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

November 8th, the Beginning of Winter!

The winter vegetable storage campaign ended two days ago. Wang Xing's sister-in-law and the others were busy at home, so he didn't need to worry about anything.

Today is the day of his banquet; the invitations were sent out yesterday.

His officiant was not the originally planned person, but the very person who had arranged for him to run the night market—who actually came to be his officiant.

The leader's speech at the wedding emphasized the revolutionary cause, making the whole wedding atmosphere very serious, and no one was very relaxed.

Because the wedding ceremony was quite formal and serious, I won't go into details. And just like that, Wang Xingguo got married!

The afternoon after the wedding, Li Xiuping and the eight other female colleagues who had been transferred there completed the procedures for moving to the night market and officially started working that evening.

Many people from the clan attended Wang Xingguo's wedding, enough to fill two tables. There were also many people who wanted to come but couldn't because they couldn't set up too many tables for the banquet.

After getting married, Li Xiuping immediately took on the role of a wife. She began to take care of Wang Xingguo's three meals a day, because Wang Xingguo sometimes didn't want to get up in the morning and often skipped breakfast.

But that's not possible now. Every morning, Li Xiuping gets up to make breakfast with her sister-in-law, and then Wang Xingguo has to get up and eat before he can go to his tutoring class.

Of course, Li Xiuping would also tutor him, but young people sometimes get so much energy that they can't catch up on sleep.

Now that the farm work is less busy, some people have been assigned to dig for eels in the rice paddies before the ground freezes, while others have been assigned to purchase pigs, sheep, chickens, ducks, geese, fish, rabbits, eels, eggs, and other surplus supplies from other places on behalf of the production brigade.

Some production teams were indeed short of food, and the commune was indeed planning to allocate grain from each production team and subsidize it with money in order to distribute it evenly.

So, Master Twenty-One gritted his teeth, took the money and the surplus grain, and went to these production brigades that were short of grain to exchange for poultry and livestock.

The most regrettable thing is that their collective-to-collective exchange was limited to the same commune.

In other words, production brigades and production teams within the Gaobeidian Commune could exchange poultry and livestock after they had completed their procurement tasks.

But it doesn't work outside the commune!

Wang Changshun made the right choice, because if he hadn't done so, the surplus grain would have been transferred to others at a fair price, and Wang Xingguo's hard work would have been wasted.

The clan's secret warehouse had limited capacity and could not possibly store all the grain.

On November 15th, Er Gouzi came over to have a drink with Wang Xingguo.

Today, his face showed a mixture of dejection and relief.

Wang Xingguo asked, "Er Gouzi, what happened to you?"

Er Gouzi sighed, "Director Wang, Niu Ye has been arrested. I heard he's been sentenced to five years in labor camp and will be sent to the border next month. Jin Sanye has also been arrested and sentenced because it was discovered he had killed someone before, so he was sentenced to death. So many people I know have been arrested..."

Er Gouzi talked a lot, and Wang Xingguo listened quietly, watching Er Gouzi drink one glass of wine after another.

He knew Er Gouzi was scared!

Who isn't afraid?

Although he hadn't done anything heinous, no one in the underworld is clean.

Wang Xingguo doesn't think he's clean at all, since reselling goods is illegal in this day and age.

After having a few drinks with Er Gouzi, Er Gouzi laughed for a while before finally saying, "They've all suffered a terrible fate. I feel both scared and happy watching them. I'm scared that if I had made the wrong choice, I would be one of them. I'm happy that I made the right bet, and now I can sit here peacefully and grieve their fate. I don't even understand my own thoughts anymore; I feel like a lunatic."

Wang Xingguo shook his head and said, "You're not crazy, you're just overreacting. But I advise you to quickly adjust your mindset and focus on running the night market well; that's the most important thing for you. Don't forget you're still the acting director; you need to be recognized for your value before you can be officially appointed."

Er Gouzi nodded and said, "You're right, I'll work hard. Let's get another batch of goods tomorrow. I should be able to sell out of the live fish and eels I have over there tonight."

"Transferring goods is no problem, but there aren't enough eels to sell. You'd better tell them to mobilize the people in Yongfeng Commune to dig deep and catch eels before the ground freezes."

Er Gouzi nodded repeatedly, downed the wine in his glass in one gulp, stood up and bowed solemnly to Wang Xingguo in gratitude. Without saying anything more, he turned and left.

Wang Xingguo knew he was thanking him for giving him the opportunity to recommend him; if he hadn't been recruited in time, he would have been one of those labor reform inmates.

At this moment, Li Xiuping's voice rang out: "Director Wang, there is a guest here who needs your attention."

Wang Xingguo quickly perked up and replied gently, "Alright, bring the guests in."

When Wang Xingguo saw the person who came, he was slightly taken aback, because he recognized this guy and knew him very well. He was Liu Dadan!

Wang Xingguo invited Liu Dadan into the adjacent room, his office where he received hard currency. As soon as they entered, Wang Xingguo asked in a low voice, "Old Liu, what's this?"

Liu Dadan said with a bitter expression, "Director Wang, I have nothing left now. Because I haven't done anything wrong, and the person behind me pleaded for me, they only recorded my case as speculation and profiteering, and released me without doing anything else."

Wang Xingguo breathed a sigh of relief. It was good that he wasn't a fugitive; he had thought Liu Dadan was on the run.

He quickly asked, "Old Liu, what brings you here?"

Liu Dadan nodded, took out five small yellow croakers from his pocket, and handed them to Wang Xingguo, saying, "Director Wang, I can't stay here any longer. Now all the neighbors know I'm a speculator, and they're watching me like I'm a thief. I plan to sell my hidden savings for cash and go back to my hometown tomorrow. I'm never coming back to Beijing."

It must be said that this choice was wise, because a person with a criminal record will find it difficult to find a job, and the strange looks from neighbors will be unpleasant. More importantly, he will forever carry the burden of his criminal record here, and his children will also be affected.

But it's different when he goes back to his hometown. At least when he goes back, only people in the relevant departments know that he has a criminal record. No one else knows about it.

Moreover, once the file is returned to the hometown, there is a chance to make some changes by pulling strings.

It's easy for people from the city to go back to the countryside now, but it's difficult for people from the countryside to go back to the city. In fact, Liu Dadan's choice was correct.

Even if the matter of his records were leaked, he would still have his clansmen to look after him if he returned to his hometown. This would prevent just anyone from bullying him.

His current situation in the city is that anyone can bully him, because his record has a blemish.