Chapter 30
After entering the yard, they saw a lot of wood scattered on the ground, as well as some unfinished cabinets. It was obvious that Xiaohuzi was very reliable and had indeed found a good carpenter for them.
Second uncle: "What kind of furniture do you want to make?"
Xu Zhao and Jiang Suihan discussed it last night. Their room needs a big bed, a large wardrobe and a dressing table. Jiang Leyun's room is smaller, so the bed and wardrobe can be smaller. The other room will be used as a study temporarily, with bookcases, desks and chairs. The kitchen also needs two small cabinets to store things. The living room is missing a dining table and a few stools. That's about it.
Jiang Suihan added: "If you make two more small stools, you can put them in the kitchen so you don't feel too tired when sitting on them while making a fire."
The second uncle quickly calculated in his mind: "You want a lot of things, so it will take longer. The total is 125 yuan. If there is no problem, go find the captain to approve the note and bring it to me."
Nowadays, private work is not allowed, so the team leader came up with a solution: in the name of the team, the money earned by the carpenters belongs to the team, and the work done is converted into work points.
So many things cost more than 120 yuan, which is not expensive if you calculate the unit price. It is quite cost-effective. If you go to a department store to buy them, it will definitely cost more than this.
Jiang Suihan: "How long will it take to get the goods?"
The second uncle estimated: "About seven or eight days."
Jiang Suihan discussed with the second uncle and said, "We just arrived here and we are short of many things. Could you please hurry up as much as possible? We are in a hurry."
The second uncle looked embarrassed and said, "At least six or seven days, no less."
I will be busy with this business these days. When the time comes, I will call my two sons to help, which will make things more efficient. When the village distributes dividends at the end of the year, their family will be able to get a lot of work points and have a good new year.
The two sons grew up watching him do carpentry and also learned from him, but their talent was average and they could only do some simple carpentry work, but it was enough for them to help him.
It would be nice to have one or two days less, Jiang Suhan has no other requests.
The two followed the direction pointed by the second uncle and found the captain's house. They took the captain's handwritten note and returned to the second uncle's house to confirm the date for picking up the goods.
The first important task of the day was completed, Jiang Suihan was in a good mood, and met Xiaohuzi again on the way.
Thinking of the vegetables growing in the garden and the chickens walking on the ground when passing by the villagers' homes, an idea suddenly came to her mind. She called the child and motioned him to come closer: "Do you have any extra vegetables or eggs at home? I want to buy some."
Little Tiger's eyes rolled around, his face full of excitement. He glanced around cautiously and whispered, "My grandma is the best at growing vegetables. My family has saved a lot of eggs. Sister, I'll take you to my house, right now."
Although Xiao Hu is young, he is sensible. In the past, there were people who came to the village to buy things. No, that was not called buying things, it should be called exchanging things. However, this was something that everyone knew and they didn't dare to talk about it openly.
Most of the eggs saved at home were sold at the market, or sold to the supply and marketing cooperatives. It didn't matter who they were sold to. The sister who gave him the candy was so nice and pretty, so it would definitely be a good deal if he sold them to her, and he wouldn't have to take them all the way to the supply and marketing cooperatives.
Little Huzi ran home and called his grandmother out. When his grandmother heard that he was coming to buy eggs and vegetables, she hurriedly picked a large basket of vegetables and more than twenty eggs.
The old man smiled and said, "It's hot, so I dare not put too many eggs in. These are what I saved these days. They are all laid by my own chickens. They are big and fresh."
Jiang Suihan thought that since she was already here, she might as well buy more to take home. She still remembered that she had to treat Political Commissar Zhou to a meal. How could she improve her cooking skills if she didn't try cooking more often?
Although I can eat in the cafeteria without having to cook, the cafeteria is far from home and it takes about half an hour to get there. So it's also nice to eat at home.
Jiang Suihan looked carefully and found that the eggs were not broken and the vegetables were just picked from the ground and the dirt on the roots was simply washed off. This family was an honest family.
"Just follow the price of the supply and marketing cooperative. Grandma, do you have any chickens? I want to buy a chicken."
How can we have vegetables without meat? Xu Zhao has to train very hard in the army, and he has a growing child at home, so he needs to get enough nutrition.
There was a military unit nearby. Although Xiao Huzi's grandmother had never been to the military unit, she had heard people talk about it. She guessed that Xu Zhao must have been from the military unit and said hesitantly, "We have an old hen at home. I don't want money. I want to exchange it for something else."
Hearing the old man say that he wanted to exchange some cloth coupons, Jiang Suihan didn't think it was a big deal. Xu Zhao had paid back the cloth coupons he owed Zhang Xiangqian, and there were still some left at home. She took some coupons when she went out this time, and she didn't expect that they would really come in handy.
The grandmother who gave Xiao Huzi two cloth coupons took out a candy coupon and saw that there was also a candy coupon. She asked if he wanted it. Xiao Huzi's grandmother said yes without hesitation.
My granddaughter is going to get married in just over a month. With the cloth coupons, I can buy her a new set of clothes so that she can go out beautifully. I also have sugar coupons because my daughter-in-law just gave birth to a son, so I can use them to supplement her health.
Xiao Huzi's grandmother was very enthusiastic and helped to exchange some eggs, some dried fungus and mushrooms from other villagers' homes. Jiang Suihan also asked for three straw hats and two bamboo baskets.
There were a lot of stuff, so the chicken was hung on the front of the car. To prevent the eggs from breaking, Jiang Suihan sat in the back holding the basket of eggs.
The way back was still bumpy, which was very torturous for the people sitting in the back seat.
