My Courtyard Refuge

Fifteen The Last Going to the Countryside

At the end of January, the new year has just passed.

After breakfast, Xu Dong first drove the Coco sisters to the door of the dance class.

The school will be on winter vacation in mid-January.

After getting out of the car, Ke Ke hurriedly asked, “Dad, how long are you going to go out this time?”

“Father is going to buy you New Year’s gifts, and he will definitely be back before the New Year’s Eve.” Xu Dong comforted with a smile.

Lele raised her hand and said, “Dad, I want Princess Elsa’s doll.”

“I also want!”

“Okay, I’ll buy them all for you.” Xu Dong stroked the collars of the sisters, “However, you two have to listen to your mother at home and help grandma take care of your younger brothers. Can you do it?”

“Yes!” the two little sisters said in unison.

“So cute.”

Xu Dong kissed each other, and the two sisters reluctantly followed the tutor and left.

Back home, Yang Lina handed over the packed suitcase to Xu Dong, and said: “Drive slowly on the road, come back early.”

“Understood, this time I will walk around the suburbs to buy some new year’s goods, and I won’t go to Jizhou.”

Mama Xu came over and explained: “Buy as much native chicken and duck as possible, and also native geese. Don’t send them to your father. I don’t earn as much as I do.”

Of course Xu Dong couldn’t ask for it, so he quickly agreed.

…

Familiar with the road, Xu Dong went west along Fushi Road.

After passing Wangping Town and driving for half an hour, we arrived at the first destination of this trip, Liujia Village.

Liujia Village is located in the middle of the valley, surrounded by mountains. This is the poorest place in Yanjing.

This is not the first time Xu Dong has come here. As soon as the villagers saw him, they knew that Xiao Xu, who was not short of money, was here again.

“Xiao Xu, are you here to collect native chickens again?”

Next to the car, several aunts in their fifties and sixties seemed extremely enthusiastic.

“Yeah, isn’t it the Chinese New Year? Let’s take the last wave.” Xu Dong smiled and distributed a cigarette to each aunt, whether he smokes or not, and he must not favor one person over another.

A shrewd aunt suddenly said, “Xiao Xu, today is the twenty-fifth of the twelfth lunar month. What do you say about the price?”

“Usually it is forty-one catties, but now it is sixty-one catties. Again, I want free-range chickens. Don’t fool me with chickens that eat feed.”

Now rural people have learned to be smart. They buy large chickens for feed from the market, raise them at home for a month or two, and then sell them at the price of native chickens.

Xu Dong had suffered a lot before.

“Xiao Xu, don’t worry, we don’t just doHow can you lie to you once you do business? ”

Xu Dong smiled, and his tone slowed down: “I know this. We in Old Liu Village are all honest people, so I often come here to buy.”

“That’s the reason.” Everyone nodded.

“By the way, besides chicken, duck and geese, I will also accept hare and pork.”

Xu Dong paused for a moment, and continued to ask: “Is anyone going to kill a pig these two days? I will pay for all the pork.”

“Yes, my family will kill a pig tomorrow, and then I will buy all the meat for you.”

“Good thing, I’ll take thirty-one catties.”

The current pigs in rural areas are basically mixed with miscellaneous grains and feed. Coupled with the general drop in pork prices this year, the price is naturally not as good as that of native chickens.

“There are so many, then my family will kill them tomorrow.” Someone was moved immediately.

“It’s a pity that my family doesn’t raise pigs.”

Xu Dong clapped his palms to calm everyone down, and explained casually: “I’m going to collect two thousand catties of pork this time. If you want to sell it, hurry up and arrange to kill the pigs. I’ll be leaving after tomorrow.”

After hearing this, several aunts hurried home to find someone to kill the pig, or told relatives and neighbors the news.

In the evening, I lodged with a family, and Xu Dong gave 500 yuan including three meals.

The next day, he received a total of more than 50 chickens, 12 ducks, and a whole six slices of pork, with some pig feet and pig internal organs left.

Now that the economic conditions in rural areas are better, especially when their children have to come back for the New Year, few people will sell their own chickens and ducks, and even slaughtered pigs will save enough for the New Year.

After leaving Liujia Village, Xu Dong then went to Baodiwa Village next door. The mountain road here is even more difficult, and the mountain road is worthy of the name eighteen bends.

In Baodiwa Village the next day, Xu Dong received more than 20 chickens, seven ducks, two geese, three pieces of pork, and five rabbits.

Rabbits are raised by farmers themselves, and the price is not expensive.

Next, Xu Dong ran to the last village, Shangshuiyu Village, which he passed by on the way back.

The same price, the same process, except that Shangshuiyu Village is relatively large, and Xu Dong received a lot of goods this time.

Counting it down, there are about one hundred chickens, thirty ducks, eight geese, twenty rabbits, nine pieces of pork, and 80 catties of donkey meat.

This time, the small truck with a load of more than one ton was finally full.

In less than three hours, near lunch time, Xu Dong drove the truck all the way into his yard.

The two sisters, Ke Ke, were playing in the yard. When they saw the car coming in, they knew that it was their father who had returned.

“Dad, Dad, why did you come back? Tomorrow is the Chinese New Year.” Lele held her mouth and scolded.

Xu Dongshun picked up his little daughter and kissed her, “It’s my father’s fault, my father forgot the time.”

“Dad, have you bought Princess Elsa yet?” Coco’s eyes were full of expectation.

Xu Dong put down Lele, pretended to have forgotten, and lightly hit his head with his fist.

Seeing that the two girls were extremely nervous, Xu Dong finally satisfied his bad taste, and hurriedly took out two oversized gift boxes from the passenger seat of the pickup truck, and stuffed one for each of them.

“Thank you, Dad.”

The two sisters ran all the way to the living room, ready to find scissors to unwrap the wrapping paper.

Xu Ma walked to the rear of the car and asked Xu Dong directly, “How much did you charge?”

“I forgot how much I received, but it’s full anyway.”

After Xu Dong finished speaking, he opened the door of the carriage, and a gust of cold air rushed over his face.

I saw a neat pile of pork, chickens, ducks, geese and rabbits piled up all around, and there was a large piece of unidentifiable meat near the door.

Xu’s mother was almost dumbfounded, usually Xu Dong came back with only half a truckload of goods, and half of them were soil eggs, why did he stuff a whole truckload of meat this time.

“Why are there so many? Tomorrow is the Chinese New Year. Are they all sold out?” Xu Ma asked worriedly.

“What are you selling? This is pork slaughtered by private individuals. Without a quarantine stamp, it cannot be sold in convenience stores.” Xu Dong explained.

“Then you are an idiot, why did you buy so much?” Mama Xu yelled directly.

Xu Dong touched his nose and said with a “simple smile”, “Didn’t you always say you want to buy more?”

Anyway, it’s right to dump the pot!

Madam Xu choked for a moment, but couldn’t refute for a moment, she paused for a long time before saying:

“Even if you want to make air-dried meat, how can I do it all by myself?”

Xu Dong quickly patted his chest: “Mom, Nana and I will help you do it together.”

===Section 12===

“That can’t be finished!” Mama Xu said sadly.

“Don’t worry, there is a chainsaw at home, let’s use the chainsaw directly, it should be very fast.”

Mama Xu thought about it for a while, but she still felt a little unreliable, and considered whether to sell it to the dancers.

The so-called dancers are actually a square dance group in a nearby community, Xu Ma just joined last month.

Xu Dong naturally saw his mother’s hesitation, so he bewitched: “Mom, look at so much meat, if you make it into air-dried meat, how much money will you make?”

Mama Xu grinned, obviously heartbroken.