"Monkey, these are the stone flower seeds from my place. Take a look and see how many pounds there are."
In the courtyard of the Hou family house, a dozen or so people had been lined up since early morning. Auntie Zhao, who was at the front of the line, pushed forward a basket full of stone flower seeds with a broad smile on her face.
When Hou Yong had returned home a couple of days prior, he had gone around the neighborhood telling everyone in the village that he wanted to buy stone flower seeds in bulk, offering five cents a pound, or two pounds in exchange for one egg. After all, their purchasing power was, in a sense, roughly equivalent.
Hou Yong took the basket with a smile, hung it on the scale’s hook, and fiddled with the weight. "Auntie Zhao, it’s exactly five pounds."
"Alright, just give me twenty-five cents then. You can keep the egg."
Auntie Zhao was beaming from ear to ear, holding her hand out toward Hou Yong.
When Hou Yong had first announced that he was buying stone flower seeds, the villagers couldn't believe it. In their eyes, the stuff was nothing but useless wild weeds from the Back Mountain; getting five cents a pound was essentially the same as picking up free money.
By four o'clock that morning, the adults in the village had already hauled their children out of bed, sending them up the mountain to pick seeds so they could sell them to Hou Yong and still be back in time for breakfast.
Auntie Zhao had five children, the first four of whom were girls. She was a feisty woman who refused to lose, and she had insisted on paying the fines for exceeding the birth quota just to have a fifth child—a boy, as she had finally wished for. That morning, she had sent her four daughters up the mountain to pick the seeds and then rushed over to Hou Yong's house herself.
"Hold on a second, Auntie Zhao."
Hou Yong smiled, reached in, and scooped out the seeds from the very top. Beneath them, a significant amount of common weeds, still damp with dew, was revealed.
"Auntie Zhao, I'm buying stone flower seeds. These weeds are no use to me."
Being called out in front of everyone didn't faze Auntie Zhao. She gave a dry laugh and began picking out the weeds. "I had the kids pick them early this morning; they probably didn't notice."
Hou Yong didn't press the matter further. After tossing the weeds aside, he gave the basket a sharp jolt against the ground, causing a fair amount of loose dirt to fall out. He put it back on the scale: it was less than three pounds.
The flesh on Auntie Zhao’s cheeks twitched. Seeing ten cents’ worth of value vanish felt like someone was reaching into her pocket and stealing her own money; it made her heart ache.
"Everyone, I'm just running a small business here. We’re all from the same village, so let's not push things too far, or it will be awkward for everyone. Don’t you think?"
Auntie Zhao took the fifteen cents Hou Yong handed her and left with a sour look on her face. She had barely made it out of the courtyard gate before she remembered her own basket, turned back to retrieve it, and scurried away, muttering something under her breath the entire time.
Hou Yong didn't pay her any mind. As for the other villagers further back in line, they all began to quietly step back, either picking weeds out of their baskets or shaking off the excess dirt. They weren't bad people; it was just that in this era of scarce resources, they all wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to make life a little better.
The rest of the acquisition went much more smoothly. After each weighing, Hou Yong would just give the basket a cursory glance, and everything was close enough. By the end of the morning, he had collected over twenty-five pounds, spending over a dollar and giving away three eggs.
Once the purchasing was done, Hou Yong locked the courtyard gate. After all, he couldn't let outsiders see the process of making his ice jelly.
His parents had returned the night before. Hou Yong hadn't kept the ice jelly business a secret from them, and once he showed them his earnings from the past few days, they both went quiet. His mother didn't have any objections, but Hou's father had some misgivings about Hou Yong quitting his job. Fortunately, Hou Yong had prepared for this—he had only taken leave from the factory, not officially resigned, which provided a buffer for his father’s emotions. Of course, the most important thing was that Hou Yong had actually made money; otherwise, no amount of talking would have made this acceptable.
Today, Hou Yong went into town alone. Aside from the fact that his father needed to rest, he had asked Gu Panpan, his mother, and Dong'er to stay home and help prepare the raw materials for the ice jelly—the more, the better. Gu Panpan didn't quite understand, but once Hou Yong shouldered his carrying pole and left the house, she secretly followed him.
"Brother Yong, if we make this much ice jelly and can't sell it all tomorrow, won't it go bad?"
Gu Panpan tugged at the corner of his shirt. Hou Yong smiled and said, "It’s fine. I’ve got a new lead in town today. If it works out, we’ll have plenty of demand for the ice jelly tomorrow."
"Is it that Boss Zhou?"
Gu Panpan was sharp; she immediately thought of the man who had tried to buy their recipe a couple of days ago. Hou Yong laughed and pinched her cheek. "My wife is so smart."
...
Because he was alone today, Hou Yong hadn't brought as much stock. After supplying the construction site as usual, he only had about twenty bowls' worth left in his bucket.
Following the route from his memories of his past life, Hou Yong walked under the sweltering sun for over half an hour before finally stopping in front of "Four Seas Restaurant."
This was Boss Zhou's establishment. In his past life, this was where he had first met the man. He had been thinking carefully over the past two days: if Wang Xue failed to pull this off, should he collaborate with the guy? The answer was yes. Putting aside their connection in the previous life, the side business he was running in secret could prove incredibly useful in this era of material shortages. If he didn't agree to work with Boss Zhou, knowing that man’s character from his past life, he would almost certainly cause trouble behind the scenes. Hou Yong had thought of a way to create a win-win situation and decided to try his luck today.
"Get out!"
Just as Hou Yong was about to enter, he heard Boss Zhou’s angry roar from inside. First, a woman was shoved out the door, and then a waiter followed up by dousing her with a basin of milky-white liquid, covering her from head to toe.
"You wasted two days of my time trying to fool me with flour! If you weren't a woman, I would’ve drawn blood. Get out of here, now!"
Boss Zhou stood on the steps, shouting down at the woman. Hou Yong looked closely and realized that the drowned rat standing on the street was none other than Wang Xue. Judging by Boss Zhou's words, she had actually tried to make ice jelly out of flour—Hou Yong didn't know whether to call her brave or just plain stupid.
"Zhou, you dare treat me like this over a piece of cheap ice jelly?"
Wang Xue stood in the street, her voice trembling with rage. "Don't come begging for my help in the future. Without me, your business is finished."
"Stupid b*tch."
Boss Zhou glanced at Wang Xue’s impotent fury and spat coldly on the ground. When he turned and saw Hou Yong, his eyes lit up, and he hurried over.