Chapter 3: Changing Money He licked his lips and said with a serious look: ...
Chapter 3: Changing Money
Just as the members were getting off work, Yan Jiuru greeted them all the way home.
His grandfather Yan Changsheng was sitting under the eaves resting, and his father was taking over from his mother in killing fish.
"Master!"
"father!"
Yan Jiuru called people one by one and took the opportunity to look at the two pillars of the family again.
His grandfather Tang Hei had a square face, bright eyes, and a very good physique. It could be said that he was stronger than most of the villagers, and he sat there with his back straight.
It was said that the old man had learned martial arts from a Taoist priest in the mountains for a few years in his early years. Even his father knew a few punches and kicks. So it was not surprising that he had some basic physical qualities.
His grandmother told him that in the early days there was constant bombing and there was no peace. People at that time would get married early as long as they had food to eat.
Back then, his grandfather used 100 kilograms of grain as a betrothal gift to marry his grandmother. They got married and had children when they were only fifteen or sixteen. Now he is only in his fifties and even has great-grandchildren.
His family's height should be inherited from the old man, they are all tall. His father is less than 40 years old and doesn't look much younger than his grandfather.
When Yan Tieniu saw his son coming back, he asked, "Where did you catch this fish? It's so big!"
Yan Jiuru didn't respond, but gave his father a wink and walked towards the back garden.
His father didn't understand what was going on and cursed him, "You little bastard!" But he still washed his hands and followed him.
When the old man saw it, he strolled over to join in the fun.
***
"Did you really pick this up?" Yan Tieniu kicked the two dead wolves.
"I've heard there are people from the Qiao'er Sect, but I've never encountered one."
People who live near the mountains know that every spring, large animals will fight each other for mates, territory, etc. Those who cannot win will run away, and those who are seriously injured may die along the way.
The winners are busy guarding their territory or licking their wounds, and generally will not chase after the other animals. Other animals, because of their murderous aura, have already stayed away.
If they are lucky, people who go up the mountain can occasionally pick up one or two uneaten or half-eaten things.
Although he had heard about it, he still couldn't believe it when he saw it with his own eyes.
The old man actually picked it up when he was young.
He reached out and touched the wolf's corpse a few times to look at the wounds. They were all throat-locking bites, but there was obviously something wrong with the wolf's neck.
He asked his grandson, "Where did you pick it up? Was he already dead when you picked it up?"
Yan Jiuru said half-truthfully, "It's right there in Erdaoling. When I went there, a large area of grass had fallen down."
"I thought he was dead, but he was still breathing. I didn't bring a knife, so I punched him a few times." He also showed the wound on his hand.
Erdaoling is at the edge of the deep mountains, and it is very likely that they will escape if they cannot defeat the wolves.
"Be careful next time. Wolves are very cunning." The old man warned.
After all, he was his own son, so there was no reason to doubt him. His father pondered and asked, "What are your plans? If you hand it over to the commune, the reward for each wolf is 20 yuan, but you can get more on the black market."
Every year the commune organizes militia to go into the mountains to hunt wolves and wild boars. Although they have guns, casualties are inevitable when encountering wolf packs.
Things that are risking your life are not calculated by weight, so the reward money is more than selling a pig.
But when it comes to comparing twenty dollars with one’s life, few people would risk it.
"Later, I'll go to the black market and see if I can exchange some money for it."
His father nodded and said, "Okay, there will be a meeting at the brigade headquarters after dinner. Let your grandfather go as a representative. Dad will go with you to look after you."
***
The Yan family’s dinner today is no worse than during the holidays.
The milky white fish soup contains large chunks of fish meat and tender green shepherd's purse, spicy stir-fried fish offal, stewed potatoes with artemisia, stir-fried asparagus, and the staple food is multi-grain sweet potato rice.
In Chen Yin's fish soup, in addition to large pieces of fish meat and shepherd's purse, there are also fish roe. Although only a pinch of salt and ginger slices are added, the spring fish does not have a strong fishy smell.
