It was already past two o'clock when Zhou Huaian and Zhou Yiding arrived in Ning'an. Huang Yongcai originally wanted to take all the seven wild boars, but when he heard that Chef Li wanted game, he had no choice but to leave three for him.
Huang Yongcai picked the smallest wild boar and weighed it, which weighed only 32 kilograms including skin and bones. He said happily, "The day before yesterday, my company invited us to a dinner and we wanted to eat roast suckling pig. This one is perfect."
"Brother Huang, these are all pretty good." Zhou Huaian picked up a big one and hung it on the scale hook. "Look, this big one is only 39 pounds. If the old man at home didn't agree, Ding Ding Cat and I would have kept them all and eaten them ourselves. We wouldn't have come today."
"Fuck!" Huang Yongcai stared at the two of them, his eyes wide open, "You two really have no guts. You guys are willing to eat a suckling pig that costs 2.5 yuan per pound?"
Zhou Huaian: "What's the point of us giving it up? My mother, my wife, even my brother and his wife don't agree. I was almost twisted by my mother! If my husband and grandfather were here, they might have been beaten with two cigarettes!"
Huang Yongcai looked gloating, "Fortunately, Auntie and my sister-in-law were sensible, otherwise the hundreds of dollars worth of things would have been reimbursed by you two prodigal sons."
Zhou Huaian laughed, "Isn't it that only one is left? The rest are all delivered!"
After hearing what he said, the two of them felt that it was indeed a bit of a waste. After all, there are still many people who can't earn more than a few hundred yuan a year.
After weighing, the four little wild boars weighed exactly 140 kilograms, and sold for 2.5 yuan per kilogram, for a total of 350 yuan. He only asked for 40 kilograms of the big wild boar's meat, which sold for only 45 yuan.
After weighing, Huang Yongcai asked someone to send the pork to the back kitchen. He glanced at the basket on the tractor and asked, "Youngest, where are all the pigs' stomachs?"
Zhou Huaian knew from his expression that he wanted the pig's stomach, "I have left the small pig's stomach at home, and I have a big pig's stomach that I am going to send to Deshengtang."
"A wild boar stomach costs several pieces. You really are willing to eat it." Huang Yongcai said as he climbed onto the tractor. His movements were neat and swift, not like a fat man at all. "Doctor Wang is also buying this for someone else. Why don't you just sell this big pig stomach to me as well?"
Zhou Huaian hurriedly said, "Brother Huang, it's not that I don't want to give it to you. Last time, Wang Zhen asked me to kill a wild boar and keep the pig's stomach for him. Next time, next time I will definitely leave it for you."
"Well, since he has greeted me, we can only keep it for him." Huang Yongcai had no choice but to get off the tractor.
Zhou Huaian pulled him with a smile, "Don't worry, Brother Huang, next time we kill a wild boar, you can pick it and I will send it to other places to sell."
"Okay!" Huang Yongcai patted his shoulder, "Hurry up and go to Chef Li, otherwise the meat will look stale if you delay for too long."
"Okay!"
Zhou Huaian and his companion drove a tractor to Chef Li. He ordered 50 kilograms of pork and three little wild boars, which weighed a total of 113 kilograms. The two items together sold for more than 300 yuan.
Chef Li was very satisfied with the little suckling pigs and repeatedly told the two to bring him any good wild game they caught in the future.
The two of them readily agreed.
I didn't bring any Hericium erinaceus to sell to him because the price I got from selling wet goods last time was not as good as the price he got from selling dry goods last time, so I didn't bring any this time.
However, Chef Li likes to get good stuff, and the two of them thought that having one more friend would mean one more way out. If they were to kill musk deer or red deer in the future, they would have one more buyer who could eat the good stuff, and they wouldn't have to worry about not being able to sell the goods.
The two men came out of Chef Li's house, looked at the dozens of pounds of pork left in the basket, and drove the tractor to visit several restaurants. They sold the remaining meat before heading to Deshengtang.
Zhou Yiding patted his waist bag happily and said, "We still have to listen to the words of the elderly. Look, we sold a few small wild boars for more than 600 yuan, and a big pig only sold for more than 200 yuan."
"That's how I put it. If you don't listen to the old man, you'll suffer the consequences!" Zhou Huaian turned his head and glanced at him. "It's better to sell the suckling pigs. It would be better if we could get a few more wild boars."
Zhou Yiding rolled his eyes at him and said, "You're lucky to have met a few of them. Don't be greedy, kid!"
“…”
The tractor stopped at the entrance of Desheng Hall. Wang Zhen came out upon hearing the noise. When he saw the two men, he said, "You two came at the right time. They are leaving today to pick up the goods and are sending the big tractor over. Do you need a driver to take you for a few days and learn some driving skills?"
Zhou Huaian smiled and glanced at Zhou Yiding, "Don't worry, with Master Zhou here, everything will be fine."
Zhou Yiding also smiled and said, "Doctor Xiao Wang, there are big tractors in the forest farm. I learned how to drive one when I was a teenager. Don't worry, I will take care of him."
"That's great. I was just thinking about finding someone to teach you!" Wang Zhen and the other two took down their backpacks and went to the backyard together. "I heard that you two went into the mountains. Did you get anything good this time?"
Zhou Huaian said with a smile on his face: "My luck was pretty good this time. I dug a nest of honey, killed a few wild boars, picked up a few top-quality Ganoderma lucidum, and a few Hericium erinaceus as big as a melon."
"A Hericium erinaceus as big as a melon, that's really huge!" Wang Zhen also felt that the two of them had really good luck in the mountains.
