CH 24

Chapter 24 – Selling flower baskets

When they heard that, Wu Lang and everyone felt so relieved. Thank goodness, thank goodness that Man Bao was aware of her family’s situation.

The stall owner was taken aback. But when he saw her distress, he hesitated for minute before saying, “Then, I’ll sell the rooster to you at a cheaper price, just 65 wen.”

Man Bao shook her head, “I don’t have that much money. But I might have after I’ve sold all the flower baskets. Then, I’ll definitely buy your big rooster. By the way, uncle, do you know where I can find most of the children?”

The stall owner glanced at the flower basket in her hand, at the two children and the two teenagers behind her. He realised belatedly that Man Bao was a vendor, just like him.

It took him a while time before he pointed to the main street, “Go out, turn right and walk straight ahead until you see hawkers selling candied haws and sweets. There are many children there.”

He couldn’t help saying, “Little girl, you’re so amazing.”

Man Bao was praised, and she blushed with joy. She also felt she was quite amazing!

She said goodbye to the stall owner and led everyone to look for the children.

The main street was bustling and livelier than the side street. There were all kinds of things for sale. Man Bao stared curiously as she walked along, and she noted that sellers on both sides of the road were shouting to attract attention.

The side street didn’t have any of these.

Man Bao was very curious as she listened. It took a while before she understood what the sellers were yelling about.

She looked down at her little flower basket, her eyes lit up, and she yelled, “Flower baskets for sale, flower baskets for sale, very beautiful, very beautiful little flower baskets. There’re also sweets to eat.”

Man Bao’s little girl voice in the midst of many adult voices was so conspicuous that many on the street turned to look at her.

Man Bao was even more excited when she saw people looking at her, and she shouted louder, “Flower baskets for sale, very, very beautiful flower baskets. Fresh flowers, you’ll have great fun with these baskets!”

This was obviously plagiarism! Man Bao cleverly combining lines from the two nearby stalls.

But no one could dislike her. After all, she was just a little girl. Moreover, she was very cute.

The key point was that when Man Bao noticed someone looking at her, she would give them a bright and cheery smile. Even if that adult was upset, his/ her grievances would dissipate when they saw her.

After all, everyone liked cute children with bright smiles.

Man Bao carried her small flower basket everywhere to look for customers. When the crowd saw the enthusiastic girl, many of them asked for the price of the basket. She said, “Five wen for a basket which includes a sweet.”

Man Bao took a sweet from her pocket and put it in the basket.

The sweet was nicely wrapped. Last evening, Man Bao took out all the greased paper which she had collected, and got Xiao Qian to cut it into smaller pieces, just like the usual sweet wrappers.

Then, she, Da Ya and the others wrapped the sweets with the greased paper. They twisted both ends of the paper, just like how sweets were normally wrapped.

All these sweets, wrapped in a piece of cloth, were placed at the bottom of Wu Lang’s pack basket. So, Man Bao only have 20 sweets in her pocket.

The person who enquired, was just simply asking, and had no intention of buying anything. But when Man Bao put a sweet in the basket, he hesitated and asked, “Is this sweet delicious?”

Man Bao nodded vigorously, “It’s very delicious.”

Wu Lang took out the sweet which they had crushed earlier.

They were in town. Naturally, he couldn’t be too casual, so the crushed pieces of sweets were wrapped in a handkerchief.

The man tasted a small piece, his eyes lit up, and he asked, “I’ll buy this flower basket. By the way, are you selling the sweets?”

Man Bao, “Do you want to buy sweets only?”

The man nodded, “This sweet is good. I’ll buy some home for the kids.”

Man Bao took out the sweets in her pocket and said, “The sweets are two for one wen.”

Wu Lang and Da Ya stared at Man Bao. They were about to speak out but Liu Lang and Er Ya stopped them. All of them, with a guilty conscience, stood behind Man Bao, and pretended to be very confident.

The buyer hesitated for a moment and said, “Okay, give me 10 sweets. I don’t want the flower baskets.”

Man Bao was not happy, “Not possible. The sweets are sold together with the flower baskets. If you don’t buy the flower baskets, I won’t sell the sweets to you.”

