Chapter 10: Striking It Rich

Li Xian was thrilled to receive the hundred-yuan note. He estimated that the remaining walnut skins weighed about forty pounds. For the buy-five-get-one-free portion, he calculated it as thirty pounds.

After all, this was the last bag, clearly the tail end of the stock, and it contained a lot of fragments.

The girl didn't mind and took the forty yuan in change, then made a request: "I can't carry it myself. You'll need to help me deliver it."

"Oh, it depends on where you want to send it," Li Xian said, bundling the hundred-yuan note with the other thick stack of bills. "I can't go too far."

The girl pointed east. "Not far, do you know where the retired cadres' sanatorium is?"

Li Xian did know. A while ago, while waiting for news from the newspaper office, he had almost visited every corner of the forestry bureau. The sanatorium was located to the east of the forestry bureau, at the foot of Little Wuhua Mountain. Although a bit remote, it was still within the city.

The scenery there was nice, and it was next to the Forest Industry Hospital, making it a good place for retirement. Many retired leaders from the forestry bureau lived there. Additionally, there was a sanatorium within the facility, where some older provincial forest industry leaders occasionally visited.

The route back to the Eight-Nine Forest Farm also passed by there. Since he was heading home anyway, Li Xian agreed to help.

Li Xian kindly invited the girl to ride with him, but she gave him a disdainful look. "No need. I came by bicycle. You go ahead; I'll follow behind."

Li Xian glanced at the faithful, well-tasked tricycle and sighed.

Indeed, it was a bit shabby… And considering it was used for heavy work like clearing river silt, how clean could it be?

With the rumbling sound of the tricycle, Li Xian soon arrived at the sanatorium.

Before entering the courtyard, he saw paper money scattered at the entrance.

"Second Brother… this means someone has passed away," Li Pi said, somewhat unsettled.

Li Xian remained calm. The sanatorium housed elderly people, so such events weren't unusual. Since he was just delivering goods and not planning to enter, he parked the tricycle at the entrance.

After a while, the girl on the bicycle arrived. Seeing Li Xian squatting beside the tricycle peeking inside, she said, "Let's go, help me bring it in."

Li Xian agreed, carried the remaining half-bag of walnut skins, and asked Li Pi to watch the tricycle. He followed the girl into the sanatorium.

Inside the courtyard, Li Xian saw the coffin set up in a simple mourning hall. Although not haphazard, it was quite plain compared to the usually more elaborate customs. The mourning hall had a rudimentary coffin painted in red with rough edges, prominently displayed. The coffin was uncovered, indicating the deceased had passed away not long ago.

In the mourning hall, two middle-aged men were kneeling on the ground, dressed in mourning attire, softly weeping.

"Miss… who is this?" Out of respect for the deceased, Li Xian slightly bowed as he passed the mourning hall and asked the girl beside him.

Perhaps Li Xian's behavior, which seemed incongruous with his ragged appearance, earned him a bit of favor. The girl's gaze softened a little. "Grandpa Zhou passed away last night. We're not local, so the sanatorium arranged this. He had lung cancer… It was very painful in recent times."

"Ah," Li Xian glanced at the photo in front of the mourning hall but said nothing. He understood why such a girl had bought dozens of pounds of walnut skins.

In the activity room of the sanatorium, about a dozen elderly people sat quietly, looking at the somber scene in the courtyard and chatting in low voices.

"Old Zhou is finally at peace; life was a torment," Li Xian heard an elderly man with neatly combed silver hair say as he entered.

"Yes, at least now he can enjoy peace. It's just… sigh, it was so sudden. Such a good-natured person, he didn't have time to prepare anything."

At this moment, a deep voice said, "Prepare what? You die and that's it. Whether it's glamorous or not, what difference does it make? Old Zhou's sons should just hurry up and burn him. It's hot, why delay?"

"Old Wu, you shouldn't say that. Resting in peace is important. Anyway, if I die someday, I don't want to be burned," an elderly man with a cane retorted.

"Old Han, you're not materialistic enough!"

"You're materialistic, go to your own refining furnace."

"Grandpa Wu, Grandpa Han, why are you arguing again?" Seeing the two old men quarreling, the girl who had brought Li Xian quickly stepped into the room with a smile, squinting her eyes. "Alright, take a break. Look at what I brought for you."

As she entered, a group of elderly men gathered around.

Li Xian placed the walnut skins on the floor. The old men, seeing the well-sorted and carefully packaged walnut skins, clucked their tongues, saying it was the first time they had seen such neat walnut skins. They praised the girl named Zhiye for her thoughtfulness.

Watching the old men discuss the walnut skins, Zhiye, whose surname was unknown, went to an elderly man and said, "Grandpa, later you can divide these up. You can use them to soak in water or wine. The Forest Industry Report says these are good for cancer prevention."

The elderly man sitting on a rattan chair, resembling an old farmer, patted his granddaughter's hand and looked at the sweaty and dusty Li Xian. "This stuff isn't cheap, right?"

Wang Zhiye shook her head. "Not much, a big bag costs only sixty yuan."

The old man was taken aback and then shook his head. He stared at Li Xian. "Did you sell this?"

Li Xian, who had planned to leave, nodded.

The old man stood up and inspected the walnut skins in the bag, "This bag of stuff hardly costs anything. Young man, you've made quite a bit of money."

Facing the old man's inquiry, Li Xian touched his nose. He thought to himself, why is this old man so talkative? Does it matter to you how much I earned?

Although he thought this, considering that Zhiye was his biggest customer this spring, Li Xian smiled slightly and replied, "Not bad."

Then he turned and left, leaving the old man with half a sentence stuck in his throat.

Back at the tricycle, Li Pi couldn't wait.

"Second Brother, how much did we make in these few days?"

Every day, this kid had to ask.

Li Xian closed the tricycle door, pulled out the money from several pockets, and counted it all together. As the numbers accumulated, Li Pi's excitement grew.

"Wow, spit!"

With so many bills and much counting, Li Xian spat and shuffled the remaining stack, finally arriving at a number.

"Six thousand two hundred and thirty! Fourth Brother, we've struck it rich!"