Chapter 8: Dividing the Meat

The four of them finally caught up to the nearby market before ten o'clock; the three of them were exhausted to the point of being like dead dogs, while Zhang Ping'an was slightly better, only starting to hawk his wares after resting for over ten minutes.

"Selling Wild Boar Meat, freshly slaughtered Wild Boar Meat, eight thousand per jin, come take a look, come see, you won't lose out and you won't be cheated by buying this!"

Only then did he spread out the burlap sack, revealing the Wild Boar Meat.

"Good heavens, look at this pig head, this wild boar must weigh at least three hundred jin."

"My goodness, these few little guys are capable."

"Give me five jin."

"Coming right up, I don't have a scale, but it's definitely more than five jin." Zhang Ping'an made one cut, and it was a generous five jin.

"Hmm, not bad, young man, only more, not less." The man also weighed it in his hand.

"I'll take two jin as well."

"I want three jin."

"I want five jin."

Before long, most of what Zhang Ping'an had carried was sold, and the pig head was sold too.

"Young man, I'll take these two hind legs."

"Done."

After selling the hind legs, there wasn't much left.

"Let's go, no more selling, we'll take the rest back to divide up." Zhang Ping'an packed away the ribs, kidneys, and pig stomach.

"Dongxu, how much money did we sell in total?"

"A little over one million six hundred thousand."

"Hmm~ Zhuzi, Damao, I'll give you each one hundred fifty thousand plus two rabbits, five jin of pork, and two jin of ribs, how about that?"

"Zhang Shu, we don't need the money, we didn't really put in much effort, you did basically all the work."

"Right, Shazhu is right." The two goofballs reached an agreement for once.

"Alright, just do as I say, I am your elder after all, Dongxu?"

"Okay." Jia Dongxu gave each of them one hundred fifty thousand.

"This..."

"Take it, let's go back, and don't tell anyone outside except our own family."

It took forty-some minutes for the four of them to reach the Siheyuan.

"Phew~ finally home."

"Yo, you little rascals, where have you been playing, all covered in dirt?"

"Old man, we went to catch wild rabbits, look." Shazhu untied the sack and set it down; two chubby rabbits tied up were still wriggling inside.

"Heh, you actually caught them, lucky kids."

"Hehehe, I'm going to have my dad make Spicy Rabbit Meat at noon, slurp, that's going to be so fragrant."

"Cough, cough, Zhuzi, I have a bottle of good liquor, I'll go have a drink with your dad at noon."

Zhang Ping'an knew that the good liquor Yan Bugui was talking about at this time was truly good liquor, all moved over from his hometown, a vintage aged for nearly ten years.

"Better not, it's hard to come by a bit of meat, can't let you take advantage of it."

"Hey, you brat."

"Teacher Yan, how about I trade a rabbit with you for the liquor?"

"Deal." Yan Bugui didn't care much about the liquor anyway, otherwise, he wouldn't have watered down perfectly good liquor in the show.

"You wait, I'll go get the liquor for you."

"Wait a second, Teacher Yan, let's settle the price first."

"Fine, my liquor is good stuff, let's trade one jin for one jin." Yan Bugui was afraid Zhang Ping'an would count it as cheap bulk liquor, so he spoke up first.

"Alright, these are two rabbits, about six jin or more, you give me a five-jin jar of liquor directly, and pour another bottle."

"Deal, straightforward." Yan Bugui also weighed the rabbits; they were definitely a generous six and a half jin, and he could even make a pair of rabbit-fur gloves, he had profited.

Yan Bugui carried the rabbits, put them into a chicken coop, and went back inside to get the liquor.

"Ping'an, here."

"Good." Zhang Ping'an took the liquor and went home.

"Dad, Mom, we caught a big wild boar today and sold it for over one million six hundred thousand."

"What? Are you crazy? It's not a good time to go into the mountains now, you didn't get hurt, did you?"

Although Lao Jia didn't know how to hunt, he knew that the fierce beasts in the mountains in spring had just woken up, and they would eat whatever they encountered, regardless of whether you were human or not.

"Brother-in-law, we're fine, we just happened to catch it in a trap."

"As long as you're fine, it won't be too late to go into the mountains after this month passes."

"Alright, we'll listen to you."

"By the way, this is the aged liquor I traded with Teacher Yan, I saw you like this stuff so I traded for a few jin."

