Chapter 151: Bringing Apprentices Along Again

The next morning, Zhang Ping'an finished his workout and pedaled his tricycle back to his old village. Now that Wu Qiang was in charge of the Second Section, not only were the working hours much more relaxed, but the registered vehicle could also be used for long periods, provided you could procure goods.

Before nine o'clock, Zhang Ping'an arrived at Zhang Family Village; even though he was wearing rabbit-fur gloves, his hands were still quite cold.

This was the true depth of winter; the cold wind was like a knife, and whether it was your ears or your hands, long exposure to the cold wind would leave them aching with cold.

Fortunately, Zhang Ping'an was prepared: a train hat, rabbit-fur gloves, and a mask similar to a neck warmer—he was fully armed. Of course, these were all things he had asked San Jie and the others to make.

Unexpectedly, Zhao Fangyuan and Li Chen both thought the neck warmers were good, so they made a few more and tried hanging them in the shop to sell; the results were actually quite good, though the price was a little expensive at one yuan each.

However, the cost was over sixty cents, and with labor added, it was nearly eighty cents, so selling them for one yuan wasn't considered expensive; the Workers could afford it if they gritted their teeth.

"Tiezhu, go to my house and ride the tricycle over. Today, your main task is to watch how I do things."

"Alright, Brother Ping'an."

"Which one of you is going to ride the bike later? Put on the gloves."

Zhang Ping'an tossed a pair of gloves to them, and all three fellows were incredibly moved.

"Let's go."

This time, Zhang Ping'an intended to go to Fang Family Village. Although he wasn't familiar with their village chief, with Fang Dahu there, it wouldn't be difficult to open up the situation.

"Is Brother Fang home?"

"Who are you? Why are you looking for my dad? How come I've never seen you?"

Hearing Zhang Ping'an's shout, a fierce-looking little girl of six or seven years old walked out of the house. Zhang Ping'an was a bit stunned; he hadn't been here for over half a year, and he didn't remember Fang Dahu having a daughter.

"Uh, I'm a friend of your dad's. Is your dad or Xiaojun home?"

"Uncle Zhang, I'm home." Fang Xiaojun also heard the commotion and hurried out.

"Uncle Zhang, this is my younger sister, Fang Xiaoyun. Xiaoyun, this is Uncle Zhang; he's the one who cured Dad. My dad went to the Back Mountain woods early this morning; he probably won't be down the mountain for a while."

"Oh, thank you, Uncle Zhang." The little girl changed her expression quite quickly.

"Alright then, I'll go to your village chief's house first and come back later. Here are two candies for you two to eat."

"Okay, thank you, Uncle Zhang."

"Mm."

Zhang Ping'an took the three of them and headed straight for the village chief's house.

"That was a famous hunter from this Fang Family Village just now. By a stroke of luck, I saved his life once, so he only waits to sell his goods to me."

"Oh, oh." The three of them didn't understand, but felt it was impressive.

"Village Chief."

"You're the doctor who saved Dahu, right? Do you have business with me?" Fang Guomin said.

"It's me, Village Chief. Have a cigarette. I'm actually a Purchasing Agent from the Rolling Mill, Zhang Ping'an. I've come this time to procure some supplies in Fang Family Village—chickens, ducks, fish, meat, eggs, or dried goods are all fine. The prices will definitely satisfy you."

After Zhang Ping'an finished speaking, he handed the procurement price list in his hand to Fang Guomin.

"Oh?" After Fang Guomin took it and looked, the prices were indeed quite high. He pondered for a moment and said:

"Done. I'll call out for you all. I don't know how many people will come, but you can come with me."

"Good, good, thank you, Village Chief."

Zhang Ping'an didn't expect to procure any good items from the villagers of Fang Family Village other than Fang Dahu; his main goal was to let Tiezhu and the other two get familiar with the process.

Following the village chief's shouting, quite a few people really did come over with their own things, but they didn't sell them immediately; instead, they spoke up first:

"Village Chief, is the price you mentioned for real?"

"It's real. Everyone, be quiet and listen to the comrade Purchasing Agent from the Rolling Mill."

"Hello everyone, I am Zhang Ping'an, a Purchasing Agent from the Rolling Mill. What the village chief just shouted is all true. Everyone, take a close look at the corresponding prices for other supplies."

