Siheyuan: Bringing Warehouses to 1959

Two chickens, white and tender, look appetizing.

Fat Zheng now regrets very much. He ate too much fish just now and now he can’t eat anymore.

"You young people can eat this. I won't eat it." Old man Liu was very conscious. "I'm already full and well fed. I'm an old man and don't need to eat too much. You kids can eat more to replenish your body."

He said so, and he did so.

He didn't want to come to eat in the first place. It wasn't a matter of shame but of self-awareness. Nowadays, if you eat one more bite at someone else's place, they will eat one less bite.

So he just ate a steamed bun and a piece of grilled fish that Zeng Wangcai picked for him. He didn't eat anything after that. The rest was eaten by Zeng Wangcai and the others, especially the Tiger and Leopard brothers and Fatty Zheng.

Even so, Old Liu still felt bad and wanted to give Zeng Wangcai money and food coupons, but was finally rejected.

"Let me share. The two chickens are not big and a little dry, so just eat them." Zeng Wangcai said.

Two pheasants, each weighing about three pounds, are indeed not big.

Fat Zheng was choked by these words. The pheasant was a little dry, but it was still a chicken. Why would you dislike its feathers when you have meat to eat?

"Brother, give me the chicken head!"

"Brother, I want a chicken butt!"

Xiaohu and Xiaobao said at the same time that it was just like a movie starring Yuen Biao and Leung Kar-yan, where they each preferred a part of the chicken.

Zeng Wangcai did not answer. The chicken was cooked through, even a little overcooked, and it broke into pieces with one pull. He first tore off a small chicken leg and handed it to Old Man Liu as a way of respecting him and thanking him for stopping the car to talk to him at the steel mill.

"Uncle, have a piece. This is to thank you for teaching me how to fish. You are my master in this regard." Zeng Wangcai had plenty of ways to persuade Old Man Liu to eat, and now Old Man Liu felt embarrassed to refuse.

A chicken leg and a few words can bring the relationship much closer.

It was easy to divide the chicken from then on. One chicken leg was given to Zhang Xiuzhi, and the chicken head and butt went to Xiaohu and Xiaobao, and the rest could be taken as they pleased.

Old man Liu took the chicken leg and said, "Okay, eat it."

He put the chicken leg in his mouth and gargled, and the meat on the chicken leg was gone. He chewed and swallowed it. Then, without saying a word, he opened his mouth and bit the chicken bones into pieces. There was a crunching sound in his mouth, and he chewed and swallowed it. He didn't even look at the chicken claws, he bit them in the middle, one piece at a time, and took two bites to eat a chicken claw.

In just over a minute, the chicken leg with the claws was eaten up by Old Man Liu.

Zeng Wangcai was stunned. This was much more awesome than the later eating shows: "Uncle, eating so fast will hurt your stomach. You even ate the chicken bones?"

"I'm used to it. Sorry to embarrass you." Old man Liu sucked the grease from his fingers and smiled. "These are habits left over from the war. We have to eat quickly when we have the chance. Otherwise, once the guns are fired and the orders come down, we won't have time. Eating bones is even easier. They are nutritious and much better than fried noodles."

I have to say that this spirit of the older generation is worthy of respect.

Zeng Wangcai has never been to the battlefield, but he has been here for such a long time and has heard some stories, so he has some understanding of the war that took place more than ten or twenty years ago.

I don’t know if it was because of the influence of Old Man Liu, or because the beggar chicken was so delicious and the bones were easy to chew, so no one spit out the bones after eating it, including Zeng Wangcai.

It’s true, Zeng Wangcai thinks the taste of pheasant bones is very special.

After dinner, Xiaohu and Xiaobao put out the fire in the field while the others continued fishing. Fatty Zheng rode his bicycle away and returned to the unit to report to his leader and to find a car to pull up the fish.

It was a little after two in the afternoon, but before three, when Fat Zheng came back. This time he was brought here by a driver in a jeep. It seemed that he had not yet secured a bicycle ticket, but more than 200 kilograms of fish were taken away. He agreed with Zeng Wangcai to go there before the purchasing station closed in the afternoon at the latest.

Fat Zheng was worried, so he asked Director Qian for the address of the purchasing station, probably intending to go and say hello.