When I got home, I put my things down first and took the eggs and vegetables to the kitchen. But the hen gave Jiang Suihan a hard time.
“Can you kill a chicken?”
Xu Zhao: “…”
He was stunned. Should he say that he had never killed a chicken in his life? However, facing his wife's eyes asking for help, the words on his lips turned into: "I'll do it."
It’s just killing a chicken. He has even killed snakes before, so this shouldn’t be difficult.
Jiang Suihan was very satisfied that someone had solved her troubles, saying, "No hurry, we'll eat the chicken tonight."
She had already planned to have chicken stewed with mushrooms tonight, but it was a pity that there were no chestnuts, otherwise the chicken soup would taste even better.
After running around outside for a long time at noon, Jiang Suihan didn't want to cook, so she asked Xu Zhao to go to the cafeteria to get food, while she took some dried black fungus and four eggs to Wu Guihua's house.
Wu Guihua was preparing to cook at home. Her family did not eat in the cafeteria. The food in the cafeteria was quite cheap. A few cents was enough for breakfast, and one or two yuan was enough for a good meal. However, if her family of five ate in the cafeteria, it would cost five or six yuan a day, and more than a hundred yuan a month. With her family's conditions, how could she dare to eat in the cafeteria? She usually ate at home and saved as much as possible.
Seeing what Jiang Huihan was holding, she wiped her hands on her clothes, her expression revealing disapproval: "Why are you bringing things over again? This is too expensive. I can't ask for your things anymore. We are all neighbors, and it's only natural for us to help each other. How can we give things every time? If you keep being so polite, who will be willing to lend you things?"
No family has an easy life. The Xu family's conditions are indeed much better than most people, but no family's money comes from the wind. Xiao Jiang is a new daughter-in-law after all, and she is still not experienced enough in doing things. She is always so generous to people. Those gossipers in the family compound will say that she does not know how to live and that she squanders Xu Zhao's money. They even privately feel sorry for Captain Xu for marrying a daughter-in-law who spends money lavishly.
Jiang Suhan has been busy with family matters these past two days and has not been around in the family compound, but there are many rumors about her in the compound. Some say that she and Xu Zhao did not know each other originally, and she was attracted by Xu Zhao's good conditions and just wanted to get close to him. Others say that the two have no feelings for each other, and Xu Zhao married her just to listen to his parents. Others say that she might be the eldest daughter of a capitalist, and now her family is in trouble, so she has to marry Xu Zhao with her younger brother.
Anyway, all kinds of gossip are flying around. Wu Guihua has heard a lot of it in the past two days. If she were to say, these people are simply idle and are jealous of Xu Zhao for marrying a beautiful young wife.
Jiang Suihan smiled and said, "Just a few eggs and some dried black fungus. Didn't you also send boiled peanuts and cabbage to my house yesterday? Let's have some food for the children."
How could they be the same? The Xu family gave her good things, such as candies and eggs, while what she took away were just some things she grew herself, which were not worth much.
Seeing that she couldn't refuse, Wu Guihua smiled helplessly and said, "Then I will shamelessly accept it."
Xiao Jiang is a really generous person. He is generous not just because he is poor. He will always return gifts after receiving them. It is good to make friends with such a person and it is not difficult to get along with him.
Although her family is not as good as the Xu family, she does not want to take advantage of the Xu family. She just likes Xiao Jiang's open and generous nature. Unlike some people in the family compound, they smile and talk with you, but say bad things about you behind your back. Such people are annoying.
Wu Guihua didn't want to let Jiang Suihan go back empty-handed, so she went back to the kitchen and got a bowl of pickled cabbage with a handful of beans in her hand: "I pickled the pickled cabbage myself, take it back and try it, and come back if you like it."
She learned the skill of pickling sauerkraut from her mother-in-law. Before joining the army, she lived in her hometown with her three children. Every time her family wanted to eat sauerkraut, her mother-in-law would pickle some and keep them for later consumption. She liked it, so her mother-in-law was happy to teach her. Her family also liked to eat sauerkraut, so she would pickle some every once in a while.
When seeing sauerkraut, Jiang Suihan thought of sauerkraut fish, stir-fried sauerkraut with pork intestines, and stir-fried sauerkraut with beef. She likes all these dishes, but unfortunately there is no fish or pork intestines at home, and beef is even rarer.
Seeing that Jiang Suihan happily accepted it, Wu Guihua was also very happy. She was glad that she didn't mind.
Jiang Suihan: "By the way, sister-in-law, I heard from Xu Zhao that there is a market in the nearby brigade. I want to ask when the market is held and how to get there?"
Wu Guihua teased Jiang Suihan: "Why do you call Captain Xu by his full name?"
They usually call the men in their family "my guy" or "the kid's father", and rarely call them by their names, as it seems too intimate. They only call them by their full names when they are angry.
Facing Wu Guihua's teasing gaze, what could Jiang Suihan do but to lower her head shyly.
Wu Guihua: "Okay, I won't joke with you anymore. The day after tomorrow is market day. I'll call you then and we'll go together. It's just that the road is a bit far. We usually walk there."
The journey was tiring, but she was from the countryside and was used to doing farm work, so this distance was not a problem for her. The distance to a town in her hometown was much farther than this, and Xiao Jiang's frail body didn't know if she could bear it.
It takes almost an hour to ride a bike to Upper West Village today. If Jiang Suihan had to walk there, she would suddenly feel a little tingling on her scalp. She was not afraid of walking, but she was worried that she would run out of energy and cause trouble for others.
Jiang Suihan didn't make a decision right away: "I'll go home and think about it, and give you an answer tomorrow. Sister-in-law, I'm going back first."
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