Wang Peng was extremely busy. He casually picked two watermelons, cut them open with a knife, and placed them in a snakeskin bag.

"Kids, come over here and eat some watermelon!" he shouted.

The two melons were ripe, and the children immediately scrambled to eat them, no longer crowding around the melon cart, making room for the adults.

The children got to eat watermelon for free, and the parents felt respected, so they were naturally happy. They originally only planned to buy two pounds, but now they had to buy four pounds.

A family of three was taking a walk in the distance. The five-year-old girl saw other children grabbing melons, so she let go of her parents' hands and ran over to them.

"Uncle, can I have one piece? Just one," she asked timidly, extending her finger.

"You call me uncle? Am I that old?" Wang Peng pointed to the snakeskin bag. "Eat up, even a child can eat this."

The little girl picked up a slice of watermelon and started eating.

Her parents felt embarrassed; their child had eaten someone else's melon for free, so it wouldn't be right not to buy one.

Time slipped away quietly, watermelons became fewer and fewer, customers became fewer and fewer, and in the end, only one person and one cat were left.

"The residential compound is only so big, and everyone who wanted to buy a place has already done so. Let's move to another place."

Wang Peng unscrewed the kettle to take a sip of water, put the white cat in the car, and opened his wallet to sort through his earnings, which consisted mostly of loose change and small change.

The melons were sorted by denomination and counted twice. The total was 120 yuan, and about 410 jin of melons were sold.

"This money is pure profit." He couldn't suppress his smile and reached out to stroke the cat's head. "After I sell the rest of the melons, I'll buy you beef."

People here buy several melons at a time, enough to last at least a week, and can only come back after a week.

He took the remaining watermelons to the pig market; the textile factory's residential compound was over there.

Wang Village, Wang Family.

Wang Song grabbed two piglets and put them in the cart. "San Ni'er, come with me to the county to sell pigs."

"Dad, my hand still hurts. Let my second brother go with you." Wang Xia held up her finger that had been cut by the kitchen knife.

She sold the pig to pay for her second brother's tuition; the money wouldn't be spent on her. She didn't want to have traveled over ten miles for nothing.

"Let's go!" Wang Song glared at him.

His eldest son didn't come home all night yesterday, and he was seething with anger, his words filled with rage.

If she talked back, she would be used as a punching bag, so Wang Xia didn't dare to talk back. She pushed the cart behind the cart, walking more than ten miles to the pig market in Ping'an County.

When crossing the railway bridge, they were stopped by highway robbers. The local bully, Bei Batian, let them pass directly, only charging tolls for the melon and vegetable carts.

The pig market was filled with carts, and the stench of pig manure made Wang Xia feel nauseous.

She left the pig market to wander outside, wishing she could bite Wang Peng to death. If Wang Peng were home, she wouldn't have to do this dirty, smelly, and tiring work.

Suddenly, her eyes widened, and she covered her mouth to stop herself from screaming.

Outside the gate of the textile factory's residential compound, a middle-aged man carried a bag of watermelons into the compound. The watermelon seller put a ten-yuan bill into his pocket and reached out to pet the white cat on his cart.

The melon seller turned out to be his older brother, Wang Peng.

"Impossible, absolutely impossible, where did he get the watermelon from?"

"None of my relatives grow watermelons, so did he steal money from home to buy watermelons wholesale?"

"Hmph, you've made me suffer so much."

Wang Xia decided to complain to Wang Song, but just then someone was selling melons, so she stopped and continued to observe.

The people buying the watermelons were a young couple; the man was selecting watermelons from the cart, while the woman held a white cat in her arms.

They bargained, and the man bought four watermelons, handing Wang Peng ten yuan. Wang Peng took out his money and gave him change.

The wad of cash was thick. Wang Xia's eyes welled up with tears, and her breathing became rapid. "My God, how does he have so much money?"

She turned to look at the beef stall, licked her lips, and went to the shoe stall, greedily eyeing a pair of white sneakers.

Looking down at the patched cloth shoes on my feet, I imagined what sneakers would look like on my feet.

"Young lady, these are genuine Double Star shoes, twenty yuan," the female stall owner said.

Wang Xia turned and left, secretly observing Wang Peng from under a large tree by the roadside.

“He has to buy me shoes, or I’ll tell Dad and have him confiscate his money.” She clenched her fists.

Wang Peng was unaware that he was being watched. He only had two small watermelons left in his car, which he planned to give to Old Duan, who sold sesame cakes, hoping to get information from him about where he could rent a room.

He hugged the white cat, crawled under the car, and opened his waist bag to count his earnings for the day.

Five hundred catties of watermelon cost fifty yuan to produce, and the income was 148 yuan. The average selling price was less than three cents.

Because he always rounds down the price by a few cents or an ounce for his customers.

With yesterday's 15 yuan, he now has 163 yuan in savings, and the high school life he has been dreaming of is beckoning him.

"Fill your stomach first."

Wang Peng went to the sesame seed cake stall and ordered two sesame seed cakes, a bowl of chicken blood soup, and a pound of beef.

"Brother Duan, I'd like to rent a small courtyard to live in for two months. Do you know where I can find one?" He offered two watermelons.

"Why are you being so polite, brother?" Old Duan said with a broad smile. "I'll ask around for you; there must be some nearby."

"Thank you, Brother Duan. I'll take these two melons home for my kids. They're melons I grew myself, so I don't mind them being wasted."

“Growing your own melons is money too.” Old Duan scooped up another half spoonful of pig’s blood and put it in Wang Peng’s bowl. “Don’t worry, I’ll take care of the rent.”

That's how friendships are built. As the saying goes, "Having more friends means having more paths to take; having more enemies means having more obstacles to overcome."

Meow...

The white cat meowed at the beef, and Wang Peng picked up a few slices for it. The two of them ate to their hearts' content.

Old Duan felt sorry for it. "Although Persian cats are valuable, you can't feed them beef. Cats are very greedy. If you spoil it, it will only eat meat in the future."

Wang Peng smiled. This was a lucky cat that could attract customers, but it would definitely be lonely in the future. Xiao Bai would be its family member who could keep it company.

Just then, a figure suddenly appeared and reached out to grab the beef from the plate.

Wang Peng was a little confused, not expecting to meet his third sister, Wang Xia, here.

But he wasn't confused; he grabbed Wang Xia's wrist and demanded sharply, "What are you doing?"

"What are you doing? Trying to rob me?" Old Duan snapped out of his daze and reached out to grab Wang Xia.

“He’s my older brother, my own older brother,” Wang Xia quickly explained, laughing, “Big brother, so you were here.”

Seeing that Wang Peng did not deny it, Lao Duan moved a stool and sat down to watch the show.

"Big brother, I didn't eat breakfast this morning, and I came here with Dad to sell pigs. I'm starving." She said ingratiatingly, "Good brother, can I have some beef?"

Speaks softly and gently, with a pitiful and distressed tone.

Wang Peng's heart softened and he wanted to let go.

The next second, remembering the heartless things his third sister had done in his past life, his heart ached as if it were being stabbed with needles.

He gripped her wrist tightly with his right hand and fed Xiaobai two slices of beef with his left. "Wang Xia, I'd rather feed this beef to the cat than let you have a single bite."

Wang Xia was stunned, and tears streamed down her face. "Big brother, I've been worried about you every day these past two days. It was Dad who kicked you out of the house, not me."