Chapter 2: Market
I could hear the buzz of celebration and anxiety even before reaching the market. Families were huddled together preparing for the market rush, their children were assigned to commodity lines with tickets and cash in hand and explicit instructions of what they were to purchase. There were still 5 minutes to market open. The freshest produce and best quality items were only available on a first come first serve basis so everyone scrambled to get here early in the morning before lights on to get their pick of the lot.
"Yen!"
I whipped my head towards the shout and scanned the crowd.
"Yen! Over here!" a hand shot up over the heads. A short girl with braided hair smiled and bounced up and down in the poultry line at me.
"Ling" I squeezed over between the bodies.
"You're late" she grumbled "we were waiting and you didn't come so we split up and got in line already." Ling pursed her lips. "Give me your poultry ticket, you were late so Kan is doing the fish. Go help him, and remember to get two fish per ticket."
"Sorry, I was a bit late leaving the house." I took the envelope from my bag, taking out the chicken ticket and handing it over to Ling.
Ling looked down at the ticket, her eyes almost popping out of her small frame. Her eyes were already large, but her expression almost made her look comical.
"Red? I knew you'd be well off now but not to this extent. I'm jealous now, save a share for me later."
The dimly lit area suddenly lit up brightly. It was lights on. It happened at 5am every day when the lights switched from Dawn lights to Day lights. The ceiling turned blue and bright to emulate the sky and the market signs turned on to indicate opening.
The sounds of metal sliding can be heard from every supplier window as they prepared for the busiest day of the year.
"You know we always have your share." I said with my back to her while looking around for the others.
"The others got in line at the same time, hurry up and go find them." I felt Ling's hands my back giving me a small push.
I grew up with Ling and the others on the D floors. Our mothers were friends and we were always together. Every new years, we would consolidate our tickets and make the market purchases together, each kid assigned to a specific commodity line for efficiency.
I wove through the crowd, handing my tickets off to Sou for pork, Nia for eggs, and Long for fruits and vegetables before looking for Kan.
The line for fish is longer and more crowded than the other suppliers. Fish tickets were rare, but every family brings them out for new years. I felt a hand grab my upper arm and yank me aggressively through the crowd.
"Where are you going?" a low voice said as my arm was suddenly dropped.
"Ling told me to help you" I rubbed my arm and looked up at him.
Kan is more than a head taller than me with long bangs that fell over his eyes and hair sticking up in all directions. He'd always looked unkempt, but more so today because of the early morning.
"You weren't very helpful walking the wrong way" he scoffed and handed me two yellow tickets and pushed me in front of him.
"The line's moving" I didn't want to argue with a grumpy Kan, I'd never hear the end of it.
Citizens who finished making their purchases squeezed by us as we inched forward slowly. The market is always crowded in the mornings, but this is the most crowded day of the year. After today, the market will be closed for the three days of celebrations so any purchases have to be made today.
As I reached the front of the fish line, I saw the supplier window open with three middle-aged men standing behind tablets, processing purchases.
"Two grass carps per ticket please" I said and handed over the yellow tickets to the man in the middle as Kan walked over to the man on the right.
"You want two one pound fish per ticket? Missy, don't you know that larger fish are more tender and flavorful? I recommend you get a single grass carp per ticket" he advertised.
Tickets dictated how much of each commodity you had the rights to purchase, but it didn't care about the quantity, type, or quality. He was trying to offload some unsellable stock to someone who looks inexperienced.
"I'd like to have two fish per ticket for those, and three fish for this ticket" I said again while sliding over my red ticket separately.
He paused for a second.
"Four one pound carps for the yellow tickets for the Chen and Long families. For the red ticket..." he glanced at me "how would you like to divide it up?".
Red and purple tickets were rarely issued, even larger families sometimes receives a stack of yellow or green tickets.
"One two pound bighead and two carps for the red ticket. Can I choose?"
He tapped on the tablet then turned it over to me. Normally they would argue, saying that it would take too long if everyone got to choose, but the red ticket seems to deter him from accidentally offending me.
The display showed a live video of the fish available for purchase with the parameters I specified. I tapped on the ones that I wanted and handed it back to him.
"That'll be fifty yuan" he reached over and took the cash I had already placed on the table. "I will need to scan your code."
I held the inside of my wrist under the scanning laser.
"Thank you for your purchase, your orders will be delivered in an hour." he smiled politely, handing me the change.
"Will you please deliver the Zheng family order to the secondary address?" I asked.
"Yes, of course."
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