Chapter 18
After repeating the content of the phone call, Jiang Xinfeng savored it carefully, while Yu Huifang went to the kitchen to get three eggs to go to the Liu family to express her gratitude.
She has to endure the frustration. She gave birth to the child and spoiled him. Doesn't she have to pay for this debt?
As soon as I opened the door, I was annoyed by the people talking outside.
Lü Cuilan was muttering to her neighbor in the hallway, "That kid has a bad temper. My daughter Lingling wrote to me and asked me to write home, but she just wouldn't. No matter how much I tried to persuade her or coax her, she wouldn't write. You know, that kid is so stubborn."
"Your Ailing is still sensible. Let Ailing talk more about her. Aunt Zhou misses her granddaughter so much."
"That's true. Lingling also said in the letter that Jiani has had that temper since she was a child. Just send it to her and she will help to comfort her when she has time."
Yu Huifang put the eggs on the cabinet next to her, opened the door again and went out, saying unhappily, "Lü Cuilan, Nini also calls you aunt, why are you talking about the child like this behind her back?"
I gave her back the eggs, but she didn't even give her the egg shells.
Another neighbor, Wu Hong, quickly said, "Don't be angry, Huifang. Cuilan didn't mean anything else. Isn't she just worried about you?"
Wu Hong stood on Lu Cuilan's side and thought to herself that Yu Huifang's daughter didn't even write a letter home. People helped you to persuade her, but you still complained about what they said. It was because of this ignorant protection that the child became like that.
Yu Huifang was very angry. No matter how disappointing her own child was, he was still the apple of her eye. She couldn't stand hearing people say that, so she started arguing with them.
After returning home, I was still angry for a long time, thinking that no matter whether my daughter liked it or not, she had to say something when she replied to the letter.
In the past, when I was educating my daughter, she would cover her ears and close the door and go into the house before I could say a few words. This time, I had to give her some advice in the letter.
This thought reached its peak before going to bed.
Zhou Wanli didn't mention anything when he got home from get off work. When the couple was lying in bed at night, he said, "Hey, I didn't mention it when I got home just now. Liu Jiefang told me today that his Ai Ling had a letter..."
Yu Huifang sat up with a knot in her throat. "What kind of secret do you think you are? Everyone in the dormitory knows about it. Don't you think that with this opportunity to make us owe them a favor, how can Lu Cuilan not make a fuss?"
She said angrily, "It's normal for these two children to have a good relationship since they were little, but I really despise Lu Cuilan. The mutual support between the sisters is something that Lu Cuilan can make a big deal about, as if she's afraid that we don't know her feelings. Our Nini gave Liu Ailing snacks and hair flowers, but she didn't say anything."
"And Liu Jiefang, what are they doing with the child's affairs? Don't I know what they're thinking? They're just trying to curry favor with you so you can get some favors. Our Nini is also stupid, rushing to do us a favor."
But his own daughter seemed to have been drugged by Liu Ailing, protecting her everywhere and becoming enemies with her own people.
Zhou Wanli smiled good-naturedly and said, "What can a child understand?" He added, "I thought you didn't know, so you didn't dare to tell our mother just now."
Afraid of making the old lady sad.
Yu Huifang said helplessly, "Is Lü Cuilan the one who keeps her mouth shut?" She smoothed her chest and sighed, "I was so happy when Nini called me today, but when I got home I realized that Liu Ailing might have persuaded her to make the call, putting me ahead of Lü Cuilan."
Zhou Wanli sat up: "Nini called?"
Yu Huifang snorted. She was originally very happy about this matter, but now she didn't even feel like sharing it with her husband.
Zhou Wanli continued to ask a few more questions, and finally said with a smile: "Then why are you still so angry? No matter what, didn't our daughter call back?"
Yu Huifang had no way to refute and felt depressed.
Zhou Wanli lay back down and said, "There might be some personnel changes at the factory after the New Year. I think Liu Jiefang wants that position."
"See what I said? He wants you to help him run it, right? Our silly girl..."
Yu Huifang couldn't sleep, so she turned on the light and got up to write a letter to her daughter, but Zhou Wanli stopped her.
"What are you doing? I told you after the New Year, I'll talk to Nini properly when she comes back to visit."
"Wait until the New Year? If you really wait until the New Year, do you know how many favors your daughter will owe you?"
"What else? Don't you know your daughter's temper? If there's no one to mediate, who knows what kind of trouble she'll cause." Zhou Wanli said good-naturedly, "You're not so angry. Liu Jiefang going up there won't necessarily be a bad thing. Besides, I may not be able to help with this."
Yu Huifang stopped talking. She decided that when she wrote back to her daughter, she would still have to show some social etiquette.
Zhou Jiani, who was in the countryside, asked Liu Tong for four feet of defective cloth with a blue background and small floral patterns. She then asked her sister-in-law Zhao Mei to make it into small cloth shoes with buckles for women, and posted them in the group to sell.
When I returned to Zhang's house, I met two pairs of eager eyes.
Zhou Jiani said with a smile: "I bought it, I bought it for you."
Go into the house and distribute things to Yu Wanxia and Sun Ping.
