Chapter 1470

The mountain road was not easy to walk, one foot deep and one foot shallow, a section of uphill, a section of downhill. Those who hadn't walked it couldn't adapt, didn't have the technique, and didn't know how to distribute physical strength.

Old Liu and the others were people who had grown up walking mountain roads, their legs moved quite fast, walking fast and steadily, and even had plenty of energy to talk and laugh.

And the objects of their talking and laughing were naturally the newly arrived educated youth.

"Go back, Linping hasn't arrived yet, you can't keep up, there are still dozens of miles, by the time you get there, it will be noon, and you won't be able to walk after resting."

Old Liu persuaded the female educated youth to give up this immature idea, "Adapt first, walk more and it will be fine, that's not something that can be achieved in one bite, if you insist on walking, you will walk and hurt yourselves, in this poor place, the county hospital can't treat illnesses well, and it costs a lot of money."

The female educated youth gasped for air, sweating all over, looked up at the sky, it was only a fish-belly white dawn.

Qin Ling slowed down and said: "Let's just get to Linping today, we're already here, we have to carry a few buckets of water back."

So Old Liu and the others didn't persuade them anymore. Fetching water was something that should be done. After all, eating water was so difficult, they couldn't let the people in the brigade raise these educated youth every day. Their own families also needed water, so they couldn't take care of these educated youth.

The team continued to move forward, and the female educated youth knew that Linping wasn't far away, so they walked with strength. Not long after, they arrived.

The meaning of the word "Ping" can be seen from the character, meaning flat land. Linping was a village built on flat land. According to Old Liu, life in Linping was much better than in Baidian Village. The terrain here was better, and water usage was more convenient, so naturally, there was much more harvest from planting.

Linping had two wells, one for their own use, and one for nearby brigades to come and fetch water. Half of the water and water usage problems of the nearby twenty miles were solved here.

So even though Wang Yan and the others set off very early, when they arrived here, the area around the well was already very lively, all people coming to fetch water from nearby.

Some were carrying water, some were driving donkey carts, with large water tanks on the carts, and a circle of water buckets hanging around the carts. There were also people who looked quite wealthy, using bicycles to carry water.

Old Liu knew many people, and it had been these people for decades, so he had to know them. Everyone greeted each other with laughter when they met. Poor, hungry, but it didn't delay them from telling dirty jokes when they met, which could be considered finding joy in bitterness.

Besides those living here, there were many people who looked like educated youth following. Because only these people were shouting about bitterness and fatigue, with faces of wanting to die.

When everyone met, they cried together.

Wang Yan didn't chat with them, followed Old Liu to put the carrying poles and water buckets at an acquaintance's house, then said goodbye to Qin Ling, Tian Fang, and other female educated youth, and followed Old Liu to the county with their letters and the eight-cent postage for ordinary mail.

Along the way, from time to time, one could see groups of people walking fast, and occasionally one could see donkey carts. Of course, there were also educated youth like Wang Yan's trio going to the county to see the big market. Even among them, there were female educated youth, but relatively speaking, there were too few compared to male educated youth.

Old Liu and the others walked, and met acquaintances all the way, greeting each other with laughter.

"Really lively, we haven't even reached the county seat and we've seen so many people, the county seat must be crowded with people." Yu Ming sighed.

Old Liu laughed: "Usually there aren't so many people, this is because it's the end of the year, tired for a year, we must have a good New Year."

"That's the truth." Li Kuiyong nodded.

The crowd didn't stop, walking with big strides. Wang Yan wasn't doing nothing, he asked Old Liu about many situations.

"Old Liu, I heard that the communes below are all doing sideline businesses, what does our commune do? Does our brigade have any sideline businesses?"

"Our commune is poor, but there is a coal mine, and an iron mine. The mines belong to the county, our commune digs them out and earns some hard-earned money. In addition, our commune also plants tobacco leaves. Besides selling them to the cigarette factory in the city, we can also keep some. Our commune's dry tobacco is selling quite well, people in the county all love to smoke it."

"That's all?"

"Yeah!" Old Liu looked at Wang Yan in confusion, "What else do you want? This is already not bad."

Wang Yan asked with a smile: "I mean, didn't you do anything yourself and take it to the market to sell?"

The big market in the county was the mutual exchange of needs between various communes, plus some things produced in the city, daily necessities like firewood, rice, oil, salt, sauce, vinegar, tea, hardware, sugar, cloth, cotton, etc. These were what were used for daily life, and there was nothing else necessary.

And besides the necessary ones, the non-necessary things were destined to be things that the hardworking farmers could afford but were reluctant to buy.

