After selling his pig's head, Shi Zhen went to town to see if he could still buy pig's heads.

He had gone to the market several times in the morning, but this time when he went in the afternoon, he found that there were far fewer people than in the morning.

Among these people, some dressed similarly to him, probably from the countryside and rarely going to the market to buy groceries, while others were well-dressed and clearly lived in town and were well-off.

The former will basically only buy pork and various bean products, while the latter will also buy vegetables, eggs, and the like.

Shi Zhen went to Butcher Zhu's place, butcher Zhu had almost sold out of meat and was out of pig heads, but he told someone and soon brought Shi Zhen a pig head.

Shi Zhen wanted to buy two pig heads, but he only had one bowl to hold the cooked pig head meat.

After buying the pig's head, Shi Zhen went to Shi Xinghuo's place to wait for him to go home together.

"Ah Zhen, the pig's head meat is really delicious." Shi Xinghuo couldn't forget the pig's head meat that Shi Zhen had given him to taste that afternoon, and he kept saying it over and over again on the way.

After talking about the pig's head meat, he went on to talk about the lunch he had.

Wang Chengfa treated his laborers fairly well, providing them with some meat every day at noon. Today, they had vegetarian chicken stewed with meat, a rich and flavorful dish.

As Shi Xinghuo spoke, he swallowed hard.

"I left some pig's head meat at home, so we can have meat tonight," Shi Zhen said.

Shi Zhen did leave some meat, but it was only a small amount of lean meat from the pig's head and the pig's snout.

He divided the meat into three portions—Shi Xinghuo eats quickly and has never been able to get enough to eat since he was a child, so he can't help but snatch good food when he sees it. If he didn't divide it, Guan Baiyu wouldn't get to eat much meat.

Guan Baiyu is really too thin.

Faced with Guan Baiyu, who was a head shorter than him and as thin as a rake, Shi Zhen could only think of feeding him more good food and nothing else.

When they got home, Guan Baiyu hadn't returned yet, so Shi Zhen cooked dinner first.

He also asked Shi Xinghuo to pick two lettuce stalks, peel them, chop them into small pieces, add some salt and MSG, mix them together, and serve as a dish.

Actually, it would taste better if it were stir-fried, but they only had one pot.

When he has money, he wants to buy a gas stove, a bottle of liquefied gas, and a pot...

When the meal was ready, Guan Baiyu returned carrying a dark blue cloth backpack. It was a homemade backpack; he didn't have the money to buy a new one.

Guan Baiyu used to like staying at school. Although there were classmates like Yan Jiangtao who liked to mess with him, there were also many classmates he had a good relationship with who he could talk to.

It's better than staying in an empty house.

But now, he longs to return home every day.

As soon as I opened the door, I saw my cousin sitting behind the stove. The fire in the stove lit up his face, making me feel warm and fuzzy.

"Brother, I'm back," Guan Baiyu said.

Shi Zhen stood up from behind the stove: "Perfect timing, dinner will be ready soon."

"Hmm." Guan Baiyu smiled slightly, revealing two small tiger teeth.

Since the meal wouldn't be ready for a while, Guan Baiyu tidied up the house and took the clothes to wash.

"I'll keep these clothes for later to wash. You should rest first." Shi Zhen quickly stopped him when he saw that he had also taken the clothes he had brought to wash.

"No need, I'll wash it quickly," Guan Baiyu said. "It's just that there's no laundry detergent, so it won't get very clean."

Shi Zhen realized once again how poor he was.

Guan Baiyu insisted on washing, so Shi Zhen took out the hot water he had been steaming in the pot and gave it to Guan Baiyu to wash his clothes: "I'm going to stew pig's head later, so I can steam some more hot water."

Guan Baiyu did not refuse and took the hot water to start washing clothes.

He was a diligent worker and quickly finished washing the clothes, then hung them to dry on a line stretched out by the door.

Their clothes were all tattered and torn, so even if they were left to dry outside at night, no one would steal them.

While Guan Baiyu was hanging up the clothes, Shi Zhen also removed the hair from the pig's head they had just bought. The three of them tidied up and then ate together.

"This is the best meat I've ever eaten." Guan Baiyu was particularly impressed with Shi Zhen's braised pig's head, and even hesitated to eat it.

"Then hurry up and eat it. I'm going to stew a pig's head later, and you can take some to school to eat tomorrow," Shi Zhen said.

Guan Baiyu had finished his rice, and only then did he reluctantly begin to eat the meat that he hadn't been able to bear to eat before.

As for Shi Xinghuo... he finished his meat before the meal and is now eating rice dry: "This rice is delicious too!"

Seeing this, Shi Zhen smiled. He could understand Shi Xinghuo. Although their village also grew some rice, they usually relied on other grains to fill their stomachs.

When he was a child, he felt that being able to eat his fill of rice was a very happy thing.

After dinner, Shi Zhen went to stew a pig's head, but Guan Baiyu took out a sewing basket from somewhere and started mending the clothes that Shi Zhen and Shi Xinghuo had washed the day before yesterday.

There was hardly anything in the house that Shi Zhen and Shi Xinghuo rented from Guan Jianguo, making it difficult even to wash clothes.

So, after leaving the village, Shi Zhen, who hadn't washed his clothes, didn't wash them until he recognized Guan Baiyu. Only then did he wash the dirty clothes that he and Shi Xinghuo had accumulated and hang them to dry at Guan Baiyu's place.

Among these clothes, the outer coat was new, but the shirts underneath were all torn. Putting everything else aside, his underwear was made by cutting off the legs of his trousers after they were worn out, and then patching the remaining, still-good fabric from the trouser legs into his underwear.

