The Life of a Son-in-Law in a Courtyard House

Upon hearing this, Grandpa Qi was no longer worried.

"Okay, I do know someone who makes leather; his family has been making leather for three generations."

However, they might not want money now; if you give them some wolf meat, they'll definitely be willing to work for you.

He also makes wolf bone wine, so you just asked him to help you with that.

However, it's not easy to buy things at this bar.

Yang Dalin nodded: "That's alright, let's slowly gather the wine."

I'll try to find a solution with my colleagues.

When should we go? Should we go right after dinner, or wait until you get off work?

Grandpa Qi said, "I'll go after I finish eating."

"Why don't you just make do with what I have here?"

Yang Dalin refused, saying, "No, Uncle Qi, my family has already finished cooking."

I'm going home for dinner now, and I'll come find you later.

After saying that, Yang Dalin left quickly, as he couldn't eat at Grandpa Qi's house.

It's not easy for him either.

Besides, they only made breakfast for one person. If he ate it, Grandpa Qi would have to make it again.

As soon as Yang Dalin went out, he spoke to Ma San, telling him not to drive, as he would only need to use the tricycle once that morning.

Then I took him to visit Zhao Yumin and Liu Haiyang for a day.

Ma San was called home by Yang Dalin for breakfast. Ma San usually ate breakfast and lunch outside, only coming to Yang Dalin's house for dinner in the evening.

He also paid for his meals and handed over all the money he usually earned to Aunt Qi for safekeeping, although Aunt Qi hardly touched any of that money.

We're saving them all for him.

After finishing his meal quickly, Yang Dalin told Ma San to wait for him at home.

He first rode his bicycle with Grandpa Qi to a secluded little courtyard in the western part of the city.

This courtyard is quite secluded. There's a small ditch not far from the entrance, and the houses of the neighbors are all a bit far away.

It's probably because the smell of leather processing is so strong that the neighbors don't want to live too close to his house.

Grandpa Qi got out of the car and knocked on the door.

Soon a thin, middle-aged man with poor legs came out and opened the door.

"Old Qi, why are you here so early? Is something the matter?" the middle-aged man asked.

Grandpa Qi pointed to Yang Dalin next to him: "Old Pi, this is my neighbor Yang Dalin. He wants you to help tan some wolf skins and make some wolf bone wine."

"This is a big job, so I referred it to you."

Upon hearing that there was important work to be done, the middle-aged man quickly invited Yang Dalin and the others into the courtyard and invited them inside for a drink of water.

The yard was quite large, containing many vats and wooden shelves, and there was a strange smell.

Yang Dalin didn't want to go into other people's homes anymore. Things that could be resolved in a few words didn't require any more formalities.

Since Grandpa Qi still needs to go to work later, Yang Dalin took the initiative to stop the middle-aged man, Lao Pi: "Uncle Pi, we won't go inside or drink any water. I still have to take Grandpa Qi back to work later."

I need to bring the things over in a while.

Since it was Grandpa Qi who introduced you, I will definitely trust you.

"I'll tell you the number of wolf pelts I need, and you can calculate how much labor I'll need."

The middle-aged man glanced at Yang Dalin, then at Grandpa Qi, who nodded.

The middle-aged man then said, "Alright, since you were introduced by an acquaintance, I'll give you a fair price."

However, I must say this: we are now doing private work, we don't need money, we just need food and food coupons or meat, any kind of meat is fine.

Even if you bring field mouse meat, I'll accept it.

It seems this family is having a tough time.

They wouldn't even mind eating field mouse meat.

House mice are out of the question; most people wouldn't dare eat them.

Field mice are clean, and nowadays people are so hungry that they know good meat is hard to come by, so they don't even mind field mouse meat.

Yang Dalin mentioned the quantity of wolf pelts and said he would find a way to deliver the wine. He also said the wolf bones needed processing to make wolf bone wine; it wasn't as simple as just throwing them into the wine.

