Chapter 20: Selling watermelons

"Whatever, now that I have money, I just want to buy a house, then buy some farmland, and be a proper farmer in the future. I can't be an official, so I can only be a farmer. What else can I do if I don't farm?"

"You're still young, you can't just live your whole life like this, right?"

At this moment, Qiao Mai's eyes flickered. "I've thought about it. In the future, I'll adopt a child to support me in my old age. I don't dare to remarry; I've really been mistreated enough."

"There are still many good people in the world."

"Yes, among so many good people, I only met you. Where are the other good people?"

"You have to go out and see more. Look at those who cheered for you that day; they are all people with conscience. You can't judge everyone by one standard."

"This matter isn't urgent. I'll talk about it when I meet someone suitable."

"How about sister acts as a matchmaker and introduces one to you?"

"No, I haven't been in the mood for these past few years."

"Alright then. If you want to get married, just tell sister. Sister guarantees to find you a good match."

Qiao Mai nodded with a smile. After Lu Shi left with her two daughters, she returned to the room, sat cross-legged on the kang, and looked at the one thousand and fifty taels of silver in front of her.

Plus the previous fifty taels, her current visible assets were one thousand one hundred taels of silver.

A small courtyard like this would cost at least two hundred taels or more.

Although this courtyard was not bad, it wasn't her cup of tea. The house she wanted had a large courtyard in the front and a large courtyard in the back.

She could plant flowers and raise grass, practice martial arts, and provide a square for the child to run and play. If it were that kind of house, she was afraid that this one thousand one hundred taels of silver definitely wouldn't be enough.

Now that her two apprentices could work independently, she only needed to guide them occasionally if they didn't know something.

It was time to free up some hands to do something else.

There was an open space in front of the embroidery workshop; it shouldn't be a problem if she did something else.

There were basically no raw materials in the space; they were all semi-finished or finished products. For example, the frozen dumplings, sandwiches, and hamburgers in the freezer could be eaten after being heated in the microwave.

Including fish and such, they were all custom-made ready-made meals from restaurants, just for convenience.

Instant noodles, ham sausages, and the like were even more stockpiled.

Although the space had a replication function, she wouldn't take these things out to sell. After all, in this place, these things were new things and easily attracted others' attention. She didn't have the ability to protect herself yet.

She didn't like being the center of attention; it was best to be an ordinary person who was inconspicuous in a crowd.

Looking at every item in the space, she felt worried. She came to the refrigerator, which was full of fruits she loved to eat.

Dragon fruit, no! This fruit might not even exist here.

Apples, no, it's not the season.

Pears, no, not the season. Oranges, cherries, green mangoes are even more out of the question, not to mention bananas. Fruits from the south in ancient times couldn't be transported to the north at all.

Plums, winter dates, and such were also out. Looking around, in this season of May, it seemed that only watermelons could barely be taken out.

On a hot day, setting up a stall to sell watermelons was still justifiable. Why not set up a watermelon stall by the official road?

She looked at the watermelons in the refrigerator with some difficulty. There were only two in total. Selling one would take a long time for another to appear. What if she couldn't keep up?

Her feet couldn't help but rub against the floor. As she rubbed, her eyes looked at the floor.

The house was built with materials she brought in, and the floor was laid by herself after she bought it. She remembered that when she first entered the space, it was a mu of black soil.

Did having soil mean she could farm?

Once this thought popped up, she couldn't stop herself from getting excited again.

If so, she could eat the watermelon and plant the seeds, wouldn't she be able to harvest watermelons?

Since she thought of it, she went to do it. Without saying anything, she used her consciousness to move the whole house to the corner, stacked all the shelves into two layers, and freed up nearly half of the space.

She pried up all the laid floor tiles. Looking at the pitch-black ground, she squatted down, dug hard with her hands, and even brought the black soil under her nose to smell it.

No strange smell, it was truly the smell of soil.

It was said that such black soil was the most fertile. Without saying anything, she was a doer. She cut a Qilin melon in the refrigerator in half and used a large spoon to dig it out and eat it.

She left the watermelon seeds inside and buried them one by one into the soil. Visually, this piece of land was about four fen in size.

