Lin Xia made it clear in advance, "Among those three, two are bigger than this one and will be a bit more expensive!"
"How much more expensive?" asked Meifang, the middle-aged woman, with her arms crossed and a displeased look on her face.
"The big ones are forty!" Lin Xia replied softly.
The middle-aged woman waved her hand impatiently, "Just bring them out for a look first!"
Lin Xia silently brought out the other three and placed them on the office desk; two of these were even better than the one the old man had seen earlier.
In her Jade room, there were actually two better and bigger specimens, but she was reluctant to sell them all at once.
And she estimated that they probably wouldn't offer a high price either.
Even if one was thirty yuan, these four would total one hundred and twenty yuan.
Now, a month's wages were only a few dozen yuan, and ten yuan was the highest denomination of paper money.
Liao Laotou picked up each one to examine it, continuously saying, "Not bad! Not bad! So fresh!" while casually inquiring, "Young lady, these were just picked recently, weren't they?"
Lin Xia, keeping her composure, answered, "Yes! I picked them yesterday!"
This wasn't really a lie; she had taken the opportunity to pick these Lingzhi she wanted to sell from the dead tree stumps before boarding the train.
Liao Laotou continued to probe, "From your accent, you aren't a local, are you?"
"Mhm! My home is in the mountainous area!" Lin Xia knew she couldn't completely hide it from them, but by not specifying exactly where, it would be harder for them to find her later.
Meifang seemed a bit anxious, apparently impatient with these preliminaries, "Young lady! Let's talk about the price! If I were to buy all of them, how much of a discount could you give?"
Lin Xia was straightforward as she crisply stated the price, "The two big ones are forty yuan each, and the two smaller ones are thirty each! If you take them all, I'll make it one hundred and thirty for you!"
The middle-aged woman frowned unexpectedly, displeasure flashing in her eyes, "Young girl! Didn't you tell me earlier they were thirty yuan each? Are you bumping up the price because you see we really want to buy? Do you believe I can make a phone call and have you detained before you even leave this office?"
If she didn't particularly need this Lingzhi, she would have already shown her a thing or two.
Lin Xia looked at her neither humbly nor haughtily, gently explaining, "I'm not bumping up the price! Different sizes, different prices! I am selling the smaller ones for thirty yuan each and I didn't ask for more for the bigger ones! I even knocked ten yuan off. These wild Lingzhi from the deep mountains can cure hundreds of ailments; they aren't easy to come by!"
She in fact could have sold them all for thirty yuan each, but the middle-aged woman's inconsistent demeanor and statements made her uncomfortable, prompting her stubbornness.
"Then I'll just take the two smaller ones!" The middle-aged woman didn't believe Lin Xia didn't want to sell them all to her; she probably had never carried so much money in her pocket before, had she?
"Okay!" Lin Xia agreed briskly, reaching out to pack up the two bigger ones.
She had already planned that even if she only made sixty yuan, it was enough; she could try to sell to others, and if she really couldn't sell them, sixty yuan could still buy several dozen scarves in time.
After all, even if she spent all the money on scarves, she was not entirely confident about it.
Liao Laotou saw that the two women were at odds, noticing that this young girl, though thin and petite, had quite a temper.
He coughed softly, "Meifang! Why are you competing with a child!"
The middle-aged woman looked indignantly at Lin Xia, surprised at how stubborn the young girl was.
He continued to persuade Lin Xia, "Young lady, as an old man, I will speak fairly out of respect for my age. Your Lingzhi mushrooms do have some value, but it also depends on who you sell them to. How about this, thirty a plant, I'll give you one hundred and twenty dollars! What do you think?"
Lin Xia knew that now was not the time to be impulsive. Selling for one hundred and twenty was still a profit for her. Could she, an outsider, really get the better of someone with status and position?
Besides, she was here for the money.
So, being aware of the situation, she asked, "Okay, but can you give me all the money right now?"
This was crucial; if he could pay immediately, she would sell the mushrooms and then quickly leave.
"Meifang..." Liao, the old man, gave her a meaningful look, hinting something with his eyes.
Taking a deep breath, although reluctantly, Meifang pulled out a stack of money from the right pocket of her trousers, counted it, left a ten-dollar note and a few smaller bills, and handed the rest to Lin Xia, saying coldly, "One hundred and twenty dollars! Count it!"
"Okay!" Lin Xia eagerly received it and counted on the spot, "It's correct!"
Lin Xia took the money, left the Lingzhi mushrooms behind, and, not caring about the reaction of the middle-aged woman and the old man after she left, hurried out of the hospital.
Not far out, she looked around the environment, headed into a secluded alley at the corner, made sure no one was around, and stashed her large bag in Jade's room. She then changed into a red cover shirt and transformed her hair from two braids into one big braided ponytail...
Having changed her clothes and hairstyle, Lin Xia casually strolled to the nearby bus stop, all the while secretly observing to see if anyone was following her.
Fortunately, she did not notice anything suspicious for now.
Just then, a bus arrived, and Lin Xia got on with the other passengers, paying five cents for the fare.
While on the bus, she inquired about the locations of the state-run department stores and where she should get off. The people were very helpful, with two of them suggesting three or four places.
Lin Xia had already decided that if she came across those scarves with gold threads, she would buy several dozen, but naturally, she couldn't purchase them all at the same department store. Otherwise, setting aside whether they would sell them to her, it was too risky and could lead to unwanted attention.
She sold Lingzhi mushrooms and had some confidence. If caught, she could argue that they were mountain goods. But buying so many scarves was truly akin to being a black-market dealer.
After visiting four state-run department stores, Lin Xia managed to buy thirty scarves, both white and red with gold threads, all purchased at two dollars and fifty cents each, costing her seventy-five dollars in total.
She secretly did the math; if she could sell each for three dollars, she would make a fifty-cent profit per scarf, totaling a fifteen-dollar profit if she sold all thirty. Deducting the seven dollars for the round-trip train ticket, she could still clear eight dollars.
Although eight dollars didn't seem like much, earning that amount would usually require her to work exhaustingly for days.
As for why she didn't spend all of the one hundred and twenty dollars she made from selling Lingzhi mushrooms on scarves, Lin Xia thought about whether she could successfully sell them all—it was uncertain at present. She also could not afford to invest all her money in this venture; she needed to keep some cash for other purposes.
It wasn't easy for her to come to the provincial city; she had to buy some gifts for her siblings to take back.
She bought a pair of rubber shoes for Lin Chun, a butterfly knot hair clip for Lin Qiu, and a fountain pen for Lin Dong.
Of course, she also needed to buy some food, such as crispy twists, canned meat, preserved fruits, assorted candies, etc.
If pork tickets weren't required, she really wanted to buy some to take back, but unfortunately, meat coupons had not yet been abolished.
On her way, not knowing what might happen, she couldn't leave the items she bought exposed. Lin Xia repeated her trick, storing everything in Jade's room.
Seeing it was getting late, Lin Xia ate some crispy twists for dinner. Carrying the big bag full of mushrooms, she headed to the train station.