Chapter 4 4. Dragon Tooth Grass

Chapter One Mr. Helmstedt had fitted out a pleasing and affordable store on Coney Grand Street, and it took only a week to complete it, and he had Helmstedt shoes on the shelves.The rent is fair and cheap, and the white shoeboxes stand out neatly on the shelves. Johnny's friend and assistant Kewolf stood faithfully by his side.On the first day the shoe store opened, Kewufu would happily stroll into the shoe store to buy shoes almost every hour.When he bought a pair of new products with various soles, such as high-top elastic shoes, mopeds, calfskin shoes, exercise shoes, rain boots, various tanned leather shoes, tennis shoes, embroidered shoes and slippers, he found that Except for the ones he had already bought, Jonny was quick to answer every name of the shoes he asked.Other local British people often come to the shoe store to buy their favorite shoes that match their status.Kewufu is a generous man who knows how to do business. He distributes the shoes he bought to the old owner of the shoe store. Therefore, the shoe store has maintained a good sales status for several days.

Mr. Helmstetter was very grateful for this, but he was very puzzled by the backward custom of the aborigines not wearing shoes. They were ashamed to wear shoes, Jonny wiped the sweat from his brow, and hurriedly explained that they would soon lose the habit, and once they started wearing shoes, shoe buyers would flock to them. One afternoon, Kewolf walked into the office of manager Johnny and thoughtfully smoked an unlit cigar. Is there a way?He asked Johnny to bring it up quickly if he could.Or if you know someone who can figure out how to make the unsalable stuff sellable, just speak up.Boys buy sneakers that last ten years.So, the shoe store clerk has nothing to do but hang out.When I came in just now, I saw your awe-inspiringly loyal boys standing by the door, staring intently at the bare feet passing the store door, as if to see through them.The natives here are indeed a little neurotic.Cranche and I spent two hours discussing 18 potential deals this morning, and ended up with only one deal in the whole day, selling a pair of shoes.When Blanchard saw Miss Hemster buy a pair of round fur-edged house slippers in the store, he bought a pair too, but then I saw him throw them in the lagoon.

Tomorrow and the day after tomorrow there's a fruit steamer, the Mobary, coming, said Jonny, and we'll have something to do when the steamer comes. Do you have any plan you can turn the stock into a sought-after item? You don't understand political economy, the manager said bluntly, although you can't become a hot commodity, you can create the necessary conditions to turn the inventory into a hot commodity.This is what I do. Two weeks after the manager's telegram was sent, a fruit steamer brought in a large bundle of strange green goods that no one knew about.With his customs connections, Johnny had no trouble getting the bundle into his hands without inspection.He had the bundle carried into the manager's office, where it was carefully stacked in the back room.

Chapter two That night, he tore open a corner of the bundle and took out a handful of agaricus and inspected it carefully, just like a knight inspecting his weapon before going to a duel for his beloved.The dragon tooth grass matures in August and is as hard as a hazelnut, and the thorns are as hard and sharp as needles standing upright.Jonny whistled softly in a minor key, and went out to find Benny.Kewolf. In the middle of the night, when all Corario was immersed in sleep, Johnny and Beanie.Kewolf went out into the deserted street in his clothes that bulged like balloons, and they covered the whole of Conigrand with the grass between the sleeping houses and the hard grass, And carefully let it mix with the sand so that no one will bump into them, and then sprinkle the grass on the streets and lanes.

Where men, women and children may go, there is no omission. This kind of fine grass hidden in the mud makes people who walk on it barefoot feel pain like needles.They worked until dawn before going home to sleep peacefully, just like a great general who has changed his strategy and tactics to come up with a sure-fire battle plan, because they know that their night's labor is like Satan Sowing tares is like Paul planting trees, and the effect is immeasurable. When the sun rose, fruit stalls and meat stalls filled the market one after another.The market is located at the bottom of the small town, near the sea, and Johnny and the others didn't sow grass there.It's already past the opening time of the market, and no one has come to buy anything. The small vendors are surprised and ask each other: What's the matter?