It seemed that after sowing seeds, she needed to water them. She took out a bucket of mineral water from the space. Anyway, the space had a replication function, so her water would never run out.

After watering the four fen of land, she held the watermelon in both hands, eating and watching.

She was thinking of setting up a stall tomorrow. If someone bought it, she would sell it; if no one bought it, she would sit on the side and do embroidery. She couldn't always sit at home, lest she become disconnected from society.

She didn't know when these seeds would sprout and how long it would take to bear watermelons. Anyway, before the watermelons grew, she could only cut the watermelons to sell.

Qiao Mai ate a whole large watermelon before planting the four fen of land. Her stomach was full and a bit bloated.

Returning to the refrigerator, seeing the eaten watermelon being replicated, she felt at ease and returned to the room to accompany her daughter to sleep.

The next day, she went around the market and found that no one was selling watermelons.

Whatever, there were no watermelon sellers, so she was the only one.

Whether people asked or not, she didn't say anything. Anyway, this melon wasn't stolen.

Arriving at the embroidery workshop, Shopkeeper Lu pulled her to sit down.

"Willing to come out?"

"I want to set up a stall in front of the shop? What do you think?"

"You don't want to be a peddler, do you?"

"Why not? Being idle is being idle, and it doesn't delay doing embroidery."

"Selling what?"

"How about watermelons?"

"Will anyone buy them? That thing is very expensive, only rich families can afford it. How can ordinary people bear to eat this?"

"I'm not selling the whole thing, I'm selling it in pieces. Ordinary people can't afford the whole melon, but can't they eat a piece to taste it? On a hot day, putting the watermelon in the well water to ice it, how refreshing it is to quench thirst?"

Lu Sanniang thought of the watermelon being sandy and sweet, so she swallowed her saliva and said.

"Let me tell you, I've seen this watermelon in the prefecture city, and I've also eaten it at a friend's place. It's generally one hundred wen per catty. A watermelon is at least ten catties, so it's one tael. How many portions are you going to divide the melon into?"

"Cut it smaller, sell it for fifty wen a portion."

"Then what about the cost of the melon you bought from the merchant?"

"He sells it expensive to rich families, so it definitely won't be expensive to sell to me. This is called small profits but quick turnover."

"What if it doesn't sell?"

"We'll eat it ourselves, and I'll think of other ways."

Seeing that she couldn't be persuaded, Shopkeeper Lu could only sigh. "Fine, sister won't care about you. Do whatever you want, anyway, you have money now."

"Sister, prepare a long table for me, and prepare a chair. I'll go to the county town in the afternoon, buy a few melons, and start the stall tomorrow."

"Fine, at worst, we'll eat it ourselves."

"Haha, rest assured, having earned so much silver, I can afford to lose a few watermelons."

The next day, Qiao Mai accompanied her daughter in the space for a while, coaxed the child to sleep, and it was already mid-morning when she carried a large basket to the embroidery workshop. Shopkeeper Lu helplessly moved the table and chair out for her and placed them by the official road in front of the door.

The sun was very strong at this time, and passersby kept shouting that it was hot.

Qiao Mai took out a watermelon from the basket, placed it on the long table, took out a clean cloth from the basket to wipe the watermelon clean, then took out a kitchen knife, cut the watermelon in half, and then divided it evenly one knife after another.

"Cut into sixteen pieces. Come, sister, you take three pieces, and one for each of you and Xin'er."

Lu Sanniang looked at the green-skinned, red-fleshed watermelon and swallowed her saliva.

"Then I'll take advantage of you, and the children and I will taste it first."

Qiao Mai stuffed three pieces of watermelon into her hand. Lu Sanniang felt very comfortable holding the icy watermelon.

"So cool?"

"Hurry and take it back, the coolness will be gone in a while."

Lu Sanniang carried the watermelon and hurried back to the shop. Qiao Mai cleared her throat, and the role of a peddler immediately took over.

"Watermelon, watermelon, sweet, juicy, and refreshing watermelon for sale!"

"Watermelon, watermelon, icy and cool watermelon for sale!"

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 21 =====