Chapter 41: Going to the Countryside to Buy Piglets (Page 1/2)
Huo Qingci drove Uncle Zhang's car and took Lin Man directly to his classmate's house in the suburbs, asking his classmate to help buy chicks, ducklings and piglets.
Huo Qingci's junior high school classmate was named Li Yong. After finishing junior high school, he went to the agricultural machinery station to learn how to drive a tractor.
When visiting, Huo Qingci and Lin Man naturally did not come empty-handed. They brought a pound of candy, a pound of biscuits, and a large bag of fruit.
Even though Huo Qingci is one year older than him, she already has four children: the eldest is four and a half years old, the second is three years old, the third is one and a half years old, and the fourth is three months old.
Lin Man thought, at the rate they were giving birth, they probably wouldn’t stop until they had seven or eight children.
She didn't mean to look down on them, but she just didn't understand why four children were not enough since they already had sons and daughters.
Li Yong's wife's surname is Qian, and her name is Qian Mei. Lin Man thinks her name is not well chosen and has bad luck. How can you live without money?
Li Yong saw Huo Qingci driving over and hurried out to greet him, "Old classmate, you're here? Is this your wife?"
"Yes, my wife."
Lin Man handed over the candy and biscuits, "Hello, this is what we bought for your child."
The dark-skinned Li Yong grinned, revealing his white teeth. "You're here, so why are you being so polite? Come in and sit down, sister-in-law."
Huo Qingci smiled and stuffed a large bag of peaches into his hands, "And this, take it."
"Thank you, old classmate. You asked me to buy you some piglets two days ago, and I've already bought the chicks and ducklings. I'll help you raise them once I get them."
"How many piglets did you buy?"
"I went to two villages and bought you four piglets, 20 chickens, 20 ducks, and 10 goslings.
No one in our village raises geese, so I bought some for you from the next village. How are you going to take these piglets with you when you drive this car over here?"
"Put in a woven bag! How much is a piglet?"
"Eight dollars each."
“It’s not expensive!”
"Come in and sit down. It's not easy to come here. Let's eat tonight before we leave. I'll ask my brother to bring some food back later."
"No need, just sit for a while and we'll leave. Grandpa and brother are waiting for us to go back and cook."
"Old classmate, you can't raise pigs in the city, right? Who are you buying this for?"
“I bought it for someone else, too.”
Li Yong didn't ask any more questions and led Lin Man and Huo Qingci into the house. Houses of that era were all adobe houses. Li Yong lived with his parents. The yard at home was quite large and there were several rooms.
Qian Mei was carrying a child on her back and holding another in her hand. She walked over to greet Lin Man and Huo Qingci.
"Hello, both of you."
"Hello, sister-in-law."
When Li Yong's other two children saw Li Yong holding food in his hands, they immediately surrounded him.
His eldest son is over four years old, and he still wears open-crotch pants in the summer and walks around naked.
Lin Man thought that when she had children, she would definitely teach them to urinate and defecate on their own. It would be impossible to let them wear open-crotch pants after they were over four years old.
Huo Qingci and Lin Man sat for a while, then went to their backyard to look at the chickens, ducks and piglets.
The chicks, ducks and geese were sold for nine cents to ten cents each, and together with the four little piglets, it was almost thirty dollars.
Huo Qingci gave him 40 yuan, and regarded the remaining 10 yuan as labor fees for his classmate. His classmate refused to take it, but Huo Qingci forced it on him.
Who knew that when they left, Li Yong caught two chickens for them and gave them half a bag of peanuts and half a bag of sweet potatoes.
After all the talk, it seemed like they were taking advantage of Li Yong. Lin Man didn't want to owe them too many favors, so seeing that they had many children, she directly took out three pounds of ordinary wool from the space and gave it to Qian Mei.
After Lin Man and the others left, Qian Mei brought the wool to Li Yong and said, "You are such a generous classmate. You bought some delicious food for the children when you came.
