"That's true, carrying it back from so far away must be quite a hassle." Jiang Jianguo agreed with his niece. "Would you like to come with me?"
Jiang Ruyu looked at her uncle with some suspicion: "Uncle, do you know about prices?"
Jiang Jianguo touched his nose a little embarrassedly: "Then you should come with me."
Jiang Ruyu lowered her head and chuckled to herself. She picked up her basket and followed her uncle into the village. Hongqi Production Team was a village nestled against the mountainside. The village was quite large. At this time, apart from some children and older people, almost everyone had gone to work. Jiang Ruyu and Jiang Jianguo wandering around the village seemed rather out of place.
Jiang Jianguo saw a few older women on the threshing ground and walked up to them with a smile, saying, "Aunties, I am the father of Jiang Jun, one of your educated youths. He's getting married tomorrow, and we're looking to prepare some fancy dishes. Do you have any chickens, ducks, or geese? We can trade with you. We have ration coupons and money."
Now it's a planned economy, so even if you end up buying something, you can't say you're buying it; you can only say you're exchanging it for something. As for what you exchange it for, that's your business.
The elderly women looked at each other, and Jiang Ruyu smiled and came over: "Hello, grandmas, this is my uncle. My brother is having a wedding tomorrow and we'd like to invite your brigade secretary and the others. We can't make it too shabby, right? If you have any at home, you can tell me. If not, it's okay. Here, have a few milk candies. Take them home and sweeten your children's mouths."
The elderly women took the candy and then smiled, saying, "Oh my, this girl is so beautiful! It's a wedding banquet, that's wonderful! I also have a big rooster, it must weigh over five pounds, would you like it?"
"Yes, yes, yes, I want it." Jiang Jianguo nodded repeatedly.
"I still have about ten free-range eggs at home."
“I have a wild rabbit at home, it’s quite fat, probably weighing five or six pounds. My eldest son caught it yesterday, and it’s still alive.”
Jiang Jianguo was relieved. These few items were enough to make a decent banquet: "I want them all, I want them all."
After half an hour, Jiang Jianguo spent four yuan plus two industrial coupons to buy a five-pound rooster, and was also given several cucumbers and eggplants as a bonus.
Twenty free-range eggs cost one yuan and fifty cents. Jiang Ruyu took a fancy to the hawthorns at this shop and bought half a basket for fifty cents, intending to take them home and make candied hawthorns herself.
The last rabbit from Grandma's house cost two yuan and a soap coupon. The coupon was provided by Jiang Ruyu; Jiang Jianguo didn't bring such a coupon.
Both the buyer and seller were happy with the deal. Jiang Jianguo carried several large cabbages for tomorrow back to his son's small house and said to his niece, "I'll go to the commune myself. It's too far. I'll just go buy some pork, and I might not even be able to find any. So don't come with me."
“Alright, Uncle, be careful. If you can’t buy pork, you can buy pig’s trotters, pig’s head, or offal. I know how to braise pig’s head. Just buy some spices.” Jiang Ruyu reminded her uncle.
"Alright, I almost forgot you're really good at making those snacks."
Jiang Jianguo left happily. Jiang Ruyu put the chicken and rabbit away, then got up, closed the door, and wanted to go for a stroll in Tianshan Creek.
My second brother's house is in a great location. In front of it are the educated youth compound and the brigade headquarters. To the right are other educated youth couples renting houses. To the left is the mountain stream not far away. There is a well not far from the door. The back of the house is neither too far nor too close to the back mountain. It is not afraid of wild animals breaking in, and it is also convenient to go to the outer edge of the mountain to collect firewood or something.
If it weren't for the heavy labor, the environment here would be much better than in the city. The rooms are spacious, the courtyard is huge, and you can stay warm in winter because of the heated brick bed and walls.
However, she should just think about it herself; saying it out loud only makes people uncomfortable. Who wouldn't want to stay in the city and be a worker, instead of toiling away in the countryside with no future?
The future is a source of worry for all educated youth who were sent to the countryside. No one wants to spend their whole life in the countryside. Therefore, most of the educated youth who married in the countryside married other educated youth, because they had similar education levels and had grown up in similar environments, so they could have things to talk about.
Others might not know, but Jiang Ruyu, who was practically blessed with extraordinary abilities, knew that policies would change sooner or later, and these educated youth sent to the countryside would eventually return. She had to find a way to remind her second brother not to give up on his studies. Her second brother had excellent grades when he was in school, unlike herself, who, even if the college entrance examination were to be reopened, would at best only get into a vocational school.
Lost in thought, Jiang Ruyu found herself at the mountain stream. She took a deep breath, feeling a sense of comfort as she looked at the shallow water, which only reached her ankles. As she looked around, she spotted small, green crayfish near the rocks. She remembered catching them when her cousins caught them at her grandfather's house when she was little, and they were delicious. But those crayfish were red; these were green.
Ignoring everything else, Jiang Ruyu turned around, went home to get her basket, ran back, took off her shoes and socks, rolled up her trouser legs, and started catching crayfish. They all looked the same except for their color, probably because of the different water quality. These things are delicious, so she couldn't let them go to waste.
She spent half an hour searching and caught quite a few river crabs. They weren't very big, but even a small crab is still meat, and she just loves eating crustaceans.
When she felt she had filled her basket to about half full, she had even grabbed a few river clams that were bigger than her hand: "Haha, tonight's dinner is going to be delicious!"
Just as she was about to leave, a few children around seven or eight years old came over. They were delighted to see what was in Jiang Ruyu's basket: "Ah, she caught so many crayfish! Let's catch some too, they're so delicious!"
"Come on, let's go down and catch them. Gou Dan, go back and get the bucket." The children didn't say anything to Jiang Ruyu, but took off their clothes and shoes and went down the mountain naked.
Jiang Ruyu quickly went upstairs. The child was seven or eight years old, and it wasn't appropriate for her to be there with her naked.
She ran off with her basket on her back, and a few children behind her said curiously, "This girl is quite pretty, but she's timid. We're not going to eat people, why is she running so fast?"
"Who knows? That's how it is for people from the city. There's a wedding at the educated youth compound tomorrow. Let's go ask for some wedding candy."
"Really, go away, I haven't had wedding candy in a long time, and I have no idea whether this educated youth is generous or not."
Jiang Ruyu didn't hear what the children were saying. She went back and found a wooden basin, poured the thing the child said was a crayfish into the basin, and let it stay there for a while. She would let her second brother wash it when he came back. She was a little afraid to move it because it was baring its teeth and claws.
My uncle and second brother returned almost one after the other. Jiang Jianguo had just entered the house when Jiang Jun and Kong Xuefang came back. Jiang Jianjun was telling his niece what he had bought. Sure enough, he hadn't bought any pork; all that was left was a big pig's head.
"Pig's head is great, and it's not expensive to make dishes from it. One pig's head can make several dishes. Look, pig's ears are a great snack to have with alcohol, and pig's tongue is especially chewy. The meat in the snout is lean but not dry. It's just that the part connecting to the neck is a bit fatty, but the villagers are worried about not having enough oil, so they'll definitely like to eat it."
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