Usually, women of all skin colors: black, brown, yellow, dark brown, light yellow, dark brown, no matter whether they live in palm fences, thatched huts or dark low earthen huts, will They came quietly from various styles of houses.Buy cassava, plantains, meat and poultry, raw tortillas, and more for household needs.They are the earliest buyers in the market.They dress simply, bare arms, bare feet, wearing a knee-length skirt, wide-open eyes, dull expression, walk from the door of their own house to the narrow sidewalk or the soft grass beside the street. The first person to step on the road let out a strange scream, then raised his foot, and it was really impossible to take another step.They sat on the ground and screamed, using their hands to prick their feet, the little bugs they had never seen before but biting very painfully, these little devils who bite people.They screamed from street to street.Some scrambled across the grass, and were bitten by the same strange little thorns, and sat on the grass, whining with the sisters on the sandy sidewalk, and the whole street could hear the women chirping and cursing, But the small vendors in the market didn't know it at all, and were still waiting in amazement.

Then, the young and old came.They were no exception, at first hopping, hopping, limping, and then cursing.They stand foolishly, or bend over and pull out the plague gods that pierce their ankles.It was loudly declared that the vermin was an unknown venomous spider. At last the dolls came out laughing and playing in the morning sun, and immediately the scolding was joined by the shrill howls of children, adding new victims every minute. Mary.Castina.Mrs. Boonfandnashka, she walked out of the house with dignity, and went to the bakery across the street to buy freshly baked bread, which was her daily habit.She wore a yellow damask skirt, a pleated linen sleeveless blouse, and a thin purple hood woven in Spain.Her yellow feet, ah!It was naked.Her gait is dignified.Mary.Castina.Mrs. Boonfandnashka took three steps on the velvety grass, and her noble feet touched the seeds of Djonesa.She howled like a wild-cat, and immediately turned back, on her hands and knees, as a beast in the moor crept toward the threshold of her decency.

Ed Fuso.Federico.Wodarzekiri.Mr. Drapache weighed 280 pounds and was eager to get his shipment to the fruit shop in the corner of the square so he could have his morning tea.No sooner had his shoeless feet set foot on the cool grass than he stepped on a hidden mine, and he collapsed to the ground like a crumbling church, screaming that he had been bitten by a deadly scorpion.Barefoot people were disturbed by the poisonous insects that fell overnight. Some hopped on one foot, some stumbled, some walked with a limp, and some stopped at the side of the road to pull them out with their hands. The first person to receive a prescription for relief from pain was a barber, an educated traveler, who sat on a rock, poked the grass seeds out of his toes, and made a speech saying: Look, friend, this abomination The bedbug, I am very familiar with.They swarmed like doves from the sky. Those that fell last night were dead bugs. In Yocatan, the one I saw was as big as a mandarin orange. Yes, it was it. In Yocatan, they Hissing like a snake, wings like bats, people who only wear shoes, and only those who wear shoes can walk This is the most effective way to prevent it.

Easterban limped to Mr. Helmstedt's shoe shop to buy shoes, and came out strutting away, but hurling curses at the damned bugs.The person whose foot was pricked sat or stood on one foot and looked at the barber who knew how to be immune, and all men, women and children shouted: It works, it works! The necessity of buying shoes has finally emerged, and more and more people are buying shoes.Mr. Helmstetter sold three hundred pairs that day. That's amazing, he said to Johnny.Johnny came to help him organize the inventory at night, and the business turned around so quickly.Only three pairs were sold yesterday.

I told you, as long as they start buying, they will keep coming.said the manager. I think, I'm going to order a dozen more before the stock doesn't fit.Mr Helmstedt said the eyes gleamed behind the spectacles. I don't think I'm busy ordering at the moment.Jonny persuaded, it's better to wait and see how the business develops. Every night, Jonny and Kewolf planted the seeds and took in the dollars those seeds brought in during the day.By the tenth day, two-thirds of the stock had been sold; the agaric was almost gone, and Jonny gave PinkyDowson sent a telegram ordering another 5,000 pounds of agaric, at twenty cents a pound, as before.After careful consideration, Helmstedt drew up an order for $1,500 shoes from the Northern Company.Jonny had been wandering the store to check the sales before the manifest was sent to the post office, and finally he made the right judgment in time to stop the order from going ahead before the manifest was sent to the post office.

