Chapter 4 Shopping

It was just dawn, and smoke was rising from every chimney. Jiang Qiuyue was carrying a backpack. Aunt Niu from next door saw her and immediately asked, "Qiuyue, are you going to town again?"

The original owner went to the town to withdraw money on the first day of every month. She didn't say what she did it for, but everyone knew it.

Jiang Qiuyue replied with a smile, "Yes," said Aunt Niu, who lived next door to the Lin family. She had often advised the original owner to be more careful, but the original owner would not listen and instead blamed Aunt Niu for being nosy.

Looking at Jiang Qiuyue's back, Aunt Niu shook her head and went home to tell her husband, "Qiuyue hasn't changed. Yesterday I thought she was more sober, but now she's going to get money from the Lin family again. She's so confused. Wang Chunhua doesn't even consider Lin Dazhu as her own son, let alone Qiuyue and her two children."

"Cook your meal. Other people's business has nothing to do with us. You have advised us many times in the past. Did Jiang Qiuyue listen?" Niu Dali washed his face and his stomach growled.

Aunt Niu sighed helplessly and continued to work on breakfast. She was not a wicked mother-in-law like Wang Chunhua, who only knew how to waste her daughter-in-law's work.

At this time, Jiang Qiuyue had already walked out of the village.

It takes an hour to walk from Taohua Village to the town, but it's only been ten minutes and Jiang Qiuyue is already tired.

Jiang Qiuyue felt that it was not her fault, it was just that the original owner’s health was too poor.

When she stopped to rest, she heard the rumble of a tractor behind her and waved, "Youren, are you going into the city?"

The rear seat of the tractor was empty, and when Wang Youren told her that it was, Jiang Qiuyue asked if he could give her a ride.

"Of course you can. Sister-in-law is going to town, right?" Wang Youren was a little curious. He had met Jiang Qiuyue before and asked her if she wanted a ride, but she always said no and didn't even dare to look at him.

The tractor was from the village, and he would help lead the way as long as it was convenient for him to do so. Especially the aunties and sisters-in-law in the village, they praised him well, and then more people would introduce him to potential partners.

"Sister-in-law, hold on tight, I'm about to leave." Wang Youren shouted.

Although the tractor was bumpy, it was much faster than walking as we didn't have to walk ourselves. We arrived in town in 20 minutes.

Jiang Qiuyue asked Wang Youren when he would return.

"It's estimated to be around one o'clock in the afternoon." Wang Youren said.

"Then can I wait for you here?" Jiang Qiuyue wanted to fill the backpack and carry it back by herself, but she felt tired just thinking about it. "I'll give you some egg cake when you come back!"

Wang Youren looked at Jiang Qiuyue's sparkling eyes and scratched his head blankly, "Okay, then you come and wait early, I might arrive earlier." He thought that Mrs. Lin was talking a lot today, but she looked pretty when she smiled.

Jiang Qiuyue first went to pick up the registered letter, and then exchanged it for money and food coupons and meat coupons.

In those days, twenty yuan was a huge sum of money. An ordinary rural family might not be able to earn twenty yuan in three months.

Before going to the supply and marketing cooperative, Jiang Qiuyue went to the state-owned hotel first. She ordered a bowl of shredded pork noodles for two cents.

Because it is a state-owned restaurant, the ingredients are solid. The bowl of noodles is full of chopped green onions floating on the bone soup. After taking a sip, the rich aroma of meat awakens the taste buds that have been silent all night. The taste is mellow and delicious, and Jiang Qiuyue is very satisfied with the meal.

It was already half past nine when they arrived at the supply and marketing cooperative. It was about one hundred square meters in size. Jiang Qiuyue took a quick look around and saw only basic daily necessities. It was pitifully scarce.

Before coming, she had thought about what she wanted to buy. The weather was hot, and cloth shoes were too warm, so she spent 2.5 yuan to buy a pair of sandals. Meals need oil, and soybean oil was 78 cents per pound. She bought one yuan. Ten pounds of rice and ten pounds of flour cost her two yuan and ninety-nine yuan. She also wanted to buy meat, but she came too late, so she only had lean meat and some bones. Two pounds of meat and two pounds of bones cost her two yuan. Salt, soy sauce and other miscellaneous items cost her another two yuan.

By the time the basket was full, I had spent a total of RMB 10.4, plus the 20 cents for shredded pork noodles in the morning, so more than half of the twenty yuan was gone.

This money is really not enough to spend. Fortunately, she had the foresight to write to her husband to ask for more living expenses, otherwise how could she maintain good health - Jiang Qiuyue sighed in her heart.