Every day, Zhang Ping'an would record the procurement prices on two sheets of paper, a list the size of two newspapers, so even if a crowd surrounded them, they could see clearly.

After the crowd looked, more than half of them suddenly ran off.

"Brother Ping'an, why did they all run away?"

"They probably went home to get their things. You guys get the scales ready. Tiezhu, you're responsible for weighing; Tiedan, you're responsible for recording; Tiejun, you're responsible for making change. Here is 150 yuan in small change; count it clearly."

"Alright, Brother Ping'an."

The villagers who had brought things earlier had already started weighing them; most were dried fungi.

Before long, the crowd that had just left came back carrying big and small bags—one person with a chicken, another with a duck, someone else with a wild rabbit, and so on.

The four of them were busy for more than half an hour before they stopped.

"Brother Ping'an, most of it is dried goods, 125 jin; various meats total 83 jin; 77 eggs."

"Not bad, that's already very good. You three can procure together like this from now on; it won't be too late to separate once you are each familiar with it."

"Alright, Brother Ping'an."

"Ping'an."

"Brother Fang, you're down from the mountain."

"Mm, just got back. I've already asked Xiaojun to prepare a meal at home; eat with us at noon."

"This..."

If it were just Zhang Ping'an, it would be easy to handle, but he had three burly men with him.

"That's it, it's settled. I have plenty of good goods at home, too. Come over together when it's time to eat."

"Alright, Brother Fang, then I won't decline."

"That's more like it."

After Fang Dahu left, three or five more villagers came one after another.

"Tiezhu, you guys stay here and weigh things for people as they come. I'm going out for a bit."

"Alright, Brother Ping'an."

It was only ten o'clock now, and there was still an hour or so until mealtime. Zhang Ping'an prepared to go see Erhu; he reckoned that Erhu should have cubs by now.

"Screech!"

As soon as the Yellow-feathered Eagle darted out of the space, it began to cry; if these two fellows grew another fifty centimeters, they would be a match for the Great Eagle from The Return of the Condor Heroes.

Deep in the mountain forest, Erhu heard the eagle's cry and knew that Zhang Ping'an had come, so he also began to sniff the air and follow the sound to find him.

"Roar!"

Seeing Zhang Ping'an, he rubbed his massive tiger head against him, whimpering and whining just like a puppy, clearly blaming Zhang Ping'an for taking so long to come and see him.

This was indeed Zhang Ping'an's fault; he rarely came to see Erhu in Fang Family Village or Sanhu in Qin Family Village, but who could blame him when Dahu in Zhang Family Village was the closest?

"Alright, alright, it's my fault, it's my fault, drink up quickly."

Once full and satisfied, Erhu signaled for Zhang Ping'an to follow him, and there was no need to guess that it was for the sake of his wife and children.

Zhang Ping'an used the same method, but since he had no basin, he had to carve one out of a rock, fill it with Space Water, and leave ten wild rabbits behind before departing.

"Alright, keep hiding in the mountains, I'll come to see you again when I have time."

"Roar!"

"I'm off."

However, since he was already here, Zhang Ping'an didn't intend to return empty-handed; it just so happened that the two hills in his space were lacking a large number of cattle, sheep, and deer, so he scanned the area, deciding to collect them if he happened to encounter any on his way.

It was a pity he didn't encounter any cattle, sheep, or deer, but he did run into a small group of Wild Boars—two adults and five young ones—so Zhang Ping'an had no choice but to "tearfully" accept them.

By the time he returned to the village office, it was almost twelve o'clock; Zhang Ping'an brought over sixteen large Steamed Buns, and during the time he had been at the Back Mountain, Tiezhu and the others had collected another thirty-plus catties of Black-skinned Pig meat and dried wood ear mushrooms.

"Let's go, let's go eat."

"Alright, Brother Ping'an."

Along the way, Zhang Ping'an told them about some of the ways of the world; just as he had with Wu Guohua, Zhang Ping'an explained everything to them in detail without holding anything back, as the three of them were still young and needed more practice.

The scent of meat already filled the courtyard of Fang Dahu's house, and a beautiful woman was busy bustling about cooking; Zhang Ping'an realized then that this must be the Wang Yi that Fang Xiaojun had mentioned earlier.