Ye Yaodong and his companions grabbed the handrails of the tractor and banged their way along. This time, they did not fall to the ground as usual, but were instead stuck tightly by the dried fish.
In order to prevent the mountain road from being difficult to drive because the cargo was piled high, we drove slower today. By the time we reached the city, the sky was already turning pale and it was getting light before we had finished unloading the cargo.
The transition from dark to light happens at the moment when the sun is about to jump out of the horizon.
A Zheng and A Guang were the first to arrive. They were very excited and ran straight to the market as soon as they jumped out of the car, saying that they were afraid that there would not be enough stocks if they were late.
After all, it is already daybreak, and those who rushed to the morning market have basically already purchased goods and left. Those who are still on the move are basically not early.
Ye Yaodong cursed as he unloaded the goods: "These two are too unreliable. I brought them here hoping that they would help me carry the goods back and forth, but they ran away before the truck even came to a complete stop. Damn it. They came back to help me carry the goods? What the hell? By the time they came out of the market, their butts were already exposed to the sun."
"Haha, maybe he was too anxious, it's already dawn." Uncle Zhou helped unload the bags one by one on the tractor.
"It's really unreliable. You can't count on any of them."
"There aren't many here, we can just move a few times, it's quick with two people."
"Thank you, Uncle Zhou. I need your help with everything."
"Why are you being polite? I was hoping that after you buy the tractor from the village, you would take care of my business so that I can earn more."
Huh!
"By the way, didn't you say the day before yesterday that the village wanted to sell the tractor? Did you buy it?"
Uncle Zhou was happy when talking about this. "I bought it yesterday, but I still owe a thousand yuan. Secretary Chen said I can owe it first and pay it at the end of the year."
Although we owe money, it is worth celebrating that there is a new big kid in the family.
When he drove the tractor to his doorstep and parked it during the day, Uncle Zhou washed it carefully, polished it until it was shiny, and even bought a string of firecrackers to set off.
"That's fine. It's only a few thousand yuan. You can earn some this year and pick up passengers on the roadside in your free time. You can pay it back by the end of the year. It's not bad either. No one in the village will compete with you."
He felt a little guilty when he said this.
"Who can compete with me? There are not many people in the village who can drive a tractor, and I have always been the tractor driver of the village production team. Others can't compete with me."
"Yes, yes, this is yours now, and you can earn some extra money. I didn't know you bought it so quickly. I just heard about it the day before yesterday, and you got it today. I'll buy you a string of firecrackers when I get back."
He had informed the village committee two days in advance that he would need the car today, so he did not go to the village committee to apply for it yesterday, and he did not know that Uncle Zhou had already bought it.
"No, no, we've already bought some firecrackers and set them off. If you just take care of my business, I'll make enough money."
"No problem. You're the only one in the village who has a tractor. Who else should I invite? I'm not like Ah Cai and the others. I don't have a partner."
Ye Yaodong is the only one in the whole village who uses a tractor every other day. Uncle Zhou can earn a lot just by working for him in a month, and he is already very satisfied.
The two chatted as they carried the items. After they finished stacking them, it was already dawn. He was sweating all over, so he simply took off his thin cotton jacket and only wore the sweater underneath. He hung the cotton jacket on his hand and went to the store to help.
Looking at the sun high in the sky and the fewer people coming and going in the shop, he went to the nearby village to find the village chief to rent a house.
They had already asked in advance, the only difference was the rental price. One of them didn't ask for a high price, and the other had money, so the two hit it off immediately. Ye Yaodong only went there for half an hour and then came back immediately.
Uncle Zhou's tractor happened to be parked conveniently at the door, so he asked Uncle Zhou for help, and they lifted the bed and moved all the things up together. They finished everything in one trip, leaving only Lin's mother to settle down in the rented house.
He couldn't count on the two burdens, he handled it on his own.
By the way, I took 20 kilograms of dried fish to give to the village chief, asking him to take care of it. In a village, with the village chief taking care of it, everything is basically safe.
Ye Yaodong stood at the door of the store, wiped the sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand, and shook the sweater on his chest to cool down. He had not stopped to rest since he got off the car until the sun was high in the sky.
"I'm really hardworking! I deserve to be rich!"
Father Lin brought out a bowl of porridge and handed it to him with a smile, "Yes, they say hard work leads to wealth, and that makes sense. I've been busy all morning and haven't had time to eat. Hurry up and eat something to fill your stomach. It's almost nine o'clock."
"Those two guys didn't know how to come out after they went in. Giving birth was not as slow as them. I had finished my work. Fortunately, I didn't wait for them to unload, otherwise the food would have been cold."
Those two were indeed slow.
After entering the market, it seemed as if his eyes were not enough to see. He kept walking back and forth, lingering, visiting each stall, and comparing prices. Finally, Ah Zheng made up his mind and bought 2,000 kilograms of toad fish.
