Reborn in 1985, starting from the mountains of Northwest China

Chen Feng held the money, intending to take out the two packs of cigarettes he hadn't had time to give away yet.

Li Zhi was putting money into his wallet when Uncle Li was tidying up the bundle of bamboo shoots, intending to help him move it to the back of his bicycle.

Chen Feng stepped forward, making sure he wasn't blocking anyone from working, and stood directly in front of Li Zhi.

"Uncle Li."

He spoke, a smile on his face, "Now that you've taken these bamboo shoots, I feel a huge weight lifted off my shoulders. Yesterday I was just telling Xiu'er that I was worried they wouldn't keep and would be wasted."

Li Zhi nodded: "It can be stored. You've prepared these bamboo shoots well. Cover them with straw mats, and they'll be fine for another two days."

Chen Feng continued, "That's all thanks to Uncle Li's excellent teaching. He specifically told me yesterday not to peel the skin."

He spoke so naturally, thanking Li Zhi for buying the bamboo shoots and also subtly mentioning Uncle Li's guidance, making one sentence count as two.

Li Zhi smiled but didn't reply. He bent down to tie the rope.

Only then did Chen Feng reach into his pocket and pull out the two packets of Blue Deer instant noodles.

Instead of shoving it directly into Li Zhi's hand, he first handed a package to Uncle Li, who was standing next to him.

"Uncle Li, this is for you."

Uncle Li was taken aback, and subconsciously wiped his hands on his apron: "This...this child, why are you being so polite with me?"

Chen Feng smiled and stuffed the cigarette into his hand: "Uncle Li, don't think it's too much. This little token is nothing compared to the help you've given me."

Having said that, Uncle Li couldn't refuse any longer. He took it, squeezed it, and muttered, "Blue Golden Deer? You child, why are you spending this money..."

Chen Feng then turned to Li Zhi, holding another pack of cigarettes in his hand, and handed it over.

"Uncle Li."

He originally planned to call him brother-in-law, but after thinking it over, he felt it would be too familiar and he preferred to call him Uncle Li.

"You've come all this way without even having a sip of water. Here's some cigarettes for you to smoke on the way."

Li straightened up, glanced at the cigarette, and then looked at Chen Feng.

He didn't answer immediately.

"Xiao Chen, I'll take these bamboo shoots. They're good quality. You don't need them."

Li Zhi originally intended to be polite to his brother-in-law.

After all, he also came from this village, so it would be good if he could help out by doing some good deeds.

To his surprise, this kid was quite adept at handling things!

Hearing Li Zhi say this, Chen Feng didn't pull his hand back, but instead gave a simple, honest laugh.

"Uncle Li, I know you only buy bamboo shoots because they're good. But this tobacco is a small token of our appreciation. We need to keep in touch, so if you don't accept it, I'll feel embarrassed to come to you next time I have goods."

That's a very frank statement.

They acknowledged that the quality of the bamboo shoots was a prerequisite, yet they also humbled themselves.

He's a sensible boy, Li Zhi thought to himself.

Li Zhi looked at him for two seconds and then smiled.

"Alright, you know how to talk."

He took the cigarette, but instead of putting it in his pocket, he held it in his hand and glanced at Chen Feng again.

"If you have any more stock, just come to me. As long as it's in this condition, I'll take as much as you have."

Chen Feng nodded: "Okay, Uncle Li, I've got it."

Li Zhi put the cigarette in his pocket, patted the sack on the back of the bicycle, and pushed the bicycle out.

He came here to visit his brother-in-law's house at his wife's request.

Now that things are almost done, it's time for him to go back.

Uncle Li went to deliver it, and Chen Feng followed beside him.

As Li Zhi reached the courtyard gate, he stopped and glanced back at Chen Feng.

"Xiao Chen, you're quite an interesting guy."

Chen Feng was stunned for a moment.

Li Zhi smiled and said, "You dared to buy a Blue Deer as a gift on our first meeting. You've got guts, and you're shrewd too."

Li Zhi, the Blue Deer General, usually receives quite a lot of gifts, including things like Daqianmen cigarettes.

But he never expected that there would be such an interesting young man in this small Chenjia Village.

