Shi Zhengang has only been working for a short time and hasn't earned much money yet, so he doesn't plan to go back home for Qingming Festival this year.

He was hoping to earn more money in April and May so he could go back home in June and bring his family out.

Guan Baiyu was unaware of Shi Zhen's thoughts. When he heard Shi Zhen say that he wanted to go to sweep the tomb with him, he couldn't help but feel guilty—he had lied to Shi Zhen.

Shi Zhen chatted with Guan Baiyu for a few words, then hurriedly went to town.

Qian Qi was waiting for him to bring her food.

After paying for the food, Shi Zhen went to the town to look at the shops that sell funeral supplies such as wreaths.

With Qingming Festival approaching, this shop stocked up on a lot of things. Shi Zhen asked about the prices of everything and finally bought ten packs of tin foil. He even learned how to fold silver ingots.

There are several ways to fold a silver ingot, and he learned the one that looked the best.

Aluminum foil is inexpensive, only one yuan a pack. It is very thin, with one side being yellow and the other side being silver. If you apply a little pressure, the silver side will bleed color.

After buying tin foil, Shi Zhen wandered around the town again and found that there were very few items for tomb sweeping being sold in the town at this time. Not to mention, he didn't see any of the "Heaven and Earth Bank" items.

I don't know if there's anywhere I can source these goods...

Purchasing goods at this time was much more difficult than in later generations, and finding cheap goods was even more challenging.

Therefore, various small workshops were able to make a lot of money during this period.

Many people made their fortunes by taking advantage of this opportunity, but many of them later lost everything.

Back at his stall, Shi Zhen discovered that the twenty or so braised eggs and braised tofu he had left were all sold out.

"Someone wanted to treat guests but there weren't enough dishes, so they bought all the eggs and dried tofu. They didn't want the pig's head meat because they thought it wasn't classy enough," Qian Qi said.

Shi Zhen nodded.

Although some people followed suit and sold the same things as him today, because it was Saturday, many people still came to buy vegetables in the afternoon, and his goods were eventually sold out.

However, I estimate that I won't be able to sell four pig heads a day anymore. I'll try stewing three pig heads a day for now. I can continue selling braised eggs and braised tofu as usual, since the market for those two items is bigger than that for pig head meat.

As for new products, he wants to make a quick buck during the Qingming Festival, so he'll hold off on developing them for now.

Thinking this, Shi Zhen said to Qian Qi, "Qi Qi, I'd like to borrow your bicycle to go to Changxi City tomorrow, is that alright?"

The most convenient way to get to Changxi City is by bus, but once he got there, he wanted to look around and see where he could find suitable goods.

There are quite a few places to go, and without a bicycle, he would have to hire a tricycle... It would be more convenient to go by bicycle.

It's just a bit tiring at most.

“Okay!” Qian Qi agreed immediately.

Seeing this, Shi Zhen smiled and said, "I have some free time right now, so I'll watch the stall for a while. You can go practice over there."

Qian Qi's eyes lit up, and he immediately went to the side to practice his arm exercises.

He hadn't practiced for long, but because he had confidence in Shi Zhen and felt that martial arts training should start from the basics, he persisted even though he didn't see any results.

He is determined to become a martial arts master!

Shi Zhen was quite daring in business, never hesitant to promote his products, unlike that middle-aged man who followed the trend and sold pig's head meat, only to end up looking embarrassed.

He speaks nicely.

For example, if you see a woman in her forties or fifties, you call her "sister"; if you see a woman in her twenties or thirties, you call her "little sister".

As for men, if they are dressed neatly, call them "boss." If they look like they come from poor families, calling them "boss" will be seen as mockery, so call them "big brother."

"Hey girl, this pig's head meat of mine was just stewed this morning, it's very fresh and tastes great. Buy it and add it to your dishes, I guarantee your family will love it!"

"Boss, does your kid like lean meat? This piece is mostly lean meat, I'll cut this side for you!"

"Brother, you bought so much, I'll give you an extra one."

...

Shi Zhen was good-looking. Although his clothes were ordinary, they were always neatly made up. He always greeted people with a smile, which made him very likable.

He soon sold everything he had, then gathered the money, packed his things, and went to find Shi Xinghuo to go home together.

When Shi Zhen returned home, Guan Baiyu had already prepared the dishes.

Inside the pot was a large pot of stewed cabbage and pork, with a steamer rack on top, on which sat rice. On the table was a bowl of braised tofu with garlic leaves.

