At sunset, half the sky was dyed red by fiery red clouds, and the red clouds connected together burned half the sky. The red and golden colors were so dazzling that they were the last rays of the setting sun casting their light on the earth.
Under the bright and colorful afterglow, Du Jiang walked towards the end of the field to meet up with Qian Meili and the others.
As soon as Du Jiang approached Qian Meili, she shared what Aunt Du had said that afternoon, "Sister Qian, would you choose a chicken?"
Qian Meili shook her head. "No, we live in a family compound. There are a lot of people in the yard, and the space is not spacious. There are really no chicken farmers. We usually eat eggs at the supply and marketing cooperative or the nearby market."
He Jiefang was always there wherever people were chatting. Du Jiang couldn't ignore He Jiefang as he leaned over to Qian Meili, so he asked Qian Meili the same question he had asked him, "Do you have any experience with that?"
He Jiefang shrugged. "Qian Meili and I live next door to each other. How do you think I would have experience?"
Well, after all that nonsense, Du Jiang looked at the others, but they all shook their heads. Finally, Du Jiang gave up and said, "Forget it, let Aunt Du choose for us. But we should agree in advance that everyone will share equally. After all, when the chicks grow up, we will share both the chicken and the eggs."
Perhaps it was the muscles Du Jiang mentioned, because on the way back, there was a constant slurping sound. The useless look made Du Jiang's mouth twitch. Is it really that serious? Such a greedy look? However, when she thought of the aroma of chicken, Du Jiang couldn't resist it. Although she had money and tickets, it was really difficult to eat meat in the village. It had been a month since she last had meat.
After everyone returned to the educated youth site, Qian Meili and Du Jiang washed up and couldn't wait to go to Aunt Du's house next door.
“Knock knock~”
"Come in," a clear and sweet female voice came from the yard, which was obviously different from Aunt Du's voice. Du Jiang and Qian Meili looked at each other and guessed the identity of the girl in the yard. At this point, they thought she must be a sweet girl from the Du family.
Du Jiang reached out and pushed open the unlocked gate, stepped over the threshold and walked in, Qian Meili followed closely behind.
"Sweet girl, I'm Du Jiang. We're here to pick up chicks. I told Aunt Du about this this afternoon. Is Aunt Du here now?"
Hearing Du Jiang's purpose, Tianniu nodded, "I know, my mother just came back and told me", Tianniu, who was fetching water, carried the bucket in her hand to the kitchen door, then wiped her wet hands on the apron in front of her, and walked towards Du Jiang. She walked past Du Jiang to the chicken coop behind them, "Come on, the chicks are all here. They have been here for some time. It's easy for you to take them home and raise them", and then she leaned over and grabbed two chicks from the chicken coop. They were called chicks, but they were as big as two adults, "My mother said you would definitely not choose the chicks. Don't worry, these two are the biggest ones here, one male and one female. After you go back, they will lay eggs when they grow up. You can continue to incubate them or eat them at that time. If you don't understand anything, you can ask me or my mother. We are so close, you can even shout through the wall."
Du Jiang and Qian Meili hurriedly took the chicken that Tianniu handed over. Du Jiang looked at the chicken in his arms and then at the chicken in Qian Meili's arms. He quickly freed one hand and took out two cents from his pocket and handed it to Tianniu, "If it's not enough, I'll go back and get more."
Tianniu took it and nodded. "I'll take it. When you go back, you can build a cage to prevent the chickens from running around in the yard. It will be difficult to clean up the chicken manure everywhere."
"Thank you," Du Jiangcai thanked again and then Qian Meili left with the chick.
After turning back to the courtyard of the educated youth center, Qian Meili finally spoke, "This sweet girl is quite pretty. I didn't notice it when I met her last time because she was wearing a headscarf. I just discovered that she has a thumb-sized red birthmark on her left eyelid. It's quite large from her eyebrow to her eyelid."
"Birthmark." Du Jiang, who hadn't noticed it, looked at the chicken playing happily at his feet, then looked at Qian Meili, "I really didn't notice this. Is the color dark?"
Qian Meili shook her head. "It's not deep, very light. I just noticed it when I was holding the chicken. It's harmless." As if she thought of something, Qian Meili suddenly looked at Du Jiang. "Do you think it's because of the birthmark that Aunt Du is thinking of marrying in? You know, some families are particularly taboo about birthmarks, especially those on the face."
"ah"
Du Jiang opened his mouth wide, "No way, there's such a thing."
Qian Meili chuckled, then lowered her voice and approached Du Jiang, saying, "I also heard from others that having a birthmark or a mole on the face would affect one's fortune or the offspring of a couple. It was just some idle gossip, and I don't know if it's true."
Du Jiang didn’t know whether it was true or not, but he was not used to being talked about behind people’s backs, so he didn’t respond.
Seeing that Du Jiang remained silent, Qian Meili stopped talking about the topic and started talking about dinner. "Let's have pancakes tonight. The chives I planted last time have grown a little bit now. Although not much, it should be enough to make chive pancakes."
"Okay, I'll help you," Du Jiang, whose cooking skills were average, immediately took on the task of lighting the fire.
After she lit the fire in the stove, she finally had the heart to check the matches in the matchbox. Seeing how few matches were left, Du Jiang looked up at Qian Meili who was kneading dough across from her and said, "Sister Qian, there aren't many matches left. When can we take a break? The seasonings in the kitchen are almost used up and we need to replenish them."
Qian Meili raised her head from the wash basin and looked back at the matchbox held up by Du Jiang. She felt a headache. "If you don't cook, you don't know how expensive firewood and rice are. Now that I cook, I know that everything costs money. But salt is really not possible without it. Salt is a necessary seasoning. Other things can be done without, but this one thing is indispensable. How about this, let's ask Brother Huo after dinner. I remember that I haven't had a rest this month. The work in the fields is almost done today. The rest should be threshing wheat and drying it. I think I can have a day off."
"Okay, I'll ask later."
As the two were talking, the gate of the educated youth site was pushed open from the outside, and the two people led by Huo Yang were still carrying a large bundle of firewood.
Although everyone carried a bundle on their back, Huo Yang's was obviously one more bundle than the others, and the smallest bundle was He Jiefang's. He couldn't call himself a scholar and he hated to work the most. Even if he did work, he would always grumble.
He had clearly done the work and endured the hardships, but his image as a worker was greatly damaged because of his complaints and grumblings. Du Jiang didn't know whether to say that he was lazy or stupid.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