His biological mother had passed away long ago, and he was embarrassed to ask his stepmother to do these things, so he just sewed them himself, and the final product was naturally very poor.

Now Guan Baiyu took a needle and thread, found some scraps of cloth to sew clothes for him, and even took out his shorts...

The teenager was sewing with such care, it gave off a sense of tranquility and peace, it was just...

Shi Zhen stepped forward and picked out the clothes that belonged to Shi Xinghuo, giving them to him: "If any of your clothes are torn, sew them up yourself."

Shi Xinghuo responded with an "Oh!" But... he didn't know how to sew!

However, Shi Xinghuo didn't think his clothes were torn, and it didn't matter that no one was going to mend them.

Just like today, Shi Zhen planned to do laundry, but because he felt his clothes weren't dirty, he didn't even take them out to wash.

Shi Zhen didn't care whether Shi Xinghuo could sew or not; he didn't want Guan Baiyu to sew clothes for Shi Xinghuo.

Guan Baiyu is going to university and needs to study hard. Why bother sewing clothes? When he has money, he'll buy Guan Baiyu a whole wardrobe of clothes so he can wear a different one every day.

In his previous life, when Shi Zhen and Guan Baiyu were together, although their business hadn't grown big, they were already quite well-off. Guan Baiyu naturally didn't need to mend his torn clothes. This was the first time he had ever seen such a scene, and he felt a mix of bittersweet emotions.

The air smelled incredibly fragrant.

"Knock knock knock." The knocking sounded, and Shi Zhen opened the door to see a small, thin old woman who was less than 1.5 meters tall.

The little old lady wasn't actually that old. Her hair was parted in the middle and braided into two long braids, one on each side. She came up and asked, "What are you burning? The incense is good!"

"We cooked some pig's head meat." After Shi Zhen finished speaking, he saw the old lady pass under his arm that was propping up the door and enter the house.

Guan Baiyu had already stopped her needlework and called out "Auntie". People here call their grandmothers "Auntie" or "Grandma".

When he watched the pig slaughtering earlier, Shi Zhen followed Guan Baiyu and got to know some people.

The neighbors around them all shared the surname Guan, and the families living nearby were all cousins ​​of Guan Baiyu's adoptive father.

Guan Baiyu's grandfather had three brothers. Guan Baiyu's grandfather was the eldest brother, and he died young, leaving only Guan Baiyu's adoptive father as his son.

His two younger brothers, whom Guan Baiyu called Second Grandfather, were Guan Jianguo's father. He had two sons, and Guan Jianguo was his youngest son.

As for Guan Baiyu's great-uncle, who is the husband of the old lady in front of him, he also has two sons. The younger son is now married, while the elder son is an old bachelor who will probably never get married in his life—he was never married in his previous life.

Shi Zhen knew these people, but hadn't had much contact with them, and didn't know much about Guan Baiyu, this young lady. When he saw her come in, he wanted to go and pour her some water.

As a result, the old lady went straight to lift the pot lid: "What a huge pig's head! You're actually stewing a pig's head when it's not a holiday or festival."

She muttered to herself, saying that young people don't know how to manage money, and then said, "Xiaoyu, your cousin is really good to you, he even buys you meat to eat. My Kaikai's cousin just comes over to freeload..."

She started by praising Shi Zhen, but as she talked, she began to complain about her grandson's cousin and uncle, and then she started talking about her daughter-in-law.

What kind of daughter-in-law is lazy, making her do the laundry instead of washing it herself?

What a picky daughter-in-law! She washes rice and vegetables in the river and then rinses them under the tap.

What kind of daughter-in-law has a sweet tooth? She actually used eggs to fry rice this morning.

...

Shi Zhen: "..."

Shi Zhen really couldn't handle this kind of conversation.

Putting everything else aside, he uses tap water to wash vegetables and rinse rice.

After all, the river in front of their house is connected to the town's river, and quite a few households in the town now have flush toilets...

Although the river water was still clear in 1994, he still had no interest in eating it.

In his past life, Shi Zhen had other principles besides doing good deeds, such as not gossiping behind people's backs and just listening to what they said.

Unexpectedly, the old lady got more and more excited as she talked and refused to leave.

Shi Zhen initially thought she was just talkative, but later realized that wasn't the case.

Seeing that the pig's head stew was almost done, the old woman stood up and said, "This pig's head meat smells really good. Give me some so I can take it back for Kai Kai to eat."

It's quite interesting, most of the Guan family's cousins ​​have daughters, but her son Kaikai is the only one, so he's spoiled rotten.

Shi Zhen finally understood that the old woman had come to ask for meat. She had stayed and chatted with them for so long because she was probably waiting for the meat to cook.

Shi Zhen cut off a piece of meat with scissors and put it in a bowl, along with some broth, and gave it to the small old woman: "Auntie, I'm not making this for myself, I'm going to sell it, so I can't give you too much."

"It's such a big pig's head, it's okay to give a little more, don't be so stingy... My Kai Kai doesn't like fatty meat, give him some lean meat, or even the pig's snout, that's not oily, he'll eat it." The old lady kept muttering.

"They even picked these out..." Shi Zhen was speechless: "These are the best-selling items... Otherwise, would you buy them?"

The old lady left, not very happy.

After he left, Shi Zhen felt a sense of relief.

Upon seeing this, Guan Baiyu said, "I'm sorry."

"Why are you apologizing?" Shi Zhen asked.

“She took your things,” Guan Baiyu said.

"That's it? It's nothing." Shi Zhen smiled. He didn't care about such a small amount of meat; on the contrary... "You... don't you like her?"

Shi Zhen noticed that Guan Baiyu didn't seem to like the old lady very much.

Guan Baiyu was taken aback, then nodded.