Early in the morning, the six villagers who had renovated the house last night came to He Zhuzhu's house early. The five-square-meter kitchen was built very quickly and was completed before the gong sounded to start work.
"Everyone, please come to my house for dinner after work in the evening." Wang Shuning waved goodbye to the guests warmly.
"Okay, just do whatever you want. We'll only be busy for a few hours." He Chunxi stayed and exchanged a few words with Wang Shuning.
The earthen stove can only be used at night, which is just right for cooking.
Wang Shuning first walked around the vegetable garden in the yard to see what vegetables were there. After deciding on the evening menu, he picked up the bamboo basket and went out.
When passing by He Pingping's house, I happened to meet Guo Jingyi and Zhang Meili who were also carrying bamboo baskets.
"Shuning, are you going to the town to buy something? Let's go together?" They brought a lot of things from home when they went to the countryside, but they were still short of daily necessities, so they had to go to the town to buy them.
"Okay." Wang Shuning nodded and followed Zhang Meili.
Zhang Meili asked politely, "Shuning, how much did it cost to renovate the house and the kitchen?"
"It's more than seven yuan, plus dinner tonight, it's less than ten yuan. The bricks and tiles are all sold at cost price in the village, and the iron pot is the most expensive."
Guo Jingyi spoke as if she was chatting about family matters: "We had dinner at Uncle Ping's house yesterday. The food was very ordinary. The conditions in the village are not good. You don't have to make dinner too good, just some meat will be fine. Do you need our help?"
Wang Shuning shook his head. "No, I can make it in time by myself. I'll just buy half a pound of meat, some eggs, and stir-fry some vegetables."
There are rich varieties of vegetables in He Zhuzhu's yard, including tomatoes, cucumbers, beans, potatoes, greens, eggplants, and almost all the vegetables for daily consumption. She also planted a few melons, which are quite large. Besides, there is no shortage of vegetables and fruits in the space.
It takes 40 minutes to get to town by ox cart, or almost an hour on foot.
As soon as the three of them left the village, Lu Beichu and Zhao Heping caught up with them.
Lu Beichu ran to Guo Jingyi and stopped. "Comrade Jingyi, why didn't you call us when you went to town? Zhao Heping and I went to Uncle Ping's house to look for you, only to find out that you had already left."
Zhang Meili rolled her eyes. Although they came here together by train, they were not familiar with each other after all. It was normal for female educated youth to go shopping together, but if she went to He Zhaoyang's house to call the male educated youth, she didn't know how many rumors would spread if someone saw them.
Guo Jingyi said: "I didn't know you were going, so I didn't call you."
Lu Beichu raised his eyes, "When you go to town to buy things, if you can't carry them, Zhao Heping and I can help you carry them."
Zhao Heping, who was following beside without saying a word, stopped for a second and then followed. "You want to pursue Guo Jingyi, why do you want to drag me into this? How many things do you have to buy before you can't carry them all?"
Along the way, Lu Beichu and Guo Jingyi kept talking, which caused Zhang Meili, who should have been the most active, to be too lazy to speak, which was a bit of a hindrance.
"I'm going to the post office first to send a letter home." At the fork in the road, Wang Shuning stopped and looked at Zhang Meili and others and said.
Zhang Meili raised her lips, and the smile on her face was particularly bright. "Jingyi and I also want to send it. Let's go together."
Only then did Lu Beichu remember to send a letter home; he had not thought of it before.
Since all four of them were going, Zhao Heping had no choice but to follow.
Wang Shuning handed the envelope and money to the staff at the window. Seeing Zhao Heping waiting not far away, he walked over and asked, "Zhao Heping, aren't you going to send it? At least tell your family the address so they can contact you if there's an emergency."
Zhao Heping shook his head. "Everything was fine at home when I came out. I'll send it a few months later at the end of the year. It costs 80 cents to send a letter across provinces. We can't waste it."
"It's really expensive. It's enough to buy a pound of pork." Wang Shuning looked around the street. Zhao Heping's family conditions were the worst among the five people. The rent of two yuan a month was a considerable burden for him.
Wang Shuning saw a scrap yard across the street and said, "I'm going to buy some old newspapers to paste on the wall. If they have sent it, wait for me for a few minutes."
Zhao Heping nodded. He and Lu Beichu's house was pretty good. The walls didn't fall off and there was no need to paste the walls.
The scrap yard was full of junk, there was all sorts of stuff, all broken.
The white-haired old man leaning on the recliner, basking in the sun with his eyes closed, looked quite relaxed. "Uncle, do you have any newly collected newspapers? Can you sell me some?"
The old man slowly opened his eyes and glanced at Wang Shuning, "Over there, go pick it yourself."
The bundles of old newspapers were from several months ago. There were no stains on them and they were placed on the outside, so they must have been sold not long ago.
Wang Shuning pulled out the cleanest ones from the middle and took a quick look. There were about thirty of them. He took the newspaper and walked to the old man. "That's all. How much is it?"
The white-haired old man took a look and said, "Two cents."
Wang Shuning frowned, "One cent. I bought newspapers a few months ago and used them to paste on the wall. Two cents is too expensive."
The old man didn't bargain any more, "Okay, give me the money."
Wang Shuning took out a dime from his pocket and handed it to him, then put the newspaper into the bamboo basket. When he walked to the door, Guo Jingyi and the others came over.
Seeing Wang Shuning's empty hands, Guo Jingyi curiously looked into the bamboo basket behind her and asked, "You only bought newspapers?"
"Yes, buy it and use it to paste the walls, otherwise the dust will fall everywhere." Wang Shuning stepped to the right to make room.
"I haven't been to the scrap yard yet. Let's go in and take a look. Maybe we can buy something useful." Guo Jingyi said this and walked straight in without caring whether others agreed or not.
"Why are there only junk?" Wang Guo Jingyi looked at the ruins on the ground. There was nothing else that could be used except newspapers and books.
The white-haired old man looked at her and said, "If it wasn't junk, would anyone sell it? If there was something really good, it wouldn't be your turn."
Guo Jingyi felt discouraged. In period novels, wouldn't the protagonist always find something cheap at the scrap yard? But when it came to her, all she had was a pile of junk.
Five people came to the supply and marketing cooperative. At this point, the good pork was already sold out. What was left were some scattered pieces of meat with less fat and some offal.
Wang Shuning likes to eat pig intestines, but hates to wash them because they taste strong and take time.
A pig's trotter, a piece of pork liver and two palm-sized pieces of pork, the total cost is one dollar and thirty cents.
I only brought an iron basin from home, and I was still missing two small basins and a large wooden basin for bathing.
"How much are the three together?" Wang Shuning pointed at the red basin at the bottom of the shelf.
The salesperson took one look and replied, "A small basin costs 1.2 yuan, a large basin costs 3 yuan, and you need an industrial ticket."
Wang Shuning thought it was too expensive. The three pots were almost as expensive as the money she spent on renovating her house, and she also needed a ticket. But they were necessities.
Zhang Meili, who was standing nearby, pulled Wang Shuning aside and whispered, "He Qiuqiu's family in the village has wooden basins for sale. You can exchange them for grain or money. They are next to Uncle Ping's house. Jingyi and I bought some last night. They are much cheaper than this."
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