Siheyuan: Bringing Warehouses to 1959

Nicholas Zhao Si's master, a relatively unknown Northeastern dance performer, mentioned in a skit one of the earliest household appliances owned by the Chinese people - a flashlight.

The magic weapon Zeng Wangcai took out to catch toads was a flashlight. There is a trick to catching toads. When strong light shines on the toad, it will not move, and it is very easy to catch it.

In today's households, flashlights are indeed household appliances, and can even be called the only ones. Radios that broadcast signals were only available last year, and today radios are still a luxury item.

However, what Zeng Wangcai was holding in his hand was not the copper-shell flashlight sold in the supply and marketing cooperative outside. He did not have that thing in his space. What he was holding was a flashlight that was not expensive in later generations and looked similar to a tiger-head flashlight.

The embarrassing thing is that this thing is rechargeable instead of using dry batteries. There is a button on the bottom of the flashlight, and the plug will pop out when pressed.

He felt that it was not a big deal to use some advanced things in the countryside, and it was okay even if they were lost. How could it be such a coincidence that the higher-ups got hold of them and asked people to slice them up for research?

It'll be fine as long as you're not stupid enough to produce thousands and thousands of them at once, filling the streets with them.

Zeng Wangcai turned on the flashlight, and a beam of light much stronger than the yellow light of the current flashlight appeared, shining in the paddy field and covering a toad. The toad lay motionless stupidly, allowing him to catch it easily and throw it into the bamboo house.

"Yeah, you have a flashlight. Can you beat me with this?" Zhang Xiuzhi discovered Zeng Wangcai's equipment.

At present, flashlights are still a rare thing in rural areas. It may be better when copper-shell flashlights evolve into iron-shell flashlights, but even rural people know about the existence of flashlights.

Zeng Wangcai waved the flashlight, but didn't shine it on Zhang Xiuzhi's face. "I'll teach you a trick. Shine the flashlight on the toad. The toad won't move, and it will be much easier to catch."

"Really?" Zhang Xiuzhi was very curious. She walked over from her side, stepping on the mud in the field, carefully avoiding the millet.

Zeng Wangcai waited until the noise passed before he slowly took a step forward, using the flashlight to look for the toad. After finding one, he demonstrated it to Zhang Xiuzhi. Just as he said, the toad did not move.

Now the situation is clear. Having a flashlight not only allows us to see more clearly, but also makes it easier to catch toads.

Zhang Xiuzhi reacted and said angrily: "Okay, you are teasing me, you have been prepared for this, right?"

"Haha, you didn't say we couldn't use flashlights, did you?"

"You are playing tricks..."

He was bound to lose. There was no way to compete. How could he compete? He caught several frogs in just a few minutes.

Zhang Xiuzhi said in a single tone, "I don't want to compete anymore. I lost. I will listen to you when it comes to making money in the future. Let me use the flashlight. You are clumsy and you have ruined the good things. Go and rest on the ridge of the field. Give me the bamboo basket. I want to fill both baskets today."

Although the bamboo baskets are not big, when both baskets are filled, they probably hold more than 10 to 20 kilograms.

Zeng Wangcai was not being pretentious. He was indeed not as good as Zhang Xiuzhi. Anyway, his goal of teaching people how to fish had been achieved, so it didn't matter if he took a break. He was not as fast as her with a flashlight, and it would be a burden instead.

He handed the flashlight to Zhang Xiuzhi and saw that Zhang Xiuzhi was observing this new guy with curiosity on her face.

"Your flashlight...is so bright, unlike any I've ever seen."

"Of course, this is Hong Kong Island's flashlight, very high-end. Here is the switch, and there is a plug at the back. When it is turned on, it can be charged without batteries."

Now Zeng Wangcai brings whatever he can’t get back to Hong Kong Island, and most people are unable to tell the authenticity.

When Zhang Xiuzhi heard that this flashlight was so advanced, she wanted to return it to Zeng Wangcai carefully, fearing that she might accidentally break it.

Zeng Wangcai saw through her thoughts: "This thing doesn't cost much, but it's rare. So, the flashlight is my investment, you can use it, and you are not allowed to object. We made a bet just now and you admitted that you lost. You have to listen to me when making money.