Yu Wanxia sniffed the aroma of the meat buns and meat roasted buns, swallowed hard, and said, "I'll send it to my cousin first and then eat it when I get back. I think his neck must be hanging up in anticipation over there."
"Wait a minute." Zhou Jiani took out the braised eggs she had prepared long ago and gave one to each of them. She said, "I bought them from an old lady. She made them herself. Try some."
"I also bought two bottles of shredded pork and shrimp paste. I was lucky enough to come across them. But unfortunately, these are the only two bottles I have, so I can't bring them to you. Let's eat them together."
She was able to keep five of the braised eggs openly, but didn't dare to open more for fear that they would go bad.
I can also take out the shredded pork and shrimp paste from the packaging and eat it. There are also two steamed buns she left in the basket, and I will eat the shrimp paste tomorrow morning.
Neither Sun Ping nor Yu Wanxia was the kind of person who liked to take advantage of others. Sun Ping had treated her to malted milk, and had also given her dried red dates, walnuts, and snacks; Yu Wanxia had treated her to snacks, pickled tofu, roasted sparrows, and had even secretly slipped her eggs.
The two of them agreed without hesitation.
Yu Wanxia said solemnly: "Comrades, the opportunity to improve the food is not available every day. You two have to wait for me to eat together at such a meaningful time. I will be back soon, wait for me."
Sun Ping swallowed her saliva as she smelled the fragrance, but she endured it, waiting for the sunset to come back, otherwise she would be nagged to death by that girl.
Zhou Jiani used the lid of her aluminum lunch box to scoop out two small spoonfuls of shredded pork and shrimp paste, put a braised egg on it, and went to the shed next door. Zhao Mei also asked Zhou Jiani to bring a meat bun to Huihui.
Zhao Mei refused, saying, "Comrade Zhou, please bring the shrimp paste over here. I'll shamelessly keep it. You can take the eggs back and eat them yourself."
An egg costs several cents.
Shrimp paste was a rare commodity, and she was embarrassed to ask for it, but the taste was so appetizing. Just now, she saw her husband swallow hard, and then lower his head hurriedly as if afraid of being discovered. A pang of bitterness surged in Zhao Mei's chest, and she gritted her teeth and didn't say that she didn't want the shrimp paste.
But I feel bad asking for another egg.
Zhou Jiani smiled and said, "Sister-in-law, don't be polite to me. I need your help with something."
"No matter what it is, I will definitely help you if you can. It would be too polite for you to send me a gift."
Zhou Jiani said, "This won't take a day or two. I want to buy some cowpeas and ask my sister-in-law to help me dry them. But I don't know anyone there, and I don't know what vegetables everyone grows. I need you to take me around the village."
Buying things produced and sold by members themselves is more secure than ensuring food security.
Moreover, it would be easier to secretly exchange food with fellow villagers after getting in touch with them, and there might be other unexpected gains.
The dried cowpeas are easy to store. Some of them are sent home, and some are sold in bulk.
Other fresh vegetables can be purchased before the group sale starts.
Zhao Mei agreed immediately and looked at the eggs left by Zhou Jiani. She thought about sending some to Comrade Zhou after the pickled beans at home were ready, otherwise she really didn't know what else to order.
This thought was even stronger when I tasted a little shrimp paste. Shrimp paste was rare enough, but it actually contained shredded pork.
Zhang Kaishan pushed back the bun his daughter had broken for him and whispered, "When it's Comrade Zhou's turn to pay for the meal, don't ask for it."
Zhao Mei nodded, then shook her head and said, "Comrade Zhou will definitely disagree, but she'll always find a way to get me to accept it. When the pickled beans are ready, I'll pack two jars for Comrade Zhou."
"That's okay too!"
The next day when she got home from work at noon, Zhao Mei told Zhou Jiani that she had asked three neighbors and agreed on a price of 1.8 cents per pound, and that she would go and pick it up in the evening.
Zhao Mei regretted that she didn't plant enough cowpeas, and she pickled them all in a jar a few days ago.
However, her parents planted a lot of plants, so she wanted to ask Comrade Zhou on their behalf. If he wanted them, she would take half a day off and go back.
Zhou Jiani said, "Thank you, sister-in-law. I'll go buy some coarse salt after dinner."
Blanching cowpeas with salt and then drying them in the sun makes them easier to preserve and taste better, so water and firewood are essential. Zhou Jiani suggested that the cost of firewood and water plus labor fee be added, and she would give her ten cents a day. Zhao Mei discussed with Zhou Jiani: "Comrade Zhou, why don't you also harvest the crops grown by my mother's family? Then you don't have to pay me for firewood and water."
Her family's conditions were not good, and she always helped them. If she could help her family earn some money for vegetables, it would be considered that she was doing something for them, so this little bit of firewood and water wouldn't matter.
Zhou Jiani: "I'll take what I need and give what I need. It doesn't matter whose food I buy. Besides fresh food, I can also buy dried food like black fungus, mushrooms, peanuts, etc."
"Sister-in-law, when I move to the educated youth camp in the future, I may need to borrow your house to store things. I won't be polite to you then, but this time, just do as I say."
Zhao Mei did not refuse anymore and quickly agreed. She planned to go back to her parents' home tomorrow morning to tell them and ask her brother to pick some and send them over in the evening.
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