Chapter 23
Zhou Jiani walked to the peanut stall with her hands behind her back. When she arrived, she saw a woven bag of peanuts, but now only half of it was left.
“How much are peanuts?”
The old man selling peanuts didn't notice her this time. He quickly quoted a normal price and then changed his mind midway: "3.50 cents a pound."
Halfway through the conversation, he recognized Zhou Jiani.
Zhou Jiani said happily: "Uncle, is it 30 cents or 50 cents?"
The old man's face twitched in embarrassment.
Zhou Jiani smiled and said, "I once bought four pounds of peanuts for one yuan. Are you selling them at this price? If you do, I'll take them all. If not, forget it."
The old man looked up at the sky. It was almost noon, and he was worried that he would have to carry half a bag back. So he negotiated with Zhou Jiani for a while, and finally agreed on 28 cents per pound.
"I'll buy, but I won't trade here." Zhou Jiani pointed outside with a smile and said, "Let's go find a place outside the market to weigh it."
The situation she was worried about was not 100% certain, but she didn't dare to take the risk, for fear that she would spend money but not get the peanuts.
"You're quite cautious, girl," the old man said nonchalantly. "You can take it all anyway, so it doesn't matter where you trade with us."
The old man began to pack up his stall. Zhou Jiani went to ask the man selling raw melon seeds, and he asked for 35 cents, which was not a big increase. She bargained down to 30 cents, but it was still an off-site transaction.
The two stall owners packed up their things and left one after another. Zhou Jiani went over and called out to Qiu Zeming, saying, "If you want to buy anything, come and have a look. I'll meet you at the small fork in the road after I finish packing."
"Okay, I'll go take a walk around the wall. There are some ticket sellers over there," Qiu Zeming said. "Give me some of those peanuts and melon seeds you collected."
I don’t know if he came late or if there were fewer things for sale at this market, but it felt like the variety of things was not as good as on Xinhua Street in the county.
Speaking of tickets, Zhou Jiani thought of arguing with the ticket scalper, and finally bought all the tickets from him at a not-too-shabby price. The other party wanted the recipe for braised noodles with green beans, and Zhou Jiani, out of principle, asked him to buy five kilograms of vegetables.
Remind him: "Their price is a bit steep, you should bargain with them more."
Qiu Zeming nodded, and Zhou Jiani drove out of the market. Not far away, she saw two old men waiting there.
He completed the transaction cautiously, waving the whip to make the old ox walk slowly. Ten minutes later, Qiu Zeming caught up and the two of them went into the city together.
"Weigh out your portion of peanuts and sunflower seeds. I won't be taking them back. I'll go to the post office and pack them up and send them directly to my house."
"good!"
Since there is an ox cart, someone has to stay to watch over it, so Zhou Jiani started to do some tricks.
When she went out in the morning, she collected three pounds of dried cowpeas from the warehouse and took the rice noodles she bought last time. When she arrived at the post office, she left Qiu Zeming outside to watch the car. She used a woven bag as a cover to take out the things, pack them together, put a stamp on them, and send them back to the provincial capital.
I asked for twenty stamps from the counter, with a mix of patterns, and temporarily put them on the shelf.
After finishing all this, Zhou Jiani called the factory and asked someone to call her mother. After waiting ten minutes, she called back. Yu Huifang's happy voice came from the other end: "Nini!"
This time was much easier than last time. Zhou Jiani asked first, "Mom, did you receive the letter and the package? Are those two baskets nice?"
"It's beautiful, Nini. The basket is beautiful," Yu Huifang said happily. "It's a little small, though. It would be even better if it were two sizes bigger. But it's really exquisite. Your grandma loves it very much."
Hearing her mother's joyful voice, Zhou Jiani also felt happy and said, "Mom, I sent you another package. It contains peanuts, melon seeds, dried cowpeas, and vermicelli noodles."
When Zhou Jiani mentioned the cowpea vermicelli, she glanced outside, lowered her voice slightly, and said, "I didn't write a letter this time. I came to the city today to do some business, and mailed it by the way."
She lowered her voice, but Yu Huifang suddenly raised her voice and repeated loudly: "Hey, you bought peanuts, melon seeds, dried cowpeas and rice noodles. My dear, these things are not easy to buy. Don't waste your money in the future."
