Chapter 11-011 My little cousin is absolutely out of control!

Song Xiaoli knew that the main reason her family was reluctant to reveal the news about the wild duck eggs so early was their deep-seated hatred for their neighbors. Why should those lazy, good-for-nothings get to share something so good?

Moreover, eggs were a scarce and sought-after commodity during times of scarcity. Even though my grandfather had saved up a considerable amount of money and ration coupons, he began to consider reselling them again.

It's been seven or eight years now, but the real reform and opening up won't be mentioned until this December. People aren't investigated as strictly as before for doing private transactions, but if someone with ulterior motives makes a fuss about it, they can still suffer a lot. Unfortunately, although the old man has accumulated a lot of connections over half his life, there are a few people in town who have some disputes with him and are always trying to cause him trouble. They are not of low status, so the old man rarely goes to town to avoid causing unnecessary trouble for his daughter who works there.

If he doesn't go to town, there are too many eggs. He can collect dozens a day. If he takes a leave of absence from the commune once a week, under the pretext of visiting his grandson, he can take hundreds of eggs and trade them with the people in town for fresh eggs, and he can get a lot of good things in return.

Aside from his slightly impaired mobility, the old man, who looked nowhere near fifty, stroked his smooth chin, pondering which family member would be most suitable to do this task.

It's inconvenient for him to ride a bicycle, and he has enemies in town, so it's not suitable. His eldest son has too much of a temper; if he encounters some nitpicky traders, he might not be able to resist showing off and be seen as a bad guy. His eldest daughter-in-law's temper is not as good as her husband's; at least he puts on a show. As for his youngest daughter... she's too soft-hearted and inexperienced; how could she know how to do business with people?

"Sigh..." The old man counted again and again, and his heart was filled with more and more longing for his clever and quick-witted second son. Unfortunately, he didn't know what was going on with his second son in the army, and he hadn't contacted the family for two years.

Song Xiaoli glanced at her grandfather and asked curiously, "Grandpa, why are you sighing?"

"Grandpa originally wanted to take you to town for a visit, but unfortunately Grandpa's legs aren't very nimble, and he can't ride a bicycle, so I can't take you out to play," Grandpa replied, half-jokingly.

Song Xiaoli tilted her head, knowing that her grandfather's sigh wasn't about that. If he simply wanted to take the children out to play, he wasn't the only man in the family. She just couldn't recall what could have caused her family worry at this time in her past life.

Is it about Mom's divorce? But Mom is in a good mood right now, so it shouldn't be that.

Or was it something that happened before she lost her memory?

After all, the moment she arrived in this world, she deliberately arranged to "bump into" her cousin next door, bringing forward the competition for her prey. In her previous life, she was pushed down and lost her memory, which happened after her mother returned to work at the school.

Nothing from this month happened in her memory, and there was nothing she could do about it. Song Xiaoli could only think of dealing with whatever came her way.

However, when her grandfather mentioned going to town, Song Xiaoli remembered that her older cousin had been sick once this month. She was too young at the time, and after losing her memory, she only heard her mother mention it casually and did not know the details. She only knew that her older cousin had always been in poor health and was prone to catching colds. She wondered if it was related to this illness.

Thinking about this, Song Xiaoli became restless and wanted to persuade her mother to take her to the town's primary school to see her older cousin. But what reason could she give?

While Song Xiaoli was racking her brains for an excuse to leave home, her naturally lively and energetic cousin told her mother the next day that he wanted to take her out to play. "Auntie, I'm taking Xiaoli to Dahe Commune for the day today. Could you cook us a meal to take with us?"

"Go to Dahe Commune? That's so far, Xiaoli can't walk there," Song Wanxia said, somewhat reluctantly. "Why don't you guys just play around the back mountain area instead?"

"Oh dear, there aren't many eggs left for us to collect on the back hill now. Aren't we bored playing there every day? I know Dahe Commune very well. Today, Uncle Hu is going to town to see his daughter. I'll take Xiaoli for a ride. Auntie, hurry up and cook, or we won't be able to get a ride up."

The Hu family was one of the non-Hu families in Songshan Commune. All their daughters had married out of the area, except for one in Dahe Commune. It made sense that he would visit his daughter on his way to town.

“Alright,” the children in the countryside are generally more lenient with each other, and knowing they wouldn’t have to walk a long way on their own, she agreed. “Remember to tell them to pick you up when they come back this afternoon. By the way, they have the most wild duck eggs at home, so take a basket with you as a thank you for the ride.”

"Alright, I've already prepared everything for this little thing!" Song Shiyi proudly pulled out two covered bamboo baskets, patted them, one for himself and one for Song Xiaoli. "My sister and I will each give him some eggs. Uncle Hu will definitely be very happy. Aunt, you can just make us a boxed lunch to take with us. I've heated up food outside before, so I'll take good care of my sister."

There are three aluminum lunch boxes at home. One is the old lunch box that my father used when he was working; the other two are the lunch boxes that Song Wanxia used to bring her lunch every day when she was in elementary school.

Thinking about her daughter's first time going out to play, Song Wanxia took out the small river fish that she had caught while collecting wild duck eggs these past few days. The small river fish had already been cleaned and dried. Now, she would use more oil and water to fry them until crispy, stir-fry them with dried tofu, and add only salt. It would be delicious.

Song Wanxia took out two aluminum lunch boxes. She first filled each box halfway with rice mixed with sweet potatoes, then placed four fried small river fish and stir-fried tofu on the other side of each box. Using the oil from frying the fish, she stir-fried a glistening eggplant stew with cowpeas. Finally, she found a tomato, sliced ​​it, made a cold salad, and piled it on top of the rice. She closed the lunch box lid, and there she had a hearty takeaway lunch.

"Wow!" Song Shiyi was surprised by the lavish meal prepared by his aunt. Together with a bewildered Song Xiaoli, they each received a lunchbox wrapped in a large white and blue handkerchief, and then excitedly pulled Song Xiaoli out the door.

Song Xiaoli barely uttered a word throughout the entire process, completely unaware of what was going on.

In her past life, she didn't get along well with her younger cousin. Her older cousin was busy with school and favored his younger brother, so they weren't very close either. She had never gone on a "long trip" alone with any of her older brothers.

She was a little flattered by his sudden appearance today.

However, the heavy basket on her back hinted that things were not so simple.

Sure enough, when they arrived at the commune and saw Uncle Hu's modified bicycle pulling a wooden cart, before she could even relax, her younger cousin gave a completely different account of what happened at home.

"Uncle Hu, could you please take us to town to see my brother? The adults at home are all too busy, so my sister and I went to deliver some things to him."

Song Xiaoli truly felt what it was like to be struck by lightning.

A note from the author:

Several of my relatives and I did similar things when we were young; several families didn't realize their children were missing until nightfall...