Reborn in 1994: Starting from the Autumn Harvest

The busiest time at the station is between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m.

More than 80% of the people coming and going were just there to eat melons, but there weren't many people actually buying them. Chen Mian was managing to keep the business running smoothly by herself.

Just then, a man in his thirties came over to watch the melon. His faded work clothes with "Changyang Machinery Factory" printed on them caught Chen Mian's attention.

Chen Mian remembered that Changyang Machinery Factory had recently gone bankrupt and closed down, and a large number of workers were forced to lay off. They could only do some small business or work for others.

The man looked disheveled, sullen, and hesitant, probably because he had just finished work and still had some unpleasant things on his mind.

Chen Mian thought for a moment and then asked, "What should I call you, Big Brother?"

He Jianjun.

"Since the guys here can't finish this either, why don't you all share one small melon?"

He Jianjun and the young man next to him nodded in unison, agreeing with the suggestion.

The melon was cut into eight pieces, each about the same size, and neither of them bothered to argue over the slightest thing.

Chen Mian handed over the melon: "Brother, you're a worker at Changyang Machinery Factory."

He Jianjun spat, "Where is Changyang Machinery Factory now? It's long gone."

"These days it's not easy for anyone; making money is extremely difficult."

"Who can argue with that?"

He Jianjun couldn't help but sigh. He had elderly parents to support and young children to raise. He dared not stay after being laid off, so he looked for work everywhere.

I can't find a stable job right now, so I can only do temporary work. Today I was moving goods for someone, and I got really angry. I didn't even get a sip of water, and I only got half the pay. I'm completely helpless.

Chen Mian, sensing an opportunity, said, "I'm pretty good at this job, but nobody wants to do it."

He Jianjun was taken aback, then looked down at the watermelon in his hand. Could farming be better than working a job?

Fengyuan County is a major agricultural county, and people are familiar with the various agricultural and sideline products produced in the county. He recently heard that the watermelon market is very bad, and the prices of watermelons and watermelon seeds have dropped significantly. People basically don't sell watermelons, but instead collect seeds locally to earn as much as they can.

After thinking for a moment, he still asked curiously, "Selling melons? How much can you earn in a day?"

Chen Mian leaned closer and whispered, "Our own melons will cost several tens of yuan."

He Jianjun glanced back at the tractor. He used to work in a machinery factory and only made a little over 200 yuan a month. He could earn so much by selling melons, probably because it wasn't a long-term business.

"You won't be able to sell these melons for more than a few days, will you?"

"Big brother is clearly a smart man, we can talk without any trouble." Chen Mian gave a thumbs up, then changed the subject, "We still have over a thousand catties of melons at home, they won't keep for long."

"Brother, do you want to sell melons? Looking at you all dusty and dirty, I reckon it's better than doing temporary work, mainly because you won't be bullied."

The watermelons in the side room garage can only be stored for one more day, but it's difficult for one family to handle it alone, so they need to find help. Laid-off city dwellers are perfect for this.

He Jianjun was intrigued and asked earnestly, "How will it be sold?"

Chen Mian already had a plan in mind: "You can set up a stall like me and sell melons. I'll supply you with the goods, and I'll sell them for 13 cents a pound. You can decide how to sell them yourself."

"As you can see from my situation, people don't fuss over the big and small melons. They just ask for a little less occasionally and that's it. We're just earning a service fee."

He Jianjun pondered for a moment. It would be dozens of miles from the village to the city, and who knows how much would be damaged in the process. At 13 cents, it was indeed a great deal.

After much deliberation, he felt it was worth a try; although he was struggling financially, he could still afford to spend a few dozen yuan.

"Okay, I'll give it a try."

"Big brother, can I come with you?"

Chen Mian turned around at the sound and saw that it was another younger brother who was watching the drama unfold, probably only eighteen years old.

"How about this, you two work with me for a while and get used to it."

"Brother, go home tonight and discuss it with your family. If they agree, come here at six o'clock tomorrow to meet up and pack the melons."

Neither of them had any objections to Chen Mian's mature suggestions, and they immediately got to work together.

