Yun Yi's little thoughts were seen through by Yun Que'er, and her face flushed instantly. She waved her hands repeatedly and made a self - defeating explanation.
"I... I don't mean I don't want to hawk. I just have no experience."
Yun Que'er understood. After all, it was Yun Yi's first time, and it was normal for her to feel shy.
Moreover, since she was a student in the town, she might be afraid of running into acquaintances. So it was better for Yun Que'er to do this kind of work.
"It's okay, Third Sister." Yun Que'er nodded understandingly. "You do the accounting. Leave the rest to me."
After saying that, Yun Que'er hawked her wooden carvings to passers - by more vigorously.
Yun Yi felt really embarrassed not to help. So she sorted out the small items they had put out and pushed the nice ones to the front.
The road Yun Que'er had chosen was a good one. People coming from the antique area to the exit would pass by here. And their spot was very eye - catching. Once someone saw their stuff and was interested, they would surely come over to take a closer look.
Sure enough, before long, someone came up.
"Hey, little girls, what are you selling here?"
"They are carved from fruit tree trunks." Yun Que introduced. "They are all from young saplings. The wood is of good quality and won't get damp easily after you buy them home. Uncle, buy one for your kid, okay?"
The man was amused by Yun Que'er. This girl was like a little adult. The man couldn't help getting interested.
He squatted down and looked for a while. After picking out a few, he asked Yun Que'er to wrap them up for him.
"But people who do wood carving usually use old trees. Why do you use young saplings? Don't you wait for them to bear fruit?"
"The situation is a bit special." Yun Que'er told the truth. "Our trees died before they could grow up. So there was no other way. We had to think of other ways to minimize the loss."
The man nodded approvingly. "It's really good that you know how to adapt to the situation."
"It's mainly because my Third Sister has good craftsmanship." Yun Que'er flattered Yun Yi. "If it weren't for my Third Sister, those young saplings would have ended up as just pieces of broken wood, maybe just thrown into the stove and burned. How could we sell them?"
Yun Yi was a bit embarrassed by Yun Que'er's praise and gently patted her on the back.
"Okay, okay. Don't flatter me anymore."
"Both of you are amazing." The man praised. "One has a business mind and the other has craftsmanship. Your lives will surely be good when you grow up."
After praising them, the man left with his things. Yun Que'er and Yun Yi earned their first pot of gold.
Yun Que'er happily held the bills in her hand and turned to smile at Yun Yi.
"See, Third Sister. I told you it would work."
Yun Yi also beamed from ear to ear. The first deal had gone quite smoothly. Presumably, the following ones wouldn't be too difficult either.
Yun Yi carefully sorted through all the finished products again and priced them according to their quality. But the prices weren't too high.
According to Yun Que'er's prediction, when adults passed by from the antique stalls and saw the toys from the city, they would want to buy some for their kids. Or those who brought their kids would surely make a fuss.
But often they had to give up because of financial problems. So at this time, their cost - effective toys were very necessary.
Yun Que'er not only came up with a good idea, but the reality also proved it.
In just one morning, all their small wooden carvings were sold out. Some people even asked if they would come again tomorrow for the ones they didn't plan to sell.
Yun Que'er and Yun Yi had made a lot of money. Although it was far less than what they would have earned if the fruit trees had grown up, the two were already very satisfied. So they rushed back to the village and handed all the money to Yun Fujin.
Yun Fujin didn't expect their progress to be so smooth. He grinned from ear to ear.
"You two are really amazing. How about rewarding you with sugar cakes tonight?"
Yun Yi scoffed. "That's something you use to coax Little Que'er. I'm old enough. I won't eat that."
"Then what do you want to eat?" Yun Fujin asked with a smile. "The money you two earned today will be used to buy groceries. Just tell me what you want."
If it came to what they wanted to eat, it was of course meat.
But they had a very tense relationship with the Liu Kui's family and basically had no contact with them. Usually, they bought meat from other places during festivals.
It was really hot at this time. They didn't know how long it would take to make a trip. The two sisters couldn't bear to let Yun Fujin go out in such hot weather and get heatstroke. So they just said it would be okay to stir - fry a couple of dishes casually.
Although they didn't say it explicitly, Yun Fujin understood. So he went out on the pretext of exchanging for fresh vegetables with other families and went to the clinic by the way to exchange for a chicken from Doctor Ji.
In the evening, they killed the chicken and ate it. The four siblings sat around the table, enjoying themselves.
The smell of the meat filled the yard, attracting Liu Yu who was passing by the door.
He craned his neck and peeked into the yard. Unable to resist, he took a step inside.
The smell of the meat became stronger, making Liu Yu's mouth water.
His family didn't lack meat before. Whenever he was craving for it, Liu Kui would surely cook it for him, and it was always big chunks, making sure Liu Yu could satisfy his appetite.
But the situation had been different these days. So many pigs had been taken away from their family. The remaining ones were so few that they were reluctant to kill and sell them. So Liu Kui kept them all as breeding pigs.
From then on, Liu Yu could no longer eat meat as freely as before.
Moreover, before going out today, Liu Yu had pestered Liu Kui to go to the town to exchange for some meat for him.
But Liu Kui had been in a bad mood these two days and had no intention of going out. He was only thinking about how to make the most of the remaining pigs.
Especially after suffering such a great loss, Liu Kui couldn't bear to hear the word "meat". As soon as Liu Yu voiced his thought, Liu Kui got angry.
He scolded Liu Yu severely. Angry, Liu Yu ran out of the house. Coincidentally, he passed by the Yun's house and could hardly move his legs at this moment.
Coincidentally, Yun Jianzhou felt hot after eating the stewed chicken and wanted to go out to fetch some well - water to drink. Who would have thought that as soon as he went out, he ran into Liu Yu who had one foot already in their yard.
"Hey, what are you doing?" Yun Jianzhou pointed at Liu Yu and shouted. Then he immediately rushed forward and grabbed Liu Yu tightly. "You were sneaky when you came to our house last year. You didn't admit that you wanted to steal something. Now I've caught you red - handed!"
"Who wants to steal from your house? What's there to be jealous of in your house?" Liu Yu was so angry that his face and neck turned red. "Your family was so poor that you only installed glass on your windows this year. What valuable things can you have? Don't think so highly of yourself!"
The Yun's family had indeed been poor before. Instead of glass, their window frames were pasted with layer upon layer of paper.
It leaked air in winter and rain in summer. It was really annoying.
It was not until they earned some money this year that they finally replaced the paper with glass.
But no matter how poor they were, they wouldn't allow Liu Yu to gossip here.