Chapter 41 Buying Chicken in the Middle of the Night
In order to reduce the number of trips to the toilet, Lin Mai never drank a sip of water the whole day except for a little extra water when eating noodle soup. Lin Mai was already so thirsty that his throat was smoking.
She took the warm water from Doudou and drank it in one gulp.
Seeing this, Doudou poured her two more glasses, and she drank them all, so she wasn't so thirsty anymore.
Doudou was still pouring, so Lin Mai waved his hand: "I can't drink anymore, my stomach will explode if I drink any more."
Doudou just gave up and asked Grandpa Fang to help her bake buns.
Grandpa Fang opened the fire tongs into a small V shape and placed it on the brazier, and then placed the buns on the fire tongs one by one to bake.
Grandma Fang pulled a stool and placed it next to the brazier, calling Lin Mai to come and warm herself up by the fire.
After several hours of cold wind blowing on the tractor, Lin Mai was almost frozen. Even after drinking a few glasses of warm water, he couldn't get over it, so he sat down in front of the brazier.
The heat of the fire slowly spread from her hands throughout her body, and she felt like she was thawing.
When Grandma Fang saw that Lin Mai came back with only sheep blood and sheep lungs, she asked in disbelief: "Have all the chickens and eggs brought to the city been sold out?"
Although Lin Mai said yesterday that she might sell out all these goods in one day, otherwise they wouldn't be up so late.
But everything was really sold out, and it felt so unreal.
Lin Mai's face showed a bit of excitement: "It's all sold out."
Grandpa Fang is concerned about the price: "What price are you selling for? You can actually sell it out in one day!"
Lin Mai was not wary of the two old men and told them the price.
Grandpa Fang clicked his tongue twice: "There are so many rich people in the provincial capital."
In his mind, things sell out quickly when they are cheap. Unexpectedly, Lin Mai's chickens and sheep were so expensive, but they could be sold out so quickly!
Lin Mai thought to himself, it's not that there are many rich people in the provincial capital, but because of its large population base, it seems that there are many rich people.
Coupled with the fact that there are only a few black markets in the provincial capital, demand exceeds supply, and some in-demand materials are bought by people no matter how high they are sold on the black market.
Grandma Fang was afraid that Lin Mai would be busy with business all day and would not be able to eat outside.
Regardless of Lin Mai's obstruction, he cooked her a bowl of noodles with poached eggs and sprinkled a lot of her favorite coriander on the noodles.
Lin Mai took the noodles and ate them, then put down the bowl and told Grandpa Fang and Grandma Fang that she was going out to collect the chickens now.
Grandpa Fang and Grandma Fang were all shocked: "It's New Year's Eve tomorrow, and you still want to go to the provincial capital to sell chickens?"
Lin Mai knew that they were afraid that she would go to the provincial capital tomorrow to sell chickens and not be able to come back in time for the New Year's Eve dinner, so she hurriedly said: "I only collect one or two hundred chickens, and they will be sold out in the morning. I will definitely be able to come back in time for the New Year's Eve dinner."
After thinking about it, he added: "I want to make more money while I'm making money these two days."
As long as they could come back in time for the New Year's Eve dinner, the old couple's faces became more relaxed.
Grandpa Fang wanted to help Lin Mai collect the chickens, but Lin Mai refused.
It's almost ten o'clock at night, it's very cold outside, and Grandpa Fang has bronchitis again. If the cold wind blows, the bronchitis will relapse, and he will suffer.
She carried the empty load of poultry and went out alone in the cold wind, and went to a nearby large village under the moonlight.
Yesterday, many villagers from this large village with seventy or eighty households came to sell chickens and eggs to her, but they came too late and failed to sell the eggs. Now, if you go to that village to collect chickens, you should be able to get chickens.
As soon as Lin Mai entered the village, the few dogs in the village immediately started barking, waking up the owner of one dog.
The dog owner asked across the house in the dark: "Who?"
Lin Mai was worried. The whole village was dark and there was no light in sight.
The villagers have already gone to bed. How should I collect my chicken?
You can't knock on other people's doors just to collect chickens and disturb people's dreams.
When she heard someone ask, she quickly raised her voice and said: "Grandpa Fang's family collects chickens, does eldest brother sell chickens?"
"Sell it! Why don't you sell it!" The male voice in the room became excited, and then the kerosene lamp turned on, and he asked puzzledly, "Why did you come to collect the chickens in the middle of the night?"
Lin Mai explained apologetically: "I was not in town during the day. I just came back from the city, so I had to come here to collect the chickens. I'm really sorry."
"It's okay, are all the chickens and eggs you collected sold out?" the man asked in surprise.
"The chickens were barely sold out, and only two to three hundred eggs were sold."
The door opened with a creak, and an uncle-like man with a kerosene lamp in his hand walked out. Behind the man was an aunt with no hair combed, who was probably his wife.
As soon as the couple went out, they went straight to the chicken coop to catch chickens.
The hens were purchased for one dollar per pound, and the roosters were purchased for one dollar per pound. This opportunity was so rare that they would sell them even if they were freezing in the middle of the night.
The aunt helps with lighting, and the uncle catches the chickens.
In one fell swoop, he caught all three of his capons and an old hen that didn't lay eggs, tied them up again and again with thin straw ropes, weighed them, and sold them all to Lin Mai.
His roosters and hens both weighed a pound and a half, and Lin Mai readily paid six yuan and fifty cents.
The uncle got the money, looked at it with the kerosene lamp in the aunt's hand, and asked doubtfully: "Did you make a mistake in the calculation? I should have only paid six yuan and thirty cents for those chickens, but you paid two cents more."
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Lin Mai said generously: "It's just a matter of two cents. It's all in the dark and the weather is cold. I don't want to look for three one-cent bills to save two cents."
The uncle happily accepted the money.
Lin Mai looked at the endless night and asked with a frown: "I want to collect one or two hundred chickens tonight, but the villagers are all asleep, what should I do?"
The uncle was enthusiastic and said: "I'll help you wake up everyone."
After that, he went to the village and shouted loudly, and immediately many villagers caught chickens and came to sell them to Lin Mai.
In less than an hour, Lin Mai collected more than 150 chickens.
Although I planned to collect 200 chickens, it was too late and I really didn’t have the energy to run to the next village.
Lin Mai paid two yuan to hire the uncle to help her carry the chicken back to Grandpa Fang's house.
More than 150 chickens weighed at least 180 kilograms, and she couldn't lift them.
The old couple still didn't sleep, and were still waiting for her under the lamp.
Lin Mai saw Doudou sleeping in Grandma Fang's arms and asked, "Why don't you send her to bed? Isn't it tiring to hold her like this?"
Although Doudou is very thin, he is still a three or four-year-old child after all, and Grandma Fang is old. She can be hugged occasionally, but it is very tiring to hold her for a long time.
Grandma Fang smiled and said, "You think I refuse to send her to bed? But she doesn't want to go to bed, saying she wants to wait for you to come back and has something to say to you."
Lin Mai took Doudou from her arms: "What does she want to say to me?"
Doudou woke up in a daze when he heard the voice, and said with sleepy eyes: "Mom, I left a baked bun for you. The baked bun is delicious."
Lin Mai smelled the aroma of baked buns as soon as she walked in. She thought it was left for her by Grandpa Fang and his wife, but she didn't expect it was left for her by Xiao Douding, which made her heart warm.
She said softly: "Okay, mommy will put you to bed and you'll have some baked buns."
Xiao Douding's eyes opened a little wider: "Mom, I have something else to tell you."