1988: Back to the human world for a few years

Chapter 227 Fool (1)

As a person who is called "fool" every day, Wang Erpang, who looks no different from a normal person, knows that he is actually a fool... At the very least, it is an undeniable fact that his brain is far less smart than that of normal people.

Maybe he was not a fool before, but he became a fool after being caught in a heavy rain and having a high fever when he was a child, and the village doctor prescribed tetracycline or something like that for seven consecutive days.

So from then on, he was particularly afraid of getting wet in the rain.

It’s not that he’s afraid that he’ll become even dumber after taking those weird-smelling medicines, but he’s afraid that if his rotten teeth become even scarier, the villagers who already don’t want to play with him will be even less willing to play with him...and they may even be unwilling to ask him to do odd jobs.

Although he was a fool and didn't know why he felt this way, he thought so when he saw the disdainful looks his peers in the village gave him.

That's right.

Wang Erpang doesn't have his own land, and has been making a living by helping villagers with odd jobs over the years.

Maybe I had it before, but it disappeared after I became a fool;
He also vaguely remembered that his deceased grandmother had told him that their family background was not good and they were not well-liked by the villagers. So when he, who was living alone in a half-collapsed mud house, suddenly found out one day that he had no land, he was surprisingly not surprised.

He didn't quite understand what "bad background" meant, but since his grandmother said so, it probably meant that he was not good, so...those kids in the village always liked to bully him and make fun of him. Was it justified?

Thinking of the piles of cow dung that the puppy from Uncle Zhang's family in the village threw at his wall the day before yesterday, Wang Erpang felt a little aggrieved, but then he became happy again.

Although the puppy in Uncle Zhang's family is a little naughty, Uncle Zhang seems to be a good person.

Knowing that the rice and flour in his house were almost finished, he asked me to come over to help... As long as I finished harvesting the one and a half acres of cotton in front of me, I would have ten kilograms of wheat and twenty kilograms of corn.

Erpang knew that Uncle Zhang paid him less than others, and was afraid that he would find out, so he let him harvest the one and a half acres of cotton alone.

But he really wanted to tell Uncle Zhang that it really didn’t matter.

As a person who lives in a shabby house in the corner of the village, can only do odd jobs and can only survive in the corners, Wang Erpang feels that it is a very lucky thing for him to be alive... He is just a fool who can only laugh foolishly and has a bad memory. In fact, there is no need for Zhang Bo to worry so much.

My deceased grandmother once said that her family background was not very good and she should be grateful to everyone who allowed her to live.

Therefore, even if Uncle Zhang paid less money, those things could at least keep him from going hungry for a week. What else could he be dissatisfied with?

only……

It’s really tiring to bend over and pick cotton!
Under the scorching sun, Wang Erpang straightened his aching waist with some difficulty, wiped the sweat from his forehead with his dirty sleeve, and looked at the huge cloth bag across his waist with some joy... The cloth bag was already about 1/3 full, and it was full of cotton bolls with bursting cotton fluff, black petals and snow-white fluff, which looked extremely festive.

Uncle Zhang said that after the cotton seeds were removed, he could take some back to feed the chickens. Then he could mix it with the corn crumbs and the chickens he raised would have something to eat again.

Yes, that's right, those chickens were also the reward for helping others harvest rice a few months ago.

He seemed to remember that the original reward was two meals of rice and ten chicks that Aunt Li had hatched. Although a few of them died later, there were still some left...

one,

two,

three,

four,

six.

There are six chickens left.

Wang Erpang, who was not very good at counting, took a while to count in his mind how many chickens were left in his room, and a silly expression appeared on his face.

Aunt Li said that when these chickens grow up, they can be taken to the town to sell for money. If she is lucky and sells them for a good price, she can also buy herself a new pair of cotton trousers and a second-hand military cotton coat. In this way, when winter comes, she will not catch a cold again when living in that shabby house like she did during the Spring Festival two years ago.

Well, although Aunt Li cursed more harshly, she is also a good person, just like Uncle Zhang!

………………

Two hours later, Wang Erpang, who felt like his waist was about to break, stood up and looked at the cotton field, which was less than half harvested, with a sad face.

