Siheyuan: Bringing Warehouses to 1959

Grandma didn't think there was anything ambiguous about her words. She wanted Xiuzhi to go and see her eldest grandson's home. For rural people, having a household registration in the city and a house, and a large one at that, is an attraction and a guarantee in itself.

Zeng Wangcai waved goodbye to his grandmother. He sent his three sisters to the village entrance but they were still reluctant to go back. After they walked a few miles out of the village, Zeng Jinhuan took the two sisters, who were crying with pouting lips, and walked back home, looking back every few steps.

Now that my eldest brother is gone, will life go back to the way it was before?

There are two vats, the one for meat is heavier, and the one for braised toad and large intestine is lighter. Together they weigh more than 100 kilograms, which is nothing for people who have been farming for a long time.

It was cool in the morning. Before daybreak, Zhang Xiuzhi used the flashlight that Zeng Wangcai gave her to illuminate the room. This made the Tiger and Leopard brothers feel very hot and they kept asking for help. Zeng Wangcai was worried about his two cousins ​​and did not give them the flashlight.

Halfway through the journey, the four of them took a rest, ate some bread and continued on their way. When they arrived at Sijiu City, it was already bright and the sun was shining brightly.

"Brother, Dad said that if you want to go to Pigeon City, we must accompany you. Grandma sprinkled salt on the meat, so there is no need to worry about it going bad." Standing at the entrance of the Pigeon City alley, Zeng Hu said, wiping his sweat.

The pigeon market in Sijiu City is located in the west of the city. It is a semi-public and semi-private place, which is very different from the black market.

In the beginning, the Pigeon Market was just like its name, a place where the people of the old city of Sijiu traded pigeons, flowers and birds. Later, it developed slowly and more things were traded there, including food, drinks, daily necessities, needles and thread, all kinds of things. However, this kind of behavior was considered speculation and was illegal.

However, although it is illegal, the authorities have not banned it. They have just strengthened supervision and conducted inspections from time to time, especially around festivals.

"No need for that. We are just here to test the waters today. It doesn't matter whether we sell it or not."

"Sell, we have to sell. We put so much effort into it, we have to make money." Zhang Xiuzhi was unhappy and took the initiative to pick up the burden and walked into the pigeon market.

There are people guarding the entrance to the Pigeon Market. You can't just enter empty-handed. If you bring things to sell, you have to pay. This indirectly proves that the Pigeon Market is organized.

Zeng Wangcai paid the money for Zhang Xiuzhi and led the Tiger and Leopard brothers in.

There are still pigeons being traded in the Pigeon Market. Not all people in the city are poor, there are rich people too, but there are much fewer of them than before. Most of the people who set up stalls here are engaged in food business, and some of them deal in various tickets.

Tickets are used to buy things, so scalpers appeared in the pigeon market. They spent money to buy tickets that ordinary people didn't need, and then sold them at a higher price to make a profit from the difference.

Likewise, there are people who collect grain here, but these days, even if you are bold enough to do so, no one is selling grain on a large scale because there is no private sector.

There are a lot of local specialties. Farmers nearby will sell the mountain products they secretly get or the chickens they secretly raise to exchange for some money or food to survive.

Speaking of this, we must mention another special unit - the purchasing station.

Purchasing stations do not only collect waste. Nowadays, the purchasing stations opened by supply and marketing cooperatives are department-level units. They collect waste, agricultural and sideline products, and used goods.

However, no one who comes to Pigeon City to trade will choose the purchasing station. The reason is easy to understand. The purchasing station is linked to the public security and needs to know the source of the goods. It cannot accept stolen goods, so few people here will go to the purchasing station.

The purchasing station is Zeng Wangcai's next target because it has the ability to purchase large quantities of supplies and is safe.

Zeng Wangcai found a shady place and asked Zhang Xiuzhi to put down the jar and open the lid. This was considered setting up a stall.

Next to them, there was a stall selling tickets, and it was obvious that the stall was engaged in long-term speculation. There was nothing on the stall, just a sign, and it seemed that the stall was waiting for a buyer before going somewhere else to trade. On the other side was an honest farmer, with two rabbits, three pheasants, and a basket of about twenty or thirty eggs under his feet. The scale of this stall was quite large.

As soon as the jar was opened, the aroma of the brine inside could no longer be hidden and spread through the air.

The thirty-something ticket scalper next door was tempted: "Little brother, what's in your jar? It's really tempting."

