The timeline system has gone awry; they insist that steamed buns are a magic pill.

Chapter 87 The Brigade Buys Piglets, Pig Demon Strikes (Part 1)

"Zhao Nan, what's wrong?"

Han Caiju and Wu Xiaoyue looked puzzled. Why did they take out money? What does that mean? It seems like quite a lot.

"This is the money my third uncle helped me earn."

Guo Zhaonan gestured with her fingers. "In less than a month, I earned sixty-five yuan and thirty cents."

"Wow, less than a month and only sixty-five yuan!"

Wu Xiaoyue and Han Caiju knew that Guo Zhaonan had just graduated and had to go to the countryside as an educated youth because he couldn't find a job. He was going to adapt before the new year.

Who would have thought that you could make money in the countryside, and even earn more than 65 yuan in less than a month?

"How is it possible to earn so much money in the countryside in less than a month?"

Han Guodong was somewhat skeptical. In the countryside, poverty was rampant, and it was extremely difficult to earn cash. Others might not know this, but he frequently traveled to the countryside to show movies and often ate and drank with the cadres of various production teams. These team leaders had complained about it quite a bit.

After a year of hard work, on average, a day's work points can only be exchanged for a little over ten cents, or a little over twenty cents in some cases. A month's work points can be considered good, but it's only enough to buy food. Families with more children have to supplement their income.

Although he didn't know much about Lijia'ao, he had just taken a walk around and found it to be a typical poor mountain village.

"Yeah, Zhao Nan, how do you earn your money?"

Wu Xiaoyue was curious; Han Caiju subconsciously glanced at Li Qingqiu.

"My third uncle taught us how to make mushroom branches, which we sold to Lijia'ao for 50 cents a branch and to the outer brigades for one dollar a branch." Guo Zhaonan sorted out the money and weighed it down with a bowl. "At first, my third uncle said that all the money from the mushroom branches we made would be given to us ———."

"Give it all to me, Li Qingqiu, you're so generous!"

Wu Xiaoyue had seen many masters and apprentices at the agricultural technology station. Almost all of them had to give money to their masters in the past few years and didn't receive any money in return.

"It's not as exaggerated as you say. I've become a saint who doesn't eat the food of worldly things."

Li Qingqiu looked at Guo Zhaonan with a mixture of amusement and exasperation. What was this girl up to? Was she trying to sell herself?

After a long explanation, the group finally understood what the two team leaders had come over for that morning—they were buying mushroom branches.

"Li Qingqiu, didn't you earn more than two hundred yuan in less than a month?" Wu Xiaoyue counted on her fingers and then exclaimed in surprise.

"How is this possible?"

Han Guodong was completely incredulous and looked at Li Qingqiu. Han Caiju was also somewhat surprised. Two hundred yuan a month? What a joke!

"Do you believe me that I actually received less than fifty yuan?"

Li Qingqiu hadn't even calculated it; it wouldn't be less, since the six hundred branches in his own brigade alone amounted to nearly two hundred.

"Impossible, I've already calculated it."

Wu Xiaoyue looked at Guo Zhaonan with a "don't lie to me" expression. "Sister Xiaoyue, I know. Third Uncle gave all the money he received to Grandma and helped Fourth Uncle buy a bicycle."

"ah."

"I never expected Li Qingqiu to be so filial."

"You're exaggerating."

Li Qingqiu didn't know what to say. If this were Voldemort in later generations, girls might think he was an idiot.

Sigh, it's all because of that old lady Shi Lanhua who brings me bad luck. Li Qingqiu definitely doesn't want to give all his money to her.

They secretly kept quite a lot, and as for what's openly kept, let's just consider it as helping Li Qingqiu pay off his previous debts.

"Sigh, just like my family. I earn a little over forty yuan a month, but my mom only leaves me fifteen yuan a month."

Wu Xiaoyue sighed. "I bought a pair of shoes this month, but I saw a nice piece of clothing the other day, and now it's in my pocket."

But there was no money.

"I'm feeling better."

Han Caiju only gives half of her salary to her parents.

"My salary isn't high, I give my family twenty yuan a month, but it'll be better after I get married. My mom said that after the wedding, I can keep my own salary," Han Guodong said, then added, feeling his salary was too low. "I also earn some extra money when I go to the countryside, sometimes more than ten yuan a month."

