Chapter 251 Arrival at Hezibao (Part 2)
"Is the boss coming today?"
"Is it today, Aunt Li? Did Yanfu tell you when he's coming back?"
"It's today, today. Yanfu told me last night that he'll be coming from Haishi at eight o'clock this morning."
"Oh dear, eight o'clock! The high-speed train takes seven hours, the bus takes two hours, and if you factor in the travel time, we won't arrive until six o'clock in the afternoon!"
"Hey, we'll have to wait until tomorrow. I'll go up the mountain today and see if there are any dates, or if I don't, I'll shoot a couple of times."
"......"
As dawn broke, the villagers of Hezibao gathered to chat, mainly discussing when Xu An would arrive in the village. After careful discussion and calculation, they concluded that Xu An would not arrive until at least 6 p.m.
After receiving detailed news of Xu An's arrival at Hezibao, Li Laowu turned around and headed home. He strode into the house, rummaged through the kitchen, found a few small shovels, put them in his basket, and was about to leave when someone called him back.
"Li Laowu! Where are you planning to go if you don't eat breakfast this morning?!"
The speaker was Li Laowu's wife. She had just brought the cooked breakfast back to the main room when Li Laowu ransacked the kitchen. Not only did he leave the place in a complete mess, but he also walked out without saying a word, forcing her to ask him what was wrong.
"Old Zhou, haha... haha... that's because you're young. You really appreciate the flavor of food. I heard that chili peppers are good, so I dug some up to try... anyway, eating them makes you a good person, right?"
"I know, I know. You've encountered many when you came down from the mountain to pick mushrooms." As he spoke, Zhang Dezhen glanced at the ground and made sure the young man was still chatting there before he felt relieved. He waved to his wife and said, "I told you, I told you. It would be bad if someone else got there first. Those things are scarce, and digging up one is just one more."
Yanfu made his footsteps heavy, trying to quietly return to his room. But when he reached the corner of the stairs, he heard the door to the village secretary's room creak open, followed by the village secretary's voice.
"Boss Xu, Boss Xu? Why are you suddenly spacing out while eating? Is the food to your liking? If you could stir-fry some vegetables..."
We've finally arrived!
"...Could the price be lowered a little more? Those mushrooms were all picked from outside the mountains, they're all wild...Right, a trip down the mountain only brings back about half a pound, so the price is indeed a bit high...It's okay if the price goes up by one yuan, so that each of us can save money on one meal of meat...Hey, boss, let's discuss it some more...Boss? Boss!"
After encountering four villagers named Li Laowu in a row, all of them were like that, even someone with a mental disability would realize that there was nothing wrong with them! Absolutely nothing wrong with them!
Even if the first thing succeeds, it's just a waste of effort. What rural people fear most isn't wasting effort; if it succeeds, wouldn't that be gaining an advantage?
That season was the peak season for chili peppers, and from afar, I could see eight thriving chili pepper trees, with red and green chili peppers hanging low among the branches, and the faint aroma of chili peppers lingering in the air.
On a quiet summer night, insects chirped and frogs croaked outside the window, creating a peaceful atmosphere.
"You must be hungry after such a long drive. Have a bowl of sweet soup first. Those eggs are freshly laid, very nutritious! Have some to tide you over before we go back for dinner!" Mother Hezibao stuffed two earthenware bowls into Yanfu and Xu Dongliang's hands, turned her head to glance at the people in front of her, and said with a hint of smugness, "Your family has not only cooked meat, but also killed an old hen to make soup!"
"You've stewed meat at home too? Thick slices of fatty meat, each bite is so juicy! Does Cao Huan want to come to your house for a meal?"
"There aren't even beds in the two rooms downstairs, how are we supposed to sleep? The village secretary said there aren't any vacant rooms at the village office, and the beds and everything else are either worn or clean. The environment is worse than ours, so the bosses can at least get some decent rest..."
"Ah, village office, does our house not have a room yet?" He Zibao asked, somewhat puzzled.
Yanfu muttered a few self-criticisms, then hastily washed away the day's fatigue before lying down on the soft bed and falling asleep. Xu Dongliang's room was next to Yanfu's, and by the time Yanfu lay down, the sounds of snoring were already filling the room next door.
Is it because no one wants to buy the saplings of the "Ghost-Sorrow" tree? I've heard about that before!
"Nice to meet you!"
It was even better than Cao Huan had expected. The bedding under the bed was very clean and tidy, and you could even smell the sunshine when you got close. Shoes, towels, and everything else were provided. It was clear that a lot of thought had been put into the preparation.
But we encountered fewer and fewer villagers like Li Laowu as we went along. The baskets in front of us were either empty or contained neither a single "Ghost-Slaying Chili Pepper" tree...
That day, the Ghostly Chili Pepper Tree outside the hill suffered a bloodbath; only one in ten survived...
Following his memory, Zhang Dezhen easily located the first spot where the "Ghost-Seeing Sorrow" plant grew.
However, Yanfu brought Uncle Dongliang along. Without Uncle Dongliang, who has friends all over the world and is good at saying whatever comes to mind, dinner, which could have started in half an hour, took a full hour and a half to finish, much to everyone's dismay.
Even the village office, which the mother from Hezibao described as having the worst conditions, looked dilapidated. The toilet was a dry toilet, and the shower room wasn't just a solitary cement building; there wasn't even a water tap outside, and there wasn't even a water cooler...
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