Chapter 39: Red Sugarcane is a Little Sweet
"Auntie, sugar cane is 50 cents a pound, guaranteed to be sweet, give some to your grandchildren!"
In front of Zhang Shan, a vendor with a pointed face and monkey cheeks asked for ridicule.
"50 cents? It's not the season for eating sugar cane now, and your sugar cane is not fresh. I want it for 10 cents, or forget it if you don't want to."
The old lady was about to leave when the vendor hurriedly called out to her, "Ah, Auntie, why are you so impatient? You didn't say you wouldn't give me any. One cent is one cent. Alas, I'm really at a big loss, but it's because we have a connection, Auntie. I'll sell it to you for one cent a pound!"
The old lady was picking sugarcanes with a smile on her face. She specifically picked the big ones. The center of the sugarcanes was blood red, which was obviously a symptom of mold and spoilage, but the old lady had no idea, or even if she knew, she didn't take it seriously.
In the previous life, the original owner also reminded the old lady, but the old lady not only did not listen, she also scolded the original owner for having bad intentions and deliberately being jealous of others.
In fact, the original owner knew this old lady. They lived in the same community. The old lady had just moved to this community three months ago and had not been here long. However, because of her habit of being greedy and unclean, her family was famous in the community.
The original owner didn't take the initiative to cause trouble, but he wasn't someone who was afraid of trouble either. He followed the old lady and started cursing on the street.
Because of this, the old lady hated her.
On that day, the old lady's grandson drank the juice squeezed from red sugarcane and was poisoned and hospitalized. The old lady was worried that her son and daughter-in-law would send him back to the countryside, so she lied that the original owner disliked her grandson and poisoned them.
His son and daughter-in-law were also very bad. Instead of calling the police to arrest the person, they wanted to arrest the original owner and interrogate him personally. The original owner had not done it, so he naturally would not admit it. They also kindly told her son that it was because he had eaten spoiled sugarcane, which was very poisonous.
Not only did the family not believe the original owner's words, they also dragged him to the hospital for a confrontation. Fortunately, the doctor in the hospital was very skilled and helped the original owner to issue a certificate, proving that it was indeed certain substances in the spoiled sugarcane that caused the child's food poisoning.
Although the original owner was cleared of the crime, the child could not be rescued.
The old lady's family could not accept the fact and put all the blame on the original owner. Why didn't the original owner try his best to stop the old lady from buying it when he knew that the sugarcane was poisonous?
The culprit who caused their son/grandson to die of poisoning was the original owner, and they want the original owner to pay with his life.
So, the family went to the stall that used to sell sugarcane, bought all the sugarcane, squeezed it into juice and fed it to the original owner to drink, and the original owner died of poisoning.
"Boss, how much is your sugarcane juice?" Zhang Shan interrupted and asked at the right time.
"One dollar a cup."
"One dollar, so you're losing money, right? This big cup is at least the amount of two sugar canes, and you don't have to chew it yourself, you're too kind!"
"Oh, it's just a small business, we can't make much money, we're selling at a loss, little girl, how many cups do you want?"
The boss was picking and choosing, looking for those that didn't look good to squeeze the juice from.
"Would you like a cup? Why is the center of your sugarcane red?" Zhang Shan asked curiously.
"This is a new variety, otherwise where can we buy sugarcane in this season?" The boss lied without blinking.
"Boss, please don't pick these ugly ones for me. I want to choose them myself."
"Okay, okay, come here. You are such a cunning girl." The boss complained.
Zhang Shan picked and chose from the pile of sugarcanes and squeezed out a large cup of pink sugarcane juice. When the old lady saw this, she was convinced that two pieces of sugarcane could be squeezed into a cup of juice.
She immediately let go of the sugarcane and came to the juicer with a bundle of sugarcane in her arms. "Girl, can you help me squeeze a few cups of juice? Please have pity on me, an uneducated old lady."
"Grandma, the boss is still here, just let him squeeze you, but I'll have to pay for it if I squeeze you."
When she heard about the money, the old lady immediately refused to do it. "Why are you charging me? I don't want it. I'll let the boss squeeze me out. You really don't know how to respect the elderly. Get out of my way."
Zhang Shan immediately made way for the old lady and stayed away from her. When the old lady was swinging the sugarcane, she almost hit Zhang Shan's feet.
The old lady not only loves to take advantage of small opportunities, but also cannot stand others getting better than she deserves. While the boss was hesitant to speak, she peeled the sugarcane one knife at a time, not realizing what waste is.
"Boss, please weigh a pound of bananas for me."
Zhang Shan kindly sent the boss away and let the old lady do what she wanted.
As expected, the boss was away, and the old lady became even more unscrupulous, peeling the fruit until only the red heart in the middle was left.
The old lady stopped only after she had squeezed four cups of bright red juice, and the boss's sugarcane had been completely ruined by her.
Worried that her boss would give her trouble, she left four dollars and ran away with her grandson.
"Hey! What's wrong with this old lady? How can I sell my sugar cane?"
The boss was so angry that his face turned red and his neck became thick.
"Boss, ten dollars, transfer it over."
"Oh, good."
Zhang Shan knew that there were still a lot of moldy and spoiled sugarcanes in the boss's warehouse, but he probably wouldn't sell them today. In the previous life, apart from the old lady and her grandchildren, no one else was reported to have been poisoned by sugarcane.
Therefore, Zhang Shan plans to report this fruit stall tomorrow. If anyone else falls into the trap before then, it will be him who should do the same.
Zhang Shan was walking on the sidewalk carrying a bag of bananas and a glass of pink juice when she was suddenly hit by a yellow bike going in the opposite direction. The fruits fell to the ground and the glass of sugarcane juice was also spilled.
"I'm sorry, girl. I'm in a hurry. This fifty yuan is for your fruit and milk tea. There's a fruit stand in front. Please buy some for yourself."
Before Zhang Shan could react, the man hurriedly got on the shared bike and left.
Zhang Shan: “…”
My heart aches.
The first time I tried to scam someone, it was actually successful.
With fifty yuan in his hand, he picked up the banana that had fallen on the ground, squatted on the curb, and ate the damaged banana in no time. As for the cup of sugarcane juice, he had already thrown it into the trash can.
When she returned to the community, she happened to see the old lady's son and daughter-in-law coming back from get off work. She didn't look at them at all. She didn't know them and there was no need for her to pretend to be familiar with them.
That night, the old lady’s son asked for help in the homeowners’ group. The neighbors drove the family to the hospital and kindly paid the medical expenses.
The family of four were too severely poisoned to be saved, and the person who came to claim the bodies was the old lady's daughter, the former owner of the house in the community.
The old lady favors boys over girls, and it is not uncommon for her to force her daughter to pay the down payment for her son, but this is the first time she has forced her daughter to give the house to her son.
As a former neighbor, Zhang Shan also attended the funeral of the old lady and her family, and also heard the verdict of the fruit stall owner.
"That boss is so heartless that he actually sold spoiled sugarcane. The death penalty is too easy for him." An old lady patted her chest in fear, still feeling a lingering shock.
“That’s not the case. So it’s best to buy fresh fruits and don’t be greedy, otherwise…” Another middle-aged woman’s eyes fell on the portrait of the family of four.
Zhang Shan nodded in agreement.
After the funeral, Zhang Shan moved to another place and regarded it as the beginning of a new life.