Siheyuan, my new life

A few minutes later, an old man and a young man walked into the alley. The slightly hunched old man in front was the butcher from before. He clasped his hands in a fist and bow when he was still three or four steps away from Guo Yongping, and said with a smile, "Please forgive this old man for not recognizing you. My surname is Yuan. I make a living in this Guijie area with a bunch of kids. May I ask your surname, sir?"

Guo Yongping clasped his hands in a fist and said with a smile, "Mr. Yuan, you are too kind. My surname is Chang. Today, I was asked to purchase a batch of pork. I saw that the meat on the cart was of good quality, so I thought I would trouble this friend to make the trip and I plan to buy more."

Boss Yuan laughed and said, "We'd be delighted to have such a big customer like you at our doorstep. How could we possibly turn away such an honored guest? Rest assured, I, Yuan, have been in the business on Guijie Street for two or three decades. I can't guarantee anything else, but I will absolutely ensure the quality of the pork. This is our first time dealing with each other today, but we'll have plenty of opportunities in the future." As he spoke, he waved to the burly man standing next to the cart, "Fifth Brother, prepare the pork for Master Chang right away, and also get another cart ready to help Master Chang deliver the meat later."

The burly man called Lao Wu immediately directed several people to get to work.

Boss Yuan walked up to Guo Yongping and asked in a low voice, "Uncle Chang, do you need any mutton or beef? They are all top-quality goats and Mongolian cattle from outside the Great Wall." As he spoke, he pointed to several carts not far away.

Guo Yongping was so focused on the quality of the pork at the meat stall that he didn't really notice the beef and mutton samples next to it. However, he was more interested in the mutton and beef than the pork. While pork and mutton could be bought at high prices on the black market, beef was a matter of luck. Nowadays, rural production capacity is backward, and farming still mainly relies on oxen and mules. Therefore, oxen are definitely the farmers' treasures. They take great care of their oxen, sometimes even more so than their own family members. Unless the oxen are old, sick, or injured, they are rarely slaughtered in rural areas.

So Guo Yongping said with a smile, "Mr. Yuan, I was blind and didn't notice that you also have mutton and beef here. Let's check the quality first. If the quality is good and the price is right, I'll buy more."

Boss Yuan couldn't help but smile behind the black cloth. The customer in front of him, who spoke with a standard Beijing accent (in his later years, whether at school or looking for work in Beijing, Guo Yongping's Mandarin was naturally excellent; now, to avoid giving himself away, he would deliberately add a bit of a Henan accent when he spoke, but tonight he was speaking with a pure Beijing accent), judging from the way he had just ordered another two or three hundred catties of pork, was probably either a wealthy family or a large organization. Only such a gourmand would order so many ribs. You know, in the eyes of ordinary people, the most desirable part was the three-finger-thick layer of fat. After buying it home, they would slice off the fat to render the oil, and the pork cracklings were a rare delicacy.

The big customer in front of us is definitely a connoisseur. Look at the pork he chose: apart from the hind leg, it's all pork belly and ribs. Whether you pan-fry, stir-fry, cook, or deep-fry it, it's all top-quality ingredients.

So Mr. Yuan turned to the side and made an inviting gesture, then stepped toward the three carts behind him.

At this moment, the guards standing next to the cart began to lift the tarpaulin that had been covering it and turned on their flashlights to shine on the goods on the cart.

Guo Yongping and Boss Yuan walked together to a cart. Boss Yuan pointed to the mutton in front of them, which had a strong mutton smell, and said with a smile, "Master Chang, please take a look. The mutton here was just slaughtered and deboned this afternoon. It is all top-quality goat meat that our brothers worked hard to bring back from outside the Great Wall."

With the tarpaulin covering the meat and the distance between them, Guo Yongping hadn't smelled any muttony odor. He leaned closer to examine the skinned, deboned, and frozen goats on the cart, and chuckled to himself. How could he possibly judge the quality of mutton? In his later life, he would often drink beer and eat mutton skewers with his college roommates, and as long as there was no strange smell, that was enough for him.

Guo Yongping pretended to inspect the nine skinned and deboned goats on the cart, then straightened up and said with a smile, "Grandpa Yuan, what's the price of this mutton? If it's reasonable, I'll take it all."

Upon hearing this, Boss Yuan was overjoyed. With such a big customer, he could sell his goods quickly and his men wouldn't have to suffer in the cold. So he smiled and said, "Uncle Chang, let's be frank. Tonight, the price of mutton on Guijie Street is two yuan per jin, and beef is one yuan and eighty cents per jin. I make a living on Guijie Street, so the rules can't be broken. But since you're a big customer, although the price of meat can't be lowered, all the cleaned offal, sheep heads, and hooves in the sacks over there are free. If you're interested in beef, the offal, cow heads, and cow hooves are also free."

Guo Yongping nodded slightly: "Let's take a look at the beef. Let the brothers weigh the mutton. Also, weigh all the pork except for the neck meat."

Upon hearing this, Boss Yuan was overjoyed and quickly instructed the waiter behind him, "Kid, didn't you hear what Master Chang said? Tell them to cut off the neck, and give all the other pig offal, pig heads, pig trotters, and lard to Master Chang as an extra gift."

The shop assistant quickly ran to the back, feeling very happy. He hadn't expected to run into such a big customer, and he was sure he could close up shop early and go home to get some sleep tonight.

Accompanied by Boss Yuan, Guo Yongping inspected the beef on the other two carts and bought it all. He was able to buy over a thousand catties of beef, three or four hundred catties of mutton, and over a thousand catties of pork at once, enough for his meat needs for a long time to come. In addition, he also got several hundred catties of offal, pig, cow, and sheep, as well as pig heads, pig trotters, cow heads, cow trotters, sheep heads, and sheep trotters. If these things were processed properly, they would definitely be good snacks to go with drinks.

It took more than a dozen workers nearly an hour of frantic work to weigh all the pork, mutton, and beef. The burly man called Xiao Wu came over with the ledger and said respectfully, "Sir, all the goods have been weighed. The pork weighs 2,136 jin, which is 5,340 yuan; the mutton weighs 345 jin, which is 690 yuan; and the beef weighs 1,328 jin, which is 2,390 yuan. The total is 8,420 yuan." He then handed over the ledger with both hands.