??Chapter 341: 341. Uncle’s Waterlon_1
Chapter 341: 341. Uncle’s Waterlon_1
Uncle couldn’t wait to cut the waterlon open and beckoned Song Tan to join in—
This was really…
Song Tan quickly shook her head, “No, no, we’re stuffed from eating at ho. You all enjoy the lon, I still need to deliver so waterlons to Uncle at ho, so I won’t stay long.”
Brother Yanping had stressed repeatedly, absolutely not to stay too long, to avoid giving them any chance to chat! Otherwise, how could she cope if the topic of taking the city exam ca up?
“You child, why the rush to leave!” Auntie hurriedly tried to stop her, “We’ve got waterlons at ho, and I’ll get you two baskets of peaches…”
Before she could finish, another truck arrived outside, honking its horn twice.
Auntie’s husband put down the kitchen knife he was holding, and before he could even express his admiration, he rushed out again—
“It’s here!”
Seeing this, Song Tan quickly made her getaway, “Well then, Auntie, you all stay busy, we’ll get going! I’ll co to visit when I have more ti.”
“Rember, keep the waterlons to enjoy yourselves!”
Auntie glanced at Tantan and then looked outside at the driver who was anxiously urging them to unload, and she couldn’t help but let out a sigh.
Then she hurriedly watched Song Tan get on the car, waved her hand, and went back to moving baskets and unloading.
As the car left the wholesale market, Qiaoqiao subconsciously touched her chest, “Sister, I was so nervous just now.”
Song Tan was surprised, “Ah! Now you’re aware of being nervous?”
Qiaoqiao nodded very seriously, “When Auntie started talking, I rembered how Brother Yanping pleaded with , and my heart just started thumping.”
“Hahahahaha…” How many people did Zhang Yanping actually plead with?
Song Tan couldn’t contain her laughter.
Looking at the ti: “It’s almost 8 o’clock, let’s hurry, we still have to deliver so to Grandma’s later.”
This ti they headed straight for Uncle’s house.
Just to be safe, Song Tan made a phone call first:
“Uncle, the first waterlons of the season at ho are ripe. I’ll bring a few over with Qiaoqiao later, are you at ho?”
“I am, I am…” Uncle politely said.
“Later—”
The voice of Uncle’s wife ca through the phone, and after a while, the phone was handed over, “Tantan, it’s difficult to go upstairs at ho, we’ll wait at the shop, we haven’t gone back yet anyhow.”
Uncle readily agreed on the phone, “Yeah, Tantan, just co straight to the front of my shop, we can carry them back ourselves.”
Song Tan: …
If Ziyi and the sound of the TV program weren’t so loud, she might actually believe they were still at the shop now.
Auntie’s cunning was of no use; she put it all to use right here—
At eight or nine in the evening, who would keep a hardware store open waiting for custors?
Clearly, they were at ho, but insisted that the lons be delivered to the hardware store, making it clear they didn’t want to entertain guests or have anyone linger.
However, Uncle didn’t feel like entertaining, and they weren’t keen on staying any longer, either!
At this mont, as the car turned, they headed directly to the front of the hardware store.
Getting out of the car, Song Tan also reminded Qiaoqiao, “Rember, say that these waterlons are 20 yuan a kilo, okay?”
Qiaoqiao nodded seriously.
Then he looked at the three small waterlons and cheered up, “This ti I can carry three!”
“Alright, alright! You carry them, just don’t drop them, otherwise, we’ll have to deliver another one.”
Qiaoqiao nodded carefully, ticulously hugging all three in his arms before following forward.
All the shops in the row were pitch-dark, save for their signboards and streetlights; there were no other sources of illumination. The hardware store had its roller shutters pulled down, and Song Tan thought to herself—
Auntie really doesn’t have a knack for lying well, does she? Next ti, might as well not bother—it’s rather dull.
After waiting for a few minutes, she finally saw a couple wobbling along the roadside. Uncle Song was sowhat embarrassed, “Well… just now… we were in the shop… You arrived so quickly, I was still thinking we’d have to wait a while…”
Song Tan smiled without a word in response to his disjointed preface.
When the roller shutter went up, the light inside the house turned on, Mao Li looked at the three small waterlons in Qiaoqiao’s arms, then at the empty space behind him, and her tone sharpened:
“Just these three lons? From all the way over here… There’s a fruit shop at the door where you could buy them, it’s really not necessary.”
Song Tan laughed as well, “The fruit shop charges more than ten bucks a pound, I was afraid Auntie you wouldn’t want to spend that much.”
Then she looked at Uncle Song:
“Uncle, the first batch we grew are early lons, famously small, so these lons aren’t very big, but the taste is top-notch.”
Qiaoqiao nodded earnestly as well, “20 bucks a pound!”
Well now, this ti Uncle didn’t mishear it as two bucks, but…
“20 bucks a pound?!”
Auntie jumped up, “Can anyone actually buy such expensive waterlons?”
“I don’t know either,” Song Tan said, feigning seriousness. “Anyway, that’s the price set in stone. We only sold a couple of hundred this afternoon.”
A couple of hundred?
Mao Li quickly did the math in her head—with one weighing three pounds, these three lons would already cost over a hundred bucks!
It was Uncle who stood there, frowning at the three little waterlons, before he finally said with gravity, “Tantan, doing business requires honesty, farming too. You’re selling these lons for 20; that’s profiteering. If the villagers find out, I’ll be ashad to show my face when I step outside!”
Song Tan: …
His words made so sense. Other people could say that, but how could Uncle, after tasting so many things from our ho, say such a thing?
And ashad? Did his face grow a black hole?
“Uncle, weren’t the vegetables from our family worth 20 bucks a pound before? Weren’t they delicious?”
Uncle Song: “…”
They were delicious, unprecedentedly so; they were definitely worth 20 bucks. But wasn’t this about teaching children a lesson in character?
How co she didn’t act like a girl at all, failing to listen and understand?
He thought for a while, and finally agreed with Mao Li’s comnt that Song Tan had beco a bit arrogant after making a little money; she couldn’t even tolerate advice from her elders anymore.
At that mont, he sighed, “Never mind, you young folks don’t like to hear
nattering. I won’t make myself disliked.”
Song Tan thought to herself: Nattering she was willing to listen to, she had plenty of patience. But with people she disliked, there was no need to force herself.
After being inside for half a day, the water dispenser was right there, yet they hadn’t offered even a cup of water, nor had they turned on the fan in the store. The shop had beco stiflingly hot as soon as the roller shutter was opened, and Qiaoqiao had already begun to sweat profusely.
It was remarkable that these two could handle the heat as well.
Besides, a three-pound waterlon wasn’t big, but what about the price of waterlons these days?
Especially the small ones—Song Tan had checked at the fruit shop, and they were called “hand-peeled waterlons,” priced at eleven or twelve bucks a pound!
“Uncle, look at what you’re saying. It’s getting late, and it’s not convenient to talk here!”
Song Tan forced a smile:
“If we manage to take so ti to visit our hotown, let’s have a long talk about doing business. I still have a lot to ask for your advice on.”
Imdiately, Mao Li spoke out, “That won’t do!”
“The school’s about to start again, and Ziyi has to go to tutoring classes. Soone has to keep an eye on the shop—we barely have ti for anything as it is. We’ll go back during the holidays.”
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