Chapter 13: Taking Advantage of the Market

Chenchen still knew how to feel embarrassed, and no matter how Su Taotao teased him, he always kept a stern face and refused to shout again.

Su Taotao did not force him. She was already very happy knowing that this good boy had grown into a normal and healthy child. She thought that if she took good care of him in the future, he would surely be fine.

Su Taotao still cooked dinner, while Fu Yuanhang took the little guy to the vegetable garden to dig earthworms.

The two guys would dig up earthworms and bring them back to the big bamboo cage made by Zhou Linglan. They would dig some out and feed them to the chickens every time they fed them. That’s why the chickens at home grow well and lay eggs on time every day, because they can have a feast of earthworms for every meal.

Then every week or so, Zhou Linglan will replace the soil in the bamboo cage and put new soil in to continue raising earthworms. The soil with earthworm feces is the best organic fertilizer. The fruits and vegetables in the family’s private plot grow well thanks to this organic fertilizer. Of course, there are also chicken manure and so on, which are all natural organic fertilizers, thus forming a good green cycle.

Therefore, farmers these days have their own survival wisdom, and the fruits and vegetables they grow are all pollution-free green organic foods, which are environmentally friendly and good for the body, killing two birds with one stone.

The two children put the earthworms in place, and Zhou Linglan had just returned from work and fetched some water for them to take a bath first.

Zhou Linglan did a good job at this. Chenchen is a boy, clever and obedient. When he was very young, he knew how to hold the edge of the bucket with his two hands when taking a bath to never let himself choke on the water. Therefore, from the time he turned one year old, Zhou Linglan always asked Fu Yuanhang to give him a bath.

For dinner, Su Taotao made eggplant and potato stewed with rice, and also made an egg and shepherd's purse soup.

The delicious dinner naturally won unanimous praise from the whole family. Fu Yuanhang's stomach was a bottomless pit. Su Taotao felt that he could finish as much as she cooked. There was no other way. Oil and water were too scarce these days. It seemed that no matter how much he ate, he would never feel hungry.

In fact, this combination contains coarse grains, fine grains, dietary fiber, vitamins and protein, and the diet structure is very healthy. However, two eggs are shared by four people, and the intake of fat and protein is far from enough. There are not many eggs at home, so she still has to find a way to buy meat.

"Mom, I'm going to the county tomorrow to get the money back. Tomorrow is market day, so I'll take Chenchen with me to the market."

Now Zhou Linglan and Fu Yuanhang no longer worry that Su Taotao will sell Chen Chen, but they are still worried about her going alone.

"Can you do it by yourself?" Zhou Linglan said.

Su Taotao thought about it, changed her mind and said, "How about we go to the county tomorrow as a family? You haven't been to the county for many years, right?"

Although the county seat is not far from the village and only takes half an hour to get there by tractor, Zhou Linglan has been both a father and a mother in recent years, and especially a grandmother in the past two years. She has been busy like a top and rarely goes to the county, let alone the commune. Fu Yuanhang, on the other hand, has never been to the county since he can remember.

Hearing Su Taotao say this, he was still looking forward to it. Remembering that Su Taotao said that he could discuss anything with her, he bravely expressed his thoughts: "Sister-in-law, I want to go. I always get first place in the exams, and I have prepared the lessons well. It doesn't matter if I miss one day of class."

Then he looked at Zhou Linglan eagerly.

Zhou Linglan waved her hands and said, "You guys go ahead. I won't go."

If she worked one day less, she would receive several less work points, but she was reluctant to give up those work points.

Su Taotao suddenly had an idea and said, "How about this, our family is very democratic. When we disagree in the future, we will hold a family meeting to vote. Our family of four has four votes. The minority will obey the majority, and in the case of a tie, we will respect the individual's wishes. Let's start voting now. Comrades who agree that the whole family should go to the county town to attend the market tomorrow, please raise your hands!"

Su Taotao raised her hand immediately and also grabbed Chenchen's little paw and raised it high.

Chen Chen didn't know what was going on and just let Su Taotao manipulate him foolishly.

Fu Yuanhang was still confused. How could this happen?

Su Taotao winked at him: "Xiaohang, what's wrong? Didn't you want to go too?"

Fu Yuanhang finally came to his senses, raised his hands as high as he could, and grinned foolishly.

Su Taotao nodded in satisfaction. "Now I announce that the voting result of the first family meeting of the old Fu family passed the proposal with a large majority of three votes to one. Tomorrow our whole family will go to the market. Comrade Zhou Linglan must obey the organization's arrangements and must not have any objections. The meeting is adjourned."

Zhou Linglan was at a loss whether to laugh or cry. It was rare that the whole family was so happy, so she had no choice but to follow Su Taotao's wishes and agreed to go to the brigade tomorrow to ask for a day off and get a certificate.

