Twenty minutes later, Dukan appeared in the vegetable market.

The originally bustling and noisy vegetable market has become particularly deserted due to the outbreak of the new coronavirus and the arrival of the Spring Festival.

Looking around, there was only one old man sitting there alone in the huge vegetable market.

He looked like he was in his seventies or eighties, with a thin face and a short stature. He was wearing a shabby cotton coat and sat in the corner of the vegetable market.

In front of him were two baskets, which contained a pile of vegetables and a large washbasin.

The large washbasin was filled with golden crucian carp, which exposed their small heads and spit out bubbles weakly.

"Old man, are you the only one in the vegetable market today?" Dukan walked up to ask.

"Yes, I'm the only one. Young man, do you buy vegetables? I grow the vegetables myself and I catch the fish myself, and they are all fresh."

The old man reached out and pulled his collar over to cover his mouth and nose, and his face was filled with a kind smile.

"How to sell these vegetables and crucian carp?"

Dukan asked, looking at the old man's muddy boots.

"Ceats and crucian carp are both one cent per pound."

The old man replied with a smile.

"One dime per pound?"

The old man's answer surprised Dukan, obviously he didn't expect it to be so cheap.

"Cough...cough...cough..."

He was about to speak, but the old man suddenly stood up and walked quickly to the side and drove a long distance from Dukan, then covered his mouth and coughed hard.

"Old man, you..."

"Young man, don't come over. I didn't wear a mask and caught a cold... It's the outbreak of the new coronavirus. I should have responded to the government's call and stayed at home, but the news said that the city was short of vegetables. I thought that there were so many vegetables growing at home, and I couldn't finish it alone, so I cut some and picked them up..."

Dukan was about to go over and ask, but the old man waved his hand and stopped him and said to himself.

"Old man, where do you live?" Dukan couldn't help asking.

"Shangqing Village." The old man kept a distance from Dukan and spoke with a smile.

"Shangqing Village? Shangqing Village outside the city in the west is twenty kilometers away from here." Dukan was shocked.

"Yes."

"How did you come here?"

"Walking here."

"Walking? It's twenty kilometers. Are you carrying so many dishes to walk over?" Dukan was shocked again.

He thought the old man came here by car, but he didn't expect that he was walking.

"Yes, the country is not as dark as before at night. You have to use a flashlight when you are on the road. Now the lights are on at night. I set off at three or four in the morning and walked here at around ten in the morning."

The old man's face was filled with a smile of relief and happiness.

The old man's simple words fell into Dukan's ears, and circles of ripples appeared in his heart...

It is hard for him to imagine how difficult it is to get here when a man in his seventies and eighties carries a vegetable from the suburbs at three o'clock in the morning and travel through mountains and rivers. However, his vegetables and fish are only sold for one cent per pound.

What is the reason for this?

"Old man, why do you sell these dishes and fish so cheaply?" Dukan couldn't help asking.

"I originally chose to give it to the government, but I couldn't find the place. I asked many people along the way, and stopped and finally arrived at this vegetable market for some reason. I was old and couldn't move anymore, so I put it here to sell it. One cent per pound is to give back to society, the government, and contribute my own strength to the virus fight against the epidemic..."

The smile on the old man's face was very bright and simple.

"Old man, where are your family members? Do they know you are coming out to sell vegetables?"

"I have been weak and sick since I was a child, and my family was poor, so I was not married and I have always been alone... If the government had not subsidized and delivered medicine to me for an elderly person like me every month, and sent cadres to express condolences from time to time, I'm afraid there would be grass on my grave, so how could I be as healthy as I am now?"

"I saw the news on TV about the outbreak of the epidemic, and I wanted to contribute some of my own strength..."

The old man seemed to have not talked to anyone for a long time. He was very talkative: "Okay, let's not chat anymore, young man... How much do you want these dishes and fish? I'll weigh it myself. I'm a little cold and cough..."

Looking at the old man standing aside with a kind smile on his face, Dukan didn't know what happened to him suddenly, and felt a little blocked in his heart and a little sore in his nose...

"Old man, I've asked for all these dishes and fish, but these cannot be calculated based on the one dime you said, and must be calculated based on the market price."

Dukan said without hesitation.

"These vegetables are 21 pounds, three pieces per catty. These crucian carp have 11 pounds, 10 yuan per catty, a total of 173. Here are 200. You can take them, so you don't have to look for them."

Then, Dukan fiddled with the dishes and fish on his own.

"This...how can this work? No, no... One cent per pound must be one cent per pound..."

"Oh, young man, I can't ask for this money..."

Dukan walked over and stuffed the two hundred yuan bill into the old man's hand. The old man refused repeatedly but couldn't resist him. He stomped his feet in a hurry and wanted to stuff the money back into Dukan's hand, but Dukan hid it.

"Old man, I have disinfectant water and masks here. Come... you put the mask on, and I will disinfect you."

Dukan took disinfectant and masks from the car to distract the old man.

"Thank you... Thank you, young man, the government is promoting wearing masks when going out, but I... I can't buy them... I've caused trouble for the government." The old man looked at the mask handed over by Dukan and said with a shame.

"Old man, don't say that. It is because of people like you that the government has become so strong and prosperous. Come on, get in the car, and I'll take you home..."

Dukan looked at the old man and said with a sincere look.

"Young man, go home quickly. Your family is still waiting for you to go back for dinner. I'll just walk back by myself."

Finally, after Dukan's repeated persuasion, the old man finally agreed to let him take him home.

Half an hour later, Dukan sent the old man home.

The old man waved goodbye to him with moist eyes and told him to come to him if he had no food at home.

Looking at the old man standing in the rearview mirror at the gate of the yard, Dukan started the car and left gradually.

The old man's figure gradually disappeared in the rearview mirror, but his image became clearer and hard to erase in Dukan's mind.

When Dukan drove back to the fast food restaurant, opened the door and moved the vegetables and fish in the car out one by one, and took out the vegetables to sort them out, a ball of paper was found in the basket.

Dukan was about to throw the paper out casually, but found that something seemed to be wrapped in it.

Dukan opened the paper, and what appeared in his sight were two hundred-dollar bills...

I don’t know when the old man put the money in this basket.

Looking at the wrinkled two hundred yuan bill, I thought of the old man who waved goodbye with a smile in the wind...

Suddenly,

Crystal tears slid from Dukan's wet eyes...

After a brief touch, Dukan began to get busy.

He first cleaned the store and carried out comprehensive disinfection work before he started to process the ingredients.

Because there was only one person, Dukan did everything from washing vegetables, side dishes, cooking to the end of the box, which made him very busy.

More than an hour later, looking at the more than fifty portions neatly placed on the table, the tempting color, and the uniform and appetite-prone lunch box was matched, Dukan, who was already soaked all over, finally had a satisfied smile.

Time is too tight and there is not enough manpower. At noon today, Dukan had to make more than 50 boxed lunches ordered by the Third Hospital of the City. As for other hospitals, they were unable to supply them for the time being.

I can only think of a way in the afternoon, prepare the ingredients early, and strive to get as much as I can.

Medical staff who are on the front line who fight the epidemic cannot be hungry!

The lunch box was ready, Du Kan did not dare to delay for a second, loaded it into the car, and hurried towards the Third Hospital of the City.

Due to the outbreak of the epidemic, the traffic flow on the road has dropped sharply and the roads have become much smoother.

In the past, it took more than 20 minutes to get from the store to the Third Hospital of the City, but today it took less than ten minutes to arrive.
Chapter completed!