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

After leaving the neighborhood committee office, Wang Xingguo breathed a sigh of relief. The matter was now resolved. Tomorrow night, he would still need to discuss the ingredients for Liu Erge's banquet with the Liu family.

The chickens and ducks he wanted were for this purpose, since many of the chickens and ducks in the space were not particularly large and needed to be raised for another month or two before they were suitable for use.

The adult chickens and ducks are laying eggs very frequently now, and he really can't bear to put them out to sell.

Next, I need to pick up my wife from get off work, then go to the entrance of the General Hospital of Liberation to exchange fish, and then go to Uncle Niu's place to meet Er Gouzi.

Wang Xingguo sighed. This is really keeping me incredibly busy!

Okay, I'll go see my wife first and not pick her up from get off work. I'll bring her some food later. I just got a bag of pastries, peach shortbread, which my wife loves.

He still needed to go home that night to discuss the marriage proposal with his older brother, so he couldn't go back too late. Otherwise, his brother might not be able to sleep well and would go to the Shen family looking listless.

So Wang Xingguo turned his bike around and rode towards the Beixinqiao Food Market.

As he walked inside carrying the bag of peach shortbread, not far from the bean product counter, Li Xiuping's older colleague saw Wang Xingguo and nudged Li Xiuping, signaling her to look towards the entrance.

Li Xiuping turned her head and saw Wang Xingguo with a big smile on his face, and a smile also appeared on her face.

Wang Xingguo approached the counter, greeted the teasing ladies with a smile, and placed the peach shortbread on the counter, saying, "Xiuping, I brought some peach shortbread for you to try. Share it with the ladies. I have some things to do tonight, so I can't come pick you up from get off work. I might be able to pick you up tomorrow night."

Because of the older women's encouragement, Li Xiuping blushed slightly and nodded, saying, "Okay, I understand. Go ahead and do what you need to do."

"Xiao Wang, since you're already here, aren't you going to tell your older sister how your revolutionary friendship began?"

"Yes, yes, Xiuping is very tight-lipped. She pretends to be deaf when asked. Xiao Wang, can you tell us about it?"

Faced with the crowd's commotion, Li Xiuping blushed even more and begged her older sisters for forgiveness.

Wang Xingguo said with a grin, "Sisters, how did my older brother and the others meet you? It's pretty much the same way I met them. If you want to know, just think about your own lives and you'll understand."

Wang Xingguo didn't feel embarrassed at all; he had a thick skin.

However, Li Xiuping was still a little embarrassed and urged Wang Xingguo to leave quickly. After all, she was a young girl who hadn't experienced much of the harsh realities of society, and she was still a bit shy.

Didn't you see those older women? They've all been through too much hardship in society; they're thick-skinned and their words are even more outspoken than Wang Xingguo's.

Wang Xingguo chuckled, waved goodbye to Li Xiuping, and turned to leave.

After finding a secluded spot, Wang Xingguo entered his spatial dimension, began feeding the pigs and poultry, and then went to catch up on his sleep.

At 7 p.m., Wang Xingguo arrived at Master Niu's place, bringing with him a lot of fish and eels in his car.

They asked people to help carry the things inside, and in no time the items were all divided up. Er Gouzi even took a lot of eels and fish.

After calculating the weight, Wang Xingguo started collecting money, and this batch of goods sold for 138 yuan.

Wang Xingguo didn't stay there long. He gave Er Gouzi a wink and then left.

It wasn't appropriate to discuss business with Master Niu, so a few minutes later, Er Gouzi also came out. The two found a secluded spot on the street, lit cigarettes, and started chatting.

Er Gouzi said to Wang Xingguo, "Wang Er, I don't have that much cornmeal, but I have wheat flour and japonica rice, cornmeal and sorghum, as well as millet and buckwheat. How about I trade these grains for live pigs with you? Can you give me a good ratio?"

After thinking for a moment, Wang Xingguo replied, "Brother Ergou, is cornmeal a coarse grain or a refined grain?"

"Coarse grains, not the hulled fine flour, but white flour and japonica rice are both very good quality."

Wang Xingguo said with a headache, "Brother Ergou, if I drive too high, you'll be cursing, but if I drive too low, I won't make any money. What should I do?"

Er Gouzi laughed, "Wang Er, stop talking nonsense. According to market prices, my offer of one pound of each type of grain for one pound of live pig is already higher than seven pounds of cornmeal. What more do you want?"

After thinking for a moment, Wang Xingguo said, "Brother Ergou, I can agree to give you ten pigs at this price, but you have to agree to one condition."

Er Gouzi perked up at this and quickly asked, "What are the conditions? Just tell me."

Wang Xingguo said earnestly, "Brother Ergou, I'm going to open a venue and set up shop. I hope you can bring some customers to support me and bring some brothers to help me make a good impression. If you agree to this, you can always get lower prices than others when you buy goods from my venue."

Upon hearing this, Er Gouzi exclaimed in surprise, "No, Wang Er, are you out of your mind? These days, everyone wants a decent job and a stable life. You actually want to open a business? Let me tell you, if it weren't for my bad class background preventing me from going to work, who the hell would want to do this kind of work as someone's dog!"

Wang Xingguo exhaled a puff of smoke and said, "Brother Ergou, the Wang clan members in Gaobeidian share the same ancestor as me. You know what I mean, right?"

Wang Ergou's eyes narrowed, and he said in a deep voice, "No wonder you want to start a business. It turns out you're not a rootless duckweed. With so many clansmen backing you up, you can indeed make a name for yourself. But have you really thought this through? Once you embark on this path, it's basically impossible to turn back."

Wang Xingguo laughed and said, "Brother Ergou, I'm different from you guys. First, I don't seek connections to get grain. Second, I don't do business that crosses the line. Third, I mainly focus on wholesale goods, making small profits but selling quickly, and trying to do less retail business. Fourth, I don't cause trouble or expand my territory, but whoever messes with me, I'll destroy. That's a rule my clansmen taught me. As long as others don't mess with me, I won't mess with them either."

It has to be said that Er Gouzi was a little envious of Wang Xingguo, envious that he had clansmen to help him, while he himself had to fight for everything except for his two brothers. As for those underlings, they were just following him for money, and loyalty was too much of a luxury, so much so that Er Gouzi only dared to talk about it.

After thinking for a moment, he asked, "Wang Er, I agree to this in principle, but I need to make it clear where your venue is located. If it's on my turf, then don't blame me for turning my back on you."

Wang Xingguo smiled, drew a circle with his finger, and said, "Brother Ergou, I'll open my shop in this area. There's no black market in Jiaodaokou, so if I set one up, nobody can stop me, right?"

Er Gouzi exclaimed, "Are you fucking crazy? There's no black market here because they've all been shut down! Do you think Master Niu didn't want to run a black market? He couldn't hold on, and his backers didn't support him, so he switched to a gambling den. You fucking want to die, you know that?"

Wang Xingguo chuckled and said, "Brother Er Gou, I call Director Zhao 'Grandpa,' and I call Director Liang in the station 'Uncle Liang.' My place only sells some supplies; I don't touch drugs, gambling, or prostitution at all. Do you think I can survive?"