Chapter 105 — Bargaining Expert — Calling for Recommendation Votes

Ahead of the snack street lay a night market of general goods. Though it was called a night market, on weekends plenty of vendors set up their stalls in the daytime too, and it was every bit as bustling as the snack street here.

Wei Zhao had nothing to do—over there, Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu were eating to their hearts' content—so he headed toward the general-goods night market. Compared with the expensive brand-name shops in the department stores, Wei Zhao preferred the street stalls.

So long as one had a good eye and knew the tricks of haggling, one could buy clothes of novel design and sound quality at a street stall just the same.

"Heh—" Gazing at the familiar figure before him, Wei Zhao was caught somewhere between laughter and tears. It seemed he and she were truly fated to keep meeting.

As Wei Zhao drew near, Tang Yun was crouched in front of a stall selling girls' clothing, a dress in her hands, looking as though she liked it very much.

"Um... could you make it a little cheaper?" Tang Yun hesitated a while before asking the stall owner.

"Little girl, take a look—this is all top-grade fabric, and look at the workmanship, nothing to fault there. The style's the most popular of the year, too. If you put this in Pengzhan Department Store, you couldn't walk out with it for less than eight hundred or a thousand..." The stall owner held forth, spittle flying, as though his wares were the finest in all the world.

"This..." It was plain that Tang Yun was not much of a haggler. "But two hundred yuan is a bit too expensive..."

"Not expensive at all—look around, everything's gone up in price these days. The fabric, the labor, together it comes to more than two hundred. Two hundred was figured on my old wholesale price; now that wholesale prices have risen, once this batch is sold, I'll be raising my prices..." The stall owner went on singing the praises of his goods.

"I... I'm from the snack street over there... Could you make it a little cheaper? A little cheaper and I'll buy it..." Tang Yun gritted her teeth and revealed who she was.

"Oh? You run a stall on the snack street over there?" The stall owner glanced at Tang Yun, then said, "If you're a vendor over there, you should know even better. I work on small profits and quick turnover—how much can we night-market sellers really make? With so many stalls, who's undercutting whom? And every day there's tax to pay, management fees to the market—what's actually left over isn't much..."

"Ah?" Tang Yun looked weakly at the stall owner. She had said as much as she had, and he would not knock off a single cent? Could he have seen how much she liked the dress, and so refused to budge an inch? This man was truly hateful.

Wei Zhao shook his head. With Tang Yun's style of haggling, it would be a wonder if she got the price down. It looked as though he would have to help her out. Tang Yun's family circumstances were not good—Wei Zhao could see that much—so if he could save her some money, he naturally ought to.

"Hey, brother, you've got a stall here?" Wei Zhao walked over and clapped the stall owner warmly on the shoulder.

"Ah? Uh? You are...?" The stall owner looked at Wei Zhao, utterly baffled, having no idea who this might be.

"You've forgotten me? Last year the two of us went to pick up stock together—at Old Zhang's place," Wei Zhao said with a smile. "I used to run a stall at the night market south of the bridge."

"Oh, oh." Hearing this, the stall owner nodded in sudden understanding. "So it's you, little brother. No wonder you looked so familiar. How's it going? Business good lately?"

"Don't even mention it. Your sister-in-law's pregnant, and I'm home looking after her—when would I have time to run a stall? It's just that my sister finally came to visit these past couple of days, so I seized the chance to get out and wander around a bit." Wei Zhao crouched familiarly in front of the stall.

Tang Yun stared in astonishment as Wei Zhao and the stall owner chatted like old friends... When had he ever run a clothing stall south of the bridge? Since when did he have a wife? And pregnant, no less? Wasn't he still in school?

"Hey, a pregnancy's a good thing. Congratulations." The stall owner nodded at Wei Zhao in congratulation. In truth, he had not the faintest recollection of where he had met Wei Zhao—who knew which Old Zhang that was? He picked up stock in so many places; there were at least three or five bosses named Zhang. But Wei Zhao was so familiar, and a fellow tradesman besides, so clearly they had met and chatted before, and he simply had not remembered the man. The stall owner felt a little embarrassed, but could not very well say so; he could only feign a look of sudden recollection and keep chatting with Wei Zhao.

"Ah, don't get me started. My woman loves to look pretty—even pregnant, she sends me out to buy her things," Wei Zhao said. "She wants me to pick up some cosmetics and some clothes for the summer in a couple of days... I was just on my way to Old Zhang's when I ran into you. I'll just grab a couple of things from your stall."

"No problem at all," the stall owner said warmly. "The wholesale market's a long way off—just take a couple of things here. I can't make money off you; we both know what these things cost."

"All right, then I'll just pick a couple at random." As he spoke, Wei Zhao casually picked up the dress Tang Yun had been looking at, then chose a pair of men's shorts for himself. Once he had made his selections, he said to the stall owner, "Just these two."

"Got it." The stall owner glanced at them and said, "That dress came in at forty-five, the shorts twelve—fifty-seven altogether."

"Make it sixty. I'd have to pay bus fare to get to the wholesale market anyway, and I can't let you make the trip for nothing." Wei Zhao took sixty yuan from his pocket and handed it to the stall owner.

"How can I take that? We're in the same trade," the stall owner said, waving his hands again and again. "This is a small business. Your wife's pregnant, and I haven't even sent a gift—that's embarrassing enough. How could I make a profit off you?"

"Heh, brother, if you're going to be like that, I won't dare come back next time. Sixty—just take sixty, all right?" Wei Zhao waved a hand, pretending to be annoyed.

"Fine, sixty then." The stall owner took the money with a chuckle. "You're an honest young fellow, so I won't say more. Next time you've got a moment, come by and we'll have a couple of drinks."

"No problem at all." Wei Zhao nodded and stood up. "I'll be off then, brother."

Tang Yun watched Wei Zhao buy the dress she had set her heart on, and was too shocked to speak. Forty-five yuan? Was she hearing things? This stall owner was far too ruthless—he had quoted her two hundred earlier, which would have bought four of them. Tang Yun fumed inwardly.

"Oh, right—what was it you wanted to buy?" The stall owner, having seen Wei Zhao off with a smile, only then remembered there was still a customer here, and asked.

"I... that dress from just now, do you have any more?" Tang Yun asked.

"No, that was the only one," the stall owner said, shaking his head.

"Then how come you sold it to him for forty-five and quoted me two hundred?" Tang Yun could not help but demand. This stall owner was really too dishonorable.

"He's in the same trade as me. I'll sell to him for forty-five if I please—what of it, is that not allowed?" The stall owner, seeing Tang Yun dawdle and haggle for so long without buying, was growing impatient. If not for her being rather pretty, he would have stopped paying her any mind long ago.

"He? He's in the same trade as you?" Tang Yun looked at the stall owner strangely.