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Chapter 460: Chapter 450: Shen Da’s Big Bluff
As for Shen Yunfang on this end, she got up the next morning, sent her child to the daycare, and then rode her bike towards the courtyard house. She had made an arrangement with the uncle from yesterday to have him deliver rice and flour this morning.
When she arrived at the courtyard on her bicycle, she saw the middle-aged uncle from yesterday still wearing the same clothes, already squatting at her doorstep. Next to him was a unicycle, leaning against the wall, and there were several bags at the entrance.
"Uncle, you came so early?" Shen Yunfang hurried over, parked her bike, and took out her keys to open the door.
"Girl, you don’t live here, do I? I came very early, knocked on the door and no one was inside." The middle-aged man hadn’t slept well last night, preoccupied with the task of delivering rice and flour this morning. So, he got ready bright and early and pushed his unicycle into the city, only to find himself knocking on the door of this courtyard for an hour with no one to answer.
He thought he had been tricked and was about to head back, but he remembered that the young girl had indeed opened the door of this house yesterday, so he still had some hope in his heart. Perhaps she had something urgent and wasn’t at home, so he waited a bit longer.
"Right, I don’t live here for now. It’s not yet tidied up inside to be livable." While speaking, Shen Yunfang had already opened the yard gate and together with the middle-aged uncle, moved the bags from the ground into the courtyard.
The middle-aged uncle, carrying a sack of rice on his shoulder, entered the courtyard and took a good look around the young girl’s house. Hmm, it indeed lacked a bit of liveliness.
Shen Yunfang saw that all the cloth bags had been brought inside the yard and was ready to close the door and go inside to sort out the grain.
"Hey, wait a moment." The middle-aged man saw her about to close the door and quickly spoke up to stop her. Under Shen Yunfang’s questioning gaze, he pushed his unicycle inside the yard from outside, "Hehe, I don’t feel comfortable leaving this outside."
Shen Yunfang laughed along with him.
Then, the two of them chatted idly for a bit while they sorted out the grain.
This time the middle-aged man brought her one hundred pounds of rice and one hundred pounds of white flour.
Shen Yunfang paid at a rate of three jiao per pound, a total of 60 yuan.
"Uncle Ye, if your family has extra grain in the future, just bring it to me. I will take it at this price." The middle-aged man’s last name was Ye, so Shen Yunfang called him Uncle Ye.
Uncle Ye was surprised. How many people were in this young girl’s family? He had delivered a total of 250 pounds of grain to her, and it was still not enough, and she still wanted to buy more.
Shen Yunfang realized his confusion and said with a smile, "In a few days, my relatives from my hometown will come over here and stay for a while. You know it’s hard to buy grain in the city. If your family has more, I’ll buy some."
Uncle Ye suddenly understood and nodded, "We don’t have any more at home, but if you really want, I could help you ask around."
"That’s great, Uncle Ye. How about this: you ask around, and next time you bring me grain, I’ll buy it from you for three jiao and three fen a pound. How much you pay others is your own business; any extra is your hard-earned commission." Shen Yunfang was enticing him to act as a middleman.
Uncle Ye didn’t speak, pondering the young girl’s proposal. Then his eyes began to brighten. If he followed the girl’s suggestion and sourced grain from others, procuring grain from neighbors wouldn’t cost as much as in the city, perhaps two jiao for a pound of rice at most. Then selling it to the girl for three jiao and three fen, he would make a net profit of one jiao and three fen for every pound just by running the errand. My goodness, that’s a tidy sum.
"Can, can we do that, wouldn’t we get arrested for this?" Uncle Ye, excited at first, then calmed down.
"Uncle Ye, you’re exaggerating. If you can make a bit in the middle, it’s your earnings from labor, and you should feel completely at ease with that money in your pocket. Also rest assured, our country has new policies now. No one will arrest you for this kind of thing. Have you seen the small market on the east side of our residential area? If the old policies were still in place, who would dare to sell things there despite the risk? No one wants a longer life more than necessary, right? Now the state won’t crack down; they support it. Just put your worries aside," Shen Yunfang reassured him as best as she could.
Uncle Ye was very tempted after hearing the offer, but his experiences over the years told him to be cautious.
Seeing that he was still hesitant, Shen Yunfang added more encouragement, "Besides, Uncle Ye, it will just be you delivering the grain to me, and only the two of us will know about it. Our transactions will always take place in the courtyard where no one can see. I couldn’t possibly cheat you—doing so wouldn’t benefit me at all. If someone really did see and started gossiping, I’d just say we’re relatives and that there’s nothing wrong with you bringing me some grain—no one could do anything about us."
Uncle Ye was successfully persuaded by Shen Yunfang and nodded in agreement, muttering to himself, "That sounds good, that sounds good."
So, Shen Yunfang discussed with him the future grain deliveries.
After settling the account, Shen Yunfang sent Uncle Ye on his way.
She returned to the courtyard, closed the gate, then carried the grain inside. Over two days, she had gathered a total of two hundred and fifty kilograms of grain. That would surely be enough for Li Xianglian’s family of five to eat for a month.
Li Xianglian and her family of five squeezed out of the train station with difficulty.
"Are we holding onto everything? Haven’t left anything behind?" Finding an open space, Li Xianglian stopped and looked back to make sure her children were all there before she started checking the bags.
For some reason, the train was extremely crowded this time. The couple had sat up all night, not daring to close their eyes for fear of someone stealing their luggage. 𝓷𝓸𝓿𝓅𝓊𝓫.𝒸ℴ𝓶
The children, on the other hand, were carefree and excited about their first train ride, scampering from one carriage to another. By ten o’clock, they had collapsed onto a small table, asleep, and come morning, they were wide awake with drool still fresh on their faces.
"No, nothing’s lost. I’ve got two bags, both here," Shuanzi said as he pulled the bags off his back for his mother to check.
Liu Honglei, who also went by the nickname Shitou, followed the others’ example and brought his own bag over for inspection.
"Hmm, okay, let’s go. We still need to take a bus to get to your second uncle’s place. Make sure to keep up, with nowhere to go if we get lost," Li Xianglian said after checking that everything was in order, and then she took the lead once more.
The group managed to board a crowded bus, which jostled and swayed all the way to the Hongsheng Community.
"Mom, look at those tall buildings! Does second uncle live in one of these?" Shuanzi, the least worldly of the lot, exclaimed loudly at the sight of the buildings.
Liu Jianjun reached out his large hand and patted him, saying, "Shut up, keep it down." Didn’t he see that some people were already giving their family of five a peculiar look?
Shuanzi stuck out his tongue but couldn’t contain his excitement at the tall buildings before him.
"Second uncle doesn’t live in these buildings; his place is further back," Liu Jia said. Having stayed at their second uncle’s before, she knew where his house was and that the buildings Shuanzi pointed out were not as good as their second uncle’s.
"Sis, lead the way, quickly, let’s hurry to the second uncle’s house," Shuanzi urged, unable to wait.
Finding the buildings before him impressive enough, he was now itchy with curiosity since his sister said their second uncle’s place was even better.
And so, their formation changed; Shuanzi, eager to see more, pulled his sister to the front, Shitou followed with their siblings, and Liu Jianjun and his spouse trailed at the end.
