Chapter 17 - 17

Chapter 17 The Old Man Selling VegetablesAfter Su Xiaoyu came out, she noticed a small tricycle behind the old man. Because it was dark and inconspicuous, she could only see the lush green vegetables. There was also a black plastic sheet next to it, which was obviously used to cover the vegetables earlier.That's right, it's a bright green bok choy, and it looks like it was just picked not long ago.Are you selling vegetables?"Yes, I heard from others that everyone living in your community is rich. My vegetables are cheap, 30 yuan a bunch." The old man said, picking up a bunch of bok choy. "I grow these vegetables indoors, otherwise they would have died from the heat long ago. Hot weather has its advantages, the vegetables grow faster, as long as you water them on time."I haven't seen such fresh bok choy in a long time. The vegetables in the supermarket are all wilted or rotten, which has caused prices to soar and vegetables to be hard to find.Seeing such a truckload of vegetables, even though I already have so many vegetables stored up, I was a little tempted.However, if you go grocery shopping in such a big way, you'll have to carry the groceries upstairs, otherwise other people will see it.That would make people worry about me to death, but after thinking about it, I suddenly had an idea."Grandpa, I need to talk to you about something. I'll call someone down to buy vegetables, and if they sell out, you'll give me four bundles of vegetables!""Will there be many people buying this? If only a few people come, I'll have to give you vegetables, and then I'll lose money. To be honest, I came out so late because I wanted to sell more money to stock up on rice and grain. My family has a lot of people, and we can't survive without food."We can't afford vegetables like bok choy, so we're thinking of selling them and hoping you'll have some pity on us!Su Xiaoyu patted her chest and assured her, "Don't worry, I can sell all this vegetable for you."What could the old man do? He could only grit his teeth and agree, "Alright, as long as you help me sell the vegetables, I can give you five bundles of bok choy. If it weren't for the hot weather, these vegetables wouldn't be worth much. When the weather isn't so hot in the future, come visit Grandpa's house, and I'll give you a truckload for free. We have plenty of land."Su Xiaoyu walked to the car, picked out 5 of the largest bok choy as agreed, and placed them on the ground. Then she took out her phone and sent a voice message to everyone.[Good news! I'll only say this once: there's an old man selling vegetables downstairs. Bok choy is 30 yuan a bunch, first come, first served!]It caused an uproar less than 5 seconds after it was posted.[Holy crap, did the person on the 18th floor just wake up?][Is it really a bok choy?][Leafy greens!][Is this robbery, charging 30 yuan a bundle?][To the person upstairs: Money's not everything these days; being able to buy groceries is the most important thing!][Yes, yes, that's right, but I just want to know if it's true? The power will go out in half an hour!][What are you waiting for? Hurry up and rush downstairs!]Su Xiaoyu closed her phone when she saw this. After waiting for two or three minutes, she heard a lot of people running over, some carrying phones and some carrying cash, rushing straight to the gate.They quickly surrounded the old man.The old man had prepared in advance, placing the QR code on his chest. As everyone paid, the bok choy on the bus gradually decreased.Some people felt they hadn't bought enough, so they went back and bought another bunch. They found the bok choy exceptionally fresh when they got home; it could be kept in the refrigerator for several more days, much fresher than the bok choy from the supermarket.The last bundle of bok choy was successfully sold. The old man wiped the sweat from his brow; the money had come far too easily.Two more people arrived, only to find there was no more food in the car. Disappointed, they couldn't help but ask..."Grandpa, will you be selling vegetables again tomorrow?""Can you make it cheaper? 30 yuan is too expensive!""Expensive? I think it's cheap! We have so many vegetables at home, who knows when we'll come back next time!" The old man said happily. As he was leaving, his child told him that the bundles were 30 yuan each.He was so startled he almost fell over. It was the child who told him that bok choy was incredibly expensive right now, and that everything edible was expensive. He added, "If you don't make money now, when will you? Forget about conscience."The two people had no choice but to leave.Su Xiaoyu then took out the bag and took away her spoils, having gotten five bundles of vegetables for free. She was in a great mood.The old man didn't feel too bad when he saw the vegetables being packed up. If it weren't for someone calling for help, the vegetables wouldn't have sold out so quickly. If they had been taken back at dawn, they would have rotted after a day."Thank you so much, child, for helping me sell vegetables today!""It's a win-win situation, otherwise I wouldn't have gotten five bundles of bok choy." Su Xiaoyuglanced at her watch; the power was about to go out. She waved to the old man."Sir, I can't talk to you anymore, the power is about to go out, I need to go upstairs!""Okay, then be careful on the road, don't run too fast and fall!" The old man had just finished speaking when he saw that the person had disappeared. Upon closer inspection, he realized that the person had already appeared at the elevator door and gone inside.That's incredibly fast; in the blink of an eye, a distance of over ten meters had been covered."It's good to be young!" the old man muttered to himself as he packed his things and rode his tricycle home under the cover of night.The temperature was still quite high at night, around 37 or 38 degrees Celsius, but it was much cooler than during the day.There weren't many cars on the road, so I hummed a song as I drove south home.Su Xiaoyu got out of the elevator one minute before the power went out, and then the elevator stopped on the 18th floor."Where have you been?" Lin Xiuxiu asked from the doorway, looking like a wronged wife."I went up and down the stairs for a bit, and then I got a free ride on Xiaobaicai." When Su Xiaoyuentered the house, she handed the bag she was carrying to Lin Xiuxiu and flicked her nose with her other hand.Seeing the fresh bok choy in the bag, Lin Xiuxiuwas surprised and quickly went inside."How did you get it for free?""You can see for yourself by checking WeChat."Su Xiaoyu sat down at the table, and seeing the freshly cooked braised pork that looked and smelled delicious, she quickly picked up her chopsticks and took a bite. It tasted amazing.There was also a dish of green vegetables, like those bought from the supermarket, with oyster sauce and garlic in them, which looked pretty good.Lin Xiuxiu stuffed the bag into the refrigerator and then quickly closed the refrigerator door."You're really something, helping someone else sell vegetables, and then giving those vegetables to you for free.""Yes, it's my reasonable compensation. If I hadn't mentioned it on WeChat, his vegetables wouldn't have sold!" Su Xiaoyu ate two more bites of rice.Being human isn't so bad, at least you can eat delicious food every day, otherwise your mouth would taste bland.Lin Xiuxiu sat down. "I just saw someone changing things. I don't know if our things will last until the extreme heat ends."Su Xiaoyu picked up a piece of braised pork for her, saying, "Don't worry, I definitely won't let you go hungry."The two chatted and laughed as they finished their late-night snack, and then went back to their respective rooms to rest.Every morning when Su Xiaoyu wakes up, she puts two ice cubes in the room; the ice maker upstairs is just for show.Then they took out a fully charged energy storage device from the space, which could store 20 kilowatt-hours of electricity, just enough for them to use for a day.As for water, two large buckets collected from the toilet each day should be enough for them.