A small plot of land in a mountain village

Chapter 35 Selling Silkworm Cocoons

This year, Zhang Niu's family harvested about 500 jin (250 catties) of silkworm cocoons from their seventy-odd silkworm racks, filling five large sacks. The yield wasn't low, roughly the same as last year. Next, they'll send them to the silkworm cocoon purchasing station in the county town. The prices there are usually much higher than elsewhere. Zhang Niu will go help out this time.

I arrived at the silkworm cocoon purchasing station early. The gate wasn't open yet, but there were already quite a few people around. They had all arrived before dawn. This silkworm cocoon purchasing station has a little bad habit: the later you come to sell your cocoons, the more the price is reduced, I don't know why. Other places have very good service, so people usually arrive at the designated time, and it's rare for anyone to be late.

At 7:30, the large iron gate slowly opened with a clang. A man in dark blue work clothes walked out and hung a sign at the entrance. It read: Top-grade autumn silkworms are 16 yuan per kilogram. Second-grade is 12 yuan, and third-grade is 8 yuan. Zhang Niu told his father what was written on the sign. After a long pause, he said, "This year's prices are high. Our silkworm cocoons should be considered top-grade."

Zhang Niu was pleased to hear this. That was several thousand yuan, a very good deal in the countryside. Plus, this year's "stone grass" harvest was already quite good. Not to mention, the large white ducks, blackfish, and eels on Zhang Niu's mountain hadn't even been sold yet.

As soon as the sign appeared, people around immediately started lining up. Zhang Niu was near the front. "Next in line," a cold voice came from the staff member. That's how the staff here are. But they're very efficient. They never accept small favors. They give exactly what's due. Quite a few people have bought things to give the staff, only to be met with disdain.

So nobody really cares about this attitude issue. People from far away will buy it, even bringing it here by tractor to sell, just because the price is fair.

Soon it was Zhang Niu's turn to have his silkworm cocoons weighed. The top-grade cocoons went through small door number one. The person pointed downwards towards the small door, indicating that Zhang Niu and the others should push their cocoons over there.

This was Zhang Niu's first time at this silkworm cocoon station. His father had never brought him before, always thinking he was too young and prone to causing trouble. Once inside, he realized that different grades of silkworm cocoons had different entrances, each with its own supervisor. Zhang Niu's entrance was led by a woman in her forties.

Inside Gate 1 was a large warehouse. Behind the older woman, employees operating machines were constantly piling silkworm cocoons onto the cocoon mountain at the back.

Zhang Niu estimated that the cocoon mountain behind them contained no less than several thousand kilograms of cocoons, truly living up to its name.

The older woman recognized Old Zhang and said his silkworm cocoons were doing well these past few days. Old Zhang chuckled but didn't say anything. He simply unloaded the sacks from the truck. Then, employees from the silkworm cocoon collection station came in a machine to collect them, and Zhang Niu only needed to check the weight. He'd weighed them at home; they wouldn't be short by much.

The woman handed out a receipt for Mr. Zhang to collect from the finance office. Mr. Zhang was a little puzzled. "Isn't it just a direct payment?" he asked. The woman readily replied, "The silkworm cocoon station has been taken over by someone else, so some rules have changed. You'll understand next time."

Zhang Niu followed the direction of the corridor to the finance office, signed his name in his large, spider-scrawl-like handwriting, and that was it—he withdrew the money. A total of seven thousand eight. It was all freshly withdrawn from the bank, and most of the notes were consecutively numbered.

Mr. Zhang carefully placed the money inside his clothes, close to his skin. This reflects the conservative mindset of rural people; they feel the deeper the money is stored, the safer it is. In the past, villagers liked to hide their money under boxes or on roof tiles. However, as people age, their memories can sometimes be forgetful, leading to lost money. Things are much better now. Mr. Zhang has learned to deposit his money in the bank. It's safer and earns some interest. However, it's not as much as it was a few years ago. Back then, a deposit of 20,000 yuan would yield over 3,000 yuan in interest in a year; now, earning even a few hundred yuan is considered lucky.

After depositing the money, Zhang Niu went to the market to buy some pig's head meat. He ran into several regular customers who had bought corn from him before, including the older woman. If she hadn't spoken first, Zhang Niu wouldn't have recognized her. He asked why there was no corn for sale.

Zhang Niu was quite embarrassed; he couldn't believe he'd run into something like this while grocery shopping.

After dealing with the older woman, Zhang Niu picked up the bag of cooked food he had bought and prepared to leave the market. Suddenly, a small black dog appeared, its head still bearing a piece of cabbage stem. It was desperately biting Zhang Niu's trouser leg, making pitiful whimpering sounds. Zhang Niu was no exception.

The vegetable vendor next door told Zhang Niu that the little black dog had been there for over a month, and no one knew where it had come from. It lived by scavenging scraps of meat left over from other vendors' stalls. A few city management officers had come before, intending to catch it and eat it. But the dog was clever and hadn't been caught. He just didn't know why it had bitten him today.

Zhang Niu squatted down, thinking that the aroma of the meat he had bought must have attracted the dog, causing it to bite him! He took a piece of pig's head meat from the bag and threw it in front of the little black dog.

The puppy's black eyes darted around. Seemingly smelling the aroma, it opened its mouth and pounced on the piece of meat, appearing truly starving. Seeing this, Zhang Niu tossed over another piece. After tossing over two pieces, Zhang Niu stood up to leave. But as soon as he turned away, the little black dog pounced again, biting his trouser leg and refusing to let go. Startled, Zhang Niu wondered if it had gotten addicted. He took out another piece of meat and tossed it over, but this time it was no use. The dog still chewed on it.

Zhang Niu tried a few times, but the dog seemed determined to fight him. It would pounce on him as soon as he left. Then, the vegetable vendor nearby said, "This dog probably wants to go home with you, right?" Zhang Niu thought about it; it seemed quite a few dogs would find their own owners. So he told the little black dog, "If you want to go home with me, bark a few times." The dog actually barked twice.

Seeing how intelligent this dog is, and considering we already have plenty of animals at home, one more won't make a difference. Although you're skin and bones, with the space and water available, you should be able to catch up quickly.

Zhang Niu picked up the bag and walked out, the little dog waddling after him. He hadn't bought anything else at the grocery store. It was quite unusual to have a small black dog follow him.

She picked up the puppy and put it on the tricycle, brushing the vegetable leaves off its head. Turning to Zhang's father, she said, "This puppy followed me back from the market; I felt sorry for it. Anyway, we don't lack food at home, so having a guard dog wouldn't be bad." The puppy seemed to know she was talking to it, barking incessantly.

When Zhang's father brought the puppy home, he didn't say anything. He just said, "Since it's come home, you should take good care of it. A dog knows better than anyone who cares for it, unlike some people who are nice to others but don't even know it's being cared for."

First update. Requesting more recommendations and favorites in the new month. Let's keep pushing forward!