Zhou Jiani rolled her eyes silently and said speechlessly: "Mom, please show off a little more quietly."
Envious inquiries came from the other end of the phone. Yu Huifang replied twice, then continued into the phone: "By the way, Nini, Mom has sent the package for you, and also sent a hundred yuan. Don't buy things for us in the future. Keep the money for yourself. If you don't have enough, just call me."
Zhou Jiani didn't expect her parents to be so quick, so she quickly warned them, "Mom, don't send me money anymore. I haven't spent much of the money you gave me before I left." She added, "Next time you write to me, take two cigarette coupons from my dad and put them in the envelope. If it's a pack, put two. If it's two packs, just one is enough. I'll keep it for future use."
Yu Huifang immediately guessed that her daughter might be trying to smooth things over, so she said, "Okay, I'll save all your dad's cigarette coupons for you from now on."
Zhou Jiani said with a puzzled look, "That's not necessary. One or two are enough, and they may not be used."
The mother and daughter chatted for a few minutes before Yu Huifang's tone suddenly hardened. "Nini, Mom wants to ask you something..." She didn't mention what her daughter had said in the letter. Instead, she asked, "Ailing wrote to you before saying you didn't want to contact us. She tried to persuade you several times, but you refused to listen. And your Aunt Liu is telling everyone about this. Nini, is that true?"
I mentioned this matter in the letter to my daughter, but I didn't expect Nini to call me today, so I decided to ask her directly.
If so, she would accept it and treat it as her daughter being confused for once; if not, she would go to Lu Cuilan to talk it out.
Now many colleagues in the factory know about it, and when they see her, they ask her why her daughter Nini doesn’t contact her family.
Zhou Jiani was stunned: "Mom, when did this happen? Didn't you all receive my letter?"
Yu Huifang: "Her letter arrived a few days earlier than yours, the same time you called last time."
"Mom, she's talking nonsense. We separated on the first day we arrived here, and we don't even work together. And I didn't know she wrote home... That's not right. Calculating the time, she wrote home as soon as she got here. But when I went to town to mail the letter that day, she blocked me at the village entrance and questioned me. She didn't even mention writing to her family." Zhou Jiani said angrily, "What is she trying to do?"
Liu Ailing actually told such a blatant lie behind someone's back?
Zhou Jiani's mind went blank for a moment.
She thought Liu Ailing would only whisper and encourage her, using her spoiled temper to highlight her excellence, but she didn't expect that she had used such tactics behind her back.
Zhou Jiani narrowed her eyes. It seemed now that everything she did here in her previous life was transmitted back by her, and the letter that ruined her parents' future was also sent to the factory by her.
Yu Huifang was so angry that she started cursing in the office after hanging up the phone.
Everyone in the office was surprised to hear this. They didn't expect that there would be a twist in the story about Yu Huifang's daughter having a quarrel with her family.
Yu Huifang was so angry that she didn't go to work. She asked for leave to go back and question Lu Cuilan. Lu Cuilan didn't expect that she would lose her temper after just a few days. She couldn't help but scold the third girl in her heart for being useless, but she dealt with Yu Huifang verbally, saying, "If you say it's not true, then it's not true. We didn't expect you to know our feelings. Why are you really arguing about this? Besides, don't you know your daughter's temper? How can she admit to such a thing? Huifang, I'm not saying anything bad about you, but why did you ask the child about it? No wonder your daughter treats you like enemies."
These words really hit Yu Huifang in the heart. She yelled, "Lv Cuilan, you're talking nonsense. I'll tear your mouth off."
The two were pulled apart by their neighbors. Yu Huifang pointed at her and cursed, "You're throwing dirty water on my daughter, and you still say I'm serious? You don't admit it, right? Fine, wait until the New Year when the two children come back and let them talk it out face to face. Then I'll ask your third daughter. Isn't she afraid of being struck by lightning for making up such a thing to ruin my Nini's reputation?"
A look of panic flashed across Lu Cuilan's face.
She forgot about the New Year.
Seeing her guilty look, other neighbors also asked in confusion: "Cui Lan, what did your third daughter say in the letter?"
Seeing her hesitating, Yu Huifang sneered, "My daughter has already called and sent things twice. Today, she said she sent me dried cowpeas, vermicelli noodles, peanuts, melon seeds, and other things. Didn't you say your daughter is actively in contact with home? What did she send you?"
