Shi Zhen was very hospitable to the villagers. He told them that he was stewing a pig's head and planned to take it to town to sell the next day. He also mentioned that the pig's head would take a long time to stew and that the finished product would probably not be ready until tomorrow morning.
“If you want to buy, you can come earlier tomorrow and I’ll sell them to you at a lower price,” Shi Zhen said. The villagers all get up early, and he didn’t plan to go to town too early tomorrow morning, so he could sell some in the village before leaving.
Carrying a pig's head to town was really tiring.
Their village is relatively close to the town, and because of this, the village is relatively wealthy.
Even so, people don't go to town very often.
What seems like a short distance to people more than a decade later is a very long distance to people at this time. For example, the elderly in their village have never been to Changxi City, which is only a little over half an hour away from Anshan Town by car. The young people go there because it is now fashionable to go to the city to buy a new set of clothes for their weddings.
So the villagers don't buy meat much, and they eat cooked food even less often. Now that they smell such a delicious aroma, they all say they will definitely come to buy some tomorrow morning.
After dinner, everyone was free, and quite a few people came to Guan Baiyu's place one after another. Since there wasn't enough room at Guan Baiyu's house, everyone stayed at the door and chatted.
They talked about the fragrant braised pig's head in the pot, and also about Shi Zhen, Guan Baiyu's cousin, asking Shi Zhen about things related to Guan Baiyu's paternal grandfather's family.
Not long after Shi Zhen arrived in the village, everyone knew him. The last time someone came to slaughter a pig, everyone chatted with Shi Zhen. Now, they know more about Shi Zhen.
"You're a good person. I don't know what Xiaoyu's grandfather was thinking, he didn't even want his own grandson."
"Xiaoyu's life has been much better since you came."
"Xiaoyu suffered a lot before, but things will get better from now on."
...
Shi Zhen is Guan Baiyu's cousin. He won't let Guan Baiyu change his household registration or surname. To the villagers, his kindness to Guan Baiyu is actually a way of subsidizing the Guan family and helping them raise their child. Some people even think Shi Zhen is a bit foolish.
Of course, no one said it to his face.
Around eight o'clock, the group dispersed. After they left and Shi Zhen dealt with the pig's head, he went back to sleep with Shi Xinghuo.
When Shi Zhen woke up the next day, he felt sore all over again—he had probably strained his muscles again.
It was only a little past five when Shi Zhen and Shi Xinghuo went to Guan Baiyu's place for breakfast.
Cooking porridge takes a lot of time, and you'll get hungry again soon after eating it, so Shi Zhen simply cooked a big pot of rice, enough for the three of them to eat for a day, and also made a cold salad with two lettuce stalks.
Before they even ate it, someone came to buy pig's head meat.
Since they were all villagers, Shi Zhen lowered the price a bit, selling it to them for 1.5 yuan per jin (500 grams). He also said that starting tomorrow, he would sell pig's head meat at home every morning and evening, and everyone could come and buy it, as it was cheaper than in town.
J City has a high population density and many rural residents. When a new food appears, everyone wants to buy some to try. As a result, this pig's head was sold out before Shi Zhen could even carry it to town.
Guan Jianguo bought two jin (1 kg) in one go. Although driving a tractor is tiring, his income is not bad, so he doesn't care about the three yuan.
When he bought it, his second grandmother, who had brought her daughter to watch the spectacle, was particularly displeased with her son's extravagant spending: "You could have just bought half a pound to try, why did you buy two pounds? How can you possibly finish all that..."
“I can eat two jin by myself,” Guan Jianguo said to his mother.
Grandma Er glared at him: "So what if he can eat? Your dad can eat a whole chicken in one meal. When has he ever eaten a whole chicken in one meal?"
Guan Jianguo ignored her. If she listened to him, his family would never eat meat.
Grandma kept talking: "Life is really getting better and better now. Before, we couldn't afford to eat meat all the time. We couldn't even get enough to eat. One year, we ran out of food. I was so hungry that my head was spinning. In the end, I queued for hours and bought a free glutinous rice ball, which made me feel better..."
An elderly woman who had also brought her grandchildren to watch the spectacle immediately chimed in: "In the past, people would just sprinkle some salt and a spoonful of soy sauce into their porridge and eat it directly. Nowadays, people eat pickled vegetables cooked with lots of oil, and they don't want steamed ones."
Another old lady said, "Yes! I remember when we were young, the whole family would share one preserved egg. We would just pick up a piece, dip it in some soy sauce, lick it, and it would be enough to go with porridge... This morning, my grandson actually ate a whole preserved egg by himself."
There were other houses near Guan Baiyu's house before Guan Jianguo and his family built their new house. They lived around his house.
The houses there have been demolished, leaving behind piles of stones and such, where the old ladies sit and chat.
The grandchildren they were taking care of, the older ones played nearby, while the one- or two-year-olds got annoyed being held in their arms and reached out to cover their grandmothers' mouths.
After recounting the past, they ignored their child's growing impatience and began talking about chanting Buddhist scriptures.
After selling the pig's head meat, Shi Zhen went to town and carried back four pig's heads in one go.
Foods like cold-cut pig's head tend to sell better when they first come out, but they'll definitely stop selling later. He might as well take advantage of this time to earn more money.
The stewed pig's head from last night was sold out at home, so Shi Zhen had to start stewing it again. He went to town after lunch.