That night he took Roseanne to the mango tree by the Goodwins' porch and told her everything.She looked him straight in the eyes and said: You are a very evil person.I want to leave you with my father.You say it's a joke, I think it's a serious thing. But after half an hour their conversation turned to another subject. They were debating what color of paper to decorate the walls after they got married, the light blue paper or the pink paper that the old colonialists, the Attwoods, built in Dyersburg. third chapter The next day, Jonny confessed to Mr. Helmstetter that there was nothing he could do about the rest of the shipment.The shoe merchant put on his spectacles, looked at him from behind the lenses and said: You hit me like the worst little rascal, if I hadn't run this business with the soundness of a businessman, my entire stock would have been lost Now, what are you going to do with the remaining third? When the second batch of dragon tooth grass arrived, Johnny loaded the grass seeds and the remaining one-third of the stock on the sailboat and went down the river to Anason. There, with the same shady and diabolical tricks, he succeeded again, and returned with a lot of money, having sold all his stock and not a single shoelace left. On his return he begged his uncle, Mr. Helmstedt, to accept his resignation, and bid farewell to the country with him, and retreat into the background.Because there is nothing here, including Rosanne, that can attract him any more, and he longs for the spinach and celery in Dellesburg. William.Terrence.After discussion, Kewolf was promoted to business manager, and Jonny and the Helmstedt family returned to England. On the fourth day after Johnny left, two canvas boats were sailing towards Coralio, and after a while, one of them lowered a small boat, and a young man with a black and red face came ashore.This man has a pair of shrewd and capable eyes.He stared at the unfamiliar things in front of him in amazement, and then he walked towards the manager's office with a slightly nervous gait. Kewolf was sitting lazily on a chair in the office with his legs stretched out, drawing his uncle's head portrait on a stack of office paper.He looked up at the visitor. Johnny.Where is Atwoods?The red-faced young man asked in a calm tone. gone.Kewulf carefully adjusted the Sam's bow tie. That's the kind of guy he is, said the red-cheeked man, leaning over the table, who's always wandering around and not doing his business.Will he be back soon? I don't think so, Kewolf said after a long thought. Some stupid thing to do, the visitor guessed in a moral tone, Jonny never manages to keep anything going until success, I wonder how he manages his business here, he never manages it himself. I just took over the job, admitted the business manager who was appointed after discussion. you?So, hey, where is the factory? What factory?Kewufu was gentle and polite, and asked with great interest. Hey, it's a factory that uses dragon tooth grass as raw material.Don't know what they produce from the agaric!I have brought two shipments of dragon tooth grass.I'll sell this batch to you at a lower price.I had a lot of workmen around Dylesburg, men and women, old and young collectors, and everyone said I was crazy.In those places, it takes a month for the dragon tooth grass to mature.I hired two ships to bring them here.Well, I'll sell you fifteen cents a pound, and I'll carry it for you, and if you want more, I think the old Anabamans will continue to collect it for you.Jonny told me when he left home that if he found anything to make money here, he'd let me get rich with him.Shall I bring the boat into port and dock? With a look of overjoyed, even disbelieving, on Kewolf's face, he dropped his pencil and turned to the visitor, with joy mixed with worry in his eyes, he was afraid that his surprise was just a dream. God, tell me, said Kewolf, looking intently, you're Pinker.Dawson? My name is Pincini.Dorson.Said the monopolist in the agaric grass market. Beanie.Kewolf slid from his seat with joy and grace to the man who had disembarked from the boat and was still standing on the ground waiting to receive him, the man he was looking forward to. In the sweltering heat of the afternoon, Colaneo made no noise.Amidst the few din, the harsh sound was the ecstatic and immoral laughter of the exhausted Irish-American, whom the dark red-cheeked young man stared at with shrewd eyes in amazement and incomprehension.Outside the street, there are many footsteps walking in shoes, and the waves are still beating alone against the ancient Spanish coast.