Chapter 79: Stealing Melons from Your Own Field

Friday the 8th!

Early in the morning, Cheng Xiaolin asked her husband, “Honey, the Yellow River’s flooding. I heard Second Brother Zhao from the alley next door caught a bunch of fish. Why haven’t you gone yet?”

“The water’s been rising for days, it’s not like it’s going anywhere. No rush. I’ll wait a couple more days,” Cao Shujie replied.

He added, “I’m heading to the market today to buy a whole lamb. Cao Zhen and the others are coming over tomorrow. We’ll go fishing by the river together then.”

“You’re buying a whole lamb? Can we even finish it?” Cheng Xiaolin asked.

Cao Shujie shook his head. “It’s only a few dozen pounds. Of course we can finish it.”

Then he added, “Even if we can’t, we’ll split it up. I’ll freeze some, and in a couple days we can make lamb dumplings.”

“Don’t just buy lamb. Get some vegetables too,” Cheng Xiaolin reminded him.

It was scorching hot outside, and she had no desire to go out. Otherwise, she would’ve gone to the market with him.

Even little Mengmeng, usually so energetic, looked listless under the blazing sun. She didn’t want to go out either.

Seeing his daughter looking so pitiful, Cao Shujie’s heart ached. Just before leaving, he said, “Be good, Mengmeng. Daddy will buy you a watermelon today.”

“Okay!” Mengmeng replied weakly. Normally she loved watermelon, but even that didn’t excite her today.

Meanwhile, his father, Cao Jianguo, had gone to borrow a metal drum stove from the village chef. Cooking a whole lamb was best done outside in the yard with a big iron pot on top of a drum stove.

If they tried to stew it in the kitchen, the space was too small and the heat wouldn’t dissipate—it’d be a hassle.

At the market, Cao Shujie parked and locked his electric tricycle in the open lot next to the Qingshi Town power station, then strolled into the bustling market.

The shouts of vendors hawking their goods filled the air, giving the place a lively, down-to-earth vibe.

Most of the shoppers were middle-aged or elderly, or women with kids in tow. Young men like him were rare.

Without wasting time, Cao Shujie headed straight to the fresh meat section. He saw stalls selling beef, lamb, and pork, and went up to ask about prices.

“Boss, how much is the lamb here?” he asked one vendor who had a skinned lamb hanging at his stall.

The lamb vendor was a lean man, probably in his forties or fifties—not like the pork vendor next to him, whose waist looked like he was wearing a life preserver.

“19.3 yuan per jin,” the lamb vendor said, gesturing with his hand. “You can ask around, young man. My meat’s top quality and the price is fair.”

He wasn’t lying—back in Beijing, lamb cost over 24 yuan per jin.

“Oh, not bad,” Cao Shujie nodded. “How much for a live lamb these days?”

The vendor thought he was a breeder and perked up. He held up nine fingers. “9.2 yuan per jin. How many do you have?”

“If you’ve got a lot, I can even give you a better price.”

It was all standard market pricing, so he wasn’t worried about being tricked.

But then Cao Shujie said, “I haven’t started raising them yet. But I will next year.”

“Boss, I want a whole slaughtered lamb for tomorrow. Can you do it?”

“You want me to butcher it for you?” The vendor now understood. When Cao Shujie nodded, he asked, “Which village are you from?”

“Cao Family Village. From Cao Jianguo’s household,” Cao Shujie replied, giving his father’s name.

He’d only been back from Beijing for a few months. If he gave his own name, people might not recognize him.

Sure enough, the vendor’s eyes lit up. “You mean Big Brother Cao Jianguo, the one who grows kiwi fruit in Cao Family Village?”

“You know my dad?” Cao Shujie was curious. His dad really was quite well-known—seemed like he knew people all over.

The vendor laughed. “Of course I know him. In a couple months when the kiwis are ripe, your dad will be back here selling them at the market. I’ve bought from him plenty of times.”

Realizing they had that connection, and seeing the man was older, Cao Shujie respectfully called him “Uncle.” That did the trick—the vendor had planned to charge him a 2-yuan processing fee, but ended up only taking 1 yuan.

The vendor also explained that a live lamb usually weighs around 100 jin, but after removing the skin and bones, you’re left with about 60 jin of meat. In the end, it’s only about 200 yuan more than buying meat by the pound.

Cao Shujie decided to go ahead and order a whole lamb. The vendor, whose name was Li Jiagen, agreed to slaughter it and deliver it to his home.

“Tomorrow, right? No problem,” Li Jiagen said cheerfully.

When Cao Shujie tried to give him a deposit, Li Jiagen waved him off. “I’m that close with your dad, and you want to give me a deposit? That’s an insult.”

“Besides, even if you stiff me, your dad can’t run away,” he laughed heartily.

Cao Shujie laughed too. “Uncle Li, I’m going to look around and buy some veggies. See you tomorrow.”

He bought some beef, a variety of vegetables, and two big watermelons—enough for Mengmeng to enjoy to her heart’s content.

It was too late in the season this year, but next spring, he was definitely going to grow his own watermelons.

And come September, he’d plant some strawberries. He still had over twenty mu of land just sitting there!

When he got home, he saw a metal drum stove had been set up in the courtyard. It was sealed with mud around the edges, and the middle was blackened from fire.

Mengmeng saw her dad return and immediately peeked into the back of the electric tricycle. When she spotted the watermelons, her eyes lit up. “Daddy, watermelon!”

“Mommy, look! Watermelon! Daddy bought it! Hehe!” Mengmeng shouted happily.

Cheng Xiaolin also saw the two big watermelons but didn’t see any lamb. “Where’s the lamb?” she asked.

“Don’t worry,” Cao Shujie said. “I already arranged it with the vendor. He’ll slaughter one and deliver it tomorrow. We’ll stew it fresh.”

He turned to his father. “Dad, do you know someone named Li Jiagen?”

“You mean the guy who sells lamb at the market? If that’s who you mean, then yeah, I know him!” Cao Jianguo replied.

When he saw his son nod, he asked, “You bought from him?”

“Yeah, he was the first one I talked to. The price seemed fair, so I didn’t bother asking around,” Cao Shujie explained.

Wang Yuelan didn’t care about any of that. Seeing her granddaughter staring at the watermelon, she walked right over and picked one up from the back of the truck. “Mengmeng, come on, Grandma will cut this up for you.”

“Mom, put it in some cool water first,” Cao Shujie reminded her. “It’s been baking in the sun all day—it’ll be too hot to eat like that.”

Wang Yuelan turned her head and said, “You don’t need to tell me that. I’ve grown more watermelons than you’ve ever eaten.”

“You used to sneak into our fields to steal watermelons when you were a kid—I still haven’t settled that score with you!”

“…Seriously?” Cao Shujie was speechless. She managed to get a jab in even with that?

Cheng Xiaolin couldn’t hold it in when she heard her mother-in-law say that. She burst out laughing on the spot.

She never imagined her husband had done something so embarrassing as a kid!

(End of this chapter)