He went with Guan Baiyu. When they arrived in town, he put down his things and took out two yuan to give to Guan Baiyu: "Xiaoyu, it's rare for you to come to town, go buy something to eat."
"No need, I have money," Guan Baiyu said. "I haven't spent the money you gave me before."
Shi Zhen had given Guan Baiyu thirty yuan before, and Guan Baiyu had only spent a little of that money when buying firewood.
Guan Baiyu refused to take the money, so Shi Zhen had no choice but to give up. However, although Guan Baiyu did not take Shi Zhen's money, he still went to buy things.
He lacks many things.
His grandmother left him very little money. If it weren't for the fact that he often ranked first in his class these past two years, and the teachers would reward him with pens and notebooks, he probably wouldn't even have the necessary stationery.
Now that he has money, he wants to buy some ballpoint pen refills, as well as some oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, and the like.
On their first meeting, his cousin gave him thirty yuan, and he initially thought his cousin was very rich, but after observing him for the past few days... his cousin must be very poor.
After talking with Shi Xinghuo, he became even more certain of this.
Guan Baiyu carried a basket on his back and bought things one by one.
Two yuan a bag of laundry detergent, twenty boxes of matches for one yuan, salt for forty cents a pound...
Guan Baiyu spent ten yuan on this one expenditure.
He didn't touch the rest of the money; his family was running out of food, and he wanted to buy some rice from someone in the village.
When Guan Baiyu returned, Shi Zhen had already sold most of his pig's head meat, leaving only a pound or two.
"Brother," Guan Baiyu called out, walking to Shi Zhen's side.
Shi Zhen handed him a small stool to sit on: "Go sit and rest under the shade of the tree over there. We'll go back after I've sold everything."
Shi Zhen himself didn't feel ashamed of selling things, but he knew that people of Guan Baiyu's age might feel a little ashamed of selling things.
Guan Baiyu didn't feel that way: "I'll just sit here." He didn't want to be too far from Shi Zhen.
Shi Zhen was more than happy that Guan Baiyu didn't leave; having this person sitting right next to him made him feel much more at ease.
After Guan Baiyu sat down, Shi Zhen noticed what he had bought and was slightly taken aback: "Didn't you buy anything to eat? The ham sausages and soda are delicious, and the meat buns over there are also very tasty."
Guan Baiyu shook his head: "I'm not hungry."
“A steamed bun doesn’t have much weight,” Shi Zhen smiled, and just then he saw two old ladies selling vegetables at a nearby stall sharing a bowl of wontons, so he asked, “Would you like some wontons?”
The food stalls in town are all concentrated near the vegetable market; the shop that sells steamed buns also sells wontons.
"No need," Guan Baiyu refused.
He had never eaten wontons before, but didn't want to spend the money.
"I want some. Go buy a bowl, and we can share it." Shi Zhen took out a dollar and gave it to Guan Baiyu. Guan Baiyu really liked wontons. When they were together, he would often make them for him. Every morning when he got up, Guan Baiyu would cook him a bowl of soupy wontons, and also make him a big bowl of fried rice or an egg pancake to eat with it.
He thought Guan Baiyu was too idle—why make two different things for breakfast? Even if you want to make two different things, why not just go out to eat?
But later, when he made his own wontons, they never tasted the same again.
Guan Baiyu refused to take the money: "I have money..."
"Guan Baiyu?" a voice suddenly rang out.
Guan Baiyu was taken aback. He looked up and saw Yan Jiangtao and two other people about his age coming out of the steamed bun shop next door. He recognized the two men; they weren't in his class, but they were in the same grade.
"Guan Baiyu, are you selling something?" Yan Jiangtao looked at Guan Baiyu with a curious expression. "You're so dirty, can you even eat what you're selling?"
Guan Baiyu lowered his head, not wanting to cause trouble.
Yan Jiangtao persisted, saying, "What are you selling? It's all dark and disgusting to look at. You stink, and the stuff you're selling must stink too, right?"
Yan Jiangtao came to town with his friends for the weekend.
He has a lot of pocket money, and he comes to town every weekend to buy things and eat something nice.
He had never encountered Guan Baiyu in town before, but now that he had, he couldn't help but nitpick a few things.
Guan Baiyu remained silent, while Shi Zhen's face darkened. He asked Guan Baiyu, "Who is this?"
Guan Baiyu said, "My deskmate."
Guan Baiyu didn't look at Shi Zhen, and he couldn't quite describe the feeling in his heart.
In the past, he had mostly tolerated Yan Jiangtao's troubles, unless Yan Jiangtao went too far, in which case he would find a way to secretly retaliate.
But he dared not go too far, knowing he couldn't defeat Yan Jiangtao.
But now, Yan Jiangtao is saying this to his brother's face...
Upon hearing Guan Baiyu's words, Shi Zhen unconsciously clenched his fists.
Guan Baiyu's deskmate accidentally ran into them in town. They all spoke like this. How did they usually bully Guan Baiyu at school?
He thought Guan Baiyu was good at academics and wouldn't be bullied at school, but he was wrong.
He hadn't even noticed before!
Shi Zhen's sharp gaze fell upon Yan Jiangtao.
The locals are not tall; Yan Jiangtao is less than 1.7 meters tall and very thin.
Guan Baiyu was underdeveloped and shorter than him, so he wasn't afraid of Guan Baiyu, but Shi Zhen was 1.8 meters tall.
After being glared at by Shi Zhen, he didn't dare to say anything more and left muttering curses.
Shi Zhen watched him for a long time from behind.
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