His words reminded Song Qing of her past life in Ancheng, when she sent all the money Lu Yang had sent to the Lu family.
She had always planned to divorce him, so naturally she didn't want to spend his money.
When I first arrived in Ancheng, my salary was reduced to level one. One person's salary was barely enough to support two people. Basically, I couldn't save much money except for food.
The clothes her daughter wears are all handmade by her, using fabric she has saved up; she can only make one or two outfits a year.
Compared to families with many children, Song Qing's life wasn't too bad, even though she only had one person's salary.
Later, when An'an started elementary school, he came back to visit his family and took her to a department store. No matter how sensible a child is, she can't control her eyes when she sees pretty clothes.
An An glanced at the items a few times, and when Lu Yang noticed, he waved his hand and bought two sets.
Those are ready-made clothes from a department store; a set costs over twenty or thirty yuan, which is about the same as a worker's monthly salary.
Although Song Qing didn't stop him from spending money on An'an, she couldn't help but say a few words when she saw it.
Lu Yang also said the same thing.
He had already gone to the southwest by then, and he was very serious. The way he spoke made it sound as if Song Qing had abused his daughter.
That's not all; the remittance slip he sent next month had an extra twenty yuan on it. Song Qing didn't even know his exact salary.
All I knew was that the money being transferred in increased year by year, and by the last two years it had reached over 150 yuan.
Many people don't earn that much in a year. But she was also puzzled. Didn't the Lu family tell her that she had sent all the money back home? Why did she keep sending it back?
The two barely corresponded in the following years, and he rarely had time to take vacations to come back and see An'an, so naturally he had no chance to mention it to her.
"That's not how you spend money." She didn't say this in her past life, but she finally said it in this one.
Children don't like eating vegetables anyway. To them, there's no difference between winter cabbage and summer cabbage; they're both just cabbage.
With that money, you might as well buy a few more pounds of meat. These days, what kid doesn't crave meat?
After saying that, she let go of the handlebars and took An'an's hand, and they strolled around the street again. They had just bought a coal stove, but forgot to buy coal.
Lu Yang gave her tickets for 20 kilograms of coal. If she could take them back today, she would have bought them all together.
Coal isn't expensive these days, but it's wasteful to use. In Xin'an, we needed coal for heating in winter and for cooking, so we had to use it sparingly.
They no longer need coal for heating and cooking, but she still bought a coal stove to boil water.
She couldn't accept boiling water for drinking in the same pot used for cooking, and unlike some places where hot water is provided, the residential compound didn't have a kettle that you could just take out and get.
After walking around for a while, An'an was too tired to walk anymore, and it was almost time to cook, so they hurried back.
Lu Yang escorted the mother and daughter to the entrance of Yanghe Village, then put his things back home. Song Qing went to Secretary Liu's house first.
"Sister Chen, I haven't had time to come and thank you before. It's finally finished with this house, so I brought you some cookies."
Song Qing brought a pound of biscuits he bought at the department store to their door. Secretary Liu wasn't there, and his wife, Sister Chen, was very embarrassed, saying that Song Qing and the others were too polite and that she absolutely refused to accept the biscuits.
"Take it back quickly, you're too kind, we didn't do anything."
After some back and forth, Sister Chen reluctantly accepted it, but she wrapped a lot of hazelnuts in newspaper, fearing that Song Qing wouldn't accept it, and handed it directly to An'an.
"Alright, don't be so polite. I've accepted your cookies, so you have to accept these dried fruits from me. They're not worth much; I picked them myself from the mountains."
An'an looked up at Song Qing's face and saw that she nodded. She happily hugged the newspaper. The hazelnuts were roasted until they were fragrant and delicious.
The two didn't chat for long. Song Qing went to Uncle Laogen's house again. She had planned to buy some things from Uncle Laogen and invite him to her house for dinner that night.
"You're here! Come and see the chicken I picked out. It's so plump, weighing over three pounds. It's just a bit old, and it doesn't lay eggs much in the middle of winter, so the owner is selling it."
Uncle Lao Gen went out to help someone repair a chimney, leaving Aunt Lao Gen at home waiting for Song Qing.
The old hen was tied up and thrown on the ground. It was indeed very fat and looked very appealing.
"It's hard to buy vegetables now. We can only eat radishes, potatoes and frozen cabbage stored in the cellar to get through the winter."
"You didn't stock up on food when you first arrived, so these are extras we have. Take them home and eat them."
Old Lady Lao Gen filled a lot of potatoes and radishes in an old fertilizer bag, and also cut down several large cabbages in the field. These cabbages took up a lot of space, and the bag was almost full.
"If you don't have enough to eat, just tell me. When the snow melts in the spring, there will be wild vegetables, and we can plant some more then."
Old Lady knew that Song Qing and her family came from a city in the south, and fearing that they would look down on the dried-out frozen cabbage, she deliberately opened the bag.
"These frozen cabbages are left in the ground. Sometimes the snow falls so fast that there's no time to harvest them. Several layers of snow cover them and they freeze. When we want to eat them, we just grab a knife and go chop them down."
Some were harvested and then left outside to freeze; they looked nice, but they weren't as sweet as the ones grown in the field.
"Look, it's all ice inside, but it's not spoiled. Use it to stew tofu, and it'll be so delicious it'll make your tongue fall off!"
Peel back the withered leaves to reveal the tender white heart of the cabbage. Seeing such a bright color in the dead of winter instantly lifts one's spirits.
"Thank you, Sister-in-law Gen. It's not easy to get vegetables in the dead of winter. We wouldn't know what to do if you hadn't given us some."
Old Lady laughed heartily, "It's because we stored a lot this year, and we haven't finished eating it yet."
Song Qing wanted to give Lao Gen's wife money, but Lao Gen's wife said frankly that the vegetables were not worth much and that Song Qing and the others were being too polite.
"You silly child, you also gave our family two big vats, have you forgotten?"
This big vat will be valuable once it's repaired. Once they make a lid for it, they won't have to worry about rats when they use it to store grain.
Song Qing naturally refused. If it were just one frozen cabbage, that would be fine, but Old Gen's wife gave them several, along with more than ten kilograms of potatoes and radishes.
"Sister-in-law Lao Gen, you must accept this. I'd like to ask you to help me accept some things next time. How can I ask you to do this again?"
She left a total of four yuan and fifty cents for Lao Gen's wife. She spent three yuan and twenty cents on the chicken, and also bought one yuan and thirty cents worth of tofu. The remaining yuan was for vegetables.
"Sister Gen, we're leaving now. Remember to come over for dinner with Uncle Gen tonight, and please call Uncle Ma for us too. We arranged it at the gate; once you register, you can go in."
"Okay, okay, I'll let him go when he gets back."
Lu Yang once again played the role of a laborer. He put the sack of vegetables on the back seat, placed An'an on the crossbar in front of the car, and pushed the car back with Song Qing.
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