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

After thinking for a moment, Wang Xingguo said, "Alright, Datou, go back and tell Ergou that I will arrange the pigs for him as soon as possible."

Zhang Datou nodded repeatedly and then left.

Wang Xingguo stroked his chin, not expecting Er Gouzi to be in such a hurry, but he had many venues and was indeed short of manpower.

These days, recruiting underlings isn't difficult; many people with problematic family backgrounds are ineligible for jobs.

These people either work in the gray areas or live off their ancestors' savings.

So recruiting people isn't difficult; the difficulty lies in the expenses of supporting his underlings!

Wang Xingguo currently supports eighteen people. Although their work is easy, he needs to pay each member of the clan fifty to one hundred yuan a month, depending on the importance of their work.

After all, doing business on the black market, regardless of whether you have connections or not, is quite risky. Who would be willing to take the risk if the wages are too low?

Then there's the issue of food. No boss would fail to provide food for his underlings.

Although his clansmen were not his underlings, they were serving him, so he had to provide them with three meals a day.

Vegetables are not included; the clan will prepare them, even the cabbages and radishes for winter.

Wang Xingguo successfully finished his business for the night. After tallying the accounts, he was pleasantly surprised to find that today's turnover was 50% higher than yesterday's. He roughly estimated that he had earned at least 800 yuan tonight.

With such high revenue for three consecutive nights, this place is now fully operational.

Wang Xingguo yawned and said, "I'm going to sleep. We don't need to buy chickens, ducks, fish, or eggs tomorrow. Just slaughter a sheep. I have to rush back to the village to take care of some things. You can discuss anything with me."

Wang Yongchang nodded, then asked, "Xingguo, won't you have a bowl of bone broth before you go to sleep?"

Wang Xingguo waved his hand and said, "I'm not drinking anymore. You guys wait here. I'm so sleepy, I'm going to rest now."

Some people felt sleepy and went to sleep without waiting for the bone broth.

Actually, these bones all have some meat on them. Generally speaking, bones with meat are quite popular, since bone broth is very nourishing. Unfortunately, no one bought any tonight, so I can only eat them myself.

The next day, Wang Xingguo went to Xiehe to continue exchanging fish, and after finishing, he went directly to Beixinqiao Food Market.

It was still quite busy at this time. Wang Xingguo watched Li Xiuping constantly weighing bean curd sheets and bean curd puffs for people, looking very busy, so he didn't go and disturb her work.

She was busy until 11:30 p.m. before she could finally catch her breath.

Wang Xingguo walked over carrying a bag of osmanthus cakes. This was his harvest for the day; someone had traded this pound of osmanthus cakes for two crucian carp.

Seeing Wang Xingguo approaching, Li Xiuping said with surprise, "Xingguo, what brings you here?"

Wang Xingguo chuckled and said, "I came to see you. I've been so busy lately that I haven't had time to pick you up from get off work. I'm sorry to have troubled you."

Li Xiuping smiled and shook her head, saying, "I'm not a child anymore. I don't need you to pick me up. What's there to feel aggrieved about? By the way, are you done with your work now?"

Wang Xingguo shook his head and explained, "Not yet, it will take another four or five days to finish. Don't worry, I'll go and invite Director Zhao after these four or five days are over."

Sister Liu joked, "Xingguo, you only have eyes for Xiuping. You can't even see me, a grown man, right?"

Wang Xingguo laughed and said, "How could that be? Please forgive me, Sister Liu. I wouldn't dare to talk too much with other women in front of Xiuping."

Sister Liu laughed heartily, "No wonder you managed to win over Xiuping! You've got a real silver tongue!"

Wang Xingguo chuckled and said to Li Xiuping, "Don't worry about work. Wait a few more days for me. Also, tell your family that I'll be busy with things here for a couple more days."

Li Xiuping nodded and said, "Then be careful and don't overwork yourself, okay?"

"Okay, I'm leaving."

Wang Xingguo left and rode his tricycle to Gaobeidian.

Plans can change in an instant. Now Er Gouzi urgently needs pigs, so he needs to tell the clan to prepare them for him as soon as possible.

When Wang Xingguo arrived at Gaobeidian Village, he quickly met Wang Changshun. After explaining the situation, Wang Changshun smiled and said, "This is simple. Other people with different surnames have already come to us. The pigs can be prepared at any time. The only problem is, do you have someone to arrange transportation? Without the brewery's certificate, we can't transport the pigs into the city this time."

Wang Xingguo didn't expect to be able to get the pigs so soon. After thinking for a moment, he said, "No problem. I'll call the commune right now and someone will come to help me transport the pigs into the city."

Upon hearing Wang Xingguo's words, Wang Changshun nodded and said, "Alright, I'll contact them right away to arrange for the pigs to be put into cages."

After saying that, Wang Changshun remembered something else and asked Wang Xingguo, "Xingguo, didn't the He family say that you could exchange pigs for grain and choose one poultry from each pig? What kind of poultry do you want? I'll get it back for you while I'm at it."

Wang Xingguo had completely forgotten about this. After thinking for a moment, he asked, "Twenty-first Master, does the He family raise geese? If so, give me five geese. I like to eat stewed goose."

"Yes, we have a lot of riverbanks here, mostly unsuitable for growing crops, but they're covered in wild grass, so we still raise some geese. Five is too much of a loss; I'll go and get eight for you. We can't let them get away with it so easily!"

Wang Xingguo said with a grin, "Twenty-first Master, aren't you afraid Grandma will get angry with you?"

It would have been better if this hadn't been mentioned, because once it was, Wang Changshun angrily exclaimed, "How dare she! That old hag, she actually took the wine you gave me as a token of respect back to her parents' home! It's outrageous! I'm so angry!"

Wang Xingguo couldn't help but laugh and said, "Haha, don't be angry. I'll bring you a few better bottles next time. Don't hide them, just drink them. That way, my twenty-one-year-old wife won't have any left to take back to her parents' home, right?"

Taking things back to one's parents' home is nothing unusual; it's quite common these days.

Wang Changshun was furious that not a single bottle of liquor was left for him. You see, he didn't have many opportunities to drink Erguotou (a type of Chinese liquor). It was rare for a grandson from the same clan to have given him six bottles of it in the past six months. He treasured it very much and couldn't bear to take it out to drink.

As a result, his wife's nephew was getting married, so she took all six bottles of Erguotou (a type of Chinese liquor) back to her parents' home. If she had left him even one bottle, he wouldn't have been so angry...

Wang Xingguo left the village, stayed outside for an hour, and then returned to the village to tell Wang Changshun that the pigs could be transported.

Wang Changshun arranged for fifteen pigs, twelve of which were brought in by others to exchange for grain, and the remaining three were purchased by the clan from other production brigades at a cost.

He also received seven geese as payment for helping the He family exchange grain last time, and fifteen mallard ducks as payment for helping to exchange twelve pigs for grain this time.