He had just reached out to touch Zhang Mei's face when she dodged him. Zhang Mei, suppressing her disgust, immediately turned and closed the courtyard gate.
"My husband and mother-in-law aren't home. If you need anything, please wait until they return."
Lin Gangzi quickly blocked the door with his hand: "Meizi, I didn't come to see them, I came to see you. Don't you miss me at all? Lin Fengnian doesn't have a bed for me..."
Seeing that he was about to utter foul language, Zhang Mei angrily said, "You, you shut up. Take your hand off my door right now. We have nothing to talk about. Don't come looking for me."
"If you don't leave soon, I'm going to call for help. Uncle Fengnian and Aunt Fengnian are right next door."
Zhang Mei made a move to shout, but Lin Gangzi quickly pulled his hand away: "Don't shout, don't shout, I..."
Before he could finish speaking, Zhang Mei slammed the courtyard gate shut. Lin Gangzi, in a panic, didn't dare knock or call out loudly, and could only speak through the crack in the gate:
"Meizi, open the door! I really have something to tell you, please open the door..."
Lin Gangzi called for a while but there was no response from inside. Fearing that the person delivering the duck eggs might see him, he had no choice but to leave dejectedly.
When Zhang Mei heard that there was no more noise outside, she cautiously peeked through the crack in the door and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Lin Gangzi's departing figure.
Lin Gangzi walked down the road with a grim expression. He hadn't expected Zhang Mei to be so resistant to him; it was an insult. Every girl in the village was thinking of him.
Just then, a young woman walked towards them. This woman was Liu Xiuhong, the eldest daughter of a family from another clan in the village. She was also the lover that Lin Gangzi had seduced in the village.
Lin Gangzi, seeing her, was filled with lust and had nowhere to vent it. He gave Liu Xiuhong a look, and Liu Xiuhong immediately understood. The two entered the forest one after the other.
As soon as they entered the woods, Lin Gangzi couldn't wait to hug Liu Xiuhong: "My little darling, did you miss me and that's why you came here to find me?"
Liu Xiuhong smiled. She was quite pretty, without the rustic look often associated with rural girls.
"Yeah, Gangzi, I really miss you. But what are you doing at the end of the village?"
Lin Gangzi stammered, "It's nothing..." His hands kept groping Liu Xiuhong's body, "I've missed you so much, I'll take good care of you today..."
Liu Xiuhong seemed a little distracted: "Did you see Song Tongsheng at Aunt Lin's house?"
Lin Gangzi paused for a moment: "You're not thinking about that Song Tongsheng, are you? Well, you're thinking about another man while you're in my arms. You lewd woman, today I'll show you what I'm capable of."
Liu Xiuhong was suddenly pushed into the bushes by Lin Gangzi. She wasn't angry and began to enjoy it, though her mind was filled with images of Song Anbang. She wondered what this refined Song Tongsheng would be like in this situation; what woman in the village wouldn't be attracted to a man like that?
Soon, heavy breathing could be heard from the woods.
This is Song Anxin's house at the end of the village.
After about the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, Sister-in-law Lin arrived. Today was the day we had agreed to pickle the salted duck eggs.
Looking at the tightly closed courtyard gate, Sister-in-law Lin asked in confusion, "Huh? Why is the gate closed? Meizi, are you home?"
Zhang Mei was startled when she heard this and immediately got up to open the courtyard gate:
"Zai Zai, Auntie, why did you come so early?"
Sister-in-law Lin: "What's wrong? Why are you in such a hurry so early in the morning? I heard from my sister-in-law that a large batch of duck eggs might be arriving today, so I thought I'd come to your house early to get them ready."
"Oh, it's alright. Auntie, let's go to the back room together first. There's some yellow mud there; we can carry some back first," Zhang Mei said.
Sister-in-law Lin didn't take Zhang Mei's words to heart when she heard her say everything was alright, and followed Zhang Mei to the workshop in the back room. Soon, Granny Han and Stone's mother arrived, and everyone started getting busy.
However, Zhang Mei couldn't calm down. Why did Lin Gangzi suddenly come to see her? Although she couldn't figure it out, Zhang Mei knew it couldn't be anything good, and since he hadn't achieved his goal, he would probably come again.
Meanwhile, on Song Anxin's side...
"Uncle Zhang, thank you so much. It's really kind of you to come all this way to deliver it."
"Hey, Aunt Fengnian, you don't need to be so polite with this old man. I've made a lot of money thanks to your family. My grandchildren, my wife, and I are all grateful to you."
However, the village to the west is too far away, and I've never been there. I only heard about it from an old friend, so I don't know what the situation is like there.
Song Anxin smiled and said that she would be happy if someone's life became more hopeful and better because of her.
She said, "It's alright, it's better to go and take a look."
As the name suggests, Xibian Village is located at the westernmost edge of the city, and it took about two hours to arrive by car. After entering Xibian Village, Song Anxin discovered that most of the villagers relied on raising ducks for a living because of the poor soil. As for why chickens instead of ducks, it was because ducks are easier to raise than chickens. They are more disease-resistant and cold-resistant, and ducks also lay eggs more frequently than chickens.
As soon as Song Anxin entered the village, she heard a cacophony of quacking; there must be at least a thousand ducks in the village. They quickly found the village head of the western village.
The village head in the west is surnamed Hong, and most of the families in the village are also surnamed Hong. Hong Lizheng is an old man in his fifties, and he looks honest.
At this moment, they were sitting in Hong Lizheng's courtyard.
“Almost every household in our village raises ducks and makes a living by selling duck eggs. This land is difficult to cultivate, and if we relied on it, people would have starved to death long ago.”
When Hong Lizheng mentioned this, a trace of sorrow inevitably appeared in his eyes.
After saying that, he seemed to remember something and smiled slightly, "However, this year the county sent people down to build a few threshing machines and blowers for our village. Those things helped us thresh the rice clean, so we have more grain now."
Song Anxin felt much better after hearing this. She never expected that her casual act of kindness would bring blessings to so many people.
She began by asking, "Village Head Hong, may I ask how you sell so many duck eggs in your village? And at what price?"
Hong Lizheng replied, “Some merchants come to our village to buy, but our village is too remote, and it’s rare for anyone to come here. So sometimes we take advantage of the merchants’ visits to sell at a low price. Originally, it was two coins per piece, but we sell it for one coin per piece. Our village also selects a day every now and then to take it to the county to sell together.”
Xibian Village belongs to the neighboring Heyang County, and its geographical location is not as convenient as that of their village to travel to their county.
Song Anxin said, "I came here to buy some duck eggs. We need about two thousand a day before the Mid-Autumn Festival. Can your village supply them?"
Upon hearing this, Hong Lizheng's expression changed drastically: "What! You, you want more than two thousand pills, and that's a day's supply!"
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