Chapter 21 Backfire
"It can only be exchanged for other items."
Generally speaking, it is very rare to exchange wild rabbits and pheasants for food, so Zhou Yong just wanted to try his luck.
The couple was walking among the crowd, stopping and starting, and were stopped by an old lady who was setting up a stall.
The old lady's clothes were patched up, her hair was snow-white, and she looked in good spirits.
"Comrade, I want to exchange this jewelry box for the pheasant in your hand."
Zhou Yong looked at the dark purple jewelry box in the old lady's hand, and his eyes gradually brightened.
Li Caiyun frowned and muttered, "It's no use for us to change the jewelry box."
When the old lady heard this, she smiled awkwardly: "My dear wife, to be honest, my old man is sick, and I want to give him a whole pheasant to nourish his body..."
Li Caiyun understood the old lady's difficulties, but it was really useless for them to ask for the jewelry box.
Her only jewelry was a watch and a hair band, so the jewelry box would just be a decoration when she got home.
Just when Li Caiyun was feeling embarrassed and soft-hearted, Zhou Yong spoke.
"Auntie, can I see the jewelry box in your hand?"
When the old lady heard this, she nodded hurriedly and handed the jewelry box to Zhou Yong.
He parked his bike, took the jewelry box and looked at it.
The jewelry box is not big, about 25 cm high, 30 cm long and 20 cm wide. It is finely crafted and has a plum blossom pattern carved on the outside.
The moment Zhou Yong opened the jewelry box, a faint and elegant fragrance hit him in the face.
Rosewood?
Zhou Yong's eyes lit up. He didn't expect that he would be so lucky to find an old item.
When Zhou Yong was looking at the jewelry box, the old lady said, "Comrade, this jewelry box is quite old. It was handed down from my ancestors. If my old man was not so seriously ill, I would not be willing to take out this jewelry box to exchange for items..."
According to the old lady herself, her jewelry box has a history of a thousand years. Zhou Yong has no way of verifying its authenticity, but he knows that this item can be sold for a good price in a dozen or even dozens of years.
Zhou Yong looked at the three-layer jewelry box and had an idea in his mind, then he looked at the old lady.
"Auntie, I wonder what disease your husband has?"
When talking about her husband at home, a look of worry appeared on the old lady's face.
"Didn't it snow heavily for a few days at the beginning of the year? My old man fell down when he went out. I didn't take it seriously at the time, but he couldn't move at night..."
Zhou Yong understood the difficulties of the aunt's family. He thought for a moment and said, "Aunt, do you have any items made of this material at home?"
The old lady frowned and thought for a moment before speaking: "No more, this is what I secretly hid back then, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to keep it..."
Zhou Yong frowned at first, but gradually his brows relaxed.
"Auntie, I like the jewelry box very much. I'll give you an extra hare!"
The old lady was very excited when she heard this: "Comrade, I can't bear to part with this. The pheasants and rabbits are all obtained by your hard work in hunting. I can't take advantage of you..."
In that era, jewelry boxes were just decorations and most people had no use for them. The old lady knew this herself, and she was very happy to be able to exchange them for a pheasant.
Li Caiyun looked at Zhou Yong with a faint smile in her eyes. She knew that her man was a kind-hearted person.
"Auntie, please take it. My uncle is sick and needs food to nourish his body..."
If possible, Zhou Yong wanted to give both hares to the old lady, but doing so would inevitably arouse her suspicion.
After all, every family is not well off. Even if you are kind-hearted, you must know your limits. Otherwise, it will backfire.
The old lady's eyes were red, and she kept saying that Zhou Yong was kind-hearted, and she felt uncomfortable hearing him say that.
After making a deal with the old lady, Zhou Yong took Li Caiyun away.
"I'm sure Mom will nag us when she gets home."
Li Caiyun followed Zhou Yong holding the jewelry box and muttered to herself.
Zhou Yong smiled and said, "Don't be afraid. Even if the sky falls, I'm still here, right?"
Li Caiyun was giving Zhou Yong a shot of prevention so that he wouldn't get angry when Zhang Guifang nagged him.
