Chapter 52 Transaction
Brother Tan is from the town, or to be more precise, he lives at the end of the town. If we say he is from the town, his home is too remote. If we say he is from the countryside, his food supply depends on the town.
There is a small hill not far from Brother Tan’s house. At the foot of the hill there is an abandoned thatched house. It used to be used to raise cattle, but later the roof collapsed and the cattle were moved away.
This thatched house is Brother Tan's base. On weekdays, Brother Tan sleeps here when he has nothing to do, listens to the radio, and goes out when there is business.
When Xu Hexiao arrived, Brother Tan was repairing the thatched cottage. When he saw him, Brother Tan smiled and said, "What good stuff do you have this time? Jujube honey?"
"The jujube honey is gone." Xu Hexiao said.
Brother Tan was unwilling to give up, "Is there really nothing left?"
"No." Xu Hexiao said, "The season for jujubes has passed."
Brother Tan looked disappointed, "So what?"
Xu Hexiao helped him repair the thatched hut. "Do you want some fresh wild boar meat?"
"Yes, yes, yes. I want as much as you can get." Brother Tan laughed again. We were very hungry in the past few years. Now there is a shortage of food everywhere in the country, especially meat.
"More than two hundred pounds." Xu Hexiao said.
"So many!" Brother Tan's eyes sparkled. "I want tickets for 70 cents per pound, and no tickets for 1 yuan per pound. Which one do you want?"
Xu Hexiao thought for a moment and said, "Part of it will be tickets, part of it will be exchanged for supplies, and the rest will be exchanged for money."
"Okay." Brother Tan agreed straightforwardly. As he spoke, he suddenly moved his nose, "It smells like alcohol. Have you been drinking? Where did the alcohol come from?"
In the past, some people in the village still made wine, but now there is not enough food to eat, so where would they get the grain to make wine? In recent years, wine has almost disappeared in the countryside.
Xu Hexiao hummed, "Wine, we brewed it ourselves?"
Brother Tan became interested, "How does it taste?"
"It's better than any wine I've tasted before, two or three times better." Xu Hexiao said seriously.
Brother Tan raised his eyebrows. The Xu family was once a wealthy family in Yao County. Xu Hexiao had even drunk foreign liquor. If he said it was good, then it must be good.
"We only plan to buy 20 kilograms." Xu Hexiao added, "Three yuan per kilogram."
"Your price is a bit high." Brother Tan frowned and said, "Loose liquor is only 80 cents, Maotai is 4 yuan, and your wine made from wild grapes is 3 yuan per pound?"
Xu Hexiao raised his eyelids and said calmly, "The quality is comparable to that of jujube honey. If you don't want it, we can keep it and drink it slowly."
"Is there really such a high quality of jujube honey?" Brother Tan asked Xu Hexiao for confirmation. The jujube honey is not an ordinary thing. In addition to being delicious, it can also help you sleep. His grandmother had severe gout symptoms, but since she drank two bowls of jujube honey water every day, the pain has gone! It is really incredible.
"Have I lied to you?" Xu Hexiao asked back.
"Four yuan a pound, you sell me 40 pounds." Brother Tan said, he charged four yuan a pound, and could sell it for seven or eight yuan a pound, or even more. And if the wine had the same effect as jujube honey, he would be reluctant to sell it. He would leave some for his family, and give some as gifts, and please the people above, so that his business would be smoother.
Xu Hexiao was a little embarrassed, "Not many."
"Four dollars and fifty cents a pound, no more." said Brother Tan.
"Okay." Xu Hexiao agreed, "Find me a jar that can hold 40 kilograms of wine. I don't have any."
When Xu Hexiao came to the cave again, the sun had already set. Lin Qi had already refined a full earthenware jar of lard, and used the pork scraps to mix with leeks to make more than fifty pies.
The braised pork was stewed for more than an hour. It was rosy in color, soft and juicy, fatty but not greasy, and melted in the mouth.
There was no time to cook the vegetables, so Lin Qi simply gave up cooking and went outside the cave to find some cucumbers.
The two of them ate a bite of braised pork and a bite of pie without even raising their heads.
After eating their fill, they each took a cucumber and took a bite slowly. "Brother Tan gave me a flashlight. We don't have to worry about not being able to see the road when we walk at night."
Lin Qi nodded twice but didn't tell him that she could actually see the road without a flashlight.
"I just heard the sound of pheasants near the cave. Are there more pheasants coming here?" There were pheasants here before, but they were all caught and cooked by them.
The vegetation was dense and the wild animals were very vigilant. Xu Hexiao came and went in a hurry and did not notice that there were many more animals nearby.
"Not only pheasants, but also hares, wild goats, wild boars, deer roe, sparrows... Most of the animals that can be seen in the mountains are available here." Lin Qi said softly, looking directly at Xu Hexiao, afraid that she would scare him.
Xu Hexiao was indeed scared. This was just the edge of the mountains and not deep inside. How could there be so many animals?
"The crops, fruits and vegetables I planted are ripe, and those animals came to steal them." Lin Qi said. She was not lying, that was the truth.
Xu Hexiao: “….”
It always feels unreal.
"Don't scare them. I plan to keep them so that it will be convenient to eat meat in the future." Lin Qi said.
There is a kind of whimsical innocence.
"How to raise it? Grow vegetables, melons, or grains? It's late autumn now, and winter is about to come. It's no longer suitable to grow grains, and there are not many vegetables that can be grown in winter." Xu Hexiao said.
"You don't have to worry about this. I have a way." Lin Qi said.
Xu Hexiao hesitated to speak, and finally sighed deeply, "There are so many animals here, will it attract those wild beasts? Will it be dangerous?"
