Year 1983: I was a carpenter in Northeast China

When Xu Bei arrived near Lao Ba's house, he still cautiously observed the situation.

Finding nothing amiss, they walked to the iron-clad gate of Old Scar's house and knocked lightly a few times.

It was Old Scar's wife who came to open the door.

However, they were noticeably more enthusiastic than last time.

"Young man, you're here. Your Scarface brother was just talking to me about it, wondering if you'd be coming today."

The other party greeted him with a warm smile, and Xu Bei naturally returned the greeting with a familiar smile.

"Really? Sister-in-law, that explains why my ears were burning. It turns out it was my brother Scarface who was talking about it."

Old Scar's wife turned around and locked the door from the inside again, then ushered the people into the house.

Before Xu Bei even reached the door, Old Scar came out of the house to greet him, his left cheek twitching with a smile.

"Brother, we've been waiting for you! Are you freezing? Come inside and warm up."

Seeing the couple's attitude, Xu Bei knew exactly what was going on: the stools must be selling well. "Brother, I'm dressed quite warmly, it's alright."

After the three filed into the house, he was led to sit in the east room.

Old Scar's wife served hot tea, and after a few pleasantries and laughter, the two got down to business.

"To be honest, those stools are selling really well. Of the fifty you gave us the other day, only a few are left."

This time, give me a lot more.

To avoid suspicion that they were producing too many wooden stools too quickly, Xu Bei deliberately feigned a troubled expression, "How many would you like, brother? If it's too many, my buddy might not be able to make them all and we'll have to wait."

Old Scar hurriedly said, "Waiting is fine, I'm not afraid of waiting, as long as you can supply me with the goods. Don't you even have eighty?"

Xu Bei pondered for a moment, "Eighty should be about right."

Old Scar's face lit up with joy. "Alright then, brother, hurry up and deliver it to me."

Xu Bei quickly finalized the approximate delivery time and then said goodbye and left.

After Old Scar's wife saw him back to his house, she tidied up the teacups and said with a smile, "We can earn three cents for each stool we sell. In just a few days, we've sold more than ninety stools. It's much better than you were nervously dealing in those cloth coupons and grain coupons. We don't have to worry about getting caught."

Old Scar exhaled a smoke ring and laughed, "It's really good. And as long as this kid's friend can supply us with the goods, those little southern barbarians will want more and more in the future, and we can even push the price down."

Old Scar's wife immediately added with some concern, "Then you absolutely mustn't let the two of them get to know each other and hit it off, otherwise they'll dump us and we won't be able to earn the money we make as middlemen."

Old Scar gave an impatient "hmm," and said, "I'm not stupid; I won't let that happen."

Xu Bei had no idea what the couple talked about after he left. Later, he brought eighty wooden stools to deliver goods and received seventy-two yuan, which made him quite happy.

After all, it's a business with no initial investment; all you earn is profit.

After leaving Old Scar's house again, Xu Bei went to the spontaneously formed small market to buy meat.

The butcher already recognized him and greeted him warmly even before he reached the makeshift stall set up on a cart.

"Young man, didn't you want a fatty cut of meat last time you came? Well, we actually have a pretty good piece today."

As he spoke, he took out a piece of meat from below, which consisted of only a thin layer of lean meat.

Xu Bei knew that in this era, this piece of meat was definitely the dream meat for many people.

But he still prefers pork belly with alternating layers of fat and lean meat, preferably the kind that can be made into braised pork.

However, since he wasn't buying the meat to eat himself, but also for his mother and the others, he could imagine the joy and happiness his family would feel upon seeing it. So, naturally, he couldn't miss the opportunity when he encountered it.

"Okay, then give me all of these, brother."

The butcher had already taken the young man in front of him as a generous customer. After cheerfully replying "Okay," he started promoting the less popular spare ribs, "These spare ribs are especially good today. If you want some, I'll give you a discount of four cents a pound, how about that?"

Xu Bei had long been used to ribs being more expensive than pork, and now that the situation was reversed and the ribs were incredibly delicious, he was determined to get them.

"Okay, then pack these and these for me."

The butcher grinned even wider, his already oily face becoming even rosier. "Alright, I'll throw in some pig lungs for you too."

Xu Bei felt that although they didn't send the large pork bones like last time, the pig lungs were still pretty good.

Especially when stir-fried with pork lungs and served with some peanuts, it makes for a very satisfying snack to accompany drinks.

"Okay, thanks, brother."

Afterwards, Xu Bei picked up the silk bag that the butcher had given him and left.

He had originally planned to go to the department store to look at radios.

However, considering that the money spent on official travel is not enough to buy a "big item" worth tens of yuan, namely one of the three turns and one sound (referring to a radio, a watch, a bicycle, and a radio), it is still not enough.

So, Xu Bei checked the time and, without lingering in the city, went straight to take the train back to the Forestry Bureau.

By the time we got off the bus, it was already past one o'clock.

After retrieving his bicycle from the parking area, Xu Bei went to the tailor shop.

The mother and her two children had polyester pants made here, and they were told to pick them up in two days.

As expected of a shop that has been open for many years, the older sister's skills are guaranteed.

The creases on the polyester pants are ironed exceptionally straight, and the details are handled very well.

After inspecting the four pairs of pants, Xu Bei gave them a very satisfactory evaluation.

When he rode his bike back to the vicinity of his new home, he could hear the crackling of firewood being chopped and the sounds of people chatting even before he entered the yard.

Chopping firewood at home was usually Xu Bei's job. He wondered if his brother-in-law Zhu Wenliang hadn't gone to work yet or if his mother was doing it.

Then, riding the bicycle to the half-open gate, I saw in the yard that Dahei and Song Guodong were both dressed in work clothes, chopping firewood with large axes, and there was a pile of pleasing results next to them.

Zhao Fengying and Xu Juan were carrying earthen baskets, rummaging through the firewood shed.

"Oh, son, you're finally back! Dahei and Guodong have been helping out for ages."

"Yeah, brother. They brought their own big axes from home, and Mom and I couldn't stop them."

Xu Bei was deeply moved by his two good friends' heartwarming gesture, but he said aloud, "You two are really something, skipping class?"

Dahei and Song Guodong stopped chopping firewood, leaned on the handles of their axes, and smiled at Xu Bei.

"Since there wasn't much to do at work this afternoon, I thought I'd come over and help out in any way I could."

"Yeah, we might not be good at other things, but we're experts at chopping firewood."

Xu Beicheng and the others didn't want any formalities, so he smiled and said, "You're in for a treat! I bought meat, ribs, and pig lungs. I'll have my mom cook them up later, and we can have a lot of drinks later."

Upon hearing this, Dahei and Song Guodong were immediately overjoyed and excited.

"Oh my god, this food is so hard! We'll have to chop up another whole stack of firewood!"

"Yeah, otherwise it would be a waste to have so much good food and wine! Let's get started!"