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

Wang Xingguo fell asleep on the table. When he woke up, his younger sister and the others had already come home from school.

After exchanging greetings, the girl went to prepare dinner. She had bought the groceries in the morning, and she took care of everything else at home, except for the coal, which they had to buy and bring back.

Wang Xingguo, covered in sweat, grabbed a towel to wash his face and wiped the sweat from his body. Returning to the room, he said to Wang Xingning, "Third Sister, I brought back some chicken and duck eggs today. I'll pickle the duck eggs and make salted duck eggs, and the chicken eggs will do as they please. Oh, and from now on, boil an egg for Big Brother every other night so he can use it to win over our future sister-in-law. Hehe, I bet Big Brother, that honest man, only chats with his future sister-in-law every night and doesn't even know how to buy her any food to please her."

Wang Xingning nodded repeatedly and said, "Alright, Second Brother, you know what, Big Brother is really a blockhead. But I've told him off several times, and now he knows to carry a piece or two of candy in his pocket to please Sister Xiaolan."

Wang Xingmin sighed, "If my eldest brother marries Sister Xiaolan, I will have made a contribution. Originally, I was the youngest and should have eaten more candy, but I saved it all for my eldest brother to use when he was pursuing Sister Xiaolan."

Wang Xingguo patted his younger brother's head and teased, "You little rascal, you've done a good job. When you grow up and get married, your second brother will make you some candy to win over the girls."

"Tch, Second Brother, that's just empty promises. I'm only nine years old! By the time I'm ready to date, it'll be ages before I even have a boyfriend. You might as well just give me an ice pop as a reward!"

Wang Xingguo laughed heartily, gave him a dime, and Wang Xingmin skipped and hopped off to buy an ice pop.

Before long, the three siblings each had an ice pop and started eating.

In September, the temperature in Beijing has already started to drop. In the morning, the temperature is only 15 or 16 degrees Celsius, but at noon it can reach 27 or 28 degrees Celsius, and in the evening it is 17 or 18 degrees Celsius.

The temperature will gradually drop throughout September, and by the end of the month it will drop to around 10 degrees Celsius in the morning and evening, and around 20 degrees Celsius during the day.

So gradually, people no longer needed to cool off in the courtyard at night, as the heat stored up in the house during the day would dissipate by around 8 p.m.

After dinner was ready, Wang Xingbang came home from get off work. To everyone's surprise, he didn't leave work late today.

Wang Xingguo asked, "Brother, why are you leaving get off work at the usual time today?"

Wang Xingbang smiled and said, "Hehe, all the raw materials are used up today. Without raw materials, we can't work overtime, so we're leaving get off work as usual."

Oh, I see. No wonder you left work at the normal time.

Wang Xingmin cheerfully called out, "Wash your hands, dinner's ready!"

After everyone washed their hands, they began to eat dinner. Wang Xingning reminded them, "Big brother, I boiled an egg for you, remember to take it with you."

Wang Xingbang asked, puzzled, "Why did you bring eggs? Why aren't you frying them?"

Wang Xingmin said with a grin, "Big brother, that's not for you to eat. Second brother said he'd boil an egg for you every other day so you can use it to coax Sister Xiaolan and bring her home as soon as possible."

Wang Xingbang was a little embarrassed. Although he was the eldest brother, he still felt awkward when his younger siblings discussed his dating life.

That's just how honest people are. If it were Wang Xingguo, like that time when he was interrogated by his family, he wouldn't feel embarrassed at all.

He won't be embarrassed at all; in fact, he'll look quite pleased with himself...

He's dating someone based on his own abilities, so what's there to be embarrassed about?

After finishing dinner, Wang Xingbang took a shower before the temperature dropped, then quietly slipped out with the eggs, as if afraid of being discovered by his younger siblings.

Wang Xingguo also took a shower, told his sister, and then pushed his tricycle out the door.

When he arrived at the entrance of the General Hospital of Liberation, he looked at his watch and it was only a little past 7:20.

Wang Xingguo lit a cigarette and smoked it. Behind him, on the footrest, were two buckets. There weren't many fish, just five black carp and ten crucian carp. One bucket contained a dozen or so eels. He wondered if anyone wanted the eels.

I was lucky enough to sell the eels last time, but there aren't always people who want them; this stuff is still a niche product.

However, if eels weren't a niche food, I wouldn't be making this kind of money.

However, if this thing were in a southern city, even during difficult times, it would only fetch a dollar and sixty cents at most. After all, there are countless places in the south where rice is grown, and the whole area is a habitat for eels, so they naturally reproduce in large numbers.

In other words, cities lack this food, but rural areas have no shortage of it.

Of course, this excludes arid regions. After all, in dry areas, eels will burrow into the wet mud one or two meters deep and hibernate for four or five months, making them virtually impossible to catch.

So no matter what, these creatures seem to be an indestructible species. If a place experiences a drought this year, and everything is gone, the dormant eels will reappear not long after the rains resume.

Around eight o'clock, someone came out of the hospital. There was only one tricycle at the entrance now; all the other vehicles had left with their passengers. This person quickly ran over here carrying a bucket of water.

"Oh, young comrade, your blackfish is good. Catch me two blackfish, and I'll trade you some wine and cloth coupons for them."

"Alright, sir, I'll grab whichever one you want."

The old man took out four bottles of Erguotou (a type of Chinese liquor) from the bucket, and also took out five feet of cloth coupons from his pocket, exchanging them for two large black carp weighing nearly two kilograms each.

No one can say whether this deal is profitable or not; it's just a matter of each party getting what they need.

Things don't actually have a price; it's just a matter of need. When you truly need something, what price matters? Even if it's exorbitantly priced, you have to buy it, right?

Even if the items given to him are of low value, Wang Xingguo doesn't mind. After all, he didn't spend any money on his fish, so he's making a profit no matter what he exchanges for.

He stayed there until 8:30, and the fish were sold out. He stopped taking reservations and said he would come over whenever he was free in the evening, and if he wasn't free, he would come another day.

He understood that hasty transactions are not profitable, so he wasn't in a hurry to sell his fish.

When I arrived at Uncle Niu's place on my tricycle, there was a bucket of eggs and a bucket of duck eggs on the footrest. The buckets were medium-sized, and if they were filled to the brim, they could hold more than a hundred eggs or more than a hundred duck eggs.

However, Wang Xingguo didn't fill the container completely; he only filled it with one hundred chicken eggs and one hundred duck eggs.

Tonight, Shi Tou is guarding the gate. When he saw Wang Xingguo arrive with his things, he first helped unload the eggs and duck eggs into the yard, and then helped push the tricycle in.

Wang Xingguo asked, "Brother Stone, is Brother Niu here tonight?"

Stone replied, "Yes, Master Jin from the West City came tonight. Master Niu is drinking with Master Jin and they're discussing a collaboration to collect dried goods in Tianjin."

Wang Xingguo said with some surprise, "Wait, Shitou, you have a fever today? How could you tell me such an important thing?"

Shi Tou chuckled and said, "Important my foot! Everyone inside knows about this, right? People like Chen Laosan and Er Gouzi all want to invest money to buy some shares so they can get some expensive ingredients for their private restaurants!"