Chapter 49 Chapter 49 New Plan
The next day, Daddy Fan and Chen came up the mountain early in the morning. Fan Jing and Kang He came out of the wooden house and went to the outside of the mountain to pick them up.
This time when they went up the mountain, knowing that they had to carry heavy objects, Father Fan also drove up the donkey they raised at home.
At the beginning of the year, the donkey was already more than eight months old. After a few months, it has become much stronger under the care of the family.
Earlier, I taught Father Fan how to carry fertilizer, and it actually improved his temper.
"Oh, my son, just hearing Dajing say you were injured while playing with wild boars, and him just telling me you're fine, but look at the cut on your face, it makes my heart ache."
Chen ran into Fan Jing in the city yesterday. Seeing that he was the only one coming down the mountain, she was surprised and asked him why Kang He didn't come down the mountain.
Fan Jingyuan kept it a secret from him, saying that he was busy.
Chen was unwilling to believe it. Not to mention that the two of them had been inseparable since they got married, and were usually inseparable when they went out. It was fine in the village, but how could they act separately after entering the mountains?
Besides, everyone in the family knew that Fan Jing was not good at talking. Whenever Kang He had something important to do, he would stay in the mountains alone and ask Fan Jing to come down the mountain to talk to the buyer.
She thought something was wrong and kept pestering Fan Jing, so he couldn't hide it from her. That's why she blurted out that Kang He was injured.
Although people assured him that it was not a big deal, Chen Sanfang still tossed and turned in bed when he returned home at night, unable to sleep. He was thinking about Ge Youquan from the other village, who had also suffered a lot while hunting wild boars.
The couple did not sleep well that night. Before daybreak, they drove their donkey up the mountain to check on Kanghe.
Seeing that the man was still alive and well and able to walk and move, Father Fan felt relieved. However, when Mrs. Chen saw the scars on the man's face, she was still worried.
"It's inevitable to get bumped in the mountains. I'm strong and healthy, so I'll be all right in two days. If I were really unhappy, I would have come down the mountain early this morning to find Doctor Zhu."
"Our salted duck, preserved eggs, and konjac vermicelli are all selling well these days, and life isn't as tight as it used to be. You and Dajing should just leave the mountains and stay in the village. We can live a peaceful life, even if we don't want to be rich."
Chen Sanfang said, "It's hard to make money in the mountains."
Kang He knew his family was worried, so he comforted them, "There are risks in every profession. Now is a good time for hunting. If you give up because of a minor injury or pain, how can you bear it?"
"But I've learned my lesson this time. I'll definitely be more cautious in the future. Dad and Mom are worried, so Dajing and I will go to the mountains in the summer and autumn to explore. How about we not stay there for so long like before?"
After Kang He's advice, Chen Sanfang felt better.
She also knew that the family was not so tight on money now, but they had not saved much money.
There are still many days when we need money, so we can't easily give up our livelihood.
They talked all the way to the wooden house.
Seeing the pile of wild boar meat, Father Fan and Mrs. Chen were pleasantly surprised: "There's so much! There's more meat than the pigs we slaughter at home during the Spring Festival!"
"Two wild boars together would be more, but one is not as good as one raised at home."
As they spoke, several people quickly put the meat into a basket and tied it to the donkey.
Kang He took out the braised pork head from yesterday, cut a plate of it and ate it with Chen and Father Fan.
The cooled pig's head meat is softer and more elastic, and tastes just as good when eaten cold as when hot.
If they weren't in the mountains, Father Fan would have wanted to find some wine to drink.
Kang He wrapped up the remaining pig head and put it into Chen's backpack.
When they went down the mountain, in addition to the hundreds of pounds of meat carried by the donkey, Father Fan, Chen, and Fan Jing each carried some.
Kang He also had to be carried on his back. Not only did Fan Jing forbid it, but Chen and Fan's father also didn't want him to put any weight on it.
With the donkey, life became much easier, and the remaining pork was not heavy after being divided among the people.
Several people went straight to the city and first delivered wild boar meat to two restaurants. Chen went to several old customers yesterday and sold 15 kilograms of wild boar meat in batches of two or three kilograms.
So the remaining pork is about fifty pounds.
Kang He and Fan Jing sent a few pounds of meat to Liang's shop, and on the way they went to a butcher's shop to ask if there was any butcher stall willing to buy wild boar meat.
Hearing that it was not a whole live pig, few stalls were willing to ask for it. There were two or three stalls that wanted it, but the price was lower than that of domestic pork. Kang He and Fan Jing both felt that it was not worth it.
Not to mention that wild boar meat is rarer and has a higher market price than domestic pigs, and it takes half a life to get it, even if you keep it for yourself, you don't want it to be sold at such a low price.
So he got 50 kilograms of wild boar meat and set up a stall to sell it.
By the time he closed his stall in the afternoon, he had sold another 20 kilograms. He didn't dare sell the remaining 30 kilograms anymore, so he went back to the village that night and hurried to salt and smoke them.