"Ping'an, you..." Lao Jia was a bit moved; he usually only drank a bit of cheap bulk liquor to satisfy his craving.

"Lao Jia, just take it, Ping'an is thinking of you, isn't he?"

"Hmm, thank you, Ping'an."

"Brother-in-law, you're being too polite, I live off you and eat your food every day, I haven't said thank you."

"You brat." Lao Jia naturally knew that Zhang Ping'an had already given his San Jie over one million in the past month or so.

"Brother, I've taken on a wedding banquet and need to take Shazhu to help out. Yi's wife isn't feeling well today, could you please trouble your wife to look after Yushui?"

"Sure, Daqing, go ahead and get busy, Yushui won't go hungry at my place."

"Great, thank you, brother, let's get together tonight. Oh, and Ping'an, thank you too." He Daqing didn't elaborate, and Zhang Ping'an naturally understood.

"Brother He, you are too polite."

"Hehe, Yushui, you must listen to your aunt and uncle."

"Mm, Yushui knows."

At this time, Yushui was still a little girl of four or five years old, though she looked a bit like a little ragamuffin under He Daqing's care.

"Alright, after you finish eating, go play in the courtyard with Xiaoling obediently." Afterward, He Daqing took Shazhu to prepare the banquet.

"Okay."

"Let's go, Yushui, let's go inside and get ready to eat."

"Okay." Children nowadays are truly sensible, unlike the children of later generations who are all spoiled.

"Hehe, Zhang Shu, my dad went to the countryside, and my mom isn't coming back at noon either, so, hehe." Damao brought Xiaoling over, carrying two Steamed Buns made of mixed flour.

"Alright, come on in. Yushui is here too; Xiaoling, go find Yushui to play." If you're herding one sheep, you might as well herd two.

"Okay, Uncle."

Zhang Ping'an went back to his room to study; every day he would set aside an hour to study the elementary and middle school curriculum of this era.

"Ping'an, come out to eat."

"Okay, coming."

Zhang Ping'an came out and saw there were still embers in the kitchen's earthen stove, so he tossed a few small sweet potatoes inside to roast; he could eat them if he got hungry in the afternoon, and they could also be used to coax the children.

"Zhang Shu, I heard from Brother Dongxu that you are self-studying?"

"That's right."

"Zhang Shu, let me teach you."

"Ahem, better not." Zhang Ping'an was almost choked; with your grades, how dare you say you want to teach someone?

"Zhang Shu, you don't believe me?" Damao looked hurt.

"It's not that I don't believe you, I'm just studying for fun; my main focus is still fishing and hunting."

"Oh, then never mind."

"Brother is stupid," Xiaoling suddenly blurted out.

"My brother is also stupid."

"Hahahaha."

"Damao, children speak without taboos, let's eat, let's eat." Lao Jia couldn't help but laugh either.

"Right, right, right, the food is going to get cold, pick up your chopsticks and eat."

Damao was at the age where he cared most about his pride, so he had to quickly steer the conversation away.

After the meal.

"Dongxu, Damao, shall we go fishing?"

"Sure."

"Let's go."

"Uncle, I want to go too."

"Uncle buried some sweet potatoes in the stove fire; if you want to go with me, you won't be able to eat the sweet potatoes."

"Then, then, then I won't go." The two little girls looked conflicted, but in the end, they were defeated by food; they really were two little gluttons.

"San Jie, when they get hungry in the afternoon, you take the sweet potatoes out of the stove hole."

"Hehe, alright."

The trio picked up their fish buckets and fishing rods and set off to fish.

"Hey, I can run into this old geezer anywhere," Damao said, pointing at Yan Bugui in the distance.

"Hahaha, let's avoid him a bit, let's go, go over there."

They fished for three hours in the afternoon, and all three had a full harvest; Yan Bugui had been hovering nearby for a long time, just waiting for them to leave so he could come over and mooch.

"Let's go, it's getting late."

"Okay."

The three of them went to the roadside vegetable market to sell the fish; they had regular customers here who knew they were all fresh fish caught on the spot.

"The little bosses are here, I'll take however many you have today."

"Old Zhang, you're not being fair."

"Exactly, you should at least share some."

"Hahaha, how about this, we'll each bag one, that should be fine, right?"

"Alright, let's do that."