"Braised food, braised toad!"

"Hey, you're the first one selling stewed food in Pigeon Market, but your cooking skills are amazing. It smells so good that I want to eat it. Why are you selling this?"

"One dollar per pound!"

"Toad, you're selling it for a dollar, why don't you go and rob it?"

The ticket scalper was like Zeng Wangcai's hired shill. With just a few words, he attracted many people to come and watch. When they heard that frogs cost one yuan per pound, the audience felt the same as the ticket scalper and thought it was too expensive.

Zhang Xiuzhi's face turned red and she wanted to argue, but Zeng Wangcai didn't let her. The girl had a hot temper and might offend people for no reason.

In a business transaction, the buyer will definitely think it is too expensive. There are some shameless people who will complain that you are not feeding them even if you give them the gift for free.

"Brother, men and women, let me tell you something. Do you think what I said makes sense? Also, is my dish expensive?" Zeng Wangcai picked up a sorghum leaf and used chopsticks made of thin bamboo to pick up a toad and wrap it up for display. "I have removed the head and tail of my toad. It is pure dry food. You can eat it directly after buying it. It is no worse than meat. And the marinade I use is made of real ingredients. Look at it. There are more than 20 kinds of spices, such as star anise, cinnamon, bay leaves, etc. You can go to the supply and marketing cooperative to see how much it costs per tael..."

Zeng Wangcai's passionate sales pitch only made the ticket scalpers and onlookers drool, but no one actually bought the tickets.

One dollar, not counting the ticket, can buy more than a pound of meat.

Zeng Wangcai died before he could accomplish his mission. He overlooked a problem. It was still 1959 and the most difficult time had not yet arrived. Will he be able to eat toads at one yuan per pound in the second half of the year or next year?

dream!

During the most difficult times, even if we directly exchanged small yellow croakers for food, we couldn't get much.

After half an hour, the store still hadn't opened. Zhang Xiuzhi became anxious and hinted to Zeng Wangcai to lower the price, but Zeng Wangcai refused.

To be honest, Zeng Wangcai was confident and had no shortage of food and drink. All he wanted was a way out. It didn't matter whether he could sell the pigeons or not. What was important was to understand the pigeon market. When the time came to make money, he would bring hundreds of kilograms of rice and flour to sell to ensure that nothing went wrong.

"Little brother, I can't sell it anymore. Sell me two kilograms at a lower price. I really like it. I just saw some large intestines in the jar. I want two kilograms of large intestines, too." The ticket seller spoke again.

Zeng Wangcai thought for a while and said, "Brother, you seem to frequent the pigeon market. I'll sell it to you in a different way. Just as we'll make friends, one is 30 cents, two are 50 cents. Look carefully, bro, four of my toads are definitely more than a pound. You won't suffer a loss or be fooled."

Zeng Wangcai was not lying. The toads were indeed very big. After being dipped in the marinade, they must have weighed at least three taels each.

The ticket scalper was tempted: "Can I try it?"

"Do you want face?"

"Little brother, you misunderstood. I meant to taste the marinade."

This is possible. Zeng Wangcai used bamboo chopsticks to put some marinade on the sorghum leaves and let the ticket seller lick a few sips.

It was obvious that the ticket scalper was very satisfied with the taste. He licked the sauce clean and finally took out fifty cents to buy two.

"Hmm, it's fragrant and delicious. You can even eat the bones. The taste is amazing. Apart from being a little expensive, there's nothing wrong with it..." The ticket scalper praised the dish while eating.

In the pigeon market, amid the hustle and bustle of people, a ticket seller put on a show of eating. However, there were more people asking than buying.

Half a day passed and when the pigeon market was about to close, Zeng Wangcai had only sold seven or eight braised toads, and the ticket seller alone bought four of them.

When the stall was about to close, the big brother of the ticket seller kindly said, "Little brother, your skills will be wasted if you leave them here. Wait a minute, I will find you a big customer, the well-known Wu Ye in Pigeon City. He also likes this. If he is satisfied, he can buy it all for you."

"Thank you, big brother!" Zeng Wangcai raised his hand and handed over a cigarette with a filter tip. This was exactly the kind of relationship he wanted.

The ticket scalper was gone for more than ten minutes and brought back a middle-aged man in his forties. The man was wearing a white short-sleeved shirt, dark blue pants, and walked with his hands behind his back.