rebirth from small pockets

Chapter 3 Mission and Pig Head Meat (please invest in collection)

After exiting the gate of the grain station, there is a road outside.

Uh. It's not a cement road, not even an asphalt road.

This is actually a country road made of stone and soil.

On this road, when it rains, any car with a lower chassis will 100% crash on it.

At this moment, due to the white rain before, there was already some water in some potholes on the road, which forced Chen Li to always pay attention to his steps.

On the other side of the road is the Erlong River, which is where Wei Laoer wanted to go fishing.

At this moment, there seemed to be many people fishing in the Erlong River. It was obvious that these people were not affected by the white rain just now.

After all, for fishermen, what does it mean if it’s just a white rain?

In the shallower section of the river not far away, there are several naked children playing in the water. In the dialect of Erlong, this is called a board bath.

After walking through this section, there is a muddy road of more than 100 meters, which is considered to be the streets of Erlong Town.

There are only two streets in the entire Erlong Town.

An old street and a new street.

Chen Li did not go to the old street, but walked directly towards the new street.

Xin Street and Old Street are actually two parallel roads, but Old Street is relatively narrow, while Xin Street is actually just a section of road.

In the past few years, the old street was actually fine, but as more and more people did business, the old street gradually could not meet the needs of these people, so some people began to occupy the streets on both sides of the road.

Especially on market days, this section of the road will be surrounded by farmers who come to the town to sell fruits and vegetables and small vendors selling other commodities. Over time, this section of the road is also called New Street.

Today is not a day to go to the market, so there are actually no people on Xinjie.

On non-market days, almost all of Erlong Town’s “business” is concentrated on the old street.

However, there are exceptions. For example, the braised vegetable stall that Chen Li is going to right now.

There are actually braised vegetables sold in the old street, but the taste is not as good as this one. More importantly, this braised vegetable stall in Xinjiekou looks more hygienic.

"Uncle Deng, cut me a piece of pork head that costs five yuan."

"Okay! Oh, it's Xiaoli! Please add more coriander and chili oil, right?"

Uncle Deng, the owner of the braised vegetable stall, first agreed, and then he recognized Chen Li.

It was obvious that Uncle Deng also knew Chen Li very well, as "someone else's child."

In fact, most people in Erlong Town know each other, and it's basically just a matter of familiarity or unfamiliarity.

Skillfully cut the meat, weigh it, then cut the meat again, add minced garlic, sesame oil, chili oil, coriander and other seasonings, mix well, and a cold pork head is ready.

"Thanks!"

"No thank you, no thank you. Xiaoli is still sensible and polite."

Chen Li took out five yuan, took the plastic bag handed over by Uncle Deng, and turned around to go home.

He actually prefers to eat cold pig ears, but unfortunately pig ears are more expensive than pig head meat. Today, his money is a bit "tight", so he has no choice.

Even though the pork head only cost 5 yuan, the pork in Erlong Town in 1997 was only 3 yuan per pound, so the 5 yuan pork head was actually quite a lot.

After all, it's not like we're using this thing for food, it's just to improve the food.

Chen Li was holding a plastic bag and had just walked through the old street when he heard a shout from behind.

"Qiang baby~! Come back for dinner~!"

Chen Li couldn't help but raise his hand and poke his ear. This is probably the legendary "communication basically depends on roaring"!

Okay, this is just a joke. Even if Erlong Town is not very developed today, this was 1997 after all, so it is not that backward.

Chen Li knew by the sound of her voice that the person shouting was Mrs. Wang (aunt) who sold clothes in the old street, and the Qiangwa she mentioned was her son who had just entered the first grade of junior high school.

Chen Li was about to continue home, but suddenly he was stunned. The mission came.

"Ding dong~!"

"Task: (Find someone)"

"Task description: Poor parents in the world, please help Wang Chunhua find her son."

"Task reward: Huaxia coins (2 yuan)"

"Do you want to receive it?"

There was no need to hesitate. Chen Li accepted the task directly, then turned and walked towards Concubine Wang who was about to shout again.

"Ms. Wang, Qiang is taking a bath over there in the water pump room! He can't hear you if you shout here."

After getting closer, Chen Li lowered his voice so low that only Mrs. Wang could hear it.

"What? Sun Qiang, the bastard, went to the river to take a bath again. I have to beat your ass to pieces today."

Chen Li was not thanked for his "snitching" behavior, because after hearing what Chen Li said, Concubine Wang directly picked up the clothes drying pole in the store and ran towards the Erlong River.

However, Chen Li knew very well that although he did not receive any thanks, his favorability with Concubine Wang had actually increased.

In this way, Mrs. Wang might make less money when she buys clothes in the future.

It's just that one drink and one peck increased the favorability here. Chen Li's favorability with Sun Qiang will naturally decrease. However, Chen Li doesn't care about this.

Sun Qiang is just a kid in the first grade of junior high school, and his threat to him is almost zero.

And now that the system is about to be upgraded, no one can stop Chen Li from completing tasks.

Chen Li had done statistics in a notebook before. Since the system was upgraded to two yuan, he has completed 297 tasks.

The tasks themselves are not that difficult, they are almost all trivial things.

