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

After finishing his soda, Wang Xingguo chatted for a while, then said he had to be busy for a few more days and might not have time to pick her up from get off work. He then left with the empty bottle.

Li Xiuping understands him well. She knows he's working hard to earn money to buy a house. She also hopes that their future home will be a separate courtyard, so there won't be so many messy things going on.

Living in a traditional tenement courtyard can be quite troublesome. If your neighbors are nice, it's manageable. But some tenement courtyards are very chaotic, with things frequently stolen, arguments breaking out one day and disturbances the next, making it impossible to have peace and quiet.

I'll take the fish to the entrance of the General Hospital of Liberation at 8 PM, so I'm too lazy to go to Uncle Niu's place. I can't bring a bunch of stuff to sell every day, that would be too much.

So Wang Xingguo planned to go home, catch up on some sleep, and then set off to exchange the fish after dinner.

People patrolling at night don't stop these tricycles because it's normal for them to finish get off work at 9 pm, and it's not uncommon for them to finish at 10 or 11 pm.

They will only be stopped and questioned if they are still on the street close to midnight.

That's one of the reasons why Wang Xingguo said that riding a tricycle was suitable for his speculation and profiteering.

Back home, it was stuffy inside, and the neighbors were all sitting and chatting at the door. Wang Xingguo greeted these older women all the way back to the courtyard.

Just as he parked his tricycle, Old Mrs. Jin came out from the backyard, smiling, and said, "Xingguo, you're back from work so early?"

Wang Xingguo quickly greeted her, "Grandma, I just finished a big job and all my tasks for the day. I'm quite exhausted, so I decided to leave early and go home to rest. You look great today, did something good happen?"

Grandma Jin laughed heartily and said, "Of course, Xingguo, you have to do this old lady a favor."

Wang Xingguo nodded and said, "Please tell me, I will definitely help if I can."

After saying that, he quickly took out his key, opened the door, helped Grandma Jin into the house and sat her down, then brought her a bowl and a thermos and poured her some cold boiled water.

Grandma Jin leaned her cane against the table, took something out of her pocket, and explained in a low voice, "Xingguo, I thought I was the only one left in the Jin family. I didn't expect that I still had a nephew alive. His letter arrived today, and according to the date in the letter, he should be back in the capital tomorrow. My nephew, he's a poor man. He went to Jiangnan with his parents to make a living, but they all died, leaving him all alone. Now he's found my address and wants to come and stay with me. I think it's a good thing, at least after I die, there will be someone to take care of me in my final days..."

The old lady chattered on for a long time before finally pulling a bracelet wrapped in cloth from her pocket. Without even opening it, she stuffed it into Wang Xingguo's hand and whispered to him, "Xingguo, you're a good boy. Of all the people in this courtyard, I only trust you. Please help me sell this. I need to get some money to get my poor nephew a job so he can earn a living. Don't worry, our Jin family has no history of problems. We just have a bad family background, but getting a job is no problem for us, and we won't cause you any trouble."

Wang Xingguo had a bit of a headache. He unwrapped the cloth and took a look.

Damn, it's golden, and it's actually a pretty big round gold bracelet!

Wang Xingguo lightly weighed it in his hand; it probably weighed about two ounces.

The two liang here refers to two liang on an old scale, which is about sixty grams, the weight of two small yellow croakers.

Wang Xingguo hesitated for a moment and said in a low voice, "Grandma, it's not that I don't want to help you, it's just that this thing of yours is not easy to sell."

Grandma Jin nodded and said, "I know, so I won't ask for a high price. Do you think this thing can fetch four hundred yuan?"

Wang Xingguo didn't hide anything and explained, "Grandma, the bank is currently buying small gold bars for 95 yuan each, but on the black market, they're around 180 to 240 yuan each. It mainly depends on the purity. Pure gold with a stamp can sell for up to 240 yuan each. I don't know the purity of your bracelet, and it doesn't have a stamp. Although it's jewelry, as you know, gold jewelry actually depreciates compared to gold bars these days, so I can't be sure how much it will sell for."

Grandma Jin looked at Wang Xingguo, thought for a moment, and then said, "Xingguo, I trust you, boy. If you help me sell it, no matter how much you get, I'll give you ten percent as a tip. Is that alright?"

The errand fee is quite generous, so Wang Xingguo nodded and said, "Okay, then I'll run the errand for you tonight, ma'am. I'll pay whatever I can. I don't make any promises, and I guarantee I won't embezzle any of it."

"Good child, thank you, old lady. You're not that kind of person. Old lady trusts you."

After seeing Grandma Jin off, Wang Xingguo looked at the gold bracelet on the table and could only sigh, "They say even a broken ship has three pounds of nails, and that's true!"

Who would have thought that Mrs. Jin, without making a sound, could actually produce such a wonderful item?

However, he didn't have any particular thoughts. The Jin family was indeed without any problems; they were the kind of family whose background was old but safe.

Since the old lady trusts me, I'll run an errand for her; even a small amount of money isn't a small favor.

You have to find Master Niu for this stuff. He doesn't trust anyone else. Master Niu is more trustworthy and won't try to drive down the price like others do. Besides, selling this stuff on someone else's black market is quite dangerous; you could easily run into a double-cross.

But Master Niu is different. He'd even pay for a house that costs a thousand yuan upfront. Even if this gold bracelet is pure gold, it'd only be worth about four hundred yuan at most. Master Niu wouldn't even look at that amount of money.

After storing the bracelet in his spatial storage, Wang Xingguo closed the door, entered the space, and began working as a zookeeper and farmer.

The chicken and duck eggs I've collected these days, plus those I got from Yongfeng Commune, have actually come close to four hundred. There probably aren't many eggs left at home.

By the way, my older brother goes to see his girlfriend all the time, so I should keep more eggs at home so he can cook them and take them to her.

You should know that Wang Xingguo used to bring Li Xiuping a boiled egg when he was pursuing her.

Her great figure is partly thanks to eggs, since eggs provide her with protein.

Some salted duck eggs should also be pickled to save for later consumption. Duck eggs have always been more expensive than chicken eggs because they become oily after being pickled.

This is because salt disrupts the emulsified structure of the egg yolk, causing the protein to coagulate and the fat in the yolk to separate and form red oil. That's why salted duck eggs are oily.

Egg yolks do exist, but not as much as salted duck eggs, and the oil from pickling them isn't as red. Besides, nobody bothers to pickle eggs, since eggs are more nutritious when eaten raw.

After finishing his business in the space, Wang Xingguo left and began putting chicken and duck eggs into the basket. He put in twenty chicken eggs and twenty duck eggs before stopping.

These chicken and duck eggs are enough for the family to eat for a while. We can bring them back when we run out. If we bring too many at once, my thrifty sister will sell them for money...