Wang Meng was the first to go into the mountains with him. Sanmiao joined later, but he went with Li Feng to explore the deep mountains. These were life-and-death friendships.
At this point, he was laying the groundwork, saying that Lu Liu looked a lot like his brother.
It’s normal for brothers to look alike.
Wang Meng and Sanmiao didn’t say anything.
All the way to the county seat, they chatted about matters concerning the mountains.
The shop had a sign hanging outside, and once they turned onto the street, it was immediately visible, very prominent and impressive.
They entered through the front door to pay New Year’s respects. Lu Liu got out of the car and walked through the front door to pay respects to his older brother.
Li Feng led the others around to the back door to unload the goods.
Lu Yang thought they were bringing mountain goods, so there were more people in the backyard today.
He also covered his face with a headscarf to make it easier to see his younger brother.
Hearing the doorbell ring, he sent Xie Yan to open the door.
—He didn’t hear anyone calling his older brother, so Lu Liu wasn’t there.
Just as he was thinking about it, Lu Liu’s voice came from the front door.
“Brother!”
Lu Lin thought he might be mistaken, but upon closer inspection, he realized they were indeed very similar.
Lu Lin rubbed his eyes.
Lu Liu obediently took her brother’s hand and went to the backyard.
Lu Yang peeked out and turned back to ask Lu Liu, “Can we trust these two?”
Lu Liu nodded, “They are both good friends of Dafeng.”
Lu Yang then strode into the courtyard.
Hunters have good hearing. They heard footsteps and turned to look. When they saw Lu Yang’s face, they were all startled.
Lu Yang was much more generous than Lu Liu and spoke and greeted people briskly.
“Thank you all for coming. Please sit down and have some tea and buns. I’ll go borrow a scale to weigh and calculate the amount so we can keep track of the money for future reference.”
Sanmiao and Wang Meng didn’t say a word and stared at Li Feng with wide eyes.
Li Feng remained calm: “Alright.”
Lu Yang’s shop was truly lacking in everything. A large scale, just the weight of the iron alone, wasn’t cheap.
He had previously borrowed the scale from Ding Boss, and now he was borrowing it again.
Once he earned some money, he would gradually purchase these items.
Once the shop was in order, he could save up money to find a small house to live in.
Seeing this, Lu Liu pulled off the cloth covering his face.
The two of them looked exactly alike. When they went next door to borrow the scale weights, the clerk was very surprised. He took the scale weights and went to tell his boss.
Mr. Ding laughed and said, “I was wondering why my younger brother was always nagging me. No wonder.”
They brought the straw ropes they had used to tie the jars earlier, borrowed the weights, and asked the shop assistant to help them tie them up.
In the backyard of the dumpling shop, Wang Meng and San Miao were still whispering to Li Feng, “You said they looked alike, but you didn’t say they looked this alike!”
Li Feng replied, “Don’t they look alike?”
They do.
They look too much alike.
“I’ve seen other families have twins before, but how come they look so much alike?” Wang Meng muttered again when he saw Lu Yang and Lu Liu return.
Having twins means giving birth to two children in one pregnancy.
It’s rare, but it does happen.
They’ve never seen twins this similar before.
Wang Meng was puzzled, “Jiu Ge said that the Chen family only has one son.”
Li Feng didn’t say much, “Lu Yang doesn’t have the Chen surname.”
That makes sense.
They came to deliver mountain produce, not to investigate other people’s backgrounds.
If it’s similar, so be it. It’s none of their business.
Lu Yang put the weights away and, without being polite to them, called Li Feng over to lift the weights.
Sanmiao placed the weights, while Lu Yang led his younger brother to watch from the other side.
Both sides called out the numbers, and Xie Yan recorded them in his notebook.
The first batch of mountain goods were all dried and brought along, with various types of mountain mushrooms filling four baskets, loading the entire cart.
There were also five baskets of freshly dug bamboo shoots, weighing over 300 pounds.
Li Feng also picked some wild persimmons. He didn’t sell them, but gave them as a New Year’s gift to the two families.
When he said he would give them away, Lu Liu was happy for several days.
Lu Yang took out the persimmons and didn’t weigh them.
Recently, Li Feng went into the mountains with Da Qiang and visited Da Qiang’s hunting grounds. They didn’t disturb any wild bee nests, but they picked one up that still had bee pupae inside. These can be eaten and sold for a good price. Let’s see if there are any wealthy families in the county who crave this delicacy.
There really isn’t much to get from the mountains in winter, but it is hunting season.
Other than that, there are plenty of mountain chickens and wild rabbits, which are caught by digging out their nests. Li Feng has been digging out rabbit nests lately, bringing the live ones home for Lu Liu to keep as pets. The ones he shoots are processed, and he brought them along today.
Then there are the three sheep he and Wang Meng hunted, piled high on the truck.
There are other hunters in the village who go into the mountains, but since they are on credit, they don’t sell. We’ll talk about that next time.
Lu Yang was delighted to see these goods and rubbed his hands together excitedly.
He settled accounts with Lu Liu: “The honeycomb has already been sold, and Xie Yan will deliver it later. As for the bee larvae, I’ll ask Mr. Ding next door if he wants them. The lamb is no problem; Ding just told me he craves it. You wait; I’ll make sure he buys at least two lamb legs. Save two for me too; I need to give a gift tomorrow, so I’ll keep one and give the other. As for the other meats, just go around the area, and they’ll be sold out in a couple of days.”
He knew a craftsman who could carve woodblocks. He learned to read and write and all kinds of knowledge from this old master.
After mastering all these skills, he went back to outsmart his old master. Lu Yang felt embarrassed, so during the New Year’s greetings, he brought Xie Yan to pay respects.
He’ll bring a lamb leg over later and discuss business. It’s not exactly a free ride.
They didn’t have much silver on hand; they were truly broke.
He wanted to have the old master carve the woodblocks first, print the small books, and then exchange the goods for money, with them taking a cut.
This would earn them less than a full payment upfront, but it was suitable for them.
Once the lawsuit is over, they’ll also need to send a gift to Mr. Jin. None of this is cheap.
They need silver everywhere, and the goods in the courtyard are still on credit. Sigh.
Lu Liu said, “I’ve discussed it with Dafeng, and we’ll cut a few pounds of lamb for you. A leg should be enough; just take it.”
Lu Yang thought that was fine: “Alright, next time I have something good, I’ll send it to you too.”
The sheepskin should be kept. Li Feng will take it to the mountains to soak, and after half a year, it can be retrieved, tanned, and made into leather coats and hats—all of which are worth silver.
