The strong fisherman in the courtyard

Yan Xing nodded, "We'll go too. We've made an appointment. Our courtyard is closer. The other three will meet at the gate tomorrow."

"Okay, you guys can just go there tomorrow. I'll go first." Li Ming chatted with Yan Xing for a few words and then walked out. He had eaten too much at noon, so it was a good opportunity to take a walk to help digest the food.

As for the chickens and other things, they have been prepared in the space long ago, and are all tied with ropes. We can just find a deserted place and pull them out directly. They are all alive and very fresh!

He seemed bored a couple of days ago and followed the Yan brothers to a brothel. Watching the three turtles from Turtle Village die was considered an entertainment activity.

This is no longer the case in Caishikou these days. There were special places there. Caishikou no longer accepts this business.

Caishikou was a famous legal execution ground in the capital during the Ming and Qing dynasties. Caishikou was quite famous in the capital. It was the largest vegetable market in the Ming Dynasty, with many vegetable stalls and shops along the street, so many people came here to buy vegetables, and the street with the most concentrated vegetable market was called "Caishi Street". It was renamed "Caishikou" in the Qing Dynasty, and this name has been used ever since.

Later, with the demise of the Qing dynasty, the execution ground was moved, and this area gradually became the most prosperous commercial street and transportation hub of Xuanwai Street.

Li Ming strolled all over the city and soon saw his destination. Seeing that there was no one around, a string of live chickens tied with ropes appeared in Li Ming's hand. In the other hand, he was holding a huge basket with fish and meat in it. He walked towards Wu's house staggeringly.

"Wow! You're finally here!"

"If you don't come soon, Wu Gang will be so anxious that he will climb a tree!"

"Hurry up, stop teasing me, why don't you help Mingzi get the things?" Wu Gang scolded with a smile.

The others took two quick steps and each took something from Li Ming. In the end, Li Ming had an extra pack of cigarettes in his hand.

"You're a smart boy, haha, I asked you to tie a bunch of chickens together!" Xu Qiang was laughing so hard when he saw the chickens running away.

This was the first time he had seen it done this way.

Li Ming shrugged his shoulders with a cigarette in his mouth. "That can't be helped. We are from the later generations, so we have broad minds!" Otherwise, how could you ask Section Chief Li to carry these things over?

It's because he is in good health. If he had been in good health before, he would have had to bring two people with him to get these things.

Following Xu Qiang, they entered a courtyard. Wu Gang and his family lived in the backyard, and now they started to get busy. The main thing was to prepare tomorrow morning's meal, and the meat had to be processed in advance. After that, they also had to find a place to raise the fish and chickens.

The three groups of the steel rolling mill, together with the current and former group leaders, found a stool and sat together smoking.

After a while, Wu Gang came over with a smile on his face. There was nothing to worry about. How could he not be happy?

Wu Gang quietly put the money into Li Ming's hand and sat down with everyone else.

"How are you preparing for tomorrow?"

"What about this best man?"

"How's the car?"

"Don't worry, it's all ready, haha! You don't have to worry, just have fun today, have a good meal in the evening, and then we can just have a few drinks." Wu Gang grinned and looked quite cheerful.

There's no way around it, he married a good wife. Among this group of people, except Li Ming and Xu Qiang, everyone else is so envious that their teeth are about to fall out.

By the way, getting married in old city these days is quite unique. The first thing is the preparation for the wedding. However, the material conditions are relatively scarce, so the wedding is usually simple, but as grand as possible. There is no other way, as old city people care about face!

The newlyweds' family will still prepare as many wedding supplies and food as possible, but compared to what we have now, that would be quite cost-effective.

You've talked about this for a long time, and it's hard to understand why a wedding doesn't cost hundreds of thousands of dollars! Not to mention the other things, just the meal and the wedding emcee and decorations, it's a huge amount of money!

As for the bride price and dowry at that time, they were even simpler. The bride price was just a few yuan or a dozen yuan symbolically, and those with better conditions would only get a few dozen yuan at most. It was at most one or two months' salary for a regular worker in a large factory, which was much less than the bride price of hundreds of thousands or millions!

The most we can do is add a few more legs, thirty-six or forty-eight, it all depends on your preference, that's enough.

As for the bride's dowry, it basically consists of furniture, clothes, quilts, etc., which are also very simple.