After listening to his mother's grumbling, Yan Jiuru secretly tasted the stewed potatoes with Artemisia selengensis left for Chen Yin. It really didn't taste good.
"You can't eat anything else. Mom said it might hurt your teeth. Just bear with it." He served Chen Yin the lightly flavored stewed potatoes with Artemisia selengensis. The asparagus was a little brittle and hard, so he couldn't give it to her.
Chen Yin rarely changes her taste and is not picky about anything. No matter how good the eggs are, they cannot be eaten every day, and the key is that they have no salt.
Both adults and children lowered their heads and ate voraciously during this meal.
Aunt Yan instructed the children: "If anyone asks, just say you gave it to your sister-in-law to eat. Don't say anything nonsense."
It’s normal to make something delicious if there is someone in the family who is in confinement after childbirth.
In fact, these days every family is short of food and clothing, and children know that they cannot tell others what they eat, but it is just a useless reminder.
***
After dark, those who went to the brigade headquarters for meetings left one after another, and those who stayed at home kept watch over the dim oil lamps and took the time to do some housework, such as sewing, mending, and washing. Not many people came out to stroll around.
Yan Jiuru, carrying a worn-out sack that was bulging with things, walked towards the commune in the dark with his father.
There's a so-called black market near the commune. If you take a shortcut and walk quickly, you can get there in just over half an hour. I've walked this route so often that I'm used to it.
The black market is divided into day and night. The daytime one is in the streets and alleys, and generally involves small daily transactions. The nighttime black market is different. Basically, those who come in the dark are buying in bulk.
The two of them found the place they knew well and stopped in front of a railing. Someone in the darkness asked, "East or West?"
East here represents the buyer and West represents the seller. The buyer has to pay ten cents before entering. The sellers have big items and can pay after selling them, which requires three cents.
If the father and son answered "South", the other party would let go of the railing. If they answered "East" or "West", it's hard to say.
The two walked in the dark for a while, turned a corner and came to a dilapidated large yard.
There seemed to be more than ten people in the yard, and there was an oil lamp lit in front of each stall or someone was using a flashlight for lighting.
Yan Jiuru found a piece of open space, poured out the prey, spread out sacks, and placed the wolves, pheasants, and rabbits on top.
His father also took out an oil lamp, lit it, and placed it in front of the stall.
With so little light, you can barely see the goods, but not the people. In the black market, the default is to only see the goods, not the people, otherwise no one will care.
As soon as they put their things in place, several people came over with flashlights to look around.
The snow-white light made the items on the stall clearly visible. "How do I change it?" a dull voice asked.
Yan Jiuru lacked experience in this area, so his father continued.
After some arguing, the man took over all the items on the stall in exchange for a total of 65 yuan, ten feet of cloth, a flashlight, ten batteries, and two industrial coupons.
The other party also said that if there were more wolves, they would still pay the same price.
The other side uses wolf fat as medicine. Wolf fat can be boiled into wolf ointment to treat tuberculosis. Wolf bones and meat can also be used as medicine. Wolf skin is just a side dish. In short, compared with their meat consumption, it is completely different.
People say that they are certainly not afraid of them learning this. Since it is so easy to learn, there is no need to see an old Chinese doctor who is in his 60s or 70s for treatment.
***
The father and son had money in their pockets and were also interested in shopping there.
Yan Jiuru spotted the target at a glance: a huge pile of rubber shoes!
They are all high-tops, probably military style!
I went over to ask around and was told they were defective products from a military factory. Even if they were defective, you wouldn't be able to get so much without connections and a bit of talent.
Yan Jiuru took a closer look and found that the main problem was that the tooth pattern on the sole was not printed and it was plain. In addition, the buttonholes were punched incorrectly.
The bare soles of shoes definitely have an impact on marching and fighting, but it has no effect on him.