Zhou Huaian took the wild boar stomach out of the backpack and said, "This pig stomach is reserved for you. We just washed it casually. You ask Dongmei to wash it carefully." Then he handed him the vegetable basket and said, "Chunyan brought you some rotten root mushrooms. This is very delicious for stewing soup."
"Thank you!" Wang Zhen was no longer polite to the two of them. He took the pig's stomach and said, "Please help me put the mushrooms in the dustpan. I will put the pig's stomach in the refrigerator."
"Okay!" Zhou Huaian took a dustpan from the wooden rack, and Zhou Yiding picked up the vegetable basket and poured the honey mushrooms into it and spread them out to dry.
There were a lot of medicinal herbs piled up in the yard. They also saw a basket of tree tongues, the big one on top of which weighed at least ten pounds.
Zhou Yiding took the Ganoderma lucidum out of the basket on his back, and Wang Zhen came out of the house carrying a scale. When he saw the Ganoderma lucidum in the basket, he picked it up and looked at it, praising it repeatedly.
"I haven't received such good Ganoderma lucidum for a long time." He picked out four large ones, "These ones can be rated as top-grade goods, and those three can also be rated as first-class goods."
Zhou Huaian and the others were also very happy after hearing this, "What is the price of Ganoderma lucidum during this period?"
Wang Zhen smiled and said, "The price of ordinary goods is about the same as before. The price of special goods has increased by three yuan per pound, and the price of first-class goods is the same as before."
Zhou Yiding happily put several special-grade purple Ganoderma lucidum on the scale. After weighing, it was 2 jin 9 liang, and three first-grade ones only weighed 1 jin 2 liang.
Wang Zhen took a notebook and wrote it down, "First-class is 50 yuan per catty, a total of 60 yuan, and special-class is 80 yuan per catty, a total of 232 yuan."
Zhou Huaian gave Wang Zhen the wild boar skin and the bitter gall wrapped in vegetable leaves in the backpack. After weighing, the wild boar skin weighed 16.9 jin, a total of 31 yuan, and the bitter gall was sold for 35 yuan.
Zhou Yiding did some calculations and felt that it would be easier to find big-ticket items like Ganoderma lucidum and Coriolus versicolor. He could just carry them down the mountain with one hand and get the money. Unlike the heavy wild boar meat, not only was it risky to hunt, but he also had to go through a lot of trouble to get them down the mountain only to sell them for a few hundred dollars.
Wang Zhen took out an abacus and calculated, then went into the house and handed the money to the two men, "358 yuan in total, count it."
Zhou Huaian took it and handed it to Zhou Yiding, saying, "I didn't bring Hericium erinaceus and Paris polyphylla at home. I'll bring them together next time I deliver the herbs."
Wang Zhen nodded and said, "During this period, the purchase price of Chonglou has dropped by two yuan. If you have good goods, you should stock up and send them to us when the price goes up."
"That's great!" Zhou Huaian patted Zhou Yiding, "We can get up to 300 to 400 kilograms of fresh red mushrooms a day now. I plan to go into the mountains with Ding Dingmao to harvest the herbs when they are on the market in autumn."
Wang Zhen looked at Zhou Yiding, "Is Yiding planning to quit his job?"
Zhou Yiding said embarrassedly, "I've already decided. Actually, working in the forest farm is quite free. The main reason is that I don't have a high level of education, and the salary is low, and there is no chance of promotion. I might as well take advantage of the opportunity now and go out with the youngest brother to earn more money."
"At the current rate of felling, there will be no trees left to cut down sooner or later. By then, the efficiency of your company will only get worse and worse. It would be better to go out and earn some money early while there are fewer people doing business now."
Wang Zhen paused, "I think that no matter whether it is a big family or a small family, only when the economic foundation is stable can the family's life get better and better."
Zhou Yiding: "You're right. We just want to earn more so that our family can live a better life."
Zhou Huaian: "It's right to listen to you. The two of us will work hard to make money and lay a solid foundation."
As his family's life has been getting better and better over the past two years, and as he has come into contact with more and more capable people, he also understands why his grandfather used to say: If the father is incompetent, the son suffers; if the son is incompetent, the father has to bow his head.
When the brothers were young, the old man had no ability, so only Zhou Dachun's family and some people in the village dared to bully them.
When the brothers grew up, they were still as incompetent as the old man.
Although the old man has four sons, he still can't speak a word in the village. He lowers his head more and more, and is always submissive in front of everyone for fear of offending others.
After things got better at home, my mother and my husband straightened their backs. People listened to what they said outside. My husband dared to show his displeasure to my father and dared to confront him and not give him face...
Wang Zhen laughed and said, "It's the same idea. It's because you have a certain economic foundation now that I dare to let you stock up the high-quality medicinal materials and sell them to you when the price goes up."
Zhou Huaian thought of his help to his family in the past two years and said sincerely: "Thank you, Wang Zhen. Without your help, we wouldn't be where we are today!"
"You're welcome, brother-in-law!" Wang Zhen said with a smile, "We were partners before, and now we're a family. You're fine, and so am I!"
When Zhou Yiding heard him call Zhou Huaian his brother-in-law, he knew that he and Yang Dongmei were finally together. "Doctor Xiao Wang, when are you going to invite us to the wedding?"
Wang Zhen said, "When the yard behind the hotel is renovated in the spring of next year, I'll invite you to a wedding banquet!"
Zhou Huaian smiled and patted Zhou Yiding, "Just prepare the red envelope."
Zhou Yiding smiled and said, "That's for sure." (End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com