At around four o'clock, Old Man Liu closed his stall, said goodbye to Zeng Wangcai, and said that he didn't have time next week and would not come. He would tell them when he would come again. Then he went up to the river bank, got in his car and left.

It was easier for the remaining six people including Zeng Wangcai. Zeng Wangcai went all out and caught about 400 kilograms of fish in the afternoon, so much so that the tricycle bed could hardly hold them all.

"We can't fish anymore, let's close the stall. The car can't fit any more. If we continue like this, we'll be exhausted on the way back!" Zeng Wangcai said, looking at the sky.

"Brother, there are too many fish. How many should we take back tomorrow?" Zeng Hu asked.

This guy was too proud. He caught a lot of fish in the afternoon and even thought that there were too many fish. Who wouldn't want as many fish as possible?

There are probably a little more than 500 kilograms of fish in total now, which is indeed a lot. Zeng Wangcai estimates that the tricycle's bed may not be able to hold it all.

Today's catch is about 700 kilograms of fish, which is scary. If there weren't so many people, Zeng Wangcai wouldn't have done this. These 700 kilograms of fish, at the price of 385 cents per kilogram, is yuan.

I can earn a year's salary in one day, so what else can I be dissatisfied with?

"The production team can't give more than that. You can take 100 kilograms back." Zeng Wangcai said, "Give the production team 50 kilograms at most. The rest can be eaten at home or used to exchange with villagers. It doesn't matter if you exchange things. No one will say anything. In addition to the 100 kilograms, you can take some back to your aunts' homes."

This was the village's allocation. Although Zeng Wangcai decided whether his second uncle would come out to see him, he still hoped that his second uncle could come out. There was no need for him to work in the production team.

Fifty kilograms was more than enough to give the production team. It was more than enough to buy a quota. However, many people did not work hard, and the production team did not even catch any fish, but they still managed to survive.

Another thing is that if you give too much, people may cherish it or not. They will also have expectations and become dependent on you, and there are many cases where people will be resented for a little kindness.

"Pickle some of the remaining fish and sell the rest. The pickled fish can be used to exchange for other things later..." Zeng Wangcai continued to distribute. Of course, Lin Huyang and Huang Liang would both get some, so there would be no less.

After doing all this, the six people began to carry the things under the envious eyes of everyone.

Those who come to fish like Zeng Wangcai, if they are lucky and have good equipment and skills, can only catch 10 to 20 kilograms at most. Those who are unlucky can only catch a few small crucian carp, and there are also many who come up empty-handed.

After reaching the river bank, Zeng Wangcai asked Xiaohu and Xiaobao to cut the bamboo poles and insert them in the truck bed. He put the smaller fish in first and then the big fish weighing five to six kilograms or seven to eight kilograms. This was equivalent to raising the height of the truck bed.

After finally loading, the bed of the tricycle was full and there was no place for people to sit. There was nothing we could do since others couldn't enjoy this kind of happy trouble, so we had to push the tricycle along.

When I came down from the river bank and walked towards Sijiucheng, there were not many people on the road because it was far away from the city. At that time, Mentougou was not even considered a suburb.

The six people walked happily for several miles. Since Fatty Zheng was there to help keep track, they were not in a hurry and walked slowly.

If they came across horse-drawn carriages or donkey-drawn carts along the way, they would become jealous. However, they did not know that the drivers of the carts would think of robbing them when they saw their carts full of fish.

"Xiuzhi, remember to keep the account after you sell them this time." Zeng Wangcai said as he pushed the cart, "The money from the bicycle purchase will be our joint account. If there are four taels, we can each get one. If there are only three, Xiaohu and Xiaobao, you can share one."

Xiaohu and Xiaobao immediately stopped being jealous of the ox cart and horse carriage. There was only one bicycle in the whole Zengzhuang, and now they were going to own one, maybe two. This was much better than an ox cart and horse carriage.

As the group was walking, they heard the roar of a car engine from far away on the road, and a classic big guy appeared in the sight of Zeng Wangcai and others.

"Brother, it would be great if we had a car like this..." Zeng Bao said enviously.

The car coming at this moment is a legendary car of the generation - Jiefang CA10.