Chapter 43: Simple and Genuine

In fact, he had connected the dots, thinking that this girl’s relative was the director’s son.

However, these bright red goji berries indeed looked quite good.

It was almost noon, and he couldn’t delay any longer; if he did, the leader’s family might think he came specifically to mooch a meal.

The man thought for a moment and directly asked Xia Li: “Comrade, these goji berries look like they’re homegrown, right? They look really fresh! I happen to want to get some of these to give as gifts, but it’s a bit late now.”

“If it’s convenient for you, could you sell me a few pounds? What do you think?”

Xia Li hesitated and let out a soft “ah.”

She looked at her own basket, her expression showing difficulty: “These are for my relatives. After I give them to my relatives, I’ll take the leftovers to the pharmacy; they buy goji berries from my family.”

The man perked up upon hearing this: “Hey, hey, are you selling them at the pharmacy too? Comrade, it’s the same thing; just consider it a convenience for me, selling them to me is the same!”

“I see your goji berries look quite good. What’s the price at the pharmacy? If it’s too high, I’ll give you a bit more; in any case, I won’t let you lose out!”

In the end, the man hurriedly took four bags of goji berries wrapped in oil paper and rushed into the dormitory area.

Xia Li certainly didn’t raise the price. She was confident in the quality of the goji berries she had personally picked; each one was a good fruit.

One bag weighed a pound, priced at 1.8 per pound, and in no time, she sold them for 7.20, rounding it off and collecting 7 yuan.

The man felt the pinch; this stuff was more expensive than meat! His monthly salary was just over thirty, and now he had spent seven!

But seeing the cigarettes and alcohol he was carrying in his other hand, which were indeed much more expensive, he knew the leader would definitely accept those. It felt like a waste to buy them, but after a moment of hesitation, he decided to pay up.

As he watched the man enter the dormitory building, Xia Li sat back down on the edge of the road, putting the money away, her face still showing that simple expression.

Forty minutes later, the man came out of the dormitory area, looking pleased and empty-handed.

First, he picked up the cigarettes and alcohol he had temporarily stored with the gatekeeper, slipped a cigarette to the old man, and then headed straight toward Xia Li.

Xia Li was talking to someone, her face showing a look of difficulty again.

“If you really want to sell them, I can only sell you one or two pounds at most. The rest is for my relatives…”

As soon as the man heard this, he quickened his pace, hurriedly found an excuse to send the other person away, and approached Xia Li, saying, “Comrade, I’ll take all the leftovers you have!”

Xia Li could tell from his expression that things had gone well; the leader must have accepted the gifts.

The man was clever too; he only mentioned that the goji berries were wild ones grown by his relatives, nothing particularly valuable, especially good for nourishing the kidneys and boosting energy.

The director initially wanted to decline, but upon hearing this, the director’s wife glanced at the plump, bright red goji berries, and chimed in, thanking him for coming to check on their nephew, and in the end, they accepted the gifts.

Having received a good response from the leader, the man then saw Xia Li being asked about the goji berries and generously decided to buy all the leftovers she had.

He had gained favor with the director, and he certainly hoped others would follow his example.

In the end, Xia Li was left with only two pounds of goji berries to send to her relatives and sold four pounds to the man.

The man thought it wouldn’t be bad to keep some for himself to brew some wine.

He unwrapped the oil paper package to taste them, and both the flavor and size were indeed excellent. He happily felt that he was lucky today to have met such a simple girl from the countryside.

Seeing that Xia Li was still waiting patiently, he turned back and asked, “Comrade, what’s your relative’s name? They all work at the factory; I might know them. It’s not right for you to keep waiting here.”

Xia Li replied, “It’s Li Weiguo from the cotton spinning factory. Do you know him?”

The man stomped his foot while holding the oil paper package: “You’ve come to the wrong place! We’re at the glass factory; the cotton spinning factory is on the street to the east!”

As he spoke, he pointed to the large characters “Glass Factory” at the top of the factory building.

Xia Li’s face turned anxious: “Oh no! I can read, and I heard this was the factory area’s staff dormitory, so I came here. What a mess!”

Her expression was flustered as she quickly shouldered her bamboo basket and hurriedly left.

The man shook his head and chuckled, truly a simple and genuine girl.