Chapter 99: An Unexpected Gift ③
Nibbling on an apple and browsing the forum on her bed, Li Mingxue heard the ‘drip drip drip’ sound and knew someone had sent her a private message. She had expected it to be the friend she had arranged to study thesis with today, but it turned out to be the person selling shoes who had sent the message.
She bit into the apple, her fingers flying across the keyboard, “How will the transaction work? Alipay or bank transfer?”
Within a second, a reply came back, “Bank transfer.”
Li Mingxue paused, frowning. “Could this be a scam?” she wondered. After a moment’s thought, she replied, “Can I pay cash on delivery?”
Nie Qiu looked at the message on the screen. “Could this person be trying to scam me?” she thought. She opened the sender’s profile information in the chat window and, seeing that the user had passed identity verification, felt relieved. She then opened the user’s past posts and found they were all about university thesis papers and analyses and insights on famous academic topics. It seemed like a studious university student. Most university students who used BBS would post about celebrities or fashion trends, but this person’s posts were all about studying. She relaxed and smiled, then started typing, “Cash on delivery is fine.”
Seeing no reply, Li Mingxue was about to close the webpage when she saw the message. She smiled and replied, “Address: Building Nan, Block A, Jincheng Fashion Jiangli Jiangcheng, Eighth floor, Recipient: Li Ying, Postal Code: *****, Contact Number: 13*****.” Li Ying was their family’s nanny. Usually, when her parents were not home, Li Ying took care of her and her younger brother. To be honest, they were closer to Li Ying than to their mother, who had divorced their father.
Nie Qiu asked the shop owner for paper and pen, wrote down the address, recipient, postal code, and contact number, then logged out of the website and shut down the computer. After paying, she walked out of the small shop. The internet access there cost three yuan per hour, which wasn’t too expensive. In less than half an hour, she was only charged one yuan and was even given a large piece of bubble gum worth ten cents.
Although it was a bit amusing, Nie Qiu still accepted the bubble gum handed to her by the female owner.
“Jincheng Fashion Lijiang Licheng, City A?” Nie Qiu looked at the address on the note after leaving the shop and breathed a sigh of relief. Since it was within the same city, the express delivery fee should be much cheaper.
After leaving the shop, Nie Qiu went to the vegetable market. It was after school and also the time when office workers got off work, so Zhang Qitian’s stall was crowded. Seeing Nie Qiu arrive, Zhang Qitian, too busy to greet her properly, just gestured for Nie Qiu to go behind the vegetable stand and help him sell vegetables.
Nie Qiu walked behind the vegetable stand. At the signal of a middle-aged woman, she clumsily placed a head of cabbage on the electronic scale. She glanced at the price tag for cabbage and then smiled at the woman, saying, “Elder sister, cabbage is three yuan fifty per jin. This head of cabbage is about one and a half jin, so five yuan will do.”
The middle-aged woman smiled and took five yuan from her purse to give to Nie Qiu. As Nie Qiu picked up the cabbage to put it into a plastic bag, the woman smiled and stopped her, “No need, no need, little girl. Come, come, put it in my vegetable bag.”
Nie Qiu saw that the middle-aged woman had brought a vegetable basket. She smiled and, as instructed, placed the cabbage into the woman’s vegetable bag, saying, “Have a good day.”
After the middle-aged woman left, Nie Qiu gradually became more skilled. She and Zhang Qitian, who was enthusiastically selling and chatting, were busy for a full half hour before they could finally relax.
“How was it? Now you know selling vegetables isn’t easy, right?” Zhang Qitian packed a small bunch of green onions for a customer, said “See you next time” with a smile, and then looked at Nie Qiu and asked.
Nie Qiu smiled and said, “No matter what you do, it’s not easy. It’s not just selling vegetables that’s difficult; being a person is difficult in any profession. Big bosses worry about business, losses, and schemes; they have to oversee and manage everything. Small bosses run around for business, build relationships, and put on smiles. Laborers have to deal with their bosses’ moods, work themselves to death, and earn very little. Service industry workers have to deal with their bosses’ moods and customers’ moods, and it’s common to be scolded severely. Teachers also have a hard time: grades, enrollment rates, bonuses, lesson preparation, inhaling chalk dust, and also caring about students’ psychological well-being. If anything is wrong, they have to talk to the students. Being a person… it’s really not easy.”
Zhang Qitian smiled, “You’re right, it’s not easy for anyone.”
“Brother Zhang, how is it? Can we rent a stall?” Nie Qiu asked with a smile.
“Mhm,” Zhang Qitian nodded. “Do you want to have your relative come over? I’ll tell you if it’s useful.”
Nie Qiu smiled, “My grand-uncle and them are old and rarely come to the city. It takes two hours by bus! Just tell me, and I’ll call them.”
“Alright, then I’ll tell you,” Zhang Qitian lit a cigarette and thought for a moment before saying, “I need to explain something to you. If you really want to rent a stall, you must rent one near the doorway first. You know, when people come to the market to buy vegetables, it’s not appropriate for the stalls at the entrance to be empty; it affects the appearance. The city’s hygiene bureau and urban management have spoken about this many times, and the manager Zhen Zhen also said that if you want to rent, you have to rent there. If not, we won’t discuss it. Those stalls have good locations; people can see them as soon as they enter the market hall, but they’re not cheap. And it’s a one-month deposit and one-month rent in advance. The stalls inside are also one month’s rent in advance and one month’s deposit.”
Nie Qiu nodded. She remembered the stall at the entrance; she saw it every time she came to the market, and she thought it was a good spot. “In that case, Brother Zhang, please give me your bank card number first. My grand-uncle and them definitely won’t feel at ease giving the money to me. If they want to rent, they’ll transfer the money to your card. How about that? You can help us with the procedures…”
“How can that be? Renting a stall requires signing a contract. How can it be done if the person themselves doesn’t come?” Zhang Qitian waved his hands repeatedly.
Nie Qiu looked at Zhang Qitian pleadingly, “Brother Zhang, just help us out. The vegetables you want will be the best and freshest, at wholesale prices. I promise. Just use your ID card to help rent it. Don’t worry, I’ll sign a contract with you on behalf of my grand-uncle and grand-aunt. I absolutely won’t cause you any trouble. What do you say?”
Zhang Qitian looked at Nie Qiu, took a deep drag of his cigarette, and burned his finger when the red tip touched it. He endured the pain without jumping, threw away the cigarette butt, and hesitated for a moment before saying, “This… alright! The stall at the entrance is fifteen hundred yuan a month, with a one-month deposit and one month’s rent in advance.” Saying this, Zhang Qitian took out a shoulder bag commonly used by vendors from under the vegetable stand and pulled out a card. “Write down the card number in your notebook. Transfer the money to this card!”
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