We gave them some local specialties, and they gave us all the wool they had saved for themselves from the car."
(This chapter is not yet finished, please click on the next page to continue reading) Chapter 41: Going to the Countryside to Buy Piglets (Page 2/2)
"Just accept it if he gives it to you! When he returns to Beijing in a few years, we'll bring some local specialties to visit him in the city.
My old classmate was a nice person. He was always humble and polite during school and was very popular with the female classmates.
Qian Mei smiled and asked, "How old were you at that time, and you knew you liked it?"
"He's good-looking, has a good family background, and is good at studying. Huo Qingci has been popular with girls since he was a child."
"His wife is so young, only eighteen. Huo Qingci is one year younger than you, so she should be 24, right?"
"Six years older isn't that much. A little older would hurt."
Qian Mei nodded. "I saw it. Wherever Lin Man looked, your classmates followed her gaze."
Li Yong picked up his little daughter from the ground and jokingly said, "He revolves around his wife, and I revolve around you. Otherwise, we wouldn't have so many children."
Lin Man got in the car. As soon as Huo Qingci drove the car to the village entrance, he put the four piglets in the urea bag into the space, as well as dozens of chicks, ducklings and geese in the basket.
I ignored the half bag of peanuts and sweet potatoes, and the two chickens and left them in the back seat of the car.
An hour later, the two returned to the city. After parking the car, Huo Qingci took out two old turtles that Lin Man had caught from the pond in the past two days, and a four-pound grass carp from the space.
He also took a basket of fruit, 30 kilograms of rice and flour each, and a ten-kilogram bucket of peanut oil.
As soon as Huo Qinghuan heard the car horn, he knew his brother was back and shouted into the house, "Grandpa, my brother is back."
"Your brother has gone to buy food and vegetables. Your sister-in-law is a delicate girl and may not be able to carry those things. Ask Uncle Zhang to help."
"Okay, Grandpa, I'll help too."
The delicate Lin Man had a bucket of oil in her left hand and a bag of flour in her right hand. As soon as she stepped into the yard, Zhang Hanjiang reached out to take it.
"Xiao Lin, let me help you carry it."
Lin Man said, "Thank you, Uncle Zhang. You can go help Qingci."
Zhang Hanjiang agreed, and Huo Qinghuan ran over to ask Lin Man, "Sister-in-law, do you need help?"
"Need not."
"My grandfather said that you are a girl and more delicate, and these heavy things should be carried by boys."
Lin Man smiled and handed him the oil drum, "Go ahead!"
Huo Qinghuan lifted it and said, "It's not that heavy. I can lift it. I'm the most capable little man in our family."
"Little man, bring the oil into the kitchen!"
"Yes, sister-in-law!"
Huo Qingci ran back and forth several times before he took all the things off the car.
Huo Li came out waving a palm-leaf fan and asked, "Why did you buy so many things today?"
"After wandering around the city for a while, Manman and I went to the countryside to visit a classmate. My classmate gave us two chickens, and half a bag of sweet potatoes and peanuts."
"Where did those turtles come from?"
"The soft-shelled turtle and grass carp were both bought in the countryside. It just so happened that their village fish pond was dry." Huo Qingci lied casually.
The rice, flour, and oil were fine, but there was something wrong with all the fruit. Huo Li then asked Huo Qingci, "What about these lychees, peaches, and bayberries?"
"I asked someone to buy it."
"I knew there was something wrong with you being so impatient to borrow the car. Qingci, you have to be careful with everything you do now. One wrong step will lead to many mistakes, okay?"
"Grandpa, I understand."
Huo Li did not continue to ask him where the fruit came from. It was not easy for everyone in this era. Some people were trying their best to resell the fruit in order to make money. Those who were unlucky would be reported and would have to go to jail.
Naturally, he didn't want his eldest grandson to bring trouble to himself just for a bite of food.
Lin Man, who was standing aside, was glad that they didn't take out the cherries to eat, otherwise grandpa would definitely ask them where the cherries came from.
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