"Hey Xiao Jiu, do you have two hundred yuan? An old buddy of mine is sick and hospitalized, and his children won't give him any money. He's desperate, so he came to me for help, and even gave me a few small yellow croakers to sell."
Small yellow croaker?
How many?
When the old man held up five fingers, Xiao Jiu did some mental calculations.
During the Republic of China era, one tael of small yellow croaker weighed 31 grams, while ten taels of large goldfish weighed approximately 310 grams.
The weight here is a different concept from the 50 grams she calculated earlier; the calculation method is different.
However, the price is still 240 yuan per tael, which is the market price.
However, the market price is one thing, but in reality, it can't be sold at that price because people are too poor to afford it.
The reason it can't be sold in the future is because this thing is considered a contraband. It was only after the reform and opening up that people started to actually sell it at the price of gold.
But by that time, unless someone is stupid, they won't sell this thing.
The other party took out five gold bars. "Two hundred yuan?"
The old man gave a bitter smile. "He has a serious illness. I don't know if two hundred yuan will be enough. Jiu'er, if you..."
Before he could even speak, Grandma Weng tugged at his sleeve, making it clear that she would give him as much as he wanted.
Don't do anything that will offend people.
But Xiao Jiu was kind-hearted and never thought of taking advantage of the situation, especially after hearing that the other party needed to see a doctor, he figured out a price in his mind.
"I'll take two first, one hundred yuan each. I don't have more right now, so this way it won't be considered taking advantage of him."
She shouldn't take out too much money at once; that's the best approach.
Xiao Jiu went home, took out her bag, and while carrying it out, she took out the money from her storage space and counted out twenty ten-yuan bills.
Grandpa Weng was very touched, but he still insisted on giving her three.
"Liquor, you are kind-hearted. I thank you on behalf of my old friend. Here, take these three."
If you come back, and you have some left, why don't you take what's left too? His wife passed away long ago, and now, alas…
"Okay, Grandpa Weng, I'll raise the money later. We're just in time today; we're going out of town, and I've withdrawn some money. We'll have to go get more later when we leave. Just know that, and don't spend any more."
"Don't worry, Grandpa understands this."
When Grandpa Weng left, he was two hundred less money and had three more goldfish.
If you ask her how much money she has now, she has about two thousand yuan in cash, but the value of her other gold, silver, and jade items is impossible to estimate.
The main problem is that I haven't had much cash income lately; it's all been from antique transactions. At this rate, the cash will be spent quickly.
But she didn't have any major expenses, and once she went to school, she would have even less opportunity to engage in such transactions.
So let's grab as much as we can while we can!
Once she arrived at the military medical university, not only was food and lodging provided by the school, but she also received a monthly stipend of a few yuan. Travel expenses for visiting relatives were reimbursed. Eight-year students began to enjoy the salary and benefits of a deputy company commander in their sixth year. By then, she would have no need to spend any money. She could wear military uniforms and eat military meals all year round. How wonderful!
The only regret is that they hardly have any winter or summer vacations, because they have military training in addition to their studies, so even when they do have a vacation, it's only for a few weeks.
Moreover, military academies recruit students earlier than other schools because they have political vetting, physical examinations, and further examinations once students arrive at the school, making the process extremely rigorous.
Furthermore, a full-process elimination system is implemented. Even if you are admitted, you will be eliminated if your political ideology does not meet the training objectives, you violate rules and regulations, or your grades are poor. You will also have to return all the benefits you have received.
Before leaving, Grandpa Weng gave Xiaojiu a large handful of shepherd's purse and a big head of pickled cabbage.
"These garlic sprouts grew right here in our field, they're so fresh! Take them home and make dumplings!"
Wild shepherd's purse in early spring is not very big, but it is purplish and has a rich flavor.
There wasn't enough shepherd's purse, so I paired it with eggs to try something new. Sauerkraut needs to be paired with meat, so I took advantage of the opportunity at the Weng family's house to secretly wrap a two-pound piece of meat in oil paper, transfer it to a small bag, and take it home.
"I bought these from Grandpa Weng. He gave me these shepherd's purse and pickled cabbage. Now I have the filling for dumplings."
Yuan Yuan was very happy with Xiao Jiu's explanation, because she had only eaten dumplings with pure radish filling this year and hadn't even been able to bear eating eggs, since they weren't hers and she felt bad about it.
Although Zhou Yue was very curious, he didn't ask. After all, the old couple didn't seem to live a life where they could afford to eat meat.
Only Cuiju knew that this was all a white lie Xiaojiu had made up so that everyone could eat meat.
The three women were busy picking, washing, chopping, and mincing vegetables and meat, frying vermicelli, and stir-frying eggs.
Zhou Yue volunteered to knead the dough, and his strong hands produced a smooth and elastic dough.
While the dough was resting, he also tidied up the outside of the house. When it came to housekeeping, no one could compare to them, who were former soldiers.
We started making dumplings at four o'clock in the afternoon. With many people working together, we had three batches of dumplings ready by five o'clock.
"Let's get off early. After you've eaten, you can digest your food before heading to the station."
Today's dumplings have two kinds of fillings. To distinguish them, I specially used spinach juice to make the dumpling dough. The green and white colors are very pretty.
Adding more meat and oil makes the dumplings delicious, with a tangy and fragrant sauerkraut and meat filling.
The filling was shepherd's purse, egg, and vermicelli. Because both the scrambled eggs and fried vermicelli were cooked with a lot of oil, the resulting dumplings were full of the flavor of spring. It's a pity that I didn't add chives, otherwise the flavor would have been even more delicious.
Making your own food is not only delicious but also very satisfying. After eating dumplings, you can drink a bowl of dumpling soup to help digest the food. It's so satisfying!
Around 5:40, Xiao Jiu and her companion left home, declining Cui Juyuan's offer to see them off. Before the buses stopped running, they took a bus to the bus station, and around 6:20, they retrieved their luggage and found their bus to wait for.
They entered the station 20 minutes early for ticket inspection. Since they had sleeper berths, they weren't in a hurry to grab seats. They walked slowly behind, watching as the people behind them passed them, carrying large and small bags, rushing forward and squeezing into the various boarding entrances.
Even after experiencing that scene many times, Xiao Jiu was still shocked and exclaimed, "There are just too many Chinese people!"
"Yes, that's true. Whenever I take the bus, it's always packed, so I usually don't wear my military uniform home."
Xiao Jiu couldn't help but chuckle: "Of course! Traveling is tiring enough as it is. If you give up your seat or something, the journey will be even more exhausting!"
In critical moments, you still have to take care of yourself; you can't be too selfless, especially when you're away from home—nobody has it easy.
Tang Cuimei also agreed, saying, "You soldiers are the group most easily morally coerced. And because of your honor, you will be constrained wherever you go. However, even if you are not wearing uniforms, you can tell at a glance that you are soldiers."
Xiao Jiu nodded vigorously, "That's right, that's right! You've perfectly embodied the spirit of standing like a pine tree, sitting like a bell, walking like the wind, and lying like a bow."
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