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

Wang Xingguo has been so busy lately that he hasn't been able to see his wife for the past few days and will have to stay busy for a few more days.

Moreover, he has to make a trip to the General Hospital of Liberation tomorrow night. He can't lose this fish-for-goods business, because tobacco and alcohol will become very difficult to obtain starting next year.

After Wang Xingguo left, Wang Xingning suddenly remembered something, slapped his forehead and exclaimed, "Oh dear, I forgot to tell Second Brother that Brother Liansheng came to see him!"

Shen Qingqing asked curiously, "Xingning, who is Lian Sheng?"

Wang Xingning explained, "Sister-in-law, Lian Sheng is my second brother's childhood friend. However, four years ago, his father was transferred to work in another city, and his whole family moved away with him. Now his father has been promoted and transferred back to Beijing, and Lian Sheng has come back with him. He and my second brother are so close that they're practically inseparable. As soon as he came back, he went to our old place and found out that we were here. But when he came yesterday morning, you were out buying groceries, so you didn't see him."

Shen Qingqing nodded: "I see. Well, there's nothing we can do about it. We don't know where your second brother is. We can only wait until he's done with his work and comes back."

The surname Lian is really rare in Beijing; at least Wang Xingguo only knows this one family with the surname Lian.

He and Lian Sheng were very good friends. Because Lian Sheng's name was auspicious, the group often played around with other children together. When they shouted the name Lian Sheng, they exuded a powerful aura.

However, Wang Xingguo was unaware that he had returned. He was back in the market at 1:10 p.m. The clansmen had all gone out shopping and made room for someone to deliver goods.

Wang Xingguo started restocking, thinking that he would be selling pigs tonight and would probably have a lot of customers, so he needed to prepare more stock. Therefore, he put out more poultry and fish.

Wang Xingguo felt a headache coming on when he saw that there were still fifteen rabbits left, because not many people would buy rabbits; people would rather buy fish than rabbits.

City dwellers prefer fish to rabbit meat, while rural people, who can easily catch fish, prefer rabbit.

The tribe originally thought the rabbits would fetch a good price, but they prepared fifty and released twenty here, and only sold five in two consecutive nights.

Wang Xingguo thought that if all else failed, he would just eat it himself. Unless it was next year, and there were other meat options available this year, it was almost impossible for this stuff to sell well.

It was four o'clock when the people inside returned, this time with even more snails. It seemed they wouldn't have to worry about feeding the hundreds of kilograms of eels they had just put into the pond.

The tribesmen inventoried and recorded the delivered goods in their ledgers, and then began boiling water to prepare for slaughtering the pigs. They would not slaughter the sheep that night, as they only had eleven sheep prepared for the day.

Moreover, there are only six dogs left, which are relatively rare livestock and cannot be consumed too quickly.

Their biggest wish is to sell more Muscovy ducks, because not only do they raise a lot, but many others in the surrounding area do as well, making it easier for the tribe to buy Muscovy ducks and resulting in high profits.

As they began scraping the pig's hair, Wang Yongchang asked with a smile, "Xingguo, how about we keep some of the offal for ourselves tonight?"

Wang Xingguo nodded and said, "Then keep some for myself. I want to eat pig liver. I'll stir-fry half of it to go with my drinks."

"Okay, I'll stir-fry the pork offal in a bit."

Wang Xingguo suddenly remembered his uncle's peculiar habit and hurriedly said, "Uncle Yongchang, if you want pig intestines, you can't stir-fry them with pig liver, okay? I can't stand the smell of pig intestines."

Wang Yongchang nodded, giving him a look that said, "Alright, alright, you really don't know what's good for you. Pig intestines are so delicious! This is the real best dish to have with alcohol."

Wang Yongli chuckled and said, "Xingguo is different from us. We like the oil and fat in pig intestines, but Xingguo doesn't lack oil and fat like us, so naturally he can't stand that smell."

While scraping the pig hair, Wang Xingye chuckled and said, "Don't even mention Xingguo, I can't stand the smell. It's only because you guys like to eat it that you can't stand it. Isn't pig liver better than this? You know, pig liver is a very nutritious food."

"Xingye, you're a clueless guy, I can't be bothered to talk to you."

Amidst laughter and chatter, the pig was prepared, and the other people had finished cracking the snails and were now cleaning and selecting the snail meat to feed the eels and fish.

They're quite cunning; feeding them eels and fish at this time is essentially helping them gain weight...

When dinner was ready, it was already past seven o'clock. Someone knocked on the west gate of the courtyard; it was Er Gouzi and his gang coming to take the pig.

Wang Xingguo said with a smile, "Brother Er Gou, would you like some drinks? I've stir-fried some pig liver and offal for dinner, want to join me?"

Er Gouzi waved his hand and said, "No, no, I have to take the pig back and I have some things to do. We'll drink again next time."

"Alright, then I won't keep you any longer. Take care."

After seeing Er Gouzi off, Wang Xingguo and the others went to eat. They were all strong men who could eat a lot, and they consumed a lot of food every day. Wang Xingguo felt that they needed to bring back more food.

During the meal, not much alcohol was consumed, as everyone knew their limits and dared not overindulge, since they still had work to do later.

The lanterns were lit and hung up on time, and within minutes, the old man who had ordered pork the night before arrived.

They successfully cut him fifteen jin of pork, charged him sixty yuan, and the old man left with the pork.

Wang Xingguo and Wang Yongli said, "Uncle Yongli, look how generous this old man is. He gave me sixty yuan without even blinking."

Wang Yongli said with a smile, "What's the big deal? Anyone who can wear this outfit must earn at least seventy or eighty yuan a month. This is a once-in-a-lifetime wedding, so it's normal to spend several months' salary on the banquet."

Wang Xingguo nodded and said, "That's true. My older brother's wedding banquet actually cost more than 130 yuan."

Actually, the bulk of the cost is pork. A pork knuckle weighing a little over two pounds costs twelve yuan, and for five banquet tables, just this pork knuckle alone would cost sixty yuan.

There's no way around it; even in normal years, pork hock is more expensive than pork, let alone when it's in short supply now.

A wedding banquet would be rather meager if it didn't include a braised pork knuckle.

Of course, in the years to come, a banquet without pork knuckles won't be considered shabby, since even pork won't be available for sale.

Wang Xingguo will have to pay this money again. It's a pity that he can't store meat for a long time now. Otherwise, if he kept the pork knuckle, he could save up enough for his wedding.

He'll be busy for a few more days before he goes to propose marriage, hoping to bring his wife home as soon as possible so that his bed will be much warmer when the weather gets cold.

Although many people buy pork, most people only buy half a pound or a pound because of the high price.

So, the nearly 110 pounds of pork from this pig wasn't sold out until 11 p.m.

The uncles threw the remaining large bones into the big pot, turned off the vent of the coal stove, and simmered the soup over a low flame.

Unexpectedly, Er Gouzi's henchman Zhang Datou arrived. He said to Wang Xingguo, "Brother Wang, Er Gouzi sent me to see you. He asked if we could get the pigs ready sooner. There was a slight mishap with the grain, but it was delivered tonight. This means we still need to arrange for guards. He wants to complete this transaction quickly so he can free up manpower for other tasks."