Reborn in 1977

Chapter 115: A Master Bargainer

The first pot sold out in two minutes.

Immediately after, the second pot was steamed, and it also sold out in two minutes.

Facing the still-surrounding crowd, Chen Fan spread his hands openly, "Sold out, all gone."

"Master Chen, you're not being fair,"

someone pointed to the wooden bucket beside him and said, "There's clearly a lot more in there, I reckon at least a dozen bowls."

Chen Fan continued to spread his hands, saying innocently, "But there are no more bowls!"

Ten large turtles provided more than 120 pounds of ingredients, plus the broth and seasonings, which could indeed be divided into more than a hundred bowls.

But he exchanged for five mao bamboo, and even after sawing them all, he only managed to make 96 bamboo tubes, so what could he do?

The man still didn't believe it, walked behind the flatbed cart to take a look, and found that there were indeed no bamboo tubes, and could only shake his head in regret.

At this moment, someone suddenly squeezed over, holding up a bamboo tube and saying, "I have one here, give me another bowl."

Chen Fan (◎_◎), there's actually a repeat customer?

The man held up the bamboo tube and turned to say to the people next to him, "In a restaurant, stir-frying a chicken dish, the chicken is only half a pound, and a plate costs 1 yuan, this stuff has more than twice as much chicken, and tastes even better, if I hadn't been unable to squeeze in just now, I would have bought two more bowls."

With this example, the others who had bought it suddenly reacted, and more than a dozen bamboo tubes were stretched out in front of Chen Fan, "I want one too."

Chen Fan opened his mouth, looked at them, and then looked at the little bit of leftovers in the bucket.

Alright then, if they dare to buy, he dares to sell.

Immediately, he took the spatula and started serving them, Jiang Lili weighed each one, first weighing the empty bowl, then weighing the bowl with meat, and in no time, another 19 bowls were sold.

Even the last bit of broth was poured out completely.

Those people holding the turtle, didn't even need him to heat it up, they just held the bamboo tubes and left.

Chen Fan looked to both sides, now only a basket of preserved meat and fish were left, everything else was sold out, so, can he close up shop now?

Those who were still gathered here were basically residents of the town, even if those commune members were greedy, they wouldn't spend a yuan to buy a bowl of meat.

Instead, they were wondering in their hearts, is turtle meat really that delicious? Can they dig up turtles and sell them when they go back? Or will they also sell turtle meat next time?

Just as Chen Fan was preparing to close up shop, someone suddenly asked, "Master Chen, when will you make turtle again? Can I go to your team to buy it?"

Hearing this, Chen Fan quickly waved his hand, "No, no, definitely not, there are rules for market management, you can only sell at the market, if you come to my house to buy, what would I become? No, no!"

He still has the "of unknown origin" label on him, if he dares to do business at his own home, he'll be cracked down on in minutes, he's not that stupid, to get into trouble for a few yuan.

It's not like he's so poor that he can't survive!

Seeing Chen Fan's attitude was so firm, the man didn't say anything more, and could only shake his head and leave regretfully.

Not far away, the two management office people who came to maintain order, couldn't help but nod slightly when they heard Chen Fan's words.

"Just now we were saying whether to remind Master Chen, that his doing this business is a bit of skirting the rules, this time we'll let it go, next time it's best not to do it. However, it seems that Master Chen is still a very self-aware person."

"Saying it's skirting the rules, it's actually just that there are no regulations, since Master Chen is so self-aware, and he's registered with Secretary Qian, let's just ignore it for now, and wait for someone from above to speak."

The two looked at each other, and both chuckled twice, then turned and left.

If someone else had done this today, I'm afraid they wouldn't have sold a single bowl of meat, and the money they sold would have been confiscated.

But Chen Fan, he's the one who wrote an article in the Prefectural Committee Daily, and he's someone who came with Master Liu, inside and out, he has face, let's take a look first.

… …

Wash the bamboo basket used as a steamer lid in the hot water in the big pot, then put it on the flatbed cart, and directly stack another bamboo basket containing preserved meat and fish on top, then cover the meat and fish tightly with earth cloth.

Today's income is quite rich, let's keep these things for ourselves.

The earthen stove is no longer needed, pour the water in the large pot into the wooden bucket, let it cool aside, and cover it upside down on the bamboo basket containing the meat and fish, then organize the other items one by one, and load them all onto the flatbed cart.

Chen Fan looked left and right, and said to Jiang Lili, "Let's go shopping too."

Jiang Lili looked at the flatbed cart, "I, I'll watch this, it would be bad if someone pulled it away."

Chen Fan looked back, his eyes rolled slightly, and he ran to the side to ask a stall owner from Lujiawan, "Master Luo, is there a place to store flatbed carts here?"

This Master Luo is from Team 5, looking like an honest man, he smiled and waved his hand, "What's the point of storing a flatbed cart, just put it here, I'll watch it for you, everyone around here is from our Lujiawan, there will definitely be no problems."

Saying that, he moved his "stall" to the middle of the two flatbed carts, firmly occupying the position.

Other people nearby also greeted Chen Fan, "Master Chen, you go shopping, we'll watch the flatbed cart."

Chen Fan looked at their stalls, which were actually just large bamboo baskets, filled with several jars of pickles, and some homemade soy sauce and vinegar.

No wonder they haven't sold anything yet, almost every household makes these things themselves, even the residents of the town, their homes are never short of these, if there is any goods that are difficult to sell at the market, it is definitely these things.

Chen Fan couldn't do anything about it, his family still had a lot of these things, otherwise he would spend a few yuan and buy them all, no problem.

But now, he can only wish them good luck.

After arranging the flatbed cart, Chen Fan and Jiang Lili set off lightly and started shopping at the market.

After shopping for a long time, he suddenly felt that there was nothing to buy.

Firstly, the good things had already been bought by people who came early, and secondly, he himself didn't lack anything at the moment.

Food, clothing, and supplies were all complete, and even his family had a radio and a table clock, when he buys a section of wire and a socket, and buys a part to repair the table clock, that life can definitely be considered upper-class.

Since there's nothing to buy, then just wander around.

After walking for a while, he found that it wasn't completely without anything to buy.

Although some people came early and had already sold out and left, there were still people who lived far away coming one after another, at this time Chen Fan saw someone carrying a basket of eggs, preparing to find a place to set up a stall.

He immediately walked over, "Auntie, how much are your eggs selling for?"

The old lady looked at him, "4 cents each, weighing by the catty is 3 mao."

Chen Fan said, "I want them all, can you make it cheaper?"

The old lady hesitated for a moment, shook her head and said, "If I sell it cheaper, I might as well sell it to the purchasing station."

Jiang Lili, who hadn't been speaking, suddenly said, "Your eggs are not very big, and you're selling them more expensive than the supply and marketing cooperative, the commune is next door, you can buy them there too, how can you sell them so expensive? You said you sell them to the purchasing station, they'll give you at most two and a half cents each, and by the catty, I'm afraid it won't even be two and a half mao."

Chen Fan looked at her in surprise, he didn't expect this little girl who doesn't usually talk much to be a master bargainer?

The old lady's face was a little unsightly, "Then how much do you say? I won't sell if it's too low."

With Jiang Lili's reasoned argument, the old lady finally lowered the price a bit, two and a half mao per catty, a total of ten catties minus a little bit of eggs, all bought by Chen Fan.

He spent another 1 mao to buy the old lady's basket together, and then continued to stroll around carrying the basket.