Chapter Thirty-Eight: Too Expensive

It had been nearly twenty years since Chen Ling had last attended a grand country market, and he was truly brimming with excitement. He wasn't in a hurry to buy livestock; instead, he pushed his bicycle from one end of Changle Township to the other, wandering through the market from north to south and east to west.

He took his time, browsing and buying as he went. By the time his hands were nearly full, Chen Ling ducked into an alley and sat on a stone outside its entrance, savoring a skewer of sizzling, oily meat. Resting near his feet were several dark green soft-shelled turtles, each about the size of a bowl, tied together with straw rope.

Once he finished the meat, Chen Ling glanced left and right to ensure no one was watching, then hoisted the turtles and vanished into his hidden pocket dimension.

Inside the sanctuary, he caught a glimpse of the mother turtle, which had grown to the size of a manhole cover in the pond. He untied the rope and tossed the male turtles into the water. The mother turtle, expecting a meal, poked her massive head above the surface, only to freeze in surprise at the sight of her new companions.

"Hahaha, I found you some company! How about that? Happy?"

"Think they’re too small? Can't be helped. Just raise them for a while. Once they grow big enough to mate, you can have a different one every day—you'll be in heaven!" Chen Ling chuckled as he patted her head.

He had tried fishing for these turtles before, but they were quite scarce. Last time, at the South Sand River in the county town, even bait mixed with water from the sanctuary's stream hadn't lured a single one. He was lucky to have found these at the market; he had bought out every male turtle the vendor had—seven in total. He left the females behind, as the large one already in the pond was plenty.

After settling the turtles, he checked on the fish in the adjacent pond. The environment in the sanctuary was ideal; the fish had spawned days ago, and a layer of tiny fry now drifted near the surface, scattering the moment he approached.

"Grow well, little ones. You'll be ready to eat before long." Chen Ling filled a bucket and poured some fresh stream water into the ponds, sparking a flurry of excitement among the turtles and fish.

He then looked at the row of baskets behind the thatched hut, his brow furrowing. "There’s just too much. I can't eat it all, and I'm running out of storage space. Should I try selling some at the market?"

His primary goal today had been to buy livestock, but he also hoped to offload some of the excess produce piling up in the sanctuary. The tomatoes, eggplants, beans, cucumbers, and spinach were being harvested in endless cycles. The spinach, in particular, would go to seed if he wasn't careful, becoming inedible. Then the seeds would drop and sprout, covering the area behind the hut like weeds. It had become such a headache that he’d eventually pulled the spinach up by the roots and stacked it in the hut, deciding to grow it fresh only when needed.

Other vegetables weren't quite as aggressive, but they had still filled over a dozen baskets behind the hut. At first, he’d tried to bundle or arrange them, but eventually, he’d given up, simply tossing them into baskets as they ripened. Now, with every basket in the back yard filled, he was running out of room.

The couple couldn't possibly consume this much produce, and Chen Ling had lost all motivation to plant more in his actual fields. Even though things didn't rot in the sanctuary, the constant accumulation was becoming a problem.

Taking advantage of the crowded market seemed like a perfect opportunity. He had been hesitant to sell his produce because the crops grown directly within the sanctuary tasted significantly better than those grown outside using the stream water, and they offered far greater health benefits.

But with no baskets left, he had no choice. If he didn't sell them, the vegetables would simply touch the ground, take root, and grow into a fresh, rampant crop. Even things like cucumbers and eggplants would rot on the ground and sprout new plants, a phenomenon he still couldn't quite fathom since the seeds weren't even mature. Such was the magic of the sanctuary's soil.

"I’ll see if I can move them here in the township. If not, I’ll have to head to the city in a couple of days." Chen Ling wouldn't dream of selling his produce at standard market prices; he intended to charge four or five times the going rate, perhaps even more. After all, even peanuts grown on ordinary soil using the sanctuary's stream water had the effect of boosting milk production. His sanctuary-grown produce was worth at least ten times the market price.

However, he knew he was dealing with local folks. Getting them to pay four or five times the price would be a challenge. If he couldn't sell them at the country market, the county town wouldn't be much better, as their consumption levels were similar. He would have to go to the city.

He had three or four hundred pounds of various vegetables stacked up. While plants like tomatoes and cucumbers just kept producing more fruit, the spinach was a constant cycle of blooming and reseeding. He decided that from now on, he’d just feed the overgrown spinach to the chickens and livestock.

With that, he grabbed two baskets filled with cucumbers and tomatoes and stepped out of the sanctuary. He found a wooden pole, balanced the two baskets across the back of his bicycle, and headed toward the market.

"Young man, you can't set up your stall here," a voice called out as he stopped in a conspicuous spot.

It was an old man wearing a blue Liberation cap, tall and hunched over. He pointed toward the east. "Go set up on the main north-south or east-west streets. We need to keep this area clear for traffic."

"Understood, sorry about that, sir. I didn't realize," Chen Ling said with an apologetic smile. He pushed his bike toward the edge of the market, thinking it would be better to set up near the large archway at the exit, where anyone entering would see him immediately.

"Wait a moment, young man! How do you have cucumbers and tomatoes this time of year?" The old man noticed the contents of his baskets and his eyes widened.

"These? They're grown in a greenhouse. Otherwise, where else would you find these?" Chen Ling explained with a smile. "Care to buy some?"

"Greenhouse vegetables... I've heard of those. The township speakers announced it a few times last year." The old man walked over to inspect the produce closely. "They certainly look like quality stuff. I can even smell the freshness of the cucumbers from here."

"How much?"

Chen Ling smiled and held up five fingers.

The old man was taken aback. "One-fifty?"

Chen Ling shook his head. "Five yuan."

"Whoa, boy! That’s more expensive than meat..." The old man lost interest instantly, clicking his tongue. "Pork was only five-fifty at the end of the year, and beef is under seven. If you charge this much for tomatoes and cucumbers, do you really think you'll sell anything?"

Chen Ling just smiled and pushed his bike away. The old man didn't know that after the floods this year, even simple bok choy would jump to one yuan per pound. Other vegetables would become absurdly expensive. Five yuan was just a trial price; he hadn't even started asking for the high-end prices yet.

"I'll test the waters. If I haven't sold them by noon, I'll go buy my livestock."