Siheyuan: Bringing Warehouses to 1959

The future daughter-in-law is coming, and the Zeng family is having a grand celebration today. For this reason, Zeng Youqian took a leave of absence and stayed at home. He got up early in the morning and went to the food station, where he bought a pound of meat. He also used his relationship with Lin Huyang's family to make advance notice.

Zeng Youqian's mentality was a bit like Zeng Wangcai's current one. He didn't like to have close interactions with the neighbors in the courtyard, especially the three uncles. He hated Yi Zhonghai for talking without any hesitation, hated Liu Haizhong for speaking in official language all day long, and hated Yan Bugui for always trying to take advantage of others.

He bought the meat quietly and went out to buy it calmly. Unlike Yan Bugui next door, he wanted the whole courtyard to know when he caught one or two fish. He knew what Yan Bugui was thinking, which was to sell the fish to his neighbors and raise the price a little.

The couple made dumplings at home. Chen Yumei kneaded the dough and rolled out the dumpling wrappers, while Zeng Youqian chopped the meat and prepared the filling.

"Dad, who else is there in Xiuzhi's family who is so cruel that he forced a girl to run away and didn't even come to look for her." Chen Yumei asked while rolling the dumpling skins.

"I heard from the old man that Xiuzhi's father is still alive, but her mother has been gone for many years. Xiuzhi has two younger brothers. After Xiuzhi's grandfather passed away, her father found a widow. The widow came with her two children, and the one who wanted to marry Xiuzhi off was her stepmother." Zeng Youqian said in a deep voice.

"No wonder. He is willing to sell his daughter. It's better for him not to go back to that home."

"Only Xiuzhi can say this. We can't say it. Anyway, the person that mother has chosen can't be wrong. We just need to be nice to Xiuzhi."

"What if Xiuzhi doesn't want to?"

"If you don't want to, then don't. Just treat him as your daughter. You can't really talk about child marriage. I forced Wangcai to say it at that time. Now both old men are gone. Just let it go."

"I heard from You Huo that the girl is very capable. Not just ordinary capable."

"In fact, our Wangcai is not bad either. His handwriting alone is unmatched by most people..."

When the couple was talking about this, Zeng Wangcai and his group arrived. Hearing the noise, the couple hurried out to greet them without even having time to wash their hands.

"Uncle, aunt!" Zhang Xiuzhi, holding some fruits, stood at the door and greeted them obediently and generously.

Chen Yumei had never seen Zhang Xiuzhi before. When she saw how beautiful she was, she was so happy that she couldn't stop smiling.

The family came into the house happily, and after some chaotic conversation they calmed down. They prepared water, snacks, etc.

When Chen Yumei learned that the fruit was bought by Zhang Xiuzhi, she couldn't help but complain to her son: "What's wrong with you? What do you think of letting Xiuzhi buy things?"

She didn't want to say that the girl had no money, for fear of hurting her self-esteem.

Zeng Wangcai knew that this trip was inevitable, and he didn't need to hide the fact of going to the Pigeon Market from his parents. He told them everything, including how he caught the toad, how he went to the Pigeon Market to sell it, how much he got for it, etc.

"Two bamboo baskets of frogs, sold for twenty yuan?" Housewife Chen Yumei was shocked. She was in charge of the family finances and knew how hard it was to make money.

Even Zeng Youqian looked at Zhang Xiuzhi with new eyes, feeling that he had underestimated her abilities before.

Zhang Xiuzhi quickly explained that she just caught some frogs, and it was Zeng Wangcai's frogs that were braised so well that they could be sold at a high price.

"When did you learn how to stew food?" Chen Yumei went to the jar to check it out in surprise. "It smells pretty good. There's even large intestine in it. Where did the large intestine come from? Did you buy it for your dad?"

"The recipe for the marinade was given to me by Teacher Zhou, and he also gave me the marinade. I was just trying it out, but I didn't expect it to be successful." Zeng Wangcai's excuses were, as always, unverifiable.

Chen Yumei nodded and took out the large intestine.

Zeng Youqian was more concerned about his son's trip to Pigeon City, and told his son to go there less often in the future, saying that there was a mixed crowd there and there were all kinds of people.

When it came to the source of large intestines, it was finally the turn of the Tiger and Leopard brothers to speak. They each started talking excitedly about how the three of them went up the mountain to hunt wild boars, how the first one ran away, and how the eldest brother was lucky enough to hunt a wild boar weighing more than 400 kilograms.

