dkrc Chapter 8 The Scoundrel Donkey Egg
Chapter 8 The Scoundrel Donkey Egg
I made so much money on my first time selling fish.
The two brothers were very happy.
They drove the horse-drawn carriage back to the village, humming off-key tunes intermittently along the way.
It didn't snow this morning; the sun was shining brightly.
But the seemingly bright sunshine did not bring any warmth when it shone on me.
"Sigh, the sun in Inner Mongolia in winter is just for show, it's only good for lighting, it doesn't give any heat at all."
Li Xiangyang joked.
They left in a hurry in the morning and forgot to bring food. Their stomachs were growling with hunger, and the cold wind blowing on them while they were in the carriage made their teeth chatter.
He had just passed by the state-run restaurant and wanted to go in to buy two mutton buns to fill his stomach, but his brother stopped him.
It's all because he has a big mouth.
I shouldn't have told my brother; others will follow their example and fish to sell on the black market.
This made the older brother worry that he wouldn't be able to earn money later, so he was very careful with his money in order to raise the 50 yuan ranch rent as soon as possible.
I rarely go to the market, but I came back empty-handed without buying anything.
wrong,
There was also a bar of soap; I almost forgot about it.
Li Xiangyang reached into the hidden compartment of his coat and rummaged around to make sure the soap was still there.
He smiled.
By this time, soaps were already available on the market, with the well-known Shanghai "sulfur soap" having been launched in 1977.
But at this time,
Soap is still an extremely rare luxury in remote and underdeveloped pastoral areas, and herders mostly use plain water to wash their faces.
To wash your hair, you should either use wood ash water, yogurt water, or alkaline water.
Don't you say,
Although people didn't have shampoo back then, everyone had a thick, black head of hair.
Um……?
As soon as the carriage entered the courtyard, Li Chunsheng, the nephew, rushed out upon hearing the sound of the carriage. He was dressed very warmly, but his cheeks were still red from the cold.
Later generations called this "plateau red".
Actually, it has little to do with the high altitude; it's mainly caused by the dry, cold, and windy weather, coupled with strong ultraviolet radiation.
This can also happen in some plains areas.
Knowing they had gone to town that morning, the nephew, his eyes brimming with anticipation, approached the carriage, wiped his nose, and asked:
"Uncle, did you bring anything back...?"
Seeing his son's lack of manners—asking for things as soon as he walked in the door—Li Xiangdong was about to scold him when Li Xiangyang interrupted him before he could even speak.
Li Xiangyang took out a bar of soap from his pocket, cut it in half, and held it to his nose, asking:
"Smell it, doesn't it smell good?"
"Mmm, it smells amazing! Uncle... can I eat this?"
"You can't eat it, but you can trade it with your grandma for candy. Take it inside."
"Okay, Mom, Mom, give me candy."
Upon hearing that he could exchange the soap for candy with his mother, the nephew, holding the soap in both hands, skipped and hopped back into the house to find his mother.
"Brother, that was given to you by someone else. You can keep it for Xiulan. You don't need to share it with your sister-in-law."
Li Xiangdong was a little embarrassed.
"Brother, we're all family, so there's no need to be so formal. Besides, you helped me by giving them the fish."
At this moment, his wife, mother, and sister-in-law also came out upon hearing the noise, looking expectantly at the two brothers.
"Come on, let's go inside and talk."
Li Xiangyang knew what they were expecting, so he gave a shout, and everyone rushed into the central room.
Li Xiangdong looked around to make sure no one was outside before locking the gate and going inside.
As soon as they entered the house, everyone stared intently at Li Xiangyang. At this moment, his father also propped himself up against the earthen wall.
"Hey you two brothers, how did the fish sales go this morning?"
"That's all there is to it."
Li Xiangyang said casually, patting a wad of coins from his pocket onto the kang (a heated brick bed).
"Here's all the money from the sale, count it."
As expected, everyone reacted in the same way Li Xiangdong had in the morning, shocked to see the large stack of small bills on the kang (a heated brick bed).
"I'll count them."
Zhao Lijuan volunteered and went to the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed) to count the money.
「1毛，5毛，1块2……9块……」
The more I counted, the more my hands shook.
Suspecting he had miscounted, he counted four more times before finally speaking in a trembling voice.
"Dad, here's 10.5 yuan."
"Well... those fish, they can sell for that much money?"
Li Zhenshan was greatly surprised and even stammered a bit when he spoke.
10.5 yuan!
In pastoral areas, being able to buy a 17-pound lamb is equivalent to 20 days' wages for an ordinary herder. How could anyone not be excited?
Just as the whole family was still immersed in joy, the gate of the courtyard was suddenly pounded with a deafening sound.
dong dong...
