In the early 1980s, Wang Xuan was a notorious scoundrel in the village. He spent his days idling, unemployed, and frequently wandering into the city, where he made friends with a bunch of scoundrels. During this time, he engaged in a number of absurd acts.
At first, he simply enjoyed himself, drinking, and having fun with his friends, often getting into trouble. Later, he developed a gambling habit, losing everything and accumulating a large debt. Ultimately, all this debt fell on his honest parents.
Seeing his parents having to beg for help from others in order to pay off his debts, and even begging the creditors for more time, Wang Xuan's originally chaotic heart finally began to be touched.
Especially when he saw his mother secretly wiping away tears and his father's hair turning white overnight, he truly realized how shameless what he had done was.
After learning from his mistakes, Wang Xuan decided to turn over a new leaf and become a new man. His family lived in the Suzhou-Hangzhou area, a region rich in water resources. The paddy fields and ponds in the countryside were filled with countless loaches, eels, grass carp, and other aquatic products. So, he set his sights on these aquatic resources.
One day, Wang Xuan and some of his friends went to the city for a drink. During the meal, they overheard someone say that the Aquatic Products Supply and Marketing Cooperative urgently needed to buy a batch of yellow eels to be shipped to the neighboring city. Because the neighboring city had a famous specialty dish called "Panlong Eel" and it was popular with customers, the demand for yellow eels was naturally high.
Panlong eel, a dish with a variety of unique cooking methods, offers a unique flavor. Suining Laochi Panlong eel and dry-fried Panlong eel are particularly famous. The former emphasizes the original flavor, meticulously cooking the eel to ensure it's tender and juicy, while the latter is known for its crispy and delicious texture, creating a unique flavor.
Wang Xuan was sitting drunk in the tavern when a thought suddenly flashed through his mind: there were countless eels in the rice paddies and ponds in his village! This sudden thought flashed through his chaotic brain like a flash of lightning, and his drunkenness instantly dissipated without a trace.
He stood up abruptly and hurried back to his home in the countryside. Upon arrival, without even taking a moment to rest, he grabbed a few worn but still usable wooden barrels and rushed to his rice paddies. Even though Wang Xuan was now an idler, he was once a skilled farmhand.
He skillfully rolled up his trouser legs and stepped into the paddy field. His eyes were as sharp as a torch, accurately locking onto the eel holes hidden in the mud. He skillfully inserted his hands into the holes, and in a short while, he had collected one plump eel after another.
Time passed minute by minute, and after about three hours, the wooden barrels that Wang Xuan brought were filled to the brim with lively eels.
Wang Xuan was already exhausted and panting, but his heart was filled with joy and anticipation. He wiped the beads of sweat from his forehead and fished out the only two cents he had left in his pocket.
Although this amount of money was pitifully small, it was enough for him to rent the broken cart pulled by an old ox in the village to transport these precious eels to the aquatic supply and marketing cooperative.
It was still dark when Wang Xuan drove his ox cart to the aquatic product supply and marketing cooperative. When the villagers saw how many eels he had caught, they couldn't help but burst into laughter.
It turns out that there is an abundance of eels and loaches here, and the people here eat eels and loaches almost every meal, and they are already tired of them.
So they laughed at Wang Xuan, saying that he was so poor that he couldn't even afford other food and could only treasure eels and loaches.
However, Wang Xuan didn't care about the crowd's ridicule. He knew that as long as he could successfully sell these eels, he would be able to make a complete comeback!
At this moment, Wang Xuan's parents, who were far away at home, had no idea their son was going through such a turmoil. When they heard about it later, they felt like the sky was falling...
Of course, Wang Xuan had no way of knowing about these subsequent developments. At this moment, he was eagerly awaiting the opening of the Aquatic Products Supply and Marketing Cooperative, imagining the wonderful life that was to come.
In the early morning, the sun had just fallen on the earth, and the leader walked briskly towards the unit gate, ready to start a new day of busy work.
Just then, a slightly shabby but unique ox cart slowly came into his sight.
What a coincidence! The wooden barrel filled with water on the oxcart was overflowing with plump eels.
These eels are all strong and large in size. They swim happily in the bucket, as if showing their vigorous vitality.
Originally, the leader was worried because he had not been able to receive sufficient quantity and high-quality goods.
But who would have thought that such good goods would be delivered to us at this moment?
It was like being presented with a soft, comfortable pillow while dozing off—a pleasant surprise! So, Wang Xuan naturally struck up a conversation with his leader.
The leader approached the oxcart and carefully examined the eels. He saw that the eels in the wooden barrel were not only huge in size, but also full of energy and kept jumping.
The leader was naturally delighted with such good stuff. He made a quick decision and had the buckets of eels taken immediately. He then turned to Wang Xuan and said, "Young man, as long as your eels are fresh, I'll take them all!" Hearing this, Wang Xuan was overjoyed.
He looked down at the fifty-plus yuan tightly clenched in his hand. This amount of money was no small sum for a rural family; it was almost equivalent to a family's annual income! Now, this fortune had easily fallen into his pocket. How could he not be extremely excited?
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