Delivered at midnight!
The old lady was quite shrewd; how could she not understand Zhang Hongmei's little scheme? But she was quite happy, at least this girl cared about her and knew how to repay those who were good to her.
The old lady took out a bottle of liquor and a bottle of orange juice and asked Er Lengzi to bring them back.
The young men were excited and shouted when they saw the liquor. Liquor is not easy to come by; only the old lady had it.
Zhang Hongmei probably had some too, but neither of them was too embarrassed to ask. The old lady, on the other hand, was much more considerate.
Er Lengzi put the table into Zhang Hongmei's room; there was nothing he could do about it, that's how it is in the countryside. Zhang Hongmei had no choice but to put up with it.
Both dishes were served in large bowls, which filled the table.
The young men divided the wine equally, and Zhang Hongmei and Er Ya each poured half a bowl of orange juice, leaving the rest for Shi Tou and San Ya to try.
The meal started at 10 a.m. and didn't finish until 12:30 p.m. The young men were all a bit tipsy, but they still helped Zhang Hongmei clean up the kitchen.
They're so sensible now that they'll think of them when good things happen.
Zhang Hongmei gave Er Ya the remaining piece of fish, a bowl of rabbit meat, a small bowl of rice, and half a bottle of orange juice to take back as a treat for either Shi Tou or San Ya.
"Give them more food so they can grow taller."
Er Ya initially felt embarrassed to take it. But thinking of Shi Tou and San Ya, she decided to take it back now so they could eat it while it was still hot.
The two younger children jumped for joy when they saw their second sister bring back the food; they knew it must have been Sister Hongmei who had asked their second sister to bring it back for them.
However, the two children are sensible. Shi Tou said, "Second sister, let's eat together when Mom and Dad come back tonight."
"Okay, I'll wait for Mom and Dad."
"Okay. Then you two can drink the orange juice first. Mom and Dad won't drink this." Er Ya felt a pang of sadness, her heart aching at the longing looks on her two little ones' faces.
They brought bowls for the two of them and divided the food equally. Shi Tou acted like an older brother, pouring some from his own bowl into San Ya's bowl. San Ya wanted to pour some more into Shi Tou's bowl, but Er Ya stopped her.
"Sanya, drink this from your brother, otherwise it will be a waste if you spill it later."
The two children held their bowls and sipped the liquid slowly, looking quite pleased. "Second sister, it's so delicious, so sweet."
"Okay, when your second sister finds a place that sells them, she'll buy one bottle for each of you."
After finishing his drink, Shi Tou scooped some water into the bowl, shook it, and drank it again. San Ya imitated her brother's actions.
There were children outside calling for Shitou and Sanya to play, and the two little ones ran out like crazy.
Er Ya sat on the doorstep reciting her first-year junior high school Chinese textbook.
Zhang Hongmei was preparing to send something to Zhang Xingguo, which probably wouldn't arrive for years. But there was nothing she could do; he wouldn't slaughter a pig until a few days before the Lunar New Year, and she was too embarrassed to ask him to do it earlier, so she had no choice but to leave it at that.
"Hongmei killed all the rabbits?"
"Let's kill one first, and kill a male sheep too."
What are you doing?
"I wanted to send it to my Uncle Zhang, but I can't wait for the pork, so I'll have to do it another time."
"Okay, I'll go and call the four of them over to help. That'll be quicker. You go and boil the water."
The five men worked together and finished in an hour, even butchering the sheep. Er Lengzi even tanned the sheepskin and rabbit skin.
Zhang Hongmei didn't eat much of the dinner she got from the cafeteria; she shared it with Shi Tou and San Ya. She only drank the last bit of porridge from the bottom of a bowl.
That evening, Zhang Hongmei packed the pine mushrooms and wood ear fungus into small cloth bags. She also packed the dried sweet potatoes she had made in advance. As for the fish and mutton, she kept the sheep's head and offal, and froze the rest. The rabbit was eaten whole, because there was only one, and keeping the rabbit's head would leave too little.
I took out twenty catties of black pork from my space and froze it. That should be enough to make a generous gift over the years.
That night, I wrote a letter to Zhang Xingguo on my social media. The content was very simple. It was just to say hello, to let him know that I was doing well, and to mention that Er Lengzi, also known as Liu Baoguo, was going to join the army. That was all.
Before dawn the next day, Zhang Hongmei rode her bicycle to the county, a journey that took nearly two hours.
Once we arrived in the county, we waited at the post office entrance, and it opened in about ten minutes.
Zhang Hongmei carried the two snakeskin bags from the back seat into the post office lobby one by one.
I went out again and locked my bicycle.
"Comrade, I want to send something."
Where should I send it?
"capital."
Then a staff member came out and paused when he saw the two burlap sacks. "You're sending all of these?"
"Yes, comrade."
All mailed items must be inspected.
"Check, please."
The staff called over another person. He pushed the pump scale over, squatted down, and began to inspect it.
After inspection, it is handed to another staff member, who is responsible for weighing it, then putting it into a bag special to the post office, and recording it.
"Seventy-two catties of mutton, twenty-one catties of pork, four catties and three ounces of rabbit meat, eight catties and seven ounces of dried sweet potatoes, two catties of pine mushrooms, and one catty of wood ear fungus. The total is one hundred and ninety-nine catties. The postage starts at ten catties and costs one dollar and fifty cents. The postage for the extra ninety-nine catties is twenty-seven dollars and seventy-five cents. The total amount is twenty-six dollars and twenty-five cents. The letter does not need to be mailed separately; it can be put in the parcel."
Zhang Hongmei took out 26.25 yuan and handed it to the staff member, then filled out the mailing form with the sender's and recipient's names, and handed it to the staff member as well.
Seeing that the staff had packed up and sealed everything, along with the forms Zhang Hongmei had filled out, Zhang Hongmei finally felt relieved and prepared to leave.
"Young lady, wait a moment." The staff member who had been conducting the inspection chased after her out of the post office.
Zhang Hongmei looked at him suspiciously. "Comrade, what's the problem now?"
"Young lady, let's talk in private."
Zhang Hongmei followed the staff out of the door and stood in the corner.
"Young lady, are you still able to get these things?"
"I'm sorry, comrade, this is something our whole village pooled together. It's a thank-you gift for someone we couldn't find." Zhang Hongmei was in a difficult position; she really couldn't give anything away to outsiders.
"That's a pity. I also wanted to get some nice things to mail to my family."
I'm sorry.
"It's alright." In the end, Zhang Hongmei softened.
"Comrade, there are pig slaughterers in our village after the age of 25, but I don't know if they sell them?"
"Really? You're from Liujiatun, right? I'll give you twenty yuan first. If someone sells them, buy more for me. If you don't have enough money, you can lend me the rest, and I'll pay you back when I get back. Is that okay?"
"No need to give me money. If no one sells it, I'll have to send you money, which is too much trouble. If someone sells it, I'll send it to you. The earliest I can get it is the 26th, but I don't know how much it costs per pound."
"Thank you so much. As long as someone is selling it, making money isn't a problem; it won't be more expensive than the black market price."
"I don't know, it's okay, it's just expensive, you don't have to take it."
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