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

Do you think Wang Xingguo is selling now?

That's not true at all. He only needs to cash out a portion of his assets to buy a house, plus his wedding and living expenses.

He wasn't in a hurry to sell these eels. He could continue catching fish and shrimp in the river to raise them. When winter came and no one else had eels, he could sell them for a much better price.

The Wenyu River happens to have the most small, miscellaneous fish. These small fish don't sell for much, but they're perfect for feeding eels.

When Wang Xingguo brought the eels back, Chen Laosan was furious. He had originally intended to buy all the eels Wang Xingguo brought back, but now that he had brought so many, it would be unreasonable not to give them to others.

In the end, the eels were divided up among everyone. Chen Laosan didn't take more; if he couldn't make it an exclusive, there was no need to spend a high price to buy too many.

Tonight we sold 292 jin of eels at three yuan per jin, for a total income of 876 yuan!

I've already made back my principal and interest from buying the eels; everything else is pure profit!

Wang Xingguo was also very excited. It was great to have information asymmetry. He only had information asymmetry about eels, and he was able to make a fortune. No wonder so many people became rich overnight after mastering information asymmetry.

This is no joke. People who went to Guangzhou on business trips in the 1980s gained a lot of information.

Jeans and bell-bottoms, which became popular all over the country, created countless millionaires in northern China!

A pair of bell-bottoms that costs around ten yuan to buy in Guangzhou can be sold for thirty or forty yuan in Beijing. A hundred pairs would be worth several thousand yuan, a thousand pairs would be worth tens of thousands of yuan, and ten thousand pairs would be worth hundreds of thousands of yuan!

These are all examples of making money by exploiting information asymmetry. There are countless such information asymmetries in life, but ordinary people often fail to notice them. By the time they do, it's already too late to make money.

Wang Xingguo left, rode his tricycle, and hummed a little tune as he went home.

I need to go burn incense tomorrow. I need to talk to Director Zhao first; I can't be an ingrate who kicks someone when they've served their purpose.

To cultivate a good image, you must at least show others that you are a grateful person. That way, if something happens in the future, such as someone reporting you for speculation or profiteering, others will naturally be more protective of you.

And the police station too, why don't we send some eels to the street office and the police station?

Wang Xingguo thought it was feasible more and more. If they didn't know how to do it, he could teach them for free. It was a way to serve the people!

As for those who dare not eat it because it's a worm, once it's cooked, no one says it doesn't taste good.

By openly and honestly delivering eels to express gratitude to the neighborhood committee and police station for their help, one can demonstrate gratitude and high moral character. Who would dare to say that they are not a good person?

Wang Xingguo became more and more excited as he thought about it, so he decided to take the eels to the street office tomorrow and to the police station the day after tomorrow, since he didn't care about the eels.

These days, personal image is very important. Just like Wang Xingguo, who left people with a pitiful image of self-reliance and hard work to earn money to support his family, he received a lot of intangible help.

The most obvious thing is that even though everyone knows he's reselling things, as soon as people hear it's him, they'll say: "Let it go, his family has a hard life, let's just turn a blind eye."

When he got home, he was surprised to find Liu Chang'an chatting with Wang Xingbang.

Wang Xingguo chuckled and said, "Brother Chang'an, aren't you going to lead the patrol today?"

Liu Chang'an waved to Wang Xingguo, gesturing for him to sit down. He replied, "These past few days it's my turn to patrol the latter half of the night. Sit down quickly, I have something to discuss with you."

After Wang Xingguo sat down, he asked, "What's wrong? Is it about Brother Liu's wedding?"

Liu Chang'an shook his head and said, "No, it's something to do at the institute. I don't know what happened this month, but the institute only received a quarter of the meat ration coupons we had in June. That's not even enough for two meals of braised pork. So we're planning to ask you to get some fish for us. Don't ask for too much, just a reasonable price is fine. Our institute's slush fund is limited, so we can't offer you a high price."

Wang Xingguo slapped his thigh and said, "What a coincidence! I was just planning to catch some eels the day after tomorrow to improve the meals at our institute and thank everyone for taking care of me."

Liu Chang'an was taken aback. He asked, puzzled, "Eels? You can eat those? And what do you mean by bringing eels to the station?"

Wang Xingbang quickly took out the braised eel he had saved for Wang Xingguo from the cupboard and explained to him, "Chang'an, you don't know, eels aren't worms, they're actually quite delicious when cooked. This is the eel that Xingguo made, you'll know once you try it. Our family has eaten it twice already, it's really edible, and the taste is quite good."

Wang Xingguo explained, "Brother Chang'an, this is a recipe I learned in the countryside. This stuff is really delicious; you'll see once you try it. When I said I was getting eels for the institute, I meant exactly what I said. I wanted to dig up some eels for everyone in the institute for free as an extra meal. It was just to thank everyone for taking care of me; I had no other intentions."

Liu Chang'an was skeptical, but he knew the Wang brothers wouldn't harm him, so he picked up a piece of cold eel meat with his chopsticks and put it in his mouth.

The earthy taste becomes more pronounced when it cools down, but it's still okay. With the base flavor of yellow soybean paste, it's still acceptable to eat.

After finishing the eel meat in his mouth, Liu Chang'an nodded repeatedly and said, "I must say, this stuff is not bad. If you don't get sick after eating it, then this stuff is really good."

Wang Xingguo laughed and said, "What illness? That's all just hearsay. Actually, in the south, or in high-end restaurants, you can find dishes made with eels. We Beijingers don't eat them because we don't know how to remove the slime. Once you remove the slime and the bloodline, the muddy taste is almost gone."

Wang Xingning heated up the eel; it wouldn't taste as good once it cooled down.

Wang Xingbang also took out his half-empty bottle of Erguotou (a type of Chinese liquor) and poured wine for Liu Chang'an, wanting to have a couple of drinks with him.

Wang Xingguo stopped drinking and took his clothes to take a shower.

After he finished washing up and returned to the house, Liu Chang'an pulled Wang Xingguo aside and asked, "Xingguo, are you serious about what you said?"

Wang Xingguo nodded repeatedly and said, "Brother Chang'an, I mean it. But I'll deliver it to you the day after tomorrow. I can also teach you how to prepare the eels then. If the station wants to add some food in the future, eels are actually quite suitable. After all, not many people eat this stuff. You can find it in the rice paddies in the suburbs."

Liu Chang'an said seriously, "Then I should tell the institute about this, okay? Don't go back on your word later, or I'll embarrass myself again. Last time you got reported, and I was laughed at by my colleagues for a whole week!"

Speaking of this, Wang Xingguo got angry. He said indignantly, "That old lady in Nanluoguxiang is dishonest. When she bought my duck eggs, she praised how big they were, but then she went and reported me. If it weren't for the fact that Old Zhang, who arrested me, said she was an old lady with bound feet, who would have thought that she was the one who reported me? That old woman is really despicable..."