Go back to the prosperous days and become a layman

Chapter 847 846 The Troublemaker
There are ten toad-shaped pastries in total, costing five yuan.

After filling the net bag with melons, Tang Zhitong counted out five yuan and handed it to the vendor.

There are 32 melons of two varieties in total, priced at 17.1 yuan.

The price was undeniably high, equivalent to half a month's wages for a worker, but Tang Zhitong didn't shortchange the small vendors a single penny.

Negotiate when you need to, but once you've agreed on a price, you can't go back on your word.

Tang Zhitong is a grown man. He wouldn't renege on his debt, not even for a melon or an ice cream. Otherwise, his ancestors wouldn't be able to rest easy in the afterlife.

The small vendor didn't lose money. He counted the money, stuffed it into his pocket, and happily skipped away. At his normal pace, he wouldn't be able to sell all these melons today.

Now that we've sold out, we'll go to the countryside to buy another batch, and there will still be profits to be made.

Seeing the smiles on the vendors' faces, Tang Zhitong also smiled and hurried home.

Currently, only apples, pears, oranges, and bananas are classified as Category II fruits, while other fruits that are difficult to preserve are classified as Category III fruits, such as cherries, mulberries, melons, apricots, peaches, and grapes.

Farmers can choose to sell these fruits to supply and marketing cooperatives or fruit companies, or they can sell them themselves or to small vendors.

Whether you sell yourself or as a small vendor, you are allowed to come to the city to hawk your wares, after all, you have to make a living. As long as you are not deliberately trying to extort money and causing disputes, the relevant departments basically do not interfere in this regard.

A person's knowledge and experience will change with their status and economic level. When Tang Zhitong first arrived, he was focused on making some money by reselling some of the food he had bought to ensure his family survived the disaster. So he stockpiled a lot of non-staple foods such as lard, offal, and vegetables.

The profit margin on fruit wasn't that high, so Tang Zhitong picked out a small amount of seasonal fruit and stocked up, initially intending to give it to her younger sisters to enjoy.

There are only a few kinds of fruits: apples, pears, chestnuts, persimmons, hawthorns, peaches, grapes, and watermelons. There are forty or fifty watermelons, and each of the other fruits, except for apricots, weighs about a hundred pounds.

There's an old saying: "Peaches nourish, apricots harm, and plums bury the dead." Eating too many apricots is bad for your health; just enjoy them occasionally, no need to stock up.

There are many fresh apricots in Beijing, and the varieties that are more commonly available and of better quality include Xiangbai, Chuanling, Yubada, Tiebada, Pingguobai, and Shuijing.

In the Haidian area, most people like jade bazaars, and many grow them.

The jade bata are reddish in color, each weighing a little over one ounce. They taste sweet and sour. Tang Zhitong carefully selected the best and stocked up on about forty pounds.

Tang Zhitong certainly wouldn't bring it back so openly. He wandered around the alley a few times, and when he came out again, the melon was no longer on the bicycle.

Once inside the house, Tang Zhitong put the melon and corn into his bag.

With limited baggage capacity, Tang Zhitong even packed apricots into the lunchbox to add more food, so that she could fit two more melons in the bag.

Summer brings abundant fruit from the trees, so seize the time to supplement your family's nutrition. In at most three months, Beijing will also face famine, and it will be too late to supplement their diet then.

"Mom! I'm back!" Tang Zhitong said as she walked into the yard, having tidied herself up.

With the arrival of summer, the yard is becoming increasingly lush and green. I believe that before long, the vegetables produced here will be enough to supply the daily meals of both families.

"Finished your work?" Zhang Guifang was making tiger-head shoes out of scraps of cloth when she heard her son's voice. She stopped what she was doing and looked up to ask.

"Yes, I'm back to rest for the night, and I have to go out for a meeting again tomorrow. This time it'll last for about ten days." After entering the house, Tang Zhitong chatted with Zhang Guifang while taking out the melons and apricots from his bag and placing them on the table.

