Mei Mengzhen jumped in fright, "Oh my god, you scared me to death."
Not only was Mei Mengzhen startled, but because her reaction was so big, she ended up scaring her little brother too.
Mei Mengchen plopped right down on the floor, looking at Mei Mengzhen with wide, confused eyes. He seemed a bit worried and a little scared, his tiny mouth puckered up as if he couldn't decide whether to talk or just cry.
Mei Mengzhen quickly scooped him up in her arms, seeing his pitiful little face, and comforted him, "Chenchen, why are you looking at your sister like that? You scared me to death!"
Mei Mengchen heard his sister's explanation and immediately relaxed. He'd just thought his sister was mad at him, turns out she'd just gotten scared. His little mouth said in a sad voice, "I woke up already, but you weren't awake, so I just wanted to watch over you."
"When did you wake up? Sorry, I must've scared you, huh?"
Mei Mengchen reached out and hugged her shoulders, holding her tight. "I haven't been awake long. I wasn't scared, sister."
Actually, he'd been awake for quite a while, and he'd watched Mei Mengzhen sleep for quite some time. She looked so peaceful sleeping, he didn't want to disturb her. Who knew that staring at her would make him totally lost in thought? After all, his sister who always protected him was the prettiest when she slept like that.
Mei Mengzhen twitched the corner of her mouth at his answer. Wow, he's acting all tough and saying he's not scared when his voice sounds so miserable.
But her little brother was still just a kid; she had to comfort him anyway. She kept patting him while holding him, and after a while, his mood finally settled down.
And at that moment, Mei Mengzhen decided to put a big X over the whole idea of going into her space during nap time. That kind of scare, neither she nor her brother wanted to deal with it again.
Once Chenchen was feeling better, she looked up at the clock—yep, it was time for dinner.
Looks like she'd really slept for quite a long time. Both breakfast and dinner had been pretty good, and tonight she just grabbed some fresh greens from the space and made a quick soup, so the whole day more or less "got by" like that.
Yesterday was busy at home, and both of them were exhausted so they hadn't gone out, but today, not going out didn't make any sense.
But for Mei Mengchen, going out meant spending money—and their family, well, didn't have any.
No matter how young he was, he still understood that much.
If it had been before, no matter how clever Mei Mengchen was, his little brain wouldn't have thought about these details. But he'd been drinking the Spiritual Spring Water for several days now. That water's effects included adjusting the body and boosting memory. Mei Mengchen was young with little impurity in his body, so the results for him were even more obvious than for Mei Mengzhen.
Neither of them noticed it yet: Mei Mengchen was now much richer in language, and even smarter in his thinking.
Of course, he hadn't started preschool yet, so just from a few words, nobody would guess all that.
"It's fine, let's go out and see if there's any way to make some money." Mei Mengzhen really wished she could just go herself, but her little brother was only 3. She couldn't leave him by himself at home. What if something happened, she'd feel guilty forever—might as well bring him along.
When he heard about making money, Mei Mengchen said excitedly, "You have an idea, sis!"
Mei Mengzhen nodded, "I know someone who can get us vegetables wholesale—the kind we eat. We could buy a bunch more and then sell them."
Mei Mengchen's face lit up. Such tasty veggies could definitely make tons of money. He said happily, "Okay, let's do it together!"
Mei Mengzhen quickly nodded, "Yeah, we'll sell together. But I don't know where to sell yet, so let's go take a look now."
No matter how smart Mei Mengchen was, he was still a three-year-old at heart. With Mei Mengzhen coaxing him like this, they both headed out the door.
First, they grabbed breakfast outside, then started strolling through the local Vegetable Market near their home.
Actually, the Vegetable Market near their place didn't have much business. Mostly, it was for people grabbing some veggies after work, or anyone who needed something could quickly pop downstairs and pick up a few things. So the business was pretty average, but there was still money to be made.
As for the busier Vegetable Market, it was about a 15-minute walk from here, and that market was booming. The place was huge, both inside and out, and every stall was doing great business. The veggies were super fresh and even cheaper than the ones at the front entrance. Not just for Mei Mengzhen's parents—relatives liked buying from there on their days off, too.
Mei Mengzhen finished walking around their market, then took her little brother to the bigger one further ahead.
They hadn't even reached the market yet, but already the street vendors had jammed the sidewalk full. She really didn't expect that even after 9am, there'd be so many people buying veggies.
Mei Mengchen was so tiny, she was afraid someone would step on him, so she hurriedly picked him up.
They looked all around, checking out the place, and even though the Vegetable Market was kind of dirty, they both felt it was full of life and actually pretty fun.
It took them more than twenty minutes to walk through the whole market from start to finish—which showed just how big it was. Outside, where all the private vendors had their stalls, Mei Mengzhen found a little corner and pointed it out to Mei Mengchen, "How about we set up right here tomorrow?"
Mei Mengchen nodded excitedly, but asked, "Okay, but what about this afternoon?" Why wait for tomorrow? They had time this afternoon.
That made Mei Mengzhen pause, "But you need to take your afternoon nap."
Mei Mengchen shook his head, "Sis, I don't have to nap. Sleeping at night works just the same."
Mei Mengzhen hesitated. Honestly, she'd never sold veggies before, and trying it out this afternoon did sound pretty good. But, "Are you sure you can skip your nap? Have you ever skipped your afternoon nap before?"
Truth is, she had no idea. She'd always been at school before, or closed in her room on holidays, or out playing somewhere. She'd never really paid attention to whether her brother took afternoon naps.
Of course! "If I go out to play, I don't take a nap."
Well, if that's the case, "Then let's try it this afternoon."
If they started selling this afternoon, they needed to get all the tools ready now.
Luckily, right by the market you could find anything. She searched the back alley, and her eyes finally landed on one of those PE logistics crates—the kind you can stack up two layers, and hold a ton of stuff. Each cost 25, so she bought two right away.
She could've bought more, but once filled with veggies, she didn't think she'd be able to carry them all herself.
Then after another stroll, she bought a decent-sized trolley to haul the veggies, which cost another 40. Counting breakfast this morning, she'd already spent a full 100 bucks without even starting anything yet.
In 2007, a hundred yuan still went a ways, and seeing all that spent so quickly really made her a bit heartbroken, especially since she didn't have much money to begin with.
But she didn't complain about it—kids pick up on grown-up moods real fast and she didn't want her little brother worrying, but Chenchen was already keeping a mental tab. While Mei Mengzhen stayed quiet, he spoke up instead, "How much did we spend today? Do you think we'll make it back this afternoon?"