Chapter 155: Something Rare
Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation
“What? Wild vegetables? Really?”
This words caught the interest of the elder men and women who were just spectators.
At a time when everyone was struggling for food, wild vegetables were a welcome surprise.
The few who had just spoken up for Jiang Xia now began to crowd forward, wanting to see if it was true. Even the three girls with Lin Yan were drawn to the excitement.
The aisle of the bus was already cramped. As the crowd surged forward, Lin Yan was nearly pushed over.
Thankfully, the girl was wise enough to step aside, preventing a possible minor stampede.
When everyone on the bus confirmed that Jiang Xia’s basket indeed contained wild vegetables, they started to get ideas.
“So it’s really wild vegetables. Are you taking these to visit relatives or friends in the city? There’s so much. Can I trade something for it? 1 have three feet of cloth coupons,” said one older woman who had earlier defended Jiang Xia and her father.
These cloth coupons weren’t particularly rare. Every working family in the city had some.
As long as you didn’t wear out your clothes recklessly, changing them once or twice a year was sufficient.
But villagers see cloth tickets as valuable, and the clever city folks love to exchange them for rare items with the rural people.
The ticket seller was not happy. She was the one who discovered the wild vegetables, and now everyone was getting ahead of her.
“I have grain coupons in my hands. Little girl, can you exchange these wild vegetables for me?”The ticket seller changed her attitude before boarding the bus and said to Jiang Xia with a smile.
There was a drought this year. Not to mention the vegetables, even the grass had been eaten up by people. Now that the ticket seller had come up to exchange for grain coupons, the onlookers were stunned.
They did not have many grain coupons on hand. The children at home were growing. It was fine if they did not have enough to eat, but they could not let the children go hungry.
After the ticket seller made her offer, those who wanted to trade for the vegetables fell silent.
This suited the ticket seller just fine.
Unexpectedly, the old woman wasn’t happy. She, being fair, stood up and proposed, “Since these wild vegetables are for their relatives, we shouldn’t take all. Why not leave a basket for them, and we can share the rest. What do you think?”
Her last question was directed to Jiang Xia and her father.
Jiang Chuan looked at Jiang Xia and frowned. He pretended to be indecisive and said to Jiang Xia, “Xiao Xia, what do you think?”
He was certainly hoping to earn as much as possible.
However, Jiang Xia wanted to earn more. She knew that their high-quality wild vegetables would sell well in the city.
“Second Aunt’s family has at least ten people. A basket of wild vegetables may not be enough to share.”
While saying this, Jiang Xia portrayed a compassionate expression, and if one did not know her real intentions, one might think she was moved by their offer.
Jiang Chuan instantly understood his daughter’s meaning. He immediately adopted the honest demeanor of a villager and said in a troubled tone, “We dug a lot this time, so one basket should be enough. But 1 don’t know how many grain coupons they can give us. Your Second Aunt promised me that if 1 brought two baskets of wild vegetables, she would exchange more food for me.”
This amused the elder woman and the ticket seller, especially the latter, who brought out her superior attitude again, “I knew it. The villagers are so lacking in grain that they’re going to exchange it with relatives or friends.”
She swiftly took out four pounds of grain coupons from her pocket, “Here, four pounds of grain. Will it exchange for this basket of wild vegetables?”
Jiang Xia’s face was expressionless, but inside, she was disdainfully sizing up the ticket seller.
If she had just started selling wild vegetables, she might have sold them for three pound of grain.
But today, she intentionally carried a larger bamboo basket, which held at least ten pounds of vegetables. If she traded at the price offered by Jia Guang, she could get at least six pounds of grain.
Don’t underestimate the two pounds of grain that was missing. It was enough for the family of three to eat for quite some time.
The ticket seller’s calculation was spot-on, offering just the right amount; not so little that people would feel cheated, but not too much that it would seem wasteful..