Chapter 86: Arrival at the Destination

“We’re finally here.”

Li Xiangdong’s feet finally touched the ground of Ningyang, Shandong.

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The train had departed in the early morning of yesterday, and it was now past 8 PM on the second day. It really wasn’t easy to travel far in this era.

Hou San tilted his head back and touched his face. “Brother Dong, I think it’s raining.”

Li Xiangdong said cheerfully, “Rain is good. Rain brings out good insects, as long as it’s not a downpour.”

Ah Zhe shouted from not far away, “Dongzi, Hou San, it’s time for roll call.”

“Alright.”

Li Xiangdong and Hou San went to the conductor’s carriage. After they entered, they found a place to sit and waited for the conductor, Gao Xinmin, who was still on his rounds.

After the time it took to smoke a cigarette, Gao Xinmin walked in. He sat down in his seat, took a sip from his tea mug, and without needing a roster, he called the roll by looking at each person’s face.

“I don’t need to give any more instructions for this place. Everyone, go to the hostel and get a good rest. That’s all.”

After speaking, Gao Xinmin led the way to the hostel. Li Xiangdong and Hou San followed closely behind the crowd. Ah Zhe, who was walking ahead, slowed down to join them.

A light rain was falling. The three of them smoked their cigarettes and listened to their colleagues around them constantly complaining.

“Sigh, when will this end?”

“It’s only been a few days and you can’t stand it anymore? There are so many people at the station, how can they let us always run the good routes?”

“You can change shifts. Did you see Wang Dahai and Erguaizi on this trip?”

The person who spoke even turned to glance secretly at Li Xiangdong and Hou San.

“And Zhang Hu from our group, it seems he also changed his shift.”

“Those three have connections. Let’s not talk about this. How about we have a drink tonight? When we passed through Dezhou, I spent 4 yuan on a braised chicken at the platform.”

Li Xiangdong pretended not to hear them. A bunch of simpletons, sitting on a gold mine without knowing it. He just listened for amusement.

The hostel in Tianjin was at least a two-story red brick building. The hostel here was just two rows of large tiled houses, all partitioned into small rooms.

The courtyard was quite spacious, with weeds growing all along the walls and a dry latrine in the corner.

Li Xiangdong casually pushed open a door. The room had a musty smell. He opened the door and windows before taking a closer look.

There was a washstand and two iron-frame beds, the kind with upper and lower bunks.

“Let’s just sleep in this room.”

The three of them began to do a simple cleaning.

The room was meant for four people, but only the three of them were staying there. The reason was that they weren’t familiar with the others, and their colleagues could also see that Li Xiangdong’s group was a small clique, so no one tried to squeeze into their room.

Anyway, there were plenty of empty rooms, enough for their group.

“What’s that smell? It’s so fragrant.”

Ah Zhe, who was making his bed, followed the scent to Hou San’s side. “Hou San, what’s in your bag?”

“Braised chicken.”

Hou San proudly opened his cloth bag for Ah Zhe to see.

Ah Zhe saw an oil-paper package inside and said excitedly, “Is this that 4-yuan Dezhou braised chicken? It smells so good!”

“Of course.”

Hou San took the oil-paper package out of his cloth bag and continued to show off, “When the train stopped, a lot of people were buying it. I almost didn’t get one.”

With meat to eat, Ah Zhe was a little excited. “Then shall we have a drink too?”

Just as Hou San was about to nod in agreement, Li Xiangdong interrupted, “Don’t eat this braised chicken yet. Ah Zhe, you and Hou San take this chicken and go find the hostel staff. Ask them to help us get some bamboo poles.”

Ah Zhe turned to look at him and asked, “What do we need bamboo poles for?”

Li Xiangdong smiled, “Aren’t we going to collect crickets tomorrow morning? After we collect them, we need to put them in bamboo tubes to raise them. You two hurry up. When you get back, we still have to cut them into sections of bamboo tubes overnight. And borrow a saw while you’re at it.”

“Brother Dong, can’t we just give them some money to help us?”

Hou San was a little reluctant. After all, he had spent a lot of effort to buy this braised chicken. Because no tickets were needed, everyone on the platform was fighting for it.

Li Xiangdong stopped what he was doing and looked at Hou San. “Go and try.”

In an era of material scarcity, the temptation of money was far less effective than a braised chicken.

Moreover, it was almost 9 PM now. To ask the hostel staff for help at this time, if they didn’t offer something tempting, it was likely no one would even bother with them.

“Let’s go, Hou San. Business is more important.”

Ah Zhe could still distinguish between primary and secondary matters. It was just a braised chicken. If he wanted to eat one, he could buy another on the way back. Right now, making money was the most important thing!

Before he left with Hou San, he asked, “Dongzi, how thick should the bamboo poles be? Is 10 enough?”

Li Xiangdong sat on the bed, sorting the cotton he had brought from home. He said without raising his head, “Buy a little more. The bamboo poles should be about an inch thick. They can be thicker, but not thinner. You two be careful when you go out.”

“Got it, Dongzi. I’ll keep an eye on Hou San.”

“I’m not a dog, I don’t need you to watch me!”

“When did I say you were a dog? I’m taking care of you, don’t you understand?”

“Pah!”

“Hou San, who are you ‘pah’-ing at?!”

Li Xiangdong’s head was about to explode. He walked over and kicked both Ah Zhe and Hou San. “Can you two get something done? If you dawdle any longer, it’ll be the middle of the night!”

He chased Ah Zhe and Hou San away and went back to the room to continue sorting the cotton.

After the crickets were put into the bamboo tubes, the other end needed to be plugged. If the plug was too loose, it would fall out easily. If it was too tight, it would suffocate the crickets.

Cotton was the best. It could be stuffed tightly and was still breathable.

It was just that his cotton-padded pants had been worn for several years, and the cotton inside was all lumpy. He needed to tear the lumpy cotton apart bit by bit and re-roll it into balls.

This was a meticulous job. He didn’t trust Hou San and Ah Zhe to do it. If it wasn’t done properly and the crickets suffocated, their trip would be for nothing.

It took a full two hours for Ah Zhe and Hou San to return. Li Xiangdong had already finished sorting the cotton and was lying on the bed, almost asleep.

“Damn it, so greedy! Eating my braised chicken wasn’t enough, they even took two of my national grain tickets!”

As soon as Hou San entered the room and put down the bamboo poles on his shoulder, he started cursing incessantly.

Li Xiangdong got up and took a look. The bamboo poles the two of them had brought back were not bad, not moldy or old.

“The size is just right. I’ll give you two credit for this.”

He took the handsaw from Ah Zhe and asked, “How much did these bamboo poles cost?”

“They didn’t cost any money. These are from the train station warehouse. They just asked for an extra 2 jin of grain tickets.”

Ah Zhe said, pointing at the constantly cursing Hou San.

“Two national grain tickets for so many bamboo poles, that’s not bad. We didn’t lose out.”

Li Xiangdong roughly counted. Ah Zhe and Hou San had carried back more than twenty bamboo poles in total.

He looked at Hou San, who was sitting on the bed, rubbing his shoulder and cursing, and smiled, “Alright, Hou San, stop cursing. We’ll count all this as cost. When we sell the crickets and divide the money, I’ll reimburse you.”

“Thanks, Brother Dong.”

“No need to thank me. Go to the courtyard and bring back two bricks. Let’s hurry up and saw them tonight. We can’t delay tomorrow’s business.”