After the four finished their meal, Qian got up and went home, while Shi Zhen and the others continued their work, preparing for tomorrow's business.

During this time, Shi Zhen told Guan Baiyu and Shi Xinghuo about his trip to Changxi City the next day.

Changxi City has developed well in recent years and was upgraded from a county to a city last year. It is not far from Anshan Town, but at this time, people from Anshan Town rarely go to the city.

Guan Baiyu thought Changxi City was very far away: "Changxi City... Brother, how are you going to get there? It must be very far, right? I've never been there before!"

“I’ll ride my bicycle there; it’ll only take me an hour or two,” Shi Zhen said with a smile.

It takes one or two hours to ride!

Guan Baiyu used to think the town was far away, but it only takes ten minutes to get there by bike...

"Xiaoyu, when you have your summer vacation, I'll take you to Changxi City. It's a really nice place. There are big parks and big libraries." Shi Zhen didn't really know much about Changxi City, but he knew that it definitely had a library and a park. To Guan Baiyu at that moment, everything seemed huge.

Guan Baiyu was indeed filled with longing.

After Shi Zhen finished preparing the pig's head, he said goodbye to Guan Baiyu, took the tin foil, and went out.

The tin foil comes in packs of a thousand sheets. Locals buy it during the Qingming Festival, usually only about one-fifth of the packs. When someone dies, the family will buy two full packs of tin foil so that relatives and friends who come to keep vigil can fold them into paper ingots and burn them at the burial.

Shi Zhen bought ten packs in one go. He knew he couldn't fold them all by himself, and he didn't want to spend his time on it. So he wanted to find an old lady in the village to help him fold them, and he would just pay her a little money.

The first person he went to was Guan Jianguo's mother, whom he was quite familiar with.

The Guan family was originally a large landowner, but unfortunately, they encountered several spendthrift sons in succession... By the time of Guan Baiyu's great-great-grandfather, the Guan family had fallen into decline.

Guan Baiyu's grandfather had two brothers, and they had never had a good life since birth. When they grew up, their family was so poor that they couldn't even find wives.

Guan Baiyu's grandfather was the oldest and managed to marry Guan Baiyu's grandmother by using all the family's resources. However, his second brother, Guan Jianguo's father, was almost thirty and still couldn't find a wife. Later, Guan Baiyu's grandfather took his two younger brothers to help Guan Jianguo's mother with chores. After working for a few months, he promised to work for her for three more years before Guan Jianguo's mother finally married Guan Jianguo's father.

At that time, Guan Jianguo's mother was only nineteen years old. She had just started menstruating because of poor diet and did not like Guan Jianguo's thirty-year-old father at all.

When Guan Jianguo's mother was young, she didn't have time to think about anything. She was busy giving birth, raising children, and doing farm work all day long. But now that she's old... she doesn't want to stay with her husband anymore.

Now she lives with Guan Jianguo, and her husband lives with Guan Jianguo's brother. The two of them don't usually communicate much, and they don't work in the fields. They just stay at home and cook for their son.

As for why Shi Zhen knew all this... Recently, those old ladies liked to chat outside his house while smelling the aroma emanating from it, and Guan Jianguo's mother would occasionally talk about things from the past. After listening to them many times and piecing them together, he figured it out.

When Guan Jianguo was born, his father was almost forty years old, while his mother was only in her twenties. Now, Guan Jianguo's father is seventy and his mother is only fifty-nine.

However, everyone looks old these days. A 59-year-old woman definitely looks like an old lady.

When Shi Zhen arrived, Guan Jianguo had already finished dinner. The lights were on in the main room, the old lady was sitting next to her, and several children were playing inside.

Both Guan Jianguo and his wife earn money and are well-off. They only have one daughter and dote on her. When other children come to their house, they not only get to eat some candy, but they also don't scold them. As a result, children of similar age from the neighborhood often gather at their house.

Right now, a few children are playing with syringes without needles. After drawing water, they shoot it at a bamboo tube a few steps away, seeing who can accurately inject the water into the bamboo tube.

Shi Zhen went over to talk to the old lady and asked her if she knew how to fold paper ingots, saying that he...

I'd like to find someone to fold paper ingots for me. I'll pay two yuan for a pack of tin foil.

Without a second thought, the old lady said she knew how to fold them. Seeing that Shi Zhen had many packets of tin foil, she asked him to fold them all for her.