Lu Cuilan choked.
The heartless girl in her family just sent a letter and nothing else back.
I should have known I shouldn't have believed her. How much better it would have been to just marry that guy from the soy sauce factory? Although he's older and has three children, the bride price he gave is high.
But the damn girl refused to do so no matter what, and promised her family that as long as they agreed to let her go to the countryside, she would find a way to help her father climb up the ladder.
She also vowed that as long as they did as she instructed and cooperated well here, the Zhou family would owe her family more and more favors, and when the time was right, Zhou Wanli would have no choice but to help her father.
She discussed it with Lao Liu, who believed her and let the damn girl take away the thirty yuan.
She didn't want to give it at that time. The educated youth who went to the countryside received settling-in allowance in the first year. The government provided food and accommodation, and also gave them a few dollars every month. Why would they need to ask for money from their families?
But what did that damned girl say? She claimed that if they didn't give her money, she wouldn't help the family anymore, and she wouldn't let her get married. If she got pushed to the limit, she'd go to the neighborhood committee, or if that didn't work out, she'd just slit her throat and make them support her for nothing all these years.
Old Liu agreed, and she held back her grief and handed him thirty yuan, thinking that it would be worth it if it could get Old Liu to climb more often.
Who knew that they had just done what was said in the letter two days ago and the results were really good, but they were exposed.
Jiang Xinfeng heard some strange noises outside, so she went out to listen and found out that her daughter-in-law had run back from the factory. From what she said, it seemed that Nini had called again today, and the mother and daughter had discussed the matter on the phone. What Lu Cuilan said was false.
She came over on her small feet and said, "Lü Cuilan, wait until your daughter comes back after the New Year and I'll ask her face to face if it's true or not. If she's not lying and it's you who are spreading rumors behind her back, I'll go find your Liu Jiefang's supervisor and ask him to judge the matter."
Lu Cuilan panicked for a moment, but her mind was not so quick. She directly pushed the blame on Liu Ailing and said stiffly: "That's what Ailing said in the letter. Who knows if your granddaughter doesn't want to accept our family's kindness..."
After saying that, she slammed the door shut. This time, even the other neighbors could see that she was feeling guilty.
Zhou Jiani came out of the post office with anger on her face.
Qiu Zeming's eyes turned slightly cold, and he pushed his long legs out of the car and said, "What's wrong? Are the people inside giving you trouble?"
Zhou Jiani quickly adjusted her expression and said, "No, I just can't understand why vicious people are so good at hiding themselves? They openly love their sisters, but stab them in the back in the back."
If the two of them had a complete falling out in public, she would have an explanation for plotting behind the scenes, because this clearly started when she still truly regarded Liu Ailing as a good sister.
Even predictive calculations.
Qiu Zeming raised his eyebrows, as if he knew who she was talking about.
Just as he was about to say a few words of comfort, he saw the girl in front of him sigh heavily, shake her fist fiercely and say, "Let's go eat. It's my treat. Today we're having dumplings, pure meat!"
Qiu Zeming: ...
Zhou Jiani: "I will turn my anger into strength!" Then I will go back and deal with him.
The state-owned restaurant here is bigger than the one in town, and the windows are wider. We can park the ox cart under the window and they can just sit inside and watch.
But the peanuts and melon seeds had to be brought in, as well as the rags and the steamed buns she made that morning.
Cover the cucumber buttons with another basket and watch them from inside.
The dumplings made with pure meat and precision flour were 1.9 yuan per ounce, and they were six for 1 ounce. The dumplings with three kinds of fresh meat were even more expensive than the pure meat ones, at 2.6 yuan per ounce. Zhou Jiani discussed with Qiu Zeming, "Let's have both, half and half!"
"Go sit down and I'll order some," Qiu Zeming said. "I'll treat you."
Zhou Jiani raised her eyebrows and looked at him: "Comrade Qiu, do you still have the habit of not letting female comrades pay when you are out?"
Qiu Zeming lowered his head slightly, his gaze landing on her smooth, full forehead. His right hand couldn't help but shake, and he almost raised it to hit her with a chestnut. This reaction made a layer of sweat break out on his back. He shifted his gaze slightly unnaturally and whispered, "No, Qianjin's sister and brother-in-law are working in the production team in the neighboring Qingshui County. His brother-in-law is a purchasing agent for the local supply and marketing cooperative. I helped him negotiate some supplies with the garment factory."