"You child, you've spent money outside again? You're planning to have a child, you need to save some money, there will be many expenses in the future." Zhang Guifang knew that her son was going to a meeting, this time in a conference hall, which she felt was a great honor, but as a mother, she couldn't help but nag a bit.

"Oh, I know, you don't need to keep pushing me. Things aren't even going anywhere yet, why are you making this?" Tang Zhitong didn't lie anymore, saying it was a gift from someone else. These days, how many people give away food in such large quantities?
"Who's rushing you? I'll get a couple of acupuncture needles when I have time, just to prepare in advance, so I won't be caught off guard at the last minute." Zhang Guifang felt guilty saying this. She had been looking forward to a grandson for a long time. The young couple had said they didn't want children yet when they first got married, but now that they had finally changed their minds, she had to show them through her actions, even though she never mentioned it.

"Alright, whatever makes you happy." Tang Zhitong stopped trying to persuade him when she couldn't convince him. But the tiger-head shoes were really beautiful. She wondered if Xiao Wang would win the lottery this month.

“According to the old customs of Beijing, when a girl goes back to her parents’ home for the Dragon Boat Festival, you didn’t even know to buy fruit a few days in advance. You’re too busy to do it, but you could have at least asked Wenwen to bring it over.” Zhang Guifang said while busy sewing tiger-head shoes.

"Oh my dear mother, these days I have to be lucky to find it even if I want to buy it. Today was just a coincidence, otherwise I really wouldn't have been able to buy it. Besides, Director Ye doesn't care about these things." Tang Zhitong joked with his mother while opening the letter that Ma Wei had given him.

“Just because Jingmin’s mother doesn’t care is not a reason for you not to show filial piety,” Zhang Guifang disagreed with her son’s opinion and corrected him.

"Whatever you say is right. We'll split it in half later, and Wenwen will deliver it tomorrow." Tang Zhitong quickly read through the letter. In addition to the high-brain oil coupons, there was also a letter from Ding Hui explaining that the oil coupons were issued a few days late, not because he had forgotten them, etc.

"Here, half fruit and half oil coupons, is that alright?" Tang Zhitong waved the high-gluten oil in front of Zhang Guifang and said.

“Okay. I was just talking to Wenwen a couple of days ago. It’s almost the end of the month and we still haven’t seen any high brain oil. We’ve finally got it.” Zhang Guifang was happy to see the high brain oil. Meat was hard to buy, and with this oil to supplement their diet, the family’s meals wouldn’t be too bad.

"Mom, you just said that daughters go back to their parents' home for the Dragon Boat Festival. Are you also thinking of going to Uncle's place?" Tang Zhitong put the oil coupons on the table and asked tentatively.

“What kind of girl am I? I’m not going.” Zhang Guifang paused in her needlework, then glanced at her son sideways and said.

"An old maid is still a maid, isn't she?" Tang Zhitong could tell that her mother still cared about her uncle's side, so she muttered to herself, looked around for a bucket, and prepared to go out to fetch water.

"You little brat, you think you're all grown up now? Daring to joke with your mother?" Zhang Guifang pointed at her son and scolded him with a smile.

"Hehe, if you're not going, you're not going. Your uncle's wheat harvest is probably over, and once it's dried, they'll start distributing rations. There shouldn't be any problems for a while, don't worry." Tang Zhitong picked up the bucket, comforted his mother, and immediately lifted the curtain to go outside.

Older people tend to be reserved in their emotions and often need space and time to process their feelings on their own.

"Anzi!" It wasn't time to leave work yet, and there weren't many people at the water station. Old Zhu, who had only one eye, saw Tang Zhitong coming to get water, called out to him, and then mysteriously waved to Tang Zhitong.

"What's wrong, Uncle Zhu?" Tang Zhitong put the bucket next to the tap and went over to listen to Uncle Zhu's gossip.

"Anzi, do you know who the creditors behind the Liu family are?" Old Zhu asked in a low voice, squinting his remaining eye as Tang Zhitong approached.

