"Good friend, what you call a good friend is someone who treats me like a piggy bank, lending you money over and over again, and you can't ask for it back? Asking for it means I'm disregarding our friendship? Qiao Zhiqing, I'm afraid your parents wouldn't indulge you like that, right? We were friends before, but I don't owe you anything. Now that we've come to this, I'm going to remind you to pay me back as soon as possible. It's almost the New Year, and I still need you."

Seeing that Wang Fang was about to leave, Qiao Wenwan became anxious.

"You're suddenly turning on me, is it because of Jiang Wanwan? I know you two have been very close lately, but I want to remind you that Jiang Wanwan is not what you think she is. She's more scheming than anyone else. Sooner or later, you'll suffer if you make friends with her."

Wang Fang turned her head and sneered, "Being friends with her will only make me suffer sooner or later? But being friends with you has already made me suffer a great loss."

Qiao Wenwan bit her lip in shame and anger, and spoke again to her back, "She's close to you only because you're the secretary's daughter. Not only is she close to you, she's also close to the people from the cowshed. Wang Fang, I really treat you as a friend, so I'm kindly advising you. Jiang Wanwan will implicate you sooner or later. Maybe not only you, but also Secretary Wang. If you don't believe me, go to the river and see. Jiang Wanwan and the people from the cowshed are fishing there. Wang Fang, I'm really doing this for your own good. I'm worried you might not be able to judge people well."

"I really don't know people well."

Wang Fang stopped talking to her and turned around and walked towards the river.

It was too much that Big Fish didn't even call her.

Qiao Wenwan saw the direction Wang Fang left and curled the corners of her lips.

The secretary's daughter really cared about these things. Although she knew that the two people in the cowshed would be rehabilitated and return to the city soon, in the eyes of these ordinary people, those two people were still the smelly ninths who were sent down.

Jiang Wanwan will never get what she can't get.

Qiao Wenwan was not discouraged by not being able to borrow money. On the contrary, she returned to the educated youth site with full of fighting spirit. She immediately wrote a letter of complaint, reporting that the educated youth Jiang Wanwan had too frequent contact with bad elements in the cowshed and suspected her of illegal activities.

At the same time, Wang Fang joined the riverside, and the three of them had a good harvest, catching more than a dozen small crucian carp and yellow croaker.

Wu Xiaoyu wanted to divide the fish into three portions, but was rejected by Wang Fang.

"There are so many people in our family. Even if I take all the fish away, it won't be enough to fill my stomach. Just divide it between the two of you. I'm going to Wanwan's house for dinner tonight."

After saying that, he smiled at Jiang Wanwan.

She had long been familiar with Jiang Wanwan's cooking skills. After eating the food cooked by Jiang Wanwan, Wang Fang felt that she had been eating pig food for the previous 20 years.

More than once, she scolded her third brother for not being good enough and asking why he didn't marry Jiang Wanwan home to be her sister-in-law so that she could eat such delicious meals every day.

Jiang Wanwan had no objection. She was bored at home alone anyway, so it would be nice to have someone to keep her company.

Wang Fang cleaned five small crucian carps as big as a palm neatly after arriving home. She is not good at cooking, but she can help out.

She couldn't just sit there with her mouth open waiting for food, that would be embarrassing.

Jiang Wanwan took this opportunity to prepare the necessary seasonings and some side dishes.

Heat the dry pan, pour in cold oil and fry the fish until both sides are golden brown. Add onion, ginger, garlic, star anise, bay leaves and other seasonings into the base oil and stir-fry until fragrant. Add soy sauce and boiling water to make the soup.

Before winter, Jiang Wanwan dried some radishes, which are just right for stewing fish. Put the soaked radishes into the pot, add the fried fish, and simmer over low heat.

She asked Wang Fang to light the fire, and she scooped some cornmeal and white flour, made small pancakes and stuck them on the edge of the pot.

Wang Fang watched her busying herself and smelled the aroma emanating from the pot, her mouth watering.

Their family had cooked fish before, but it wasn't as troublesome as Jiang Wanwan's. His mother would just put the fish directly into the pot, add water, salt and soy sauce and stew it directly. They didn't have so many seasonings at home.

"Wanwan, where did you buy all these seasonings? Next time, take me with you to buy them. Also, teach me how to use these seasonings."

After eating Jiang Wanwan's meal, Wang Fang was less and less willing to hurt her stomach. Since her mother didn't have good cooking skills, she learned it.

Jiang Wanwan naturally had no objection. These seasonings were available in grocery stores, but the grocery stores in their commune only sold common goods and the seasonings were not complete. The big grocery stores in the county town still had a full range of seasonings.

Put the pancakes in and simmer for 20 minutes. When you open the pot, you will see that the soup at the bottom has become thinner and thicker, bubbling with the colorful and plump fish meat.

Jiang Wanwan was also a little impatient. One of them shoveled the pancakes off the edge of the pot, while the other scooped out the fish and radish. They put them on the table and couldn't wait to eat them.

"Wanwan, I'm so happy to have a friend like you," I almost wanted to cry.

Jiang Wanwan took a bite of the fish with satisfaction. The river water was not polluted at that time, and coupled with her cooking skills, the fish tasted fresh and had almost no fishy smell.

The two of them were extremely satisfied with the meal and even sweated in the middle of winter.

After talking for a while, Wang Fang went back to sleep. Before leaving, she and Jiang Wanwan agreed to go to the black market together the day after tomorrow. There happened to be an ox cart going to the county town in the village, so they didn't have to walk.

Jiang Wanwan also wanted to ask how the knitwear from Aunt Xu was doing, so she agreed.

The weather is getting colder and Lu Xiao will be back soon, so it’s just the right time to buy it.

Due to scarcity, rural people in this era don’t know how long they will wear their long-sleeved shirts and long-legged pants. Most of them don’t have any at all and just wear cotton jackets and cotton pants naked.

When it's cold and windy, the wind blows through your sleeves and trouser legs, and you feel really cold.

So you see older people tie up their trouser legs, and whenever they go out, they will put their hands into their sleeves and shrink their necks to avoid the wind as much as possible.

The next day, early in the morning, Jiang Wanwan had just prepared to sell things on the black market when Wang Fang came to her door.

"Didn't we say to gather at the village entrance?" Jiang Wanwan asked doubtfully.

Wang Fang glanced at Jiang Wanwan and saw that she looked normal before she casually said, "I suddenly don't want to ride the ox cart anymore. Let's just walk. The ox cart isn't much faster, and it's not warm at all to sit on it. It's better to walk."

Jiang Wanwan smiled. "Who would want to walk instead of riding in an ox cart? It's rare to get an ox cart going to the county. Let's go. Let's sit close together. I'll block the wind for you."

Wang Fang disagreed. "With your body, you're still trying to block the wind for me? I can almost block the wind for you. Anyway, I don't want to ride the ox cart anymore. I brought a lot of eggs today, and I'm afraid they'll get crushed by the ox carts. You said we're all from the same brigade, so if they do, I'd be embarrassed to ask them to pay for it. We're just a small business, so I have to pay for it."

Since that was what she said, Jiang Wanwan didn't insist anymore. They usually walked there and were used to it.

Besides, it would be bad if both of them were seen carrying things into the city by other members.

"Okay, then we'll take the team's ox cart when we get back."

"Let's wait and see when I get back. I still want to go to the county town to buy some things, but I may not be able to catch the ox cart," said Wang Fang.