Chapter 14: Selling Wild Sheep

After enjoying a hearty meal of rice soaked in meat soup in the evening, the next morning, the busy courier Zhang set off early to return to the city.

Unexpectedly, at the entrance of the village, he ran into the village chief, Uncle Yougen, who was driving a bullock cart and preparing to go into the city. He said to Zhang Xingwang:

"Xingwang, are you preparing to go back to the city? Come on, uncle will give you a ride."

"Then I'll trouble you, Uncle Yougen. Are you going into the city to do some business?"

Zhang Xingwang jumped onto the ox cart without saying anything. It's good to have a means of transportation, it's so comfortable.

"Let's go to the supply and marketing cooperative to purchase some supplies for the village canteen. So I'm going there early. Thank you for coming."

Zhang Yougen turned around and said to him seriously:

"Since you came here twice this time, we can still see some oil and water in our pot. Meat soup is much more filling than porridge. Otherwise, the soup is watery every day. I, your uncle, dare not turn over in my sleep at night, for fear that I will move too much and be hungry and unable to sleep."

"That's nothing. I'll come here often. Let's see if I can run into a big fish and give everyone a good meal."

"Then uncle would like to thank you in advance on behalf of the villagers."

The two chatted and laughed as they entered the city, and parted ways at the supply and marketing cooperative. It was better to take the ox cart. It was just noon, and it looked like only one or two o'clock.

When he arrived at the gate of the yard, he took out the last rabbit from the space and walked home.

As soon as I entered the door, I saw the third uncle, who came over with a smile on his face and said:

"Hey, Xingwang, where did you get this rabbit? Uncle San has a bottle of good wine. Can we have a drink tonight?"

"I've returned to the village again. The villagers organized a hunt and shared the game with grandpa. Let's not drink, but you know the conditions of my family. We still owe money for famine."

"How about Uncle San trade you the fish?"

"No need, Third Uncle. It's hot, you should go back and rest. I'm also very tired and need to go back and rest for a while."

Uncle Third is really something. Even with the situation in my family, he still cares about a rabbit. He is worthy of being called Old Man Yan.

Besides, in this weather, the only fish left in Third Uncle's house are probably dried fish. Given Third Uncle's temper, it would be strange if he could get fresh fish.

When I got home and was about to push the door, it opened by itself. The fourth sister yawned and said:

"Brother, the footsteps sound like you. Are you hunting rabbits again? Brother, are you really good at hunting?"

"Nonsense, do you believe in your brother's hunting skills this time? Just wait for the meat tonight, you little girl will eat so much that you'll die of overeating."

Zhang Xingwang became excited again at this time.

"I'm going to take a break. Please take some time to clean up the rabbit."

"Brother, I have never taken care of rabbits. Our mom should know how to do it. Anyway, the factory is having lunch break now. I'll go to the factory and call her back."

The fourth sister said this with an embarrassed look on her face, then ran out excitedly.

It seems that the smart fourth sister also has shortcomings. But that's right, she also had no chance to deal with the rabbit, so it's reasonable that she can't do it.

Seeing the second sister sleeping soundly with the younger sister in her arms, and the little girl sleeping with her legs spread out, I didn't disturb them, went to bed, and fell asleep soon.

When I woke up, it was about 4 o'clock. I saw my fourth sister and second sister had already started stewing rabbit. My fourth sister's cooking skills were not bad, but they were not delicious either.

You can't feel it when you drink the porridge, but when it comes to stewing meat, all you can say is that it's cooked.

It seems that the cooking skills of the second sister and the fourth sister are equally good. In order to have a better life in the future, the family will have to train a cook. The second sister's personality is quite suitable.

When my elder sister and mother came home one after another in the evening, we started to have dinner. But today's rabbit meat tasted better than I expected.

I was going to praise my fourth sister, but after asking, I found out that it was my mother Wang Xiulan who taught my fourth sister how to cook rabbit after she came back. That’s how I got to eat a pretty good stewed rabbit.

