Chapter 3

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The next morning, Feng Yiping said he wanted to do the same as his Uncle and Brother Dongming, cutting down the thatch and small shrubs and drying them. His parents were clearly somewhat relieved.

When they got to the mountain, Uncle taught him how to do it. At a certain spot, he cut a long branch and beat the area first to make sure there were no snakes or insects.

When cutting, don't rush, take it slowly and be careful not to cut your hand; remember to angle the blade downward, which saves effort and prevents the blade from dulling; also, be mindful of any stones on the ground to avoid hitting them with the machete... In short, there is a lot to learn.

While cutting, other issues were manageable, but two things were particularly uncomfortable: the heat, with the hot air rising from below and the sun beating down from above; and the back, as he had to bend over constantly, which was very uncomfortable.

However, he didn't worry about the progress. When he was tired, Feng Yiping would stand in place and rest, cutting and resting as he went. By ten o'clock, the sun was very strong, and Uncle and the others had also stopped to rest. He stopped too and found a shady spot to sit.

Sweating a lot, he felt very thirsty. Remembering that the cow also needed water, he led the cow to the pond halfway up the mountain. Above the pond, there was a clear spring, cold and sweet. He ran to a nearby tung tree, picked a large tung leaf, folded it in the middle, filled it with water, swished it a few times, and then scooped it to drink.

It still tasted the same as he remembered, much better than mineral water!

After drinking, Feng Yiping led the cow to a shady spot in the mountain hollow, where it could graze for a while. There were many shady spots, and he would tie the cow there when it was time to go home for lunch.

Sitting under the shade of a tree, Feng Yiping's mind couldn't stop. The strange rebirth was good, but there was a big problem right now: money!

This year, 1992, was a year that would go down in history.

It was a turbulent era. At the end of last year, the Soviet Union, once a superpower, tragically dissolved.

A month later, our chief architect toured the south at the beginning of the year, delivering a series of speeches, which later became known as the "Southern Tour Speeches." These speeches timely pointed the way for the country's development, ushering in a new era of reform and opening up, and providing a strong theoretical basis for the development of a socialist market economy with Chinese characteristics.

From this year onward, we embraced the arrival of a new era, and our country began its peaceful rise.

Although these events would profoundly influence the world and ultimately directly impact Feng Yiping, for now, they were still quite distant from him.

His mind was currently filled with thoughts of "money, money, money!"

At least for Feng Yiping's generation, the problem of food and clothing had been solved. From childhood to adulthood, there were fewer times when they ate well, but they always had enough to eat.

However, money was in short supply. In the village, apart from the three families who had jobs in town or the county, one private teacher, a carpenter, a lacquer craftsman, a bamboo craftsman, and a family running a processing workshop, the rest were not worried about food, but only just enough to get by.

Feng Yiping's family was in even more difficult circumstances. By now, they still owed over 3,000 yuan in debt.

At that time, the only way for rural families to earn money was through raising pigs, silkworms, and economic forests, but there were also many expenses.

There were always health issues for adults, children, pigs, and cows; fertilizers and pesticides for the spring and autumn seasons; school fees for the children; and at the end of the year, they had to buy vegetables, fruits, bottled alcohol for guests, and new clothes for the children; and there were also social obligations.

In the past, for weddings and funerals, it was enough to bring some gifts, but now it was all about money, at least 3 to 5 yuan.

Most of the villagers shared the same surname, and they were all related in some way. Each family had several relatives, and when something happened, almost the entire village had to give gifts. And since Feng Zhenchang was of a higher generation and older, those families would even come to invite him, and he couldn't refuse even if he was in difficulty.

This added up to a significant amount of money spent each year, and the few sources of income were not enough to cover it.

The key was that Feng Yiping's family had a very thin foundation.

Shortly after the birth of his daughter, Mei Qiuping contracted tuberculosis. In the 1980s, tuberculosis was a serious illness. To treat it, they spent all their savings and incurred a lot of debt. Before the debt was paid off, they built a new house, which added more debt. The main expenses were for labor, such as Feng Chuntang's wages, which were still owed 70-odd yuan.

There were also loans from the credit union, money owed to the village processing workshop, oil mill, tailor, barefoot doctor, and veterinarian... plus the small amounts borrowed from various families, totaling over 3,000 yuan.

How dire was the lack of money? When Feng Yiping was in the first and second grades, there were no fees, but in the third grade, it was 3 yuan, which he could pay without owing. From the fourth grade, the fees increased to over 10 yuan, which he couldn't afford, and he owed every year. On the first day of school, those who paid their fees received their new books, while he had to wait two days. Every month, on the last weekend, the teacher would keep them after school to ask when they could pay the fees. This situation continued throughout his schooling.

As for pocket money, well, for Feng Yiping, it was always a mythical thing! He had never seen it.

For over a year after the new house was built, they couldn't afford to buy wires, light bulbs, switches, or a power pole, so they had no electricity and still used kerosene lamps.

Most families would buy new clothes for the New Year, either ready-made or by buying fabric from the town's department store and having the village tailor make them. But Feng Yiping remembered that for the past three New Years, there were no new clothes. Even now, the clothes he wore were mostly altered from his sister's old clothes.

