PCJ – Chapter 156 Selling Wine

Jinhu and the others kept shaking their hands. Jinhu pulled Zhang Jiaohua to look at a pool of blood in the snow, Fugui mimicked pushing the bicycle, Xiaoshuan rolled on the ground holding his foot, and Gouwa and Mancang were anxious but didn’t know how to express themselves.

Zhang Jiaohua saw the pool of blood and scratched his head, “You mean someone got hurt here? Was it because they bumped into our bicycle?”

Jinhu and the others nodded first and then shook their heads.

Zhang Jiaohua, being young and innocent, didn’t even consider the possibility of theft.

The nearby vendors didn’t dare to come over and tell Zhang Jiaohua the truth, fearing retaliation from those three ruffians. Those ruffians might not have much skill, but they had many troublesome friends. If they were offended today, they could gather a gang to retaliate later. The vendors were all trying to make a living; offending them could ruin their business, affecting their families. So, the vendors looked at Zhang Jiaohua, wanting to say something but refrained.

Zhang Jiaohua didn’t think much about it and found a clean spot to continue eating his buns. Despite his small stomach, he quickly finished three buns. He patted his slightly bulging stomach, carefully wrapped the remaining buns in kraft paper, and put them in the pocket of his cotton coat to keep them warm.

Looking around, Zhang Youping still hadn’t returned. Zhang Jiaohua went to a nearby stall selling cups and bought a few. He and Jinhu then untied the three barrels of wine and placed them on the ground. He poured some wine into a cup, and the enticing aroma immediately filled the air, spreading far and wide.

People on the street immediately smelled the wine.

“Hey, whose wine spilled?”

“Why does it smell so good? Is it aged wine?”

“It smells great. Could it be the Daohuaxiang wine from the Gezhuping Town distillery?”

“Daohuaxiang wine doesn’t smell this good.”

As people searched for the source of the aroma, a young voice called out.

“Hey! Selling wine! Top-quality wine. Come and take a look!” Zhang Jiaohua shouted.

Zhang Jiaohua wasn’t naturally good at business; he learned this from watching TV. His routine was straight out of a drama about small vendors.

People drawn by the aroma quickly gathered around Zhang Jiaohua.

“Kid, is this your family’s wine?” someone asked.

“Of course, it’s my family’s wine,” Zhang Jiaohua nodded.

“Why does your wine smell so good? Did you add some fragrance?” another person asked.

“No, I didn’t see my mom add any fragrance. It smelled this good when it was brewed,” Zhang Jiaohua scratched his head. He really didn’t know.

“Kid, can I taste your wine?” a middle-aged man squeezed through the crowd and came up to Zhang Jiaohua.

Without replying, Zhang Jiaohua poured some wine into a cup and handed it to the man.

The middle-aged man took the cup and drank it in one gulp. Everyone watched him, eager to hear his opinion on the wine.

“Excellent wine! This wine is better than Maotai,” the man said excitedly, smacking his lips as he savored the taste.

His exaggerated praise made the others skeptical. They thought he might be in cahoots with the boy. After all, who would let a child sell wine? Where were his parents? The crowd looked suspiciously at the middle-aged man.

Ignoring the others, the man asked, “Kid, how much is your wine?”

“My wine sells for one yuan per jin (500 grams),” Zhang Jiaohua had no idea what price to set. But he thought, since a bun costs ten cents, the wine should be more expensive. In reality, homemade rice wine in the countryside wasn’t much more expensive than a bun. A jin of rice wine traded for a jin of rice, and a jin of rice cost less than forty cents, while a bun cost twenty cents. Zhang Jiaohua asking for one yuan per jin was about three times the price of regular rice wine, similar to the price of Daohuaxiang wine sold in bulk.

“That’s cheap. Do you have something to hold the wine?” the middle-aged man asked.

Zhang Jiaohua shook his head, feeling a bit troubled. He hadn’t considered this. Most people at the market were farmers buying New Year supplies; they wouldn’t bring a wine container from home. Even townspeople wouldn’t likely come to his stall to buy bulk wine. Usually, people who bought bulk wine had fixed places where they did so, bringing a saline bottle to fill. Zhang Jiaohua was the only one selling wine in the market.

“How about this? I’ll buy one of your barrels, including the container,” the middle-aged man suggested, feeling it wouldn’t be right to ask for the plastic barrel for free. Agricultural products were cheap, but industrial products were precious.

“Okay,” Zhang Jiaohua agreed.

The plastic barrel could hold fifty jin, and a bit more when completely full. The man didn’t want to take advantage of the kid, so he handed Zhang Jiaohua seventy yuan, “Including the barrel, here’s seventy yuan. It’s a good deal for such excellent wine at one yuan per jin. If I had more money, I’d buy all three barrels.”

The man paid, took the barrel, and left. Initially, people thought he was in on it with the kid, but now they weren’t so sure.

“Kid, can I try your wine too?” asked an elderly man of about sixty. He looked well-dressed, wearing a neat woolen Zhongshan suit with a high-neck red wool sweater underneath and black leather shoes. He was either a retired cadre or a government official, with a much higher purchasing power than ordinary folks.

Zhang Jiaohua poured him a small amount of wine.

The old man took the cup, sipped a little, savored it, and nodded appreciatively, “It’s indeed good wine. But saying it’s better than Maotai is an exaggeration. Selling it for one yuan per jin is cheap. I’ll take the other two barrels. But I don’t have the strength to carry them. Where are your parents? Can they help deliver them to my home?”

“Sure, sure,” Zhang Youping squeezed through the crowd. He was holding red paper, a writing brush, a wine measure, and a funnel. These items were scattered around, and the New Year crowds were everywhere, which delayed him. When he returned, he was startled to see so many people gathered. Seeing his son selling wine, he decided to observe from the crowd.