As for the wedding ceremony, wedding banquet and so on, to be honest, it won’t cost that much. At least compared to now, it will definitely save money.

At that time, it was a marriage certificate, which marked the legal validity of the marriage. Influenced by the Marriage Law, which emphasized freedom of marriage, monogamy, equality between men and women, and prohibited arranged marriages and feudal superstitions, wedding customs were gradually abandoning the old constraints and developing in a more modern and equal direction.

Chapter 399 Two more generals are added

In the evening, after the group finished their meal, they found a quiet place and played cards in groups of three or five. From time to time, someone would sneak outside to take a look, all for safety reasons.

Even those who were playing cards dared not speak loudly. Although they did not play with small amounts of money, each of them had a few cigarettes in front of their faces.

Looking at it for a moment, the night was thick and quiet. White smoke was coming out of many corners, and occasionally there were sparks. Anyway, if you are not mentally prepared, you will be confused for a while.

. . . . . .

The next day, in the afternoon.

Li Ming strolled out of the courtyard where the Wu family lived, raised his arm, lowered his head, and sniffed gently.

Oh my god! It’s marinated well. Let’s go to the bathhouse and take a bath first!

After a while, Li Ming came out of the bathhouse and happily returned to the courtyard again, holding old clothes in his hands, which he had to wash again~~~

"Brother Li!"

"Brother Li!"

Li Ming raised his head from the sink and saw the two Yan brothers walking towards him quickly, each dragging a washbasin. Well, they also wanted to wash clothes.

"Do the laundry!"

"Yes, it smells." Yan Xing said happily. He went to Wu Gang's place in the morning and sweated a lot. He had to wash it!

The two brothers wanted to go to the bathhouse to take a bath, but the tickets were difficult to get, so they could only wash their clothes first, and then find a deserted place to rinse off after they were done.

Men just save trouble!

Li Ming pointed at his basin and said, "I stayed there all night. Wow, that was touching!"

Three shirtless men were chatting happily in the sink in the front yard, washing their clothes while they were at it.

"I have something to do at your place tonight, wait for me after dinner."

The Yan brothers were shocked, "Okay!"

Li Ming could see that the two brothers were probably wondering if he, Li Ming, needed them for something, but he didn't care. At least the two brothers were thoughtful, right?

He didn't intend to keep it a secret, "Good news, it has something to do with you two brothers."

After saying this, Li Ming took the washed clothes and went home, leaving the two dark-skinned brothers standing there in confusion.

"elder brother?"

Yan Xing shook his head and said, "Don't look at me. I don't know your brother either! But Brother Li said so, so let's just wait after dinner."

"That's true."

The two brothers were both carefree and were not in a hurry. They continued to walk happily to the outer yard with the basins in their hands.

Night.

Outer courtyard, Yan family.

Li Ming sat in front of the two brothers. He looked at the two brothers sitting upright and laughed, "No? What are you two doing?"

"Didn't I say good things? Why are you two so serious? I'm still a little bit uncomfortable with this!"

As soon as Li Ming said this, the two brothers collapsed immediately. They were not serious people and they had tried very hard just now, but the atmosphere was completely ruined by the man in front of them.

"Hey, brother, why don't we make it more formal?" Yan Xing excitedly handed Li Ming a cigarette and lit it for him.

Yan Wang was even more direct. He ran to the kitchen, cleaned up the mess, and brought a cup of tea to Li Ming. "Brother, have some water!"

"Okay, I'm used to the way you two are now, but I always feel that you two brothers are a bit mean!" Li Ming complained, and the two brothers looked at each other and showed their big white teeth!

"From now on, you two brothers will both be members of the purchasing department. After Xiaowang's three-month grace period is over, you two brothers will have at least 70 kilograms of food every month. Are you sure?"

...........

The two brothers shook their heads, unsure, but they could only try their best.

"We can only run around diligently when the time comes. After all, we don't have many channels in the city. If we go to the black market, it's okay if the quantity is small, but we can't spend all 70 kilograms on the black market."

"If you do it too often, you'll be easily targeted."

The two brothers muttered to each other.

After they finished their grumbling, Li Ming said cheerfully, "What if you two become grain sellers on the black market?"

