Chapter 106 Xu Hexiao's Business

Xu Hexiao went to the planting area today. In addition to feeding the animals in the planting area, he also caught three chickens and three rabbits. He only ate one of the six pheasants and six rabbits that Lin Qi left for him, and he exchanged the rest for other things.

Now that there were not enough pheasants and rabbits, he took them without asking and caught six more.

Xu Hexiao tied their feet and wings, put them in a backpack, closed the backpack lid, and tied the backpack to the back seat of the bicycle. After tying it up, he sat on the bicycle, stepped on the bicycle pedals, and rode into the night.

On New Year's Eve, a night when other families were reuniting, Xu Hexiao rode the bicycle he borrowed from Brother Tan towards the county town.

It was dark at night, and Xu Hexiao didn't dare to turn on the flashlight, so he walked forward in the dark. Fortunately, he had been going back and forth on this road every day in the past few days, and he was familiar with it, so he didn't worry about falling into any trap.

After riding for about three hours, Xu Hexiao finally arrived outside the county town, outside a quiet forest.

"Who?" someone asked.

"It's me, Lao Qi." Xu Hexiao said. Lao Qi was the nickname he gave himself casually.

"Oh, Seventh Brother, you're finally here. Our boss has been waiting for you for a whole day." A long-faced man walked out from behind a big tree and smiled kindly at Xu Hexiao.

This place was introduced by Brother Tan, and these people on the other side were also introduced by Brother Tan to Xu Hexiao.

Xu Hexiao hummed, untied the backpack from the rear seat of the bicycle, and then said to the long-faced man, "Please help me watch the bike."

"No problem, just leave the car to me without any worries." said the long-faced man. This was a big client, with both rice and meat. The boss told him not to offend anyone, as they were relying on him to make a fortune.

"Thank you." Xu Hexiao's tone was cold, but his courtesy was perfect and there was nothing wrong with him.

Xu Hexiao continued walking deeper into the woods with the backpack on his back. After a few steps, he saw a flame and several people next to the flame.

"Seventh Brother? Here you are!" Someone came up to him.

Xu Hexiao hummed, "Today we have three pheasants and three hares."

"Not bad, two more than yesterday." The man took the basket from his back and walked to the fire in two or three steps. "Big Head, bring the scale over here."

"What scale do you need at night? Any scale will do." Datou didn't move, still sitting by the fire, and asked the man next to him, "Boss, what do you think?"

The man called the boss nodded, "No need to weigh it." Then he looked at Xu Hexiao, "Come and take a look at the goods."

Xu Hexiao walked towards the boss and sat down next to him. "What good stuff do you have tonight?"

"Gold, silver, jade, and a batch of ancient books and calligraphy and paintings." The eldest brother's voice was slightly hoarse. "Ancient books and calligraphy and paintings are a bit dangerous now. The other party brought a basket of them. I don't understand them, and I dare not keep them. If you are not afraid, you can exchange them for a pheasant."

Xu Hexiao didn't agree directly, "Let me take a look first."

"It's right there, look for yourself." The eldest brother pointed to one side and said it was a basket. It was indeed a big basket.

Xu Hexiao turned on the flashlight and took a quick look. "They are all from the Republic of China. There are only a few books from the Ming and Qing dynasties. They are not valuable."

The eldest brother nodded. "I saw that he stored them carelessly. They really don't look valuable. But with so many of them, it shouldn't be too much to ask for a pheasant."

"It's not excessive." Xu Hexiao admitted, "Besides these, what else is there?"

"These." The boss took out a box and handed it to Xu Hexiao, "Look for yourself."

The box was a jewelry box. Xu Hexiao opened it and saw what was inside. His eyes were filled with disappointment. "There is no gold jewelry."

"We took the gold." The boss admitted frankly.

Xu Hexiao frowned, "No one dares to wear jade and jadeite outside anymore. They can't be circulated and can't be exchanged for money."

"Just because they are worthless now doesn't mean they won't be worthless in the future," the eldest said. "These are all top-quality jade and jadeite. In peaceful times, they would be more valuable than gold. If it weren't for the New Year, meat would be expensive, and you wouldn't be able to exchange them for meat."

Xu Hexiao was not convinced by the boss and retorted, "If you think they are of good quality, why don't you keep them?"

The eldest brother's mouth twitched, "Of course I kept some. Brothers all have families to support, and they need money for food, clothing, housing and transportation. I can't keep too much. And once this thing is found, it will be a big problem. The situation outside is getting more and more serious."

When he said the last sentence, the boss's face darkened.

Xu Hexiao's heart sank. The situation was not good. The first to suffer would probably be these five black categories.

"How about this, let's exchange this box of jewelry for your remaining five prey, okay or not?" the old man said.

"There is one bracelet missing from the jewelry box. I can agree to have four more bracelets." Xu Hexiao said.

Boss: “….”

"Boss, how did he know that you took out the bracelets? And there were exactly four of them." Big Head said in surprise.

"How should I know how he guessed it!" the boss said unhappily.

"There can't be no bracelets in the jewelry box. As for why there are four, that was just my guess. Now it seems that I guessed right." Xu Hexiao chuckled.