I looked up at the sky, wondering if I should lie down on the edge of the field and slow down my waist, when a voice with an obvious foreign accent came.

"Brother, may I ask you, does your village raise chickens?"

Wang Erpang was happy. Everyone in the village called him Ershazi or Shasaizi. This was the first time he heard someone call him Second Brother.

When I turned around, I saw two young men who seemed older than me standing by the edge of the field and calling me.

Looking at the thin workmanship jackets on the two men with some envy, which were a little starched but neatly intact, Wang Erpang grinned: "What are you going to do?"

The village chief said on the loudspeaker yesterday that there are a lot of bad people nowadays, so you must be careful when you see outsiders. When you see someone you don’t know entering the village, the first thing you must do is to prepare a hoe.

But Wang Erpang didn’t have a hoe in his hand, and he was just a fool and didn’t know how to be “careful”.

It was the first time for the two staff members of Xialiu Sales Agency to see someone talk to them so kindly from the beginning in Lanling. They were delighted and said, "Brother, we are here to buy chickens. Are there any fellow villagers who raise chickens in your village?"

Collect chickens?

Wang Erpang blinked his small eyes and nodded: "Of course we do... don't we have a lot of chickens at home?"

The two members smiled immediately. They had not expected to hear such good news as soon as they entered the village: "Second brother, we want to collect a lot of chickens. How many do you have?"

How many?

Wang Erpang, who had forgotten how many chickens he had at home, thought with a sad face: "Forget it, there are plenty anyway!"

In his world that was so simple that it was almost gray, six chickens were indeed a lot, so many that he could hardly count them.

But when the two members of Xialiu Sales Agency heard these words, they misunderstood.

After looking at the cotton field where half of the cotton had been picked, and then at the other fields that were only surrounded by low fences, the member who had spoken earlier became enthusiastic: "Second brother, can you sell your chickens to us? Don't worry, we'll take care of everything and buy as many as you can!"

In Wang Erpang's mind, the chickens he raised by the broken wall at home were like his cotton trousers and military coats for the winter. It didn't matter how he sold them or to whom he sold them. He looked at the man eagerly and asked, "How much money can you get?"

The member thought about it, gritted his teeth and held up five fingers: "Five yuan... As long as it's an adult chicken weighing more than five kilograms, it doesn't matter whether it's male or female, all are five yuan!"

In fact, this price has exceeded the range originally set by Xialiu Sales Agency. The maximum purchase price of 5 yuan per rooster is for large roosters with a gross weight of more than six kilograms. If it is lower than this standard, only 4.5 yuan per rooster will be given; and for hens, the purchase standard is only 4 yuan per rooster.

But the problem is that this purchasing price system may work in the counties where Xialiu Marketing Agency often operates, but it doesn't work at all in Lanling, a place they have never set foot in before.

Before they met Wang Erpang, they had asked in several villages, but those free-range farmers were not interested in the prices they offered. Seeing that they had been busy for two days without any results, the two members simply gritted their teeth, consulted Yan Laoxi, and threw aside factors such as specifications and directly offered the maximum purchase price of 5 yuan per piece.

To be honest, unless it is a special or precious breed, if there is no distinction between male and female, and no strict restrictions on the specifications, the purchase price of 5 yuan per chicken is indeed considered conscientious. Although according to the current price, if you report these chickens to the market to sell, the good-looking ones can be sold for a high price of about or yuan or even or yuan... And that is a good-looking rooster. For ordinary chickens and hens, it is already very good if they can be sold for yuan;
Not only is it troublesome to take the chickens to the market to sell them, but if you raise a lot of chickens, you simply won't be able to sell them all by yourself.

Therefore, the two members thought that such a price might not be particularly attractive to small-scale farmers who only raised a few chickens, but those farmers who had a slightly larger scale, raised dozens of chickens at home, and often dealt with chicken vendors should be tempted.

But unfortunately, Wang Erpang is not a real free-range chicken farmer and has never had any dealings with those chicken dealers.

More importantly...

Wang Erpang is a fool. His understanding of some things is very direct and superficial.

So, to him, the other party's words sounded like he wanted to buy all his chickens for five dollars.

These two are bad guys!

