Chapter 123: Recognizing the Times as a Hero

  "Hey, young man, is this mutton skewer? How much does it sell for?" A spectator asked Qiufeng, who was busy with his head down, as he couldn't resist the temptation of the roasted meat smell. After all, Qiufeng was the older one among the two.

  "Two cents for a string." Qiu Feng didn't waste any words, after saying one sentence he raised the lamb skewer in his hand that was already dripping with oil to show the person in front of him. Meaning two cents can buy such a big piece of meat skewer.

  That man swallowed a mouthful of saliva and said: "Okay, young fellow, give me five strings to taste."

  Qiu Fang deftly counted out five skewers of meat from his hand and asked: "Do you want chili peppers?"

  "The spicier, the better."

  Qiu Feng picked up the chili seasoning bottle, sprinkled a few shakes on the meat skewers, then roasted them over the fire again before handing them to the person in front. Of course, it was a simultaneous exchange of money and skewers - Qiu Feng took the money and handed it back to his sister.

  "Mmm, this skewer of meat is really fragrant and delicious. Not bad, tastes good." The first person in front to buy the skewers gave a thumbs up after eating one.

  "Mom, I want to eat meat too." At this time, in the crowd of onlookers, a child was so tempted by the smell of meat that his saliva almost flowed out. He pulled at the adult next to him and cried, wanting to eat.

  That mother was annoyed by the child, but with so many people around, she didn't dare scold the child, so she said: "Come on, little friend, you also give me five strings, without chili peppers."

  "Okay, Auntie, please wait a moment. Would you like to try some roasted mantou slices? They're also very delicious and suitable for kids to eat." Qiu Ye said as she took out several mantou slices and put them on the fire to roast.

  Before the mother could say anything, the little kid next to her shouted: "Mommy, I want that one too."

  The mother had no choice but to say: "How much does that steamed bun cost?"

  "Auntie, also two cents a string." As she spoke, Qiu Ye raised the steamed bun pieces in her hand to show her, although they were made from small steamed buns, but compared to the steamed bun pieces of later generations, they were more substantial and had a higher gold content.

  "Go on, give me two more strings of rice balls." It's only once a year, the kids have been suffering for a whole year, this little request should be met.

  Qiu Feng and Qiu Ye were busy for a whole day, the aroma of their roasted lamb skewers wafted through the entire market, anyone who came to the market could smell it, and would unconsciously move towards the source of the meaty fragrance. So the two siblings kept roasting non-stop, without even having time to eat lunch, they just roasted two pieces of flatbread to fill their stomachs.

  Of course, there are also unpleasant places, which is when this market charges stall fees.

  "Come on, come on, pay the stall fee! Hurry up and pay voluntarily. If you don't, don't blame us brothers for not being polite!" The speaker was a young man with a shaved head, wearing a pair of jeans and a down jacket that reached his buttocks. Behind him were several other young men dressed similarly.

  A few people don't look like serious government officials at all, but rather like hooligans.

  Qiu Ye watched as they walked up to the stalls, and the stall owners would take out two dollars to give to them. They wouldn't say anything, just wandering off to the next stall.

  "Uncle Wang, why are they still collecting stall fees in this market? Which department is in charge?" Qiu Ye asked, looking at the meat stall owner, Uncle Wang. Qiu Ye had set up her stall next to Uncle Wang's meat stall again, as she was familiar with the area.

  "I'm also unclear, it was just over a month ago, these people took out some kind of power of attorney, saying the government had contracted this market to them, and from then on, every day, each vendor here has to pay 2 yuan in stall fees." Old Wang said quietly to Qiu Ye as he looked at the few people swaying over.

  "What? Nobody has any objections, they just give it away? What's written on the letter of attorney? Did you take a good look at it, Uncle Wang?" Qiu Ye asked in puzzlement. It turns out that this is okay too, if I had known earlier, I would have also made some kind of letter of attorney and then I could do business without any capital in the future.

  "I couldn't even see clearly, I couldn't recognize the characters at all. Besides, they didn't give us time to look anyway, it was just a flash and then they took it away. How could we small stall owners not have any opinions? At first, everyone refused, who knew they were so bold, pulling out a few disobedient stall owners and beating them up, their faces covered in blood! The police officer from the public security bureau saw it but didn't come out to uphold justice, so everyone understood that they had backing from above. In the end, no one dared to speak out, if you were asked to hand something over, you handed it over." Mr. Wang thought back to those people being beaten and still felt a lingering fear.

  Qiu Ye listened and nodded in understanding. So there was a city tyrant at this time, it seemed that the underworld was indeed everywhere.

  She was thinking about this when those young people came over.

  "Wow, you've set up a new stall, and it's lamb skewers! This is really rare, our market has never had this before." The bald young man walked over and said to Qiu Ye and his sister.

