Chapter 16: Gold in the City

At the dinner table, Mai Juncai was curious and asked Mai Xiangdong, “Dad, how did Third Uncle make so much money? Is there something wrong with his sudden spending?”

“Did his uncle help him arrange it?” Mai Liangcai guessed.

Mai Xiangdong frowned, “Yes, I was so happy I forgot to ask. I’ll go to Laosan’s house after dinner.”

“Dad, I want to go too,” Mai Juncai said quickly.

“Me too,” Mai Liangcai chimed in.

They were all family, so Mai Xiangdong didn’t refuse.

As the saying goes, “Three cobblers are better than one Zhuge Liang,” and maybe they could even help Mai Laosan think of something.

……

Meanwhile, Mai Laosan was feeling heartbroken.

He felt reluctant to give away so much food at once, especially the finest rice, not the cheap kind.

But since there was a living ancestor in the family who couldn’t be disobeyed, he could only bear the pain and pretend to be generous.

After a while, Mai Hongcai returned.

The three of them ate a big pot of white rice with the fragrant pheasant, scrambled eggs, and fried eggplant.

After eating and drinking to their hearts’ content, Mai Laosan’s heartache was healed without any medicine. He patted his round belly and sighed, “How happy life would be if we could eat meat like this every day!”

Mai Hongcai immediately took over the conversation, flattering, “With me here, days like this are easy to come by. Sister, don’t you think so?”

Mai Sui nodded, “That’s right! Besides, this is not a good day. As long as you are obedient, there will be better days waiting for us in the future.”

Mai Hongcai immediately said, “Sister, I will definitely listen to you!”

Mai Laosan also came over and asked, “Girl, are we going into the city tomorrow?”

“Of course! There are still many things missing at home. I only have two sets of clothes to change back and forth. I have to buy two more sets at least.”

“Sister, I want to buy new clothes too!”

“Okay, as long as the money is enough, I’ll buy you one.”

Mai Laosan wasn’t interested in new clothes, he just wanted to buy some good cigarettes and wine to enjoy himself.

“Okay, buy them all!”

Mai Sui was very generous to her subordinates, otherwise, no one would work for her.

Just as the three of them were imagining their future, Mai Xiangdong and his two sons arrived at their door.

He also brought a basket of vegetables to Mai Laosan, including eggplants, cucumbers, potatoes, etc., all grown at home.

Although the land was public, every household in the countryside had one or two acres of private land.

The vegetables they ate all year round were basically grown by themselves and they rarely bought them outside.

This was the time when vegetables were ripe in large quantities.

Sometimes when villagers couldn’t finish their food, they could take it to the commune market and sell it for a few cents, which was also a source of income.

After Mai Xiangdong sat down, he didn’t beat around the bush with Mai Laosan and asked directly, “Laosan, what on earth did you go to the city for today?”

Mai Laosan still trusted his eldest brother Mai Xiangdong very much, and his two nephews were not outsiders, so he told them everything.

“Brother, you didn’t see it, as soon as I took out the chicken, everyone went crazy and wanted to buy it. In less than ten minutes, five chickens were gone, and I easily made more than twenty dollars.

If I had known this, I would have taken more prey. I think we could sell all ten of them. The people in the city are just like us, they all crave meat.”

Mai Laosan spoke with great joy, as if he had reached the pinnacle of his life and become a millionaire.

Mai Juncai and Mai Liangcai were also very envious when they heard this.

They could earn twenty yuan in less than ten minutes, but they worked in the fields every day and couldn’t even earn twenty yuan in a month!

No wonder everyone wanted to go into the city, this city was really full of gold!

Uncle San’s family was really going to become rich!

Mai Xiangdong’s face was filled with worry, “Third brother, you are engaging in speculation and profiteering. If you are not careful, you will end up in jail.”

Mai Laosan didn’t take it seriously, waved his hand and said, “Brother, you know Lao Ding from the next village, right? He has been doing this business for many years and nothing has ever happened to him.

How am I worse than Lao Ding? If he can do it, why can’t I? Don’t worry, I will be careful and will never be caught.”

How could Mai Xiangdong be assured? He asked again, “Where did you get these prey?”

“I caught it in the mountains. Otherwise, could it have fallen from the sky?”

Mai Laosan acted like a big shot and kept telling lies.

“Just you?”

Mai Xiangdong knew Mai Laosan very well, and he would never believe this even if he was beaten to death.

“Third brother, it’s not that I look down on you. From childhood to adulthood, you are only good at taking bird eggs. You have never caught a living thing.”

Mai Laosan failed to show off, touched his nose awkwardly, and said reluctantly, “Mai Sui caught it.”

“Wheat ears? What’s going on?”

Everyone’s eyes instantly fell on Mai Sui, filled with inquiry, suspicion, and disbelief.

Mai Sui could only bite the bullet and explain, “It’s just luck. I can’t catch it every time.”

Everyone thought about yesterday’s wild boars and rabbits, plus today’s pheasants. This was not just ordinary good luck, it was simply incredible!

Mai Sui shrugged helplessly. The strength was there, she…

There’s nothing I can do.

In the end, Mai Xiangdong didn’t agree with Mai Laosan going to the black market, and asked him to take the goods to the commune market to sell, which was allowed by policy.

But the commune market was open only once a month, and by the time it opened, the day lilies were already cold.

If Mai Laosan had been so obedient, he wouldn’t have been known as an idler in the village.

Mai Xiangdong couldn’t convince Mai Laosan and thought, the prey is hard to catch anyway, Mai Sui was lucky today but he may not be lucky every day, so he just let him be.

He just told him to be careful.

If he was caught by the Red Sleeves Soldiers, he could only pool some money with the Fourth Brother to redeem him.

They were brothers, they couldn’t just watch the third brother go to jail.

Seeing this, Mai Laosan became more aggressive and said, “Then I will continue to take leave tomorrow and lend me your bicycle. Oh, and please lend me your scale. I didn’t prepare anything today, so I’m using someone else’s.”

Mai Xiangdong: …

“You haven’t caught any prey yet, why are you asking for leave? You are not allowed to do so!”

“How can I go hunting in the mountains without asking for leave? No, I must ask for leave! If you don’t agree, I will just skip work.”

“Then Hongcai is not allowed to ask for leave. The village is now trying to recruit double guns. There are three of you in your family, so one of you must go!”

“Okay! Then Hongcai will stay!”

Mai Hongcai: Why am I the only one who got hurt in the end?

This time Mai Laosan learned his lesson. In order to minimize the impact, he and Mai Sui went out before dawn.

Since the villagers didn’t see Mai Laosan riding his bike out with their own eyes, there were fewer people gossiping about him.

But the people who worked with Mai Hongcai still discovered that Mai Laosan and Mai Sui were missing.

Mai Hongcai could only lie and say that his sister had a headache and his father took her to see a doctor.

Everyone didn’t believe it at first, but when they saw that Mai Hongcai had changed his usual lazy attitude and was working very seriously.

It was obvious that he was trying to get ten work points.

Everyone started to speculate: “It seems that Mai Sui is about to die this time. Look how upset Hong Cai is.”

“This is a huge change for the family. I have to be sensible.”

“When Hongcai’s mother died, Hongcai was just born and didn’t remember anything. This time his sister is seriously ill, so his feelings are naturally different.”

“Alas, Mai Sui is such a pitiful child.”

Mai Hongcai: I am the most pitiful one, okay!

My sister said that if I didn’t get ten work points, I wouldn’t be able to eat meat. I cried my heart out.

Woohoo…..