Making Money

He called again and again, but no one answered on the other end.

Afraid that Li Ping had already blocked him, Zhao Danshi hurried outside, took the old man's basic phone, and dialed that familiar number again. Still, no one answered.

Zhao Danshi hung up and rapidly typed Li Ping a message: Senior Brother, I don't have a girlfriend, and no woman is carrying my child.

-It's hard to explain over text. Can you answer my call first?

-From beginning to end, you're the only person I've ever liked, and the only person I've ever been with.

-Senior Brother, the situation is a little complicated. If you see my messages, please call me back immediately.

Full of anxiety, he sent message after message.

Zhao Danshi didn't know whether Li Ping had seen his texts, but the other man still hadn't called him. Nor could he get through when he called.

Zhao Danshi was anxious but helpless. He wanted to rush to X City to find Li Ping immediately, but his belly was already showing. His shame wouldn't let him go looking for the other man with such a big stomach.

The old man shuffled in. Seeing Zhao Danshi like this, he grew worried too. "What happened? Why do you look like a wilted cat? Is something wrong with the baby?"

Zhao Danshi came back to himself and reassured the old man distractedly. "Don't overthink it. Everything is fine with the baby."

"Then what exactly is going on?" The old man came over and handed him the mirror from the table. "Look at yourself in the mirror. That expression of yours is going to worry me to death!"

Zhao Danshi rubbed his face hard. "It's nothing. I've just been a little tired these past two days. Grandpa, how are the vegetables in the fields? I'll go sell a batch in the next couple of days."

Maybe Senior Brother had forgotten to take his phone. It was normal to be unable to reach him for a while.

Early the next morning, Zhao Danshi went to inspect the vegetable plot and see which vegetables were ready to sell.

The old man had taken excellent care of the vegetables by himself. The plot was full of tender, fresh greens, with few bug holes and hardly any weeds.

They were growing vegetables now, and vegetables had an advantage over melons and fruit: they could be harvested and sold at any size. For example, bok choy could be sold once it matured, or sold as young seedlings while still small. Some people especially liked tender bok choy. The same went for radishes. They could sell not only the radishes themselves, but also the radish greens.

There were more vegetables in the plot than Zhao Danshi had imagined. He pulled a few up and weighed them, eventually estimating that his little over two mu of land would yield around three thousand jin of vegetables.

Judging crop growth was a farmer's bread and butter, and the old man's estimate was even more accurate than his. He said cheerfully, "The vegetables in our plot are growing just right. If we wait another two months and sell them before the New Year, we'll probably make over ten thousand yuan from selling vegetables alone."

That income was nothing much in the city, but in the countryside, it was already considerable. The old man had grown vegetables for so many years, yet rarely earned this much.

Holding the vegetables he had pulled up, Zhao Danshi turned to the old man. "Grandpa, I'm planning to sell a batch tomorrow, then hurry up and plant another batch. We'll sell baby bok choy for the New Year."

The old man hesitated. "Wouldn't it be a shame to sell them now? There are so many vegetables, and they can still grow some more. If you don't have time, I can carry them to the market myself and sell them slowly. Whatever doesn't sell, we can take home and pickle into sauerkraut. Next year, I can sell the sauerkraut at the market too."

Zhao Danshi smiled. "There are so many vegetables in the field. Even if you carry a hundred jin to every market day, you still won't finish selling them. Tomorrow, I'll haul a batch into town and deal with it first. You can sell the rest slowly. If we plant another batch of bok choy, we won't run out of stock."

The old man was still reluctant. He reached out with his rough hand and touched the leaves. "Each plant weighs half a jin already. Another month or two, and getting them to one and a half jin won't be a problem."

"By then, the vegetables will be too old. Besides, when the New Year comes, your great-grandson will almost be born. Don't you want to look after him? Will you still have time to worry about the vegetable plot?"

The mention of his great-grandson moved the old man. He took a gloomy puff of his cigarette and said nothing more.

Zhao Danshi urged the old man to go home. He himself applied another round of fertilizer to the vegetables that would not be sold so soon, then pulled up some vegetables roots and all, prepared the soil, and sowed another batch of cabbage seeds.

With his belly sticking out, he worked slowly. It was nearly sunset by the time he straightened up and wearily pounded his aching lower back.

That night before bed, he checked his phone again.

His phone was still completely empty that day. Senior Brother hadn't called or sent a single text.

The next morning, Zhao Danshi got up at five to pull bok choy. He neatly stacked it in the truck along with the vegetables he had pulled the day before, and Spoon came over to help as well.

Zhao Danshi drove out and reached the county town before seven. The vegetable market was bustling, and the first wave of early customers had already finished buying their groceries.

Zhao Danshi lowered the metal panels on both sides of the truck bed, took out the Alipay and WeChat QR codes, and put up a sign that read: Baby Bok Choy, 5.5 Yuan per Jin, 10 Yuan for Two Jin.

His vegetables were good. Their Bio-Energy was 0.1 to 0.3 higher than ordinary vegetables, and their flavor was far superior.

Zhao Danshi planned to sell this batch first, then quietly collect various vegetables in batches from the major markets and resell them to Watcher for Bio-Energy. With more than a month, he should be able to gather enough Bio-Energy. If that still wasn't enough, he could only trouble Ran Yuanyao.

It was his first time selling vegetables, so he couldn't price them too cheaply. Otherwise, he might not be able to sell them at a good price in the future. His vegetables tasted good and had a clear advantage, so charging a little more was only right.

If he sold them at market price, he might as well trade them to Watcher for Bio-Energy.

Zhao Danshi's face was so eye-catching that it was practically a living advertisement.