Some of the soles even have steel plates! This is definitely an authentic military product!
Yan Jiuru asked the price.
The other party only charges 50 cents per pair, but the minimum order is ten pairs. The ones with steel plates are 1.8 yuan per pair, and the ordinary ones without steel plates are 1.2 yuan.
The ordinary low-top shoes in the supply and marketing cooperative cost more than three yuan a pair.
Yan Jiuru ignored his father's contempt and picked out a pair of shoes that fit his foot size to try on. It turns out that these shoes are better than cloth shoes. At least the soles are not painful and there is more room for the toes to move.
The stall owner knew that they had just exchanged a lot of money, and this person must be a buyer, so he naturally didn't say anything.
Yan Jiuru thought for a moment and picked out ten pairs of shoes with steel plates in three sizes, and three or four sizes of ordinary shoes, for a total of twenty pairs.
Even though it was dark and he couldn't see clearly, his father seemed to have a tacit understanding and followed suit to negotiate the price.
He understood his son's plan. If he took this thing to the village, it would be very popular even if he could earn a few yuan and eighty cents a pair. It would not go bad if he could not replace it for the time being, so it was a good deal!
After some back and forth, I bought thirty pairs of military-style rubber shoes for a total of thirty-nine dollars, but they were defective.
It's definitely a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
There was not much money left, so the father and son picked out the important things, exchanged them for a few things, and then went back.
***
Aunt Yan, who was watching over a small oil lamp, finally breathed a sigh of relief when she saw the two of them return safely.
Whether you make money or not is another matter, as long as you are a good person, that’s enough.
"I had to exchange some things and was delayed for a while." Yan Jiuru kept two dollars in his pocket, gave the rest of the money to his mother, and gave the new flashlight to his father.
"Take this thing. The child is making a fuss and getting up often at night. You can use it first." His father pushed it to him.
Yan Jiuru thought about getting two more later, so he didn't refuse and went back to the west room with three pairs of new shoes.
"What took you so long?"
An oil lamp was lit in the room, and Chen Yin was breastfeeding her baby.
It's impossible for a man to go out without worrying. Although the black market is backed by a certain committee, it will still be raided if the enemy attacks.
Yan Jiuru repeated his answer, but his eyes fell on the vaguely visible white patch.
Chen Yin said angrily, "You're so frivolous," and moved away, her cheeks getting hot involuntarily.
Yan Jiuru was once the biggest devil. As long as he wanted, he could have any woman he wanted. He always did things according to his wishes. The only time he disobeyed him was when he first entered the sect to practice.
He licked his lips and said solemnly, "How can we be a couple properly?"
Listen, this devil only pretended for a few hours and then he returned to his true nature.
Chen Yin believed that her husband had been holding it in for too long.
From pregnancy to birth, she has been a vegetarian for more than half a year. Young people start eating meat, not to mention men, she sometimes also...
"Why are you in such a hurry? You have to get out of the confinement period~" Chen Yin didn't look at him, but stared at her son's little mouth that was sucking milk, muttering softly with a red face.
The shameless Demon Lord came over and sat next to her, his voice low and seductive: "Do you want me to help you open your milk? Didn't it fail last time? Let's try again tonight?"
"Who needs you? Get out of the way~"
"Is it not possible to just take a look?"
The man was so close that Chen Yin felt like she was on fire. "What's so good about it?"
“Everything looks good.”
Yan Jiuru took one of his son's little hands and said, "You little bastard, you're still trying to take advantage of me."
"How many days old is he? As a father, why are you arguing with your son?" Chen Yin couldn't help rolling her eyes.
"Why don't you care? They were all mine originally."
Chen Yin said with a coquettish smile: "Get out of the way quickly, or your mother will come in and scold you. She has been watching you these days."
"Wife, after eating fish today, is your milk volume increased? It seems to be a little bigger."
"Fuck you~"
. . . . . .
This night is indescribable.
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