Opening the Stall

Lin Dashan slapped his forehead.

"Look at me! I was so caught up in being happy. Let's go, let's go, let's hurry up, otherwise we won't be able to get a good spot later."

Every month when their family went to the market, they would take the various wooden buckets, baskets, and sieves made by Old Master Lin, Lin Xiao's older cousin Lin Lei, and Lin Yun to sell.

Old Master Lin would take a portion of the money earned, and the rest would be divided equally between the two families.

The handcart pushed by Lin Dashan and Lin Dayou was piled high with these items.

Scattered among them were only two jars containing the pickled vegetables made by Eldest Aunt Madam Qin and Grandma Lin.

On the way, Lin Xiao explained his purpose for going to town this time.

Then he expressed his idea of inviting Lin Dashan to act as a model for him later.

Lin Dashan asked in surprise:

"Brother Xiao, can you really clean teeth?"

Lin Xiao bared his teeth at him, showing off his big white teeth.

Lin Dayou, who was pushing the cart in front, also turned his head and bared his identical big white teeth at Lin Dashan.

Lin Dashan: There was really no need for both father and son to bare their teeth at me together.

Seeing this from the side, Madam Qin was pleasantly surprised and immediately clapped her hands, saying:

"Oh my! Brother Xiao, your Eldest Aunt will be your shill!"

Lin Xiao smiled and said:

"That would be great. This way, after I finish with Eldest Uncle, I won't have to worry about no one letting me use them as a demonstration."

On the bumpy and uneven path.

The four of them walked towards Cuifeng Town under the morning glow.

Because Cuifeng Town was not a military stronghold, nor was it prosperous, the town's walls were very low, and the town gates were also very plain and unimposing.

Lin Xiao had only been to the town once with Lin Dayou when he was six years old. After seeing this completely unprosperous and even dusty Cuifeng Town, Lin Xiao never had the interest to visit the town again.

This small town only had a few thousand residents.

Moreover, their consumption level was not much better than the people living in the villages.

Even if he had previously thought about using some modern methods to make money, it was highly unlikely.

At most, he could earn some hard-earned money.

But he was still young at that time and didn't have much physical strength or labor to earn this hard-earned money.

Meanwhile, Lin Yun and Lin Dayou were both busy with the fields and the household, so it was completely impossible for them to entertain his seemingly unreliable ideas that popped up out of nowhere.

So much so that today, he didn't even have a single copper coin on hand.

However, this was also related to him being used to the plain and poor life in Xiushui Village all year round, without any particular desire to pursue wealth.

Now, for the sake of the sect, he had no choice but to come out and perform to make a living.

By the time the four of them arrived at Cuifeng Town, an hour had already passed.

Although it was still the spring equinox, after traveling for an hour, the four of them had all worked up a thin layer of sweat.

Fortunately, there were benefits to traveling early.

At the entrance of the small town, the queue to enter the town was only twenty or thirty people long.

Lin Xiao and the other three only lined up for a short while before getting in.

Entering the town on market day did not require paying a fee, but normally, if one wanted to enter and there were yamen runners standing guard at the gate, an entry fee had to be paid.

This was also one of the reasons why villagers did not easily come to town.

Cuifeng Town had a designated piece of land prepared specifically for the monthly market.

The villagers came here to set up their stalls.

The spots were marked out in advance by the yamen runners with stones, one spot per household, on a first-come, first-served basis.

Anyone who dared to cause trouble would be kicked out directly.

But perhaps because the villagers had always feared the officials, very few people caused trouble.

Even if there was an occasional argument, as soon as they heard someone say the officials are here, they would immediately scatter, pretending nothing had happened, each looking like a very honest and listless person.

Upon arriving at the market ground, Lin Dashan quickly went to secure a good spot, and Lin Dayou pushed the handcart over.

Lin Xiao helped unload the items from the cart and arranged them one by one.

Meanwhile, Madam Qin went to buy some daily necessities like salt and soybean oil for their own family and Lin Dayou's family.

It was still only around seven or eight in the morning.

There weren't too many people at the market yet.

Lin Xiao planned to wait on the side for a while, waiting for the foot traffic to increase a bit later before opening his teeth-cleaning business.

He looked around but didn't see Qin Jianghe.

He then strolled around the entire market once.

This market wasn't very big; it took him less than fifteen minutes to walk a full circle.

However, he still didn't see Qin Jianghe.

Logically, since they had agreed yesterday, Jianghe would definitely come out early today, and he should have arrived by now.

But he looked around and didn't see Qin Jianghe, not even his mother, Fourth Aunt Qin, who was his Eldest Aunt's cousin.

So he returned to his family's stall, found a corner against the wall, tucked his hands into his sleeves, and squatted down like a cat.

Being idle was just being idle.

Let him see how his father and eldest uncle usually sold things! He could learn from their experience.

Then he saw that after Lin Dashan and Lin Dayou had arranged everything, they also leaned against the wall next to the stall, tucked their hands into their sleeves, and squatted down just like him.

And they didn't move.

Watching potential customers walk past them one by one, they didn't greet them or call out. Only when someone occasionally came up to ask the price would they answer a sentence or two.

When people bargained, they only shook their heads. When customers thought it was too expensive and wanted to leave, they remained silent.

Thus, after nearly half an hour had passed and the foot traffic at the market gradually increased, they had only sold two baskets from their stall.

Lin Xiao: Good heavens, so this is how his eldest uncle and his father sold things every month.

Isn't this just wasting his grandfather's woodworking skills, which were second to none in their entire township!

If Lin Dayou and Lin Dashan knew Lin Xiao's thoughts, they would definitely snort at him:

Your grandfather is even worse at doing business than we are!

When people came to ask for a price, he would only give a number. If they thought it was too expensive, he would just drive them away!

As a result, when Old Master Lin used to come to sell things himself, he basically couldn't sell anything.

Later, Grandma Lin couldn't stand it anymore and forcefully replaced him with Lin Dashan and Lin Dayou to sell, which made the business slightly better.

Lin Xiao couldn't stand watching anymore.

He looked at the sky and saw it was getting late. He figured that the foot traffic should be at its peak right now.

So he patted his bottom and stood up.

He went over and asked Lin Dayou the prices of these items.

Actually, Old Master Lin's pricing wasn't expensive.

A large bamboo basket was twenty-five copper coins, a sieve was twenty copper coins, and a wooden bucket was eighty copper coins.

Moreover, because the quality of the things he made was very good and extremely durable, his prices were logically very reasonable.

Unfortunately, their sales methods were too lacking.

Lin Xiao then said to Lin Dashan and Lin Dayou:

"Father, Eldest Uncle, I'm going to start working now."

The two of them nodded very shyly.

For some reason, Lin Xiao felt that ever since these two entered the town, their entire temperament had changed.

They had become somewhat timid.

Even though they were such open and straightforward peasant men back in the village.

Lin Xiao took a small folding stool, walked over to their stall, and placed the small stool right in front of him.