Wang Tianxiao tied the two snakeskin bags together with a rope and placed them on the back of the bicycle, one on each side.
This old-fashioned heavy-duty bicycle is very sturdy, with a very robust back seat that can easily support a pig weighing several hundred kilograms by its head.
Two bags of wild rabbits, weighing only a little over 100 pounds, were a piece of cake for him and his bicycle.
As he walked along the alleyways of the pit-dwelling courtyard to the flat ground, the first rays of sunlight began to appear in the east. Wang Tianxiao took a deep breath, crossed his legs, and rode his bicycle towards the city, facing the rising sun.
My home is on the Loess Plateau.
A strong wind blew across the hillside.
Whether it's a northwest wind or a southeast wind
These are all my songs, my songs…
The north wind was howling, and the morning air conditioning made him a little short of breath, but he was in a good mood and began to hum a folk song.
At first, the sound was relatively soft, but it gradually grew louder and louder until it almost became a shout, echoing over the mountain village and waking up countless chickens and dogs.
From Wangjiacun to Qingcheng, it's more than 30 li (about 15 kilometers), and mostly uphill.
Wang Tianxiao rode halfway before feeling extremely out of breath. He rested by the roadside and ate some cornbread made by his wife. The coarse grain was hard to swallow, and he almost choked after a few bites.
In those days, food was generally scarce, and the land in the mountain villages was not very fertile. The wheat grown there was not profitable to begin with, and after paying the grain tax, there was very little left.
The main staple foods for ordinary people were corn, sorghum, millet, and rice.
Even worse are potatoes and sweet potatoes.
These whole grains may feel good to eat once or twice, but if you eat them every day, they can easily cause constipation. Many people suffer from poor health as a result, and many elderly people starve to death because they cannot digest them.
Take corn as an example.
Later generations understood cornmeal as cornmeal made by removing the husks from corn, grinding it into corn flour, and then using it to make porridge.
But in this era, many people eat corn not only the kernels, but also the cob, which is the small cob in the middle of the corn, crushed and eaten together.
It's easy to imagine that while that stuff might satisfy hunger, digestion would be incredibly difficult. Humans aren't cattle or sheep; their stomachs don't have that kind of powerful function.
The same principle applies to sorghum. If you eat too much of it, it feels like you have a piece of iron in your stomach, and you can't even turn around when you walk.
There are reasons why wheat can replace other coarse grains as a staple food.
I ate a few bites, but I just couldn't swallow it anymore, and I forgot to bring a water bottle when I left.
Wang Tianxiao put the pancake back in his pocket, looked ahead, took a deep breath, and continued on his way.
There were no further delays on the way, and we arrived at the entrance to the city at exactly eight o'clock.
Wang Tianxiao had a watch head from a "Shanghai" brand watch, which he found on the street. It had no watch chain, so he guessed someone had dropped it on the ground.
He originally wanted to get a watch chain made, but after asking how much it would cost, he couldn't bear to part with it. So he tied the watch to his waistband with a rope, and kept the watch head in his pocket.
I usually check the time here, and it's very punctual with minimal error.
He didn't linger and rode his bike directly to the west of the city.
Qingcheng is a small county town that has only recently been upgraded to a county-level city. Small cities in the northwest generally have small populations, and Qingcheng, surrounded by mountains on three sides with only one exit to the east, appears even more isolated, resulting in a very limited urban scale. Urbanization has also lagged behind, with many areas still retaining the appearance of towns and villages.
For example, the live animal market in the west of the city.
This market was originally for trading cattle, sheep, pigs and various poultry, but because it is located near the mountains, many hunters and even villagers often bring their hunted animals here to sell.
Gradually, a small corner was formed, where no domesticated animals were kept, only wild animals.
Wang Tianxiao didn't arrive early; there were already some people at the wildlife market. He looked around, parked his car at a bend, and put down the snakeskin bag.
This is a great location; although it's a bit small, it allows you to keep an eye on two lanes at the same time.
When he was looking for a spot, he noticed that although there were all sorts of wild animals at the market, they were mostly dead and very few were alive.
I also saw two people selling wild rabbits, but they were just peddlers, and the rabbits were already stiff and lifeless.
His live rabbit is one of a kind.
"A live wild rabbit! Its mouth is covered in oil from eating. Come and see!"
Wang Tianxiao laid a snakeskin bag on the ground, took out two wild rabbits, put them on the bag, and began to call out.
The two rabbits, with their feet and mouths tied, were full of wildness, constantly trying to struggle, appearing quite spirited.
Sure enough, two people soon came over.
Pointing at the wild rabbit, he asked, "Fellow villager, how much is this rabbit?"
"Twenty yuan each, no bargaining." Wang Tianxiao knew two people and knew they were mostly dealers.
In his previous life, he had sold wild animals many times, always to these dealers, so he recognized them at a glance.
"Why don't you just rob someone?" one of the traffickers blurted out.
The other one, a little calmer, laughed and said, "Brother, a rabbit can't sell for twenty yuan, can it? Look around the market, where can you find one for that price? Tell me nicely."
“But there aren’t any live rabbits in the market,” Wang Tianxiao said with a smile, “As you both know, the taste of a wild rabbit is completely different when it’s bled alive versus when it’s dead.”
"That's true, but twenty yuan is too expensive. This rabbit weighs at most four or five jin. If you sell it for twenty yuan, that's five or six yuan per jin. How much does pork cost per jin?"
"That's right, you can't exchange one rabbit for ten pounds of pork, can you?"
Wang Tianxiao had no intention of selling the goods to the two dealers; these guys wouldn't give him a good price, so he started by asking for an inflated price.
In reality, people's living standards were generally low in those days, and many families couldn't even get enough to eat, so where would they get the extra money to buy wild things as a treat?
A reasonable price would be around three or four yuan per rabbit, and even if they were alive, the best price would be six or seven yuan.
Since he wasn't planning to sell to dealers anyway, he didn't care about asking for an exorbitant price, just to avoid them harassing him.
"Brothers, if you want to buy, we'll exchange money for goods on the spot. If you don't want to sell, how about we make room for others to come and take a look?"
"Hey, hey, what's the rush? You put your stuff here to sell it, so let's negotiate the price properly."
"Alright then, eighteen yuan each, but I won't weigh them."
"I think you're really obsessed with money."
One of the vendors looked at Wang Tianxiao's determined expression, shook his head, and left.
"Brother, I'll ask you one more time, how much are you selling it for?"
"I said eighteen."
"Then you can keep it. If you can sell it, I'll cut off your head."
The other vendor also reluctantly turned and left, not forgetting to say something harsh before he left.
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