Rebirth in a Courtyard: I Am a Little Hunter

Then, a shirtless, sweaty man squeezed through the crowd carrying a skinned, gutted, and covered wild rabbit in a damp cloth: "Master Hu! I caught it yesterday afternoon, and to keep it fresh, I soaked it in well water overnight! It's still looking great!"

Hu Songnian took it, its skin cold to the touch. He examined the fur and the cut: "Hmm, cleanly skinned, no damage to the meat. Weigh it... four jin and three liang." He glanced at the price list. "Wild rabbit is 45 cents. You've removed the fur, but you can still sell the fur for money, so I can only give you 45 cents per jin. Four jin and three liang... one dollar and ninety-three and a half cents. Here's one dollar and ninety-four cents!" He "generously" gave him an extra half cent.

The man happily accepted the money, sweat rolling down his dark face: "Thank you, Master Hu! I'll return the good stuff to you next time! If I don't get rid of it today, it won't stay."

The acquisition proceeded methodically under the shade of the trees. A wave of heat emanated from all around, and the cicadas in the trees began their tireless chirping.

Hu Songnian was drenched in sweat, his back completely soaked and clinging to his body. He inspected the goods, weighed them, quoted prices, calculated the bills, and paid, all while talking non-stop.

Wei Chen helped keep track of the numbers and watch the items, his temples damp with sweat, truly feeling the hardship of this job. He carefully observed how Hu Songnian dealt with different people: patient with the elderly, slightly more lenient on prices; stubborn with shrewd men, but insisting on rounding down to the nearest whole number; buying wilted vegetables at the lowest "clearance" price (giving a dime, the old lady was still extremely grateful); carefully picking out the sand from a small bag of poor-quality mushrooms... Cash transactions, down to the cents, but generally staying within the factory's price list, standing out clearly in the scorching air. The villagers received their money, their faces damp with sweat, but radiating genuine satisfaction.

The purchasing in Toudaogou Village lasted for nearly two hours. The sun was high in the sky, and the shade of the trees was beginning to shrink. Hu Songnian's notebook was full, and his two large willow baskets were half full: most of the baskets were filled with eggs carefully lined with grain husks, a small bag of good-quality wood ear mushrooms, two wild rabbits covered with damp cloths, a few pheasants, and some scattered dried vegetables. Hu Songnian wiped his sweat and panted, "It cost... less than ten yuan. Let's go! To Erdaoliang! Before the midday heat!"

Pushing their much heavier bicycles, the two left Toudaogou amidst the villagers' farewells, "Come earlier next time, it'll be cooler!" and the increasingly scorching sun.

Erdaoliang Village wasn't far, but climbing the slope and beams was much more strenuous. The sun hung blindingly overhead, the dirt road scorching hot, heat rising from the ground. Both men were drenched in sweat, their clothes soaked through. Wei Chen, with his advanced cultivation, wasn't bothered by the heat, but to avoid appearing unusual, he also circulated his internal energy to work up a sweat.

The village chief here is surnamed Sun, a taciturn, dark-skinned, and thin man. Hu Songnian handed him half a pack of cigarettes, and Chief Sun nodded, his announcement over the loudspeaker brief and dry.

Erdaoliang Village was even poorer, and the things they brought were even more meager: the eggs were small and few, the dried vegetables were mostly wilted old leaves, and there were almost no mountain products. They only spent less than three yuan and received a pitiful amount of stuff, and Hu Songnian and Wei Chen were both getting a little irritable from the heat.

It was nearly noon, and the sun was so scorching it could make someone dizzy. The heat radiating from the ground distorted their vision. Hu Songnian led Wei Chen into the low, mud-brick house of Village Chief Sun. It was slightly cooler inside than outside, but still stuffy.

Sun Village Chief's wife cooked a large pot of thin soup with mung beans soaked in well water, and also chopped some salty pickled mustard tubers. The staple food was a few cold, coarse flour pancakes mixed with bran.

"Comrade Hu, Comrade Xiao Wei, we don't have much to offer, but have a bowl of mung bean soup to cool you down and make do with that." Village Chief Sun rubbed his hands together, his dark face covered in sweat.

"Great! This mung bean soup is so refreshing! It's so cooling!" Hu Songnian thanked him repeatedly, his voice weary. He took out a few national grain coupons and 15 cents, and insisted on giving it to him: "Village chief, the rules can't be broken."

Village Chief Sun didn't refuse and accepted the meal. It was simple: the mung bean soup was cool with well water, the coarse bread was hard on the throat, and the pickled vegetables were bitterly salty, but in the sweltering heat, it was a rare respite. Wei Chen ate silently, feeling the hardship of their livelihood under the scorching sun.

After the meal, the two spread a tattered mat on the floor of the main room and leaned against the wall to rest with their eyes closed. Outside, the cicadas chirped in a drowsy manner, and the heat was scorching.

It wasn't until after 2 PM, when the sun was starting to set and although it was still scorching hot, the intense heat had eased somewhat, that Hu Songnian managed to get up and called to Wei Chen, "Let's go, Sandaowa! If we don't leave now, we won't make it back before dark!"

Sandaowa Village is located halfway up the mountain, on a rugged mountain road. The two men, pushing the cart, were panting and drenched in sweat. The village chief, surnamed Li, was a lean, elderly man with sharp eyes.

