It was a summer afternoon, and cicadas were chirping.
The sun was at its strongest outside.
The people who had been working in the fields for the whole morning would rest at home for a while. When the sun was not so hot, they would continue to work.
Zhang Xifeng was old and tired quickly, so she had already fallen asleep on the bamboo chair in the central room.
The old woman in his 60s had her brows tightly furrowed even in her sleep.
Qiqi was not sleepy. She sat on the wooden threshold at the door of the central room, her little hand supporting her cheek, and her gaze fell on the loquat tree in the corner of the courtyard.
The branches and leaves were lush and green.
At the end of the branch, there were strings of green and yellow loquats.
It was already the end of June, so loquats should have ripened by now. However, the skin of the loquats in her Granny's house was not completely yellow. They were greenish-yellow, which looked like they were ripened in April.
It was the same for the corn that Granny Luo had given her. When she first saw it, she thought Granny Luo had picked the corn early.
Not only was it small, but the corn was also not whole enough.
Who knew that her Granny would say that this was mature corn? It wasn't that they were picked early, but they looked like this.
The land in Taoxi village was initially barren. In recent years, there had been several droughts, so the land could not grow good food.
However, the farmers relied on digging for food to support their families. No matter how bad the land was, they still had to plant food.
Farming hard, not having enough food, and the cycle repeated.
Year after year, Taoxi village gradually became the poorest village in Zhuolu Town.
"It's so hard to live, Eggie."
"I used to pick up trash, and people always bullied me because I was small. In order to earn money to buy food, I've fought with people over paper and suffered a lot of beatings."
"At that time, I was most worried about whether I could still pick up trash tomorrow and how much trash I could pick up."
"Now I'm not afraid of being beaten. I'm only afraid of starving."
Qiqi turned her head and looked at the old woman sleeping in the central room, a faint smile on her small face.
"These two days in Taoxi village were the most peaceful days I've ever had in my previous life and this life."
Here, she was not beaten or starved.
She could feel that her Granny was different from her mother and grandmother.
Her Granny liked her.
Second Uncle Chen, second aunt Chen, Grandpa village chief, and Granny Luo were also there.
"Eggy, I like my Granny and the others. I want to stay in Taoxi village."
In the sea of consciousness, the little egg-man was in a good mood when he saw two more wisps of purple in the savings pool.
When it heard the little cub's words, it responded in a rare kind tone. "if you want to stay, then stay."
It was pretty satisfied with the speed of energy collection in the past two days. If the little cub stayed and continued to gain more sincere love, it might bring a big surprise.
Therefore, the little egg-man agreed with the cub's wish to stay.
"I remember Eggie saying before that if I help you collect energy, I will be rewarded with good luck, right?"
The little egg-man's lips curled up slightly, but the corner of his mouth fell. He was inexplicably vigilant. "What do you want? "
Qiqi's eyes curved as she smiled. She rested her head on her palm and started to think. "I want to share my good fortune with Granny and the others so that they can have good luck. I want my Granny to grow the most delicious sweet potatoes. I want second Uncle Chen to grow a bumper harvest of grain. I want the grandpa village chief's family to ..."
Before she could finish her words, a series of roars came from her mind.
"Stop!"
"Shut up!"
"SHUT UP!"
"Keep quiet!"
Qiqi,"...."
The little egg-man shouted four times in a row. Seeing two more wisps of energy flying away in front of him, he was so angry that his head was throbbing.
Prodigal!
What a prodigal!
"Little brat, from today on! Let's make a pact of three things. In the future, you must absolutely not say things like! What you want! Or 'hope for whatever'!"
Qiqi was puzzled. "Why? Granny and the others are good to me, so I want to help them clean up."
"You can help me if you want to. Just tell me quietly, and I'll think of a way." The little egg-man took a few deep breaths and barely suppressed the excruciating pain.
For the sake of energy, it had to endure.
These were all chips for it to go home, and any less would be equivalent to stabbing a knife into its heart!
To retain the energy, it had to find another way.
"The current problem of Taoxi village is that the prices of the agricultural products they grow have been lowered by others, and they can't make money." The little egg Man analyzed, "in that case, you need to find a way yourself."
"But Where can I find the way? I heard from my Granny that some people in the village had gone to the county to get some goods, but they refused to accept them when they heard they were from Taoxi village."
"It's not that they don't want to accept it, but someone's making things difficult for them behind their backs." The little egg-man snorted coldly.
It had seen everything that had happened in the old village chief's courtyard.
The reason why the two buyers dared to show such a face was that they were fearless.
Most likely, they had some connections in the county, so they had already informed the people in the circle not to purchase goods from Taoxi village in private.
He knew a lot about these little tricks.
In a County, the collection circle was only so big. If they wanted to get a piece of the cake, they usually reached a tacit understanding privately, and each harvested a region.
If they meddled in someone else's territory, they would break the rules and be rejected by the people in the circle for revenge. The gains would not make up for the losses.
Since Taoxi village had no connections, others could only control them.
"If you want to sell things, you can't do it in the county, but you can find a way in the city. The agricultural products wholesale market, fruit and vegetable wholesale market are all fine."
"In the city?" Qiqi's eyes were wide open. Hui city?!
Although she didn't know the location of Taoxi village, she was sure it was a village under Hui city.
Daqu village was a village in Xiayang County of Hui city. Even if her mother had pushed her down the mountain, she couldn't bring her to another town.
She was familiar with Hui city!
In the two years when she was picking up garbage, she had almost walked all over Hui city. She remembered that there was a large agricultural and agricultural wholesale market in the west of the town.
She had once picked up cardboard there for two days and sold it for three Yuan!
"But the crops from our village don't look good. Would they be willing to accept them?" This was Qiqi's last concern.
The two people who had bid today had said that the items in the village needed to be of better quality and that no one else would accept them.
The little egg-man snorted. "If no one collects them and there's no money to earn, would those two be willing to work for free today? As long as the taste is passable, it can still be sold if the quality is slightly worse, but the price might be a little lower."
However, no matter how low it was, it was not at half price.
This was the only way out of Taoxi village.
Qiqi's eyes lit up, and she was so excited that she bared her millet-like teeth.
She turned around and ran into the central room. "Granny, Granny! The things in our village can be sold!"
Zhang Xifeng woke up in a daze. For a moment, she didn't understand what the little child meant. It was the first time she had seen such a strong sense of joy from the child.
The little egg-man crossed his legs and rested his noodle hand leisurely behind his head. He was in a good mood for some reason.
Only the little cub would fully believe its words.
The wholesale markets in big cities mostly had fixed supply channels and would sign contracts with the suppliers below.
Individual investors needed help to sell their products at their doorsteps.
However, the egg-man wasn't exactly lying to the little ones.
Other people might die if they went, but it was a different story for this little one.
Little brat, you have egg-man as a cheat.
Even if it didn't work, it had to work.