Shi Zhen said, "I need these gold ingots tomorrow night. You can't fold them all for me. How about this, come find me tomorrow after you've finished folding this pack, I'll give you the money and then I'll give you the next pack."

The old lady readily agreed, and then asked Shi Zhen what kind of gold ingot he wanted.

Shi Zhen chatted with her and found that she could only fold the simplest kind and not the more complicated kind he wanted, so he had to teach her on the spot.

Fortunately, she learned it after a few tries.

After she learned how to use it, Shi Zhen took the remaining tin foil to other old ladies.

The money earned from folding paper money is very little, but the old ladies in the village are very willing to do it. They are all rural people who usually have no income at all, so for them, even one yuan is a good thing.

Shi Zhen wandered around the neighborhood and met an old lady, so he asked her if she wanted to fold some.

He gave out six packs of tin foil before heading back. When he was almost at Guan Baiyu's place, Shi Zhen saw that the door to Guan Baiyu's adoptive father's house was open, and Guan Baiyu's adoptive mother was sitting at the door sorting chives. He went over and asked, "Auntie, I'm looking for someone to fold paper ingots. I'll give you two yuan for each pack of tin foil you fold. Do you want me to fold some?"

He had work to do, and it wouldn't be appropriate to ask Guan Baiyu's adoptive father's family for it instead of asking them. So he made a special request.

Zhang Xiumei asked, "What kind of ingots do you want to fold?"

Shi Zhen took out a piece of paper and folded it on the spot to show her.

Zhang Xiumei said, "I've never folded this before. Can you teach me again? I can fold it."

Shi Zhen taught her a couple more times, and Zhang Xiumei, being young, quickly learned it.

Seeing this, Shi Zhen was about to give her a pack, but Zhang Xiumei said, "You still have four packs? Give them all to me."

"I need it urgently, so it would be best if you could finish folding it for me by tomorrow night."

“Jinjin can help fold them since she’s on vacation at home, and her dad can fold them too,” Zhang Xiumei said.

Seeing this, Shi Zhen gave all four packs of tin foil he had to Zhang Xiumei.

Zhang Xiumei smiled as she held the four packs of tin foil, then picked up a handful of chives from the ground and gave them to Shi Zhen: "Do you want some chives? They're the first batch, very tender."

"Thank you." Shi Zhen smiled and accepted the chives, then turned to leave, but before he had taken more than a few steps, he was stopped: "Hey, wait a minute."

The one who called out to Shi Zhen was Guan Baiyu's younger sister, Guan Jinjin.

When Zhang Xiumei heard her daughter call out "Hey!", she immediately scolded her: "Jinjin, you can't call someone 'Hey'!"

Guan Jinjin, unafraid of her mother, immediately said, "I don't know what to call him! Hey, Guan Baiyu's cousin, did you know that Guan Baiyu was bullied at school yesterday?"

Guan Jinjin is two years younger than Guan Baiyu and is currently in the first year of junior high school.

Nowadays, there aren't many entertainment options, so children in the countryside usually hang out in groups to play. Guan Jinjin has been going to her friend's house to play cards every day for the past two days.

Then she heard from her friend that Guan Baiyu had been bullied by Yan Jiangtao at school and had even gone to Yan Jiangtao's house.

Grandma Guan refused to take care of her granddaughter Guan Jinjin. Guan Jinjin was always raised by her own parents. When her mother went to cut grass, she would put her in a basket, and when her father went to farm, he would let her sit on the edge of the field.

She rarely interacted with Guan Baiyu and wasn't familiar with him at all. Her feelings towards Guan Baiyu were that she neither disliked nor liked him, and she didn't want to have any contact with him.

But recently, Shi Zhen has occasionally brought them some braised tofu or something similar, and she has a very good impression of Shi Zhen.

The thirteen-year-old girl has a cute, round, dark face, but as she grows up, due to the strong genes of the Guan family, her round face will become square.

Although this girl didn't receive much formal education, she grew up to be very capable and managed to buy a house and settle down in Changxi City on her own...

Shi Zhen asked, "Guan Baiyu was bullied? By whom?"

Guan Jinjin said, "I think his name is Jiang Tao. I didn't know him before. Someone told me about it this afternoon. They said that Yan Jiangtao beat up Guan Baiyu at school... I heard that Guan Baiyu couldn't take it anymore and went to Yan Jiangtao's house today, where he got beaten up. But I don't know exactly what happened."