Chen Mian smiled, finally able to catch her breath. During this time, she also discussed some details, since there was a big market in the city tomorrow, and she needed some things, so she asked them to help her bring some back.

As time went by, around six o'clock, the good watermelons in the truck were finally sold out.

At this moment, the older brother also drove over. When he saw that his younger brother's truck bed was empty, his face showed even more sadness and disappointment.

Chen Mian glanced at the few buns left in the small four-wheeled truck bed, thought for a moment, and went over to hand the leftover buns from lunch to her older brother. She guessed that he was too worried to spend money on lunch.

Then he found a dry, clean fertilizer bag, picked up eight or nine watermelons and put them in it, then carried the bag and headed towards "Pan Yuan Restaurant".

Chen Mian was afraid of interfering with other people's business, so she put the watermelon outside the door in a corner.

The restaurant is privately owned, and the employees are mostly ordinary people. Chen Mian told the female employee that they would share the meal after get off work as a way of expressing her gratitude.

Seeing that it was getting late, Chen Mian decided to promote the remaining watermelons.

"Don't miss out! We're clearing out the watermelons before we close up shop!"

"Fifteen cents a pound, delivery included for twenty..."

……

When Chen Mian and his brother got home, it was already dark, and it was past eight o'clock after they had eaten.

"That's exactly 76 yuan."

Chen Mian spread out a handful of small bills, some in odd amounts and some in even amounts, in the center of the round table and began to explain to everyone.

There's no need to go into detail about lunch expenses.

My eldest brother has already gotten married and separated from the family. So we need to keep track of the profits from selling the melons so we can distribute them to them later.

"This is 72.6 yuan," Chen Liang said expressionlessly, following closely behind.

Liu Xiaocui was stunned. Weren't the two brothers carrying about the same amount of melons? How come they were a few yuan short?

"This is……?"

Chen Liang sighed, plopped down at the end of the kang (a heated brick bed), leaned against the wall with his head down, exuding a sense of frustration: "These melons are so hard to sell, I'm never growing this rubbish again."

"If it weren't for the fact that Ermian wrote a few 'healthy and low-sugar' signs for me today, and then gave away melons at the end of the sale, I wouldn't have sold many at all."

Liu Xiaocui could sense her husband's disappointment, so she didn't care about the amount of money and quickly went over to comfort him.

Chen Hongguo and his wife felt both distressed and helpless, and didn't know what to say.

They were filled with regret. Last year, they were so envious of the high prices people were selling melon seeds that they couldn't sleep. But this year, when they followed suit, the prices plummeted and they suffered a disaster. Five acres of land would have yielded more than a thousand yuan, which was no small amount of money.

Chen Mian smiled. Her older brother was only 22 years old this year and hadn't grown up enough to support himself yet, so she came out to comfort him.

"Brother, don't worry about it. We sold nearly 900 jin today. The promotional price was 15 cents a jin. Normally, it sells for 20 cents a jin. After deducting losses, we made a profit no matter how you look at it."

"Isn't this better than the eight or nine cents price at the farm gate? Those buyers are just taking advantage of our village's poor roads and driving down the price as much as possible."

"Yes, Er Mian is very clear about the calculations, don't overthink it," Liu Xiaocui immediately replied.

Chen Liang looked up at his younger brother, his expression worried, and said, "Those melons in our room will only last for one day. How do you think we'll sell them tomorrow?"

Chen Mian waved his hand, then immediately pulled up a chair and sat down: "Tomorrow is the city market day. I found a buyer today and will sell the melons to them cheaply. Tomorrow, the two of us brothers will take all the melons there, and we'll be able to relax after that."

"Do you need me to come along and help?" Chen Hongguo couldn't help but ask, and Tang Xiuyun nodded seriously as well.

"The two of us are enough, it's not a big deal, don't worry."

"And there's a lot of work to do in the fields after the rain. You all need to hurry up and process those ripe melons, and then you'll have to get busy in the cotton fields too."

Seeing Chen Mian's confident demeanor, everyone felt inexplicably relieved.