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

The Jin family originally had the surname Wang. Their ancestors were Han Chinese who surrendered to the Qing court at the end of the Ming Dynasty and the beginning of the Qing Dynasty. They were incorporated into the Eight Banners Han Army system and were considered Han Chinese who joined the banners, not native Manchu Jurchens. After joining the banners, they adopted their surnames according to Manchu custom. Their official name was Jin Sheng, and they were commonly known as the "Jin Wang family". Some of their descendants continued to use the surname Jin, while others changed back to Wang.

This is also why Grandma Jin trusts Wang Xingguo more, because she feels that everyone has the same surname, Wang.

To put it bluntly, the Jin family were just bondservants of the previous dynasty who were granted the surname Jin by the previous dynasty.

Wang Xingguo looked down on the Jin family from the bottom of his heart. They were traitors who sold out their ancestors for personal gain, people who didn't even care about their ancestral surnames. How could he possibly respect them?

He only does things for her if they're easy and for money. If you really want him to do something complicated, forget about it.

The steamed buns were ready, and the chicken was cooked. Wang Xingguo took the food back into the house and began to eat.

When my younger siblings come home from school in the evening, I can just heat up the food and eat.

After eating and drinking his fill, Wang Xingguo washed the dishes and pots, turned off the stove, and let the coal briquettes inside smolder so that they could be lit to heat up the food when his sister turned on the stove in the evening.

It was still quite early, so Wang Xingguo took a shower in the space, washed and hung up his clothes, then left the space and went back to his room to sleep. He slept until his younger siblings came home from school.

The siblings were very happy to see Wang Xingguo at home, having even cooked chicken.

Wang Xingguo asked, "Third sister, how did your blind date go?"

Wang Xingning explained happily, "It's settled! The girl we met this time is named Shen Qingqing. Not only is she beautiful, but she also has a wonderful personality. Moreover, Sister Shen is the eldest child in her family, with only one younger brother. Her father is a carpenter who works in a furniture factory. Most importantly, my older brother has taken a liking to Sister Shen, and Sister Shen is also very satisfied with our family. I think we can finalize the marriage arrangements as soon as possible."

Wang Xingguo was also very happy to hear this good news.

Wang Xingguo told the two that he wouldn't be eating at home that night and would be home later, then pushed his tricycle out the door.

Having collected so many fish this time, he naturally had to sell some. During the day, he didn't intend to sell to Master Niu because Master Niu was very stingy. If no one was competing for the fish, he would lower the price by a few cents, saying that he was helping Wang Xingguo resell them to others so that he could also make a profit.

The main reason is that Master Niu only owns this one gambling den, unlike others who have invested in many private restaurants. So, he has no use for too many fish and will have to resell them to others.

Speaking of the trading culture here, it was Wang Xingguo who started it. Originally, this place was a gambling den, and then Master Niu would collect some antiques and collectibles that couldn't be sold in the open, as well as hard goods like small yellow croakers. He also wanted silver dollars.

But they didn't actually sell any supplies; the cigarettes and alcohol were just things provided for customers who came to gamble.

A lot of his old friends come here to gamble, mostly on things like cricket fighting.

After Wang Xingguo arrived here, he didn't gamble. At first, he was hesitant to go to the black market, and since he needed to convert the fish in his spatial dimension into cash, he simply brought some fish here to sell. So, initially, everyone called him "the fish seller," which was somewhat derogatory and discriminatory.

However, he only sells live fish. Live fish are rarely sold in the markets in Beijing. Most of them are frozen sea fish, and freshwater fish are transported to Beijing frozen.

Freshwater fish produced locally in Beijing are mainly supplied to key departments and units; it's really difficult for ordinary people to buy live fish.

However, there are also considerations regarding whether patients and pregnant women should eat fresh fish, which makes live fish particularly scarce.

As word spread that Wang Xingguo was selling fish with Master Niu, black market bosses like Er Gouzi, Liu Dadan, Liu Laosan, Zhou Pangzi, Sun Laoda, and Zhao Wu started coming to pick up fish.

Wang Xingguo's identity was not difficult to find out, and everyone soon learned his name and that he was the second oldest in his family. Thus, the nickname "Wang Er" (meaning "Second Wang") stuck.

This discriminatory nickname for the fishmonger gradually fell out of use.

If he also gets involved in shady dealings, and eventually owns his own establishment, he might even be able to earn the title of "Master Wang."

Believe it or not, Wang Xingguo really intends to take this path!

There's no other reason than that if he does well in five or six years and has his own business, he can buy up those confiscated antiques at low prices, even things like small yellow croakers. At that time, he can buy them at rock-bottom prices.

The key is that he has to be able to make connections. He wasn't very confident about this before, but now that he has so many members of the Wang clan behind him, he has confidence.

Fish remained popular, and even the dozens of kilograms of eels that were brought were sold out at one yuan per kilogram.

Wang Xingguo wasn't surprised by this, because it's really hard to buy eels now, everyone is busy with the autumn harvest, and more people are eating eels now, so the price has naturally gone up.

After the goods were divided up, they started weighing and collecting money. It was done in no time, and they collected a total of 113 yuan.

Because the price of fish has also risen a lot, according to the previous market, this batch of goods would have sold for no more than eighty yuan. Now everyone is in severe shortage, so the price has been driven up a lot, which is why it can be sold for so much money.

Niu Ye was still a little annoyed with Wang Xingguo, and even when he offered him a cigarette, he refused to light it for him.

Wang Xingguo chuckled, not caring about any of this. Anyway, the pigs were still there. What did it matter whether he was angry or not these days? Once the profits were on the table, all the anger would disappear.

After eating and drinking there and finding out how much prices had gone up, Wang Xingguo hurriedly left as it was almost seven o'clock.

They successfully picked up Li Xiuping, who hugged Wang Xingguo's arm intimately. She had been holding him for so many days and her anger dissipated as soon as she saw him.

Wang Xingguo briefly explained his trip back to his hometown to acknowledge his ancestors, then omitted the specific details, using the excuse of finding someone to buy pigs and order fish to explain why it had taken him so long to return.

Li Xiuping was even less angry after hearing this, but she said she wanted to eat fried small fish and asked Wang Xingguo to get her some to take home.

Wang Xingguo agreed with a grin. His wife was craving something sweet, and as her man, he had to satisfy her.

Pushing his tricycle into the courtyard, Wang Xingguo arrived at the entrance of the Li family's house in the middle courtyard. The Li family father and sons were washing their hands at the tap, and Wang Xingguo quickly greeted them.

Li Laishun shook the water off his hands and asked with a smile, "What have you been busy with lately? How are the marriage negotiations going for your older brother?"

When this was mentioned, Wang Xingguo realized that he hadn't told them about his older brother's re-blind date.

So I explained it to everyone in detail, so that my future father-in-law wouldn't misunderstand.

After listening to Wang Xingguo's words, Li Laishun sighed and said, "If that's the case, then it's a good thing that the Feng family couldn't become in-laws with your Wang family. Otherwise, Xiuping might have suffered a lot if she had married into the family."

As Li Xiuping set the table, she asked, "Xingguo, how did your blind date go, brother?"