A red bean

In recent years, Erlong Mountain has begun to develop tourism, attracting many visitors. The place is filled with red bean trees, and in a village not far from here, there is a thirteen-year-old boy named Xiaoshan who takes advantage of the holiday to pick up red beans on the mountain. Xiaoshan's mother has immobile legs but has a pair of skillful hands. She drills a small hole in each red bean that Xiaoshan picks up and strings them together with a thin thread to make red bean necklaces, then lets Xiaoshan sell them to tourists on Erlong Mountain to earn some tuition.

At the foot of the mountain, there are many people selling tourist trinkets, but Xiaoshan is the only one selling red bean necklaces. As a newcomer, Xiaoshan naturally can't get a good spot, so he simply goes to the mountainside to sell. Many tourists, after breaking through the重重围堵 of vendors, arrive at Xiaoshan's place almost everyone holding a handful of souvenirs, and Xiaoshan's red bean necklaces naturally don't arouse their interest.

One day, Xiaoshan stood from morning till noon and only sold three strings, which made him a bit anxious. At this time, he saw a tourist slowly coming up and greeted him with hope: "Sir, buy a red bean necklace and take the good wishes of the people of Erlong Mountain to your family at home!"

The tourist was a middle-aged man in his forties wearing a hat. As soon as he raised his head, Xiaoshan's face turned red. It turned out that this person was named Wei Jili, the father of a classmate of Xiaoshan, and he had been to his classmate's home for dinner.

Wei Jili looked at Xiaoshan strangely and chuckled, "You are quite eloquent!" He took the necklace offered by Xiaoshan, looked at it, and asked, "Xiaoshan, why are you here selling things? Are you not going to school?"

Xiaoshan replied, "I just want to earn some tuition for myself."

"Oh!" Wei Jili asked with concern, "Where is your father? How can you let a child come out to sell things?"

When mentioning his father, Xiaoshan's eyes turned red immediately, and Wei Jili then learned that Xiaoshan's father had passed away long ago. He looked at Xiaoshan sympathetically and asked how much Xiaoshan could sell every day. Xiaoshan blushed and said, "The most I've sold in one day was fifteen yuan."

Wei Jili thought for a moment and said, "Since you and my son are good friends, I'll help you. Would you like to sell dozens or even hundreds of strings every day?" Xiaoshan's eyes lit up – of course, he would! With that much over a holiday, he would have enough for high school tuition.

Wei Jili chuckled, "Starting tomorrow, I promise you'll sell more than now!" Xiaoshan looked at him doubtfully: "Uncle, what method do you have?" Wei Jili winked at him: "This method is very good, you'll know tomorrow!" After saying that, he laughed heartily, patted him on the head, and climbed to the top of the mountain.

Xiaoshan thought he was joking and didn't take it seriously.

The next morning at ten, Xiaoshan came to Erlong Mountain as usual, and now there were more and more tourists. He saw a group of tourists climbing up and hurriedly went to promote his product. But these tourists each held a handful of souvenirs, just glanced at his necklace without even asking the price, and went straight to the top of the mountain.

Xiaoshan sighed disappointedly and could only wait patiently for the next group of tourists. After a while, a young man came straight to him and asked, "Kid, how much do your red bean necklaces cost?" "One yuan per string!" "Okay, give me thirteen strings!"

Xiaoshan thought he had heard wrong and was overjoyed: "Sir, why do you want so many?" The young man impatiently said, "Stop talking, we are thirteen people, one per person, hurry up!"

Xiaoshan quickly counted out thirteen strings and handed them to him, even giving a discount on one when he collected the money. After the young man left, Xiaoshan was as happy as if he had made a big deal, then he became more spirited, staring at the path below with wide eyes.

After a while, Xiaoshan was confidently promoting his products to a group of tourists when a woman squeezed in and said, "One yuan per string, right? I want eight strings!"

Xiaoshan happily counted out eight strings for her and received eight yuan. Soon after, a young man came up without waiting for Xiaoshan to speak and pointed at the necklaces in his hand: "I want five strings!"

Today's tourists bought several strings at a time, and they all took the initiative to come up, which made Xiaoshan very happy. Before noon, he sold all the necklaces he brought, and he counted, wow, he sold a total of sixty-six yuan! Xiaoshan suddenly remembered Wei Jili's words from yesterday, and he didn't expect him to actually do it, making him sell so much in one day, and he was full of gratitude towards him.

In the following days, Xiaoshan's necklaces sold very quickly, and the most he sold in one day was over a hundred strings. Xiaoshan was also clever, and for every ten strings bought at once, he would give an extra string for free.

One day, a group of tourists came up, and they seemed to be a family. The leader was a middle-aged man. Xiaoshan was about to greet them, but the man smiled at him and shook his hand, walking straight up.

