RBCT Chapter 85 Those who are righteous are often from humble backgrounds.
Chapter 85 Those who are righteous are often from humble backgrounds.
The next morning, around 5 a.m.
It snowed heavily all night last night.
Combined with the continuous heavy snowfall over the previous few days, the main road leading to Wuzhen was completely covered in snow.
Although each brigade organizes personnel to clean up every day, manpower is limited and they can't fight against nature; they can only clear a very narrow path.
Horse-drawn carriages can no longer pass through, and the snow is freshly fallen, making the surface extremely loose. Horse-drawn sleds can easily get stuck and cannot move; only a single horse can get through.
Ordinary horse-drawn sleighs can pull 0.5 to 1 ton of weight by gliding on thick ice and snow, taking advantage of the low friction of the ice and snow.
A typical wheeled carriage can pull about 350 to 700 jin (125-350 catties).
A single horse can only carry a load of about 200 to 300 jin (100-150 catties).
The carrying capacity has been greatly reduced.
If there's nothing else going on, people basically stay home and hibernate during the winter, not going out.
But not the Li family!
The Li family has no shortage of meat. Yesterday, they hunted four wolves. Apart from giving one to a relative, keeping one for themselves, and selling thirty jin of meat to the villagers, they still have ninety jin of wolf meat and four wolf pelts to take to Wuzhen to sell.
Li Xiangyang got up early for this very reason.
"Brother, how about I take this wolf meat to Wuzhen to sell? You can rest at home for a couple of days?"
Li Xiangdong divided the 90 jin of wolf meat into 45 jin portions and packed them into burlap sacks. The two sacks were then connected by a rope, and the two brothers worked together to lift the sacks onto the saddle.
"Never mind, I'll go. There's plenty of work to be done at the ranch. Brother, why don't you go check on the ranch?" Li Xiangyang said, then jumped onto his horse and rode out of the courtyard gate.
With the heavy snow blocking the mountains, the pastures are basically just producing snow, feeding the sheep hay, shoveling sheep droppings, and repairing sheep pens, which is quite monotonous and boring.
So, compared to working on the ranch, Li Xiangyang preferred to visit Wuzhen.
The man, along with 90 jin of wolf meat and four wolf pelts, was quite heavy. He was being dragged by the horse the whole way, and the horse certainly couldn't take it, so Li Xiangyang would get off and wade through the snow every now and then.
He walked and stopped frequently, and by the time he arrived in Wuzhen it was already nine o'clock in the morning.
On the way, he heard that the state-run restaurant was no longer open, so instead of looking for Tu Weimin, he went straight to the black market.
There were noticeably fewer people at the black market today, and even fewer vendors. It's probably because the roads are difficult to travel, so vendors from more remote areas didn't come.
However, Liu Quan still came over, but now he didn't need to reserve a spot anymore, as the black market was already full.
"Xiangyang, I noticed you didn't come yesterday. I thought you were too far away to come back." Liu Quan was a little surprised to see Li Xiangyang.
"Something came up at home yesterday, but I got away as soon as I could today."
"You're really hardworking. Many vendors are unwilling to come because the roads are difficult to travel these past few days, so there aren't many people coming to the black market to buy things now."
"Indeed, the roads are extremely difficult to travel now. It took me more than three hours to get here this morning, which is half again as long as before."
"Has the road become this difficult to travel now?"
Liu Quan was somewhat surprised, and then reminded him:
"By the way, you're bringing fish to sell today, right? I heard the supply and marketing cooperative doesn't have much meat left to sell; they can't get it in. You'll have to raise the price, or you'll lose money."
"Really? But I didn't bring any fish today." Li Xiangyang said, opening the sack. "I brought wolf meat to sell today."
"Wolf meat...?"
Liu Quan couldn't help but get up to check, and then he was surprised: "I've seen plenty of pork, beef, and mutton, but wolf meat is quite rare. How much is it?"
"One pound... how about 7 cents? What, Uncle Quan, do you want to buy some to try? This wolf meat is very nutritious, it's good stuff."
"Never mind, never mind... I'm an old man, I don't need any supplements." Liu Quan said shyly.
It's good enough to be able to buy meat on a snowy day like this; 7 cents a pound for wolf meat isn't expensive at all.
But he couldn't bear to part with it.
I only sold three bars of soap this morning and made nine cents. After deducting the production cost of the soap, I didn't actually make much money.
"How about this, Uncle Quan, if you want it, I won't charge you. Just give me a bar of soap." Li Xiangyang said, generously sawing off a piece of wolf meat weighing more than a pound and handing it to Liu Quan.
The soap I bought last time is almost finished, so I'll just bring another one back with me.
"Is it okay? Can I use soap instead?" Liu Quan asked, and smiled when Li Xiangyang nodded.
He also knew that Li Xiangyang was taking care of him, the old man, in a roundabout way.
It is indeed expensive to exchange 70 cents for a pound of wolf meat, but it is definitely profitable to exchange a pound of wolf meat for a bar of soap worth 30 cents, because the soap sells for 30 cents, but its actual production cost is only a little over 20 cents.
However, he didn't dare to actually exchange a bar of soap for a pound of wolf meat from Li Xiangyang, so he gave Li Xiangyang two bars of soap instead.
Li Xiangyang gave him a big carp a couple of days ago, and he was already very content. You can't keep taking advantage of others.
Even so, he essentially got less than 50 cents for a pound of wolf meat worth 70 cents.
made money.
When Liu Quan handed over two bars of soap, Li Xiangyang didn't refuse. He came out to do business and make money. It was enough to do good deeds occasionally. What kind of business was it to always lose money and give things away to others?
However, Liu Quan in front of him was also a man with a tragic fate, which he only learned about when they chatted recently.
Liu Quan and his wife have a son.
In 77, Na worked in the mine in the production team and could earn 12 work points a day, which was considered good at the time. She got married and had a grandson.
Three years ago, the mine collapsed, burying his son inside. Afterwards, the team only gave him a compensation of 150 yuan.
The daughter-in-law couldn't accept it and ran away, abandoning her two-year-old grandson. Her husband cried so much that he hurt his eyes and could no longer do any work.
Now, the three of them, grandfather, grandmother, and grandson, rely on him to make a living by selling soap.
Life was actually quite tough; I probably didn't eat meat more than a few times a year.
Li Xiangyang thought for a moment, then couldn't resist cutting off half a pound of wolf meat and stuffing it into Liu Quan's hand:
"Uncle Quan, we had a deal: one bar of soap for one pound of wolf meat. You gave me two bars of soap, so I can't give you a pound of wolf meat in return."
"Xiangyang, this..." Liu Quan's eyes suddenly reddened.
But I don't know what to say. This young man I just met is taking such good care of me.
"Thank you, thank you."
Liu Quan's hands trembled as he accepted the heavy wolf meat, and he whispered his thanks.
Li Xiangyang didn't respond or look at him again, but turned around and started calling out for wolf meat.
This man never wants anyone to see his vulnerable side.
Before long, everyone discovered that Li Xiangyang was selling wolf meat, and the wolf meat stall became very popular. The more than 90 kilograms of wolf meat on the stall were sold out in half an hour, and some people even paid extra to buy more meat.
Li Xiangyang easily received another 63 yuan from this trip.
Perhaps due to the snow disaster, the fur factories were also closed.
After the wolf meat was sold out, Li Xiangyang waited in the black market for another half hour, but he still didn't run into the fur factory buyer who had previously bought rabbit pelts from him.
"Never mind, let's take it to the recycling center."
Li Xiangyang got up, packed his things, and rode his horse to the purchasing station.