"I don't know." Tang Zhitong shook his head decisively. He thought it was something serious. He wasn't interested in the Liu family's affairs at all. Regardless of who the creditor was, Liu Chengzhi had most likely been set up and scammed. "It's the Wan family, the Wan family on the west side." Old Zhu gestured westward, as if afraid Tang Zhitong wouldn't know, and added, "The one with the Wan family compound."

"Wan Dechang?" Upon hearing that it was Old Wan, Tang Zhitong became interested. This old man had almost gotten himself killed back then.

As the saying goes, "What is lacking in one's destiny can be compensated for by one's name," but Old Wan is truly lacking in virtue!

"It wasn't him. I heard it was his youngest son, Wan Junhe."

"Wow, I really didn't realize that. Didn't everyone say that Wan Lao Si was a spendthrift in the old days?" Tang Zhitong had an impression of Wan Junhe, Wan Dechang's youngest son, the fourth in his family, and he should be under forty years old now.

Before liberation, Wan Junhe was a playboy who was good at eating, drinking, gambling and whoring. He started going to the Eight Great Hutongs at a young age and later secretly went to the theater for a while.

The reason it's described as "secret" is because Wan Dechang was unaware of the matter. If Wan Jun hadn't later told the neighborhood children that "three flat ones are not as good as one round one," the truth would never have been revealed.

"Hey, son follows father's business, huh. But Old Wan isn't as despicable as Wan Lao Si. This time, Wan Lao Si actually set a trap for Liu Cheng Zhi for those few houses of the Liu family." Old Zhu didn't seem to have much ill will towards Wan Dechang in his words.

"Tch, like father, like son. I'm afraid neither of them are any good." If Tang Zhitong hadn't experienced it firsthand, he might have actually believed Old Zhu's words.

Wan Dechang was very good at maintaining his image in front of his neighbors. When he found out that Wan Junhe was fooling around at the theater, he gave Wan Junhe a severe beating, which kept him in bed for half a month.

It was during this fight that Wan Dechang drew a red line for Wan Junhe, forbidding him from crossing that "circle".

It was thanks to that beating that the Wan family's reputation was stabilized in front of the neighbors, so after liberation, the Wan family only reduced their business, and their personal safety was not greatly affected.

"Old Wan helped those in need back then and even ran a charity hall." Old Zhu disagreed with Tang Zhitong's statement.

"Hehe, I'm a late bloomer, I really didn't know about this." Tang Zhitong didn't argue with Old Zhu.

The Zhenshantang Charity Hall is certainly worthy of praise, but some charity halls may be doing business by spending a little money to gain a good reputation. People have done it before, and people will do it in the future. As long as they can make money, not only will people follow one after another, but they will also complain that not a penny is not love.

Upon seeing that there were things Tang Zhitong didn't know, Old Zhu began to enthusiastically tell him about Old Wan's good deeds back then, such as opening a charity hall and lending money to neighbors at low interest rates.

Tang Zhitong responded with "uh-huh" and "ah-ah," but in reality, she had already begun to think about leaving.

I traveled all the way back from the farm, haven't even showered yet, and here I am being educated on how "good" unscrupulous businessmen can be? What's the difference between this and teaching me to be punctual and prevent my entire family from falling apart?
Just as Tang Zhitong was wondering how to stop Lao Zhu from rambling on, he saw Liu Chengzhi coming from the west carrying something towards them. He wasn't lame, but his walking posture was a bit strange.

Given the past grievances between the two families, Tang Zhitong ignored the man surnamed Liu, only glancing at him out of the corner of his eye when he greeted Lao Zhu.

Liu Chengzhi looked much better than when Tang Zhitong last saw him. Not only was his bruised face gone, but he also gave the impression that he was living a good life. If only he didn't have that gloomy look on his face, he would be even more perfect.

