HPDBC Chapter 1392: Master Zhao Youcai
Chapter 1392: Master Zhao Youcai
Chapter 1392: Master Zhao Youcai
The cold wind was blowing in the threshing floor.
The militiamen in the brigade each carried a gun and stood facing the wind.
"Zhao Youcai!" the militia captain shouted, and Zhao Youcai stepped out from the crowd and roared in response: "Here!"
"Target shooting!" the militia captain ordered, and Zhao Youcai fell in front of the trench made of sandbags and placed the barrel of the gun on the sandbags.
"Clap! Clap! Clap..."
The sound of gunfire continued, hitting the 30-meter, 50-meter, 100-meter and 200-meter targets.
As Zhao Youcai put away his gun and stood up, he stood there straight. The sound of target announcements came from afar: "All hit the bull's-eye at 30 meters! All hit the bull's-eye at 50 meters! All hit the bull's-eye at 100 meters! All hit the bull's-eye at 200 meters!"
"Wow..." Led by the militia captain, all the militiamen applauded Zhao Youcai together, and the applause was thunderous.
Zhao Youcai stood in the cold wind, his face expressionless with the corners of his mouth slightly raised.
After the applause died down, the team strangely disbanded. At this time, Li Dayong, Wang Qiang, Han Dachun and others gathered around Zhao Youcai. Li Dayong was the first to say, "Brother, when the animals come down from the mountain tonight, our village depends on you."
Hearing what Li Dayong said, Zhao Youcai was very excited. He deliberately carried his gun and found a hidden place outside the village, waiting for the so-called mountain animals to come down the mountain.
Until the sun set, countless birds of prey and beasts appeared in Zhao Youcai's sight.
Goshawk, golden eagle, Siberian tiger, brown bear, black bear, An Dahan...
Zhao Youcai picked up his hunting rifle, put it on the Kabala of a small poplar tree, aimed at a Siberian tiger and was about to shoot. The small poplar tree broke instantly, and Zhao Youcai fell forward.
This made Zhao Youcai dizzy and he was suddenly awakened from his sleep.
"Uh..." Zhao Youcai raised his head and moved back, lying back on the pillow. At this moment, he realized that the scene and picture just now were all dreams.
For Zhao Youcai, this was a beautiful dream. But the only flaw was that he woke up just when he was dreaming about killing everyone.
Zhao Youcai quickly closed his eyes, trying to fall asleep and continue his dream, but the more he thought about the scene in his dream, the more energetic he became.
"I'll stay at home for two days, then I'll go up the mountain." Zhao Youcai thought to himself, "It just so happens that the kid is not at home, but the dogs are at home. I'll stay with these dogs for a few days. I can't take care of too many dogs at a time, so I'll just take four or five.
Hey, I catch four or five today, and four or five tomorrow. It’s not tiring to take care of the dogs like this, and I can still catch them every day.”
The more Zhao Youcai thought about it, the more beautiful it seemed, and the more he couldn't sleep.
He took out a flashlight from beside the pillow, turned it on and shone it on the clock on the wall. Seeing that it was half past four, Zhao Youcai sat up, quietly took the cotton jacket that was pressing on the quilt, and put it on.
After getting dressed and getting off the kang, Zhao Youcai went out to the outer room, first picked up firewood to light the stove, and then boiled a large pot of water.
When the water is not boiling, scoop out a handful of water, pour it into the washbasin and add cold water to wash your face.
After washing up, Zhao Youcai poured the boiled water into the thermos, and then he boiled another pot of water to feed the dog.
When Zhao Jun and Wang Meilan woke up, Zhao Youcai had finished feeding the dog.
The mother and daughter came out of the house and saw Zhao Youcai kneading dough in front of the working board.
"What time did you get up?" Wang Meilan asked Zhao Youcai, "I didn't even know you got up."
Zhao Youcai turned around and smiled at Wang Meilan, saying, "If you don't make noise, you must be tired. I'll think about getting up and preparing dinner."
"Oh." Wang Meilan was very touched when she heard that. Then she saw Zhao Youcai raised his elbow and gestured to the side, saying, "I've filled the kettle with hot water. You and your mother should wash your faces. I'll prepare the meal right away."
"Mom, you go wash first." Zhao Jun said to Wang Meilan, "I'm going to go to the toilet."
"Son." Just as Zhao Jun finished speaking, he heard Zhao Youcai calling him, "Dad will give you some money later. Go to the store and buy something."
"Ah?" Zhao Jun was stunned, thinking that he was still asleep and had heard something wrong, so he asked Zhao Youcai, "Dad, what did you say?"
"Aren't you leaving tomorrow?" Zhao Youcai said again, "Today is Sunday, and the workers in the factory are on vacation. Buy two cans of food and go see your uncle Ma. You're leaving, why don't you tell Ling'er?"
Even if Zhao Youcai didn't say it, Zhao Jun would go to see Ma Ling today, but he didn't expect to visit her just to buy things.
"Go ahead, son." Wang Meilan said, "Listen to your dad. It won't cost much to buy a few things."