He paused, then said, "Work hard from now on, and you'll succeed."

After saying that, he patted Chen Feng on the shoulder, got on his bicycle, and left.

Chen Feng stood at the gate of the courtyard, watching the bicycle turn the corner at the village entrance and disappear from sight.

Uncle Li patted him on the shoulder.

"Well done, Chen Feng. My brother-in-law has high standards and doesn't usually praise people. If he's praising you, it means he's really interested in you."

Chen Feng smiled but didn't reply.

The two walked back a few steps when Uncle Li suddenly remembered something, took out the Blue Deer bag from his pocket, and looked at it over and over.

"I'll save these cigarettes and smoke them during the New Year."

Chen Feng looked at him and felt a surge of warmth in his heart.

"Uncle Li, please smoke now. I'll buy you more after you finish."

Uncle Li waved his hand: "No, no, no, your life has just started to get better, don't waste money."

He carefully put the cigarette back in his pocket and glanced at Chen Feng again.

"Chen Feng, you've changed."

Chen Feng was taken aback: "What changed?"

Uncle Li smacked his lips, as if searching for the right words.

"You used to be... well, not bad, just a bit clueless. But now it's different, you've gotten to know how to handle things."

Chen Feng smiled but offered no explanation.

When Lin Xiu got home, she had already been up for a while.

People in the countryside generally go to bed early and get up early.

Lin Xiu started cooking when the rooster crowed for the second time, and now she was waiting for Chen Feng to come back for breakfast.

"How's it going?"

Lin Xiu saw Chen Feng and happily went to greet him.

Chen Feng didn't rush to answer; instead, he went to the kitchen and found a low stool to sit down.

Seeing him like this, Lin Xiu felt even more itchy inside.

Yesterday she mentioned that it could sell for around ten yuan, and judging from the current situation, it's likely to be more than that!

Lin Xiu wringed her hands anxiously, "Say something! Did you sell it? How much did you get?"

Chen Feng took out the wad of money from his pocket, but instead of handing it over, he patted it in his palm first.

Lin Xiu stared at the money, craning her neck as she followed his hand up and down.

"Nine yuan and fifty cents." Chen Feng handed her the money.

Lin Xiu took it and counted it.

"Nine dollars and fifty cents?"

She looked up at Chen Feng, her eyes wide open.

"Didn't you say it could sell for more than ten yuan? Uncle Li said yesterday that it would be at least ten yuan?"

Chen Feng looked at her and wanted to laugh, but he kept a straight face.

"Uncle Li was just guessing. Li Zhi said that the bamboo shoots were good, but the quantity was too small, only about 30 jin. At 3 mao per jin, that's 9.3 yuan, so he rounded it up to a whole number."

Upon hearing this, Lin Xiu immediately pouted.

"Nine yuan and fifty cents... I thought it would be over ten yuan. Last night I lay on the kang (heated brick bed) calculating for a long time, thinking that if I had ten yuan..."

As she was talking, she suddenly reached out and pinched Chen Feng's arm.

"It's all your fault!"

Chen Feng was startled by the pinch: "My fault? What did I do?"

Lin Xiu glared at him: "If you hadn't mentioned ten yuan yesterday, I wouldn't have had any hope. But as soon as you said ten yuan, I spent the whole night thinking about how to spend that ten yuan, and in the end I only got nine yuan and fifty cents, fifty cents short! Fifty cents can buy several pieces of candy!"

Actually, Lin Xiu was already quite satisfied with 9.5 yuan.

But when she saw her husband's cheeky expression, she wanted to tease him.

Chen Feng couldn't help but laugh out loud this time.

Lin Xiu got even angrier when she saw him laugh, and pinched him again.

"You're still laughing!"

Chen Feng grasped her hand and said with a smile, "Alright, alright, it's my fault, my fault for talking nonsense. How about... I'll make up the 50 cents?"

Lin Xiu was taken aback: "You're going to fix it? Where are you going to get five cents?"

Chen Feng rummaged through his pocket and pulled out a few crumpled bills, which actually contained fifty cents.

Lin Xiu stared at the money, paused for a moment, and then suddenly smiled.

"Where do you hide your secret stash of money?"