A husband found in the village? I bought a regent for a penny!

Chapter 73 The Long Journey to Earn His First Pot of Gold

Qingtian County is not a large town. There are only two grain stores, one salt shop, and one soy sauce shop near the town center, all on the same street.

Gu Xixi randomly walked into the first Liao's Grain Store.

Shopkeeper Liao stood up and asked with a smile, "What would you like to buy, young lady?"

"I have freshly harvested wheat from the summer and millet that has just been picked, both of the best quality."

Gu Xixi took out a small cloth bag and placed it on the counter. "Is your millet better than this?"

Shopkeeper Liao thought Gu Xixi was there to cause trouble, so he glared at her before picking up the bag with a displeased expression.

"What is this..."

Before he could finish speaking, he saw the corn in the bag, his eyes widened in surprise, and he quickly poured the corn onto the table, gently spreading it out with his palm.

Then I pinched a few more and popped them into my mouth, smacking them.

Manager Liao's expression turned serious. "Young lady, where did you get this from?"

"I've run this shop here for half my life. The millet from Dongling Village in the surrounding area is the best; it's golden in color, and when you cook porridge, a layer of rice oil forms, and the aroma is rich. As for yours..."

Gu Xixi smiled and said, "Is it better than the millet from Dongling Village that you mentioned?"

Manager Liao glanced at her again and reluctantly told the truth, "It's... a little bit better, I guess."

Gu Xixi asked, "Then are you interested in doing this business with me?"

Manager Liao, who was initially annoyed at "losing an advantage," suddenly brightened up upon hearing this, and a smile appeared on his lips. "Oh, young lady, you're here to sell grain? You should have said so earlier."

"How many do you want to sell? Are they all the same quality?"

Gu Xixi said, "Same, 300 jin."

"The goods are right outside the door. You can inspect them at any time as long as the price is agreed upon."

Manager Liao's eyes darted around, and he smiled, "It's a pity I just received my goods yesterday, and the quality is not much worse than yours. But I see you're a young lady, and it must be hard for you to carry things. Three hundred catties isn't too much, so I'll take it."

He held up five fingers, saying, "I'll pay five coins if the market price is four coins per pound."

Previously, a rat infestation broke out from the west, causing many villages, including Dongling Village, to suffer from poor or even no millet harvests.

The price of fresh corn in season has tripled, and other grains have also increased by half a percent.

Such good millet was rare in the past, and now it's even harder to buy even if you have money.

Especially those wealthy families in the city, whose household members have come to the grain store several times to say that this year's millet is mediocre and asking if there is anything better.

Just as Manager Liao was worrying about how to satisfy his regular customers, top-quality millet was delivered to him.

As the saying goes, rare goods are worth hoarding. Even if he doesn't make a fortune from 300 jin, it's enough for him to make a small fortune.

However, things did not go as smoothly as Manager Liao had imagined.

Gu Xixi glanced at the millet displayed prominently in the shop, with a price tag on it: six coins.

She turned her gaze back without saying a word and said, "The millet you placed at the front is partly whitish in color and has white kernels. It's not only of ordinary quality, but it's also mixed with last year's stock, isn't it?"

Manager Liao followed the gaze and smiled somewhat reluctantly, "Businessmen each have their own way. Other grain stores are just like me, they see through things but don't say anything."

Gu Xixi put the scattered millet on the table back into the cloth bag, saying, "I can't control how you sell your goods, but ordinary rice mixed with old rice will sell for seven coins."

“I’m giving you only four coins for my pure, top-quality, seasonal rice.”

She tied the bag tightly and held it in her hand, looking up at Manager Liao. "I'm afraid business isn't done this way."

"Farewell."

Manager Liao gritted his teeth and watched Gu Xixi walk towards the door.

Finally, he couldn't hold back any longer and said, "Miss, please wait. If you're not satisfied with the price, why don't you sit down and we can discuss it properly?"

"Who wants to discuss this with you!" Before Gu Xixi could speak, a child's voice interrupted her.

She looked in the direction of the voice and exclaimed in surprise, "Stone! What are you doing here?"

After a long time, Stone's facial injuries had healed, and he even seemed more lively than before.

"I was just out for a stroll when I saw you go into the grain store, so I followed you."

Manager Liao recognized Shi Tou and said with a sneer, "Who do we have here? If you're not going to buy grain, then get out. I'm here to discuss business with someone."

He smiled and said to Gu Xixi, "This child's parents are gone. He's just a street hustler who spends his days wandering around aimlessly."

When Shi Tou hears people mention his parents, he no longer avoids the topic as he used to.

He puffed out his chest and said, "Who said I'm just wandering around aimlessly? I'm in charge of my family's nursery."

"But it's you." He sized up Manager Liao, smiled slyly, and then stood on tiptoe to say to Gu Xixi:

"Sister Xixi, I'll just tell you this: I saw Boss Liao collecting millet a few days ago."

"He pays two coins a pound for old rice and three coins for new rice."

The sound wasn't loud, but it was loud enough for Gu Xixi and Boss Liao to hear.

Seeing that Boss Liao looked like he had swallowed a fly, he was about to say something.

Gu Xixi took Shi Tou's hand and said, "Let's go ask around at other places."

Manager Liao panicked upon hearing this. Another company? Isn't that his arch-rival, his old rival?

Absolutely not!!

He strode forward and said, "I misspoke earlier. I'll take all your rice, one jin... seven coins, Grandma, seven coins is alright, isn't it?"

Gu Xixi turned around and said, "Deal."

While the grain store clerk was unloading and weighing the goods, Mu Nanzhao sat in front of the truck waiting.

He frowned when he saw Gu Xixi and Shi Tou walking hand in hand. "Zhang Minglei, how old are you? Still letting a woman hold your hand while you walk?"

Stone rolled his eyes defiantly. "So what?"

"Sister Xixi loves me, and I just love Sister Xixi."

Like it? Mu Nanzhao sneered and said, "Yes, I almost forgot you're only six years old. You're far from being a grown man who can stand on his own. It's normal that you don't understand the proper distance between men and women."

Shi Tou felt slighted, so he let go of Gu Xixi's hand, put his hands on his hips, and confronted Mu Nanzhao.

"Who says I'm still too young? I can take care of the nursery and myself. I'm a grown man now!"

Gu Xixi found their bickering incredibly childish and couldn't bear to watch.

She handed the two strings of cash to Mu Nanzhao, saying, "For safety's sake, please hold onto them for me for now."

With the remaining one hundred coins, Gu Xixi put them into her small cloth bag.

She smiled and said to the stone, "Thank you so much for helping me out just now."

"Once I find a pharmacy, I'll sell the yams on the truck, and then we'll go eat something delicious."

Shi Tou patted his chest and said, "Sister Xi Xi, I know a pharmacy where the people are very honest. Come with me."

Following the stone, we found a pharmacy located at the crossroads.

The price was indeed reasonable: 100 catties of yams at 12 coins per catty.

The pharmacy owner repeatedly praised Gu Xixi's yams, saying that they were not only of excellent quality but also very clean.

Unlike some people who would rather cover the surface with several layers of mud to increase its weight.

The shopkeeper even personally saw Gu Xixi off, telling her that he would accept as many yams as she brought in the future.

Gu Xixi laughed and said, "There won't be any this year, let's wait until next year."

Leaving the pharmacy, Shi Tou seemed preoccupied and hesitant to speak.