Chapter 44 Happiness Comes Too Suddenly
Su Bucheng and several others came to the vegetable market, which was on a street, open air. It was empty at this time, with sewage flowing on the ground and flies flying around.
The rotten vegetable leaves were trampled into mud and water, emitting a foul odor that made it impossible to set foot.
An old man seemed to be oblivious to the stench and was picking up vegetable leaves with a basket and a broom beside him.
"Father-in-law!" Su Bucheng shouted.
The old man stood up and looked at Su Bucheng and the others blankly.
"Excuse me, sir, where does the butcher in this vegetable market live?" Su Bucheng raised his hand and bowed.
"After leaving this street, turn left for three hundred steps and you will find an intersection. Turn left into an alley. The one with a large bluestone slab at the door is the butcher. His surname is Huang." The old man said in a hoarse voice.
"Thank you, father-in-law!" Su Bucheng thanked him and took a ox cart to look for him.
The entrance to the alley was a bit narrow, and the ox cart couldn't get in, so it had to stop at the entrance.
Su Bucheng and his son walked in and found a large bluestone slab at the end.
Su Bucheng went forward and knocked on the door. "Is anyone there? Is Mr. Huang here?"
After a while, there was a rustling sound in the house, and a woman came out and asked through the gate, "Who is it?"
"Excuse me, is this Mr. Huang's home?" Su Bucheng asked.
"Yes! What do you want to see my husband?"
"I have some wild boars to sell. I wonder if you are still buying them today?" Su Bucheng replied.
The courtyard gate opened, and a woman in her thirties was stunned when she saw Su Bucheng and his son.
"Greetings, madam!" Su Bucheng and his son bowed respectfully.
"Greetings, my lord!" The lady regained her composure and said respectfully.
"Is Mr. Huang here?" Su Bucheng asked.
"My husband has gone out to collect the goods. He will probably be back before the city closes." The woman replied, "My dear, where are your goods?"
"It's at the entrance of the alley, and the oxcart can't get in! Madam, could you please move over and take a look?"
"Da Lang!" the lady called into the house.
"Hey!" A boy of about eleven or twelve came out, "Mother!"
"Come with mother to take a look at the goods!" the woman ordered.
The mother and son followed Su Bucheng and his son to the entrance of the alley and saw a fat wild boar on the ox cart.
The woman was surprised at first, then hesitated.
"This wild boar was hunted last night, it's still fresh!" Su Bucheng imitated Su Ying's sales pitch, "Madam, look at this pig, it's very fat, with a lot of fat!"
The woman scratched it a few times without refutation or speaking.
"Madam, are you in trouble?" Su Bucheng noticed that the woman was conflicted.
"My dear, this pig is good! But..."
"Just what? Madam, please feel free to tell me." Su Bucheng said humbly.
"My husband is out receiving the goods. I don't know if he has received them. If I receive two and he also receives them, we won't be able to sell them all and they will go bad. All my hard work for a month will be in vain and I will lose everything."
"Then, madam, can you take one first? We will go look for another one later." Su Bucheng compromised.
"This..." The woman still couldn't make up her mind.
Collecting pigs and sheep is also a matter of luck. Sometimes I can collect two or three a day, and sometimes I can't collect any for several days.
"My lady, what else is bothering you?" Su Bucheng began to get anxious as he saw that the time was getting shorter and the pigs had not been sold yet.
"If it were a living thing, I could take two, let alone two. But yours is dead, too big to keep for long. I can only take half a piece at most."
The woman told the truth.
"Ah?" Su Bucheng was stumped by the woman's words.
If it's early, just eat half.
But now the city is about to close, and there is no time to break up, let alone find the next one.
"I'm sorry!" The woman knew she was embarrassing herself.
"No problem!" Su Bucheng gave a wry smile. "May I ask, madam, is there any butcher nearby?"
"Well, there's one in the north of the city. Go straight along the main street, turn right and you'll find it in an alley not far from the north gate." The woman pointed the way.
"Thank you, madam!" Su Bucheng said goodbye to the woman and said to the driver Zhang San, "Let's go! Let's go to the north of the city!"
There is no time to lament, I just want to get to the north of the city as soon as possible.
"My dear, are you really going to the north of the city?" Zhang San confirmed.
"Where else can we go if not to the north of the city?" Su Bucheng said, "Oh! If we don't sell it quickly, we won't even have enough money to go back!"
"Gee!" Zhang San whipped the bull whip upon hearing this. The bull stretched out its neck and gasped for breath.
There were two big wild boars, Zhang San driving the car, and four living people. A cow could not pull it at all.
"Aye, you go first, we'll walk." Su Boyan jumped out of the car.
"Yes, sir, you go first, we will follow soon." Yang Dalang and Pei Silang also jumped out of the car.
"Gee, gee!" Zhang San shouted, and the old cow, which was already big and strong, started running away.
Su Bucheng frowned. What should he do tonight if Chengbei doesn't accept it?
He had two Hu pancakes in his arms and only eight cents left in his pocket.
It would be great if Ah Ying was here, with her little chatterbox, she would have flattered the woman, and the two pigs might have been sold.
Alas, I still can’t save face!
Su Bucheng suddenly felt that he was useless. He was good at nothing except studying and couldn't even sell pigs.
He couldn't help feeling a little depressed, with his head down and no words.
"Da da da..." An ox cart was running quickly from behind, seemingly in a hurry.
Someone shouted, "Wait a moment, those in front! Wait a moment, those in front!"
Su Bucheng didn't respond. Zhang San turned around and glanced, "My dear, it seems like he's calling us."
"Ah?" Su Bucheng came back to his senses. "What's the matter?"
"Someone is calling us from behind!" Zhang San parked the car to the side.
"Da da da..." The ox cart behind caught up, and the driver was a strong and sturdy man.
"Hey! My dear, come back with me. We will take the pig!" The man spoke hurriedly before the car stopped.
"May I ask your name, sir?" Su Bucheng was overjoyed.
"My surname is Huang! I just went back and my wife told me that my husband has two wild boars to be sent to the north of the city." Butcher Huang said breathlessly.
"That's right!" Su Bucheng nodded.
"Let's go! My dear, come back with me!" Butcher Huang turned the ox cart around, "We want them all!"
"Sir, are you sure you want both?" Su Bucheng was afraid of being disappointed.
"Of course, eleven cents a pound, for a whole pig! How about it?" Butcher Huang pulled the ox cart back, fearing that Su Bucheng would not agree.
"Okay, okay, okay!" Su Bucheng nodded quickly.
That's great! It's one penny more than what Yu Jiaoniang from Black Wind Township said! Happiness really came too suddenly.
The group hurried to Butcher Huang's house and took Su Boyan and the other two who were walking with them.
Butcher Huang was selling meat in the morning when the steward of the county magistrate's house found him and asked him to prepare some game as they would hold a birthday banquet for the old lady the next day and send it to the house in the evening.
Butcher Huang sold all the meat in no time and took his brother to the countryside to collect it.
He was notified at a moment's notice and went to several villages and looked for several hunters, but there was no fresh game available. Seeing the deal he was about to buy fly away, Butcher Huang was very unhappy and returned empty-handed.
But he heard his wife say that someone came to sell a wild boar just now, but because it was too big, it was confiscated, so he was asked to go to the north of the city to have a look.
Butcher Huang jumped up suddenly and drove the ox cart desperately to catch up without saying anything.
Thank God, I caught up!
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