As a person of later generations, I know that rabbit has a strong fishy smell and is most delicious when fried.

But there was no other way. The rabbit weighed only three pounds, and there were six people in the family. Even if it was fried, it would not be enough to fill them up, so they could only stew it into soup.

At the dinner table, mother Wang Xiulan looked at Zhang Xingwang and the rabbit meat in the bowl, her expression sometimes worried and sometimes happy. Zhang Xingwang didn't say much, anyway, Wang Xiulan would get used to it over time.

Today, after talking with the third uncle, Zhang Xingwang came up with a way to catch fish. He will try it tomorrow.

After dinner, I rested for a while and saw that it was almost time, so I set off with my enthusiastic elder sister.

As usual, he asked his elder sister to wait in the alley near the pigeon market and took out two wild sheep from the space. However, this time he couldn't take it alone, so he called his elder sister over.

The eldest sister thought there was some accident, so she ran over with her fists clenched. When she saw that there was nothing as she had imagined, she breathed a sigh of relief and asked:

"Where's the other person?"

"left already"

"You called me suddenly and made me nervous!"

"I'm asking you to get something. It's hard for me to move two sheep by myself."

The eldest sister looked at Zhang Xingwang strangely, and asked, "Is this a big deal?" Then she picked them up one by one and walked away effortlessly, muttering, "Fourth sister is right, our brother is still not fully recovered."

Zhang Xingwang had been beaten to a pulp by his elder sister at this time. He looked at his own arms and found that they were no different from his elder sister's. It seemed that his elder sister had misunderstood his own strength.

The eldest sister was not paying attention to the road at all. She was going to the pigeon market secretly. Instead, she walked in the middle of the road with a swagger, looking left and right at the wild goat in her hand from time to time, almost drooling.

He hurriedly called his elder sister and asked her to wait by the roadside. Zhang Xingwang trotted all the way to find the manager of the pigeon market, and under the guidance of the manager, he dragged his elder sister to a deserted yard nearby.

The other party shone a flashlight on the wild goat and examined it carefully, also with a look of excitement:

"Tsk, tsk, tsk, what a fat sheep. It's fresh too."

Then he turned to look at Zhang Xingwang with a look of regret and said:

"It's just that the person who fired the gun had poor aim and damaged the good leather. It's so careless and a waste of good things."

Sheep in September are at their fattest and strongest, and mutton contains more fat, so wild goat meat is also a tonic.

"Please give me a price for the whole thing, and I'll sell it to you if it's suitable."

Zhang Xingwang also felt that the person in charge was making a big fuss. It was good enough to be able to hit it, but he still had the mood to be picky.

The manager smiled and said:

"Don't worry, young man. Our price is definitely fair. I'll tell you a price first. If you're not satisfied, we can discuss it."

That's right, food is so expensive now. Not to mention meat, it's not a matter of money or tickets, it's just that there is no supply at all, you can't buy it even if you want to.

They can probably make double the money by selling these two wild sheep.

But there is no other way, as he has many subordinates and if I sell them separately, they will be sold out in a short time.

If Zhang Xingwang bought it himself, not to mention the problem that the meat would go bad in the hot weather, the fact that one person took out so much meat would make it difficult for the constables to investigate the source.

The manager thought for a while and offered a price of 70 cents per pound. In fact, including the head, feet and internal organs, the average price was very fair. Zhang Xingwang nodded in agreement.

The eldest sister accompanied the people below to the scale, while the manager and Zhang Xingwang were smoking and trying to get close to each other. Both of them wanted to establish a good relationship with each other, so this could be considered a two-way rush.

"Young man, you've worked hard on this trip. Don't worry, as long as you have good stuff, we have no shortage of prices. And we will help you deal with it from beginning to end. If you really encounter trouble, just report the name of the Third Master." At this point, he pointed to the sky.

"We have people above us, so generally speaking, everything will be fine."

What I mean is, whose ancestors are not in heaven? They can't stay in hell.

However, Zhang Xingwang was quite satisfied with the service attitude. This express delivery was worth it.