Shi Zhen took a deep breath and smiled at the little girl: "Thank you for telling me this."

Guan Jinjin waved her hand dismissively: "You're welcome!"

Shi Zhen left quickly. After he left, Guan Jinjin said to her mother, "Mom, Guan Baiyu's cousin is so handsome!"

The men here are generally short. The younger ones are a little taller now, but many are still under 1.7 meters.

Standing among so many people, Shi Zhen was like a crane among chickens, extremely conspicuous.

He has good features and a calm temperament that sets him apart from others.

Guan Jinjin would always take a few extra glances at him whenever she saw him.

Zhang Xiumei glanced at her daughter and asked, "Have you finished your homework?"

"I'm done," Guan Jinjin said. She hadn't actually started yet, but she didn't really want to... Anyway, her mother was illiterate and wouldn't know.

Zhang Xiumei said, "After you finish your homework, come and fold paper ingots. You'll get two yuan for each pack you fold. I'll give you the money if you fold them." Zhang Xiumei, who was never kind to Guan Baiyu, loved her daughter dearly.

"Mom, then please teach me!" Guan Jinjin said immediately. With two yuan, she could spend one yuan to buy a long rubber band and the remaining yuan to buy snacks.

No, two yuan isn't enough! She wants four yuan!

Guan Jinjin learned faster than her mother, and after she learned it, she started folding.

She was quick and efficient, and in no time she had folded it better than her mother, and even faster.

Seeing her mother teaching her father how to fold... Guan Jinjin grabbed two packs of tin foil and said, "Mom, Mom, give me two packs, I'll fold two packs and you fold two packs!"

Zhang Xiumei didn't object. She spent a lot of time teaching her husband how to fold the foil, but his fingers were too thick and he couldn't do the delicate work well. When he folded the foil, his chapped hands would rub off the silver powder on the foil.

"Forget it, you go and sort the chives, I'll break them." Zhang Xiumei gave up on asking her husband for help.

Their family occasionally goes to town to sell vegetables, which serves as a source of income.

Guan Guangguo smiled and went to tidy up the chives. He pulled off the yellow leaves, cleaned each chive, and tied them into bundles with straw. He then said, "I'll take these chives to town to sell tomorrow. You guys stay home and fold paper ingots."

"Mmm," Zhang Xiumei replied.

Guan Guangguo then said, "I've heard that raising chickens is very profitable. Do you think I should buy some chicks to raise?"

"We don't have room to raise them, do we?" Zhang Xiumei hesitated.

Guan Guangguo said, "If you can raise them, then raise them in these two rooms. But if you want to raise chickens, you can't raise silkworms this year... They can earn five or six thousand a year raising chickens, while raising silkworms will only earn them a thousand at most. Raising chickens is better."

Their family used to raise a lot of silkworms, several batches, but they only earned a little over a thousand yuan a year – sometimes they didn't have enough mulberry leaves themselves, so they had to buy them from other families.

Zhang Xiumei said, "Then we need to find out how others raise them before we can raise them."

They discussed the matter while continuing their work.

When Shi Zhen returned home, he saw Guan Baiyu peeling eggs.

Boiled eggs need to be peeled first before being braised. Guan Baiyu had already peeled a large basin of white and tender eggs.

"Brother, where did you go?" Guan Baiyu asked.

"I wanted to sell paper money in the town during the Qingming Festival, so I bought some tin foil and asked someone to help me fold it," Shi Zhen said.

"Are there any more? I can fold them too."

“You have a lot of things to do at home, I don’t need your help.” Shi Zhen wanted to ask about Yan Jiangtao, but he didn’t know how to start—Guan Baiyu’s eyes were red at noon today, was it because he was bullied? But Guan Baiyu didn’t tell him.

Guan Baiyu thought about how he had a lot to do at home, such as lighting a fire and peeling eggs, so he didn't necessarily want to fold the gold ingots.

He had finished peeling a bowl of eggs, wiped his hands, which were wrinkled from constantly scooping eggs from the water, with a towel, and said to Shi Zhen, "By the way, brother, I have something for you."

"What?" Shi Zhen asked instinctively.

Shi Xinghuo was dozing off again behind the stove...

Guan Baiyu glanced at Shi Xinghuo, then, behind Shi Xinghuo's back, took out a roll of money and gave it to Shi Zhen, whispering, "Brother, this is..."

My grandma left me three hundred yuan... Didn't you want to buy a tricycle? Is that enough money with this?"