In the evening, they had braised pork, and the eldest wife also brought a big bowl over. The family asked Kanghe to go see Doctor Zhu.
Kang He didn't want to make any trouble, but since Fan Jing was watching him, he had to go there at night.
In the evening, I was so bothered that I also brought a bowl of braised meat.
Doctor Zhu and Kang He examined the injury and found it to be nothing serious. They said that he had handled it well. At this stage, if the injury was not treated carefully, it would easily become inflamed and infected, and then it would ulcerate, which would be a big trouble.
He took out the best scar-removing ointment and gave it to Kang He:
"I heard earlier that it was Brother Kang and Mr. Xu's family who recommended me, an old doctor. I wanted to go and thank you, but I heard that you were in the mountains, so I didn't have the chance to meet you.
Now, I must take this opportunity to express my gratitude to Brother Kang. If it weren't for you, how could this old doctor and I, your disciple, be safe today?"
Kang He waved his hand: "Doctor Zhu is kind-hearted. Even if it weren't me, anyone else would definitely be happy to do the same."
Doctor Zhu was filled with gratitude. Kang He wanted to give him medical expenses, but he refused to accept it.
When Xu Yang heard Kang He and Fan Jing coming over, he came from the other end of the room to check on them. After hearing Doctor Zhu say that there was nothing serious, he teased Kang He.
"Look at the mess on her little face. I think the wild boar would be jealous if it saw it."
"screw you."
The two chatted for a while before Kang He and Fan Jing went back.
At night, Kang He took out the copper coins he earned from selling pork today. He asked the restaurant to buy 80 kilograms of wild boar meat and earned two strings of money. He did not take the rest of the money from the individual sales. Chen shouted all afternoon and was thirsty. He asked her to keep the hundreds of copper coins for herself.
Nowadays, the family makes money, and perhaps everyone has some income, so we don’t calculate it so clearly or care about it so deeply.
Kang He took out the box where he and Fan Jing kept their money, and added the copper coins he had earned from selling honey and some miscellaneous mountain products. He bought some land in the first half of the year and had more than four strings of cash left. Now he had more than twelve strings of cash.
He sorted the money and put the box back into the top drawer.
After Fan Jing took off his clothes and came back from visiting Doctor Zhu, his tense nerves relaxed a lot.
Watching Kang He put the money box away, he said, "Just take care of the injury and don't think about those things."
Kang He walked back after hearing this, and laughed when he heard Fan Jing say this.
He knew that Fan Jing was afraid that he would be too focused on making money and not focus on recovering from his injuries.
"This money is enough for the family to eat and drink for a year or two. I'm not in a hurry to make money."
He went over and lay down next to Fan Jing: "We have been earning money all the time. Compared with ordinary farmers, we have made a lot of money in the past six months. I am very satisfied."
The reason why I can’t save much money is because my family is poor.
Once they have some money, they have to buy livestock and land. They always want to buy these things that they don't have. It's not that they like to show off or want to get these things to show that their family is making money, but they really want to live a more comfortable and easier life, and these things are indispensable.
Those farmers with more financial resources own more than ten acres of land when they get married. When the times are good, they not only have enough food for their families, but also easily have extra money.
With the remaining money, I bought a donkey this year, a cart next year, and repaired the house the year after... As I had more and more things, it became easier and easier to make money. I had more left, and my life became better and better.
Poor families are always struggling to have enough food to eat. If they want to do something, they have to borrow money. After saving some money with great difficulty, they have to pay back the debt immediately.
Their family currently has enough to eat and drink, and as they slowly add more things to their household items, in a few years, if everything goes well, their financial situation will also improve.
Nothing can be achieved overnight. Kang He has known this truth since he was young. Even when he made money from his own media, he had to stay silent for two or three years before that, honing his skills and calming down his mind to achieve success slowly.
Everything needs to be accumulated slowly.
He couldn't just think of making something amazing because his family was poor, hoping that some noble official would take a fancy to it and spend thousands or even tens of thousands of strings of cash to buy it, and then make a fortune.
Xu may not become rich, but may get into trouble instead.
Doctor Zhu is a living example. He has done nothing wrong, but he has been tormented by the powerful.
In today's world, it is a sin for ordinary people without power to have good things. Only by being mediocre and down-to-earth can one easily maintain peace.
"Our family is down-to-earth and will slowly move forward. There's no need to rush."
Fan Jing responded. He looked at Kang He with a gentle expression, and there was a longing for the future in his eyes.
He felt an indescribable feeling in his heart, probably because he was infected by the situation, and he began to look forward to the future.
After a moment of silence, he finally decided to tell Kang He what was in his mind.
What Chen said on the mountain today kept spinning in his mind. He knew that Chen was worried about Kang He and said those anxious words.
Before this, he had never thought that one day he might not have to go up the mountain to make a living by hunting.
Before Kang He came to their home, their family was poor and had little business, so how could they dare to think of giving up this craft?
But this time when something happened to Kang He, he began to waver.
"What mother said is also correct."
Hearing this, Kang He looked at Fan Jing and asked, "What did mother say?"