But after a while, the man came down and handed over ten yuan: "Hey, give me ten necklaces."

Xiaoshan counted ten strings, and then took an extra one, saying, "I'll give you an extra one, wishing your family happiness and good fortune!"

Unexpectedly, the man shook his hand in a bad mood: "Forget it, who cares about your stuff?" He didn't even look at the extra string Xiaoshan gave and went up the mountain.

This made Xiaoshan stunned: If you don't care, then why did you come down to buy? Thinking about it, he found a phenomenon that these days his necklaces sold so well because some tourists went up and then came back to buy actively. And after buying the necklace, they must go up to the top again.

While he was in a daze, an old couple in their sixties came down from above, holding each other, and wanted to buy two necklaces. Xiaoshan recognized them; these two old people were the ones who had just gone up, and they were not interested in his necklaces when they went up.

The two old people took the necklaces, walked back while shaking their heads and sighing, "Alas, such a young age, so fierce, in a few years it will be even more remarkable!"

Xiaoshan thought, aren't you talking about me? What's going on? He looked up at the top of the mountain and couldn't help but run up. Before he could take a few steps, he saw the two old people, and he caught up with them and asked, "Grandpa and grandma, why did you go up and then come back to buy my necklace?"

The old man looked at him strangely and replied unhappily, "What's the relationship between you and your family, why do you have to ask us?" Xiaoshan was confused: "What family? My father is long gone, these necklaces are made by my mother, but her feet can't move..."

The old man shook his head and said, "I don't care about your relationships, but you are a gang, right? Alas, who in the world doesn't love money, but your way of making money is too unscrupulous!"

Xiaoshan was puzzled for a long time and anxiously stared at his eyes. The old man nodded towards the top: "Are you still embarrassed to ask me? Isn't it you who forced it?"

Xiaoshan followed the old man's line of sight and saw a tea house on the road to the top of the mountain. At this time, there were many people resting there, sitting and drinking tea and snacks while enjoying the scenery. Xiaoshan turned back and said, "Grandpa, this..."

The old man said, "You go closer to see!" Xiaoshan walked up puzzled and saw a notice posted on the side of the tea house entrance: No entry without red bean necklace! Next to it stood a waiter, staring at the guests' chests.

The old man complained unhappily, "It's hard to climb almost to the top, who isn't tired and thirsty, wanting to sit down for a drink and rest. But you came up with such a move, cough, this move is really powerful, even if you sell it for ten yuan per string, we have to grit our teeth and bear it! Besides, this is the only way to the top, if you don't buy your necklace, you can't enter the tea house, and you can't see the scenery at the top!"

Xiaoshan suddenly realized that Uncle Wei Jili must be the boss of the tea house, and this bad move was his idea, no wonder he was so powerful! The old man looked at Xiaoshan and said earnestly, "Child, doing business is not wrong, but money can't be earned this way, one yuan is not much, but no one will buy it happily, you see these necklaces thrown all over the ground."

Xiaoshan saw that there were red bean necklaces thrown everywhere. His nose suddenly became sour, and his eyes turned red.

Suddenly, someone patted Xiaoshan on the shoulder, and when Xiaoshan turned his head, it was Uncle Wei Jili. He laughed and asked triumphantly, "How is it, Xiaoshan, are your necklaces selling a lot?"

Xiaoshan thought for a while with his head down, looking at him and said, "Uncle, thank you for your kindness, but I will never sell red bean necklaces again."

"Why?" Wei Jili was extremely surprised.

Xiaoshan said with tears in his eyes, "These necklaces are all strung up by my mother one by one, my mother works day and night, so hard, I don't want people to throw them away like garbage... Moreover, I don't want guests who come to Erlong Mountain to go home and say bad things about the people of Erlong Mountain!"

Wei Jili was stunned for a while and said, "Fool, if you don't sell necklaces, how will you pay for your tuition? Who will pay for your school?"

Xiaoshan bit his lips: "I... I won't sell anymore!" After saying that, he turned around and left.

"Wait a minute!" The two elders in front of him stopped him, "Child, I want to buy twenty more strings, I want to buy one for my son, daughter, and grandchildren!"

Xiaoshan stammered, "Grandpa, you don't have to buy it." The old man laughed, "No, no, I want to buy, I want to take the necklaces home and let the family know that there is such a golden red bean necklace in Erlong Mountain!"

At this time, other tourists also gathered around, clamoring to buy, and in a short while, all the necklaces Xiaoshan brought were sold out. Seeing this scene, Wei Jili on the side blushed.

The next day, Xiaoshan came to the usual place as usual, and many tourists went up and then came back to buy his necklaces on purpose. The notice at the entrance of the tea house was still there, but the content had changed: A cup of tea for those wearing a loving red bean necklace!

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