However, the time span of these 297 tasks exceeds one year, which is less than one task per day on average.

If Chen Li's estimate is correct, once the number of tasks he completes reaches 300, the experience required for system upgrade should be full.

Today, Chen Li took on two tasks in one day. Not only did Chen Li earn four yuan, but the key point was that he was one step closer to the day when the system would be upgraded.

This made Chen Li feel happy instantly, and even his steps home seemed a little more brisk.

"We, the common people, are really happy today. We, the common people, are really happy today. Hey, happy!"

In addition to being overjoyed, Chen Li couldn't help but hum this little song that he didn't know if it had been released yet.

Returning from the original route and just reaching the gate of the grain station, Chen Li heard the voice of Madam Wang again, but it was also mixed with the cry of a child.

Uh. The singing in Chen Li's mouth stopped instantly, and he changed from walking to running, and ran directly into the gate of the grain station without even paying attention to the sound of mission accomplished that sounded in his mind at this moment.

He didn't want to run into Concubine Wang and his son now. If Concubine Wang said thank you again then, wouldn't Sun Qiang, that little brat, still remember him?

Although Sun Qiang, a child who has just entered the first grade of junior high school, does not pose much of a threat to him, but things like informing should be avoided if possible.

Chen Li is what everyone calls "other people's children", and he still cares about reputation.

After entering the gate of the grain station, Chen Li returned home carrying a bag containing pig head meat. But before he entered the house, he saw Chen Xue who had just returned from school.

"Brother, what are you doing? Are you buying pork head meat again?"

The sharp-eyed Chen Xue saw the plastic bag in Chen Li's hand at a glance, and couldn't help but swallow while speaking.

"Hmm~ You can eat more later."

Chen Li touched his sister's little head, but felt a little emotional in his heart.

Hey~! Look at how hard this kid has been holding himself in. Seeing the pork head meat looks like some kind of delicacy from the mountains and seas.

But this is not because Chen's father and Chen's mother are stingy. The Chen family's life is pretty good, but Chen Xue still has relatively few opportunities to eat braised vegetables.

Generally speaking, if it is not a special occasion or a visitor at home, Chen’s father and Chen’s mother will definitely not go to the stewed vegetable stall to buy food.

It’s not that I can’t afford it, it’s that I don’t have much chance to eat it.

In the opinion of Chen's father and Chen's mother, spending money to buy braised pork is better than cutting a pound of meat and frying it at home.

One pound of meat is enough to feed four members of the Chen family for two days.

The Chen family's eating habits are quite regular now. Breakfast is porridge and kimchi, and Chen Li and Chen Xue each have two boiled eggs.

Lunch is considered a main meal, and usually consists of two dishes, one meat and one vegetarian, or one meat and one soup.

If you are making meatball soup or meatball soup, then it is one soup and one vegetable dish.

For dinner, most of the time it is noodles. Chen Li and Chen Xue each also have a fried golden egg.

Don't think that such a diet is simple. Although the living conditions of the Chen family are not good in Erlong Town, they can still be regarded as above average.

You must know that these days, even those residents of Erlong Town with urban household registration, not everyone can eat meat and fish every day.

"Mom, I brought back some pork head meat."

Chen Xue took the plastic bag from Chen Li's hand and skipped towards the Chen family's kitchen.

But as soon as she entered the kitchen, Mother Chen's voice came from the kitchen.

"Buying these things again, what's so delicious about this pig head meat?"

"I told your child not to spend money carelessly, but you bought so much pork head meat in the blink of an eye. I think you want to get beaten."

As his mother walked out of the kitchen with a plastic bag in one hand and a spatula in the other, Chen Li couldn't help but shrink his neck.

However, he is not too worried that his mother will beat him. After all, Chen Li has basically never been beaten since he was reborn.

Not only did he not get beaten, he even became what other parents called "other people's children."

But he was really afraid of his mother's nagging. If Chen Li didn't give an explanation, he might not be able to eat a clean meal at noon today.

"Mom, didn't we get caught in the rain when we were harvesting grain in Baiyu?"

"I thought dad would definitely drink at noon today, so I bought this as a snack for dad."

"And I didn't buy much. I just bought pork head for three yuan."

"Look, there are two pieces left!"

Chen Li took out the two yuan mission reward from his pocket and waved it in front of his mother.

"Three dollars?"

Wang Dongmei weighed the weight in the plastic bag in her hand and nodded.

"Bought it from Lao Deng again? Your Uncle Deng is quite honest in business."

"Unlike Zhang Mazi from Old Street, if you go to his house to buy braised vegetables, you will definitely be short of money."

"But don't spend money randomly in the future, otherwise I won't give you any pocket money in the future."

Wang Dongmei said something fierce, but she was actually quite satisfied with her son.

Chen Li gave his son a total of five yuan before, but Chen Li did not spend it himself, but chose to add food to the family.

For example, compared with those children who took their pocket money and went to the arcade to spend it, her son's performance was quite satisfactory to her.

"Hey, I got it!"

"Mom, give me the pig head meat, and I'll put it on the plate!"

Chen Li nodded quickly, knowing that he wouldn't have to be nagged by his mother for lunch today!

(End of chapter)