Reborn in 1981, starting by smashing my iron rice bowl.

Wang Shujuan also remembered that Liu Weidong had indeed said that to her back then. At the time, she thought Liu Weidong was just comforting her, but she didn't expect that he wasn't just saying it casually, and that he really made that bastard Zhao Baojun get his comeuppance!

Wang Shujuan was deeply moved at that moment, her eyes reddening as she nodded vigorously. Although she didn't say a word, the affection in her eyes was almost overflowing.

Liu Weidong was itching to see her looking at him with such affection. Everyone else was excitedly discussing Zhao Baojun's fate, and no one seemed to notice him and Wang Shujuan sitting at the back. So, while looking around, he secretly took Wang Shujuan's small hand in his.

Wang Shujuan shuddered as if she'd been electrocuted, her pretty face turning bright red at a visible speed. Although it wasn't the first time she'd been this intimate with Liu Weidong, she'd never done it in public before, making her both shy and nervous.

But Wang Shujuan didn't shake off Liu Weidong's hand. She just glanced at him shyly and let him do as he pleased.

Liu Weidong was secretly pleased by Wang Shujuan's reaction, which showed that she was becoming more and more accepting of him. If he continued like this, he would eventually win Wang Shujuan's heart completely.

Unlike pursuing a girl gradually, making money is something that absolutely cannot wait. So after the verdicts for Zhao Baojun and others were handed down, Liu Weidong started thinking about the national grain coupons he had hidden away.

Before the theft case was settled, Liu Weidong preferred to let the grain coupons rot rather than risk using them. But now that the case is closed, it's time to make good use of these national grain coupons.

The quickest way to do this was simply to sell all the grain coupons. In the early 1980s, national grain coupons were practically hard currency. On the black market, a pound of national grain coupons could sell for four or five cents, and people would buy as many as you had—there was no shortage of buyers!

But Liu Weidong had far too many national grain coupons—several thousand kilograms! If he were to sell them directly on the black market, it would definitely attract the attention of those with ulterior motives.

There are only two possible outcomes: either he gets arrested because someone reports him, or even if Liu Weidong has a silver tongue, he won't be able to explain where all those national grain coupons came from, and his fate will likely be similar to Zhao Baojun's.

Or they might be double-crossed by malicious people, and in that case, forget about these food stamps, even their lives are in danger.

After all, in the early 1980s, public security was terrible, and criminals were rampant; otherwise, the country wouldn't have launched such a crackdown. Liu Weidong didn't want to risk his life for such a small amount of national food coupons.

Unable to sell his national grain coupons directly, Liu Weidong was left with only one other option: to first exchange the grain coupons for eggs in the countryside, and then sell the eggs in the city.

Back then, Liu Weidong would secretly exchange the eggs at home for grain coupons and then hand them all over to Li Yinfeng. He would be overjoyed as long as he received a word of praise from her, acting like a complete sycophant.

The reborn Liu Weidong, of course, wouldn't do that. Instead, he planned to use this method to exchange all his grain coupons for money. After all, this kind of thing was very common in the 1980s, and as long as Liu Weidong controlled the number of grain coupons, it wouldn't attract too much attention.

So Liu Weidong found an opportunity to secretly go to the dilapidated ancestral hall at the entrance of the village, first took about 300 catties of national grain coupons, and hid the rest back where they were.

Liu Weidong didn't want to hide so many national grain coupons at home; it was safer to leave them here, so that even if someone found them, they wouldn't associate them with him.

The next morning, Liu Weidong went to find Hao Jianjun. The guy wasn't even up yet; only his father, Hao Qiang, was wiping down the old bicycle in the yard.

Before the Lunar New Year, Liu Weidong had asked Hao Jianjun for odd jobs, which earned him a lot of money. So Hao Qiang was particularly enthusiastic towards him, smiling broadly as he said, "Oh, Weidong's here! Looking for Jianjun?"

"Yes, Uncle Qiang, I've come to see Jianjun." Liu Weidong said with a smile, "There's another odd job available, and I wanted to ask him if he'd be willing to do it."

Hao Qiang was overjoyed and nodded repeatedly, saying, "No need to ask, he has to be willing! If that brat isn't willing, I'll break his legs! Jianjun, Jianjun, what time is it and you're still lying there like a corpse? Get up, Weidong is here to see you!"

"Coming, coming!" Hao Jianjun rushed out and said to Liu Weidong, "Brother Weidong, what brings you here so early?"

Liu Weidong came to find his son to make money, but the good-for-nothing son complained that he had arrived early. Hao Qiang immediately retorted angrily, "The sun is almost directly overhead, and you're still sleeping, you good-for-nothing!"

"Uncle Qiang, calm down!" Liu Weidong quickly soothed the furious Hao Qiang, then winked at Hao Jianjun and said, "I'll take Jianjun to see the boss. As long as everything is alright, he can start work!"

After Liu Weidong finished speaking, he and Hao Jianjun ran outside, while Hao Qiang shouted loudly from behind, "Weidong, take Uncle Qiang with you this time..."

Before Hao Qiang could finish speaking, Liu Weidong interrupted him: "Sorry, Uncle Qiang, it's the same old rule, we don't want anyone over thirty-five!"

The two ran quite a distance before slowing down. Hao Jianjun breathed a long sigh of relief and said, "Luckily we ran fast, otherwise the old man would have scolded us to death!"

Liu Weidong glanced at the guy and said, "You're the one who'll get scolded to death by Uncle Qiang. He's very polite to me!"

"Sigh, ever since you helped me make money before the New Year, my dad has been nagging me every day," Hao Jianjun said with a worried look. "He always says how successful you are and that I'm a useless piece of trash. I can't live like this anymore!"

Parents these days are nothing like they were twenty years ago, when they were incredibly careful with their children, treating them like fragile treasures. Nowadays, parents are like Hao Qiang – scolding them is considered mild, and kicking them when they get angry is perfectly normal.

So Liu Weidong just frowned and said, "Uncle Qiang is doing this for your own good. Stop complaining. I'll just ask you one question: would you do the job of exchanging grain coupons for eggs, or would you still get five yuan a day?"

"As long as there's money to be made, we have to do it!" Hao Jianjun immediately agreed, but then frowned and said, "But with food coupons so scarce these days, where are we going to get so many?"

Liu Weidong readily agreed, saying, "Don't worry about that. I have connections to get grain coupons. You just need to help me out!"

Since Liu Weidong has said so, Hao Jianjun nodded repeatedly and said, "Then I have no problem. When do we start?"

Liu Weidong didn't hesitate, saying the sooner the better. So that very noon, Liu Weidong and Hao Jianjun rode their bicycles to a nearby village to exchange eggs.