17.Now let's compare the tables of the two families of Cai and Huang.Each butcher of Cai owned a big table made of date wood,2 meters long,1.5 meters wide and 3 inches thick,covered with stainless steel.Cai brags of his table whenever he had the chance,saying that the wood was both hard and oil-proof.Huang's table,on the other hand,was made of pear wood,over 2 meters long,1.6 meters wide and 4 inches thick,also covered in stainless steel.Proud of his table,Old Cai often told people that the material came from a provincial government official who was his town-folk.The latter contrived it in Lanzhou,the capital city of Gansu province and sent it to Cai in Longnan.The table was bigger than that of Huang.Selling pork on a big table was a very nice feeling,he said with great relish.
18.Finally,their tools were worth a comparison,too.Cai and each of his apprentices had got a block of persimmon wood for chopping meat.The wood was half a meter in height and as big as a basin in the cross section.Each man in the Huang family,on the other hand,had got a part of Chinese toon for cutting meat.You know why they use Chinese toon?Old Huang claimed that such a piece of wood made the meat particularly tasty,though that seemed groundless.Now Huang and each of his apprentices had an axe and knives for chopping,for slicing,for splitting and for deboning and other kinds of knives.They were equipped with iron and stone grinders and hooks.The Cai butchers,however,had only two tools on each table: a big chopping knife of 2 feet in length and 5 inches in height as well as a deboning knife of 3 inches in length.From the first day they started business in the market,Cai had always mocked Huang by saying that it was a woman's work that the latter was doing,"If Huang learns embroidering,he can even operate on a dying pig." Then Huang would fight back: "Roughneck!Roughneck!Have you ever sliced meat for your customers?Roughtneck!Roughtneck!Roughtneck!"
19.Immediately Cai would fight back,"Rough?Rough?If I take the work like slicing,will you have any business?I am a roughneck,and you a good cutter ——what a ridiculous joke!You have spent most of you life in this trade,but you even haven't learned to ride a motor tricycle.It is Caixia,your daughter-in-law,who sends and picks you up on a motor tricycle.Why don't you have her carry you on her back?What a shame!Well,well,what an able man you are!" "Another thing,it is none of my business that Caixia sends and picks you up,but why did you talk her into the butcher's trade?And I again,may keep quiet on that,but on what ground must you incite Xiuxiu,my daughter-in-law to give up her stable teaching job for this business?Look at what you said——A woman is not a good woman if she refuses to do something challenging.The result: the two women got the young wives and girls in the village together to butcher in the eastern market.My grandson,Xiwa,who was only six months old,was left behind with nobody feeding him.What a shame!"
20.His hat turned backward and his hands trembling,Cai roared in rage: "You,you,you evil old guy.You,you,you evil old guy..." well close to sobbing.
21."Enough!Enough!" Huang burst out,"Cut the bull****.Three points we must make clear.First,what my family does is nothing of your business.You haven't given us any business to do.Second,my daughter-in-law carries me on a motor tricycle,not on her back.Third,I have never talked anybody into business so that she left your grandson behind.And another thing I must let you know.I could not have succeeded in mobilizing the dozens of loafers to do business if I had not any wiles.You see,the girls in our village have been in this trade for eight years and they are doing well and ****** a lot of money.To be frank,it is my wisdom.I am happy I have done a good thing,I,I ..."
22.What he said made Cai turn pale with his lips trembling: "Your wisdom?What wisdom?Old evil fellow,old evil fellow!It is a good thing that we have brought our fellow villagers out into business; and it might not be bad,either,that our daughters-in-law get involved.They both succeed and are ****** money.You could attribute this to your so-called wisdom and ability.But it is your fault to have talked my wife into trading in marinated foods.Before she worked outside,she prepared warm dinner for me when I returned home.But now,I must eat pig heads,pig trotter,pig entrails,marinated pork,marinated eggs,marinated noodles and something like that every day.These were good in the beginning,but anybody would get disgusted when he has to eat the same thing repeatedly.You old thing!You old..."
23."Stop." Huang interrupted Cai abruptly,laughing,"Enough!Ha,Ha,Ha...I did not incite your wife,nor did my wife.It is your fault because you did not discipline your wife well.It happened like this.A couple of days after the spring festival,your wife paid a visit to us.She said to my wife that she had nothing to do at home except preparing dishes and picking up your grandson.To her surprise,my wife said the same thing.After talking for several hours,they came to negotiate with me in a rather serious manner.She said,‘Secretary Huang,you know,we are determined to do some business and make money like other villagers.The village slaughters more than one hundred pigs every day and produces a lot of pig heads and entrails.People from other places buy them and sell them to restaurants in town.They earn a lot of money this way.Besides,the village chicken farms produce thousands of eggs and hundreds of chicken every day.What do people call this?Resources——yes,resources!These are two kinds of resources we have.How about mobilizing the jobless middle-aged women to make marinated foods with the pig heads,trotter,entrails,chicken and eggs?Mrs.Huang and I can go out to develop the market.We are going to compete and cooperate with each other.So I believe we will make money.For this I ask for your approval,secretary Huang.' "