  "Yes, Bald Brother, I've seen roasted lamb skewers on TV, but I've never seen them in our Oil City." The dog leg armor next to him was also drooling, stretching his head forward to take a closer look, and he almost stuck his head into the oven.

  "Get out of the way, that's all you're capable of." The bald-headed guy who was in charge was clearly infuriated by his subordinate's insolent behavior and gave him a slap on the back of the head.

  "Big brother, our lamb skewer stall is on its first day out, and I don't know if the market management fee needs to be collected now. Is it two yuan? I definitely support the work." Qiu Ye wasn't someone without eyesight, her small arms and legs couldn't fight against others, and during this busy time, she didn't have the spare time to reason with these people. Besides, other small vendors had all paid up, so this little kid might as well not make a fuss about justice. So she directly asked for the price, preparing to pay and be done with it. She took out two yuan from her pocket and handed it over to those people.

  The bald man didn't expect the little girl to speak up first, and he looked at her with some surprise. He glanced at both children before scratching his head and saying, "Little sister is quite clever, okay, I'll recognize you. From now on, just call me Bald Brother, this market has already been contracted out to our boss, so if you have any business here in the future, just mention my name."

  Qiu Ye thought that since others were being so generous, he couldn't be stingy either. These people must be the city tyrants mentioned on TV; if one wanted to do small business here, they still had to curry favor with them.

  "Come, come, come, Bald Brother, our small stall just opened, nothing else, let's treat you to a few skewers of mutton, and also give us some advice." Qiu Ye said, and then quickly grabbed a handful of skewers from the barbecue stove, giving each of them a few.

  Those little rascals didn't show any courtesy to Qiu Ye either, they reached out and took the meat skewers, gave Qiu Ye a smile and said: "Hey, little sister, your meat skewers are cooked pretty well, business will definitely be booming in the future, we'll congratulate you on getting rich first." After that, the few of them wandered off again.

  Qiu Feng saw that they were doing nothing, so he took two dollars from his sister, and his eyebrows stood up. He looked like he wanted to fight with people. Qiu Ye quickly pulled him back. It's a good thing that this boy has a strong temperament, but he also needs to know when to stop. If he can't see the situation clearly and just acts impulsively, that's not a strong temperament, that's just being reckless.

  "Brother, what do you want to do? There are so many people waiting to buy meat skewers next to us, hurry up and grill." Qiu Ye grabbed the meat skewer with one hand and held onto Qiu Feng who was about to rush out with the other.

  Just now those people came to the front of the stall, and the people who were buying meat skewers naturally dispersed, giving them way. Now that they've left, they're gathering around again.

  "Sister, you've been cheated by them, they're not police officers. Why should we give our hard-earned money to them?" Qiu Feng's temper flared up, and he looked somewhat reckless.

  "Brother, I know they're not police, just some hoodlums. Don't get angry yet, come on, there are still many people waiting to eat lamb skewers over here. We can talk while we grill, after all, we can't delay making money." Qiu Ye gave Qiu Feng a look, meaning for him to take a glance at the surrounding customers.

  Qiu Feng was pulled by his sister, and his hand was stuffed with a handful of lamb skewers by his sister. He scrunched up his face in annoyance and started roasting the skewers again.

  "Brother, even if you're angry, you have to take a clear look at the situation first. We still have unfinished business here. Think about it, if we grill a few more skewers of meat, won't that make up for the two dollars we lost? Moreover, those people are all adults, and there are five of them together. If you rush out like this, what good will come of it? In the end, we still have to set up our stall here for several days. What if we offend these local thugs and they come looking for trouble every day? Can we even continue to run our stall? Two dollars or a whole basket of money, which one do you choose?"

  Qiu Feng calmed down after listening to his sister's words and stopped throwing a tantrum, but the pursed corner of his mouth revealed his discontent.

  Qiu Ye was relieved in her heart, fortunately, her brother wasn't too stubborn. If he had given himself a "cut off my head, shed my blood, I will never bow to evil forces" kind of speech, she would have been at a loss for what to do with him. Fortunately, fortunately.

  "Brother, our family is just an ordinary one, so we need to learn how to adapt to the situation." Qiu Ye was busy with her hands and didn't have time to give her brother mental guidance, so she simply said a few words, hoping that he could understand on his own.

  Afterwards, the two siblings started to get busy again. With effort comes reward. By the time they headed home, aside from the tricycle, they also had a pocket full of money.

  Qiu Ye rushed back home without even having time to count the money, directly instructing her brother to bring the mutton they had just bought from the market into the kitchen, then calling out to her godmother to start chopping the meat, marinating it, and stringing it up. Tonight there was still a stall to run, this time was really not enough.