Chapter 31: Changing Meat

Gao Mingcheng looked at the middle-aged man who was going to buy honey. The middle-aged man stared at the can and pondered for a while before nodding and saying, "Let's calculate it at seven taels."

Two pounds and three ounces minus seven ounces, the net content of honey is one pound and six ounces. Based on the price of seven yuan per pound, this jar of honey will cost eleven yuan and twenty cents.

Gao Mingcheng settled the bill in front of everyone, and then took the initiative to erase two cents.

"It's eleven dollars and twenty cents in total. Since you're the first one to buy, I'll charge you twenty cents less. Just give me eleven dollars."

Two cents in those days is not the same as two cents in later generations. Therefore, when the middle-aged man heard Gao Mingcheng offered to pay two cents less on his own initiative, he immediately smiled.

"Good! Young man, you are honest in doing business! Did you get this honey from the mountains? Was it easy to get?" He said as he took money out of his trouser pocket.

Gao Mingcheng would never tell the truth, and said in an exaggerated manner: "It's not easy to make. For this little bit of honey, I was stung by a swarm of bees more than ten times. My whole body was swollen for several days. It hurt so much! Oh, it's not easy to make some money! If honey was easy to make, everyone could eat it!"

Most people in the countryside have experienced being stung by various insects. The most serious ones are wasps and caterpillars, which are both poisonous.

Bees are relatively better, but the pain is still not light.

At this time, someone suddenly spoke up and said, "Last year, a young man from our village went to the mountains to dig out a beehive and was stung by a wasp. His whole face was swollen and he couldn't even open his eyes! That would have been fine, but within two days, the young man died! We called a doctor from the health center and he said he died of poisoning! As a result, no one in our village dared to dig out beehives anymore."

"Gao Mingcheng, I advise you to go less often. People are afraid of the worst."

The man called out Gao Mingcheng's name, and Gao Mingcheng looked in the direction of the voice. When he saw the man for the first time, he felt that he looked familiar, but he could not remember who he was or what his name was.

Because he was old, Gao Mingcheng said casually: "Uncle, I know, I run fast!"

"Haha, yes, you are a fast runner. When you were a kid, you did something bad and your father chased you and beat you, so you ran to our village!"

This man's words caused a group of people to laugh. After all, the people present were all from nearby villages.

Gao Mingcheng was famous for his fighting skills, so Gao Mingcheng might not know all of them, but they all knew Gao Mingcheng.

Gao Mingcheng smiled awkwardly and took the money handed over by the middle-aged man.

The middle-aged man carefully held the honey, pointed at the bag at Gao Mingcheng's feet, and asked curiously, "What's in it?"

"It's a rat snake. Do you want one? It's about three pounds."

Gao Mingcheng tried his best to sell it. Selling this rat snake would be enough for him to buy a pound of good meat to eat.

However, the middle-aged man was also afraid of snakes. When he heard it was a rat snake, he immediately took a few steps back, waved his hand and left.

Gao Mingcheng was not discouraged when he failed to sell the honey. He started to sell it again, but the high price of honey was not affordable for everyone.

Gao Mingcheng stayed in the market for another half an hour, and seeing that no one came to buy, he decided to leave.

Tomorrow is the market in the county town. There are many wealthy people in the county town, and they also pursue nutritious things. If we take them to the county town to sell, they will definitely sell well.

Thinking of this, Gao Mingcheng picked up his things and prepared to leave. Of course, before leaving, he had to buy some more things, so he bought two fried dough sticks and ten buns, and finally walked to the meat stall.

"I'll take this rat snake and exchange it for a pound of pork from you. Is that okay with you?" Gao Mingcheng shook the bag in his hand.

Gao Zhuang is afraid of snakes and Xi Nainai never eats snakes. There is no use in taking the snake back. It would be nice if it could be exchanged for a pound of pork.

The butcher was quite interested and motioned Gao Mingcheng to open the bag so that he could take a look first.

After checking the rat snake in the bag and making sure it was still alive, the butcher weighed it. The snake and the bag together weighed a total of three pounds and two ounces.

The market price of snake meat is not fixed, but it is roughly around 80 to 90 cents per pound. The current price of meat is 1.8 yuan for good meat and 1.5 yuan for inferior meat. The offal is even cheaper.

The good meat on his stall had almost been sold out, and the remaining meat was only sold for 1.5 yuan, so it was quite a good deal to exchange a pound of meat for snakes.

Thinking of this, the butcher agreed to the exchange and cut a piece of lean meat for Gao Mingcheng.

At this time, the fattier front leg meat is the best meat, with oil and tender texture. The hind leg meat is not so good, because pigs often kneel on the ground, the hind legs are not as active as the front legs, and the meat is also a bit tough.

After the exchange was successful, Gao Mingcheng took the things back.

While he was walking towards Gaojia Village, three people were also walking towards Gaojia Village and had already reached the foot of Niuweiling Mountain.

Along the way, they avoided the people in the village and were not discovered.

But at the foot of Niuweiling Mountain, the experienced old man immediately found some traces. He took a closer look and whispered to his two sons, "Someone has set a trap at the foot of the mountain. Be careful where you step and don't let anyone see you."

"Yeah." The two sons were also alert and responded softly.

The kind of trap used to catch prey can be quite troublesome if someone accidentally steps on it. There is also a kind of trap made of a dug pit. If a person falls into it, he or she may die if he or she is unlucky, because there are some sharpened bamboos inserted upside down at the bottom of some pits. When the prey falls in, it will be stabbed by the bamboos and it will be difficult for it to escape.

The father and his two sons entered the mountain cautiously. Although Gao Zhuang was already at Niuweiling, he was on another hillside. He had recently discovered several rabbit holes and was thinking about how to dig them out.

When the father and his two sons were walking along a mountain path, Gao Zhuang was facing away from them and happened not to see them.

Although the father and his two sons entered the mountain safely, the entire mountain was very vast, and it was not easy to find the ancient tomb.

However, the ancients paid attention to feng shui when burying their dead, and to look at feng shui, one must first climb to the top of a mountain, take in the terrain of the entire mountain, and then select a few places with high possibilities and explore them carefully.

However, hundreds of years have passed, the topography must have changed, and the tomb mounds are long gone.

When they reached the top to observe the Feng Shui, Gao Mingcheng had already arrived.

In the previous life, that group of people went into the mountains to look for tombs on this day. Although he was not sure whether there would be any changes in this life, he was still very concerned about today and planned to guard Niuweiling himself.

After returning to the village, he first put the things at his grandmother's house, and then headed towards Niuweiling.

Looking around, I soon found Gao Zhuang.

"Gao Zhuang, have you seen any strangers enter the mountain?"

Gao Zhuang raised his head, his expression was momentarily dazed, and he said uncertainly: "No? I didn't see anyone entering the mountain."

(End of this chapter)