After listening to Old Zhu ramble on for a while, Tang Zhitong took out a cigarette from his pocket and offered one to Old Zhu after Liu Chengzhi turned the corner and came in. He then gestured towards the Liu family's house and asked in a low voice, "Uncle Zhu, it's not time to get off work yet. Did he not come to work today?"

"He said he wasn't feeling well and went to the pharmacy to get some medicine." Old Zhu took the cigarette, held it under his nose, and took a long sniff. He was captivated by the herbal aroma of the Daqianmen cigarette.

Old Zhu didn't seem inclined to smoke; he sniffed the cigarette twice and then tucked it behind his ear.

Tang Zhitong silently put the matchbox back into his pocket and continued to ask, "Has Wan Laosi come over to urge him for the debt again lately?"

"How could Wan Laosi possibly come forward to collect debts? It's all his men who do it. But those guys haven't come lately either. Maybe Lao Wan found out and stopped them. After all, they've been neighbors for years. If they push too hard, it'll make everyone lose face," Lao Zhu speculated.

"Hehe, let's hope so." Old Zhu didn't think the worst of Old Wan, but Tang Zhitong had been tricked by Old Wan before and knew he wasn't a good person, so things certainly wouldn't be as Old Zhu thought.

Considering Wan Laosi's sexual interests, and thinking about Liu Chengzhi's walking posture and gloomy expression, Tang Zhitong made a bold guess: Wan Laosi's target was probably not the few rooms in the Liu family's house, but Liu Chengzhi himself. Perhaps Liu Chengzhi had become Wan Laosi's troublemaker.

"Since Xiao Chu left, she has never come back. Xiao Liu is the same. He stubbornly refuses to visit his mother-in-law's house. This house doesn't feel like a home anymore."

When the youngest member of the Liu family comes out, he'll be a motherless child, poor thing.

Old Zhu, who had been single his whole life, longed for a life with a wife, children, and a warm bed, and he regretted that Liu Chengzhi did not cherish it.

"Hehe, maybe he has other ideas." Tang Zhitong didn't intend to get too involved in the Liu family's affairs. At most, he would inquire about it and have some fun, and his responses were rather perfunctory.

"Sigh, they don't know how to enjoy their good days." Old Zhu shook his head in exasperation. "Xiao Chu is pregnant with another one, and she's also going to have a hard time. Luckily, the wheat is harvested now, otherwise, it could have been a double tragedy."

"Let's look on the bright side, everything will be alright," Tang Zhitong replied indifferently.

During a recent field research trip, Tang Zhitong watched as Chu Chunxue returned home after her surgery, realizing that she had definitely lost the baby in her womb.

After returning, Tang Zhitong kept quiet about Chu Chunxue's situation and did not make a fuss about it in the neighborhood. Chu Chunxue was already in such a miserable state, there was no need for her to become the subject of gossip among the locals.

Whether Liu Chengzhi came to apologize and take Liu Jiaming back, or Chu Chunxue took the initiative to come back out of pity for Liu Jiaming, or even whether the two agreed to go through with a divorce, none of that was something Tang Zhitong could interfere with.

After exchanging a few more laughs with Lao Zhu, Tang Zhitong finally filled his water container and carried it home.

The large water vat was filled with toon sprouts. Although they were ready to eat, as the yield in the yard increased day by day, the toon sprouts gradually faded from the Tang family's dining table.

The small water tank at home held little water, so Tang Zhitong filled it up in two trips.

Tang Zhitong wanted to carry a few more buckets to water the vegetables in the yard, but Zhang Guifang stopped him: "It's too hot now, wait until tonight to water them. Try the water in the bucket, take a shower and change your clothes first. You smell terrible, aren't you afraid Wenwen will dislike you?"

"Hehe, she won't mind." Tang Zhitong raised his arm and smelled it. Although he had only worn the clothes for two days, they had been repeatedly soaked and fermented by sweat, and the smell was indeed very strong.

Despite saying that, Tang Zhitong still took advantage of the fact that Xiao Wang was still at get off work to wash his hair, shave, and take a nice bath.

(End of this chapter)