Chapter 614 - 457: Why Are All the Good Men Sick? (Part 2)

Watching the car disappear into the distance, Zhao Jun said to Zhang Yuanmin, "Brother, I’m going to head home and change. I’ll be over at your place in a little while."

With that, Zhao Jun headed home. As he approached the gate, he could already hear Li Ruhai’s incessant voice coming from the courtyard.

The guy was dishing out gossip to Wang Meilan. As Zhao Jun walked past, he listened for a moment and was surprised to discover that Li Ruhai was talking about something that had happened in Yongli Village. And not just that—it had happened just last night.

Zhao Jun couldn’t help but marvel. Li Ruhai’s information network was getting more and more impressive. In an age of inconvenient communication, calling it a miracle might be an exaggeration, but in the surrounding villages, he was truly second to none.

"Son, you’re back?" Wang Meilan asked casually upon seeing Zhao Jun return. Then she turned back to Li Ruhai. "You were talking about that Wang the Second... His family and I are distantly related, you know. I know his father and mother.

I heard that when Wang the Second got married, they held a banquet, didn’t they? Well, just as everyone finished eating, before they’d even started to clean up, those two tables by the door... WHOOSH, they both collapsed! The plates, the bowls, everything... smashed to smithereens."

"See what I mean?" Li Ruhai slapped his palm on the sow’s hindquarters and exclaimed, "When something like that happens, how can you expect their marriage to last?"

Zhao Jun: "..."

Inside, Zhao Jun went to the east room first to check on his two younger sisters. The two little girls must have been hungry, as they were sitting on the kang bed eating flaky pastries.

When they saw Zhao Jun come in, both Zhao Hong and Zhao Na held out their pastries for him to take a bite.

Zhao Jun took a bite from each. They were delicious. He asked Zhao Hong and learned that the small store had just gotten them in that afternoon; they must have been baked fresh that morning.

Food was always best when it was fresh.

Zhao Jun popped a whole pastry in his mouth, went to his room to change, finished the pastry, and drank a couple of mouthfuls of water before coming back out.

"Mom, I’m heading out," Zhao Jun said as he passed by Wang Meilan. But she was completely engrossed in Li Ruhai’s gossip and just grunted an "Mhm" without even turning her head.

Zhao Jun saw that the wild boar was barely butchered. ’Looks like I’ll have to wait until tomorrow to bring some meat to Zhang Yuanmin’s family,’ he thought.

Shaking his head in resignation, Zhao Jun left the house and headed for Zhang Yuanmin’s home.

As he passed the small store, Zhao Jun suddenly remembered the pastries he’d just eaten. The thought of them made him think of Zhang Yuanmin’s daughter, Little Lingdang.

Since he was already on his way to Zhang Yuanmin’s, Zhao Jun decided to pop into the store and buy some pastries for Little Lingdang.

Inside the small store, Wang Fu was behind the counter taking inventory. Seeing Zhao Jun enter, Wang Fu smiled. "Jun! Come on in. What can I get for you?"

"Uncle Wang," Zhao Jun replied with a smile. "I hear you got some fresh pastries in. I’ll take two jin."

"You got it." Wang Fu immediately pulled out a sheet of Butter Paper, placed it on the scale, and opened a nearby box. He began picking out pastries and stacking them on the paper.

It came out to two jin and one liang, but Wang Fu just called it an even two jin. He wrapped them up for Zhao Jun and tied the package with a thin hemp string.

As he watched Wang Fu tie the package, Zhao Jun asked casually, "Uncle, where’s Auntie?"

"Your auntie is in the back making dinner," Wang Fu said with a smile, holding the string-tied package out to Zhao Jun.

Zhao Jun took the pastries and reached into his pocket with his other hand, then froze. When he had changed clothes at home, he’d casually taken the money from his pocket and left it on the kang cabinet.

"Uh, Uncle Wang," Zhao Jun said, "I don’t have any money on me. I’ll bring it over tomorrow."

"Don’t worry about the money!" Wang Fu said, waving his hand magnanimously. "Just take them home and enjoy."

"I can’t do that." Zhao Jun knew Wang Fu was just being polite. "Uncle, just put it on my tab for now. I have something to do tomorrow morning, but I’ll bring you the money in the afternoon or evening when I get back."

"No rush, no rush," Wang Fu said, taking the graceful out. "Just pay me next time you’re around."

"Okay. Thanks, Uncle Wang, I’m off then," Zhao Jun said, turning to leave with his pastries.

"Hey, Jun," Wang Fu called out suddenly, stepping out from behind the counter.

"What is it, Uncle Wang?"

Wang Fu came up to Zhao Jun and asked, "I saw you fellas drive back earlier. Did you happen to get a wild boar?"

"Yeah, we did." Zhao Jun was momentarily surprised, then said, "Uncle Wang, if you’d like some meat, I’ll bring some over when I come to pay tomorrow."

Wang Fu licked his lips at the offer. But Zhao Jun had just bought something on credit; if he went over to get meat right away, it would look like he was hounding him for the money.

Besides, if Zhao Jun brought him, say, five jin of meat for two jin of pastries, Wang Fu would be too embarrassed to accept the money for the pastries.

Zhao Jun understood this, which was why he’d offered to bring the meat tomorrow when he settled his tab.

But even then, Wang Fu wouldn’t feel entirely comfortable taking the meat.

But to his surprise, Wang Fu lowered his voice and said, "Jun, this morning I went up the mountain to look for *balazi* wood, and I spotted a sounder of wild boar. There must have been seven or eight of them. The leader was a Big Cannon Egg, had to be around four hundred jin. If you go after that sounder and manage to bag one, bring your uncle some of the meat."

So that was it. Wang Fu was hoping to trade information for a share of the meat.

Now that was a fair deal.

Upon hearing this, Zhao Jun immediately nodded. "Uncle Wang, where were they?"

Zhao Jun’s question was as good as an agreement, so Wang Fu didn’t hold back. "Section 24, up on the Rear Block, heading toward Old Sandwich Peak."

"Ah! I know the spot," Zhao Jun said. "Don’t worry, Uncle Wang. If I get a boar, I’ll definitely bring you some meat."

"Good. I know I can count on you."