"Okay, Mom... Dad." Zhao Jun felt something was wrong as soon as he opened his mouth, so he quickly added Zhao Youcai, and then said with a smile: "I'll listen to you."
After saying that, Zhao Jun went out clutching the toilet paper.
After Zhao Jun left, Wang Meilan looked at Zhao Youcai with a smile and said, "This father is really competent."
"Oh my!" Zhao Youcai sighed and said, "What should I do? I only have this one son. If not for him, who should I do for?"
Zhao Youcai's words left Wang Meilan speechless. To avoid embarrassment, Wang Meilan turned around with the thermos bottle to get some water and wash up.
The wild boar ribs left over from yesterday are stewed together with the vermicelli that has been soaked in advance, and white flour buns are steamed in a steamer on top.
The leftover vermicelli will just clum up and be inedible.
So Wang Meilan called the two little girls to eat. The family of five had breakfast happily.
Zhao Youcai put down his chopsticks, wiped his mouth, and asked Wang Meilan, "Lan, is there any work for me to do today?"
"Oh, if you hadn't mentioned it, I wouldn't have been able to say it." Wang Meilan smiled and said to Zhao Youcai, "Dad, you've had a hard time today."
"What's the matter?" Zhao Youcai asked. Wang Meilan said, "After dinner, I'll make you some tea. When the guests come to visit, or if they come to our house to sell goods, you can chat with them. Check their hides, their bear gallbladders, etc. If there's no problem, I'll pay them."
As she spoke, Wang Meilan took a small book from the side, opened it, folded the page, handed it to Zhao Youcai and said, "Just look at this for him. It has everything, including the type of leather, mother and child, and the price."
Zhao Youcai took the notebook, looked at it, and said, "That's easy. I know what's going on."
Although Zhao Youcai does not engage in business, he is a member of the industry. He can also learn about the market conditions of various hides and skins this year by chatting with people.
An amateur like Wang Meilan has to remember these numbers, but Zhao Youcai doesn't need to, because he knows all of them in his mind.
After closing the notebook, Zhao Youcai stared at Wang Meilan.
Wang Meilan was a little confused. She stared at Zhao Youcai blankly and asked, "What's wrong? Why are you looking at me like that?"
"Where's the money?" Zhao Youcai asked. Wang Meilan was confused and asked back, "What money?"
"What money?" Zhao Youcai tapped the tabletop with his fingers and said, "The money for the hides? If you don't give me money, how can I collect it?"
"Ah..." Wang Meilan responded and smiled, "Don't worry about the money. Once the price is decided, call me and I'll come over from the west room. When I'm done, I'll take the leather away and give him the money in return."
"Right." Zhao Jun continued, "We can't let them see where we got the money from."
Zhao Youcai heard this and felt that it made sense. At this time, the three Li family members came together.
"Brother." As soon as Li Dayong entered the room, he asked Zhao Youcai, "Where are we going for a stroll today?"
As soon as Li Dayong said this, Zhao Youcai winked at him.
Li Dayong was startled, and then he heard Zhao Youcai say: "How can you have time to stroll around? I will be collecting hides at home today, so let your sister-in-law and Qiangzi take a break."
As the old saying goes, it will take several days to pretend.
Today is Zhao Youcai’s first day on the job, so he must perform well.
"Ah..." After hearing what Zhao Youcai said, Li Dayong said, "Brother, sister-in-law, I'm going to take a break today too. What do you think I should do?"
"Dayong." Wang Meilan said to Li Dayong, "Today, you and Shunzi will grind 300 kilograms of rice. After that, we will keep 100 kilograms for ourselves, and give the other 200 kilograms to Uncle Zhao."
"Ah... OK, sister-in-law." Li Dayong responded, "Then I'll go in a moment."
After saying that, Li Dayong looked at Zhao Jun and Li Baoyu standing beside him.
Seeing this, Zhao Jun hurriedly said to Li Dayong, "Uncle, my father told me to buy some things and go to my uncle Ma's house. We are leaving tomorrow. Does that mean Baoyu can't go to Teacher Liu's house as well?"
Hearing what Zhao Jun said, Li Dayong blinked his eyes, then looked at Li Baoyu and said, "Then go ahead and buy two cans of food and two bottles of wine."
As soon as Li Dayong finished speaking, there was a sound of dogs barking outside the house. Wang Meilan stood up and looked out the window.
"Oh my god, someone is coming!" Wang Meilan said, picking up Zhao Na who was standing beside her, and then said to Zhao Youcai, "His father, please entertain him!"
After that, Wang Meilan carried the child to the west room, and Zhao Jun followed closely behind with Zhao Hong in his arms. Finally, Li Baoyu pulled Li Ruhai, and in an instant, only Zhao Youcai and Li Dayong were left in the room, staring at each other.
"Brother, sit down and I'll go out and take a look." Zhao Youcai said, then stood up and walked out of the house.
After a while, Zhao Youcai came to the front of the house with a man.
Zhao Jun, who was leaning against the window in the west room, asked Wang Meilan, "Mom, who is this?"
