The world of film and television begins with the God of Medicine.

Chapter 1473 Going to the county seat

The mountain path is not easy to walk. It is difficult to walk without going uphill or downhill. People who have never walked it before cannot adapt to it. Without skills and knowledge of how to allocate physical strength, it is impossible to adapt.

Old Liu and the others were used to walking mountain paths since childhood. Their legs moved quite quickly, and they walked fast and steadily, even having plenty of energy left to chat and laugh.

And the people they were chatting and laughing with were naturally the newly arrived educated youth.

“Go back. We haven’t even reached Linping yet, and you’re already falling behind. There are still dozens of miles to go. By the time you get there, it will probably be noon, and you won’t be able to walk anymore after you’ve rested.”

Old Liu advised the female educated youth to give up this immature idea, "You should adapt first, just walk more. You can't get fat in one bite. If you insist on walking, you'll probably all get injured. In our poor place, the county hospital can't treat you well and it costs a lot of money."

The female educated youth were panting heavily, their bodies already covered in sweat. Looking up at the sky, it was just the beginning of dawn, with only a faint glimmer of light.

Qinling paused for a moment and said, "Let's stop at Linping today. Now that we're here, we should at least carry a few buckets of water back."

So Lao Liu and the others didn't try to persuade them any further. It was only right to fetch water, after all, getting water was so difficult, and the people in the brigade couldn't possibly support them every day. They themselves had their own drinking and water needs, so how could they care about these educated youth?

The group continued onward, and the female educated youth, knowing that Linping was not far away, walked with renewed vigor. Before long, they arrived.

The meaning of the character '坪' is self-evident; it means flat land. Linping is a village built on flat land. According to Lao Liu, life in Linping is much better than in Baidian Village. The terrain here is better, water is more convenient, and naturally, the harvest is much greater.

Linping has two wells. One is for their own use, and the other is for nearby brigades to fetch water. A small portion of the drinking and water needs of the surrounding twenty miles are met here.

So even though Wang Yan and the others had set off very early, when they arrived at the well, it was already quite lively, with people from the neighborhood coming to fetch water.

Some people carried water by hand, while others arrived in donkey carts loaded with large water tanks and surrounded by buckets. Still others, who seemed quite wealthy, carried water on bicycles.

Old Liu knows a lot of people. It's been the same number of people over the decades. You can't help but know them. When they meet, they always laugh and joke. Even though they're poor and don't have enough to eat, it doesn't stop them from telling dirty jokes. They find joy in hardship.

Besides the people living here, there are also many people who look like former educated youth who followed along, because only these people are complaining about being tired and exhausted, looking like they're about to die.

Everyone burst into tears when they met.

Wang Yan didn't waste time arguing with them. He went with Lao Liu to leave the carrying pole and buckets at a friend's house, then bid farewell to Qinling, Tian Fang, and other female educated youths. Carrying their letters and the eight cents postage for mailing ordinary letters, he went to the county town with Lao Liu.

Along the way, groups of people could be seen walking briskly from time to time, and occasionally donkey carts could be seen. Of course, there were also educated youth like Wang Yan's group of three, going to the county town to experience the market. There were even quite a few female educated youth among them, but there were far fewer of them than male educated youth.

As Lao Liu and his group walked, they encountered acquaintances along the way, greeting them with laughter and joking.

"It's so lively! We haven't even reached the county town yet, and we've already seen so many people. The county town must be packed with people!" Yu Ming exclaimed.

Old Liu laughed heartily: "Normally there aren't this many people. It's almost the end of the year. After a year of hard work, we have to enjoy the New Year properly."

“That makes sense,” Li Kuiyong nodded.

The group continued walking briskly. Wang Yan wasn't idle either; he asked Lao Liu many questions.

"Brother Liu, I heard that the communes down below are all doing side businesses. What does our commune do? Does our brigade have any side businesses?"

“Our commune is poor, but we have a coal mine and an iron mine. The mines belong to the county. We dig them out and earn some hard-earned money. In addition, our commune also grows some tobacco leaves. Besides selling them to the cigarette factories in the city, we can still have some left over. Our commune's dry tobacco sells very well. People in the county love to smoke it.”

"Is it over?"

"Ah!" Old Liu looked at Wang Yan in confusion, "What else do you want? This is already pretty good."

Wang Yan smiled and asked, "What I mean is, why don't you make something yourself and take it to the market to sell?"

The county market was a place for the various communes to exchange goods, along with some products produced in the city, such as firewood, rice, oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, tea, hardware, sugar, cloth, cotton, and other daily necessities. These were the main items for daily life; there was nothing else that was truly essential.

