PCJ – Chapter 74 Making Money to Buy a Television

Ma An relied on his snake-catching skills and wasn’t worried about the venomous snakes entering the house. Instead, he joyfully calculated how much he could earn each day. For two consecutive days, Ma An went to town several times, delivering the snakes caught at home. Each time, he could earn two to three hundred yuan. After a few days, he had earned over a thousand yuan. The whole family not only lost their previous worries but also enjoyed laughter and happiness every day.

In Meizi Village, Zhang Youping used almost all his savings to buy various materials for making talismans. Zhang Jiahua kept drawing talismans without stopping. After a day’s work, he had drawn over a dozen talismans, reaching his limit.

Due to the involvement of real money, only some villagers paid for the talismans, waiting for Zhang Jiahua’s home protection talismans. More people were preparing to find their own solutions. After all, there were many traditional methods in the countryside to deal with snakes. Manual capture, smoking… various traditional methods emerged endlessly, just to save those five yuan. However, the effect seemed limited because there were too many snakes. Moreover, there were many trees around the houses in the village, so no matter how guarded, the snakes still had many paths to enter a house.

One home protection talisman was meant for one house, and there was a particular method for placing it. Unlike Gong Ziyuan, who casually placed the home protection talisman under the pillow, the effectiveness would be much lower. Of course, for Gong Ziyuan, one talisman was enough for one room, so even if the effectiveness of the home protection talisman decreased, it was still sufficient. However, for the villagers, it was not enough. Most houses in the village had several rooms, and there were also auxiliary rooms such as woodsheds and livestock pens. The area was about one or two hundred square meters, so the effectiveness of the home protection talisman needed to be fully exerted.

Zhang Jiahua had to go to each household to place the home protection talismans. This required some rituals. It cost five yuan to request a talisman, but to come to the door to place the talisman, one also needed to prepare some offerings, including a solemn ritual with three offerings and various sacrificial items. For example, at Zhang Dechun’s house, Zhang Dechun voluntarily prepared a brightly colored rooster, with a bright red comb that seemed to drip blood. This was a top-notch offering.

After arriving at Zhang Dechun’s house, Zhang Jiahua set up the incense table, burned incense and paper, invited the gods, and then activated the home protection talisman, placing it on the shrine. The effectiveness of this home protection talisman was definitely much stronger than the one Gong Ziyuan had. During the ritual, the rooster used for sacrifice was slaughtered on the spot, and several of the most beautiful feathers were pulled from the rooster and dipped in chicken blood, sticking them onto the home protection talisman.

According to custom, after the sacrifice, the rooster belonged to Zhang Jiahua. Zhang Jiahua could take the rooster back. Originally, the host family had to prepare food and drinks for the guests, but this day required a ceremony for multiple households, totaling over a dozen. Zhang Jiahua rushed from one household to another, starting with Zhang Dechun’s house and then moving to the next.

Sixteen households, a total of eighty yuan, after deducting costs, Zhang Jiahua earned about fifty yuan. The remaining materials could make nearly a hundred more talismans. As long as he sold one talisman, it was equivalent to a direct profit. Zhang Jiahua calculated that if he could sell a hundred talismans, he would make a big profit. Over five hundred yuan, he could buy a seventeen-inch black and white television. Then, he could watch TV every day. Zhang Jiahua had been wanting a television for more than a day. Because of that incident, Zhang Jiahua hadn’t watched TV for several months. He often heard classmates discussing TV dramas at school, and Zhang Jiahua was very envious. He had been hoping for a television at home. His parents also wanted to buy a television. However, there were very few ways to make money in the countryside, and Zhang Youping had no skills, so he could only do some manual labor. In this era, where would you find peasants doing hard labor?

Originally, there were thirty-nine households in Meizi Village, and Zhang Jiahua thought he could earn over a hundred yuan in Meizi Village, but unexpectedly, nearly half of the people were unwilling to spend this money.

“Jiaohua, after you finish placing the talismans in the village, come to Grandpa’s house for lunch,” Zhang Dechun said politely.

“Dechun, don’t worry about the meal. Whoever’s house it is at mealtime, it’s up to them to treat. Otherwise, if I place the talisman at your house and then go to your house for a meal, what does that look like? It’s not like in the past when there was no food at home. Nowadays, every household has enough food. There may not be fancy dishes, but who doesn’t have chicken? Each family raises one or two chickens,” Zhang Shicai said with a smile. Although Zhang Shicai lost one eye due to the accident, his body was still strong, and after several months of recuperation, he could already work on the ground. Initially, Zhang Shicai refused to accept the five yuan Zhang Jiahua offered because he saved Zhang Shicai’s life.

“If it weren’t for Jiaohua, I might have died a long time ago. Although one of my eyes is ruined now, I can still work. My wife’s cousin felt sorry for me and let me learn woodworking from him. Although I’m just an apprentice now, I can still earn some money as a carpenter. With my condition, being a carpenter is the most suitable. I can aim directly with a pencil,” Zhang Shicai laughed heartily, and he was now more optimistic than before.

Ma Yinxiao killed a three-pound black-skinned chicken early on and brought half a liter of white tofu from Zhang Enzhong’s house. She also went to Zhang Xianyi’s house to get two pounds of distilled liquor. Ma Yinxiao not only wanted to treat Zhang Jiahua alone but also wanted to take this opportunity to invite Zhang Jiahua’s whole family over for a meal to express their gratitude.

From being disliked by everyone in the past to now, where everyone is competing to invite him, this change is quite significant, and Zhang Jiahua is somewhat unaccustomed to it. It feels like a dream, and even walking seems swaying.

Under Zhang Shicai’s strong request, Zhang Jiahua had to move the lunch stop to Zhang Shicai’s house. Zhang Youping and his wife couldn’t resist the enthusiasm of Zhang Shicai and his wife, so they went to Zhang Shicai’s house for the banquet together.

“Jiaohua, Uncle and Auntie both want to thank you. Uncle’s life was saved by you. When Uncle earns money in the future, he will definitely buy you a lot of candy to eat,” Zhang Shicai said emotionally, his eyes moistened by a simple remark.

“Shicai, don’t be like this. Don’t scare Jiaohua. We are all family. Why be so distant? If someone can help, who wouldn’t lend a hand?” Zhang Youping quickly said.

“Yuping, you don’t know. When I came back from the hospital, I was already waiting to die in my heart. I never thought I could survive,” Zhang Shicai sighed.

The conversation between the two families gradually shifted from gratitude to casual chat.

“My mother’s cousin’s son went to Guangdong to work last year and earned several thousand yuan. Working in Guangdong, you can earn hundreds of yuan a month. It’s like picking up gold. We also plan to go to Guangdong with them after the New Year. Yuping, do you and your wife want to go? If you do, I’ll tell my cousin to take you both,” Ma Yinxiao mentioned something unintentionally.