However, after being stored at home overnight without refrigeration, the mushrooms didn’t look quite as attractive as those she had sold that morning. But they were still pretty good.
The mushrooms were also still well-preserved.
The medicinal herbs were also bundled neatly, and Chiang Xiao arranged them orderly on her stall, making it look quite professional.
Chiang Songhai had been worried that no one would buy Tianxiang Green, but to his surprise, before he could finish his two buns, an old man hurried over briskly.
"Young lady, hurry up and give me two bundles of Tianxiang Green; my wife arranged it with you," he said.
Chiang Xiao’s heart skipped a beat, and without daring to engage in conversation, she quickly handed over two bundles of Tianxiang Green and smoothly took forty cents. Luckily, the old man seemed to be in a hurry and didn’t linger after his purchase.
"Little, did his family talk to you? What did they say?" Chiang Songhai still heard him.
"Oh, it was that old aunt’s neighbor I helped. I told her you would be selling Tianxiang Green," Chiang Xiao replied casually.
Hearing this, Chiang Songhai didn’t suspect anything further.
With the market open, buyers quickly became more numerous. The popularity of the Tianxiang Green and mushrooms far exceeded that of the medicinal herbs, as more people sought to satisfy their taste buds than needed medicine.
As the mushrooms sold out and most of the Tianxiang Green was gone, Chiang Songhai became anxious when not even one of the three wild rabbits had sold.
"Little, do you think we’re asking too much for these rabbits? Should we lower the price a bit?" he asked.
He had weighed the three wild rabbits at home: one was six jin one, and the others were five jin three and five jin five. Chiang Xiao had set the price at seventy cents per jin.
At a time when pork only cost a few cents per jin, this price indeed wasn’t low.
But while pork could still be bought with meat coupons and rural folks who raised pigs could have pork once a year, such plump rabbits were a rare sight. Hence, Chiang Xiao felt that the price she set was far from unfair.
Some people had asked about the price before, but upon hearing it, they decided not to buy, turning instead to purchase Tianxiang Green and mushrooms. This, however, didn’t mean that no one could afford the rabbits.
"Don’t lower the price; let’s wait a bit longer," she said.
Seeing her firm stance, Chiang Songhai sighed and had no choice but to agree.
"Brother Baoguo, I’m sorry to trouble you to come shopping with me," a woman’s voice suddenly reached Chiang Xiao’s ears.
Her heart raced as she looked up.
In the bustling crowd, a woman with a bandage on her face, wearing a bright sky-blue long-sleeved dress, stood out. The man walking beside her was none other than Chiang Baoguo!
Chiang Baoguo was an accountant in a small oil pressing workshop in Siyang Village. The workshop belonged to the production team and was collectively owned. With the production team nearly equivalent to being disbanded, some in the village with ulterior motives already had their eyes set on taking over the workshop, looking for the right opportunity to contract it and turn it into a private enterprise. Then, the workshop staff would face the prospect of leaving.
As far as Chiang Xiao knew, that time wasn’t far off; she didn’t remember the exact details, but it was supposed to be around July or August.
After the workshop was contracted out, Chiang Baoguo left and quickly found another job in town.
Chiang Xiao hadn’t paid much attention to their affairs before, so she wasn’t very clear on the details, but it seemed that Chiang Baoguo’s new job was quite good, and Song Xiyun often bragged about it in front of her grandmother.
However, it wasn’t long before she heard that Chiang Baoguo had gotten into trouble. One night, Song Xiyun made a fuss at home, crying and shouting, smashing bowls and basins, and mentioned a factory manager surnamed Ding and his daughter.