Not long after he opened the truck bed, an old woman came over and asked, "Young man, did you grow this bok choy yourself? Why is it so expensive? Can't you make it cheaper?"

Zhao Danshi shook his head and refused with a polite but firm smile. "There's no discount. These are organic vegetables. We specifically grew them for our own family to eat, and we didn't use pesticides or chemical fertilizer. Buy some and take it home to try. I guarantee my vegetables taste different from the others."

The old woman carefully touched the vegetables. "Your vegetables are good, fresh and crisp, but they're still too expensive. If they were three yuan and five per jin, I'd take a jin."

Zhao Danshi refused to budge. "That won't do. Even my wholesale price is higher than that. Look how good these vegetables are—the leaves are bright green, and the stalks are milky white. If you don't mind, tear off a strip and taste it. I guarantee you can taste how fresh and sweet it is even raw."

The old woman had grown vegetables for most of her life, so of course she could tell his were good. Still, the price was too high.

Someone nearby called out, "Make it cheaper. We'll each buy a couple more jin, and you can sell out early and go home early. Small profits, quick turnover."

Zhao Danshi remained firm. No matter who asked, he refused to lower the price.

Quite a few people shook their heads regretfully and turned away. There were plenty of other vendors selling bok choy in the market for three yuan and five per jin, and theirs did not look much worse than Zhao Danshi's.

Some people, however, found his vegetables too appealing to resist and carefully selected a jin to take home and try.

Zhao Danshi sold vegetables from a little after seven in the morning until after one in the afternoon, and more than half the truck bed was still full.

Fortunately, the weather was cold, and he had pulled the vegetables up with their roots intact, so they had not wilted too badly.

After three in the afternoon, Zhao Danshi's business suddenly picked up. Many customers who had bought vegetables that morning came back to find him. This time, they were no longer buying by the jin, but spending ten or twenty yuan at a time.

Seeing that his vegetables were so expensive yet selling fairly well, someone asked the customers in surprise, "Are they really that good? Is five yuan and five per jin worth it?"

"They're delicious." A middle-aged man answered amid his busy shopping. "Buy some and take it home, then you'll know. The taste of these vegetables is hard to describe. I've eaten vegetables for so many years, but the only ones this good were the ones I ate as a child."

"Is it really that amazing?"

"If you don't believe me, buy a jin or two and try them yourself. They're only two yuan more expensive than ordinary bok choy, not outrageously expensive. Just treat it as trying something new."

"Alright, then I'll buy half a jin to try."

An auntie asked Zhao Danshi, "How much do you have left? Are you coming tomorrow to sell vegetables again?"

Zhao Danshi shook his head. "These are all vegetables grown by my family. We only planted this one batch, and it's all here. The next time I sell vegetables will probably be after I plant the next batch. It'll likely take a few months."

"So that means we only get to eat this bok choy once this year? Then I have to buy more."

That auntie was generous and directly bought thirty yuan worth of bok choy. Seeing that she had bought so much, Zhao Danshi gave her an extra half jin and said with a smile, "Take care. You're welcome to come again next time."

"Sure. If you come sell vegetables again next time and they're this quality, I'll buy from you again."

"Hey, are they really that tasty? Give me a jin too. I'll buy some and take them home to try." Those who had been watching from the sidelines could no longer hold back. They stopped and asked Zhao Danshi to weigh out a jin of vegetables for them to try.

One jin here, one jin there—before long, Zhao Danshi had actually sold out all his vegetables, leaving only some less attractive ones set aside.

Zhao Danshi had originally planned to take those home for Watcher. After all, Watcher only cared about Bio-Energy, not appearance. Unexpectedly, customers spotted them and bought the whole lot at four yuan per jin.

Renting the truck for a day cost Zhao Danshi one hundred yuan. Including fuel and other expenses, he spent a little over one hundred and thirty yuan that day.

He had earned quite a bit too. Growing the vegetables had cost him almost nothing. He had spent a little over ten yuan on cabbage seeds, while the fertilizer was farm manure and fertilizer exchanged from Watcher with Bio-Energy.

After returning to town, Zhao Danshi returned the truck first, then took a three-wheeled taxi home. When the old man saw him come back empty-handed, he quickly asked, "How did the vegetables sell today? Did you sell them all?"

Zhao Danshi gave a brilliant smile. "Five yuan and five per jin, ten yuan for two jin. I sold the whole truckload."

The old man's heart, which had been hanging in suspense all day, finally settled. "Ah, that's good. That's good."

After processing it, the old man could not help smacking his lips in amazement. "City people really are willing to spend. Five yuan and five per jin for vegetables—you really dared to ask that much."

"What's so strange about that? Our vegetables are actually fairly cheap. You don't know this, but people in the big cities fight to buy imported organic vegetables. They dare to sell a single tomato for fifty yuan. Compared to that, our vegetables are a real bargain."

"Fifty yuan!" The old man was startled. "That's not selling vegetables, that's selling gold, isn't it? Gold might not even be that expensive."

Zhao Danshi smiled and did not forget to indoctrinate the old man. "Grandpa, I told you growing vegetables has potential. Just wait. Next year, I'll definitely grow even more expensive vegetables and make sure everyone fights to buy mine."

The old man smiled contentedly. His grandson had promise—he could even grow vegetables better than everyone else.

"I'll listen to your bragging for now and see how well you do next year. But let's be clear: if the vegetables you grow can't fetch a good price, you have to hurry back to the city and work. Don't stay here."

"Alright. I'll make you a military pledge. If I can't earn one hundred thousand yuan next year, I'll definitely return to the city and keep working. I won't keep entertaining ideas about growing vegetables."