"And another thing, I'm sure I'll be promoted to a permanent position next year, and my salary will increase."

Well, these days, unmarried people, regardless of gender, usually have to hand over more of their salary to their families to support them. Li Qingqiu's family is no exception; all the money in the family is managed by Shi Lanhua.

"We do have some extra income, actually."

Guo Zhaonan said softly, "My third uncle used to take us to dig for winter bamboo shoots. We could earn two or three yuan a day, and more on good days."

"Ah, digging for winter bamboo shoots."

Wu Xiaoyue thought about it and agreed. "We dug up about ten jin today, which works out to five or six yuan. Li Qingqiu, you're really something! Your money-making skills are amazing. Last time you even made Caiju treat you. You're so stingy."

"Next time, next time."

Li Qingqiu didn't mind being invited to dinner; he treated everyone like ordinary friends, which was quite a bit...

"No need."

Han Caiju stopped Wu Xiaoyue, saying that Li Qingqiu usually didn't go to the county, and it would be too much trouble for him to go there just to host a dinner party.

"I'll try when I have time, but I'm not sure I'll have time to go before the New Year."

For a moment, I didn't know what to say, but luckily Han Guodong mentioned a new movie called "Sunny Day," which Li Qingqiu hadn't actually seen.

After all, he's a post-2000s generation; he wouldn't have the time to watch such old movies from decades ago.

Even things like tunnel warfare were things I'd only heard about; I'd never actually watched them.

In fact, Li Qingqiu really wanted to ask why Han Guodong thought of showing a movie in Lijia'ao. You know, the weather is unusually cold right now, and there are only a few days left until the New Year. There shouldn't be any quotas left for showing movies in the countryside at this time.

But never mind, he might not tell the truth anyway. The conversation drifted away from making money as they talked about movies. Li Qingqiu glanced at Yin Yi, who hadn't said a word for a while. "What's wrong with this girl?"

Could it be that she's homesick? There must be some trouble at Yin Yi's family, otherwise why doesn't she mention going home, or even her family situation? She's never mentioned it once.

"Let's go out for a walk, it's pretty boring just sitting here."

"What are you going out to do? Dig for bamboo shoots?"

"Digging up the pears."

"Forget about digging for winter bamboo shoots and wild pears. Instead, I'll get you a bamboo sieve and take you to catch the four pests."

"Catch the four pests?"

The group looked puzzled, but Li Qingqiu smiled and said, "We're catching sparrows. Yin Yi has some left over from rice, give me some."

"Catching sparrows is fun."

The group carried bamboo trays, tree branches, and straw ropes to an open space outside the educated youth settlement. Li Qingqiu swept away the snow with a broom, propped up the bamboo trays with tree branches, scattered some rice grains under the trays, and tied the ropes.

They stepped aside to wait. At first, Wu Xiaoyue and the others were quite nervous, staring intently at the bamboo tray. "Don't worry, it's quite far away. As long as we don't make too much noise, everything will be fine."

"oh."

"Sparrow, the sparrow is here."

Good heavens, it's just sparrows, is it really necessary to get so worked up? After a few sparrows had gone under the bamboo tray to steal grains of rice, Li Qingqiu suddenly pulled the straw rope. "Did you catch them?"

"One escaped, but two were caught."

Using his petty thievery skill, Li Qingqiu easily caught the two sparrows hiding inside and threw them into a bamboo basket.

"Did they really catch them?"

"Gotcha. That was easy."

Li Qingqiu did the same, and soon caught several more. Wu Xiaoyue and Han Caiju watched for a while, then exchanged a glance at their watches. "It's getting late, Li Qingqiu, let's go back to the county town first. We'll come find you again next time."

"Go back now?"

It's past two o'clock. It will take one or two hours to get back to the county town. I need to leave early, otherwise I won't get home until dark.

"Wait a moment."

Li Qingqiu packed a few winter bamboo shoots, about three or four pounds, plus about two pounds of snow mushrooms, and a mushroom branch. "I packed you a little less snow mushrooms, so you can eat them fresh and tender at home. I'll also give you a mushroom branch; it should grow before the New Year, just in time for the holiday."