That's just nonsense to throw it directly into the alcohol.

It must be dried or processed before it can be used to make medicinal wine.

In his previous life, Yang Dalin had seen a hunting novel on Tomato magazine. The protagonist was making tiger bone wine, but he didn't even clean the meat off the tiger bones before soaking them in the wine.

The readers almost cursed the author to death.

Yang Dalin would certainly not make such a mistake.

When Lao Pi heard this, he realized it was a really big job.

He works at a leather factory on a regular basis, but this is a side job that he can do for a long time to earn some extra money.

Yang Dalin also promised to pay his wages with some wolf meat, some rabbit meat, some fine grains, and some grain coupons.

This made Old Pi very happy.

After discussing it, Yang Dalin said, "Uncle Pi, I'll bring the things over in a bit. I'll take Grandpa Qi back first."

After saying goodbye to Lao Pi, Yang Dalin rode his bicycle to take Grandpa Qi to the entrance of his workplace.

Then they found Ma San and exchanged his tricycle for another one.

Let Ma San ride his bicycle and go find Zhao Yumin and the others first.

He went to deliver the wolf pelt by himself.

Otherwise, it would be difficult to utilize the space with Ma San and Yang Dalin.

When they got close to Old Pi's yard, Yang Dalin found a secluded spot, took out several burlap sacks, and tied them to the tricycle.

We arrived at Old Pi's house and unloaded the things inside.

Old Pi opened each sack in front of him, counting out the hides and wolf bones.

Looking at the two wolf king pelts, Old Pi said, "Good pelts, but it's a pity the first one has two bullet holes. The second one is slightly better."

If there are no flaws, it can sell for a lot of money.

Yang Dalin didn't care about that; he kept these for his own use.

He said directly, "There's nothing I can do. I encountered them at night, and it's good enough if I can kill them. I didn't intend to keep their hides. I'm not selling them; I'll use them all myself."

After listening, Old Pi nodded: "Okay, then I'll try my best to process it carefully for you, but the leather takes time, at least twenty days, so we can't rush it."

And the liquor—you need to find some high-proof spirits. I can't find any right now, you'll have to find them yourself. I have some liquor vats here.

Yang Dalin knew that tanning leather took time, so he readily agreed: "It's okay, Uncle Pi, we're not in a hurry. A month is fine, as long as it's done well."

I'll find someone else to help me with the alcohol.

I will deliver it on time.

After the two men discussed it, Yang Dalin, who hadn't seen Uncle Pi's family inside the house, left two packs of cigarettes and half a wolf's meat as a deposit before leaving.

There's nothing we can do; even in winter, there's a strange smell in this yard.

I can't stay here any longer.

Yang Dalin went out, wondering who to ask for the liquor.

In these times, there wasn't enough food to eat, and small distilleries were running out of raw materials; they were probably all about to close down.

Perhaps we could try asking Master Duo, but Yang Dalin was afraid that Master Duo would know too much about his affairs.

Besides, there's nowhere else in the city with so much liquor except for the distillery.

There are no distilleries in Beijing; you have to go to the state-owned Erguotou distillery in Daxing County to find one.

After all, too much wine was needed, and Yang Dalin had dozens of wolf bones.

He even has tiger bones he secretly collected in his online space, and he also has tiger bone wine and tiger penis wine that he has prepared.

Moreover, there are more good things than just these, so Yang Dalin needs to buy more wine.

There's simply not enough of it.

Since it's not appropriate for me to buy so many things myself, I'll go see Zhao Yumin and Liu Haiyang today and see if their fathers can help.

At worst, once it's ready, we can just give away some of the wine.

Anyway, I've already soaked it, and I plan to give some to my uncles as well.

If you take the wine that was originally intended for them and ask them for a favor, it shouldn't be a problem.

Once Yang Dalin had made up his mind, he quickly rode his bicycle to find Zhao Yumin and Liu Haiyang.