"Yes." Old Liu nodded, "Linping has wine brewed from red sorghum, people in the county love to drink it, their brigade earns quite a lot."

Seeing Wang Yan waiting for the rest, Old Liu shook his head: "Nothing else. This is already not bad. Think about it, Comrade Wang, we are poor here, people are hungry, how can there be other output? Who can afford it if there is output? And there's no use for anything.

You tell me, wearing shoes, the wife at home will make them, clothes, tear a few feet of cloth and sew them at home, just buy some soy sauce, salt, buy sugar balls for the kids at home, that's it. If you have money, buy meat, nothing is as fragrant as eating meat."

Wang Yan nodded and didn't speak again.

Old Liu continued: "Comrade Wang, you have skills, you won't starve anywhere."

"That's true, Brother Liu, don't think my Brother Yan only knows carpentry, he knows a lot."

"What else can he do?"

Li Kuiyong said: "Not to mention anything else, just say chef, my Brother Yan is also a proper master chef, much better than the chefs in the state-run restaurant. My Brother Yan's partner, my sister-in-law, also said that my Brother Yan's skills are not even worse than the Beijing Hotel. I don't know if it's true or not. If it's true, that's amazing. The Beijing Hotel is where leaders go, and where foreign guests are entertained.

But true or false, my Brother Yan's skills are beyond words, that's what it means to be unafraid anywhere in the world. If you have anything to do, like weddings or funerals, you can find my Brother Yan to handle it, I guarantee to arrange it clearly for you."

Li Kuiyong spared no effort in bragging about his good brother. When he talked about it, he was very proud, as if he was the one with those skills.

Li Kuiyong was also someone who loved to brag. Wang Yan could imagine him going out to drink with others, opening his mouth and saying how his brother was, but unlike others, Wang Yan lived up to the bragging Li Kuiyong gave him.

Facing Old Liu's suspicious look, Wang Yan nodded with a smile: "My parents left early, I learned to cook early, and I'm greedy, so I pondered more, and also asked some masters for advice."

"You can also do the dishes here?"

"Basically, I can do dishes from all over the country." Wang Yan didn't humble himself, said with a smile, "If someone really has a wedding or funeral at home, I can also help. I don't want much, just let me eat some meat."

"Alright, then I'll keep an eye on it for you. I didn't expect you to know so much. It's just that we are too poor here, even if you have great ability, you can't display it."

"Why, it will always be better day by day. Looking back thirty years, the villagers' lives definitely weren't as good as now. Looking forward thirty years, I believe it will definitely be better than now."

"After all, you are an educated youth, your words are different, you have a level." Old Old Liu gave a thumbs up.

The crowd chatted and laughed, and finally arrived at Lin County seat around ten o'clock.

Just as Yu Ming said, it was really lively here. Especially in the east of the city, the area designated for the big market was truly crowded with people, noisy and extraordinary.

"Old Liu, you guys go buy things, we'll go to the post office to mail letters. Let's meet here at twelve o'clock, and I'll treat you to a drink then."

"Hey, you're not easy either, just..."

Wang Yan didn't hesitate, hammered his fist on his sheepskin jacket: "Let's go."

Watching Wang Yan and his trio go away, Old Liu said "Hey" and said to the fellow villagers beside him: "This melon-headed guy, doesn't know how to live..."

Wang Yan didn't know that Old Liu regarded him as a big fool, and didn't care, but was taking pictures everywhere with his camera. He first went to the post office, mailed the letters, and then strolled around the market.

There were many things sold in the market, all kinds of daily necessities, and other high-end things, such as bicycles, radios, watches, etc., as well as state-run stores, grocery stores, state-run restaurants, Xinhua bookstores, etc., all concentrated here.

Even if the urban planning and management at this time were just beginning to explore construction, the grassroots leaders naturally knew that the limited commerce had to be concentrated to stimulate consumption to the maximum.

Besides these state-run businesses, the rest were sideline groups from various communes in Lin County, selling shoe soles, brooms, and even back-scratchers, baskets, and all kinds of things, mostly handmade products.

In addition, there were some stalls selling food, wine, etc., which were very popular. Cigarettes and wine were boring pastimes, antidotes to life, and addictive consumer goods, and there were always people buying them.

And the stalls selling food were simple. They really sold meat!

Some stewed vegetables with shaved clean large bones, some made mutton soup with sheep offal, and the pot was floating with a thick layer of oil stars. No one could walk away when they saw it. The wine sellers were cunning, right next to the food stalls. Since you're eating meat, isn't it appropriate to drink some wine?