"You just have to hide it well, so that the child won't take it out to play and get it snatched away by others."

Zhang Xiuzhi was a straightforward girl, and she agreed after hearing this: "We'll give you more money when we divide the money, so you can go up and take a rest. With this, you can quickly fill up the bag."

The decision was made happily like this, and Zhang Xiuzhi caught two full baskets of frogs much faster than usual.

On the way back, Zhang Xiuzhi asked happily, "How much do you think this toad can be sold for per pound in the city?"

"I'm not sure about that. How about you come with me the day after tomorrow? We should leave early in the morning and go to the Pigeon Market to try it out. I think selling it for 1.8 yuan shouldn't be a problem. After all, pork costs more than 70 yuan."

"I can't sell it. Pork has fat, but toad doesn't. I'd be lucky if I can sell it for 50 or 60 cents."

"But you need a ticket to buy meat, but we don't need a ticket to sell frogs."

"Then try offering 80 cents?"

"I'll go with you to Pigeon City, to prevent you from being cheated."

"Haha, I'm not Harry..."

Zeng Wangcai really didn't dare to let Zhang Xiuzhi go to Pigeon City alone. Although Zhang Xiuzhi had martial arts skills under her command, Pigeon City was a place where all kinds of people mixed together. It was possible that someone would have bad intentions towards her because she was a girl. It would be fine if she got cheated of her things, but if something happened to her, it would be a loss.

"Listen to me, go early the day after tomorrow and call Xiaohu and Xiaobao."

After finalizing this, Zeng Wangcai asked Zhang Xiuzhi what she was going to do tomorrow. Zhang Xiuzhi said that she planned to dig wild vegetables all day and sell them the day after tomorrow.

Among the wild vegetables, purslane and wild amaranth are both good now, but they cannot be sold at a good price. The vegetables are only about two cents per pound, and people dig the wild vegetables themselves, so they have no sales value.

Zeng Wangcai originally wanted to let Zhang Xiuzhi catch the fish, but then he changed his mind and realized that it had taken several hours to catch a fish today, so it would be better not to let her do it until he had made all the arrangements.

He had an idea: "How about this, tomorrow you kill all the toads, and I'll give you a recipe to stew them. Then we can go to the pigeon market and sell them for one yuan per pound and see if we can give it a try."

Now that the difficult times have just begun, he thought that selling the toad for 80 cents might be a bit shabby, but maybe it would be different if he cut open the toad's stomach, removed the internal organs and braised it.

This is not about solving the employer's problem, but about saving the employer money on firewood and seasonings.

After fine-tuning the plan and obtaining his partner's consent, Zeng Wangcai returned home happily.

Before reaching the uphill stone road, Zhang Xiuzhi carefully turned off the flashlight and tucked it under her arm.

Early the next morning, Zeng Wangcai gave the prepared marinade package to Zhang Xiuzhi, told her how to make it, and then took Xiaohu and Xiaobao out.

There were three long guns, one for each person, which seemed like they were going out for target practice.

Zengzhuang has a good geographical location. There is a river in the village and a small hill behind the Zeng family. However, if you want to hunt wild boars, it is not very reliable to find them in the small hill. The forest that Xiaohu and Xiaobao are taking Zeng Wangcai to today is relatively large.

The three of them walked for more than an hour before they reached the edge of the forest. Zeng Hu wiped his sweat and said, "Brother, this is it. We have agreed that we should not go too deep after we go in."

"Is there a blind bear?"

"That's not the case. The bears we caught in our territory are not from the mountains of the Northeast. We can't go too deep. If we really kill a wild boar, it will be troublesome to carry it out."

A wild boar can weigh more than 100 kilograms at a small one and more than 400 kilograms at a large one.

Zeng Hu used the excuse of "one in a million" because he actually had no hope of hunting a wild boar. It was not that he was worried about not being able to find one. There were a lot of wild boars now. What he was worried about was his shooting skills. If he missed the target and scared the wild boar, either it would run away or you would.

However, Zeng Wangcai had no intention of hunting wild boars at all.

Isn’t black pork delicious?