Who the Fuck Is This Rotten?!

This was the traditional Chinese way of thinking at work.

Without a house that belonged entirely to you, with your name on the deed, it always felt as though something was missing.

And now that Liang Xin had latched onto the system's thick thigh, ordinary houses no longer caught his eye.

Take the shabby little single room he was living in now. Even if he had enough money, he wouldn't buy it.

At the very least, it had to be a small courtyard house.

But that would cost at least tens of thousands of yuan.

Yet even counting the balance in the System Shop, he had only a little over twenty yuan in his pocket.

He was far too short!

And he wasn't willing to lower his quality of life to save money.

Or should he start saving now?

Having made a certain decision, Liang Xin spoke.

"Auntie Liu, I understand."

"How about this? When I get back from work tomorrow, I should be able to bring some things back. We can share them out among everyone then!"

Liang Xin hadn't said exactly what he would bring, because he hadn't yet thought of what to sell everyone.

But Auntie Liu was already smiling, her spirits lifting.

As long as it was food, everyone would be happy with whatever he brought back to share!

These days, even a few jin of coarse grain per family was something to celebrate!

"All right, all right, Xiao Liang. I'll head back, then. I won't keep you from work!"

"Wait, Auntie Liu, I still have two jin of persimmons here. Do you want them?"

These were from the six jin Xiao Zhou at work had shared with him. He'd been eating them ever since, and there were still about two jin left.

"Persimmons? Those will do!"

Auntie Liu hesitated for a second before deciding to take them.

She'd hesitated because they weren't much of a meal. They didn't keep hunger away or fill you up.

They could only be given to the children as fruit to satisfy their cravings, or served as a dish.

But just as she'd said earlier, these days, anything edible would do!

"Auntie Liu, a colleague at work bought these from the villagers and sold them to us for five fen a jin. Each of us got a few jin."

"Just pay me five fen a jin too. I can't make money off you."

"Oh, how could I accept that? How about I..."

"No need for that. Let's leave it at that. Take them; I have to get to work."

"You people at the supply and marketing cooperative have it good. You deal with food every day, so you get chances to get your hands on some. If I'd known, I'd have tried harder to get into the cooperative back then."

"Xiao Liang, wait here. I'll go home and get your money."

"Auntie Liu, there's no rush. How about you wait until I get back..."

Auntie Liu didn't listen to a word Liang Xin said. Persimmons in hand, she hurried home.

Once home, she quickly put them on the scale.

Two jin had only been Liang Xin's estimate. He hadn't planned to sell them in the first place, but then Auntie Liu had suddenly come to his door looking to buy food.

And since he was going away for two days, he was afraid they might spoil if left sitting, so he thought he might as well do Auntie Liu a favor and sell them to her.

Auntie Liu weighed them: two jin and two liang.

At Liang Xin's price, that came to eleven fen.

Auntie Liu took the money to Liang Xin's home and pressed fifteen fen in coins into his hand.

"Xiao Liang, don't think it's too little. Please take it."

"Auntie appreciates the favor!"

Fifteen fen was about the same as fifteen yuan in later times.

He had estimated there were about two jin, which came to ten fen.

That meant Auntie Liu had given him a few extra fen, the equivalent of a few yuan in later times.

It wasn't worth getting into a pushing match with Auntie Liu over that little extra.

Besides, the few extra fen Auntie Liu had given him showed that she was considerate and understood the give-and-take of social dealings.

She hadn't simply paid him five fen a jin because he'd said that was what he paid.

Her attitude made Liang Xin feel quite comfortable.

So Liang Xin put on a show of refusing a few times, then accepted it.

At worst, he could just sell her a little more food in the future.

Food was the one thing he had no shortage of!

What a busy morning it had been!

He'd heated up his meal and eaten, handed out candy to the children, traded books with them, and had someone come to his door looking to buy food.

After all that bustle, it was finally time to go to work.

No matter how unwilling Liang Xin was, he still had to work!

These days, anyone without a job was called a street loafer and looked down upon!

He made his way to the entrance of his workplace, and only after checking that no one was around did he slip behind the old tree beside the gate.

Fuck! Who the fuck took a shit here?! I almost stepped in it!

No matter how badly you had to go, you couldn't just shit at the gate with people coming and going!

Couldn't you have gone a little farther away?!

Rotten!

Shameless!

On his way to work, Liang Xin had felt the need to pee.

He'd originally planned to use the toilet at work.

But the smell in there was too strong. Public toilets were all like that these days, without modern equipment.

Every time he went in, he felt nauseated.

And with what he was seeing and smelling now, he suddenly felt as though his mind had been opened.

Someone else squatted down to take a shit here, so it shouldn't be a big problem if I take a pee, right?

He suddenly understood this unknown fellow. He was probably just like him, too disgusted by that lousy toilet.

Understandable, perfectly understandable!

Two minutes later, Liang Xin, who had come empty-handed, left satisfied with two paper parcels in his arms.

Mm, lucky. I didn't get caught by one of those old ladies wearing red armbands.