Looking from afar, Li Kuiyong was drooling. A group of people were eating and drinking, and smelling the fragrance, it really made people's index fingers move.

Wang Yan smiled: "Greedy?"

"Looks so fragrant." Li Kuiyong and Yu Ming nodded like pugs.

Yu Ming said: "Why don't we eat something here at noon?"

"Alright." Wang Yan didn't refuse. Although he couldn't be called greedy, he was happy to see it so lively and wanted to taste it too.

Immediately, it was click, take pictures, take pictures, all precious image records.

Just at this time, Li Kuiyong said "Hey" and gestured toward a corner not far away: "Brother Yan, look over there."

Wang Yan followed his gaze and saw a young man in his twenties, looking a bit hooligan-like, whispering to a middle-aged man.

Yu Ming also saw it and said in a low voice: "Probably ticket scalpers."

"No need to estimate, it must be." Li Kuiyong said firmly. If one had to say, he was very familiar with this. After all, he had observed for a long time, and had a clear grasp of the characteristics of these people who secretly scalped tickets, and could distinguish them at a glance.

"Brother Yan, what do you say?"

Listening to Li Kuiyong's eager words, Wang Yan glanced sideways: "It's not time yet, we are doing quite well now, we'll talk when we aren't doing well."

"Then I'll go meet them and get a clue?"

"Go."

Li Kuiyong walked over happily...

"Brother Yan, Dayong is..."

"Just exchanging for some local tickets. We have to live here for a long time, national tickets are strong, and we can exchange for quite a few local tickets here, it's quite suitable."

"Then I'll exchange some too." Yu Ming also followed.

Wang Yan didn't stop them, just took the camera and went everywhere to take pictures.

He was very bold, just blatantly, directly pointing at people's faces to take pictures. However, no one was disgusted. Curious people always asked if he was a reporter, and some even pulled him to take more pictures...

Just like that, taking pictures and looking, Wang Yan also had some understanding of this poor small county, and a "Lin County Investigation Report" had already been generated in his mind: how many state-run stores, restaurants, how many other shops, what they sold, what the prices were, etc., he had a rough count.

At the same time, Wang Yan was thinking about the villagers wanting to take pictures, so he found the photo studio, chatted with the people in the photo studio for a while, and solved the problem of enlarging photos by using the advantage of large quantity. Of course, it wasn't much cheaper, after all, it was state-run. But overall, it was still much cheaper than taking pictures here, developing and enlarging here.

Strolling around, it was almost noon. Wang Yan was taking pictures on one side, and going to the meeting place on the other. Just when he was half-squatting to take pictures, a young man bumped into him straight on, and even added force when he was about to bump into him.

However, the result didn't follow this person's wish. He didn't bump Wang Yan down, but instead fell to the ground himself as if he had bumped into a steel plate.

"Are you okay?" Wang Yan asked with concern.

"Nothing, nothing." The young man waved his hands repeatedly, climbed up and wanted to leave.

"Then I have something."

Wang Yan grabbed his collar, turned him around, and slapped him, sending him flying to the ground, then walked up and stepped on his ankle.

"Return my money."

"I don't understand... ah..."

This young man subconsciously wanted to argue, but Wang Yan directly added more force: "Give you three seconds, if you don't return the money, I'll break your leg. One, two..."

"Why are you hitting people?"

Just at this time, someone in the crowd that had quickly formed opened his mouth, "Looking at you, you're an educated youth from the capital, right? What's so great about you? Just arrived and bullying us?"

Wang Yan turned his head and glanced, then lifted his foot, kicked the person under his foot in the stomach, making him lose the ability to act, and then turned and rushed over in a few steps, grabbed the collar of the person who spoke, gathered energy in his arm, and actually threw the person up and smashed him to the ground, and then kicked this person in the stomach as well.

Wang Yan walked to the side of the thief earlier, continuing to step on his ankle: "I'll give you one more chance, one..."

"I'll return, I'll return, I'll return, okay?" The thief was beaten until he cried in pain. Seeing Wang Yan so irritable and having such combat power, he didn't dare to hesitate anymore.

Wang Yan took the wallet and gestured to the crowd watching the fun: "Comrades, you all saw it, right? This is a thief, and this one who confused the public is an accomplice. Excuse me, which one of you go call the police? I can also be considered as getting rid of a pest for our Lin County..."

?? Daily thanks to the good brothers who tipped, voted for monthly tickets, recommendation tickets, and silently read the book for their strong support!

? (End of chapter)