Cheng Xiaolin asked her husband early in the morning: "Honey, the water in the Yellow River has risen. I heard that Brother Zhao's house in the alley next door caught a lot of fish. Why don't you go?"
"It's not like releasing the water in a day or two. Don't be in a hurry. It's not too late to wait for two days before going." Cao Shujie said.
He said: "Daughter-in-law, I will go to the market to buy a sheep today. Cao Zhen and the others will come over tomorrow and we will go to the river to fish together."
"You want to buy a sheep? Have you finished eating it?" Cheng Xiaolin asked him.
Cao Shujie shook his head and said: "There are dozens of kilograms of food in total, why can't I finish it?"
After finishing his words, he added: "It doesn't matter if you can't finish it. I'll divide it up when the time comes and put some of it away to make mutton dumplings for eating in two days."
"Don't just buy sheep, buy some other vegetables as well." Cheng Xiaolin warned him.
In such a hot weather, she didn't want to go out at all, otherwise she would go to the market for a walk.
Such a cute child looked at the big sun in the sky. She was so exposed that she had no energy at all and didn't want to go out.
Seeing his daughter's pitiful appearance, Cao Shujie felt very distressed. Before leaving the house, he said, "Mengmeng, dear, daddy will buy you a watermelon to eat today."
"Okay!" Mengmeng responded weakly. She usually likes to eat watermelon, but she has no interest in it today.
On the other hand, his father Cao Jianguo went to the village chef's house to help pick up the iron barrel stove. To stew a whole sheep, it was more efficient to use the iron barrel stove in the yard with a big iron pot on top.
If it is stewed in the kitchen, the space is small and the air dissipation is slow, which is not convenient at all.
Arriving at the market, Cao Shujie locked his electric tricycle in the open space next to the power supply station in Qingshi Town, and strolled into the market for a stroll.
The sounds of various people shouting and selling things came, making Cao Shujie feel a different smell of fireworks in the world.
But most of the people buying things are middle-aged and elderly people, or women with a half-year-old child. There are very few young people like him.
Cao Shujie didn't hesitate and went directly to the fresh meat area. When he saw stalls selling beef, mutton and pork, he went over and asked what the price was.
"Boss, how do you sell this mutton?" Cao Shujie saw a skinned sheep hanging on one of the stalls and went over to ask.
The owner of the mutton vendor was quite thin and looked to be in his forties or fifties. Unlike the owner of the pork vendor next to him, his fat waist looked like he was wearing a life preserver.
"19 yuan and 30 cents per catty." The owner of the mutton vendor stretched out his hand and gestured: "Brother, you can go to the market and ask about it. The quality of mine is good and the price is not expensive."
This is not a lie. When Cao Shujie was in the capital, he bought mutton for 24 yuan per kilogram more.
"Oh, the price is okay, boss, how much does the wool cost now?" Cao Shujie asked casually.
The owner of the mutton stall thought Cao Shujie was a sheep farmer. He stretched out his hand and made a 9 sign to show his interest: "9 yuan and 2 cents per catty. Brother, how many do you have?"
"If it's more, I can give you some more money."
These were clearly marked market prices, and he was not afraid of Cao Shujie's mischief, so he gave the price directly.
But then I heard Cao Shujie say: "I haven't started raising it yet, but I will next year."
"Boss, I want to kill a whole animal tomorrow, do you want to do it?"
"Shall I fight you out?" The stall owner understood what Cao Shujie meant. Seeing him nodding, the stall owner continued: "Which village are you from?"
"Caojiazhuang, Cao Jianguo." Cao Shujie directly reported his father's name.
There was no way, he had just returned from the capital a few months ago, so if he gave his name, some people might not know.
As expected, the other party then asked in surprise: "Is it Brother Cao Jianguo who grows kiwis in Caojiazhuang?"
"Do you know my dad?" Cao Shujie was also curious. His dad was quite famous and he knew a lot of people.
Then I heard the owner of the mutton stall say: "How can we not know each other? In two months when the kiwis come down, Brother Jianguo will have to come to the market to set up a stall."
"I bought a lot from him."
Hearing that there was such a relationship, Cao Shujie looked at the other person's age and called him "uncle". This was so good that the other party originally wanted to charge him 2 yuan for labor, but in the end he was surprised and charged 1 yuan.
He also told Cao Shujie that the sheep produced for slaughter are about 100 kilograms, but after removing the fur and bones, only about 60 kilograms of meat are left. In fact, the price is not much different from the price of buying meat directly.
Cao Shujie still ordered a whole one and asked the boss named Li Jiagan to kill it and send it directly to his home.
"Tomorrow, okay." Li Jiagan agreed happily.
When Cao Shujie wanted to give him a deposit, Li Jiagan scolded him: "I know your father so well, so asking for a deposit wouldn't be a slap in the face."
"Besides, even if you cheat me, your dad can't run away." Li Jiagan said with a laugh.
Cao Shujie also laughed: "Uncle Li, let me go shopping first and buy some other vegetables. We will see you tomorrow."
He went to buy beef, various vegetables, and a large watermelon for Mengmeng to eat.
It's late this year, spring will start tomorrow, and he will grow his own watermelons no matter what.
If we wait until September to plant some strawberries, we can keep more than 20 acres of land!
When I got home, I saw an oil barrel stove in the yard. It was filled with mud, and the middle was burnt and blackened.
When Mengmeng saw that her father was back, she kept looking into the electric tricycle. When she saw the watermelon, she was very happy: "Dad, watermelon."
"Mom, look, daddy bought the watermelon, haha!" Mengmeng shouted with a smile.
Cheng Xiaolin also saw two big watermelons, but no mutton. She asked: "Where is the sheep?"
"Don't worry, I told the boss that I will kill one and bring it over tomorrow, and it will be stewed then." Cao Shujie said.
When he saw his father Cao Jianguo, he asked him: "Dad, do you know a man named Li Jiagan?"
"That Li Jiagan who sells sheep at the market? If so, I know him!" Cao Jianguo asked his son.
Seeing his son nodding, he asked: "Did you buy it from him?"
"It happened that he was the first one I found. I saw that the prices were about the same, so I didn't ask anything else," Cao Shujie told his father.
Wang Yuelan didn't care about that. When she saw her granddaughter looking at the watermelon, she came over directly and took out a watermelon from the carriage: "Mengmeng, let's go, grandma will cut it for you."
"Mom, you put the watermelon in cold water first. It's been soaked by the sun and won't taste good if it's too hot." Cao Shujie warned her.
Wang Yuelan turned around and said, "You can tell me that I have eaten more watermelons than you have grown before."
"You stole melons and sneaked into our fields when you were a child, and I haven't settled the score with you yet!"
"..." Cao Shujie was speechless. Can this even make me choke?
When Cheng Xiaolin heard her mother-in-law say this, she couldn't hold back on the spot and burst out laughing.
She never expected that her husband would do such an embarrassing thing!