He also remembered that in the fifth grade, he wore his sister's old pants, which had a side opening, and was laughed at by his classmates. After that, his parents didn't let him wear his sister's old pants anymore.

In the days leading up to the New Year, people would come to collect debts, and Feng Zhenchang would have to say nice things and prepare the best meals to entertain them.

Of course, everyone in the village knew the family's situation and understood that they were genuinely in difficulty, not just refusing to pay. But at the end of the year, the debts had to be settled.

For example, Feng Chuntang, who had old debts and new ones, and similar cases like the processing workshop, doctors, and loans. In the rural credit union, if the interest wasn't paid off in the first year, it would be added to the principal in the second year, making the debt even larger, and the accounts had to be settled at the end of the year.

Interestingly, the two families next to Feng Yiping were among the best-off in the village. Feng Jiasheng worked in the town government canteen, and Feng Weidong was a temporary worker at the county distillery. Although their wages were not high, they could save a few hundred yuan a year.

In the countryside, an extra few hundred yuan a year in wages made life much easier. Feng Jiasheng currently had three televisions, one bought by the family running the processing workshop, and the other two by these two families.

By comparison, their family seemed even more impoverished. However, Feng Yiping had always been very sensible and had never asked for anything. The only time he cried and made a fuss was in the fourth grade when a photographer came to the village with a red horse, and his parents didn't let him take a photo. This was the only time.

Now, although he appeared to be a 12-year-old boy, he had the memory of the next 20 years, and changing the current situation was his responsibility.

So, what methods could he use to earn money, especially quickly? Without considering other things, school was starting in less than a month, and the fees for the first year of junior high school had doubled to 45 yuan! As usual, the family had no money at all.

As for clothes, there were none. The pants were fine; he could wear the winter ones, even if it was a bit hot. But he had no shirts, either long-sleeved or short-sleeved, and his undershirts were not only yellow from washing but also had holes.

Money, money, how could he earn money? The millionaire of 20 years later was at a loss.

Feng Yiping's days of herding cattle and cutting firewood lasted only ten days before he had to stop due to an injury to his right foot.

That day, while cutting, a snake slipped out of the grass. The snake was also startled and fled in a panic, not attacking him.

The problem was that he was most afraid of snakes. He felt that even if he faced a tiger, he might have the courage to touch its buttocks, but snakes terrified him.

He was startled and instinctively stepped back, and his right foot landed on a freshly cut shrub. The old解放鞋 (解放鞋 is a type of shoe) had a broken heel, and the sharp end of the shrub pierced through, almost reaching his ankle. A small piece of the shrub broke off inside, and blood flowed uncontrollably.

He endured the pain, pulled out the piece of wood, tore off the bottom of his undershirt to wrap it, and handed the cow to Dongming. Dongming, seeing the situation, offered to carry him home, but he said it was unnecessary and limped back slowly.

Feng Zhenchang was still in the fields, and Mei Qiuping quickly used a folk remedy to stop the bleeding, applying ashes from the stove to the wound. She then rushed to the village office to find the barefoot doctor. The doctor was treating patients in another village, and by the time Mei Qiuping and the doctor arrived home, it was already evening. Feng Yiping had already cooked the rice and fed the pigs.

After cleaning the wound with alcohol and applying Yunnan Baiyao, it was bandaged.

Of course, the doctor stayed for dinner.

After staying at home for two days and changing the bandage twice, Feng Yiping limped up the mountain to herd the cow, but he couldn't continue cutting firewood.

Finally, about ten days before school started, Feng Yiping found a direction for his money-making plan.

That evening, Feng Weidong's son, Feng Hongbing, invited him to watch TV. Feng Hongbing was three years older and would start the third year of junior high school. They were usually playmates.

At that time, there were no satellite dishes, only the old-style branched antennas, which received a limited number of channels. However, besides the county and city TV stations, they could receive CCTV-1, and he wanted to see the news, so he went.

It was a 14-inch black-and-white TV, placed in a high cabinet in the living room. The picture was relatively clear, but Feng Yiping, used to large, high-definition screens, found it tiring after a while. He turned his head and saw a book on the dining table. He picked it up and saw the title on the colorful cover: "Storytelling."

This was a very influential magazine, still thriving in 2014, though he rarely read it. He vaguely felt that seeing this book sparked some idea, but it wasn't clear.

Before leaving, he asked Feng Hongbing to lend him the "Storytelling" book. Herding cattle on the mountain was quite boring, and a book could pass the time.

That night, after reading a few humorous stories at the beginning, he realized what the vague idea was: he could submit stories to "Storytelling" and other magazines!

Humorous stories were just jokes, and he had plenty of them! In the 20 years that followed, society had advanced greatly, and the pressure on everyone had increased. To relieve stress, various jokes emerged, one after another. People often shared jokes via email, QQ groups, and social media. He couldn't remember all of them, but he remembered many classic, widely circulated ones. Could this be a way to make money?

He was excited and found paper and pen to write down the mailing address on the back cover.

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