That was how it was said, but in Wang An's mind, he began to ponder the matter of catching deer.
There were only six deer at home—three large and three small—along with six silly roe deer and over twenty yellow goats. If he wanted to start a breeding operation, how long would it take for such a small amount to develop?
However, catching deer was certainly not a simple task. One had to realize that in these great mountains, perhaps only fierce beasts like leopards and tigers were capable of catching a deer on their own.
As for the deer that Wang An, Wang Li, and Mu Xueli had caught previously, that could only be considered good luck; it had absolutely nothing to do with strength or skill.
After a while, Liu Guilan suddenly said to Wang An
"Xiao An, go to the tofu workshop in the township in a bit and order three tofu blocks. Tell him to deliver them early tomorrow morning; there will definitely be plenty of people coming tomorrow. Oh, right, while we're building the house, just have him deliver two every day... actually, make it three. Two blocks of tofu definitely won't be enough."
After saying this, Liu Guilan immediately added
"Go to the supply and marketing cooperative and buy some salt, matches, and such. Oh, and buy three or five more spoons and shovels."
When Liu Guilan mentioned "a tofu," she was actually referring to a slab of tofu.
Locally, one slab of tofu weighed exactly 30 jin. However, due to technical limitations, these 30 jin of tofu were made from 10 jin of soybeans.
In later generations, 10 jin of soybeans could normally produce 40 jin of tofu.
But the tofu of this era was pressed more firmly and was drier, containing less water.
Wang An gave a casual agreement, washed his hands, and hopped onto his sidecar motorcycle.
At that moment, Wang Dazhu spoke up again
"Buy a couple more trowels, and some cigarettes. See if there's anything else we're lacking and buy some of that too."
Wang An replied casually, "Got it, Dad. I'll buy it all in one trip."
Kicking the motorcycle into gear, Wang An headed toward Liujiatun, where the Yong'an Township government was located.
Tofu workshops weren't found in every village; primarily because making tofu was purely a labor of hard work for little pay.
The daily routine involved driving a donkey to turn the millstone to grind soybean milk, and then having someone drive a donkey cart around the various villages to sell the tofu.
At this time, soybeans cost 12 cents per jin, and tofu also cost 12 cents per jin. Therefore, if one wanted to buy tofu, they could either pay with money or exchange it directly for soybeans.
However, in this era, tofu was considered a genuine high-end item that not everyone could afford. Thus, even if a tofu workshop only made one slab a day, it normally wouldn't sell out.
As for the workshop in the township, it had belonged to the Liujiatun village collective last year. However, following the implementation of the policy of allocating land to individual households, the workshop had been contracted out to a private individual.
It had to be said that no matter the era, there was never a shortage of ambitious people wanting to make money.
Normally, one could earn about two yuan a day; during New Year's or festivals, the pure profit could reach seven or eight yuan a day.
In this era, such an income was considerably high!
Furthermore, the tofu dregs left over from daily production were excellent for raising pigs. Pigs that ate tofu dregs grew fat incredibly quickly.
A few minutes later, Wang An arrived at the township's tofu workshop.
At this hour, the couple running the workshop were, unsurprisingly, grinding soybean milk.
After Wang An briefly explained his request, the owner's mouth immediately widened into a grin.
Three slabs of tofu could earn him over seven yuan; such a deal usually only happened during New Year's or festivals.
However, changing his tone, Wang An began to haggle with a smile
"Brother, I'll need three slabs a day for at least a month. Once the work at my house is finished, my uncle's house will need tofu too—probably at least one a day. Given that, shouldn't the price be a bit cheaper?"
Although Wang An wasn't short on money, money was something that should be saved where possible. Mainly, making money was simply too difficult—it was practically harder than eating shit.
Hearing Wang An's words, the tofu owner said with a face full of conflict
"If you calculate it roughly, one slab of tofu earns two yuan and forty cents. If you subtract the contract fee, water, firewood, and such, only about two yuan is left..."
The tofu owner mumbled for a long time, while Wang An just smiled and remained silent—mainly because Wang An wasn't listening at all.
Once the owner finished speaking, Wang An handed him a cigarette and said with a smile
"So, Brother, how much of a discount do you want to give me?"
Hearing this, the tofu owner was momentarily stunned. *So I spent all that time talking and you didn't hear a single word!*
The owner stared at Wang An, speechless, his hand frozen in mid-air as he took the cigarette. After a pause, he said with a look of helplessness
"Then, Brother, you tell me. How much of a discount do you think is appropriate?"
Seeing the owner's look—which seemed as if he wanted to carve him up—Wang An thought for a moment and said
"How about ten yuan for three slabs? That's basically knocking off a bit more than twenty cents per slab."
In this day and age, nobody had it easy. Even without the owner's murderous gaze, Wang An didn't want to push too hard; what would happen if he actually made the man snap?
Unexpectedly, the owner was quite straightforward. After a brief thought, he said generously
"Alright, since you put it that way, there's no point in me haggling further. Ten yuan for three slabs it is."
Wang An casually pulled out a "Big Unity" ten-yuan note and handed it over, saying
"Alright, I'll give you the money for tomorrow's tofu first. Then, before you deliver tomorrow, I'll give you the money for the day after. We'll do it like that from now on, and I'll let you know in advance when we don't need tofu anymore."
After giving the address and exchanging a few useless pleasantries, Wang An left the tofu workshop.
After leaving the workshop, Wang An rode his sidecar directly to the supply and marketing cooperative. He bought 50 cartons each of Dashengchan and Grape cigarettes, and another 20 cartons of Changbaishan.
He didn't skimp on salt and matches either. He bought tools like trowels and plastering floats, a large coil of string for marking lines, and basically everything he could think of that would be useful for building a house.
Finally, after studying the space in his sidecar for a long time, he bought a 12-inch large iron pot. Only then did he struggle to ride the sidecar back home.
The reason Wang An had studied it for so long was that a 12-inch pot had a diameter of 1.2 meters; if you counted the rim, it was 1.3 meters. It was truly the largest size available, and hauling such a thing on a sidecar was indeed a struggle.
By the time Wang An arrived home, the preparations for building the house had basically been completed by everyone.
Seeing Wang An return with the large iron pot, Liu Guilan suddenly praised him
"My eldest son is the most thoughtful. Buying this pot was a great move. If we keep a fire burning in the room all day tomorrow, we'll be roasted to death by nighttime."
Turning around, Liu Guilan shouted to Wang Dazhu
"Dazhu, hurry up and build another stove next to that one, and set this pot up!"
(End of Chapter)