Chapter 105 — A Haggling Expert

Beyond the snack street lay a whole-night department-store market. Though it was called a night market, on weekends plenty of vendors set up their stalls by day as well, making it every bit as lively as the snack street here.

Wei Zhao had nothing better to do—Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu were still happily eating over there—so he wandered toward the department-store market. Compared with the outrageously priced brand-name sportswear in the malls, Wei Zhao much preferred the cheap goods off the street stalls.

As long as you had a good eye and knew a trick or two about haggling, you could pick up stylish, decent-quality clothes at the street stalls just the same.

"Ha—" Gazing at the familiar figure before him, Wei Zhao felt caught between laughter and tears. It seemed he and she really were fated to keep crossing paths.

As Wei Zhao walked on, he found Tang Zhi crouched in front of a stall selling girls' clothes, a dress in her hands, looking as though she liked it very much.

"Um... could you make it a little cheaper?" Tang Zhi hesitated for a while before asking the vendor.

"Little girl, take a look—this is all top-grade fabric, and look at the workmanship, beyond reproach, and this style is the most popular this year. Put this in Pengzhan Department Store and you couldn't take it home for under eight hundred or a thousand..." The vendor talked on glibly, spittle flying, as if his goods were the finest in the world.

"This..." It was obvious Tang Zhi wasn't much good at haggling. "But two hundred yuan is a bit too expensive..."

"Not expensive at all—look around, everything's gone up in price now. This fabric, the labor, together it's more than two hundred. Two hundred was calculated at the old wholesale price; the wholesale price has risen since, and once this batch is sold I'll be raising my prices..." The vendor went on singing the praises of his wares.

"I... I'm from the snack street over there... could you go a little lower? If you go a little lower, I'll buy it..." Tang Zhi gritted her teeth and revealed who she was.

"Oh? You run a stall on the snack street over there?" The vendor glanced at Tang Zhi, but said, "If you're a vendor over there, you should know even better. I'm working on small profits, quick turnover—how much can any of us make at this night market? With so many stalls, who's bidding up whose price? And there's the daily tax, the management fee to the market—what's really left over isn't much..."

"Huh?" Tang Zhi looked weakly at the vendor. She'd said all that, so why wouldn't he knock off a single cent? Could it be he'd seen how much she liked the dress, and that was why he wouldn't budge an inch? How hateful this man was.

Wei Zhao shook his head. With haggling like Tang Zhi's, it would be a wonder if she ever got the price down. It seemed he'd have to give her a hand. Tang Zhi's family circumstances weren't good—Wei Zhao could see that much—so if he could save her a bit of money, he ought to.

"Hey, brother, you setting up shop here?" Wei Zhao walked over and warmly clapped the vendor on the shoulder.

"Huh? Er? You are...?" The vendor stared at Wei Zhao, utterly baffled, having no idea who he might be.

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

"Oh, oh," the vendor said, nodding in sudden enlightenment at Wei Zhao's words. "So it's you, little brother—no wonder you looked so familiar. How's business been 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 come out and stretch my legs." Wei Zhao crouched down familiarly in front of the stall.

Tang Zhi stared in astonishment as Wei Zhao and the vendor chatted away 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 vendor nodded at Wei Zhao in congratulation. In truth, he hadn't the faintest recollection of ever seeing 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 surnamed Zhang, if not ten. But Wei Zhao was so familiar, and a fellow vendor besides, so clearly they'd met and chatted before—only he hadn't remembered the man. The vendor felt a little embarrassed and couldn't very well admit it, so he could only put on a look of sudden recollection and keep chatting with Wei Zhao.

"Ah, don't mention it. My wife's a vain one—even pregnant, she sends me out to buy her things," Wei Zhao said. "She wants me to get some cosmetics and clothes for the summer that's coming 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 vendor said warmly. "The wholesale market's a long walk from here—just take a couple of things here. I can't make a profit 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 Zhi had been looking at, then chose a pair of men's shorts for himself. Once he'd made his selections, he said to the vendor, "Just these two."

"You got it." The vendor glanced at them and said, "That dress came in at forty-five, the shorts twelve—fifty-seven in all."

"Keep the change from sixty—I've still got bus fare to the wholesale market, and I can't let you make the trip for nothing." Wei Zhao fished sixty yuan from his pocket and handed it to the vendor.

"How can I do that? We're in the same trade," the stall owner waved his hands over and over. "It's such a small business, and your wife is with child—I already feel bad enough for not having given you a gift. How could I possibly take your money?"

"Come on, brother," Wei Zhao waved his hand back, affecting a mock-angry look. "If you do this, I won't dare set foot here next time. Sixty, then—just sixty, alright?"

"All right, sixty it is." The stall owner accepted the money with a beaming smile. "You're a straight shooter, little brother. I won't say anything more. Next time you've got time, come by and let's have a couple of drinks together."

"You got it." Wei Zhao nodded and rose to his feet. "Brother, I'll be on my way now."

Tang Zhi watched Wei Zhao carry off the skirt she had fallen in love with, too stunned to speak. Forty-five yuan? Was this some kind of joke? This stall owner was nothing short of a highway robber! He had sold it to her for two hundred not long ago—enough to buy four of them! Tang Zhi seethed inwardly.

The stall owner saw Wei Zhao off with a cheerful smile, then finally remembered that he still had a customer on his hands. "Oh, right," he said. "What were you looking to buy?"

"Um... that skirt you just sold—do you have any more?" Tang Zhi asked.

"Nope, that was the only one." The stall owner shook his head.

"Then why did you sell it to him for forty-five, and to me for two hundred?" Tang Zhi couldn't help pressing him. This stall owner was far too crooked for words.

"He's in the same trade as me. I felt like selling it to him for forty-five—what's it to you? Got a problem with that?" The stall owner was growing impatient with Tang Zhi loitering about without buying a thing. If she hadn't been so easy on the eyes, he would have ignored her long ago.

"Him? In the same trade as you?" Tang Zhi stared at the stall owner with a strange look on her face.

"Yeah, what of it? Are you buying or not?" The stall owner frowned, thinking to himself that this girl was nothing but trouble—hovering around asking questions this and that without spending a cent. When his wife came back with their boxed lunches, he didn't want any misunderstandings.