the juice overflowed, and part of the juice dripped down her arm to the ground.

"Look at the tomato. It's juicy and sweet. Smell it. Is it the authentic tomato? This is the tomato grown in the field. It's big and beautiful like the ones in the supermarket, but it tastes like nothing in your mouth. Tomatoes are different. You leave this episode and it’s not easy to get another tomato like this.”

The big lady in the hard hat wanted to find something wrong to lower the price, but was confused by Xu An's series of words, and then looked at the bitten open tomato in Xu An's hand, which really exuded a strong aroma, and she was a little moved immediately.

Xu An continued to sell other vegetables to the helmeted lady.

"Look at this eggplant, the flowers are not finished yet, it is very tender. Yesterday I used this eggplant to make a minced meat eggplant, and two four-year-old children ate two big bowls of rice with this dish."

"Eggplant with minced meat?"

Hearing the question from the helmeted lady, Xu An couldn't help but patted his forehead.

Stir-fried eggplant is more oily. Here, more eggplants are steamed and less fried.Fuel-intensive dishes like minced meat eggplant are usually only seen in restaurants, and ordinary people don't know or know how to cook them at home.

Immediately, Xu An enthusiastically explained the recipe of the minced eggplant to the helmeted lady, and attracted several listeners who nodded as they listened, obviously listening.

After Xu An finished speaking, a person behind the helmeted lady reached out for an eggplant and a few green peppers, and it seemed that she wanted to try the meat-molded eggplant recipe that Xu An said.

There were only three eggplants on the stall, and many people were thinking of buying them after seeing them.

The big sister in the hard hat thought about it in her heart, the price is not expensive, and the boss has even arranged the method, so it would be inappropriate not to buy it.

Before anyone else reached out, the lady in the hard hat picked up the remaining two eggplants and handed them to Xu An to signal him to weigh them, and said unforgivingly: "If this method is not delicious, I will ask you to refund the money tomorrow. "

Xu An was amused, and said with a smile, "If it's delicious, I'll buy more next time I meet you."

These three or five people got together, attracting other people to come over, and seeing someone buying it, the others saw that the vegetables were good and they needed them, so they also bought them from Xu An.

Xu An is also eloquent. The lady in the hard hat originally only wanted to buy an eggplant, but now she not only bought two eggplants, but also brought a catty of green peppers and two catties of tomatoes.

A catty of tomatoes is used to scramble eggs, and a catty of tomatoes is used as fruit to eat.

The eldest sister alone bought one-third of the vegetables, and the rest was sold out immediately.

Xu Guoqiang was stunned as he watched from the sidelines, this Xu An just put it down in less than 10 minutes and emptied it all out, this kid is really good.

The two people standing at the back wanted to buy some after listening to Xu An's meat-moked eggplant recipe.Unexpectedly, the things on the stall were sold out, so he planned to look elsewhere, but was stopped by Xu An as soon as he turned his head.

"This is my second uncle, a well-known farmer in the village. See if his vegetables are very juicy?"

Under Xu An's strong sales, the two who wanted to leave each took a bag of cabbage and some other vegetables from Xu Guoqiang's stall.

After the two grocery buyers left, Xu Guoqiang thanked Xu An, and Xu An waved his hands again and again.

"It's a matter of convenience, what is this, everyone in the village is very helpful to me."

Speaking of which, Xu An put the red, white and blue rolls into the basket: "Second Uncle, I want to take a walk in the market, please help me look at the basket, I will be back in a while."

"Okay, let's go."

Xu An had just helped him attract guests, and it was nothing trivial to help him look at the baskets, so Xu Guoqiang immediately agreed.

(End of this chapter)