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

Wanshoushan Commune had by then been merged into Yongfeng Commune, but people still habitually called it Wanshoushan Commune.

There are many trees near the Summer Palace wall, and the road is very quiet. Although the farmland outside the wall and the ancient buildings inside the wall are very different, they blend together very harmoniously.

In late August in Beijing, the corn had grown to the height of a person, and the pear trees and jujubes were in the fruit-expanding stage, looking truly bountiful.

Having learned from his previous experience in Gaobeidian, Wang Xingguo did not rashly approach the villagers to ask to buy eels this time.

Instead, they headed straight for their destination, the Summer Palace, which is surrounded by five production brigades: Qinglongqiao, Guajiatun, Liulangzhuang, Xiyuan, and Dayouzhuang.

The Northwest Wang area has six production brigades: Northwest Wang, Northeast Wang, Malianwa, Shangdi, Lengquan, and Hanjiachuan.

Now that it has been merged into Yongfeng Commune, it's unclear what kind of production brigade it is, but this doesn't affect Wang Xingguo.

He went straight to the village to discuss the matter with the person in charge.

At the Qinglongqiao Production Brigade, Wang Xingguo quickly found the brigade leader.

The brigade leader's surname was Yang, and he looked to be in his fifties, though he might not actually be that old. Being a farmer these days is really hard work; the wind and sun make you look especially old.

Wang Xingguo shook hands with Captain Yang and said, "Captain Yang, hello. The reason I've come to your area is this: our street office's pig farm needs some chopped eels as a feed additive for fattening pigs. However, because the quantity varies and it's not something that's subject to centralized purchase and sales, we street office transport workers are not handling the procurement directly. I wonder if your commune has any eels?"

Captain Yang was a little confused. After listening to this guy's whole explanation, all he could remember was that he was a transport worker from the street office and was collecting eels to feed pigs.

That's not unusual. The commune would occasionally organize people to catch eels and loaches for the pigs they raised, chop them up, cook them, and feed them to the pigs, especially the fattening pigs, as they would gain weight very quickly from eating these things.

Captain Yang nodded and said, "Let me sort this out. You mean you want to buy eels to fatten pigs, right?"

Wang Xingguo grinned and said, "That's right. Our street office is offering 15 cents a pound. Captain Yang, do you think your production team will take this job? To be honest, our street office needs a lot of eels, and they must be alive. They won't pay a cent a pound for dead ones, only 15 cents a pound for live ones. Please consider whether you can do this."

No sooner had he finished speaking than Captain Yang slapped his thigh and exclaimed, "Damn! Comrade, how many kilograms are you buying? Don't bother asking other production teams, our team will take care of it, okay?"

Wang Xingguo quickly explained, "Captain Yang, our city's street office's pig farm needs a large amount of eels to feed the pigs for fattening. To be honest, you can probably only get a few hundred kilograms at most, which is far from enough for our pig farm..."

Captain Yang quickly replied, "Five hundred catties. Give us two days, and I'll get you five hundred catties of eels, guaranteed to be alive. Is that alright?"

Wang Xingguo patted his chest and said, "Captain Yang, let alone 500 jin, even 1,000 jin is no problem. You just arrange for people to catch it, and I'll come over at this time tomorrow to weigh and collect the first batch. Cash on delivery, what do you think?"

"No problem, we'll do it your way."

After exchanging names, Wang Xingguo only said that his surname was Wang and did not reveal his full name.

He was worried that his act of intercepting the job would be discovered by factories in the city, so he decided it was best not to reveal his full name.

Moreover, the workers in the city were arrogant and difficult to deal with at that time. In Captain Yang's view, his practice of not using his full name was just a bit arrogant, but not a big problem.

After leaving this place, Wang Xingguo rushed to the next production team, using the same operating method and the same words to deceive people.

His true identity is not important; what matters is that the worthless eel can be sold for 15 cents a pound, which is enough to tempt them!

Farmers in the capital city don't have much money for their work points; ten work points are basically worth between two and three and a half cents.

That's right. A strong adult can earn ten work points a day, but at the end of the year, these ten work points can only be settled at two to three and a half cents.

That is, one work point is worth two to three and a half cents. Even if you work a full day, a strong laborer can earn at most three thousand work points a year, which means an annual income of between sixty and one hundred dollars.

After deducting various fees, the final amount received is between twenty and thirty-five yuan.

So, the price of eels at 15 cents a pound seems very low, but in reality, they really mobilize people to catch them. If each family catches 20 pounds a day, that's 3 yuan, which is equivalent to their monthly work points income!

Wang Xingguo spent the whole day running around to various production teams, discussing cooperative purchases of eels, moving on to the next team after finishing with one.

In the evening, he went into his space to rest. He first cooked pig feed to feed the pigs, and then stewed a chicken for himself to nourish his body.

I wonder how my older brother's blind date went. This morning, he first went to the black market to pick up the pound of pork belly he had reserved, took a rooster, a two-pound carp, two four-ounce crucian carp, and a bunch of fruits and vegetables from his space and brought them home. Then he went to the Beijing office of the Shanghai Watch Factory, spent sixty yuan to successfully buy a watch, and only then did he set off.

Hopefully everything goes smoothly. He still hopes his older brother will get married first, and then he and Li Xiuping will have their own wedding banquet.

He didn't mean anything by it; he simply respected his older brother and didn't want him to suffer from gossip and grievances because he got married first.

After eating and drinking his fill, Wang Xingguo started to busy himself with things in the space. After feeding the poultry and livestock, he rested in the mud house.

The high temperature didn't matter; with just one thought, a gentle breeze began to blow into the room.

Wang Xingguo slowly fell asleep, and when he woke up, it was still dark outside!

After boiling ten eggs and roasting potatoes and sweet potatoes, Wang Xingguo left the space with the disassembled tricycle.

His tricycle, which carries people, actually has all its seats removed, leaving only the frame, making it easier for him to put buckets to carry eels.

Anyway, he doesn't need to pull it too far. He just needs to pull it outside, to a place where the villagers can't see it, and then he can put it into the space fishpond.

In the first commune, the drying ground was already full of people, each carrying a wooden bucket and waiting there.

As soon as Wang Xingguo arrived, a group of people surrounded him, but everyone was only concerned about whether they would stop collecting the eels because there were too many.

Wang Xingguo shouted loudly, "Fellow villagers, comrades, don't rush, come one by one. I'll take care of each one as soon as it's accepted, and I won't let you all work for nothing!"

Only after receiving Wang Xingguo's assurance did everyone feel relieved and begin to carry their buckets of eels to be weighed.

Wang Xingguo did not settle accounts with individuals; he only had the production team's accountant keep the books, and the final settlement was given to the accountant before he settled accounts with everyone else.

Otherwise, if they come one by one, he won't be able to handle it all by himself. The production team doesn't mind contributing their manpower, since the accountant doesn't have much to do usually and is just idling around anyway, so it doesn't hurt to help out.