Song Caixing nodded, and boldly said loudly, "Yes, I heard it. Mom said those old hens are very valuable and lay a lot of eggs, so she asked my older sister to go and get all the old hens back."
Qiao Guilan was both scared and angry by her two daughters' words, but she didn't say anything more, afraid that her eldest daughter would give up and not go back to get the old hen.
-
A hot lunch was prepared and served.
Song Yinhua looked at the stir-fried green peppers and meat on the plate and found that it was all green peppers and no meat.
"Where's the meat? I bought eight ounces of pork at the market this morning."
Qiao Guilan ate her meal guiltily, saying, "It's all in there. Eight ounces of pork isn't much; it'll be gone once it's stir-fried."
Seeing her mother's guilty expression, Song Yinhua guessed what had happened. Just as she was about to speak, a neighbor came to Qiao Guilan's door to complain that Song Yinhua had taken the old hen back.
"Yinhua, how could you do this? How can you take back something you've already given away?" Qiao Guilan scolded Song Yinhua while winking at her, then put down her chopsticks, got up, and pulled her neighbor outside to talk.
“It’s all my fault, Yinhua. I’ve spoiled her. She’s selfish and doesn’t know any better. I told her again and again that your wife is going to give birth in a few days, so I should send her an old hen to help her recover. But look, she secretly went to your house and took the old hen back without my knowledge.”
Qiao Guilan looked at her neighbor with a look of disappointment and kept apologizing.
She was afraid that Song Yinhua would hear her, so she kept her voice very low.
“I’m so unlucky, I gave birth to a jinx! I told her again and again that we should give the old hen away, and we could just buy some chicks from the market next spring. This child is really… ah…”
"Mom!" Song Yinhua called out, startling Qiao Guilan. "Didn't you tell me to get the old hen back? Caixing heard it too. You said the old hen is so valuable, it lays seven or eight eggs a day, and you told me to go get it back. Caixing, don't you think so?"
Song Caixing sat silently in the main room, her face almost touching the bowl as she held it.
"Cai Xing!" Song Yinhua called out to her.
“I…” Song Caixing looked up at them and said timidly, “I don’t know.”
Qiao Guilan scolded Song Yinhua, "Why did you bring up Xiao Si'er? Look how scared you've made her. It's just a few hens, is it really that big of a deal?"
Song Yinhua understood what her mother meant. She politely asked the neighbor, "Your wife is about to give birth. Would you like to eat an old hen to help her recover? I'll get it for you right now."
Qiao Guilan stared at Song Yinhua's retreating figure, her eyes nearly popping out of their sockets in shock.
The neighbor was overjoyed and followed them to the chicken coop, where they found that all of the dozen or so old hens were still there.
“My wife is in postpartum confinement, and one old hen isn’t enough, so we’ll get a few more.”
Song Yinhua picked out a few of the biggest and fattest ones. "Are three enough? If not, we'll get more."
Qiao Guilan felt her heart bleeding and quickly pleaded, "If we catch so many, we can't finish them all. They'll spoil if we leave them for too long. It's such a waste. Let's catch two first, eat them, and then come back for more."
Feeling like she'd gotten a great deal, the neighbor nodded happily, indicating she'd take two first, and even complimented Song Yinhua a couple of times.
Song Yinhua grabbed two old hens and took them out of the chicken coop. She then went to the main room and took out the scale from the basket on her back.
The neighbor asked, "What are you doing with the scale?"
"Weigh them and calculate the price!" Song Yinhua weighed the two chickens. "One is eighteen jin, and the other is a little smaller, a little over thirteen jin, so we'll say thirteen jin."
Song Yinhua calculated the price, "Outside it's 2.2 to 2.5 yuan per jin. Fifth Aunt, since you're one of us, I'll sell it to you for 2 yuan per jin. Eighteen jin plus thirteen jin, that's 62 yuan in total. Just give me 60."
"So expensive? That's almost my son's monthly salary!" The neighbor looked at Qiao Guilan. "Your old hen is too expensive. We're all neighbors, we can't be so greedy."