In an era of material scarcity, procurement is difficult.
"Did it work?" Zhou Jiani was a little shocked by his efficiency, but inexplicably felt that this was not uncommon for this guy.
Qiu Zeming pushed her: "Go and take the seat first, and we can talk while we eat."
It was only after Zhou Jiani sat down at the table by the window that she realized she was supposed to treat everyone.
But Qiu Zeming had already finished ordering, paid the money and the receipt, and sat down as if nothing had happened. He said, "I promised the garment factory here that I would ship them a batch of woolen fabric from the capital. The deal is half done now. I'll put the final stamp on it once the fabric arrives."
Zhou Jiani nodded, but didn't ask any further questions. Everyone has their own way.
These days, those who hold supplies are the bosses, so she could only knock on the door of the message room; Qiu Zeming had resources that he could mobilize, so he could knock on the door of the factory.
"You paid for the cigarettes, and you only need two bags of rags. I'm the biggest benefactor, so I have to treat you to this meal."
Zhou Jiani resisted the urge to roll her eyes and said, "Don't try to be so rude. Are you short of that 8 or 10 cents?"
I guess they had planned it a long time ago, and it was just a coincidence that I arrived there.
Qiu Zeming chuckled, "Comrade Zhou, before I came to see you this morning, I called Brother-in-law Qianjin and asked for credit for you. He even said he'd give you a few carp from Qingshui County when you come over in a few days. Don't you want any?"
"Ha!" Zhou Jiani's eyes lit up, and she reacted very quickly, saying, "Yes, yes."
She then said with a smile, "Thank you, Comrade Qiu. I shamelessly accept this credit." She added, "I'll treat you next time."
Qiu Zeming ordered a pound and a half of dumplings, half of which were pure meat and half were three fresh. He also ordered a plate of braised pork elbow and a plate of mixed cucumber.
It cost a little over four dollars in total.
Both of them were full.
After eating, they went shopping in the department store. This time, Qiu Zeming did not follow them in, but stayed outside to look at the car and the things in it.
Zhou Jiani just went in and took a look around. She only bought some snacks, needles and thread, and tore off a piece of cloth to make the uppers and soles of shoes. She didn't purchase any goods. There was no corner or nook for her to work in here.
As for bringing it up in front of Qiu Zeming? That person was too smart, and she really didn't want to test his observation skills.
He also looked at the soda, stared at the production date on it and remained silent for a while, then only offered Qiu Zeming one bottle.
On the way back, Qiu Zeming, who couldn't bear the sleepiness, leaned on the half-full basket of cucumbers and made a light and even breathing sound.
Zhou Jiani peeked in twice to make sure he was really asleep. Then she took out the lychees she hadn't finished eating that morning, peeled them carefully, and ate them one by one.
The food in her warehouse is really not fresh, it's not as cold as it was in the morning.
But it is still very sweet, and I feel like I can’t get enough after eating it.
I was bored and scrolling through my phone. During the group buying activity in the group, I bought a sun hat.
Zhou Jiani flipped through the pages and found that when it was inconvenient for her to look at her phone, she had opened coarse sheets, loquats, ice silk mats, cheese sticks, and some people had also opened vegetable balls, such as cherry tomatoes, bitter melons, and cucumbers.
Browsing back to the latest news, the sun hat chain continues.
She stepped out and went backstage to take a look at the morning's revenue.
After deducting the cost, the net profit of spinach is 73.05, leek 53.55, kidney bean 134, lentil 171.75, eggplant 33.12, pepper 57.9, loofah 99, pumpkin 267.8, totaling more than 890.
The balance in the piggy bank became 2087.98.
It looks very satisfying.
Just then, someone created a new group and gave out red envelopes. Zhou Jiani returned to the group and grabbed one. After waiting for a moment, a familiar brand of milk packaging flashed across the group.
The spirit was slightly shaken: "This is OK, I have come across it this time."
After the picture was posted, the product details and link appeared. Zhou Jiani took a glance and quickly clicked on it.
There is also milk that is three months expired, a box has twelve cartons, and the disposal price is 39 for two cartons.
Zhou Jiani did a quick calculation and reservedly grabbed three groups, six boxes, which she should be able to finish before the expiration date.