Wang Erpang was a little unhappy. Although he had a bad memory, he always remembered what Aunt Li had told him, that if he sold these chickens at the market in winter, he could exchange them for a new pair of cotton trousers and an old cotton coat.

When he was helping Grandpa Li carry manure last week, he specifically asked this most respected old man in the village. Grandpa Li said that just a pair of thick new cotton trousers would cost ten yuan!

“Not for sale!” Wang Erpang puffed up his cheeks and glared at the two people in front of him angrily, like a child whose lollipop was almost snatched away.

The member who asked the question suddenly became anxious. Just as he was about to say something, another member grabbed his arm and shook his head calmly.

Although Wang Erpang in front of him looked like an ordinary rural young man, it was just that his clothes were a little too torn and too dirty... This was very normal in rural areas today. After all, people often wore those shabby clothes when working, which didn't mean anything.

However, it is already mid-autumn, and it is not the season for planting rice. It is very strange that Wang Erpang is still barefoot in the fields.

More importantly, although this chubby guy looks like a normal person, his tone, speaking speed, and facial expression are very different from those of ordinary people... In other words, his partner was so anxious to collect the chickens that he didn't notice anything unusual. If it were in the past, he would have noticed it long ago.

After being whispered in the ear of his companions, the member who had been communicating with Wang Erpang before took a closer look at the fat man in front of him, exclaimed in disappointment; after forcing a smile and greeting Wang Erpang, he hurried towards the village.

"Hey~ I thought I was lucky. I ran into someone who kept chickens right away. It turned out to be a mistake."

It seemed that because they knew Wang Erpang was a fool, the two members did not deliberately lower their voices.

"Don't sigh. Time is short and the task is urgent. If we don't collect some chickens, Qingfeng Food will be completely out of stock. Then we will be in big trouble."

"Hey, you see how big this incident is. Who could have expected that a brand as big as Mo Mo Bai Zha would encounter such a thing? The chicken chop sellers immediately ran out of chicken chops to sell, and had to go door to door in every village to buy chickens at high prices... If this matter were to be spread out, who would dare to believe it?"

Silently bombing?

Hearing the name coming from afar, Wang Erpang was stunned.

As a fool who knows that he is a fool, Wang Erpang always looks happy and silly on weekdays, but in fact, he does not love this world at all.

To be precise, when their parents abandoned them in their hometown as if they were avoiding the plague, they both went to other provinces to work and disappeared for nearly ten years;

Since the day my grandmother, who had taken care of me like a little rabbit, passed away, I have never loved this world again.

In fact, how did the two acres of land in my family disappear?
How the villagers despised me;
And why the elders in the same village would ask me to do odd jobs from time to time to make a living.
He actually knew it vaguely.

But my grandma once said that it’s better to be a little stupid.

So as a fool, he easily learned to forget, and also easily learned to simply entertain himself.

But his grandmother also taught him that he should learn to be grateful to everyone who allows him to live, and also remember those noble people who are truly good to him. The chance of meeting a good person in this life is very low, and every time he meets one, it is a blessing from the previous life.

So, Wang Erpang, who is always good at forgetting, can never remember what happened in the previous week, and can hardly recognize big words, remembered the four words "silently 100 bombs".

………………

If his foolish mind remembered correctly, these four words appeared in his memory at the beginning of this year.

At the end of the year before last, he was frozen and confused. Looking at the empty and cold dilapidated house, he felt an inexplicable surge of frustration in his chest, and for the first time he had the urge to look for his parents.

He didn't know where to find his parents;

He didn't know what to ask his parents when he found them;
He had no idea whether his parents would recognize him after they met.

But no matter what, he still dug out the last hundred yuan left by his grandmother from his pillow core and boarded the train to Guangzhou.

The villagers seemed to have said that their parents went to work in cities in the south. He asked the village chief, and he learned that the largest city in the south seemed to be called Guangzhou... His parents should be there.

After squatting in the aisle of the iron cage called a train for three days and three nights, he finally saw what the outside world was like.

The prosperity made his eyes dizzy, and the unfamiliarity made him feel scared.

As a fool who can't even recognize a few big words, even if he goes out into the world, he can still only survive in the corners of the city.