Now even, Liu Lang and Er Ya couldn’t help poking Man Bao.

Man Bao wriggled and insisted. She felt the flower baskets were better than the sweets. However, she was also aware that the flower baskets could only be sold if they were sold together with the sweets.

There wouldn’t be any buyers for the baskets alone. So, for the sake of baskets, she wouldn’t just sell the sweets.

The man was surprised and asked, “Do I have to buy 10 flower baskets?”

“You have to buy at least one before I can sell you the sweets.”

The buyer thought for a while, nodded, and said, “Fine. Then, give me one flower basket and 10 sweets.”

Man Bao gave him the flower basket in her hand, counted 10 sweets and put them in the basket, and cheered up.

The buyer counted 10 wen, gave the money to Man Bao, and said with a smile, “Your family’s sweets are delicious, but the flower basket is useless.”

Just as he finished saying those words, a little girl who was walking by stared at the flower basket in his hand. She grabbed her mother’s hand and said, “Mother, I want this.”

Her mother glanced at the basket and then, lowered her head to coax her daughter, “Why don’t I buy you some sweets shortly? We can’t eat this flower basket.”

“I want it, the flower basket is so beautiful.”

Er Ya trotted forward immediately and said, “We also have sweets in our flower basket. The sweets are delicious.”

The little girl’s eyes brightened, and she looked at her mother expectantly.

Her mother hesitated before asking, “How much is it?”

Er Ya, “Five wen!”

It wasn’t very expensive, so she hesitated for just a minute before agreeing to buy it. She asked the daughter to choose the basket she liked.

The little girl selected a flower basket that Liu Lang was carrying. Man Bao put a sweet in the basket, and received five wen. The buyer left happily.

Everyone was very happy as they just made 15 wen!

Once the business started, it was quite easy to continue.

Er Ya was the fastest to pick up. Hand in hand with Man Bao, they walked forward while shouting baskets for sale. Da Ya was inspired and started to shout as well.

As if they were in a competition, the three girls walked and enthusiastically shouted “Flower baskets for sale…”

Their shouting attracted the nearby children who ran up to them to buy the flower baskets.

There were also some kids who followed Man Bao and her nieces and shouted along for fun. Before they even reached the sweet seller, there was a big group of kids following Man Bao!

Everyone loved to be amid a bustling and lively environment. The children were the same. They attracted many people, and soon, all the flower baskets were sold out.

Wu Lang found a place to stop. Da Ya and Er Ya quickly wrapped flowers around the bare baskets. It was quite easy as they just mimicked the previous designs.

Man Bao also asked Keke for several beautiful styles and guided her nieces to create these new designs.

As every flower was unique, every flower basket turned out differently.

The number of surrounding children grew, and many of them rushed home to ask their parents for money.

The folks in town were different. Although five wen could be considered quite a lot of money, it was but a small change, to the rich.

If the child badgered non-stop, any parent who loved their child would still give them the money.

Wu Lang had taken out the sweets which was earlier hidden at the bottom of his pack basket. He was responsible for putting a sweet in each of the flower basket.

Man Bao was responsible for sales, promoting their products to her young customers, telling them how beautiful, how gorgeous their flower baskets were, and how delicious their sweets were.

Many children were tempted, and they took out money to buy the flower baskets. Once Man Bao received the money, she would hand it to Liu Lang. She would then take out several flower baskets for the buyer to choose one.

Da Ya and Er Ya’s wrapping speed almost couldn’t keep up with the demand.

When Wu Lang noticed that the flowers in the pack basket were almost used up, he asked Liu Lang to rush to where Er Lang was, and to bring the remaining small bamboo baskets and flowers.

Liu Lang handed the task of receiving money to Wu Lang and ran off.

– End of this chapter –

This is just great! Our Man Bao is a clever little girl, and her team of brothers and nieces are just so awesome. 

I was depressed yesterday so I re-read many chapters. and it lifted my mood. I felt as if I was part of this wonderful family where everyone loved one another and was just so supportive of each other. I felt very grateful to God for my parents, family, friends and all of you!

And I hope that if you ever need a boost, reading these translations or even the MTL version would make you feel much better!

Blessed Friday and weekend!