Back to 1993: The family splits up at the start, and the ingrates regret it so much they cry.

Wang Peng left the place where he had lived for fifteen years with his schoolbag on his back, but felt a sense of peace in his heart!

Rebirth means starting over.

In this life, he wants to break free from the constraints of his family, study hard and improve every day, experience high school and university life, and make up for the regrets of his previous life.

By the way, I'll use my past life experience to make some money so I can live a carefree life in this one.

"I need to make money first!" Wang Peng thought to himself.

Food, clothing, shelter, and transportation need to be taken care of; tuition and living expenses need to be covered. When you're away from home, you need money for everything.

Although he didn't go to school in his previous life, he earned the tuition fees for his younger siblings' high school education.

So he remembers very clearly that the tuition and fees for a semester in high school were 200 yuan, and the living expenses were around 400 yuan.

With less than two months until the start of the new semester, students who want to sit in the classroom and study peacefully must earn 600 yuan before the semester begins.

How to do it?

He walked slowly and gradually arrived at Ping'an Town, the seat of Ping'an County.

At the edge of the city and countryside lies the Zhao Village market, with stalls lining both sides of the road selling clothes, iron pots, and more...

More often than not, there were watermelon stalls one after another.

"Hey buddy, your watermelons are too expensive. How can you charge 15 cents a pound?"

"You think 15 cents a pound is too expensive? My friend, it sells for 30 cents a pound in the county."

"Then why don't you go to the county to sell them at a higher price? Are you afraid to go? As far as I know, there are road bullies at the entrance to the city who stop people and demand money. The money you make from selling melons isn't even enough to pay them."

"Hmph, the country will execute those damned highway robbers sooner or later."

……

Watching the buyer and seller haggling over the price, Wang Peng couldn't help but have a sudden thought.

He knew a small road leading to the county seat, through which he could go to town to sell melons.

Highway robbery is a serious problem in Ping'an County now. People don't have the habit of calling the police when they encounter problems, nor do they have mobile phones to call the police at any time.

Before long, Ping'an County will execute many road bullies, completely curbing the chaos of toll collection on roads.

He decided to start a watermelon business, and slowly strolled around the streets until he found an old man whose business was the worst.

This man was named Du Geda. He had a sallow complexion, and his right hand always trembled involuntarily. He would occasionally take out a bottle of liquor from his pocket and take a sip. You could smell the liquor when you passed by him.

This is because long-term alcohol abuse has led to severe alcohol dependence.

Normal people don't want to deal with alcoholics, so his business was very poor; he only made two transactions in an hour.

Wang Peng walked up to his melon stall and said, "Uncle, how many melons are left on the truck? I'll take them all for a penny a pound."

what?

Du Geda got excited and pulled out another bottle of wine. "There are about four hundred pounds of it. Do you want it all?"

"Forty yuan, I want it all, and not just this one truckload. Deliver another truckload tomorrow morning, and I'll pay you then. Leave this truckload of melons with me for now, is that alright?"

"What do you mean? You want to buy on credit?" Du Geda hurriedly shook his head, worried that Wang Peng was a swindler. "We don't know each other, this is definitely not possible."

"Don't rush to refuse. My name is Wang Peng, and I live in Wang Village in the southwest corner. You can read, right? I'll give you this as collateral." Wang Peng took out his college admission notice.

The old man recognized the notice at a glance; his grandson had also received one not long ago.

The grandson ranked 238th in the county, while this boy named Wang Peng was the first.

"Amazing!" He gave a thumbs-up with trembling hands. "My name is Du Geda. My village is just north of yours. Come to my house tomorrow to pick up some watermelons."

He was no longer worried about being scammed. How could a top scorer in the high school entrance exam give up his high school admission notice for just a few dozen yuan?

Even a pig wouldn't believe it if I told you!

"Thank you, Uncle. Can I borrow your scale too? I promise I'll come to your house to buy watermelons wholesale tomorrow." Wang Peng finally felt relieved.