When it was time to go to bed, Su Taotao wanted to take the little guy to her room to sleep, but Chenchen kept clinging to Fu Yuanhang and refused to let go. Su Taotao had no choice but to stay alone in the empty room.

Zhou Linglan got up early to prepare breakfast for the next day. When Su Taotao got up at around six o'clock, she had already prepared it, so she couldn't get it away from her.

Zhou Linglan was not a nagging person. She just tried to save and distribute the food at home reasonably. For example, today she made pancakes with flour and corn flour, and added eggs and chopped green onions. You can imagine how delicious they were. She also stewed several sweet potatoes so that she could carry them with her for lunch.

Su Taotao originally planned to take them to a state-owned hotel for a meal. After all, the 13.85 yuan in her pocket was enough for a few meals. The problem was that everything required a ticket these days, and she had no tickets, so she could only bring dry food for lunch, which was also very interesting.

However, bringing dry food with you to gather was considered normal in that era. Most members did the same when they went to the city, so it was not unusual.

It's a rare opportunity for me to go on a long trip, and the two children at home are particularly happy. Fu Yuanhang was so excited that he didn't fall asleep until late last night.

Don't underestimate Chen Chen, he knows everything. He was particularly excited when he got up this morning. He pointed to the clothes with the least patches and asked his uncle to help him put them on, because he thought that was the best-looking one, even though his best-looking clothes were also altered from his uncle's old clothes.

It's sad to say. The original owner had a lot of clothes, but Chenchen had never worn a new piece of clothing in his life. The original owner had spent all the cloth coupons. Zhou Linglan and Fu Yuanhang were also wearing old clothes that had been patched up for three years.

Su Taotao thought about it, packed up the colorful clothes in the cupboard that looked like an overturned palette, and took them away. She also went to the small warehouse to find a few bags of dry goods to take with her.

Seeing her moving out a lot of stuff, Zhou Linglan thought she was sending it to her parents in the city, so she didn't ask any more questions and found a pair of baskets and a shoulder pole and said, "Taotao, put the stuff in here. I'll carry it later. Otherwise, I can't carry so much."

Su Taotao felt that her mother-in-law had an emotional intelligence and a vision that most people could not learn. She didn't even ask her what she was doing with so many things and just let her take them.

After breakfast, the whole family started to act separately. Zhou Linglan went to the brigade first to ask for leave and get a certificate. Fu Yuanhang took the 1.5 cents fare given by Zhou Linglan, carried Chen Chen and went to the school to ask for leave, and then went to Rongshutou to wait for the tractor. Su Taotao stayed at home to pack dry food for lunch.

Zhou Linglan came back with the certificate and without saying a word picked up the things Su Taotao had packed and rushed to the banyan tree.

At seven o'clock in the morning, the tractor appeared at the banyan tree on time. Fu Yuanhang paid the fare for three people and went up with Chen Chen on his back to grab a good seat.

The mother-in-law and daughter-in-law worked together to load the things onto the tractor. Soon, it was full of members. Mrs. Zhang, who arrived too late and couldn't get on the tractor, was very upset. She wanted to go to the county town to exchange eggs. The county town supply and marketing cooperative paid one cent more per egg than the commune supply and marketing cooperative. Seeing that there was no room, she picked Zhou Linglan, the soft persimmon, and squeezed her:

"Hey, Zhengtu's mother, you haven't been to the county town for ten or eight years. Why did you come so early today to take my seat? I have to go to the county town to exchange eggs on the market day of this week every month. The seat you sit in has always been mine. Why don't you get off?"

Zhou Linglan was about to stand up and apologize, but Su Taotao held her hand and asked in a gentle tone, "Uncle Niu, isn't the tractor public? How come there is a special seat? Why don't I see a name written on the seat?"

Uncle Niu, who was driving the tractor, was a straight-talking, selfless man. He said with a straight face, "No, that's not true. The tractor is the public property of our brigade. It was only purchased with the help of your family's Zhengtu. It's five cents per person, first come, first served. Even if there is a priority, it will be yours."

Su Taotao waved her hands repeatedly: "No, no, no, Uncle Niu, please don't let me say that. We also came here early in the morning to wait for the bus and paid the fare in full."

Uncle Niu cleared his throat and said, "That's right. I don't even give you guys preferential treatment. I'm not showing favoritism. If you were late, I wouldn't have kept your seat either."

Su Taotao didn't even look at Mrs. Zhang, and said to Uncle Niu with a smile, "Isn't it? Uncle Niu is indeed an upright and good comrade. No wonder the captain trusted Uncle Niu to manage this big baby. Since the car is full, let's drive away. It will be too late if we don't leave now."

"Okay!"

Uncle Niu jumped out of the car, took out a "lighter", poked it into the nose of the tractor and shook it vigorously for a few circles. A cloud of black smoke came out with a loud "boom". Uncle Niu pulled out the "lighter" and jumped on the tractor. He drove this "booming" tractor to the county town in a heroic and high-spirited manner...