Yan Xiaonan went to the kitchen and got some rice cakes. She also took out some fruit candies from her kangqin and gave them to Bei Nan. Bei Nan also put a few of the soft candies her uncle had given her into the bag, packed them up, and prepared to go to the post office.
Yan Xiaonan stopped him: "How much money do you want?"
“Originally, one cent was enough, but now it’s two dollars and one cent. Third brother will pay you back when he earns it.” Bei Nan knew that Nan Nan had agreed. Nan Nan’s New Year’s money was more than anyone else’s, so two dollars and one cent was definitely possible.
Yan Xiaonan took out two yuan and ten cents from the wooden box: "Don't worry about the eggs. If Dad finds out you went to the black market, he'll probably break your legs."
Both North and South are feeling a bit down, so what should they do?
"Third Brother, don't rush to buy goods at the black market tomorrow. You need to find a way to escape. Also, the main entrance and the back door are not good escape routes. The people coming to arrest you will definitely block them there. You need to find a way that no one else knows about." Nan Nan said earnestly.
Bei Nan was stunned. Nan Nan seemed to have never been to the black market before, so how could she know so much about it?
Yan Xiaonan rolled her eyes: "I'm Fu Bao."
Bei Nan still didn't understand how Fu Bao knew about the black market, but seeing Yan Xiao Nan roll her eyes, she wisely shut up, knowing that going to the post office to send money was more important.
The next morning, Bei Nan and Ye Chenming set off. Ye Chenming's advice was exactly the same as Nan Nan's: don't buy any goods yet, it's most important to find out the escape route.
The two men pretended to be shopping and looked around the market. Finally, they found a hole near the very back of the market, sandwiched between the front and back doors.
The location was a bit out of the way, so no one set up a stall here. Ye Chenming stood in front to provide cover while Bei Nan secretly crawled out. The entrance was a bit small, so they had to find a way to remove two bricks and then add some thatch to cover it up.
Ye Chenming went to buy goods, and Maotou was already getting impatient. As soon as he saw Ye Chenming, he ran over and asked, "Where's Beinan?"
"Bei Nan is coming right away," Ye Chenming replied. He felt that pork would sell better than sugar, so he decided to buy pork today. He handed Mao Tou nine yuan and sixty cents, and Mao Tou nodded and turned to go inside.
When Maotou came out, Beinan was already standing next to Ye Chenming. Seeing Beinan, Maotou felt much more at ease and handed over the meat.
The two still set up their stalls separately, but in different locations than yesterday. Ye Chenming had Bei Nan set up his stall near the cave entrance, and he tried to put the meat in his basket as much as possible, preferring to make more trips himself.
As time went by, the two yuan and ten cents owed to Bei Nan had been paid off, and the cost of purchasing goods had increased from five yuan to ten yuan.
Ye Chenming used the money he earned to buy rice and pork on the black market. He set up a makeshift stove in a corner of the school's open space, borrowed a small pot from Bei Nan, and the two of them ate with great relish.
"Brother, where did you buy the rice and pork?" Ye Chen'er asked.
"I asked a friend to buy it for me," Ye Chenming replied.
"Brother is amazing, he already has a friend." Ye Chen'er said enviously.
"Aren't you friends with Nan Nan, and also with Ma Minghua?" Ye Chenming reminded him.
"Yes, yes, I have friends too." Ye Chen'er was happy.
As winter faded and spring arrived, the snow melted and the ice thawed, and the village loudspeaker started blaring again. The village chief's voice rang out: "Villagers, villagers, come to the threshing ground for a meeting right now! Come to the threshing ground for a meeting right now!"
Not knowing what had happened again, Ye Chenming and his sister quickly ate their meal, packed up their things, and ran to the threshing ground.
Half an hour later, the village chief picked up a loudspeaker and began to give a speech. The village chief was in high spirits today, and I wondered what good things were about to happen.
"Villagers, villagers, we have some good news to announce today. The two oxen we applied for will arrive next week. We need to build a cowshed now. As usual, each household will contribute one person."
The villagers cheered as they learned that they now had oxen for plowing. Every spring planting and summer harvest was exhausting, but with oxen, the villagers could save a lot of effort.
The smell of beef is strong, so we can't arrange it in the villagers' residential area. Let's arrange it in the open space behind the school. It's flat, dry, sunny, and close to the village's stream.
The construction of the cowshed required funds, and the higher authorities provided only a small amount. After calculating for a long time, Village Chief Ma and the accountant finally came up with the cheapest yet sturdiest method.
That meant asking the mountains for timber and soil, and then adding fired bricks, and finally a cowshed was built. The village even stipulated that the children could count one centimeter for each basket of grass they cut.
Of course, with oxen, there is a need for shepherds. Village Chief Ma preferred Bei Nan, but Bei Nan was currently busy with Ye Chenming, so he quickly shook his head.
"Then let's go with Yan Xiaonan," Grandma Yan and Yan Xiaoqiang quickly shook their heads. "Our little darling is busy reading ancient books all day long, how can he go herd cattle?"
After looking around, there were no suitable options. Most families were unwilling to hire people who wanted to go to school or work. Herding cattle was only a few centimeters long.
Then let's count Ma Mingchun from my own family as one, and Fenqiu, the son of Aunt Guihua, as another. Aunt Guihua lost her husband early in life and raised Fenqiu by herself. Eventually, she ruined her health and could no longer do heavy work, so she is the village's old hand.
Dung Ball is the same age as Ma Mingchun. Because of his family's poverty, he never went to school and didn't even have a proper name. Anyway, people in the countryside give their children cheap names so they can raise them easily, so Guihua was just given the name Dung Ball.
The cowherds earned five centimeters a day while herding cattle, and each centimeter was worth seven cents. This made Aunt Guihua so happy that she shed tears and repeatedly thanked the village chief for taking care of them.
The village chief said to Aunt Guihua, "Third Uncle knows cattle best. Have Manure Ball run to Third Uncle's house more often to learn the ways of raising cattle. I'll send my son Mingchun there too."
Guihua hesitated. Her third uncle had a terrible temper, and she might get whipped by his bullwhip.
Village Chief Ma knew Aunt Guihua's concerns: "Tell the boys to be more diligent. As long as it involves raising cattle, Uncle San will teach them."
Ma Mingchun and Fenqiu, carrying a basket of grass, knocked on the door of their third uncle's house. Their third uncle was already waiting for them at home.
Uncle San had put a lot of effort into raising cattle, so he was very happy when his two children came to ask him for advice.
Cows are the most miserable animals in the world. They eat grass, produce milk, do everything from plowing fields to pulling carts, and even when they die, they are skinned and eaten. Uncle San felt sorry for them.
Before the cattle arrived, Uncle San told the two children in detail about his experience in raising cattle and his methods of herding cattle. Ma Mingchun could write, so he specially organized his notes after returning home and read them to Uncle San the next day, correcting any mistakes and encouraging himself to do better.
Fenqiu couldn't read, but he listened very attentively and kept thinking about it afterward. Ma Mingchun's notes served as another reminder for Fenqiu, and with the guidance of his third uncle, the two boys already had a basic understanding of the cattle's habits before the cattle even arrived.
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