Chapter 38 Purchase of Chestnuts 2
The first to come sell chestnuts was the talkative Aunt Yang and her family. Her husband and her eldest son each carried a burlap bag of chestnuts on their shoulders.
The gate to Qianhuan's house was not closed. Aunt Yang stood at the door and called out, "Sister Liu, we're here to deliver chestnuts. Shall we start collecting them now?"
"Aunt Yang, we can collect it now. Please bring it in." Liu replied to Aunt Yang.
After hearing Liu's response, Aunt Yang led her husband and son into the courtyard.
When she saw the couple, she said, "Liang Lao Er, I heard that your family set up a stall in the county town, selling sugar-roasted chestnuts and made a lot of money."
"Aunt Yang, you didn't make a lot of money. You just made a little money to support your family." Liang Laoer said to Aunt Yang with a smile.
"I've never heard of sugar-roasted chestnuts before. Who came up with this idea?" Aunt Yang asked curiously.
The other villagers who followed in were also curious and echoed Aunt Yang's words: "Yes, yes, Lao Er, we haven't heard of it either. Who taught you this?"
This made Liang Laoer very embarrassed. He couldn't say that his daughter was gifted and learned it in a dream.
"Uncles and aunts, I came up with this idea when I was bored. I'm sorry to make you laugh."
Seeing that her father didn't know how to deal with the situation, Qianhuan immediately took over the conversation and started chatting with the villagers.
"No way, this way of making money was actually thought up by Qianhuan." Everyone was obviously a little unconvinced.
"Yes, it's all because my daughter is greedy and did it on her own. She always has a lot of clever ideas." Liang Laoer also answered with a smile.
"Second brother, your family is so lucky to have a daughter like Qianhuan. The food she cooked can actually be sold for money. I wish those boys in my family were half as smart as she is."
Everyone praised Qianhuan, completely different from the previous time when Qianhuan was broken off from engagement, when everyone looked at her with disdain and ridicule.
The trend of changing with the times has never changed from ancient times to the present.
When you become rich, capable and strong, people will recognize you, flatter you and praise you.
If you are poor and weak, people will distance themselves from you, look down on you, and even step on you. This is human nature.
Qianhuan purchased a large quantity today, and she had to check the quality of the chestnuts.
She asked Aunt Yang to pour the chestnuts on the bamboo fence, check the quality, and pack the qualified ones into bags, weigh them and pay for them.
Aunt Yang is an honest person. The chestnuts she poured onto the bamboo fence were all good chestnuts with full grains, without any rotten chestnuts mixed in.
Aunt Yang's family sold 100 kilograms of chestnuts, and Qianhuan counted out 100 copper coins and gave them to Aunt Yang.
"The chestnuts in our family are really excellent. I have picked out the rotten ones, and only the ones we bring are good chestnuts with full grains. Qianhuan, if your family needs to purchase chestnuts in the future, tell me. I have several chestnut trees in the back mountain. If you want them, I will pick them and send them to you immediately."
Aunt Yang took the copper coin and smiled from ear to ear, and also praised her own chestnuts.
"Aunt Yang, the chestnuts in your home are really good. I'll let the head of the village notify you next time I need them. You can always send them over." Qianhuan also responded with a smile.
"Okay, then I'll leave first." After counting the copper coins, Aunt Yang took her husband and son through the gate and went back.
Along the way, Aunt Yang met many villagers carrying chestnuts on their shoulders and heading to Qianhuan's house. When they saw her, the villagers asked, "Aunt Yang, have you sold all your chestnuts to Liang Laoer's family? Is it really 1 cent per pound?"
"Yes, my family just sold 100 kilograms and got 100 copper coins. Now we have money to buy meat." Aunt Yang answered the villagers with a smile.
Upon hearing this, the villagers ran faster, carrying the chestnuts, for fear that if they arrived too late, Liang Laoer's family would have harvested enough chestnuts and would no longer need them.
Soon, a long line formed in front of Qianhuan's house.
Qianhuan paid for the chestnuts that had passed the inspection and were weighed, then packed them into bags and tied them up. She asked the villagers to help carry them into her guest room. There was not even a bed in the room, so it was empty, which was perfect for storing chestnuts.
There were a few villagers who loved to take advantage of the situation and failed to pick out the rotten chestnuts, so Qianhuan refused to buy them.
They also didn't expect Qianhuan to pour out all the bags for inspection, and they were all regretting it now.
The eldest and second sons of the village head were also queuing in the team, while the village head was watching on the side.
"I told you when I gave you the notice to pick out the rotten chestnuts, otherwise we will definitely refuse to accept them. Usually, when the vendors come to buy them, they will give you a maximum of 1 cent for 2 pounds. I wouldn't say anything if you mixed some rotten chestnuts in there. But now Liang Laoer's family is paying you twice the price. How can you have the nerve to mix rotten fruits in there?" He righteously educated those villagers who loved to take advantage of others.