"Are you still worried about the monthly tasks of the steel mill?"

The two brothers were stunned and didn’t react. The main reason was that who in their right mind would think of a solution in this direction!

"Um, brother, what do you mean? Why don't I understand?" Yan Xing asked with a black question mark on his face.

Li Ming had no choice but to tell the two of them some details about how he sold grain on the black market and how he already had people selling grain on the black market and making a lot of money.

And he told the two of them quite directly that as long as they came, they were brothers!

The two brothers were shocked and a little dazed. They thought Li Ming was already very impressive, but they didn't expect that he had another identity in secret.

Based on what they just heard, it might be possible that the section chief's secret identity was even more powerful. Wow, it was really surprising.

Li Ming was not in a hurry either. He lit a cigarette and waited slowly. He was not in a hurry because these two people would definitely agree. It did not matter even if people accused him of seeking repayment for a favor.

I'm not looking for revenge, I'm just doing my dad a favor!

Besides, for both of them, this is not a matter of repaying a favor, but a good thing, a very good thing!

Obviously, the job at the steel mill is secure, and they can earn extra income every month. It's a win-win situation! If they can't figure this out, then they are fools.

Li Ming hadn't even finished smoking half of his cigarette when the two brothers opposite him nodded heavily, with their four big eyes slightly reddened. It was mainly because Li Ming was too nice to them!

Not only did he save his brother, but his younger brother also got a job as a regular worker in a steel rolling mill. That's not all, as it gave the two brothers a stable job and an extra income. If they still can't figure it out, they might as well get up and jump into the Jinshui River!

"Let's do it! Brother Li, that's it... that's it, thank you."

Tears were about to overflow from Yan Xing's eyes. These ways of showing kindness by Li Ming might be considered low-level in later generations, but if you put them in the present, well, they are not low-level at all!

This is a life-and-death friendship, especially under the current special circumstances. Li Ming not only saved Yan Xing, but also gave the two brothers a chance to survive in this world!

"Hehe, that's fine, just agree to it. Tomorrow, come with me. I'll take you two to take a look at my base!"

Li Ming was very happy. This meant that the urgently needed manpower from the Liu brothers would soon be in place. It also meant that he would have two more generals under his command. Well, we'll talk about whether it was a big deal or not. After all, they were close, so it would be convenient to have someone to run errands.

"Okay, then let's go to bed early and wait for you tomorrow."

"Uh-huh."

Li Ming said a few words and then walked out happily, opening the friendly value interface along the way.

【Friendly value】

Wang Da (100)

Wang Er (100)

MCA (100)

Niu Zhuang (100)

Liu Guangtian (100)

Liu Guangfu (100)

Yan Xing (90)

Yan Wang (88)

It's basically safe, and the rest is just a matter of polishing or waiting for an opportunity. But at this point, you can use it with confidence.

Li Ming said happily in his heart, it is better to have more people, one good man is worth three helpers!

Chapter 400 It's the end of another year

Paoju Hutong, in front of the second courtyard.

The brothers Yan Xing and Yan Wang couldn't help smacking their lips as they looked at the courtyard house with two entrances in front of them. They thought that their base was just a random place they rented, but what was the situation when you built a courtyard house with two entrances in it? Could it be that there was so much food?

Main house.

"Come on, let me introduce you to each other. We'll all be eating from the same spoon in the future, so it's better to get to know each other." Li Ming happily took on the task of introduction.

He turned to look at the Liu brothers, "These two, Yan Xing and Yan Wang, are brothers just like you two. They are now working in the purchasing department of the steel mill. From now on, the four of you will be in charge of this black market business."

"Now you don't have to go to work at the steel mill every day, so you will have more opportunities to get along with each other in the future."

After Li Ming finished speaking, he looked at the two brothers Yan Xing and Yan Wang, "These two Liu Guangtian and Liu Guangfu were from the same courtyard as us before, but later they moved out. You will know them better after a while."

"You two brothers are new here, so just follow them and learn more. Our business is simple and worry-free, and it's easy to get started."

After Li Ming's introduction, the two pairs of brothers began to get to know each other, exchanged cigarettes and had a few drinks at noon, and they were basically settled. They would work together in the future, which was the benefit of their friendship.

Without caring about what the four of them were happily chatting about, he clicked on the friendship value interface.