In 1959, what's wrong with me pedaling a tricycle?

Wang Changshun received a notification that Wang Xingguo had arrived, and hurriedly rushed back home, arriving shortly afterward.

"Xingguo, how did things go? Why did it take you so long to get back?"

Wang Xingguo explained with a smile, "Twenty-first Master, don't worry. There are so many things to do when opening a business. I spent several thousand yuan just to get it all sorted out. Uncle Yongchang has already picked a date; it will officially open for business tomorrow night. Would you like to come and take a look tomorrow?"

Upon hearing that the business would open tomorrow, Wang Changshun beamed with joy and said, "Great! We're finally opening! Tomorrow I'll bring some people into the city to help keep an eye on things. We can't afford any mishaps on the first day."

Wang Xingguo asked, "Twenty-first Master, we still don't have enough manpower. I don't trust hiring those hooligans from outside. Do you think we could arrange for some more people from inside to help?"

Wang Changshun gasped and said, "Why do we need so many people? We've already pulled ten strong laborers, and we're already struggling to keep up with the work in the fields."

After thinking for a moment, Wang Xingguo said, "Twenty-first Master, how about we select some clansmen who can do light work but not heavy work? I can earn enough food to support them, and I'll pay them a wage every month. This way, the clan can be a little more relaxed, they can support themselves, and they can also earn some wages to help their families. What do you think of this?"

Wang Changshun's eyes lit up, but he hesitated before asking, "Wouldn't this put you at a huge disadvantage?"

Wang Xingguo waved his hand dismissively, saying, "It's alright, I don't care about these things. As long as our clan can recover, this little sacrifice is nothing."

Wang Changshun grinned happily and patted Wang Xingguo on the shoulder, repeatedly saying "Good!"

Wang Xingguo produced the brewery's certificate and arranged for Wang Changshun to bring thirteen pigs, two dogs, one sheep, thirty chickens, and thirty ducks into the city to his farm the next day.

The rest of the poultry, livestock, eggs, fruits, and local vegetables were hauled to the main road by them, and Wang Xingguo was in charge of transporting them into the city today.

They used the same old excuse: the people transporting the goods didn't want to meet them anymore, so they needed to move the goods to a more secluded location outside and then leave.

Wang Changshun started to make arrangements for this matter. Grandpa He also came over, confirmed the ratio of grain to pigs with Wang Xingguo, and then made arrangements for the transfer of their ten pigs.

At noon, the supplies were moved to a suitable location. Wang Xingguo instructed Wang Changshun to remember to bring the necessary manpower into the city the next day. Then they left and went back to work in the fields.

After storing everything in his spatial storage, Wang Xingguo rode his tricycle back to the city.

The brewery won't be able to send the pigs until tomorrow, since the permit is for tomorrow. Of the thirteen pigs the clan is transporting, twelve are for Er Gouzi and Jin Sanye, who will be responsible for transporting them back themselves. Wang Xingguo will also be responsible for transporting the grain away.

Those in this line of work, if they're capable, they can eat meat and drink alcohol; if they're not, they can only go to the Northwest and starve.

If someone can't even handle cargo transshipment, and can't even get through this basic level of connections, what kind of black market are they running?

Wang Xingguo returned to the city, went straight to his business, and explained the situation to everyone. Everyone was quite happy.

Wang Xingguo waved his hand and said, "Brother Xingye, go and kill some fish and eels. We've been busy for so long, we should have a drink to celebrate that we're finally done."

Wang Xingye was one of the two cousins ​​who had just retired from the army. He had served in the Northeast and was very skilled at cleaning fish. He smiled and nodded in agreement, then called out to his cousins ​​and went off to get to work.

Wang Yongqing asked, "Xingguo, I wonder how many customers will come tomorrow night. If there are too few, should we send someone to other black markets to tip off the buyers?"

Wang Xingguo shook his head and said, "Uncle Yongqing, you don't understand this. Our establishment has never needed ordinary customers. Tomorrow night, some of my friends and colleagues will be bringing big clients. Some are people who help wealthy capitalists purchase ingredients, and some are people from the previous dynasty. I want to make money from these people, not from ordinary people."

Wang Yongchang took a sip of tea and said with a smile, "What's there to not understand? Just pick a fat pig to slaughter. The words may be crude, but the principle is sound, right?"

Wang Xingguo chuckled and nodded, and everyone laughed along.

That's true. Fat pigs are tastier, so you have to choose the fattest ones to slaughter.

Selling goods to ordinary people is different from selling to rich people. After all, rich people don't lack money. As long as the goods are good, they don't care if the price is a bit high, right?

These days, my uncles and cousins ​​haven't been idle at night. They've been going to the black market that Wang Xingguo told them about, and they've been pretending to be customers and buying some things, all to learn how to entertain customers.

After all, they had never sold anything before and didn't have much experience, but this thing wasn't hard to learn. After running around for a few nights, they had pretty much got the hang of it.

It's simply a matter of being humble, speaking politely, and enthusiastically explaining the price of the items.

Wang Xingguo asked Wang Yongchang, "Uncle Yongchang, how's the snail harvesting going?"

Wang Yongchang nodded and said, "It's all taken care of. I found a lot of people who do odd jobs and arranged to buy snails from them at a price of five cents per pound. They are very happy to take on this job, after all, there are so many snails in the area around the North Moat."

Wang Xingguo nodded and said, "We need to pay attention to this. During the time before the river freezes over, we need to feed the eels a lot of snail meat. Whether it's fish or eels, they need a lot of snail meat to feed them every day so that they don't lose weight."

Wang Yongli chuckled and said, "Hey, I'll tell the clan when the time comes, we have plenty of snails on our riverbank too."

Wang Xingguo nodded: "As for the clan, we'll buy it for one cent per pound, giving our clansmen a chance to earn some extra money."

Eels need to be fed snail meat at a rate of 5% of their weight, which means they still need a lot of snails.

Fortunately, there wasn't a habit of eating snails back then. Snails were abundant in the river, and everyone would pick them up, smash them, and use the snail meat to feed chickens, ducks, or even pigs. Very few people ate snails.

Although it's troublesome—you need to use stones to smash the snails, clean them thoroughly, and then extract the snail meat to feed the eels and fish—everyone has plenty of time to process these things, even though they're only open at night.

There were also quite a few snails in Wang Xingguo's fishpond, but he didn't harvest them. He decided to save them for winter so he could secretly feed the fish and eels with the snail meat.

The next day, Wang Xingguo returned to the transportation company, handed over fifty yuan, received his wages and receipts, rented a cargo tricycle, and rode it to the brewery.

A pig weighs about 153 or 154 jin (approximately 750 catties). Based on a ratio of 1:522 for barley, corn kernels, and japonica rice, it can be exchanged for about 750 jin (approximately 325 kg) of barley, about 300 jin (approximately 150 kg) of corn kernels, and about 300 jin (approximately 150 kg) of japonica rice.

Therefore, for Wang Xingguo to transport one pig to the brewery, he would need to transport two loads of grain back out.