"I don't know, maybe. I won't be in danger, but you should be careful next time you come here. Don't go too far away from the cave unless necessary." Lin Qi said.
Xu Hexiao choked and said unyieldingly, "I can't fight wild beasts, but I'm quite alert. If I see them, I will run away."
"I'm afraid you won't be able to run away," Lin Qi said, "But don't worry, if I find any wild beasts, I will chase them away."
After it became completely dark, Lin Qi and Xu Hexiao each carried a backpack and a basket in their hands and left the cave.
Lin Qi walked in front with a flashlight. Wherever she walked, dense green grass appeared on the ground, covering the mud completely.
Xu Hexiao clearly felt that the road under his feet had become easier to walk on. It was no longer slippery, and there was no sticky mud. He just thought that the sun had been shining all day and the road was dry, and he didn't think much about it.
"Go to the left. Brother Tan and I have an appointment. It's at the fork in the road over there. There is a big rock there." Xu Hexiao said.
Lin Qi remembered the fork in the mountain road. It was another road to the town. It did not pass through the Anliang Brigade and was much longer.
The three-way intersection was just ahead. Xu Hexiao pulled Lin Qi in front of him and said, "Wait."
Lin Qi didn't understand and stopped where she was.
The next second, two long and one short cuckoo calls came out of Xu Hexiao's mouth.
"This is the secret code between me and Brother Tan." Xu Hexiao said.
He had just finished speaking when a nightingale's long and short calls were heard from the other side of the stone.
"It's Brother Tan." Xu Hexiao took Lin Qi's hand and walked towards the boulder.
Brother Tan also came out from behind the boulder with his donkey cart. He noticed Lin Qi at first sight, "Who is she?"
"She is my friend. She makes the jujube honey and wine." Xu Hexiao said.
Brother Tan was a little surprised. How could a little girl have such great abilities?
Although Brother Tan was curious, he did not ask any more questions. "I believe you. Since you brought her here, she must be reliable."
"Of course." Xu Hexiao said firmly.
There were a total of 245 kilograms of pork. Xu Hexiao and Brother Tan were counting the money and tickets. Xu Hexiao would glance at Lin Qi from time to time and ask her what supplies she needed.
"It's in Brother Tan's car. Do you want to go and take a look?" Xu Hexiao asked.
Lin Qi nodded, "Okay."
Brother Tan's car has two floors, the upper floor is just some sundries, and the lower floor is the cargo. The lower floor has a lot of space and can hold a lot of things. There are food, such as rice and flour, useful things, such as soap, toothpaste, and toothbrushes, and clothes, including clothes, pants, and shoes. In addition, Lin Qi also saw an iron pot.
"I need flour, rice, soap, toothpaste, toothbrush, and this iron pot." Lin Qi said.
hiss--
Brother Tan took a deep breath and smiled helplessly, "You only pick the expensive and good things!"
Lin Qi nodded and said, "Deduct it from the money."
"Okay!" said Brother Tan.
In the end, Lin Qi only got ten Great Unity banknotes and not a single ticket.
"The iron pot has been taken away, what else do you want the ticket!" Brother Tan said unhappily. After that, he took out a small box from his arms, "The pocket watch you want, all-steel case, manual winding, all-needle gold lettering, laminated dial. It is anti-magnetic, shock-proof and waterproof. It is one of the best watches in Haicheng now."
Xu Hexiao took the watch and said, "Brother Tan is very thoughtful."
"It took me a lot of effort, so if you get good things in the future, such as the jujube honey, remember me, Brother Tan." Brother Tan said.
Xu Hexiao nodded, "Of course I won't forget Brother Tan."
When we returned to the village, the moon was already high in the sky.
The door of the educated youth center was already closed. Lin Qi was too lazy to knock on the door. She quickly climbed over the wall and then leaped up, landing lightly like a cat without making any sound.
Xu Hexiao was stunned. That was a three-meter-high wall, and she jumped up with just one jump!
So, now in front of him, she doesn't even bother to cover up?
Inside the educated youth center, Jian Tong was also stunned. He was just going to the toilet, but he saw such a horrifying scene.
"Are you going to kill someone to silence him?" Jian Tongyi murmured.
Lin Qi looked at him as if he were an idiot. "I abide by the law."
After saying that, she walked towards the room without looking back.
The team had harvested all the rice, corn, peanuts, soybeans and the like, but there were still a lot of sweet potatoes and taro left in the fields.
But the brigade was not in a hurry. The heavy rain had just passed and the land was wet and sticky. Now was not a good time to dig sweet potatoes and taro. These days, the brigade's main task was to dry the grain.
On this day, Luo Feng's face was gloomy. "The higher-ups have arranged for the educated youth to come down again."
"The autumn harvest has passed, why are there still educated youth?" The deputy captain's face was not looking good either.
If there aren’t enough jobs in the city, is there enough land in the countryside?
"After the sweet potatoes and corn are harvested, we will continue to reclaim the wasteland and open up those hills. The land on the hills is not fertile enough, so it should be no problem to grow soybeans and sweet potatoes." Luo Feng said.
The deputy captain wiped his face and said, "This is the only way."
"What's worrying me the most now is their accommodation problem. Ma Guizhi and Gan Tian are unwilling to share a room with Lin Qi. The warehouse is not big. If two or three more female educated youth come, I'm afraid there won't be enough room for them." Luo Feng said with a headache.
Deputy Captain Luo Zhijian frowned, "What if Lin Qi moves out of the Youth League?"
"Move out of the educated youth camp? How? Where?"
"What if someone wants to marry her?"
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