The couple chatted intermittently, strolled around the market, and exchanged the last hare for a large wooden basin.
Li Caiyun was very happy. With this big basin, it would be convenient for her to wash clothes at home.
After hearing what she said, Zhou Yong smiled and joked that the big basin was more suitable for taking a bath. Li Caiyun blushed with embarrassment.
The two left the market and went to the supply and marketing cooperative. The moment they stepped into the door of the cooperative, the smell of soy sauce hit them in the face.
There were quite a few people queuing up to buy soy sauce. Zhou Yong glanced at Li Caiyun and said, "You queue up here. I'll go to the market to buy pork fat..."
"Okay, I'll wait for you at the door of the supply and marketing cooperative."
Zhou Yong responded, left the supply and marketing cooperative and went straight to the vegetable market.
In those days, lard was the main ingredient in cooking, so pork lard was almost in short supply. Fortunately, it was purchased in limited quantities with tickets, so if you came too late, you would go home empty-handed.
Zhou Yong waited in line for more than ten minutes, bought three pounds of pork fat, and then met Li Caiyun.
"Now that we have everything we need, let's go to the commune!"
Zhou Yong raised his wrist to check the time: "Don't worry, let's go in and take a look."
Turn around?
Li Caiyun didn't ask any more questions and followed Zhou Yong back to the supply and marketing cooperative.
Zhou Yong brought his young wife to the cloth counter and asked, "What kind of cloth do you like?"
Li Caiyun blinked her big eyes: "I don't lack clothes."
All her clothes were made the year she got married, and she hasn't bought any new clothes in the past few years. Zhou Yong is aware of this.
"I know you don't need clothes, but I just want to buy you..."
Li Caiyun looked at Zhou Yong and felt a sweet feeling. She swallowed back the words of rejection that were about to come out of her mouth.
Seeing that she didn't say anything, Zhou Yong looked at the colorful fabrics in front of him and chose a piece of khaki fabric for his young wife.
“Does this color suit me?”
Zhou Yong nodded: "If you don't like this color, we can change to another color..."
Li Caiyun glanced at the row of fabrics and said, "Then let's go with this color!"
The colors of the remaining fabrics are either black, gray, blue, or red, etc. In addition to these solid-color fabrics, there are also some printed fabrics...
After buying a 3.2-meter piece of cloth, Zhou Yong also bought two boxes of Wan Zi Qian Hong moisturizing cream for Li Caiyun.
"Just buy clam oil, it's such a waste to buy this..."
Clam oil costs three cents, but the colorful moisturizing lotion costs five cents.
Most people buy clam oil, which is more economical.
Zhou Yong smiled and said, "This one smells good, so I'll buy it."
Li Caiyun glanced at Zhou Yong and swallowed the words that were about to come out of her mouth.
After paying the money and handing over the ticket, Li Caiyun immediately made arrangements to go to the commune, for fear that Zhou Yong would buy things for her again.
Zhou Yong saw what his young wife was thinking. He smiled, muttered "silly girl" in his heart, and left the supply and marketing cooperative with Li Caiyun.
The two of them strolled to the Hongqi Commune. Li Caiyun did not go in, but chose to wait for him under a tree at the gate of the commune, watching the bicycle.
"Brother."
Xu Jianmin was walking with his head down, holding a thermos. When he heard Zhou Yong's voice, he smiled and looked at his junior brother.
"Why are you here? Come in and sit down."
Xu Jianmin is Mr. Zhou's apprentice. He is thirty years old and serves as the director of the commune.
After entering the office, Xu Jianmin started to get busy.
He first poured Zhou Yong some water, then opened the drawer and handed him a pack of cigarettes.
Zhou Yong had a smile on his face. He didn't bother to be polite with Xu Jianmin and just put the cigarette in his pocket.
Seeing him shaking his head like that, Xu Jianmin smiled and turned around to sit on the chair behind his desk: "What brings you here today? Normally, you never come to my place when I invite you..."
Zhou Yong did not beat around the bush with his senior brother and directly stated his purpose.
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