More than a hundred yuan was deducted from the change, and Zhou Jiani still felt a little pain.
But when I thought about the fact that I couldn't withdraw the money and it would just be a string of numbers if I didn't go shopping, I felt relieved.
Then she hurried on her way while occasionally checking her phone. She didn't come across what she needed, but she did grab two more red envelopes.
As I was walking, I felt a little uncomfortable on my upper lip. I licked it with my tongue and my face turned dark.
It was simply too much to say, and the corners of my mouth were inflamed and blistered.
I didn’t expect the young body to be so fragile.
Qiu Zeming woke up when the car arrived in town. He raised his hand to rub the back of his head, which was aching, and turned around and said, "Comrade Zhou, I'll catch up. You take a break!"
Zhou Jiani nodded. When she turned around, Qiu Zeming's brows jumped: "What's wrong with your mouth?"
You can't just say that we eat lychees. Zhou Jiani's face is full of the spirit of sacrifice, dedication, hard work and progress. She held her head high and said, "I was worried that the vegetables wouldn't sell this morning. I was anxious for a while, and the fire started in the afternoon."
Judging from the suspicion in Qiu Zeming's eyes, he didn't believe it.
If you don’t want to believe it, then don’t believe it. Zhou Jiani calmly moved to the back to rest, and Qiu Zeming took over the whip to drive the carriage.
After leaving the town, I saw about ten students walking on the road with backpacks on their backs. They were about seven or eight years old.
The school had a few days off during the busy autumn season. Now that the most intense harvest season is over, the children have started going back to school.
Zhou Jiani recognized Zhang Huihui from the group of half-grown children and called out, "Huihui——"
Zhang Huihui turned around, jumped up, swung the net bag in her hand, ran over here two steps, and said, "Sister Jiani——"
Zhou Jiani heard several children asking Zhang Huihui, "Who is that?"
Another boy also jumped up and shouted at the top of his voice: "My grandfather's ox cart, that's the ox cart in our village, the one my grandfather drives."
The oxcart stopped beside them. Qiu Zeming got off and watched the group of children scrambling up. They looked familiar. One of them looked at Zhou Jiani and said, "I've seen you before. You worked in Team 4."
Zhou Jiani smiled and said, "I've seen you before. Your name is Gou Shengzi, right?"
Gou Shengzi retorted loudly: "I have a big name. My name is Song Zhiguo."
The man looked at Qiu Zeming and said, "You are the educated youth living in my third uncle's house. There are three of you, right?"
Qiu Zeming nodded: "Yes, Tiedan."
The child covered his face and screamed, "My name is Zhang Yong, Yong means brave."
Qiu Zeming smiled.
A group of children called out to their sister and brother, chattering at the top of their lungs, making the old ox moo several times.
When the children were in the car, Zhou Jiani got out and chatted with them with a smile.
Qiu Zeming also changed to walking.
Uncle Liu's grandson peeked into the basket and exclaimed, "Wow, so many cucumbers! Are you buying them to feed the cows?"
This attracted the other children to come over and take a look.
One girl said, "For pickling, my mom pickled some. They're super salty."
There are few girls studying in the village, but more boys. Among these ten students, there are only three girls.
Zhou Jiani still admires Zhao Mei a little. No matter how difficult her family's situation was, she still managed to send Huihui to school despite the pressure.
But there should be more than these. Zhou Jiani asked one of the children: "Are you all the same? Aren't there any other classmates?"
The children rushed to answer.
"The third graders are still in class, and we first and second graders have finished our studies and left first."
"Half of the second graders haven't finished their classes yet."
"All first grades are out of school."
The school does not have so many classrooms, so the lower and upper grades use them together. In fact, it is not the school’s unified dismissal time, and the teacher lets them go home after finishing teaching.
We will expand the classrooms after the new year, so we need to recruit teachers.
Zhou Jiani had high expectations for that spot.
She may not pass the exam, but she cannot fail to be selected just because of her lack of mass support.
When the ox cart was about to reach the village entrance, Zhou Jiani glanced over, her eyes slightly widened, and she couldn't help but look at Qiu Zeming.
Qiu Zeming's hand holding the whip also paused slightly.
They just went out to sell vegetables, why did it feel like most of the village came out to greet them?
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