Working, being cheated; working, being cheated; continuing to work, being cheated again.

This is roughly what Wang Erpang experienced in Guangzhou City for a whole year.

As a result, he not only failed to find his parents without saving a penny, but was even reported by the construction boss who owed him three months' salary during the repatriation of migrant workers at the beginning of this year. Then he could only get on the train again in shame, holding the thin quilt he bought from a former co-worker.

What's next...

My grandmother once said that misfortunes never come singly, and bad things always happen one after another.

So, the moment he stepped out of Dezhou Railway Station under the command of the public security uncle, he encountered the rain, which was what he feared most in his life.

It was a fear that came from the depths of his soul, a nightmare that had haunted him for more than ten years. Outsiders could not understand how he felt at the time.

But unfortunately, after wandering in Guangzhou for a year and having only received a few salaries, he was penniless; let alone buying a train ticket, he didn't even have money to buy a steamed bun... In fact, before this, he had been hungry on the train for three days.

There was no other way. Under the constant urging of the staff, he could only walk home step by step with an empty stomach, caught in the rain that he feared the most, carrying the stinky quilt on his back.

He had even thought it through. Since this world did not welcome him and even his parents disliked him and had fled elsewhere, it seemed that there was nothing worth staying for.

I didn't have a penny on me, and there was no need to go to the village clinic after I had a fever. I could just lie quietly in front of the grave of my grandmother, the only person who had ever cared about me... That would be all.

So, as expected, after walking in the cold rain for half an afternoon, he, who was actually in poor health, developed a fever again.

However, unlike before when he could only curl up on the hard bed and talk nonsense to himself in front of the bed covered with cobwebs and cracks, this time, an old car that was equally shabby as his own appeared in his sight; and when he woke up again, he saw two cold faces filled with fatigue in the middle of the night.

Those two doctors who were not wearing white coats were really fierce, but their skills were really good;
It was really cold in the rain that day, but the box of fried skewers served to me was really delicious;
That was probably the most sumptuous and delicious meal he had ever eaten in his life.

Therefore,
Fellow villagers...huh?

Wang Erpang, who had spent a full half hour to completely memorize the four words "Silent Hundred Explosions" in his mind, sighed with emotion.

It feels really good to suddenly know that the world hasn’t completely abandoned you.

Probably, those people who seemed like liars at the first sight, he still had no idea what their poor excuses and their awkward yet eager actions, which even he did not believe, meant to a fool like him who had been disliked by his parents since he was a child.

Ok……

Folks.

So, Uncle Zhang and Aunt Li are actually good people!

Wang Erpang, who had gradually learned to be optimistic in the past six months, came out of his slow memories. He was about to call out to the two members of Xialiu Sales Agency, but found that they had already run away without a trace.

Is there no more chicken in Momo Baizha?
Although it was unclear why Momo Baizha, which fried gluten and starch sausages, suddenly ran out of chicken, this did not prevent the fool Wang Erpang from feeling a strong urge in his heart.

Looking at the cotton field that still had most of the cotton left, and then looking at the cloth bag on his waist that was almost full, Wang Erpang scratched his head, and suddenly ran barefoot towards his dilapidated house...

………………

More than half an hour later, Wang Erpang, who was out of breath, stopped a shabby-looking minibus on the national highway not far from the village entrance.

"Where are you going, fellow?"

The driver glanced warily at the fat young man's gray fangs, then looked at the live chickens that were tied with hemp ropes behind the shoulder pole and fluttering around. After thinking about it, he finally opened the car door.

There's no way. Business is not good nowadays. I've been waiting in the county town for a whole morning, and I've only attracted half of the customers. Although the fat man in front of me looks a little dirty and is carrying a pole full of live chickens, it's still a business after all, right?
As for whether the other passengers on the bus are happy or not...

Please, isn't it normal for everyone to understand and support each other when they are out and about?

Besides, we are not rich young men or ladies, and there is still plenty of empty space in the car, so why should we be so pretentious! ?
Seeing the minibus door open, Wang Erpang, who was carrying a shoulder pole and walking up the bus with a smile on his face, grinned when the driver asked about his destination and said the place name he had always remembered: "Dezhou Railway Station!"

(End of this chapter)