Aside from the necessities, the non-essential items meant that hardworking farmers could afford them but were also reluctant to buy them easily.

"Yes, there is." Old Liu nodded. "Linping has wine made from red sorghum, which is very popular in the county. Their brigade makes quite a bit of money from it."

Seeing Wang Yan waiting for him to continue, Old Liu shook his head: "No, that's good enough. Think about it, Comrade Wang, we're poor here, people are starving, where can we produce anything else? Even if we did produce something, we couldn't afford to buy it, and we don't need much anyway."

"Tell me, shoes? My wife can make them. Clothes? I'll just buy a few yards of fabric and sew them myself. We only need some soy sauce, salt, and candy for the kids—that's enough. If we have money, we'll buy meat; nothing tastes as good as meat."

Wang Yan nodded and said nothing more.

Old Liu continued, "Comrade Wang, you have a skill; you'll never go hungry, no matter where you go."

"That's right, Brother Liu. Don't think that Brother Yan only knows carpentry. He's good at a lot of things."

What else can you do?

Li Kuiyong said, "I won't go into too much detail, just take the chef. My brother Yan is a master chef, much better than the chefs in state-run restaurants. My brother Yan's girlfriend, my sister-in-law, even said that my brother Yan's skills are no worse than those in Beijing restaurants. I don't know if it's true or not, but if it is, that's incredible. Beijing restaurants are for leaders and entertaining foreign guests."

Regardless of whether it's true or not, my brother Yan's cooking skills are undeniable. That's what it means to be able to travel the world without worrying about food. If you have any events to attend to, like weddings or funerals, you can ask my brother Yan to handle it. He'll definitely arrange everything perfectly for you.”

Li Kuiyong never hesitates to praise his older brother. When he talks about it, he's very proud and smug, as if he himself possesses those skills.

Li Kuiyong was also a braggart. Wang Yan could imagine him going out drinking with people, always starting with "I have an older brother" and so on. However, unlike others, Wang Yan lived up to the boasts Li Kuiyong made to him.

Faced with Lao Liu's suspicious gaze, Wang Yan smiled and nodded: "My parents passed away early, so I learned to cook early. I'm also a bit greedy, so I've thought about it a lot and also consulted some master chefs."

"You can cook our local dishes too?"

“I can do it all over the country.” Wang Yan said with a smile, without being modest. “If someone has a wedding or funeral, I can help out. I don’t need much, just let me have some meat.”

"Okay, I'll keep an eye out for you. I didn't expect you to know so much. It's just that we're too poor here, so no matter how capable you are, you can't use your talents."

"Why bother? Things will get better every day. Looking back thirty years, the villagers' lives were definitely not as good as they are now. But if we look to the next thirty years, I believe it will definitely be better than it is now."

"He's definitely an educated youth; his way of speaking is different, he's got real class..." Old Liu gave a thumbs up.

The group chatted idly for a while, and finally arrived in Linxian County around 10 o'clock.

Just as Yu Ming said, it's really lively here. Especially in the eastern part of the city, where there's a designated market area, it's packed with people and incredibly noisy.

"Brother Liu, you guys go buy your things, we're going to the post office to mail a letter. Let's meet here at twelve o'clock, and I'll treat you to drinks then." "Hey, you've had it tough enough, huh..."

Before Lao Liu could say anything more, Wang Yan punched him in the sheepskin coat with his fist and said, "Let's go."

Watching Wang Yan and his two companions drive away, Old Liu chuckled and said to his fellow villagers, "Those idiots, they don't know how to manage a household..."

Wang Yan was unaware that Old Liu thought he was a complete fool, and even if he did, he didn't care. Instead, he kept taking pictures everywhere with his camera. He went to the post office first to mail the letter, and then wandered around the market.

The market sells a wide variety of goods, including all kinds of daily necessities, as well as other high-end items such as bicycles, radios, and watches. It also houses supply and marketing cooperatives, grocery stores, state-run restaurants, Xinhua bookstores, and other similar establishments.

Even though urban planning and management were just beginning to be explored at this time, the local leaders already naturally knew that the limited number of businesses needed to be concentrated in order to maximize the stimulation of consumption.

Besides these state-run businesses, the remaining businesses were sideline production groups in various communes under Linxian County. Some sold shoe soles, some sold brooms, and some even sold back scratchers and baskets. Most of these were handmade products.

There are also stalls selling food and drinks, which are quite popular. Cigarettes and alcohol are both boring pastimes, remedies for life, and addictive consumer goods, yet people always buy them.

The food stalls were much simpler; they actually sold meat!

