Year 1983: I was a carpenter in Northeast China

Xu Bei raised an eyebrow and smiled.

In order to avoid further upsetting my childhood friend, I decided to keep quiet about running into that girl again at the department store today.

Song Guodong pondered for a moment, "How can I describe 'beautiful' to you? Anyway, I usually think my sister is quite pretty, but when I see the two of them together and compare them, she looks ordinary."

Big Black suddenly realized, "No wonder your sister was angry, because she knew you were lying to people... Hey, that girl is so pretty, she must have tons of guys chasing after her, right?"

Song Guodong shook his head and said, "I don't know. It's said that the girl's family background wasn't good, and she was adopted by relatives when she was just a few years old..."

Upon hearing the familiar yet unfamiliar phrase "not very good ingredients," Xu Bei instantly thought of many things.

In the past few years, the classification of family background has divided people into several categories.

Their family was poor peasants, which meant they had a good class background and were definitely from the right family.

However, it's not so easy for those from other family backgrounds.

"That girl's life has been quite bumpy."

As soon as Xu Bei finished speaking, Da Hei sighed, "Yeah. He's a pitiful person too, probably bullied a lot since he was a child."

Fortunately, with reform and opening up, people don't care about this anymore. In the past, even finding a partner would have been difficult.

Song Guodong chimed in, "Who says otherwise? Take a landlord family from my hometown, for example. Their second son is quite tall and handsome, but because of his bad class background, he couldn't find a wife. In desperation, he married a woman with a leg disability..."

Xu Bei knew that there were countless similar examples in those special eras of the past, and didn't want to discuss it further, so he changed the subject, "Dahei, how many have you ordered this time?"

Big Black immediately beamed and replied, "Eighteen."

Then, while rummaging through his pocket, he laughed and said, "I was so busy chatting that I almost forgot the important thing. Here, this is the money for 22 stools. Count it carefully so we can pay the bill."

Xu Bei didn't stand on ceremony. He quickly counted the bills and then pulled out a two-yuan note and a two-jiao note. "This is your commission."

Big Black grinned so wide his eyes disappeared. After taking the money, he kissed it, seemingly unconcerned about the dirt. "This money was so easy to earn. Much more comfortable than carrying sacks at the grain depot!"

The two exchanged money in front of Song Guodong without any hesitation, which naturally showed that they thought he was a reliable person and there was no need to be wary of him.

After Song Guodong met Dahei at the crossroads, he learned about the commission he could earn by helping sell stools, and at that moment, he had some ideas in his mind.

Now, seeing how quickly you can earn just over two yuan makes me even more tempted.

"Da Bei, I feel like I could actually do this job too, could you add me?"

Xu Bei looked at Song Guodong with some surprise.

After all, both of Song's parents had formal jobs, making them a dual-income family.

Song Guodong's older sister got married, and his older brother was in the army, and he often sent money home.

Therefore, in terms of family conditions, even the Dahei family, with seven or eight children, is better off than them, where half-grown boys eat their fathers out of house and home.

"Aren't you quite busy working at the timber yard?"

"Even when I'm busy, I always have some free time, and I think some of my colleagues might need it."

Song Guodong paused for a moment, then frankly said, "Besides, you all know that after my salary is paid, I have to give most of it to my family. The remaining allowance isn't enough to live on at all. If I can do some side jobs to earn money, I can live comfortably!"

Xu Bei was actually hoping for more salespeople to help sell the stools, so there was no reason for him to refuse.

"Sure, if you want to join, go for it. Grab a wooden stool later, and like Big Black, let me know when you place an order. If you have stock, take it; if not, just wait."

"Great, no problem." Song Guodong sighed again, "If I had known there was such a good job, I would have come sooner. Maybe I would have made money like Dahei."

Xu Bei said with a half-smile, "Good things come to those who wait. Besides, I only started this job a few days ago."

"Yes, I heard. It was the day after we drank..." Song Guodong asked with concern, "Da Bei, how long do you plan to rest before going back to work?"

"I haven't decided yet, we'll see how things go."

Xu Bei is now using this ambiguous approach with everyone.

But at the same time, he knew very well that his father's patience had its limits and it probably wouldn't last more than half a month.

However, he's not really twenty years old inside; he'll just deal with whatever comes his way.

After that, Dahei pulled the sled and Song Guodong rode his bicycle. The two were going in different directions, so the latter carried a sample of a wooden stool and went ahead.

While Xu Bei and Da Hei were tying wooden stools to the sled, Zhao Fengying also loaded some specially selected ribs and a small piece of meat onto the sled.

Big Black was deeply moved but also unwilling to accept it, so he pulled at it again.

In the end, Xu Bei insisted that he accept it, which ended the refusal.

After seeing the outsiders off, Xu Li didn't stay any longer, packed up more than ten stools, and left.

However, before leaving, they made an appointment for the family to stew pork ribs and make dumplings with roe deer meat filling the next day, so that the couple could come over and eat.

With only a few wooden stools left in the house and fifty new orders to notify the "carpenter boss" immediately, Xu Bei pulled his sled out of the house with a perfectly valid excuse, pretending to go to pick up the goods and deliver the message.

When they returned, they brought back forty more wooden stools.

Zhao Fengying and Xu Juan dressed up and came out of the yard to help unload the sleds. They had no suspicions at all, but were more curious about how to deliver the goods.

Xu Bei's skill in making up lies has reached a level where he can spout them off without hesitation, so he was not stumped by questions and dismissed the mother and daughter with just a few words.

In the 1980s, people didn't have many forms of entertainment. Apart from listening to the radio, few families owned a television, so they generally went to bed early and got up early.

Before nine o'clock, the lights in both the east and west rooms of the Xu family's house were turned off.

However, Xu Bei, the night owl, didn't sleep.

I'm studying the game system in my warm bed, while also waiting to plant another tree to reach the required number to unlock the third plot.

As the number of sales personnel and channels increased, although producing more wooden stools became an urgent matter, he was not in a great hurry.

After all, carpenters in real life also need time to make furniture and do woodwork. At worst, they can delay the pickup and delivery of goods, which everyone can understand.

Furthermore, sometimes shipping too much too quickly is not a good thing, as it is more likely to arouse suspicion and distrust.

Xu Bei looked at the large, dark area in the huge, transparent holographic workshop, and was quite looking forward to the next, more complex production line that would be unlocked once his reputation points were full...