"I don't know him." Wang Meilan shook her head and asked Li Ruhai, "Ruhai, don't you know him?"
Although Li Ruhai is young, he has a wide range of social contacts. It can be said that he knows almost everyone Wang Meilan knows, but Wang Meilan may not know everyone he knows.
"I don't know him." Li Ruhai also shook his head and said, "It seems he is not from our area."
While a few people were whispering, Zhao Youcai had already welcomed the man into the east room.
As soon as they entered the room, Zhao Youcai led the man and said to Li Dayong, "Dayong, do you have any impression of this?"
"Oh my..." Li Dayong raised his hand and pointed at the man, frowning and asked, "Is it Brother Zhao San?"
"Yes, Dayong still recognizes me?" Zhao San said with a smile: "How many years have we not seen each other?"
"Oh my." Li Dayong tilted his head and smiled, "That must have been fifteen or sixteen years, right?"
"It's serious now." Zhao San said with a smile. Zhao Youcai stretched out his hand and said, "Come on, San Ge, get on the kang, get on the kang."
Zhao San sat on the kang, and Li Dayong sat on the four-legged stool on the ground. At this time, Zhao Youcai took a teacup from the table against the wall, opened the thermos and poured tea into the teacup.
There were always people coming to the house every day, so it was not possible to make tea every time someone came. So Wang Meilan simply used a thermos to make tea. When someone came, she would pour the tea directly out.
"Come here, Third Brother." Zhao Youcai handed the teacup to Zhao San and said, "Drink some hot water to warm yourself up."
"Okay, Youcai, stop working." Zhao San took the teacup and put it on the table, then rubbed his hands together. It was quite cold to go out early in the morning.
"Brother Zhao San." At this time, Li Dayong asked Zhao San, "Where are you from?"
"From home, brother." Zhao San said. Zhao Youcai was surprised and said, "From Zhaojiaying? More than 30 miles away? Have you eaten?"
"I ate it, I ate it." Zhao San took off the dog-skin hat on his head and put it aside, then said to Zhao Youcai: "I heard that your family collects hides. Thirty-six miles away, that's better than me going down the mountain."
"Not really." Zhao Youcai took the small basket of tobacco leaves, handed it to Zhao San and asked, "Brother San, I haven't seen you for many years. I don't know how your family is doing."
"Oh, that's it." Zhao San replied with a wry smile, then he grabbed the triangular bag beside him, untied the bag strap, and handed it to Zhao Youcai and said, "Youcai, take a look at this yellow leaf for Brother San and keep it."
Zhao Youcai took the bag, took out all the yellow leaf leather rolls inside, and unfolded them one by one.
While he was inspecting the hides, Zhao San and Li Dayong rolled cigarettes, smoked and chatted.
Zhao Youcai checked carefully and said to Zhao San, "Brother San, there are fourteen yellow leaves in total, eight male and six female, right?"
"Yes, yes." Zhao San nodded repeatedly, and then heard Zhao Youcai say: "Now we collect this, 38 for males and 28 for females."
"You are rich." Zhao San asked Zhao Youcai in surprise, "Your family buys hides at the same price as the supply and marketing cooperative, can you make money?"
"Oh, my." Zhao Youcai said with a smile, "If you can't make any money, just make less. Just work hard and make ten or eight cents. That's enough."
Hearing what Zhao Youcai said, Zhao San, who was smoking, said with emotion: "Then you don't make much money from this business?"
"It's enough to earn enough money for food and drink." Zhao Youcai said with a smile: "My son has grown up, and I think as an old man, I will help him if I can."
Zhao Youcai's words were not pretentious. No matter how profitable a business is, it cannot be said in a big way that it makes money.
Seeing that Zhao San had no objection to the price, Zhao Youcai asked Li Dayong to take the skins to the west room, then took out four hundred and seventy-two yuan and handed it to Zhao San.
Zhao San took the money and smiled happily.
The business was done, but Zhao San didn't leave. He left home at 5:30 in the morning and was frozen all the way. He sat on the kang in Zhao's house and chatted with Zhao Youcai and Li Dayong for nearly an hour before he got up and said goodbye.
Seeing Zhao Youcai and Li Dayong escorting Zhao San out, Wang Meilan said to Zhao Jun and Li Baoyu, "You two should leave quickly, or someone else will come soon."
Zhao Jun, Li Baoyu and Li Ruhai slipped out of Zhao's house and went to Wang Fu's store together.
When he got to the grocery store, Zhao Jun bought two bottles of canned peaches, a bottle of Shanhebai, and a bag of caozi cakes.
Li Baoyu did the same thing. After they finished shopping, they came out of the grocery store and left Li Ruhai to chat with the group of old men and women.
Zhao Jun separated from Li Baoyu halfway and walked towards Ma Ling's house alone. As he walked, Zhao Jun suddenly saw Ma Ling arguing with a man.
At this time, Ma Ling also saw Zhao Jun, and she quickly let go of the man's arm.
Zhao Jun took a few quick steps, came up to the man, and greeted him, "Uncle Ma."
I will update tomorrow night. I will try to update every two days.
(End of this chapter)