I make a living solving crimes.

There is no gate at Deshengmen anymore, and what is left is a shabby arrow tower that is far from being as bright and glorious as it was in later generations. It looks grey under the scorching sun.

People in later times had to buy tickets to visit it, but now you can just visit it casually, and no one considers it a tourist attraction.

Outside the city wall is the suburbs with vast tracts of farmland. This will be the future Third Ring Road, with prices starting at RMB 100,000 per square meter.

Chang Wei walked into the shack of the militia guarding the fields, paid two cents and took out his big wooden basin, filled it with water from the moat, poured the fish in the basket into it, then sat on a stool, fanning himself with a palm-leaf fan and waiting for business.

"How to sell this fish?"

"Four cents."

"Kill?"

"I can't kill it. My fish is so fresh and alive. I guarantee it will still be alive and kicking when you take it home."

"The young man is not very old, but he is very good at business. Come on, give me one, a big one."

"okay."

Chang Wei sold a hundred kilograms of fish in a wooden basin used by little kids to take a bath. If someone had been observing him, they would have been very surprised. Why did the number of fish in the basin never decrease?

Putting the basin back and handing two cigarettes to the militiaman, Chang Wei walked slowly along the river. Along the way, he bought 30 kilograms of cornmeal, 10 kilograms of potatoes, 2 kilograms of eggs, and some cabbage and tomatoes, and staggered home.

Cornmeal is only 40 cents a pound now. I remember my grandfather said in my previous life that it cost three or four dollars to buy it in the most difficult times.

He also wanted to buy some cloth coupons, wine coupons, etc., but he didn't have any.

During the day, there is only produce here.

If you want to buy tickets, you have to come here at night.

I took a detour through Shichahai and Houhai, cast a few rods, and returned to Nanluoguxiang. As soon as I entered the front yard, I saw a thin girl sitting in front of her house, supporting a little girl who was squatting on the ground and poking at an ant nest.

"Rainwater, how old are you?"

"I want you to manage."

He Yushui stuffed the little girl into Chang Wei's arms, snorted, and ran towards the backyard proudly with her hips twisted.

Chang Wei looked at her pigtails swinging on her buttocks and curled his lips in disdain. They were so dry and fleshless. He wondered how her brother, a cook, raised his sister to be as sticky as a matchstick.

The two were classmates in elementary and junior high school, but they would quarrel whenever they met, and they have been quarreling since they were young.

Seeing him coming back, Chang Tian hurried over to help carry the backpack and said happily, "Brother, you're back."

"Have you had lunch yet?"

"She ate it, but she refused to buy the buns because the fourth child didn't give her money."

"This stingy girl," Chang Wei complained in his heart, and took out the so-called ABC mouse candy from his pocket, peeled off the candy coating and gave one to Chang Tian and the little girl respectively.

Chang Long didn't get it, so he hurriedly shouted, "Brother, I will never betray you again."

Chang Wei laughed and threw it to her.

"sugar."

"It's milk candy. It tastes like milk."

"Sweet, uncle, very sweet."

The little girl clapped her hands and gave Chang Wei a kiss, and Chang Wei's face was covered with sticky saliva.

Chang Wei wiped his face in disgust, handed the little girl to Chang Tian and Chang Long to take care of, and told them to play outside and not to come into the house.

He was preparing to boil lard.

The pork fat rewarded by the system is pure white without any other colors, and your hands will be filled with oil if you pinch it.

Cut ten pounds of pork fat into small pieces and wash them with clean water. Turn on a low fire, put the water in the pot and add the pork fat to it and simmer slowly. When you see the water evaporate and the lard change color, scoop out the oil residue.

It smells so good.

The three little ones were lying on the door frame sniffing, and their saliva was flowing all over the floor in front of the door. Unfortunately, Chang Wei said that they would be beaten as soon as they entered the door.

Such a big pot of oil is no joke.

Chang Wei found the jar with the word "happiness" on it that contained lard and saw only a final layer of white frost at the bottom of the jar. He couldn't help but sigh.

This is how the day goes.

The family was only allowed a few pounds of oil a month, not even enough for him to make a meal of snacks in the future.

The lard was put into a jar. Seven pounds of lard came out of ten pounds of meat. Chang Wei wrapped his hands with a rag and carefully pushed the jar with the word "囍" on it towards the stove. There was no need to wash the pot. He could use it to clean the bottom of the pot when frying cabbage in the evening.

After the lard residue had cooled down a little, I filled small bowls with half a bowl of it and gave them to the three little ones as a snack. The three little guys sat in a row on the steps at the door, taking turns to take a bite, chewing the food with a crunchy texture in their mouths.

