When they ran into the yard, Jiang's mother had already prepared another pot of braised pig offal and strung it into skewers.
While busy at work, Jiang's mother heard Er Ya say that everything was sold out. She lifted the basket to take a look, still a little incredulous. When she saw that it was indeed sold out, she was overjoyed and couldn't stop smiling: "Is this stuff so easy to sell? I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to sell this whole pot of braised food. I was planning to keep it for myself."
"Mom, we're really sold out. We bought a few more offal, and we need to wash them quickly today so we can take more over tomorrow. We can also make some plain offal this time, just cut it into pieces, which will be convenient for people who don't eat spicy food."
Lin Jianguo handed over all the money he earned today to Jiang's mother. Including the money for buying pig offal, he earned twelve yuan and thirty cents. Goodness, this was only the income for one afternoon. If he sold twice a day, wouldn't he be counting money until his hands cramped?
Jiang's mother counted the money again and again, then carefully locked it in the wooden box. She felt that it was too unsafe to keep it like this. If a thief came in, he could just pick the lock and the money would be gone. After thinking for a long time, she felt that it was not safe to put it anywhere.
Er Ya noticed that Jiang's mother hadn't come out of the room for a long time, so she ran inside to see what was wrong. When she got inside, she saw Jiang's mother sitting on the edge of the bed, lost in thought: "Mother, what are you doing? Are you feeling unwell?"
"No, you know, we didn't have much money before, and we didn't worry about thieves. We just had two old clothes and a tattered quilt. Now that's worth a few hundred yuan. It doesn't feel safe to keep it anywhere. We can't carry it around with us every day."
“Mom, I heard people at the market say that if you have a lot of money, you can deposit it in the rural credit cooperative and they will keep it for you. We can deposit our money there too, and then take it out when we need it.”
Jiang's mother was still a little worried and asked, "Is it really possible? That sounds great, but what if it's a scam? What if they take the money and then don't give it back to you?"
"Mom, don't worry, this is a legitimate bank run by our country. How can you not trust our country?"
When Jiang's mother heard that it was run by the government, she felt relieved. How could the government possibly cheat these old farmers out of their money?
"Then let's go to that credit union you mentioned tomorrow and deposit it there, otherwise I won't be able to put my mind at ease."
Er Ya responded crisply, "Okay, Mom, don't worry, go cook. I'll go to Aunt Peach Blossom's house to call her."
She ran next door and knocked on the door. Gou Dan'er opened the door, and Er Ya blinked her big eyes and tilted her head to ask, "Brother Gou Dan, is Aunt Tao Hua home? I need to talk to her."
"She's sewing bags inside. Come in."
He turned and left after saying that. His mother always grumbled that he should spend more time playing with the little girl, but he never knew how to talk to her. He was a man, after all.
How could he possibly be so preoccupied with that little girl? Little did he know how much he would regret not spending more time with Er Ya now, missing his chance, more than a decade later.
"Auntie, are you going to start sewing the bag now?"
"Oh, it's Er Ya. Come, come, sit next to your auntie. We've been sitting around doing nothing, so we're looking for something to do."
When the harvest season arrives, people dry the grain until it is 90% dry and pack it into bags. Sometimes, the bags will tear open as they are moved around.
A bag costs several cents, so diligent families would cut out a piece of cloth of a suitable size from old, worn-out clothes and sew it up stitch by stitch, so that it could be used for a while longer.
Er Ya sat in front of Li Tao Hua, looking at the bag she was mending. It was so badly mended that it couldn't be mended anymore, but she still couldn't bear to throw it away. This kind of bag could be used to store some corncobs.
"Auntie, my dad and I bought a few more pig offal today. If you're free right now, let's go wash them. I'll still pay you for the work."
Upon hearing that there was work to do again, Li Taohua hurriedly packed up the bag and prepared to leave in a panic.
As they walked, she told Gou Dan'er that if she came back late, her father should just heat up some cornbread.
When he turned around and saw that Er Ya hadn't caught up yet, he turned back, picked her up, and headed towards her house.
"Er Ya, how did your sales go today? We still had so much left, why did you buy some more?"
Er Ya kept everyone in suspense and said, "We sell it cheaply, and people like to eat it because it's fresh, so it's not bad, right?"
"Your food is delicious, so your business must be booming. The stuff I brought back, he even used cornbread to clean the rim of the bowl. I think he really enjoyed it."
When Gou Dan'er in the yard heard his mother's big mouth talking about his embarrassing stories again, especially about Er Ya, he was so angry that he wanted to come out and explain. But after taking a step, he thought again and decided to give up. With his mother's mouth, the more he told her, the more outrageous the stories she would tell him.
When they got home, Jiang's mother was making clothes. She had bought the fabric last time, but the clothes weren't finished yet. She would sew a few stitches whenever she had time, and she didn't know when she would be able to wear them.
Seeing that Er Ya had called Li Taohua over, she put down her things and came out to greet her, "Taohua's here. I'm sorry to trouble you again."
"I'm so happy you've come to me with work. It's getting late, so I'll stop here and go wash it."
Er Ya wanted to go and help, but Li Taohua chased her back. She already knew how to wash things, so Er Ya couldn't be allowed to touch them.
Er Ya had no choice but to return. Seeing that Jiang's mother was too busy sewing to pay attention to her, she grabbed a handful of corn kernels and fed them to the chicks. In just a short time, the chicks had grown to about a pound, and their yellow down had mostly fallen off.
When they saw someone coming to feed them, they were initially too afraid to approach. But as Er Ya showed no intention of harming them, they cautiously ran to Er Ya's feet and began eating the corn crumbs on the ground.
Seeing the chicks eating so happily made her happy too. Looking at so many chicks in front of her, she imagined having an endless supply of eggs in the future. She would then eat fried eggs, scrambled eggs, and make dumplings with eggs, and so on.
"Little chicks, you must eat more, grow up quickly, and lay more eggs for me to eat every day, okay?"
The only response she received was chirping; it was unclear whether the chicks understood her.
Jiang's mother started cooking, and Er Ya ran over to help her, giving her pointers on how to make it taste even better:
"Mom, wait until the oil smokes before adding the vegetables. Don't rush to add the vegetables. Also, don't add salt too early when stir-frying. Add it when it's almost done. It will taste better that way."
To be continued!
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