"I can't accept this."

Having eaten and taken things, the two were supposed to pay with money and food coupons. Li Qingqiu refused, but Han Caiju insisted on giving her a coupon, which she glanced at with surprise. "A bicycle coupon?"

"I promise you."

"That won't do, it's too expensive."

Li Qingqiu knew how difficult it was to get a bicycle; these tickets could fetch a lot of money on the black market.

"It's what we agreed on."

As Han Caiju was about to leave, Li Qingqiu tried to stop her, but with so many people around, he could only say, "I'll take this ticket. I'll return it to you when I'm better off."

"No."

Han Caiju's voice wasn't loud, but it was quite firm. "Xiaoyue, let's go."

"Yes, Li Qingqiu, when we go back to the county town, remember you treated us to a meal."

"Definitely, I'll definitely go before the New Year."

Han Guodong wondered to himself, what's going on with Wu Xiaoyue? Why does she seem to be trying to matchmake Li Qingqiu and Caiju? No, he must be overthinking it.

"Li Qingqiu, I'm going to the brigade headquarters. I need to set up some equipment later."

"Do you need my help?"

"No."

Han Guodong stopped pretending. His relationship with Li Qingqiu wasn't very good anymore; in fact, they were even hostile towards each other. He only had to put on an act because Caiju was there.

"Okay then."

Li Qingqiu had no intention of trying to curry favor with someone who wouldn't listen. He decided to continue catching sparrows. He only needed four more to complete the quest for the Four Evil Birds, which would earn him 10 points. He might even be able to draw a prize one more time before completing the Clan Pillar quest.

Where is my sparrow?

But when Li Qingqiu spent a lot of effort catching ten sparrows in preparation for exchanging them for the golden dragon, he was dumbfounded – the sparrows were gone.

"Little White, Little White."

"noob?"

"What's wrong with it?"

"Eat sparrows."

"What the hell? How can a pig eat sparrows?"

What a joke! But Li Qingqiu stared at the little white belly for a long time. It was bulging. Could it have really been eaten by the piglets?

Could the Pig Spirit Beast have surpassed the pig breed? Li Qingqiu was so frustrated that he refreshed the quest panel.

[Complete the mission to exterminate the four pest birds, reward points +10]

"I've collected 50 points."

"lottery."

Without much thought, Li Qingqiu immediately started the lottery draw.

[Obtain the Pig Demon Aura Prevention and Treatment Technique (Beginner)]

"Basic skill card?"

"This is the gold mine!" Li Qingqiu immediately checked it and realized it was pig disease prevention and treatment technology. "This stuff is great!"

"This skill is definitely top-tier right now."

Nowadays, almost every household raises pigs. The government encourages pig farming because the country needs pork to pay off its debts, and pig farming is a national strategy.

"By the way, last time I drew the Pig Demon's Aura Foretelling?"

This card came at the right time, but I only have one fat pig at home right now, which I'll have to slaughter eventually. I'm not worried about swine fever or anything like that, but I don't want my skills to go to waste if they're not useful later.

When Li Qingqiu got home, he glanced around the yard and realized that no one was home.

I imagine my parents, brother, and sister-in-law are probably in the bamboo weaving yard of the brigade right now. As for the children, they are most likely in the threshing ground. There is a pile of firewood on one side of the threshing ground right now, and we will burn a bonfire tonight, otherwise the projectionist will get cold.

With a "thump," the door was pushed open, and Li Qingmei walked in.

"Third Brother, when did you get back?"

"You've only been back a short while, what are you doing? You're out of breath!"

"The team bought a lot of piglets. Mom picked out three and asked me to take a basket to bring them back."

"What? When did the team buy piglets?"

"Just bought them from Wangjiazhuang and Zhangjiazhai, more than thirty of them, they're very strong."

As Li Qingmei spoke, she picked up her bamboo basket and prepared to leave.

"We're doomed."

Li Qingqiu slapped his forehead. This was a difficult matter to discuss. He couldn't very well say, "I knew swine fever was coming, so I shouldn't have bought piglets." Oh well, he would talk to Fu Yuan about pigpen hygiene later, hoping it would be of some use.