Qiao Guilan chimed in, and even helped her neighbor bargain with her daughter.
"The chickens at the market are skin and bones, and they're selling for 2.2 to 2.5 yuan. My old hen is so fat, and you still complain that it's too expensive at 2 yuan a pound?" Song Yinhua carried the old hen to her neighbor's side. "Fifth Aunt, you're not trying to take it for free, are you? Look at how fat this old hen is!"
"Nonsense, do you think I'm that kind of person! It's only 2 yuan a pound! I'll buy one first."
The neighbor, exposed and provoked, gritted his teeth and took the smaller one.
After the neighbors left, Qiao Guilan praised Song Yinhua for her good accounting skills.
He reached out and asked her to give him the money from selling the old hen.
"This old hen is raised so well, Mom has put in a lot of effort. Give me the money, and I'll go to the market tomorrow to buy more meat."
"Mom, you gave away the old hen you raised for free. I'm the one who got this old hen back, so the money from selling it should naturally be mine."
Song Yinhua pocketed the money and went back to her room to eat, while Qiao Guilan angrily went back to her room and lay down on the bed.
Song Caixing then timidly apologized for what had just happened, "Big sister, I'm sorry. If I had taken your side, Mom would have been angry."
*
Hanjiacun Village, the village's small shop.
The inner room, filled with smoke, was lit by a gas light bulb, and a group of people were gathered around a mahjong table.
"I won!" The old man, puffing on his cigarette, pushed the mahjong tiles onto the table and chuckled.
Wang Naiyun sighed, "We've lost again."
At this moment, Wang Erniang rushed into the house, "Wang Naiyun, are you still playing mahjong? Hurry back and check on your three grandchildren, they're crying so hard it's heartbreaking."
Wang Naiyun couldn't hear anything and continued playing mahjong with a group of people.
The people sitting around watching advised Wang Naiyun to go back and check on her children, as her youngest granddaughter was only a little over a month old and looked pitiful.
“Just make sure the child is fed and clothed, that’s enough. There’s no need to be so precious. When we were kids, we were poor and couldn’t even afford food. We were also fighting and had to hide from the enemy, but we still grew up!” Wang Naiyun’s eyes were fixed on the mahjong tiles in front of her. She played a tile, “Two of Bamboo! Wang Erniang, it’s okay. We can’t just comfort the child every time she cries. If we spoil her, let her cry for a while. She’ll fall asleep on her own when she’s tired.”
"I've never seen such a heartless grandmother." Wang Erniang was completely helpless with this family. "You said your son was going to marry Song Yinhua from Songzhuang. How's that going?"
"Almost there... 80,000!" Wang Naiyun threw the mahjong tiles onto the table, making a loud thud.
Wang Erniang was startled. "Keep your mahjong playing quiet! It sounds like you're arguing."
One of the villagers sitting in the back remembered something and said that Huo Jinfeng had caused a scene at Song Erzhuang's house that morning, and had even called some of her nephews to steal his pigs and chickens, which were then taken back by Song Erzhuang's eldest daughter with a kitchen knife.
"Song Erzhuang's eldest daughter? Isn't that Yinhua?" Wang Naiyun slammed the mahjong tiles on the table again. "Bai Pi! Why is Huo Jinfeng stealing pigs and chickens from her house?"
"It's all because of Huo Jinfeng's wayward son!"
A group of people chatted while playing mahjong.
Han Zhiyuan didn't get off work and return home until eight or nine o'clock in the evening.
The house was dark; it looked like everyone was asleep.
He tiptoed into the main room, intending to go straight to his room to rest, when the lights in the main room suddenly came on.
The eldest son, wearing a dirty vest, stood on a small stool, with the light switch for the main room above his head.
"dad."
"Dabao!" Han Zhiyuan felt a pang of sympathy when he saw his son covered in dirt.
He came over and hugged his son, asking, "Did you miss your dad?"
"Yes." The child hugged his neck. "Daddy, I miss Mommy. When is Mommy coming back?"
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