Jiang Qiuyue originally wanted to buy some skin care products because the original owner was exposed to the wind and sun every day and her skin was dry, but the supply and marketing cooperative in the town did not have any.

The salesperson said that it might be available in the city, but vanishing cream is a hot commodity and is not available all the time.

After hearing this, Jiang Qiuyue gave up the idea of ​​buying it herself and decided to wait for her husband to send money before she talked about the vanishing cream.

At noon, I bought five large meat buns at a state-owned hotel, ate two myself, and when I saw Wang Youren, I gave him one.

She will come to buy things often in the future. Without some benefits, no one would be willing to give her a ride every time.

The big meat buns were 1.5 cents each and were filled with meat. Although Wang Youren was drooling, he still refused. "Sister-in-law, the tractor is not mine. I will give a ride to any villager I meet. You gave me egg cakes, so you should take the meat buns back home for your family."

"I brought some for Beibei and Nannan." Jiang Qiuyue said as she jumped onto the tractor. "If you don't want to eat, I won't be able to call you next time. Don't be polite with me. Next time you go to the city or town, just call me."

She felt that she had made a good fortune, otherwise she would have been exhausted after carrying a backpack weighing twenty or thirty kilograms for an hour to walk home.

As a human being, you should be nicer to yourself and don't make yourself too hard if you can spend money on it.

Jiang Qiuyue would not feel embarrassed to use Lin Dazhu's money, because the original owner had given birth to two children for him. She did not eat alone, and brought meat buns for the two children.

Wang Youren saw Jiang Qiuyue sitting down and thought that Jiang Qiuyue was really generous. He had never eaten meat buns before, so he took some home to share with his parents.

But he would not eat Jiang Qiuyue's meat buns for nothing. He planned to take some home-cooked dishes and send them to Jiang Qiuyue when he got home.

When Jiang Qiuyue got home, the Lin family had finished lunch and went back to work.

Lin Beibei and Lin Nannan were sitting on the doorstep with red eyes. Jiang Qiuyue noticed something was wrong at a glance and pulled the two children back into the house, asking them what was going on.

Seeing her mother, Lin Beibei could no longer hold back her tears, and her tears as big as green beans fell down. "Mom, why did you come back just now? Auntie and grandma didn't let Nannan and I have lunch, and they pushed us. Ugh, my...my pants are all torn."

Lin Nannan held her brother's hand tightly with her head lowered.

Jiang Qiuyue saw that Lin Beibei's knees were indeed worn out, and her brows knitted. She wanted to leave quickly, and only left sweet potatoes for the two children, but she didn't expect to be able to take the tractor, so she missed lunch.

After wiping Lin Beibei's tears, he was thinking about how to settle accounts with Wang Chunhua, the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, while taking out the meat buns, "Don't cry, you'll turn into a little cat if you cry any more. I bought you some meat buns, eat them quickly."

Seeing the meat buns, Lin Beibei stopped crying instantly, "This... is this for us to eat?"

"Yes, I bought it especially for you." Jiang Qiuyue said.

Lin Beibei had never eaten meat buns, but after hearing other children in the village say that meat buns were the most delicious thing in the world, he couldn't wait to take a bite, "It's delicious!"

Seeing the two children wolfing down the food, Jiang Qiuyue made another note for the Lin family.

She took out the things she bought and put them away. She had decided yesterday that she would cook for herself and not eat with the Lin family. It didn't matter if Lin Fugui refused to divide the family property. She could only spend her own money. This was what she deserved for helping Lin Dazhu take care of the children.

After boiling a pot of hot water and taking a bath with the soap she bought, Jiang Qiuyue finally felt like she was truly alive.

She dragged the two children to take a bath again, but Lin Beibei was shy and insisted on washing himself, so Jiang Qiuyue let him do it.

The three of them washed up nicely, and the bedding was also washed clean. Jiang Qiuyue sat under the eaves and took a deep breath of comfort, "This is life."

After taking a shower, Lin Beibei immediately took his sister out to find his friends to show off that he had eaten a meat bun.

Qian Li, who had returned home to cook, happened to hear this. She pulled Lin Beibei to confirm loudly several times, ran to the field to complain to her mother-in-law, and the two of them ran all the way home holding Lin Dabao.

As soon as they entered the yard, Wang Chunhua yelled at Jiang Qiuyue, "Jiang Qiuyue, did you spend my money?"

"Your money?" Jiang Qiuyue smiled, waving a palm-leaf fan in her hand.

"Yes, the money that Dazhu sent back is my money!" Wang Chunhua stretched out her hand, "Give me the money quickly."