Hu Songnian's movements were somewhat slow as he handed out cigarettes and made announcements over the loudspeaker. Sandaowa, nestled deep in the mountains, received more mountain produce and wild game as a result.

A hunter with a full beard and smelling of sweat brought out a plump roe deer leg, covered with a damp cloth, weighing at least seven or eight pounds! There was also a dried pheasant and a small jar of badger oil.

Hu Songnian mustered his last bit of energy and carefully inspected the goods. He bought the roe deer meat for 80 cents a pound and the dried pheasant by the piece. In the end, he spent nearly ten yuan, which was the biggest expense of the day.

As the setting sun finally softened its brilliance, painting the mountain outlines with gold, Hu Songnian and Wei Chen, exhausted, began their return journey.

The willow baskets on either side of the bicycle seat were crammed full and tied tightly with rope. The two men were soaked to the bone, as if they had just been pulled out of the water, their clothes clinging to their bodies, and Hu Songnian's legs felt as heavy as lead as he pedaled.

"Wei Chen, did you see that?" Hu Songnian panted heavily, his voice hoarse and dry, his lips pale. "This is... what our purchasing agents' life is like in the sweltering heat of summer! Going out under the blazing sun, talking until our lips are raw... running to three villages a day, getting sunburned, and just collecting this little bit of stuff, spending about twenty yuan..."

Today was relatively lucky; I managed to cover half of my weekly target of fifty yuan… It's tough! The factory sees fifty yuan as money, but this money… it's a hot potato! If I don't collect enough goods, forget about bonuses, and I'll get into trouble… So, you have to have connections, relationships, and a keen eye—you can't get by without any of these!

Wei Chen sat on the scorching hot back seat, looking at the fields on both sides, wilted by the blazing sun, feeling the heat from the iron frame beneath him and the soreness from the bumpy ride. His heart was in turmoil. He possessed true energy, so he didn't feel anything. One can imagine how much more uncomfortable it must have been for ordinary people.

That day, he truly experienced the hardships of rural areas in this era under the scorching heat—the deep-seated scarcity, the perseverance of running around under the blazing sun for a few cents, and the extreme shortage of supplies. He saw how veteran purchasing agents like Hu Songnian struggled to make a living in the sweltering heat, and he also saw the sweat and hardship behind the meager profits of the steel rolling mill.

After spending most of the day traveling between three villages in the sweltering heat that could make one dizzy, talking until their lips were sore and their clothes soaked with sweat, they only managed to purchase a little over twenty yuan worth of supplies. Their final haul consisted of: a large basket of eggs (about a hundred, worth a little over eight yuan), a few kilograms of dried mountain products of varying quality (such as wood ear mushrooms and mushrooms, worth about five yuan), a few wild rabbits, pheasants, and a piece of roe deer leg meat (worth seven or eight yuan), as well as some almost worthless dried vegetables, nuts, and other odds and ends.

This small amount of food was like a drop in the ocean for the steel mill canteen, which had tens of thousands of hungry mouths. No wonder the canteen was rarely greasy, no wonder the workers' eyes lit up at the sight of a speck of meat, and no wonder Chef Hu looked utterly exhausted when talking about his fifty-yuan quota! The scarcity of resources and low purchasing power in those days were so real and stark under the scorching sun.

The bicycle struggled along the scorching dirt road, kicking up dry dust that clung to the sweat-soaked skin. The last rays of the setting sun still carried heat. Hu Songnian was still giving instructions, albeit haltingly, about collecting the money tomorrow and taking precautions against the heat... Wei Chen listened quietly, his gaze fixed on the distant silhouette of the steel mill, distorted by the heatwave.

Fortunately, I can use the game world to secretly "restock".

The return journey was still sweltering under the lingering heat of the setting sun. The bicycle wheels churned over the scorching dirt road, making a dry, rustling sound, and the dust they kicked up, carrying the heat of the day, settled on Hu Songnian's sweat-soaked, sticky back.

Hu Songnian's pedaling became noticeably heavier, and with each step, the old "28-inch" bicycle groaned under the strain. A heavy willow basket on the back of the bicycle held the fruits of their day's labor, weighing down on Hu Songnian's weary body. Wei Chen had also carried a basket for him.

Sweat streamed down Hu Songnian's deeply lined face, gathering on his chin before dripping onto the scorching handlebars, evaporating instantly and leaving faint white salt stains. He was panting heavily, his voice broken in the hot wind, yet he persisted in imparting his experience to Wei Chen.

"Wei Chen... phew... you saw it just now too... In our line of work, the rules are rigid, but people are flexible." He wiped the sweat from his face and shook his hands. "The factory's price list is an ironclad rule! It can't be broken! But how to collect? There are tricks to it... phew..."

He paused, trying to calm his breathing, and continued, "For example... you haven't received your purchase allowance yet, right? That's alright! If you have some money on you, and you see something you like, you can pay for it first! Later, when you hand the items over to the warehouse, the warehouse manager will give you an inbound slip. You can take that slip to the finance department, and you can get your money back, not a penny less! Understand? This is for emergencies, it's flexible! So you don't end up seeing something good but having no money in your pocket and getting anxious!"