Yan Bugui's little daughter, Yan Jiedi, was so envious that she stumbled over. She didn't dare to ask for it, but just watched eagerly.

Chang Tian was chewing the lard residue with a crunch. Seeing the saliva on Yan Jiedi's chin, he hesitated for a while, then took out three pieces from the bowl and handed them to her.

The little girl couldn't bear to chew the lard residue, so she just licked it with her tongue, smiling so much that her eyebrows and eyes were invisible.

Jia Banggeng, a six-year-old kid who lived in the middle courtyard, smelled the smell and ran over. Chang Long immediately protected the bowl and stared at it.

Jia Banggeng didn't dare to take it. He couldn't beat Chang Long. He rolled his eyes and reached out to snatch Yan Jiedi's.

"Wow...wow...mom, mom."

Even though the little girl was only four years old, her crying could be heard in the backyard.

The three aunts ran back in a hurry, followed by a group of grandmothers and mothers.

Chang Wei immediately realized that today would be a lively day.

He quickly called the three little ones into the house. There were no good people in this yard, and just watching the fun could get you into trouble.

When Yang Min came home from get off work and entered the yard, she was shocked. Jia Zhang, the grandmother of Jia Banggeng from the Central Courtyard, was jumping and cursing at the door of the Third Uncle's house. Behind them was a group of uncles and aunts trying to persuade them, and the boys and girls in the yard gathered together and watched the fun with laughter.

The curse was so dirty.

Every sentence is about the lower three ways.

Chang Long always covered the little girl's ears whenever he stayed in the room.

Yan Bugui, who claims to be a cultured person, doesn't know how to fight back.

The third aunt also gave up early and could only hug Yan Jiedi and wipe away her tears.

The three sons of the Yan family were furious, but they were helpless in the face of Jia Zhang. If they won the argument, they would be worse than a shrew, but if they lost, they would be worse than a shrew.

We can only focus our attention on Jia Banggeng.

Chang Wei pressed his face against the window glass with an excited look on his face.

As soon as Yang Min walked into the room and stretched out her hand, Chang Wei immediately behaved himself. When he heard Yang Min's question, he told her the whole story with a smile on his face.

It was originally a matter between a few children, and it was Bang Geng who made a mistake, so it could be forgiven with a few words of warning. It was not a big deal to have a bump in a large courtyard, and Auntie III could not embarrass a six-year-old child. She just took back a few pieces of lard that had been snatched away.

Lard residue!

That's good stuff.

This is how things started to get out of hand. Jia Zhang insisted, without any basis in reason, that the third aunt had snatched the lard residue from Bang Geng.

Yang Min opened the jar with the Chinese character "喜" on it and took a look. She immediately exclaimed, "How much did you cook today?"

Chang Wei calmly replied, "Ten kilograms. I made an order with someone else when I bought pork yesterday."

Yang Min thought that this was a bit outrageous. How could one still buy ten kilograms of lard now?

But if it wasn’t bought, where did it come from? It couldn’t be that my son transformed it, right?

Chang Wei was afraid that Yang Min would ask more questions, so he quickly said, "Mom, don't worry, the meal is ready."

Yang Min couldn't believe it. When did her son learn to cook?

As a senior office worker, Chang Wei can forget about preparing a grand banquet, but he can still make a few simple side dishes.

The eight-immortals table was covered with gauze. When the gauze was lifted, there was a plate of yesterday's leftover pork, a plate of stir-fried cabbage with lard, a plate of steamed eggs, and a bowl of cabbage soup. Even if this dish was changed to be eaten on New Year's Eve, the only thing missing was dumplings.

Yang Min wanted to call him a prodigal son, but then she thought that all the fish were caught by her son through hard work of fishing, and she couldn't help feeling distressed. How could it be easy to catch fish in such a hot day?

Yan Bugui, who lives next door, goes fishing at Houhai Lake every weekend. He would bring back a crucian carp weighing several kilograms and he would want the whole courtyard to know about it.

Chang Wei is only 16 years old, and Liu Guangqi from Liu Haizhong's family, the second uncle in the backyard, is already 18 years old. He doesn't earn a penny and has to eat scrambled eggs all day long.

Chang Wei didn't have much emotion. He just wanted to have something good to eat with his family. These dishes would be considered rough meals in later times. They would be barely enough for him to eat by himself, and not even good enough to serve to friends for a simple meal.

The family was happily preparing to sit down when they heard a knock on the door.

Chang Wei sighed in his heart, as expected, trouble had come.