"No money, I've spent it all." Jiang Qiuyue said.

"What?" Wang Chunhua thought she had heard it wrong. She had held back her temper yesterday because of the twenty yuan. "Do you have the guts to say it again?"

Jiang Qiuyue stood up and said to Wang Chunhua word by word, "I said, I've spent all my money! Didn't I say yesterday that I won't eat with you guys in the future? I have to buy rice and noodles by myself, right?"

When Qian Li heard that the money was all spent, her heart ached. She was still waiting for the money to exchange for eggs for Dabao to eat. "It's a total of 20 yuan, how could you spend it all? Sister-in-law, my parents raised my brother for so many years, this is the money he gave to show his filial piety to his parents. Even if you are angry with my mother, you shouldn't be greedy for this money, otherwise you won't be able to explain to my brother!"

"Look at what you said. My parents also raised my second brother for more than 20 years. Let me ask you, how much money has my second brother given to me as a filial son to my parents?"

Jiang Qiuyue was fanning herself with a palm-leaf fan. She was still thinking about the two people pushing the child at noon. She would not let them off easily. "Why is my second brother's wife speechless? Why does Dazhu have to give it but my second brother doesn't?"

"You're making a fuss!" Qian Li felt that she was not in the right, so she turned to her mother-in-law for help.

"Wow, my second brother and his wife can speak idioms now."

Jiang Qiuyue sneered, "You want money, but I don't have a cent. How about this, I've paid for six years of living expenses since Dazhu and I got married. I'll give my second brother's wife a discount, you've been married for four years, and you only have to pay for the next four years. After four years, we'll pay together."

Qian Li wanted to keep her little private savings for herself and her parents' household, so she was reluctant to give it out.

Seeing Qian Li frowning, Jiang Qiuyue went to see her mother-in-law, "Mom, I remember some time ago, my second brother helped someone build a new house and got two yuan in wages. I think my second brother's wife wanted to keep it for her parents' use and didn't want to give it to you."

"Two dollars?" Wang Chunhua's eyes widened. "Qian Li, didn't you say that Er Zhu didn't make any money, but only a few eggs?"

"Mom, don't listen to what my sister-in-law says, there's really no..."

"Whether I am talking nonsense or not, Mom can just go to the next village to ask. Second sister-in-law, it's not that I won't keep it a secret for you, but you are going too far. How can you not be filial to your parents when you have money? Now that the family hasn't been divided, you should give it to Mom." Jiang Qiuyue continued to add fuel to the fire, "And during the Mid-Autumn Festival two years ago, second sister-in-law kept all the eggs for Dabao and secretly sent them to her mother's house. Mom, you don't know about it, do you?"

Wang Chunhua really didn't know all this. She said she wanted to go find someone to confront, but Qian Li held her back. Then she knew Qian Li had lied to her.

He had been holding back his anger for two days and slapped Qian Li in the face.

Qian Li didn't think she had done anything wrong. Her parents-in-law took twenty yuan from her eldest sister-in-law. They had so much money in their hands, so why were they staring at her small fortune?

After being slapped by her mother-in-law, Qian Li felt extremely aggrieved, "Mom, my sister-in-law is trying to sow discord between us!"

"Jiang Qiuyue is not a good person. You are also greedy!" Wang Chunhua grabbed Qian Li's hair, "I was wondering why Dabao was so skinny two years ago. It turns out that you gave the money to your parents."

She grabbed Qian Li and walked into the room, "If you don't hand over the money today, I will never forgive you!"

Wang Chunhua became angrier and angrier, and hit Qian Li twice. Lin Dabao sat on the ground and cried loudly.

The year before last, Lin Dabao was only one year old. He himself could not remember what he had eaten and what he had not eaten. Qian Li only occasionally gave him an egg.

She had saved more than twenty yuan with great difficulty, so she was not willing to hand it over. She stood at the door and refused to go in, no matter how Wang Chunhua tried to persuade her.

When the Lin family man came back, he saw Qian Li sitting on the ground crying her voice hoarse, and Wang Chunhua cursing beside her.

Lin Erzhu hurried over to ask what was going on, and Jiang Qiuyue immediately responded, "Second brother, you and your sister-in-law are so unfilial. You made money and lied to mom and dad by saying you didn't make any money. Now, the truth cannot be hidden. Mom is angry with you and your sister-in-law!"

She shook her head and sighed, "Dad, I'm really sad for you. Your second brother is your biological son."

Lin Fugui was so angry that he was about to vomit blood:...No matter how he listened, he felt that Jiang Qiuyue was mocking him!