Chapter 132: Wanting to Get Something for Nothing? No Way!

Li Long did not go directly to the morning market; instead, he first went to the large courtyard, unlocked the door, entered the house, and retrieved two large enamel basins. He placed them upside down on the rear rack of his bicycle, secured them with the rack's clamps, pushed the bike out of the courtyard, locked the gate, then swung his leg over the saddle and rode toward the morning market.

Daylight had broken, and the streets were filling with pedestrians, but there were still few cyclists, so Li Long attracted quite a bit of attention.

Li Long pedaled at top speed, arriving at the morning market in a flash, and found it much livelier than before; many people were already shouting to sell their goods, no longer as silent as in the past.

A glance revealed sellers of eggs, roosters and hens, meat, and fish, as well as those selling large and small brooms; some even squatted on the outskirts holding masonry tools, leading Li Long to guess they were day laborers.

There were forty or fifty stalls selling goods, and many buyers as well, with the noise of haggling filling the air, giving the place the look of a proper market.

Among the passersby, cyclists were rare, so Li Long drew many stares.

Li Long got off his bike and pushed it through the morning market, circling once; though he didn't ask, he heard the prices of the goods being sold.

Pork had risen to one yuan eight or nine cents per kilogram, mutton to one yuan twenty cents, eggs to eight cents each, roosters to three yuan each, and hens to two yuan fifty each—these were averages, varying slightly by size. Flour was fifty-five cents, and rice ranged from sixty-five to seventy cents—everything had gone up in price.

There were two fish sellers in the market: one sold large carp at one yuan ten cents per kilogram, the fish lying on urea bags and appearing already dead; the other sold small crucian carp, even smaller than the ones Li Long had brought, which he guessed had been caught in small ditches.

Seeing no empty spots in the middle of the market, Li Long simply parked his bicycle at the edge, removed the two large enamel basins, took down the urea bags, untied them, and poured the fish into the two basins separately.

Since few people came to sell goods by bicycle, Li Long naturally drew attention; as soon as he poured out the fish, the lively splashing of the live fish swimming happily in the basins immediately attracted many onlookers.

"Young man, how much for your fish?" asked an elderly woman with short hair, around sixty years old.

"Small fish for eight cents, large fish for one yuan," Li Long said with a smile. "Caught this morning, every single one alive, absolutely fresh!"

"The price..." the old lady hesitated.

"I just checked, and you've probably asked too; in this morning market, my price is unique," Li Long replied.

"Alright, then weigh me some small crucian carp, one yuan worth."

"Sure." Li Long took out his scale and began weighing the fish.

Though called small crucian carp, they were very uniform in size, each palm-sized, much larger than the small crucian carp sold at the other stall, having lived for two or three years. Moreover, the fish from the small lake were very beautiful, not the pale white kind, but quite lovely to look at.

With the first sale made, people immediately began to approach.

The fish Li Long had caught this time with four nets totaled over thirty kilograms. In later years, he remembered the small lake experiencing several major floods, after which it could no longer hold water or fish; even then, using six three-layer gill nets, he had caught at most ten-plus kilograms in one go, with the largest being a five-hundred-gram big crucian carp—the resources now were truly abundant!

After all, he had used single-layer gill nets!

Many asked the price, but few bought fish. An old man squatted by the basin, pulling the water on the left, then on the right, and occasionally grabbing a fish to inspect it; Li Long couldn't help but say:

"Uncle, if you want a fish, I'll catch it for you."

"I want to catch it myself," the old man said without looking up.

"If you keep stirring the water like that, the fish will die soon, and I won't be able to sell them."

"What's it to me if your fish die?" the old man grumbled angrily.

Li Long immediately became unhappy. Just then, a middle-aged man approached to ask the fish price, so Li Long pushed the old man's hand out of the basin and said:

"Uncle, someone wants to buy fish; if you're not buying, please step aside and don't interfere with my business!"

Then he turned to the middle-aged man and said:

"Large fish at one yuan ten cents per kilogram, crucian carp at eight cents."

"These crucian carp are truly beautiful; weigh me two yuan worth," the middle-aged man said, squatting down to admire the fish thrashing in the water. "I'll make soup with them at home."

"You're an expert!" Li Long praised as he took out the crucian carp to weigh them.

The old man, pushed aside by Li Long, glared at him angrily, but Li Long pretended not to see.

He could roughly guess the old man's intentions.

Some buyers were picky, wanting fish of similar size, while others wanted to try a bit of everything, weighing both large and small fish.

Because Li Long's fish were fresh, mostly alive, and varied in type, offering a wide selection, fish of all sizes were picked out one by one from the two basins.

A few small crucian carp had lost their scales in the basin, were no longer lively, and were left until last.

Seeing the sun had risen and realizing nearly forty minutes had passed since he set up his stall, Li Long straightened up and looked around; a third of the surrounding stalls had already left, and the number of buyers had dropped by nearly half.

!.

Unwilling to give up, he waited a bit longer, lowered his price once more—large fish at nine cents, crucian carp at seven cents—and finally sold out the large fish, leaving only five small crucian carp, weighing about one kilogram.

Li Long spotted the old man who had been stirring the water earlier, loitering nearby and glancing over occasionally; when he noticed Li Long looking at him, the old man immediately turned his head away.

Li Long sneered. Wanting to get something for nothing? If you had asked directly, maybe I would have given it to you; but since you're up to no good, I certainly won't let you have your way!

"Selling fish, selling fish! Last five crucian carp, five cents for all!" he shouted loudly.

Upon hearing Li Long's call, the old man turned around, his expression suddenly panicked.

An elderly woman nearby was asking the price of hens; hearing Li Long shout, she hurried over, looked at the few fish in the basin that were still swimming but not very lively, and asked:

"Just these few, for five cents?"

"Yes, five cents," Li Long said with a smile. "The fish are still alive and fresh; they've just been in this basin for a while. Look, they're still swimming. Five of them make about one kilogram, so five cents—cheap, right?"

"Alright, five cents it is, I'll take them!" the old lady said with a smile, pulling a handkerchief-wrapped bundle from her pocket, opening it, taking out two twenty-cent notes and one ten-cent note, counting them twice, and handing them to Li Long.

The old lady carried her own cloth bag; Li Long caught the five fish one by one and placed them into her bag. After seeing the old woman leave satisfied, Li Long poured the water from both basins into the roadside ditch.

He looked up; the old man nearby glared at Li Long with hatred, then turned and walked away.

Li Long burst into laughter. That old man had been stirring the water just to kill the fish. He probably thought that if the fish died and were left until the end, Li Long would throw them away, and then he could just pick them up and take them.

Li Long would not let him have his way!

(End of Chapter)