Li Long did not go straight to the morning market. He went to the large courtyard first, unlocked the door, and went inside to fetch two large enamel basins. He set them upside down on the bicycle's rear rack, secured them with the rack's clip, pushed the bicycle out, and locked the gate. Then he swung his leg over and rode toward the morning market.
Daylight had broken, and there were more pedestrians on the streets, but still few cyclists, so Li Long drew quite a few looks.
Li Long pedaled as fast as he could and raced to the morning market, where he found it much livelier than before. Quite a few people had learned to call out their wares instead of remaining as silent as they used to.
At a glance, he saw people selling eggs, roosters and hens, meat, fish, and brooms both large and small. There were even people squatting around the edges with bricklaying tools in their hands. Li Long guessed they were looking for odd jobs.
There were forty or fifty stalls and plenty of shoppers, with noisy haggling all around. It was beginning to look like a proper market.
Few of the people coming and going rode bicycles, so Li Long attracted quite a few looks.
Li Long dismounted and pushed his bicycle around the morning market. Although he did not ask any questions, he picked up the prices from what he heard.
Pork had risen to 1.80 or 1.90 yuan per kilogram, mutton to 1.20 yuan, eggs were eight fen each, roosters three yuan each, and hens 2.50 yuan each-those were average prices, with slight variations depending on size. Flour was fifty-five fen and rice sixty-five to seventy fen-everything had gone up in price.
There were two fish sellers in the market.