As the New Year passed, the weather gradually warmed. Bathed in the afternoon sun, people felt drowsy.
Yan Fei laid on a reclining chair, book in hand, and sighed, "Spring is not for studying..."
Miss Xu Xiaoyan, who sat next to him, slapped a book on his leg, "You’ve already memorized everything, you’re too lazy to even look at a book. Don’t you want to take the early exams?"
"Doing well in exams isn’t just about cramming, can I pass without cheating?" Yan Fei replied without stirring, rather lazily. After a pause, he cast a glance at Heizi, who was seated not too far, collecting entrance fees and handing out tomatoes and cucumbers, and added in a low voice, "Learning without rewards during the day lacks motivation."
The young lady’s face turned red instantly, "Interested in studying or not? If not, I’ll accompany Xiaochao to play..."
Hurriedly, Yan Fei picked up his textbook, "I will study, don’t leave, stay here and accompany me!"
"Hmph!" the lady glanced at him. "Isn’t the presence of a large tiger as company enough?"
Yan Fei chuckled, reaching out to pet the tiger lying next to him, "This creature has great strength, it wouldn’t be restrained by a chain if it got agitated, putting it beside me feels safer. I’m not keeping it for company, just need to keep an eye on it."
The lady urged him, "Study quickly, no more dilly-dallying..."
Yan Fei tilted his head, "I’ll study, but only if there’s a reward."
The lady cast a quick glance around and swiftly pecked his cheek.
Hence, that fellow started reading his book cheerfully.
Unfortunately, Heizi, who was not far away, turned his head just in time to see the young lady suddenly pull away, her face flushed. He quickly pretended he hadn’t seen anything. To hide his embarrassment, he picked up a tomato from a basket at his feet, wiped it on his hand, and started nibbling it.
Now that the cattle farm no longer had pigs and only thirty-odd cows needed feeding, there wasn’t much work for people. This guy had constantly been here "collecting entrance fees".
Not far from him was an enclosure made of bamboo. Inside were a couple of baby tigers, black bears, and in a cage, two golden eagles. As for the three sables, these were not impressive enough and the children preferred to let them loose in the greenhouse.
Little Yan Chao acted as the tour guide for everyone: "These two tigers can eat a lot of meat, and those two black bears eat everything. They love meat, fish, cucumbers, and tomatoes, throw a tomato to them if you don’t believe..."
The children who had bought the "entrance ticket" started throwing their half-eaten tomatoes and cucumbers, and watched as the little black bears picked them up and ate. This sparked amazement amongst them.
On the other side of the bamboo forest, a group of children were sneaking around to see the animals. These children didn’t have money to buy ’entrance tickets’, so they had to sneak around in this way. Heizi and the others pretended not to notice and let them have fun.
But the children who bought the tickets did not lose out, for the tickets were either tomatoes or cucumbers. Whoever wanted whatever, just had to buy a ticket to get it. Those who did not offer money could not get one, yet there were many children who still came over honestly and paid, because this was an edible "ticket" after all.
Now there were not many people paying a dime, most of them paid a small copper coin - this was Heizi’s ultimate aim, there was no way his brain wouldn’t think of such a strategy!
At first, he charged a dime, but then, the kids who came by were told that any sort of money was accepted - these small copper coins were, after all, currency for him.
The children were overjoyed by this turn of events. If it involved money, their parents kept a close eye on them. But with these small copper coins, no one really cared. Just rummage around the house, and surely a couple could be found, which could then be exchanged for a treat, couldn’t be better!
A small copper coin was a colloquial term for the round coin with a square hole in the middle, people around Sancha River called it that. These coins were worthless around here, others saw them as toys for the children. Everybody knew that by buying "entrance tickets" one would get off-season vegetables, none knew that Heizi was collecting these antiques concurrently.
Some children who had more money in their pockets or brought more small copper coins, after finishing their vegetables would continue to buy "entrance tickets", but Heizi would stop selling to them.
It wasn’t that he was reluctant to sell them because it meant making a loss. Miss Xu Xiaoyan didn’t permit it. The girl was considerate, realizing that the cold weather and the cold vegetables might cause the children to have stomach problems. Children with a stomach upset during such festive times would make one feel very guilty!
This wasn’t all, some of the children would directly exchange their old coins for RMB.
This was due to an incident that happened a few days ago. A child, who previously paid with a dime, wanted to exchange it back using a small copper coin.
In the beginning, Heizi allowed it. But then some naughty children who hadn’t been there before claimed they had, and brought small copper coins to exchange for cash. Heizi noticed he couldn’t be too nice and announced that they would not "return" money anymore, unless they wanted to refund a penny, they had to bring ten copper coins to exchange for a dime.
Every family had these coins and they were basically scrap metal. The shuttlecocks that elementary school girls played with were filled with these. With such an excess, they were of no use to them. To adults and children alike, exchanging them for a dime was a good deal!
Whether it was children’s private matters or that some adults were directing from behind the scenes, Heizi did not turn anyone away. There were even a few who brought a small bag with them, containing several catties. Such instances were surely where adults felt embarrassed to come ashore and send the children aboard. Nonetheless, Heizi pretended not to know, the more the merrier!