Chapter 11: Selling Eggs

Old Tan thought he must be seeing things. He rubbed his eyes, crouched down, and touched the eggs with trembling hands. “Dear heavens, is this real?!”

Tan Yiliang picked up an egg, cracked it against his mouth, and squinted with a sweet smile. “Yes, Father, it’s real! And they’re very fresh!”

Old Tan followed suit, cracking an egg and tasting its freshness. The rich, sweet flavor confirmed its authenticity, and tears welled up in his eyes as he savored it.

Tan Erqian walked over and said, “Father, if we take these eggs to the county market, we might make quite a bit of silver.”

Old Tan slowly stood up, furrowing his brow. “There are so many. Can we sell them all?”

It was July, the height of summer. If they couldn’t sell all the eggs quickly, the heat would spoil them before long.

Tan Erqian nodded solemnly and said, “We can sell them, definitely.”

Seeing his confidence, Old Tan nodded and said, “Alright, tomorrow I’ll go with you.”

“Alright!” The two Tan brothers nodded with big smiles.

Old Tan went into the house and brought out a basket. “Come, come, let’s gather all the eggs from the yard first.”

“Yes, Father.”

“Call Fourth and Fifth to help as well.”

“Got it!”

There were just too many eggs.

The whole family worked busily for more than an hour to get everything sorted out. By late night, they all collapsed into bed, exhausted.

At dawn the next day, the sky was just beginning to brighten.

The sound of a rooster crowing echoed.

Old Tan practically leapt out of bed and gave Tan Yiliang a slap on the backside. “Eldest, get up! Quickly, get up!”

“Yes, Father.” Tan Yiliang rubbed his eyes and pulled Tan Erqian up as well.

As the older brothers stirred, the two younger ones also got up to join them.

Old Tan went to the Zhou family at the south end of the village to borrow a cart. Returning to the house, he called out from the gate, “Yiliang, hurry up and bring the eggs over!”

“Coming, Father!”

Tan Yiliang carried a basket of eggs and placed them carefully onto the cart.

Because there were so many eggs, they were worried about being criticized by the villagers, so they covered the load with a cloth.

The three Tan men set off before most of the villagers were awake, heading toward Pingyang County.

Pingyang County was a poor, remote place. Moreover, it was only about an hour’s walk from Fengping Village, so most villagers preferred going to the county rather than the more distant town.

The Tan family, dragging their cart, were a bit tired but hurried along. In just over an hour, they arrived.

They stopped at the county’s vegetable market entrance and hung up a sign, starting to hawk their goods.

Perhaps because they were unfamiliar faces, passersby would glance at them but, for the same reason, no one bought anything.

Old Tan had never done business before and grew anxious.

“What do we do now? Why isn’t anyone buying? With so many eggs, are we going to have to haul them back?”

Tan Yiliang, good at manual labor but clueless about selling eggs, squatted on the ground, scratching his head. “Father, don’t worry. Let’s wait a bit longer. Last time was like this too, but eventually, people bought them.”

The county wasn’t very populated, and wealthy people were even scarcer. Only a handful could afford eggs. Yesterday, they’d sold a few dozen easily, but today might not be the same.

Tan Erqian crossed his arms and lowered his head, thinking deeply for a while. Then he pulled out a pen and some paper, writing a few large characters. “Father, big brother, don’t worry. I’ve got an idea.”

Old Tan and Tan Yiliang both looked up at him. “What idea?”

Tan Erqian held up the paper with the words he had written and said, “Free eggs!”

“Free eggs?!” Old Tan and Tan Yiliang were dumbfounded, both thinking, Has this boy lost his mind again?

“Who gives away eggs for free? Erqian, stop messing around.”

Tan Erqian smiled and said, “Father, Big Brother, just wait and see.”

With that, he found a rock, climbed onto it, and stood up, shouting, “Free eggs! Free eggs!”