Chapter 103 Folk Street

  Li Mo finished a bowl of noodles and drank the noodle soup together, his stomach finally felt much better, and the aftermath of the hangover eased.

   "Swallow, are you going to go fishing for lobsters this afternoon?"

"My friends have already gone to the nearby ditch to catch lobsters. I will accompany you around in the afternoon. This Chenjiagou has been developed into a tourist attraction because it retains the original style of ancient buildings. Uncle, How about I take you to the Folk Street to have a look."

  Anyway, there is nothing important in the afternoon, so he nodded and said, "Okay, I'll make a phone call first."

  He called Li Zhongsheng on the phone, and it took only a few rings to connect.

   "Xiao Mo, you woke up."

   "Dad, where's my suitcase?"

   "In our room, what is it that is so heavy?"

   "A box full of cash."

  The other end of the phone paused before whispering: "I'll go back and check it out, so I'll hang up first."

   "Swallow, let's go."

  Chenjia Village is quite big, with more than 200 households, but most of them are old people and children at home, and others are working outside. It's just that the ancestor of the Chen family celebrated his 100th birthday banquet, and everyone outside rushed back one by one.

  Chenjia Village, which is usually relatively deserted, will be very lively these days.

   "Swallow, where is the folk street you mentioned?"

"It's not far, just a ten-minute walk from the village. There used to be only one temple there. Later, after the development, Chenjia Village and the temple were integrated into one. There is a folk street there, and there will be festivals and other festivals held there." There are some special events. But the biggest events are the temple fairs in July and December, when people from all over the world will come to play, which is very lively.”

   "So when does this month start?"

   "Normally it's mid-July, and some booths have already started to be built there, and we just happened to see it in the past."

  Chen Xiaoyan jumped up and down three times, lively like a swallow.

  There is a large parking lot outside Chenjia Village, and tourist buses stop constantly. Under the guidance of the tour guide, tourists either enter Chenjia Village to feel the charm of ancient buildings, or walk towards the folk custom street like Li Mo and the others.

   "Little uncle, you see it's quite lively, right?"

  Swallow pointed to the entrance of the folk custom street not far away. There were quite a lot of people, probably because of the summer vacation. There were more children and tourists, which seemed particularly lively.

  There is only one main passage on Folk Street, about 300 meters long, and then there are several branch roads, but no matter how you go, you can finally reach the gate of the temple.

  Like other tourist attractions, there are many snacks here, and some are specially selling tourist gifts. Li Mo walked for more than 50 meters, and saw a shop selling bracelets. There was a bulletin board at the door, which read: The manufacturer has closed down, and all bracelets will be sold at a discount until stocks last.

   "Swallow, let's go in and have a look."

   "Farewell, little uncle, there is nothing to see here. The things inside are too bad, mainly to fool tourists from other places, and the bulletin board is placed at the door all year round."

   Chen Xiaoyan grabbed him and was about to leave.

   "I'll just take a look around, it's just shopping anyway."

   "Okay, then let's go in together, I know each other well, they won't fool you."

  Walking into the store, Li Mo saw that because of a row of counters, it was divided into two floors and filled with various bracelets. Some seemed to be made of jade, some were made of gold and silver, and some were handcrafted. There is also a row of cabinets by the wall, which look like old objects, silverware, wood carvings, porcelain, etc.

   There are also several groups of tourists, and they mainly look at the bracelets in the cabinet.

  Li Mo swept his eyes away, and couldn't laugh or cry. None of those bracelets were good, they were either stones or chemically treated defective products.

   Not to mention a 10% discount, he doesn’t even want to give it away for free.

  Li Mo turned around and was about to leave when his gaze swept over a vase on the counter, and he was suddenly surprised.

  He walked to the counter, and a woman in her forties said: "Sir, our bracelets are all very beautifully crafted, and they are now on sale at 10% off. See which one you like, and I will show you."

  Chen Xiaoyan walked up to Li Mo, and looked at the woman with dissatisfaction.

  The woman obviously knew Xiaoyan, she hurriedly said with a smile: "Look first."

   After speaking, walk aside to greet others.

   "Little uncle, let's go."

   "Don't worry, I'll take another look." He yelled at the people in the cabinet, "Boss, do you sell this vase too?"

  The woman who left before came over again, looked at the vase on the cabinet and said, "Do you want to buy this vase?"

   "Yes, I think this color is very unique and relatively rare. If you sell it and the price is right, I will buy it and put it on the table for flower arrangement."

  The middle-aged woman glanced at the swallow next to Li Mo, hesitated and said: "This vase was brought back by our boss when he was buying goods from other places. It is also used for flower arrangement on the counter because of its special color."

   "It's fine if you don't sell it."

  Chen Xiaoyan was really afraid that Li Mo would be slaughtered, so she was going to leave after pulling him.

   "Since this gentleman likes it, we can also sell it, but the price is more expensive." The middle-aged woman hurriedly stopped the two of them, saying that it is not for sale, since he likes this vase, it doesn't matter if he sells it to him.

   "How much is it?" Chen Xiaoyan raised her chin, her eyes were warning her not to quote blindly.

   "Our boss's purchase price is 1700 yuan, so I can earn 100 yuan for your personal labor expenses, okay?"

   "Have a 50% discount, and then make a small cut, and we will take away the 500."

  Looking at Chen Xiaoyan, who is so good at bargaining, Li Mo felt amused in his heart.

   "Not for sale." The middle-aged woman got impatient and directly refused.

   "Then you make another price."

   "Don't talk about less than nine hundred."

  Chen Xiaoyan whispered to Li Mo at this time: "Little uncle, it seems that this is her bottom line. If you like it, you can buy it back."

  Li Mo nodded, agreeing with her judgment, he pointed to the vase and said, "I bought it, please pack it up."

   "Okay, I'll find a small cardboard box and pack it for you."

   Chen Xiaoyan saw the bright smile on the woman's face, and immediately touched Li Mo's arm: "Little uncle, I feel like we were fooled by her again."

  Li Mo smiled and said nothing, no matter how much she fooled her, she couldn't fool her.

  The transaction was completed very quickly. The vase was wrapped in several layers of foam and placed in a cuboid cardboard box, which was specially tied with a rope so that it could be carried in hand.

   "Little uncle, let me carry it for you."

   "I'll just carry it myself, let's continue shopping."

   "Swallow, if it was a temple fair, wouldn't it be more lively here?"

"That's for sure. At that time, the various stalls of the temple fair will extend to our Chenjia Village. There will even be a long row of sheds on the side of the road. The lobsters that my friends and I caught before will be made by ourselves. Make two or three flavors and sell them on a small stool by the side of the road, and you can easily sell them for dozens of catties in half a day."

   "How much do you sell crayfish per catty?"

   "Fifteen yuan, a lot of pocket money."

  The two spent more than an hour shopping on Folk Street, and ate a lot of food. When he was about to go to the temple for another walk, Li Mo received a call from his mother, telling him that Chen Feng had arrived home and told him to go back immediately.

   "Swallow, your aunt is home, let's go back."

   "Then let's go back quickly, my aunt promised to bring me some beautiful hairpins."

  Back to Chenjia Village, there were obviously more people coming and going. They all smiled kindly at Li Mo, and a few middle-aged men invited him to sit at home.

   "Little uncle, those people just now are of the same generation as me, and their children should be called your uncle according to their seniority."

   Well, because my father has a high seniority, my status has also risen accordingly.

  (end of this chapter)