Knock knock knock…
"Is Xiangyang there? Open the door, it's me, Donkey Egg."
scoundrel Donkey Egg?
Upon hearing the name, everyone's faces immediately darkened, and their previous excitement vanished instantly.
Li Xiangdong even grabbed a broom and was about to go out and chase people away.
Donkey Egg is a notorious troublemaker in the village.
In their minds, Li Xiangyang's lazy and gluttonous nature was a result of learning from Donkey Egg, and now that Li Xiangyang has finally changed for the better, they don't want him to lead them astray again.
"Brother, don't get agitated. I'll go out and deal with him for a bit and then I'll be right back."
Hearing that Li Xiangyang was going to go out to see Donkey Egg again, Li Zhenshan, who was sitting on the kang (a heated brick bed), became anxious and angrily said:
"You better come right back. If you dare to go out and mess around with that scoundrel Donkey Egg, I'll break your legs."
"Uh...no, Dad."
Li Xiangyang looked down at his two long, slender legs and felt quite helpless.
In his previous life, he ended up separated from his wife and children and living a lonely life because he spent all his time fooling around with Donkey Egg's gang.
Having been given a second chance at life, how could he possibly repeat the same mistakes?
and,
He remembered that in two years, when the crackdown on crime was in full swing, Donkey Egg and the others would all be going to have secure jobs.
We can't even avoid them.
As soon as I stepped out of the house, I saw Donkey Egg, dressed in a tattered cotton-padded jacket, standing on tiptoe and peering into the yard.
Feeling his privacy had been violated, Li Xiangyang was somewhat displeased and said coldly:
"Donkey Egg, what are you staring at here for? It's the middle of winter, why aren't you at home?"
"No, I wasn't looking at anything. Why are you locking the gate in broad daylight? And with the carriage harnessed, where did you go this morning?"
When Donkey Egg asked him this question, Li Xiangyang realized that it was rather strange that the courtyard gate was locked in broad daylight and that a horse-drawn carriage was still in the yard.
However, the commune's attitude towards villagers fishing in the river to sell is still unclear, and we can't let it be discovered at this critical juncture.
Diverting traffic:
"Oh, you mean the horse-drawn carriage? I was planning to go with my brother to find some firewood, but we couldn't find any. By the way, what exactly did you want to see me about?"
"Oh, okay, your brother can go find firewood. Come on, Da Mao and Tie Zhu are already at my house, waiting for you."
Seeing Li Xiangyang open the courtyard gate, Donkey Egg walked in nonchalantly, then put his arm around Li Xiangyang's shoulder and started to walk out.
"Hmm...? To your house?"
Li Xiangyang was a little confused for a moment, then he remembered that Donkey Egg was trying to take him gambling.
In his previous life, he also developed a gambling addiction during this period at Donkey Egg's house.
Because of his gambling addiction, a few years later he forced his wife and daughter to leave him forever.
Since God has given him a second chance at life, he absolutely cannot repeat the same mistakes.
Snapped!
Li Xiangyang forcefully slapped the donkey egg off his shoulder.
"I'm not going. Also, don't call me for anything like this again. I don't gamble."
Donkey Egg was stunned for a moment, not understanding what Li Xiangyang was up to. Usually, whenever he called, Li Xiangyang would happily follow him.
This was the first time Li Xiangyang had rejected her, and she was somewhat angry.
But he knew that Li Xiangyang was just like a child, and that he could be coaxed into being calm.
"Xiangyang, stop fooling around. Damao and Tiezhu are still waiting for you at my house. Come with me. They made something fun today, I'll take you to see it."
"Donkey Egg, are you deaf? The fun stuff you're talking about is nothing but things that ruin people's lives!"
"Get lost, you bastard, you ill-intentioned hillbilly."
Li Xiangyang unleashed a torrent of words, his tone resolute, his eyes filled with ruthlessness as he spoke.
If it weren't for Donkey Egg repeatedly trying to get him to gamble in his previous life, he wouldn't have ended up dying without a single family member by his side.
It's better not to associate with such deadly friends!
Enraged by Li Xiangyang's sudden change of attitude, Donkey Egg blushed and said:
"Fine, Li Ershazi, you've got guts. Don't ever come looking for us again."
After saying that, he angrily slammed the door and left.
As Donkey Egg walked back, he muttered to himself:
"Has Li Ershazi taken some kind of poison today? Or has he changed his personality? He's not even playing cards; he's gone to collect firewood with his brother first thing in the morning??"
His intuition told him that something was definitely fishy.
So he went back, thinking he could sneak a peek at what Li Xiangyang's family was up to.
Just as they reached the alley entrance,
really,
Seeing the two brothers, Li Xiangyang and Li Xiangdong, quietly leave the house pulling a sled.