Chapter 149 Not Enough Food
After the money was divided, everyone was quite happy. Li Zhenggang insisted that Sheng Xiping and the others stay for dinner.
"Brother Li, let's call it a day."
We've been out all day and bought a lot of things for our families, so we need to hurry and send them back.
Another day, another day when we're all free, I'll treat everyone to drinks.
Sheng Xiping and the others still need to go home and divide the money from the lynx pelts; how could they go out drinking?
Li Zhenggang took a look and saw that these people were indeed carrying a lot of things in large and small bags.
"Alright, let's get together another day then. Come visit us at home whenever you have time."
Sheng Xiping and his group left the Li family's house and returned to the Sheng family's house.
When I got home, the Sheng family was preparing their meal and getting ready to eat.
Upon seeing Sheng Xiping return with his brothers, Zhang Shuzhen hurriedly prepared a meal.
"I thought you could stay overnight in Songjianghe. Come in and have a seat. The food will be ready in a little while."
"Jianshe, you guys will all be eating here tonight."
"Auntie, don't bother, let's all go home later, our families are still thinking about us."
Wang Jianshe and Chen Weiguo quickly stopped Zhang Shuzhen, telling her not to bother with anything else.
I've been eating at the Sheng family's house quite often lately, so I guess their food rations for this month are almost gone again.
In ordinary times, there's no reason to always eat at someone else's house.
The group went inside and sat down. Sheng Xiping took out the four hundred and eighty yuan he had earned from selling the lynx pelt.
They hunted the lynx together as a group of five, and each person paid exactly ninety-six yuan.
"Mom, do you have any change? I only have whole bills, I don't have enough change."
Whether it's selling lynx pelts or bear bile, they always give you whole bills, like ten yuan.
Just now at Li Zhenggang's house, we each got forty, and it was all done in one piece without any trouble.
The money to be divided now had some change, but Sheng Xiping didn't have that much change, so he asked Zhang Shuzhen for some.
Unexpectedly, at this moment, Chen Weiguo and Wang Jianshe directly stopped Sheng Xiping.
"Don't bother your auntie. It's just a matter of a dollar or eighty cents. Why bother with all that trouble?"
So, you give each of us ninety, and the rest is yours, isn't that settled?
Whether it was lynx pelts or bear bile, they benefited from following Sheng Xiping's example. In reality, they didn't contribute much; they were the ones who were killed by Sheng Xiping.
This is why Sheng Xiping is generous and values relationships over money, which is why he split the money with them.
If it were a regular foreman, they would at least get an extra share.
Wang Jianshe and his gang benefited greatly from Sheng Xiping's help, so who would care about a few dollars?
So they proposed that each person should only need ninety.
“That won’t do. We agreed to split it equally. We have to stick to our word.” Sheng Xiping disagreed.
He doesn't need ten or twenty dollars. We agreed to split it equally, so we have to follow the rules.
“Brother Xiping, if you keep doing this, we’ll be too embarrassed to go hunting with you in the future.”
At this moment, Zhang Zhijun whispered something.
"That's right, Zhijun is right. You've always taken good care of us brothers over the years."
Every time we hunt, you put in the most effort, and then we split the spoils equally. That's not right. We should do things the way they should. You're the leader, so you should get a bigger share.
"We should be asking for more than ninety; it should be eighty." Wang Jianshe, Chen Weiguo, and several others said this.
Sheng Xiping couldn't argue with those few people, so he finally agreed that Wang Jianshe and the others would each receive ninety, and the rest would go to Sheng Xiping.
And so, the money from selling the lynx pelts was divided up.
Zhang Zhijun and Pan Fusheng did not participate in the hunting of bears, but they still received more than two hundred yuan for lynx hides and pine nuts.
In those days, that was a lot, equivalent to half a year's wages for a worker.
In addition to the two hundred yuan, Wang Jianshe and Chen Weiguo also received forty yuan from the black bear gallbladder, bringing their total to nearly three hundred yuan.
Who wouldn't be happy to earn three hundred yuan this autumn?
This is why there are so many outsiders in the forest farm, surrounded by large forests and rich in various resources.
What good would it be in a town? Everyone's living off their wages.
"Xiping, have you saved enough money for your wedding? Look, you've built a new house, and you'll get married next year."
"Oh my, how enviable!" Wang Jianshe and Chen Weiguo teased Sheng Xiping.
Sheng Xiping didn't care what his friends said; he was just happy to have fun.
"Yeah, I'm planning to buy a sewing machine for the house later, it'll be useful in the future."
The four essential items for a wedding are a watch, a bicycle, a sewing machine, and a radio – these are known as the "three turns and one sound".
The watch is here, and it's already on Zhou Qinglan's wrist.
Bicycles are almost useless in the forest farm. The road to Songjiang River hasn't been built yet, so apart from the simple forest road in Baimachuan, they are useless everywhere else.
As for radios, they weren't of much use to the forestry workers.
The power supply to the forest farm is limited; there is no power during the day, and power is only available until 9 p.m. at night.
The kind of radio that's plugged in can only be listened to during dinner time.
As for semiconductors, they require batteries, and most people wouldn't be willing to spend money on batteries just to hear a sound.
Besides, if you accidentally pick up other channels, you might get reported for listening to enemy stations.
Anyway, the loudspeaker at the forest farm is always on, so it's better not to buy this radio.
On the other hand, a sewing machine is great for everyday life. With one, you don't have to sew everything by hand anymore, and you can get things done much faster.
With Zhou Qinglan being such a skillful person, having a sewing machine, and with Zhang Shuzhen's guidance, it's convenient for her to make clothes and such.
"Hey, listen to this. They're praising him for being fat, and he's getting all out of breath."
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