Lin Fan walked up to the stall and said, "Luo Dazhuang, cut me a piece of meat."
"Oh?" Luo Dazhuang was stunned for a moment. "You are... Xiao Fan!"
Luo Dazhuang, broad-shouldered and stout, took a good five or six seconds to recognize Lin Fan.
"My wife heard from Wang Quezi that you were awake, and I didn't believe it. I didn't expect you to be able to walk around."
Luo Dazhuang pulled a piece of pork belly from the chopping block and asked, "How much do you want? Is one jin enough?"
Lin Fan thought for a moment and replied, "Ten jin, please. And a piece of ribs."
The heavy book bag in his arms gave Lin Fan ample confidence.
"Oh!" Luo Dazhuang was very surprised. "Do you have money?"
"How come I heard that your family still owes Wang Quezi a hundred thousand yuan?"
"Meat prices are not cheap these days!"
Lin Fan glared at him and said impatiently, "Hurry up and cut it. It's not like I'm short on a few pennies!"
"Alright, you have money, you call the shots." Luo Dazhuang was a butcher, his knife work both fast and accurate.
He was tall and had a fierce face, and most people dared not provoke him.
Lin Fan's words made him a little unhappy. As he cut the meat, he muttered, "Xiao Fan, you're not thinking of doing anything reckless, are you?"
"Listen to my advice, living is more important than anything!"
"Wang Quezi just wants your sister-in-law, doesn't he? In all the villages around here, everyone knows..."
"Shut up!" Lin Fan was getting annoyed and snapped, "If you talk nonsense again, I won't buy it!"
"Heh!" Luo Dazhuang lightly slapped himself on the cheek. "It's my fault. Look at my big mouth."
After cutting and packaging the meat, Luo Dazhuang said, "Premium pork belly, eleven jin and one liang. Ribs, ten jin and eight liang."
At this point, Luo Dazhuang suddenly shouted, "Guifang, settle the bill!"
Hearing the shout, a short, plump woman who had been sitting in the back processing offal stood up and began to tap furiously on the calculator with her greasy hands.
"It's five hundred and thirty-two in total."
Li Guifang wiped her hands on her dirty apron and prepared to collect the money.
"Xiao Fan, where's the money?" Luo Dazhuang asked, placing his cleaver on his palm and raising an eyebrow.
"Didn't I say, it's not like I'm short on a few pennies."
Lin Fan had already reached into his book bag and torn open the paper wrapping of a wad of banknotes.
"Here, take it."
Lin Fan pulled out six red bills and handed them to Li Guifang.
"Wow, Xiao Fan, you actually have money."
Luo Dazhuang was quite surprised. Everyone knew that the Lin family was poor, yet they had married a renowned beauty from all the surrounding villages. This only added to their hardship.
Li Guifang nudged Luo Dazhuang with her elbow and gave him a sideways glance.
"Xiao Fan, here's your change. Take your meat, and come again next time!"
Li Guifang handed the money back to Lin Fan and said with a smile.
Lin Fan nodded and turned to leave.
At this moment, the sun was setting in the west.
Xia Xue was alone at home, unable to calm her mind.
"Where did Xiao Fan go?"
"To sell the lingzhi?"
"Why is he taking so long? Has something happened?"
"If he really sold it, carrying so much money, won't he encounter robbers on the way?"
Such thoughts kept surfacing in Xia Xue's mind, uncontrollable.
Xia Xue became extremely anxious and ran out, standing at the front gate, looking far down the dirt road.
One minute...
Five minutes...
Ten minutes...
Finally, she heard a pleasant and familiar shout: "Sister-in-law!"
Lin Fan saw his sister-in-law's figure in the distance, his heart warming with both emotion and relief.
"Xiao Fan!"
Xia Xue was almost in tears.
Lin Fan ran to the gate. Before he could speak, he heard Xia Xue complain, "Xiao Fan, why are you only back now? I was so worried!"
Xia Xue pouted, like a little girl who had been wronged.
"I went to town, Sister-in-law. I sold the lingzhi."
Lin Fan grinned foolishly, shaking the pork and ribs in his hand.
"You... you sold it?"
Xia Xue, afraid of being overheard, whispered.
"Let's talk when we get home."
Lin Fan, carrying his bags, walked into the yard and said with a smile, "Sister-in-law, we're having pork belly stewed with ribs tonight."
Xia Xue was slightly taken aback. "Why did you buy so much? Isn't this wasting money!"
She had no idea how much money Lin Fan had made from selling just a small piece of lingzhi.
She thought Lin Fan had sold the entire lingzhi and was afraid he had been blinded by tens of thousands of yuan.
"Sister-in-law, we have money now!"
Lin Fan couldn't suppress his excitement and whispered into Xia Xue's ear with a laugh.
Then, the two, one excited and the other bewildered, walked into the house one after the other.
Lin Fan "thumped" the book bag onto the table and said to Xia Xue with a smile, "Sister-in-law, look."
Xia Xue stared intently at the bulging book bag, praying, "Please be a hundred thousand yuan!"
"Ten thousand, twenty thousand..."
Lin Fan took out the banknotes from the book bag, stack by stack, and placed them on the table.
"Sixteen, seventeen, ten... I used some from this stack to buy meat."
Seeing the rows of red bills on the table, Xia Xue's eyes went hazy.
"Xiao... Xiao Fan, how much did you sell it for?"
Xia Xue rubbed her eyes and took a while to come back to her senses.
"One hundred and fifty thousand." Lin Fan replied subconsciously.
"One hundred and fifty thousand!"
Xia Xue clasped her hands together, closed her eyes, and murmured, "Heaven bless us, our luck has finally turned. With this one hundred and fifty thousand..."
As she said this, she seemed to think of something, and suddenly opened her eyes, asking, "Xiao Fan, why is it one hundred and fifty thousand? What about the remaining thirty thousand?"
"Uh?" Lin Fan was stunned and stammered, "The boss who bought the lingzhi had a bad back. I cured it for her, and she was so happy that she gave me an extra thirty thousand."
"What?" Xia Xue was both surprised and confused. "Even if that boss had a bad back, and you cured it, no, no..."
Xia Xue paused and continued, "You don't have a medicine box, and you're not a doctor. How did you cure it?"
"I..." Lin Fan was speechless for a moment, not knowing how to answer. He couldn't say he used purple energy to heal, could he?
Even if he said so, his sister-in-law wouldn't believe him!
When he first talked about encountering a fortuitous event, his sister-in-law had laughed her head off.
"Her back hurt, I massaged it for her, and she was so happy that she gave me so much."
Lin Fan himself didn't believe the truth he was telling.
"Just by massaging her back, she gave you thirty thousand?"
Xia Xue was filled with suspicion, and her tone reflected it.
"Sister-in-law!" Lin Fan shrugged and explained, "She's a big boss. Ten thousand or twenty thousand is nothing to her."
"I went to Baixing Pharmacy to sell the lingzhi, and that damn doctor, I don't know if he was doing it on purpose or if he really didn't know its value, only offered five thousand yuan."
"Fortunately, the big boss saw it and asked me how much I wanted. I said one hundred and fifty thousand at the time, and she agreed without a second word."
"The car she drove was like the sports cars on TV, worth millions. She wouldn't be short of a few thousand, would she?"
Xia Xue was half-convinced. "Xiao Fan, you haven't done anything illegal, have you?"
Lin Fan smiled helplessly. "My dear sister-in-law, am I that kind of person?"
He pushed Xia Xue's soft shoulders. "Go light the fire and stew the ribs. I've been tired all day and I'm starving!"