Chen Yumei was terrified after hearing this: "You fired a gun? You're hunting wild boars alone, are you trying to save your life..."

A mother's starting point is always worrying about her children.

Zeng Wangcai smiled wryly to comfort his mother, then shifted everyone's attention to the pork. A full fifty kilograms of meat, plus a pig's leg, was brought out, all bright white.

This trick worked quite well. Chen Yumei smiled from ear to ear, and even Zeng Youqian was nodding.

However, what Zeng Youqian was most satisfied with was not getting the pork, but his son's distribution of the pig. Not only did he take care of every family, but he also cared about the improvement of his second uncle's family's status in the village.

He had a feeling that his son had suddenly grown up.

"More than 50 kilograms is still too much." Zeng Youqian said, "It's not good to pickle meat in this season. It would be a luxury to eat it all. Ten kilograms is enough. At most, you can keep the pork leg for stewing or braising. Sell the remaining 40 kilograms. I'm not in it for money. I'll exchange it for some tickets."

"Who will you sell it to? To the neighbors in the yard?"

"Don't do that. There are so many families in the courtyard that can't eat it all. They don't have that many tickets. Besides, how much are you selling it for? If it's too expensive, people will be offended. If it's too cheap, will you be content?"

"I'm really unwilling to accept this. My son worked so hard to earn this, why should it be given to outsiders for free? Why not sell it to a purchasing station?"

"It's better to sell it to the purchasing station. Life is getting harder and harder now. Jin Haitao said that it will be more difficult to buy meat in the future. I guess we have to sell frozen meat."

The conversation between his parents told Zeng Wangcai that the shortage of supplies had worsened.

There is indeed too much meat. It hurts to buy a pound of meat, so how can you eat more than 50 pounds? You can't finish it if you eat it every day, unless you pickle it. And pickled meat is not very healthy, no matter whether it tastes good or not.

So, sell meat!

Zeng Youqian cut a piece of meat at random and gave the rest to his son to take to the purchasing station.

Zhang Xiuzhi didn't want to stay alone in Zeng's house. She was getting more and more accustomed to following Zeng Wangcai, even though they only met for two or three days.

Four men came out, carrying more than 40 kilograms of fat pork in their hands, which was really eye-catching.

Zeng Wangcai did not go to the purchasing station immediately. He chose to go to the street to find Director Zhang.

"Oh my god, where did all this meat come from? Whose child is this..."

"What a beautiful piece of fat meat. Why did you bring it to the street?"

"Director, Director, come quickly..."

Jiaodaokou Street was in an uproar.

Director Zhang came out of the office and saw Zeng Wangcai holding the meat. He immediately asked his colleagues to be quiet and took the four people to the office.

After asking Zeng Wangcai about his purpose, Director Zhang praised Zeng Wangcai: "Good boy, you think of the street when you have good things to do. Wangcai, wait a moment, I'll be back later."

Although the street office is a government agency, it does not have purchasing power. Purchasing a moderate amount of meat from Zeng Wangcai would pose a risk, so the experienced Director Zhang went to the units to count who wanted to buy the meat, so that everyone would benefit.

No matter what, the belly is the biggest.

After more than ten minutes, Director Zhang came back and said, "Wangcai, we want 15 kilograms. How much do you plan to sell it for?"

"Just follow the market price."

"Where are the tickets?"

"We are all neighbors. Director Zhang, you can give us whatever you want. We don't need meat tickets. Any other tickets will do."

"Good boy, don't call me director anymore, call me auntie instead."

"Hey, Aunt Zhang!"

The market price is 79 cents per pound, and a higher grade of meat sells for 82 cents per pound. At this price, if you can buy it now without any connections, you'd be considered a talent.

The meat that Zeng Wangcai brought was supplied to Hong Kong Island, and the quality of the meat was impeccable. In the end, Director Zhang gave a compromise price of 80 cents per pound, plus various tickets.

Even so, they still said they were getting a good deal. Every family has its own circumstances, and not all tickets are necessary. Some of the supplies corresponding to the tickets can be saved and used to exchange for money or other things. Now that these tickets have been used to buy meat, it is definitely a profit.

I bought fifteen pounds of meat for twelve dollars, plus some miscellaneous tickets.

Did Zeng Wangcai lose money?

No, the leftover pork was turned into money, and I also gained the friendship of the crucial street officials, which is priceless.

At the same time, Yan Bugui, who was out fishing, was as happy as if he had eaten magpie shit.

"Wow, another one, this one weighs two kilograms..."