Chapter 34 p1: Uprising (2)
Bai Luochuan also knew about flea markets. Wei Xian had told them about them before. Although there were no such second-hand goods trading markets in the border town, there were temple fairs during festivals, with many stalls and a lively atmosphere.
He waited for Mi Yang to announce the end of the meeting and, after he walked over, asked him in a low voice, “Why are you suddenly doing this? Where will you set it up?”
“Isn’t the school having a donation drive? I was thinking that instead of asking our families for money, we could sell some old things. It’s also a way of showing our sincerity. I’ve calculated it. We can buy a batch of pencils and notebooks in bulk, which will be cheaper.” Mi Yang explained as they walked, “We’ll set it up on the edge of the school playground. There’s a small rockery there that provides some cover, and there’s an empty space. There are also more people after school.”
Bai Luochuan nodded. “I’ll go too.”
Mi Yang agreed. He had already included the young master Bai in his plans. It would be strange if he didn’t go along.
This time, Mi Yang didn’t go to the Bai’s house. He first went back to his own house and rummaged through his things. Although his family was not wealthy, Cheng Qing and Mi Zehai had not deprived their son. In Mi Yang’s small wooden toy box, there were some store-bought toys, as well as a sandbag made by Cheng Qing, a small wooden gun made by Mi Zehai, and cloth tigers and other toys mailed from his grandmother and aunts in Shanhai Town. All in all, he found quite a lot.
Mi Yang picked out a small metal frog that looked quite new. It had a green shell and a winder on its side. After being wound up, it could hop a few times on its own, which was very interesting. He also found a set of Russian nesting dolls and took out a box of army chess. As he searched, he put these things in a bag and strolled into the bedroom. On the small table in the bedroom was a small frog water bottle and a copper horseshoe-shaped alarm clock. Just like at the young master Bai’s house, there were also a few toys here, but they were gifts from the Bai family, so he couldn’t very well sell them.
Mi Yang looked around and found a few more odds and ends, which he put in the bag.
Just then, Cheng Qing came home from work. She put the steamed buns she had bought in the kitchen and, while tying her apron, called out to Mi Yang, “Yangyang, go buy a bottle of soy sauce for Mom. We’re out of soy sauce.”
Mi Yang put down his things and ran the errand. When he came back, he saw that there was a little guest at home.
Bai Luochuan was sitting in the living room, helping to shell peas. When he saw him, he made a little space for him and whispered, “Auntie Cheng said to pinch off both ends of these, then break them open and take out the peas…” There was already half a small bowl of peas by his side. It was clear he had been there for a while.
Mi Yang delivered the soy sauce, washed his hands, and sat next to him to shell peas. The two of them talked as they worked.
Bai Luochuan had come to discuss the flea market with Mi Yang. Bai Luochuan had a lot of things and had already packed two boxes. He wanted to set up a small stall with Mi Yang.
Mi Yang thought for a moment. “I’ll go over and take a look tonight.”
Bai Luochuan was very happy. He stayed at Mi Yang’s house for dinner that night. Cheng Qing made them each a small bowl of shredded pork noodles and stir-fried two small side dishes. After they finished eating, they packed up their things and were about to leave together. Seeing Mi Yang with his schoolbag on his back and a bag in his hand, Cheng Qing smiled. “Going to play with Luochuan again? Are you coming back tonight?”
Bai Luochuan quickly said, “He’s not coming back. Auntie Cheng, let Little Good Boy stay at my house.”
“Alright. I see he spends more than half the year at your house anyway.” Cheng Qing gave Mi Yang two apples. Her work unit had just given out a box as a benefit. She told them to take them and eat them together. “Remember to come back for breakfast tomorrow morning.”
Mi Yang agreed, “Okay.”
Mi Yang went to the Bai’s house, changed into small slippers, and followed him upstairs to the bedroom. Bai Luochuan had indeed packed two boxes of toys—two cardboard boxes stuffed full, sorted and quite neat.
Mi Yang said, “We don’t need this many. Let’s pick some out.”
