Siheyuan: Relieve stress and relieve worries

Chapter 691: Storage after the New Year
Wang Zhan put on his cotton-padded jacket and went to the kitchen in the front yard to make dough. There was only two cups of flour at home, so he had no choice. After making the dough, he fried the eggs, washed and chopped the leeks, then found some dried shrimp skins and soaked some shark fins he had bought from the southern food store.

After almost everything was prepared, Wang Zhan returned to the backyard. He thought that the little girl He Yushui had not come for the past two days, so her brother should be at home and she would not lack food.

After playing with his sister for a while, Wang Zhan went to make leek dumplings. He fried a plate of them, put them in a frying pan, and then covered them with a lid. He then started to make a vegetarian soup, but added shark fins into it.

At night, the brother and sister ate leek dumplings and drank vegetarian soup. No one talked in the room, only the sound of slurping. After dinner and cleaning up, Wang Zhan played with Wang Li for a while and then went to bed. He had a good sleep.

On the morning of the sixth day of the Lunar New Year, after breakfast, Wang Zhan and Wang Li hurried to Dajiang Hutong outside Qianmen, because there was only some cornmeal left at home, which was not enough for a meal. The last time he went there, Wang Zhan remembered there was a medium-sized grain store, which seemed to be called Yongzenghou.

When they arrived at the grain store, the door had just opened, so Wang Zhan walked in with his sister. A young clerk saw that it was a boy with a child and thought they were troublemakers. Just as he was about to chase them out, Wang Zhan shouted, "Boss, a big business has come. Do you want to take it?"

At this time, a middle-aged man came out from the inner room. He was the shopkeeper here. He was worried about the future of his store. People from the Military Control Commission had talked to him and said that the unified purchase and sale of grain would be implemented soon this year, and private sales would no longer be allowed. He only had two options: either close the store or go through a public-private partnership to become a sales outlet for a grain company.

His shop is a small one. Although it also does some side business and has stockpiled a batch of grain, all his money is tied up in the grain. He has to sell the grain at a fair price, and he will lose money all over. But if he doesn't ship the goods, the grain will probably be bought by the government at a fair price sooner or later, and by then he may not even be able to pay back the money he borrowed. He was just worrying about this when he heard someone at the counter in front of him shouting that there was a big business, so he came out.

The middle-aged man was a little disappointed when he saw that it was a young child, but he still asked, "Little brother, what business do you want to start?"

Wang Zhan looked at the shopkeeper and asked, "Shopkeeper, is it the inner three rows or the outer three rows?"

When the middle-aged man heard that the little guy knew everything about the grain store, he became interested and said, "It's mainly the inner three, but if there's a chance, the outer three can also be done."

Wang Zhan did not ask any more questions and went straight to the point: "I need food, preferably fine food, but coarse food is also OK. How much do you have?"

Wang Li stood next to her brother without making any trouble. Wang Zhan pointed to the official hat chair next to them. Wang Li walked over and sat on it without saying a word. She just looked at the street scene outside.

The middle-aged man guessed that the two children should be of good quality, at least they were the old and young, so he said seriously: "I am the shopkeeper here, my surname is Sun, I do have a batch of food, 5,000 kilograms of rice, 5,000 kilograms of flour, and 10,000 kilograms of other grains, can you eat it, little brother?"

Wang Zhan was too lazy to waste time talking to him and said, "How much is the total? You can calculate and give me an exact number."

"Young man, you know the current situation. Although the government is selling it at a fair price, you can't buy much. I can sell you this last batch of grain. I plan to go back to my hometown. I will charge you a slightly higher price, but it will be enough quantity and good quality. How about it?" said Manager Sun.

Wang Zhan thought about it and said to Shopkeeper Sun, "Shopkeeper, please put up the door panel."

Shopkeeper Sun turned around and shouted to his clerk, "Close the door and put up the closed sign."

The waiter hurried to the door, and Shopkeeper Sun said to Wang Zhan, "Let's talk inside." Wang Zhan took Wang Li and followed Shopkeeper Sun to the inner room. Shopkeeper Sun said without further ado, "Rice is 680 per catty, Shanghai flour is 500 per catty, and coarse grains are 400 per catty. How about that?"

Wang Zhan thought about it, nodded, and said, "Okay, I'll give you an address and find some reliable people to deliver the goods to my house at night. I'll pay you and hand you the goods. Is that okay?" He wrote an address on a piece of paper and handed it to Shopkeeper Sun.

Shopkeeper Sun took the address and smiled happily. He said, "Sure. Once you say something, it's hard to take it back. Go out the back door. There are too many people at the front door."

Wang Zhan and Wang Li went out through the back door and walked around for a long time before returning to their home.

In the afternoon, Wang Zhan made some cornmeal pancakes, fried shredded potatoes and braised pork. There was really no food left at home, so they waited for food to be delivered in the evening. Wang Zhan told Wang Li that if she was hungry, she could eat some cakes with the braised pork. Wang Li nodded obediently.

In the middle of the night, around eleven o'clock, there was a knock on the door. Wang Zhan opened the door and saw Manager Sun and a few of his assistants standing at the door. Wang Zhan said, "Just move it to the basement in the backyard and stack it up."

Shopkeeper Sun ordered his men to start moving the grain. When all was moved, Wang Zhan used a thin bamboo tube to check the goods. After checking for a long time, he finally felt relieved and turned to Shopkeeper Sun and said, "Excuse me, Shopkeeper Sun. Come with me to get the money."

Shopkeeper Sun waved his hand, and the men left the yard. Wang Zhan locked the door and took Shopkeeper Sun to the lounge. He then took out a sack from the cabinet at the back, handed it to Shopkeeper Sun, and said, "Please order. This is 10 million. Any more will be considered as the delivery fee for the men."

"Brother, be fair." After saying that, Shopkeeper Sun began to count the money. After counting, he continued, "Brother, don't worry. All the guys outside the door will go back to my hometown with me. We will never come back after this trip. The mountains and rivers remain unchanged, and we will meet again in the future."

Wang Zhan clasped his fists and said, "Manager Sun, have a safe journey. See you later."

Wang Zhan saw Manager Sun out the door, watched them leave, then closed the door and went back to the backyard to sleep.

In the days that followed, in addition to playing with Wang Li, teaching her to read and cooking for her, Wang Zhan spent most of his time cleaning the basement. The main room and the east room were filled with food, and the west room was filled with the treasures he had found from the warehouse. He didn't finish cleaning until almost the fifteenth day of the first lunar month.

During this period, he also went to the grocery store to buy cement and applied it to the outside of the sliding door. Now, from the outside, it looks like a wall, with an excellent concealment effect.

On the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, Wang Zhan was in a good mood. He was not worried because there was food at home. Wang Zhan went out with Wang Li, dressed warmly. There was no other vegetable at home except cabbage. Wang Zhan rode a small tricycle with Wang Li on it and headed to Zhushi Street, where there were several shops selling meat, game and vegetables.

The brother and sister were wandering around and came to a live pig shop called Zhao Erdian. Wang Zhan bought half a pig and some pig offal and pig's trotters. The waiter packed them up. Wang Li asked Wang Zhan if he bought too much. Wang Zhan said, "It's winter now and it won't go bad. It's okay. I'll buy some more later."

Then Wang Zhan started his large-scale purchasing mode. He went to the salt shop and bought a bag of salt, as well as some seasonings and spices. When he passed by a mutton shop, he directly ordered a slaughtered sheep and packed the mutton offal.

(End of this chapter)