"Thank you, Grandpa Lizheng, for speaking for us. Today I will give you a chance. Those households that have mixed rotten chestnuts in the chestnuts, please carry them home and sort them out before sending them here. If there are other households in the team that have brought chestnuts here without sorting them out, please go home and sort them out first. If there are still people who pass off inferior chestnuts as good ones, then we will never buy chestnuts from this household again."
Qianhuan informed everyone very seriously that too many bad chestnuts would affect the reputation of their stall, so she would rather spend more time pouring out each bag and checking them to ensure the high quality of the chestnuts.
When everyone heard this, those who were hoping for a lucky haul hurriedly carried their sacks and went home dejectedly. They had to quickly pick out the rotten chestnuts and send them over.
After this little episode, the quality of the chestnuts inspected subsequently was very good and all passed.
At this time, there was another commotion in the crowd. It turned out that Zhu asked Liang Lao Da and Liang Wenyong to carry two large sacks of chestnuts. Zhu led them to bypass the long line and squeeze directly to the gate of the courtyard.
"Everyone is queuing up, why are you the only ones not following the rules?" someone said, unable to bear it any longer.
"How can we be the same as you? Don't you see who bought the company? You can't write two characters "Liang" with one stroke. This is my second brother's home." Zhu replied righteously with her hands on her hips.
The villager who came forward remained silent.
"Aunt, you'd better queue up at the back. This is our rule for purchasing chestnuts." Qianhuan unceremoniously asked them to queue up at the back.
"Qianhuan, I am your aunt after all. How can you let your own elders line up?" Zhu started talking to Qianhuan with the airs of an elder.
"Aunt, everything has a first come first served rule. You can't break the rules just because you are my family. This will cause chaos. If you don't follow the rules, we won't accept your chestnuts."
"You..." Zhu still wanted to argue.
"Mom, everyone is queuing up according to the rules. Let's not make things difficult for Second Uncle and the others. Let's go to the back and queue up."
Wen Yong was relatively reasonable. He carried the sack and walked to the back of the team.
"Humph, I think Qianhuan is doing this on purpose. She thinks she's great just because she can make sugar-roasted chestnuts. She doesn't even take her elders seriously."
But she had no choice but to pull Boss Liang and line up behind him.
The head of the village kept nodding his head to show his satisfaction. The daughter of Liang Laoer was capable of great things. She was not fussy about small matters but could handle big things clearly. If she were a man, she would probably achieve great things in the future.
If Qianhuan knew what the village head was thinking, she would probably complain: What do you mean only a man can achieve great things? I will show you that women can also achieve great things. Aren’t old lady Liang and some villagers biased towards boys? I will show them that girls are no worse than boys, and can even be better.
By the afternoon, Qianhuan's family had harvested 3,000 kilograms of chestnuts.
At this time, Aunt Zhao, who lived in the east of the village, also came over, followed by her two sons, each carrying a sack of chestnuts on his shoulders.
Qianhuan said apologetically, "Aunt Zhao, I'm so sorry. We have already harvested 3,000 kilograms of chestnuts today, so we won't be harvesting any more for the time being."
In fact, Qianhuan didn't want to accept it, but her family had no money left, and she had to keep the more than half a tael of silver for self-defense.
"It's full. Alas, it's all my fault that I came late."
Aunt Zhao's face was full of disappointment. If she had known earlier, she would have sent it here earlier to sell. However, she was too greedy and wanted to collect more before selling, so she ended up coming too late.
"Aunt Zhao, how about this? If you trust our family, just weigh the chestnuts and leave them to us. We will pay you by tomorrow night at the latest. Is that okay with you?" Qianhuan came up with a way to buy on credit.
"This... Liang Laoer, can what your daughter Qianhuan said represent the opinion of you as the head of the family?" Aunt Zhao was a little hesitant. She wanted to sell the chestnuts, but she had some concerns.
It’s not that Aunt Zhao doesn’t trust their family, but she feels that Qianhuan is just a little girl in the family, and her words may not represent the opinions of the adults in the family.
"Sister Zhao, Qianhuan is the head of our family. What she says represents my opinion. You can rest assured to leave the chestnuts for weighing. We will definitely send the money over before tomorrow night." Liang Laoer said to Aunt Zhao seriously, holding his crutches.
"Okay, then I'll keep the chestnuts." Aunt Zhao saw that the head of the family had spoken, and she felt relieved and decided to keep the chestnuts.
The price is one cent per pound, which is a good deal that you can't find even with a lantern. In previous years, the chestnuts either fell to the ground and rotted, or were sold cheaply to vendors. They have never been sold at such a high price.
Aunt Zhao asked her two sons to help carry the chestnuts to the scale.
"Aunt Zhao, there are a total of 200 kilograms of chestnuts. I owe you 200 cents. I will deliver it to your house before tomorrow night." Qianhuan looked at the scale and it was exactly 200 kilograms.
"Okay, then I'll leave first." Aunt Zhao said, and then she led her two sons out of the yard with an empty sack.
After that, several more villagers came, some carrying 40 to 50 kilograms, and some carrying more than 100 kilograms. Qianhuan bought them on credit as usual.
In the end, her family bought more than 500 kilograms of chestnuts and owed the villagers more than copper coins.