A Merchant

​It’s the last day of the week. Sunday. Generally, the last days of the week are always busy. Today was busy as always. Of course, I am a merchant. Where I live is exactly where cities and towns meet. Normally, on Sundays, everyone goes home to return to work. There is a special crowd here (on Ahimler Street) on Sundays. I would go to certain locations and bargain with the farmers and marketers there and buy a few items or areas. So I would sell it at a profit to other traders or buyers. But today more people came to Ahimler Street. I thought I would get a good share of the trade today. At first I went to some farmers and negotiated. “No, 150 rubles for 5 destinya lands is too much. I can’t give it in my life.” “Okay, 125 rubles. My final decision is that I cannot lower it yet.” ” Okay, agreed.”. That’s how I found some more farmers, sellers, buyers, marketers, all kinds of people. But while I was talking to an old market vendor, he told me something interesting. “Brother, I swear that land in the west of Siberia is very cheap. The other day, I paid only 150 rubles for 15 destinyas of land. Can you believe it?” That’s when I thought I should break the agreement with the previous farmer. Yes, it would be a shame for the man, but I had no choice. I went to the previous man and asked him to delete my signature, but he didn’t pay any attention. “You fraudster, what do you know about business? You cannot withdraw your signature. In this business, there are both profits and losses.” Indeed, the man was right, I could not withdraw the signature. I immediately started looking for a buyer who could buy this land. Then I found one. We agreed on 126 rubles and 500 kopecks. Then I collected all my profits and set off to the west of Siberia.
I walked for miles. The place that that strange stranger told me about seemed neither far nor near. I walked further. I met my needs from the small Russian villages on my way. The stranger told me about the village of Willatchiva, which is a wetland between two mountains “- “It was the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.” he said. Tombros, Ilkidia, no, that village did not exist. I wonder if he deceived me? Oh naive Alexander, why did you believe in a strange stranger? It’s my fault. That’s when I lay down on the ground. I looked at the sky. I had no hope anymore. Until a voice came. A horseman was coming. I immediately started yelling for him to see me. I was going to die of exhaustion. The horseman stopped. He asked me where I was going in broken Russian. I said willatçiva village. The man looked at me with a wry smile. He said, “They have cursed you. That village was destroyed in the Second World War. That’s why some of those lands are empty now. I think a man bought land from there at that time. He was walking around as a marketer.” “That man is the one who told me to come here,” I said to the stranger with excitement. “I understand,” said the stranger. “What do you understand?” “The man you were talking to was old, wasn’t he?” “yes” “He is my brother. You know, after the Second World War, we lost everything. And the only inheritance we had from our parents was that land. We got into a fight. Finally, I gave up. The land was left to him. But then a new law was passed in the country. Now we have the land to ourselves.” “It wasn’t going to happen. It was going to belong to the state. He’s always playing around with it. He was going to sell you this land under a different identity and get away with it himself, brother. My brother was a bad guy.”
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