Xu Keke squatted down and ruffled his hair. "I was thinking about the hens at Xiao Lanhua's house, and the eggs they lay. They don't eat them themselves; they save them to exchange for money in town..."
Xiao Douzi covered her mouth with her hand, "Dad forbids me to say it. Xiao Lanhua's dad is sick and needs money. Dad said you're not allowed to tell anyone."
Xu Keke quickly removed his little hand, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. The little guy had just finished playing in the dirt. "Your little dirty hands, and you're covering my mouth!" Xiao Douzi hurriedly put his little hand behind his back, giving her a憨厚 smile, his eyes crinkling, which made Xu Keke lose her temper.
"Look at your fourth aunt when she goes to town, carrying a basket and holding orchids, isn't it hard for her? If we buy some from her, she can carry fewer when she goes to town. It won't be so heavy, right? Your grandfather said the other day that people can't just think about themselves. Shouldn't we also help others as much as we can? You're right to listen to your father, but shouldn't your father also listen to your grandfather?"
Little Bean blinked his big eyes, rubbed his little feet on the dirt, and didn't say a word for a long time.
"We bought the eggs. You, me, and Grandpa, the three of us will each get two. We'll fry one and boil one. We'll sprinkle white sugar on the fried one."
The little guy's eyes lit up, "And what about my dad?"
“Your dad doesn’t like eggs,” Xu Keke relented, seeing the little guy’s unhappy look. “Fine, give him one too, okay?”
Little Bean stared at her with his big eyes, thought for a while, and then hesitantly reached out his little hand from behind.
"You dare try taking one? Didn't I tell you not to do that? You're easily fooled by a few words."
Unbeknownst to them, Chen Jianguo was standing right at the gate of the courtyard.
"You're back so soon?" Xu Keke quickly stuffed the money back into her pocket and straightened up, pretending nothing had happened.
Chen Jianguo walked up to Xu Keke with a stern face and said in a low voice, "If you ask him to help you exchange eggs once or twice, the villagers will find out if it happens too often. Some people will want to take advantage of this. Although everyone knows that Fourth Sister-in-law takes eggs to town to exchange for money, they don't get any money and they're not envious. Now that you've taken out money, they'll be eyeing it and will be jealous. What if someone reports you because of this?"
Xu Keke rolled her eyes at him. "Yes, you're right! But I'm a patient, and my body needs nutrition. The sooner I get better, the sooner I can go back to work. Otherwise, how will I get work points to give to your family?"
Chen Jianguo glanced at her, then turned and went into the main room. Since his second brother's father-in-law fell ill, they'd taken away not only eggs, but even the chickens from the house. These past few days, his father and Xiaodouzi hadn't had any meat, and had only eaten one egg, which Xu Keke had to pay for.
When Chen Jianguo came out of the house again, Xu Keke immediately noticed the knife on his waist. "Where are you going?"
Chen Jianguo said to Xiaodouzi, "You stay home and watch the house. What I forbid you to do, you can't do no matter what others say, understand? Your grandpa will be back in a bit."
Seeing that Xiaodouzi nodded in agreement, he turned and left without even looking at Xu Keke.
"Hey, where are you going?"
"My dad's going up the mountain." Little Bean ran to the kitchen, picked up some sugar, and put it in his mouth. Xu Keke had been talking about food earlier, which had made him hungry.
Xu Keke never expected to have chicken soup that evening. Chen Jianguo brought back three pheasants, all alive. He kept two of them in a basket to keep them at home to lay eggs, and stewed the fatter one.
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