"Okay, I'll give it to you!" The boss took out four bracelets from his pocket and put them in the box. "I can give you all of this box, but in addition to the prey tomorrow, I also want rice and wine."

Xu Hexiao thought for a moment and said, "Tomorrow there will be no prey, so I can take 30 kilograms of rice, but only 20 kilograms of wine."

"No, it's too little." The eldest brother shook his head, "50 kilograms of rice and 30 kilograms of wine."

"Fifty kilograms of rice is fine. I really don't have any wine. Brother Tan asked me several times, but I couldn't give it to him." Xu Hexiao said, "Brother Tan's price for wine is ten yuan per kilogram. If I have it, I will sell it."

"I can give you twelve dollars per pound." said the old man.

"That's not available either. We can only wait until next year." Xu Hexiao said helplessly.

"Okay, I'll order 100 kilograms first." The boss said proudly.

Xu Hexiao nodded, "No problem."

The eldest brother thought for a moment and said, "Fifty kilograms of rice, twenty kilograms of wine, and twenty kilograms of jujube honey."

Xu Hexiao shook his head. "We'll have to wait until next year to get jujube honey. Of course, if there's gold tomorrow—"

"Imperial green jadeite," the old man said, gesturing with his fingers, "Such a big necklace and ring, such a thick bracelet, are you tempted?"

Xu Hexiao didn't believe it, "Let's check the goods first."

The boss gritted his teeth and said, "Okay!"

When Lin Qi heard her mother and father ask her to get engaged to Xu Hexiao first, she suspected that there was something wrong with her ears.

"I'm only seventeen next month." Lin Qi said helplessly.

"So it's an engagement, not a marriage." Mother Lin said, and explained the reason for the engagement, "You two are too close. If you don't get engaged, I'm afraid that bad things will spread in the team."

Lin Qi: “….”

How could she tell Lin's mother that bad things about her had been spread in the team a long time ago, even rumors that she was not a human being had been spread, and everyone believed it.

"It's hard to explain it to a silly child like you." Mother Lin looked at her silly daughter and thought that even if the child was not stupid anymore, her brain was probably not very bright.

Lin Qi: “….” It’s not that she doesn’t understand, but given Xu Hexiao’s identity, it’s not possible for them to even be in a relationship publicly, let alone get engaged.

At least not now.

"Your father and I have discussed it. Don't worry about it. Just listen to us. I used your money and tickets to buy cloth from the supply and marketing cooperative today. I plan to make a set of clothes for your partner. It can be considered as an engagement gift. Tell me your partner's size." Mother Lin said.

"Your partner is very generous. We feel that one set of clothes is too few. We plan to add some more things, but we don't know what to buy. What do you think?" asked Lin's father.

Lin Mo and Lin Miaomiao, who were listening on the side, were shocked. The two older sisters were not married yet, so how come the youngest sister was engaged?

Lin Qi shook her head. "One set of clothes is enough. If you need anything, we can buy it over there ourselves."

Just get engaged. Whether it’s real or not, the family won’t know anyway.

"That's fine." Mother Lin said, and took out the money and tickets that Lin Qi gave her today. "I used some of it to buy cloth today. The rest is here. Count them and keep them."

"So many!" Lin Miaomiao's eyes widened.

The others present knew about this in advance and were relatively calm.

"I'll just take a hundred, and leave the rest for my parents' household expenses." Lin Qi said.

As soon as Lin Qi said this, Lin Miaomiao's eyes lit up instantly. If she stayed at home, wouldn't that mean she would have a share too?

"Your parents don't want it, you earned it yourself, so keep it for yourself." Mother Lin disagreed.

"I have spent a lot of family money over the years. Since the day you gave birth to me, I have been sick frequently, and I have spent much more money than my elder brother and sister. These few hundred yuan are considered as compensation to my brother and sister. My brother's wedding and my sister's marriage both require money and tickets." Lin Qi said.

Mother Lin didn't want to take money from her daughter, but when it came to her children's marriage, she felt embarrassed. Her son and daughter were both grown up, but the family didn't even have 50 yuan, so marriage was indeed a problem.

"I don't need it. I can save it myself." Lin Mo refused.

"It will take a long time for my brother to save money. Can Sister Li Min wait that long?" Lin Qi blinked at her eldest brother and said seriously, "It's because of my medical treatment that our family has no savings. Now that I have the ability, what's the problem with giving money to our family?"

"Who is Sister Li Min?" Mother Lin's focus was no longer on money.

Lin Mo froze, his face rarely turned red, "Li Min is a colleague of mine, she also works in the machinery factory, and I just established a relationship with her today."

Mother Lin's eyes lit up. "Working in a machinery factory, a regular employee? Of course, a temporary worker is fine, as long as you have a job."

"I'm a regular employee in the Propaganda Department, and I have good writing skills." There was a hint of pride in Lin Mo's tone that he himself didn't even notice.

When Lin's mother heard that it was a formal employee, she was very satisfied with her son's partner and asked, "Can you bring someone to our house someday?"