Some stalls were serving stewed with cleaned pork bones, while others were making mutton soup with offal. A thick layer of oil floated on the surface of the pots, making it impossible for anyone to resist. The cunning wine seller was right next to the food stalls; after eating meat, how could he not have a drink?

Looking at the scene from afar, Li Kuiyong's mouth watered. The group of people were eating and drinking, and the aroma was truly tempting.

Wang Yan smiled and asked, "Are you craving it?"

"It smells delicious." Li Kuiyong nodded like Yu Ming, who was like a lapdog.

Yu Ming said, "How about we eat something here for lunch?"

"Okay." Wang Yan did not refuse. Although he was not greedy, he was happy to see such a lively scene and wanted to try it too.

I snapped a picture right away, and they were all precious visual records.

Just then, Li Kuiyong exclaimed and nodded toward a corner of the wall not far away: "Brother Yan, look over there."

Wang Yan followed the gaze and saw a young man in his twenties, with a somewhat sleazy air, whispering to a middle-aged man.

Yu Ming saw it too, and he whispered, "Probably ticket scalpers."

"No need to estimate, it's definitely them." Li Kuiyong said with certainty. To be honest, he was very familiar with this matter. After all, he had observed for a long time and had a clear understanding of the characteristics of these people who secretly scalped tickets. He could tell them apart at a glance.

"Brother Yan, what did you say?"

Hearing Li Kuiyong's eager words, Wang Yan glanced at him sideways and said, "It's not time yet. We're doing fine now. We'll talk about it when things get tougher."

"Then I'll go and meet them, to get a sense of things first?"

"Go."

Li Kuiyong walked over cheerfully and went to talk to the person...

"Brother Yan, what's wrong with Dayong...?"

"I'll exchange some for local tickets. I have to make a living here. National tickets are holding up well, so I can exchange them for a lot of local tickets. It's a good deal."

"Then I'll go get some too." Yu Ming quickly followed.

Wang Yan didn't stop him and started taking pictures everywhere with his camera.

He was very bold, openly taking pictures right in people's faces. But no one seemed bothered; curious people kept asking him if he was a reporter, and some even pulled him aside, asking him to take more pictures…

By taking pictures and looking around, Wang Yan had gained some understanding of this impoverished county town. He had already formed a 'Lin County Survey Report' in his mind, which included a rough count of how many state-owned stores and restaurants there were, how many other shops there were, what they sold, and how much they cost.

Meanwhile, Wang Yan, remembering that the villagers wanted their photos taken, went to the photo studio and chatted with the staff for a while. He managed to leverage their large volume to resolve the price issue for enlarged photos. Of course, it wasn't much cheaper, since it was state-owned. But overall, it was still much cheaper than taking photos, developing, and enlarging them there.

After wandering around for a while, it was almost noon when Wang Yan was taking photos on his way to the agreed meeting point. Just as he was half-squatting to take pictures, a young man bumped straight into him, even deliberately increasing the force just before the collision.

However, things didn't go as he wished. Instead of knocking down Wang Yan, he felt as if he had hit a steel plate and fell to the ground.

"Are you alright?" Wang Yan asked with concern.

"It's alright, it's alright." The young man waved his hands repeatedly, got up, and tried to leave.

"Well, I have something to do now."

Wang Yan grabbed him by the collar, spun him around, and slapped him hard across the face, sending him flying to the ground. Then he stepped forward and stomped on his ankle.

"Give me back my money."

"I don't understand... ah..."

The young man instinctively tried to argue, but Wang Yan increased the pressure even more: "I'll give you three seconds. If you don't pay me back, I'll break your legs. One, two..."

"Why do you hit someone?"

Just then, someone from the rapidly forming crowd spoke up, "Judging by your appearance, you must be an educated youth from Beijing, right? What's so great about you? You've just arrived and you're already bullying us?"

Wang Yan turned his head and glanced at the person, then raised his foot and kicked the person in the stomach, rendering them unable to move. He then turned around and rushed over in a few steps, grabbed the person who was speaking by the collar, and with a burst of energy in his arm, swung the person up and slammed them to the ground. He then kicked the person in the stomach in the same way.

Wang Yan walked over to the thief from before and continued to step on his ankle: "I'll give you one more chance, one..."

"I'll pay you back, I'll pay you back, okay?" The thief was crying from the pain of being beaten, and seeing how violent and powerful Wang Yan was, he didn't dare to dawdle any longer.

Wang Yan took the wallet and waved it at the onlookers: "Comrades, you all saw it, this is the thief, and the one trying to mislead is an accomplice. Excuse me, could someone go and call the police? I've done this to rid Linxian of a scourge..."

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