Bai Luochuan then sat on the carpet with him and started to choose. His family had many relatives, and they received many gifts during festivals. The old Mr. Bai also had a personality of doting on his grandson, wishing he could hold him in the palm of his hand, and would buy him a large pile of all kinds of toys and snacks.
Mi Yang’s face darkened as he took out the Sony Walkman. “We don’t need something like this, right? None of our classmates have that much pocket money to afford it.” He picked out a few more expensive items. However, he left a large Ultraman toy that could emit a laser beam. It was quite big and looked very new, but it was already two years old. Bai Luochuan had always thought it was ugly and had thrown it in the storage room.
Mi Yang saw a palm-sized game console inside, took it out, and looked at it, surprised. “Isn’t this the one you play Tetris on? What, you don’t want this one either?”
Bai Luochuan said nonchalantly, “I’m tired of it. It’s boring.”
Mi Yang said “oh” and also left the game console.
There were a lot of things, but most of them were not easy to sell. For example, this game console, many people would definitely look at it and want it, but the price was too high. In those years, there were very few elementary school students who could take out ten or twenty yuan at once.
They packed up a small box of things. During that time, Auntie Wu came to bring them some fruit. She was very happy today, her face beaming.
Mi Yang ate the cut apples and said with a smile, “Auntie seems particularly happy today. Is there any good news?”
Auntie Wu said happily, “Of course! I ran into a lottery on the street today. Two yuan a try. Aiya, I won a bicycle in one go!”
A flash of inspiration struck Mi Yang, and he suddenly had an idea.
After Auntie Wu left, he got up and found a cardboard box, wiped it clean, and then cut a piece of red paper and wrote the words “Lottery” on it and pasted it on.
Bai Luochuan was curious. “Are we having a lottery too?”
“Yes. Let me calculate how much we can earn first.” Mi Yang laid out all the toys in the box and roughly calculated. The young master Bai’s things were all good quality and could be used as first and second prizes, especially the game console, which could be the grand prize. The other small prizes could be their odds and ends, with the smallest consolation prize being a glass marble.
Mi Yang estimated that this pile of second-hand toys—excluding the game console—wouldn’t sell for more than twenty or thirty yuan. But if they made a hundred lottery tickets, and each ticket was thirty cents, if they sold them all, they could get back thirty yuan, including the principal and profit.
For thirty cents, you could have a chance to win a game console worth dozens of yuan, and every time you would get a small prize. It was very attractive.
He told Bai Luochuan about it, and Bai Luochuan immediately understood. He counted the number of items, then went downstairs and brought back a bag of lemon fruit candies. He took Mi Yang’s two small cloth tigers and pushed the bag over. “You can have these two. I like them. Take this bag of candy for the lottery.”
Mi Yang then expanded the small prizes. Besides the glass marbles, there were also many lemon candies.
After writing a hundred prizes, there were still two or three spots left. Mi Yang thought for a moment, then wrote, “Tutoring in any one subject, Mi Yang will help you get over 90.” He chuckled to himself as he wrote it.
Bai Luochuan saw it and frowned. “You’re going to tutor other people too?”
Mi Yang said, “I’m just writing it for fun. It’s interesting.”
After he finished writing, Bai Luochuan reached out and took the slip of paper, folded it carefully, and placed it in the box. He had originally wanted to remember its position, but Mi Yang picked up the box and shook it, and now they were all mixed up. The young master Bai’s face was full of conflict, and he frowned without saying a word.
Mi Yang had prepared their stall and was also planning to write some more flyers to hand out in private the next day as a small advertisement. Bai Luochuan didn’t let him write them. He went downstairs and told Mrs. Bai about it. Mrs. Bai asked for the details, wrote them down, and then helped them photocopy some flyers. The thick stack was still warm when she brought it over.
She smiled and said, “This is a good idea. It’s not wasteful, and you can show your love. I didn’t expect our Luochuan to have such a business mind. Your grandfather and uncle will definitely be happy to know.”