"I'm not going to the mountain anymore."
Kang He's eyebrows twitched. He had actually thought about this a long time ago, when Fan Jing was injured and he saw Ge Youquan bleeding profusely.
But this time he was injured, so he didn't have such thoughts.
He thought that hunting was Fan Jing's livelihood, and he also liked hunting. If he didn't teach him to go hunting, and kept him working in the fields at home all day, wouldn't that be too much of a burden for him?
For this reason, Kang He never mentioned this matter, for fear that he would think too much and think that he could not stand life in the mountains.
I didn't expect that he would take the initiative to bring it up today.
Kang He was not in a hurry to be happy. Instead, he talked to him seriously: "If you don't go up the mountain, your archery skills will have to be put aside. Do you have any other plans in mind?"
He thought about what Fan Jing could do, but because of his taciturn nature, many jobs were not suitable for him.
Only dull crafts suited him, such as hunting, working in the fields, or making things.
Obviously, manufacturing is a skill that is mastered by a certain number of people and is their livelihood, so Fan Jing had to be the first to learn it.
Unexpectedly, Fan Jing said: "Maybe I can learn to be a butcher."
After that, he looked at Kang He again: "But I don't know how to hawk."
Kang He suddenly understood. He had never thought of this before. He said immediately, "What's the big deal? I'm with you. You can be in charge of slaughtering the animals, and I can sell them."
Fan Jing suddenly smiled faintly.
Kang He was stunned for a moment, then he started laughing too.
The two of them had some ideas about changing their livelihoods, but this was not something that could be done on a whim.
There are two types of butchers. One is the one who specializes in slaughtering livestock in a slaughterhouse, and the other is the butcher who buys and sells the livestock himself.
The former is equivalent to finding a boss, doing work for him, and receiving monthly wages;
The latter bought livestock from all over the place, slaughtered them and then sold them on their own to make a living.
Since Fan Jing said that he didn't know how to hawk, he meant that he wanted to do the latter.
If he did the former, since he would be working with others, why should he limit himself to being a butcher? He could find other jobs to do. The important thing was that he didn't want to go to the city to work alone.
Naturally, Kang He didn't want him to go either.
But if you want to be a butcher like the one who did later, it would be much more troublesome.
Not to mention building up a good reputation, they also need to have a complete set of supplies so that people in the surrounding villages know that they are a butcher.
This completeness is not as simple as having all the knives.
If a butcher wants to make money, he has to travel around the villages to negotiate. Even if he walks fast, he can't walk many miles just by relying on his own two legs.
What is needed is a cart so that you can move around easily, slaughter pigs, sheep and other livestock, and then sell them in the city.
This is one thing. In addition, selling meat is not like selling side dishes. You can just set up a stall and start a business.
You have to rent a shop or a stall to do business, which requires much more rules than ordinary small business.
Renting a shop or a stall is another expense.
If you want to start this business, you can't do it easily without twenty or thirty strings of cash.
Rent and tools were a huge expense. When buying pigs and sheep from farmers, didn't one have to pay them first before selling them? The price of buying and selling a pig or sheep was not cheap.
Kang He explained all of this to Fan Jing in detail.
The two of them discussed it and decided that this matter needed to be considered over a long period of time, or at least could not be done immediately. They had to save money while implementing it.
However, with the new plan, both of them felt more at ease and found life more exciting.
After Kang He and Fan Jing made the decision, they revealed some of their intentions to their family members. Father Fan and Chen were very supportive.
Although being a butcher is also not easy, it is much more reliable than being a hunter. After all, you are just moving around in the village, while you can't be in the wilderness for several days.
"To learn a craft, you need a master to guide you. It doesn't matter how much they teach you, you need the master's reputation to go out and work on your own. People won't recognize you as a novice at first, but they recognize the master's name. They'll only let you try once they've heard who taught you. Once they see your skills and think they're good, they'll give you a try a second time."
Father Fan said, "I went to teach Hu Dasan to take Dajing as his apprentice, but he refused to learn his craft. He wanted to make his own way outside, and the two of them have been arguing for several years.
A while ago, we were drinking together, and he got drunk and started yelling about his son being unfilial. He said Hu Dalang didn't want to go home and listen to his father's nagging, and he wouldn't let his wife bring the children back to see the old couple.
"I heard that Hu Dasan also wants to stop forcing his son. He might not be willing to accept a disciple."
When the family was slaughtering a pig before, Fan Jing also went to their house to borrow the slaughtering tools. He had a bit of a drinking and eating relationship with Fan's father.
Kang He said, "Dad is right. We have to find a master, even if it's just a formality."
Father Fan said, "One day when he's free, I'll invite him for a drink and ask him what he thinks. Sanlang, can you help me get some snacks to go with the wine? I'll take them with me, and then we can talk to him a little more."
After hearing this, Chen Shi asked Father Fan, "Are you looking for food or are you asking someone to do something for you?"
"You women just don't understand."
Kang He saw the two of them arguing, so he smiled and said, "That's easy to deal with. When Dad wants to go, I'll cook some food."
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