I didn't expect things to go so smoothly. After thinking about it carefully, I understand why. High school students are highly sought after these days.

"Alright, I'll wait for you." Du Geda took the admission notice, took out a bottle of wine, took a sip, patted his butt, and hummed a little tune as he left.

Wang Peng pulled a cart to the county. The 400-plus jin of melons were quite heavy, but fortunately the road was paved, so it wasn't too difficult to pull.

"It wasn't heavy when we came back." He wiped the sweat from his face with his sleeve and pulled the cart hard to continue on his way.

After walking seven or eight miles in one go, I looked up and saw the Longhai Railway, which is the dividing line between urban and rural areas.

hum...

A scooter passed by, and the young driver, wearing a leather jacket and sunglasses, turned his head to glance at Wang Peng.

The motorcycle began to slow down, and he stopped about ten meters away.

As the melon truck approached, he took off his sunglasses and asked, "Are you sure these melons are ripe?"

The lines sounded familiar. Wang Peng, fearing he might pull out a knife, laughed and said, "Brother, I run a fruit stand. How could I possibly sell you raw melons?"

"How much per kilogram?" the young man asked, turning off his motorcycle.

"Three cents, or your money back if it's not sweet." Wang Peng hurriedly picked up the snakeskin bag from the car. "Brother, you can choose for yourself."

The young man picked up a watermelon the size of a soccer ball, slapped it twice to listen to the sound, and then put it into a snakeskin bag.

Then he picked out an even bigger one, saying, "I want two first, it's hard to carry more."

"Alright." Wang Peng weighed himself on the scale, and it totaled 20 jin and 1 liang. He laughed and said, "I'll charge you 20 jin, so you can give me six yuan."

“Okay.” The young man took out his wallet and paid.

Wang Peng took the money, placed the two watermelons on the motorcycle footrest, and bowed respectfully to his older brother.

"Thank you for supporting my business, brother. You've benefited from my melon, and your business is booming. You deserve to ride a motorcycle."

This last sentence would be an insult in the future, but it's a compliment now. These days, anyone who can ride a motorcycle is no ordinary person.

The young man laughed, put on his sunglasses, and started his motorcycle. "Go back the way you came. There are a few gangs of road bullies over there on the railway bridge who extort farmers who come to the city to sell melons."

"Okay, thank you for reminding me, brother," Wang Peng said again.

A few polite words can earn you a kind reminder; sometimes, getting along with others can be that simple.

"The five-yuan and one-yuan notes from the fourth set of RMB, they bring back so many memories." Wang Peng took out six yuan, kissed them twice, pulled his cart away from the asphalt road, and turned onto the side road.

Ahead is Hancun Village, behind which is a railway culvert. Beyond the culvert is a cemetery, and beyond the cemetery is the back wall of the railway staff quarters.

In his previous life, he was building houses for his family's residential compound on the construction site. He happened to learn that this was a way to enter the city.

He walked through the cemetery, pulled his cart to the entrance of the family compound, and did not encounter the road bullies who tried to stop him.

—That's the secret to why he dared to go to the city to sell melons.

“Nobody knows about this shortcut.” Wang Peng smiled and decided to try his luck at the railway family compound.

We gave the gatekeeper two big watermelons, and he opened the gate with a smile.

"Young man, don't shout loudly. If you disturb the peace and anger the leaders, you won't be able to come in again."

"Okay, I got it. I promise I won't cause you any trouble." Wang Peng said and went into the family quarters.

These are all detached courtyard houses. He knocked on the door of courtyard number one.

The woman who opened the door was around thirty years old, and she looked at him cautiously.

Wang Peng smiled and said, "Sister, I'm sorry to bother you. Would you like some watermelon? Watermelon is good for beauty and youth."

The woman's wariness lessened considerably when such pleasant and endearing words came from a child's mouth.

The door-to-door delivery service was also a novel experience for her.

"How much are your watermelons?" She was worried that the watermelons delivered to her door would be more expensive than the market price.