Bai Luochuan said, “It wasn’t my idea. It was Little Good Boy’s.”
Mrs. Bai immediately praised Mi Yang as well, in the same tone. Bai Luochuan’s face immediately filled with pride, and he tilted his chin up, looking spirited. “Yes, he’s just that good.”
The small stall was settled, and the flyers were also settled. The two of them felt much more relaxed.
Mi Yang took a small picture book and lay on the bed to read, humming a song as he flipped through it. It was a very old fairy tale, “The Frog Prince,” and the illustrations were quite charming.
Bai Luochuan walked over, lifted his pajamas, and touched his stomach.
Mi Yang was curious. “What are you doing?”
Bai Luochuan’s small hand touched it a couple of times, and he frowned. “You didn’t eat much tonight. I’m a little worried if you’re full, if you’ll be hungry.”
Mi Yang took his hand and moved it up a little, smiling. “This is my stomach. Feel it. I’m full.”
Only then did Bai Luochuan feel at ease.
The next morning, Mi Yang and Bai Luochuan moved their things to the school’s equipment room to store them first. On the way, they saw many classmates from the first class of the third grade also secretly putting things there. When the little fatty was standing guard at the door, he chuckled when he saw them. “Just in time, Brother Xiao is hiding things inside! We’ve checked. There’s no PE class today, so this is the safest place. I’ll keep watch for you outside. Don’t worry!”
Bai Luochuan and Mi Yang put their things over, covered them with a mat. Tang Xiao had also brought a bag and was stuffing it into the basketball rack. They were all working very hard.
Bai Luochuan took out a small stack of flyers. “I’ll go hand these out to the first and second grades. You can hand out the rest. Be careful not to let the teacher see.”
Mi Yang nodded. After Bai Luochuan left, Tang Xiao came over. “What are you handing out?”
Mi Yang gave him a large portion and said with a smile, “Flyers. Our grand opening is this evening. Come on, Brother Xiao, the more capable you are, the more work you do. You can hand all these out.”
Tang Xiao: “…”
Tang Xiao was quite reliable. He had his good buddies help him hand out the flyers, and soon a piece of news quietly spread through the elementary school grades: a flea market was going to open in the small empty space next to the playground in the evening!
After school, Mi Yang and his classmates went to that small empty space. Everyone spread newspapers, plastic sheets, and other things on the ground, and, as they had planned, the stalls of dozens of children were arranged in two rows, looking quite impressive.
Mi Yang spread a plastic sheet, and he and Bai Luochuan placed their box next to it, with the “Lottery” cardboard box in front. He looked around, then left the stall in Bai Luochuan’s care and went to check on the other classmates. The children in his class had never set up a stall before and were a little excited and nervous. Seeing Mi Yang was like seeing a pillar of support, and they all hoped he would come and give them some advice on their little stalls.
Mi Yang went to check on them one by one. He took stock of the items at the stalls of a few classmates who had fewer things, then had them merge into one, leaving only one classmate to watch the stall, and assigned the others to other tasks.
Yu Tian had brought very few things. Mi Yang had her do the statistics. This job was originally the little class monitor’s responsibility, but the class monitor had brought a lot of things and was excitedly watching her own stall, her face flushed, unwilling to leave.
Mi Yang took Yu Tian over. “You and the class monitor can do a handover. Take the record book, register everything properly, especially for the merged stalls. Make a clear record so it’s easy to check the accounts later.”
Yu Tian nodded nervously and went over to do the handover with the little class monitor.
The little class monitor generously gave her the notebook and reminded her, “Write my name nicely.”
Yu Tian lowered her head and wrote seriously, “Okay, Wang Yiyi… Class monitor, is the ‘Yi’ in your name the ‘Yi’ in ‘little bird leaning on a person’?”
The little class monitor said seriously, “No, it’s the ‘Yi’ in ‘relying on oneself’.”
Yu Tian: “Hey, aren’t they the same?”
Little class monitor: “Of course they’re not the same!”
…
