Li Jianguo finally squeezed his way through the crowd—then froze in shock.
He had only stepped away to relieve himself, and in that short time the bucket had overflowed.
Inside were two massive fish weighing about thirty jin combined.
Outside the bucket, another eight- or nine-jin fish was still flopping wildly.
“Nephew… you caught all these?”
Li Jianguo’s voice trembled. He had missed an earthshaking moment—if he’d known, he would’ve held it in a little longer.
And where had Old Yang gone?
Still stunned, Li Jianguo looked at Lu Ping’an expectantly.
“Of course I caught them, Second Uncle. Not bad at fishing, am I?” Lu Ping’an said with a grin, already casting his rod again.
The moment the hook hit the water, a fish bit.
This one was smaller—three to four jin—but he reeled it in quickly.
What followed was practically a solo performance.
In a dozen more casts, he pulled up ten more fish. The largest weighed around ten jin; the smallest, two or three.
The onlookers’ eyes turned red with envy.
Li Jianguo stared wide-eyed. This wasn’t fishing—it was harvesting.
They now had over a hundred jin of fish.
“Brother, I’m a procurement officer from the Kyoto Television Factory. You’ve caught so many fish—there’s no way you can eat them all. Would you be willing to sell them to our factory?”
“Don’t worry, I’ll offer you the highest price.”
“And since you’re selling to a factory, not speculating privately, there’s no need to worry!”
A man pushed through the crowd, eyes gleaming.
Although supplies weren’t extremely tight these days, meat was still scarce. With so many factory workers, they couldn’t go too long without seeing meat.
Many people around had been eyeing the fish, but they were individuals. Once they heard this man was from Kyoto Television Factory, most backed off.
Lu Ping’an was pleased. This was exactly the kind of buyer he’d been waiting for.
But instead of answering, he glanced at his second uncle. With his uncle present, it wouldn’t be proper for him to speak first.
Memories surfaced in his mind.
If he remembered correctly, Kyoto Television Factory had been established in 1973.
That meant it was newly founded.
Its predecessor could be traced back to the Kyoto Radio Manufacturing Factory in 1958, under the Kyoto Electronics Industry Bureau.
With that information sorted in his mind, he felt reassured.
Li Jianguo examined the man carefully.
“My name is Li Jianguo. I work at the Snowflake Refrigerator Factory.”
“You say you’re from Kyoto Television Factory? Let me see your work ID.”
The man nodded quickly and handed it over.
His name was Li Huaide, indeed a procurement officer from Kyoto Television Factory.
After returning the ID, Li Jianguo turned to Lu Ping’an.
“Nephew, there’s too much fish. We can’t possibly eat it all.”
“How about selling it to Kyoto Television Factory?”
After all, Lu Ping’an had caught the fish. Li Jianguo wouldn’t make the decision alone.
“Second Uncle, I’ll follow your lead. But I’d like some ration coupons—any kind will do. As for the price, you can negotiate.”
With that, Lu Ping’an resumed fishing. He had already sensed a fish weighing over ten jin nearby.
Li Jianguo nodded and began negotiating with Li Huaide. They finally agreed on one yuan per jin.
That was about 0.25 yuan above market price—but buying at the market required fish coupons, so it was reasonable.
Just as they finished negotiating, Lu Ping’an reeled in the ten-plus-jin fish.
Li Huaide beamed. The more fish, the better—he wasn’t afraid of quantity.
He hurried off to fetch a vehicle. With this much fish, they needed transport.
By the time he returned, the pile had grown again—over two hundred jin in total.
All the fish were loaded onto the vehicle.
They received 150 yuan in cash, plus a large stack of various ration coupons.
Three fish of about three jin each were left in the bucket to take home—otherwise people might joke that they had returned empty-handed.
“Little brother, are you coming to fish again tomorrow?”
“If you do, I’ll come buy again. The more the better!”
Li Huaide lingered, smiling at Lu Ping’an. He had never seen someone fish like this before.
Lu Ping’an glanced at his uncle instead of answering immediately.
Li Jianguo laughed. “Of course he’s coming! Nephew, tell him what coupons you need. Let him bring them tomorrow.”
Lu Ping’an’s eyes lit up. “Bicycle coupons and radio coupons.”
The bicycle coupon was for his father. Walking from the city to home took over an hour—but cycling would take only about twenty minutes.
The radio coupon was for his grandfather and grandmother. They were lonely—having a radio would brighten their days.
Li Huaide laughed. “Those are big-ticket items! Fine, I’ll bring them tomorrow.”
“I’ll arrive around ten in the morning. Come early.”
“This is my office phone number. If you have any good goods to sell in the future, give me a call.”
“Don’t worry—I’ll give you a fair price.”
He handed Lu Ping’an a slip of paper with a landline number written on it.
Lu Ping’an quickly accepted it. He would definitely need this contact.
Li Huaide left in high spirits.
Kyoto Television Factory had only recently been established, and the factory director had made it clear: worker meals couldn’t be too poor.
Securing meat had been a constant headache.
“Let’s go home!”
Li Jianguo was overjoyed—and inwardly stunned.
His nephew had earned 150 yuan in a single afternoon, plus over 60 yuan worth of coupons. That was more than 200 yuan in total.
For many workers, that equaled more than half a year’s wages.
Even with his own decent salary of 63 yuan per month, it would take over three months to earn that much.
If his brother-in-law found out his son had made this kind of money, the expression on his face would be priceless.
Li Jianguo couldn’t help but smile meaningfully at the thought.
Walking behind his uncle, Lu Ping’an felt equally pleased.
He had just spent a hundred yuan recently, and now he had earned even more. Money really did need to circulate.
“Second Uncle, we split the earnings today fifty-fifty.”
His uncle had handed over all the money and coupons to him without hesitation—but he couldn’t possibly keep it all.
If he did, he wouldn’t be much of a person at all.