After hanging up the phone, while settling the bill, Fang Yan casually asked, "Comrade, could you please check if I have any mail?"
She gave her address and name.
The post office staff looked through the new mail and actually found it. "If you hadn't come today, the postman would have delivered it to you in the next day or two."
"I called today, thinking that I should have received a letter by now, so I just casually asked."
Fang Yan took the letter and said with a smile.
After leaving the post office, remembering that she wanted to deliver braised meat and dried meat to Captain Liu and the young comrades at the police station, Fang Yan took Xiaoyuzai and Qibei to the market again.
He approached the vendors he regularly bought pork from and asked, "Excuse me, could you ask if they have any beef for sale?"
“Hey, beef is hard to find. Cattle are the mainstay of the fields. If they are healthy and not injured, no one is willing to slaughter them.”
Several business owners said that this stuff was hard to find.
Fang Yan also knew that beef was hard to buy these days. "It's okay, I'll just ask. If you have any, please save me a dozen or so pounds."
A dozen or so kilograms of beef, made into beef jerky, isn't really that bad.
My grand plan to make beef jerky has been put on hold for now because I can't buy any beef.
Fang Yan first bought the ingredients for making braised food tomorrow.
Then I bought more pork, pork hock, and pork with 80% lean and 20% fat.
The pork is intended to be used to make pork jerky. If the meat is too lean, the jerky will be too tough and dry, affecting the taste.
All sorts of things, added up, weighed several dozen kilograms.
"Is the cattle collection point in Gouzi Village still at the same place as last time?"
Fang Yan: "Yes, it's still there."
"I'll have my son deliver it to you."
I buy meat from these pork vendors almost every day. After we got to know each other well, if Fang Yan bought too much meat, the vendors would help deliver it to the beef collection point.
"Okay, thank you."
Fang Yan thanked them and then went to buy some flour and other things to bake some slightly dry bread for Xu Zhimin.
Dryer bread is less likely to get moldy. Fortunately, the Mid-Autumn Festival is over now, and once the train leaves the Central Plains and enters the North, it gets much cooler in the mornings and evenings, so the bread will keep relatively well.
After finishing all the shopping, I saw an old lady with a full head of white hair on the roadside, frying triangular tofu on a small coal stove.
After asking the price, Fang Yan bought three mao (0.3 yuan).
Things are really cheap these days.
Three cents each, a triangular tofu stuffed with bean sprouts, scallions, and a little egg.
Such prices were only seen in the 1950s, 60s, 70s and 80s.
Chibees don't eat this almost entirely vegetarian food.
But we can't favor one over the other, otherwise Grandpa Bei will be unhappy.
When they arrived at the meat bun stall, Fang Yan bought two more large meat buns for Qi Bei.
This guy was so happy, with a steamed bun in his mouth, he was jumping around so joyfully.
After buying everything we needed, we returned to the meeting point, just as the pork stall owner's son delivered the pork.
"Third brother's wife, have you struck it rich? It's only been a little past the Ghost Festival, and you've already bought so much pork?"
Seeing that Fang Yan had bought so much pork, some people couldn't help but feel envious and jealous, and asked sourly.
Regardless of whether it was sour or sweet, Fang Yan coldly rejected them all. "This time, thanks to Ji Zhou and a few friends in the county, I was able to get through this big ordeal smoothly. They put in so much effort and time to help us. I can't just forget their contributions after everything is over, can I?"
I don't know how to make anything else, but I was thinking of braising some meat or something and sending it to them to thank them for saving my life this time.
"Auntie Niu, don't be so sour just because the third brother bought so much meat. He's not buying it for himself; he's using it to repay a favor. How can you be so sour about it?"
"According to the village chief and clan chief Zhang, the third brother's family really owes a lot to his friends this time. Otherwise... if it were me, and my husband doesn't know any powerful friends, he would probably be finished."
"Such a big favor, it's only right to send more meat."
"That's right. The third brother's family said it themselves. This is a life-saving favor, so of course they have to give meat. You guys shouldn't be envious and think that the third brother's family has made a fortune."
She usually only sells that one bucket of braised food; maybe all her profits went to these meats this time.
Some people who were close to Fang Yan spoke up for her.
Of course, Fang Yan herself wasn't idle either. As if she hadn't noticed anyone making fun of her, she smiled and said, "The life-saving grace can't be repaid with just a few pounds of pork. It's just that I don't have any special skills right now, so I can only braise some meat and send it to them to express my gratitude."
Don't envy me for buying so much meat. As Sister-in-law Zhang said, peace and safety bring blessings.
"That's exactly right, living peacefully and safely is what we call a modest life of wealth and prosperity."
...
Although Fang Yan is not afraid to argue with others, she is the type of person who tries to avoid arguments as much as possible.
Unless the other party is someone like the Zhang family or Zhang Laowu, who are excessively unreasonable, she generally doesn't take the initiative to argue with them.
She always had a smile on her face and spoke in such a gentle and soft voice that even those who had initially felt a little jealous no longer felt so.
Yes, the third brother's family bought so much meat, not for themselves, but to give as a gift.
How much would all this meat cost?
Thinking about how much money Fang Yan spent on the meat, while he himself didn't get a single bite, those jealous people felt a sense of balance.
Along the way, everyone chatted and laughed, remaining as harmonious as ever.
"Third Aunt!"
Before we even reached the village entrance, we saw the siblings Chuchun and Chuxia coming to greet us.
Chu Chun knew that Fang Yan was going to help her learn to use a sewing machine today, and she was extremely excited.
It was almost time for the oxcart to return to the village, so she pulled Chuxia along and waited at the village entrance early.
Thankfully, the siblings came and helped Fang Yan carry dozens of kilograms of pork and pork knuckles, one portion each, back home.
"In early spring, you've already paid for the sewing machine lessons. You can arrange your own time, and if it's okay, you can start learning tomorrow."
I knew the little girl was thinking about this.
As soon as she entered the room, Fang Yan told her what had happened.
Chu Chun was so happy that her eyes welled up with tears, and her voice choked with emotion, "Third Aunt, thank you!"
Since her parents passed away, Fang Yan has always taken such good care of them.
"How much? I'll give you the money." Chu Chun had also saved up a small amount of money.
"No need, consider this a gift from me as you embark on your new life and enter society."
After learning how to operate a sewing machine, I will leave the mountains in early spring to go to the more prosperous world outside and start a new life.
This is a good thing.
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