After all, they are used to drying the fish at home, and they know how many kilograms of fish they can get by drying one kilogram.
He had calculated the price with his wife when he came here. Although it is a little bit more expensive than the purchase price at the dock, he can still make money by drying it. This fish is also the most abundant in the market.
When the fishing of this fish is finished, he can then dry the other fish.
However, when they came out, Uncle Zhou had already gone to take other work and they couldn't find him, nor could he take them home immediately. They both stood at the door, dumbfounded.
"He drives a tractor for private work?"
Ye Yaodong explained: "Uncle Zhou bought the tractor yesterday. Now the tractor belongs to him personally, not to the brigade. He can take any job he wants."
"Ah? When did it happen? How come we don't know about it?" A Zheng was surprised.
"Why should I tell you? The production team was disbanded a long time ago, and the village has been reluctant to distribute the tractor. Now that the Mazu side is almost finished, I feel that the tractor is of no use left there, so it's better to sell it."
"Okay, then carry these goods to the door of your store and wait there. Cover them with some rags to prevent them from getting damaged by the sun. The temperature inside the market is at least 5 degrees lower than outside."
"Isn't it? It was chilly inside the market, but once you get out you feel warm."
"What you're saying is nonsense. The fresh fish in the market are all covered in ice. Isn't the temperature low?"
Lord Ye Yaodong did not care about their mistakes and helped them carry the things back and forth several times.
Fortunately, Uncle Zhou had a good sense of time. He came back just after lunch time, and they moved all the goods back onto the tractor.
It was just after three o'clock when he got home, which was earlier than Ye Yaodong usually got home.
A Zheng was also relieved. He had a large family and could kill the fish before going to bed, so that they wouldn't become stale if left overnight.
After Ye Yaodong got home, he just took a sip of water and heard Lin Xiuqing excitedly talking about the follow-up of this morning.
"It was just a little light in the morning when my second sister-in-law was taking the spittoon out to empty it. She was so scared that she started screaming. The spittoon fell to the ground. She didn't even bother to clean up the feces and urine, so she quickly woke up the people in the nearby houses."
"After I heard the noise, I immediately got up and explained to everyone that it was a thief. Everyone was relieved. They all thought someone was hanged on the tree from a distance."
Ye Yaodong laughed. When he hung the man up last night, he thought that people who got up early this morning would probably be frightened.
Unexpectedly, the winner was his second sister-in-law!
"A few men came forward to put the man down, and then quickly went to the village committee to call for help. Then the whole village came over, and I repeated what you said last night. The neighbors next door were very angry."
"If it weren't for the fact that he had been hanging for the entire night and was breathing more than breathing in, I think everyone would have rushed up and given him another beating."
"And then?" Ye Yaodong sat in the recliner with his legs crossed, half resting and half listening to a story with great interest.
"Then someone in the village who was related to them took the initiative to go to their village to tell them something. Not long after, many people from both villages gathered on the slope behind our door, arguing fiercely and almost starting a fight again."
"Especially the brothers from our neighboring Zhou and Lan families. They pointed their fingers at the family members of Qiu and cursed them. They also said that if they saw anyone from their family coming into our village in the future, they would beat them up every time they saw them."
Ye Yaodong seemed satisfied after hearing this. It seemed that they had a strong sense of crisis.
"What's next?"
"The parents of Qiu in the back cried and begged the village committee to let them take him to the hospital for treatment first, to prevent him from dying. The village chief then let them go and told them not to let him enter our village again."
"Oh, that's it? That's fine. Last night's lesson was enough. Anyway, it was to warn the villagers, and the purpose has been achieved."
Lin Xiuqing nodded, "He looks half dead, there's nothing we can do. The whole village has seen it, and they all know the consequences of stealing from our house, so that's all."
"Um."
After listening to the rest of the story, Ye Yaodong began to take off his clothes and handed the bag to her, "This is a reward for you. You told the story very well."
Lin Xiuqing gave him a reproachful look and took the bag. "Hurry up and put on your clothes. Have you rented a house?"
"Well, living in the village, they should be able to sleep more peacefully at night. I have also asked the village chief to help take care of them on a daily basis. After all, we are renting their house."
"This is good. They can pay more attention to their house."
“It would be even better if I could buy it.”
"Why buy them? They are all old houses, right?"
"It's quite old, but it's still habitable. It's not much different from our hometown, so it's okay. I'm thinking of buying it. We can tear it down and rebuild a better one. In the future, we will have a place to stay when we come and go in the city. It's like having a home in the city."
Lin Xiuqing frowned and thought about it, and felt that it was feasible, but she also felt that he was moving too fast. The big projects at home had not been completed yet, and he was thinking about going to the city