Chapter 155: Rural Absurd Past Events Chapter 155 First Pot of Gold

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Protagonist:

Li Xiulan

"We go up the mountain to dig Poria; now every so often someone comes into the village to buy Poria, five yuan a catty. I see some people in the village go dig, and in a day they can dig several dozen catties."

Wang Erhai said this.

Wang Xiaohua thought it over: five yuan a catty, if he just dug twenty catties a day that would be one hundred yuan, so a month would be three thousand yuan; summer vacation was nearly two months, so earning enough for orthodontics would be more than enough.

So he immediately grew eager to try:

"Then let's go dig right now!"

Wang Erhai was stunned:

"Go right now?"

Wang Xiaohua nodded: "Yes, go right now, act immediately!"

So the two brothers put on liberation shoes, put on straw hats, took hoes, machetes, snake skin bags, iron shovels and other tools, and went up the mountain that very day to dig Poria.

Poria grows in the mountains and wilds; its vines look very much like kudzu vines, and its tubers also look very similar; there is more kudzu in the mountains than Poria.

City people probably can't tell the difference between the two, but Wang Xiaohua and Wang Erhai have had experience going up the mountain since childhood, so distinguishing them isn't difficult.

The difficulty is digging out the Poria tubers.

Poria tubers grow deep in the soil, some even more than a meter underground.

The yellow clay on the mountain is very hard, and there are all kinds of tree roots crisscrossing; even an adult would find it not easy to dig a pit more than a meter deep on the mountain, let alone the two underage brothers Wang Erhai and Wang Xiaohua.

As a result, when they dug the first Poria plant, they were gasping for breath, exhausted.

It took over two hours before they finally saw the Poria tuber.

Yet this result could not give them the slightest joy, because this Poria plant's tuber was very small.

All dug out, it weighed less than one catty.

That day the two brothers kept digging until the sun set in the afternoon before they came down from the mountain.

When they returned they weighed the harvest; the result was just a bit over five catties.

Still far from the target of twenty catties a day.

This couldn't help but make the two brothers dejected.

"This is too hard to dig, dug all day and only got this little!"

Wang Erhai let out a long sigh.

For this bit of Poria, his palms had been rubbed raw with blisters.

Wang Xiaohua was also somewhat discouraged.

But right now for the two brothers, aside from digging Poria to earn a bit of money, there was no other way to earn money.

So he said:

"Second Brother, today it's because we have no experience that we dug so little; later we'll gradually accumulate experience and definitely be able to dig more."

Wang Erhai also felt Wang Xiaohua's words made sense.

So the next day at early morning, the two brothers rallied their spirits and went into the mountain again to dig Poria.

Li Xiulan saw this and felt happy in her heart, thinking the two children had become sensible, knew to earn money on their own.

Wang Zhanggen also showed a satisfied smile.

Poor people's children become heads of household early; they're actually not that young anymore, summer vacation can't be just about playing anymore; being able to take the initiative to earn money, that indeed is sensible.

But the couple never thought deeply: if Wang Xiaohua didn't have to worry about that bit of money, and could use such a long summer vacation to study high school knowledge in advance, what kind of scene would that be?

Can only say, poor families' children are not only poor in money; on them there are countless invisible shackles binding them, making them look precocious on the road of growth, but actually late to mature.

So-called maturity is not doing a bit of housework, earning a bit of pocket money; it is when facing real society and unknown future, being able to see through layers of fog, know society's essence, and make the choice most favorable to oneself.

Very clearly, clever as Wang Xiaohua is, he also cannot achieve this point.

Or rather, he might be able to see through this point, but cannot make the choice most favorable to himself.

He has already tried hard to fight for it; he wanted to sign up for an English tutoring class, but it came to nothing in the end; he wanted to correct that mouthful of ugly teeth, but got no support at all.

Actually he could always make the choice most favorable to himself, but there is always an invisible big hand obstructing him; this big hand comes from his parents, his family.

What a tragic thing this is, yet Li Xiulan and Wang Zhanggen take pride in it; under their suppression and restriction they make the child become so-called "sensible," trading long-term future for present benefit, yet they remain completely unaware.

Because they had yesterday's experience, today the two brothers' efficiency digging Poria up the mountain was indeed much higher.

Yesterday they couldn't tell which Poria tubers were larger; they dug whatever they saw, resulting in digging many small ones, labor wasted for little gain.

Today they summed up experience and discovered: the thicker the vine, the larger the Poria tuber tends to be.

So they only went for those with thick vines; the thin ones they didn't dig at all.

This day, the two brothers dug fewer Poria plants than yesterday, but the total weight of tubers dug out was more than double yesterday's!

In one day they actually dug fifteen catties!

Only five catties short of the twenty-catty target!

The two brothers carried snake skin bags down from the mountain; their mood was beautiful, just like the fiery red sunset clouds behind them; hard work finally exchanged for harvest, this positive feedback can give encouragement, give a pleasant feeling.

So although they were very tired, they felt it was all worth it.

Time flew by, over a week passed.

This day the medicine peddler who buys Poria entered the village.

Wang Erhai and Wang Xiaohua took the dug Poria to sell to the medicine peddler.

Besides the two brothers, there were also several villagers in the village who specialized in going up the mountain to dig Poria.

Villagers had long since been bringing their own Poria to the vegetable peddler to be weighed.

Wang Erhai and Wang Xiaohua were waiting in line.

"You two little kids, going to dig Poria too?"

He Dashu chuckled, revealing a mouthful of yellow teeth.

This large-age single man had previously been arrested by the police and locked up for a year and a half for partnering with an outsider to steal the construction materials Li Xiulan had placed outside the Village Entrance; now that he was out, he was much more honest, no longer stealing chickens or groping dogs, but instead going into the Mountain to deal in mountain goods to earn money.

These past few years he had also often gone to dig Poria.

Besides digging Poria, he also went to catch wild animals and cut timber.

Already in his old age, He Dashu still had to do heavy labor every day because his livelihood had no guarantee, but he also took joy in it, enjoying the moment; as soon as he had money, he would run to the Village's Gambling Den to gamble.

"That's right, Uncle Dashu, we plan to use the Summer Vacation to dig Poria and earn a bit of living expenses." Wang Erhai replied with a laugh.

At this time, it was the brothers' turn to have their Poria weighed.

The medicinal herb peddler placed the two's Poria on the Iron Scale; two full Snake Skin Bags, just placed on, and it pressed the scale down heavily.

Moving the Steelyard Weight, the result came out:

"Altogether ninety-eight catties; seeing you two little kids, digging this much Poria is also not easy, rounding off I'll count it as one hundred catties for you!"

The medicinal herb peddler was very generous, pulling out Five Hundred Yuan and giving it to the two brothers.

Wang Erhai took the money and hurriedly thanked him:

"Thank you, Uncle, wishing you make a big fortune!"

The medicinal herb peddler laughed heartily:

"This kid really has a silver tongue!"