Eating melons and raising children in the period literature

When Yang Qingqing arrived in the county town, she did not go to the supply and marketing cooperative to look for Yue Mei right away. Instead, she put on makeup and strolled around the county town, hoping to see if she could find anything.

The main reason was that she wanted to find someone to sell the things in the supermarket. This way she could have some money. She didn't think of getting rich from this, she just wanted to have money in case something happened. After all, having money in hand would make you feel less anxious.

She still didn't find anything in the county town, but Yang Qingqing saw the house being searched. She didn't expect to encounter something like this. A group of people surrounded the family and beat and scolded them? Even the children were not spared. They didn't treat people as human beings at all.

Yang Qingqing suddenly stopped thinking about making money with the things in the supermarket. In the past, the heroines and heroes in novels always made fortunes in the black market. Yang Qingqing didn't want to make a fortune, she just wanted to save some money. It didn't need to be too much, 1000 yuan would be enough. But after seeing the tragic situation of the house being confiscated, Yang Qingqing decided that safety was more important. She should still think about finding a job to make money. Don't think about cheating. She is not the heroine who can turn danger into safety and turn disaster into blessing.

Yang Qingqing gave up the idea of ​​looking for a black market. But she thought she could learn from the heroine in the novel and find bargains. She was ready again. When she arrived at the door of the scrap yard, Yang Qingqing felt that she had been deceived by the novel.

Don't even think about picking up bargains here. There's no way there's anything good here! There are gold bars hidden in table legs, and bracelets hidden in makeup boxes. Yang Qingqing saw several people picking and choosing, sorting things into categories. Just go through it like this, and those who can pick up money are really lucky.

"Hey, what are you doing? Why don't you leave?" the old man at the door said

"I didn't do anything. I just heard from others that I can come here to buy some old newspapers and so on. Can I buy some?" Yang Qingqing asked carefully.

"You're still buying newspapers. In our small county, how many newspapers can be left at the waste station? There are no more any left. Let's go."

"Okay, I'll leave now."

Yang Qingqing thought to herself, "Oh my god, I'm a writer who traveled through time and space in a book, but I couldn't find it in the black market, and I also failed to check in at the scrap yard. What else is there? Yes, there is one last place, the post office. I can buy stamps and wait for them to appreciate in value."

Yang Qingqing only knows a little about stamps. Because her grandfather is a stamp collector, she learned about them when she was a child in order to please him. Later, she found that it was useless to please him. He didn't care at all. There would never be the kind grandfather she imagined, telling stories about stamps to his granddaughter. Her grandfather was busy every day and had almost no time to eat. Who would have the mood to tell him stories? From then on, Yang Qingqing started to give up. Anyway, her parents didn't care, her grandfather was too busy, her grandmother only liked her grandson, and she didn't see her grandparents until she moved out at the age of 18.

Yang Qingqing came to the post office, thinking of buying a few stamps to try her luck, just in case she could get a bargain!

"Hello, comrade. I want to print stamps. I want to keep them for future use and collection. Can you help me get some? The wrong editions issued previously are also OK."

"Hello, comrade. We only have genuine stamps in our post office. All other stamps have been destroyed. Do you want any more?"

"Ah! Yes, I want five editions of the ones from the past two years. How much do you think they cost?"

"Do you want to buy so much? This is not cheap, it costs 16 dollars in total."

"Okay, give it to me. This is 16 yuan."

Yang Qingqing came out with the stamps and really wanted to cry. None of the stamps she bought were particularly valuable. But if she kept them, they would appreciate in value in the future, but not by much.

[I'd better wait to buy the monkey stamps later. I will definitely not miss this one. But it will be released for more than 10 years. Some people have waited]

Yang Qingqing came to the door of the supply and marketing cooperative and waited for Yue Mei to get off work

"Sister-in-law, you're off work." Yang Qingqing immediately went to help

"It's you, sister. I didn't see you this morning and thought you weren't coming. Let's go to my sister-in-law's house today and talk about it later." He said, pulling Yang Qingqing affectionately.

"Okay, I brought you some plums that we grow today. They're delicious, sour and sweet." (Actually, I got them from the supermarket when I got here.)

"Let's go, we're having dinner at my sister-in-law's house today."

The supply and marketing cooperative is not far from Yue Mei’s home, and it takes about 10 minutes to walk there.

When I got home, the table was already set for dinner. "Mom, I'm back. This is Qingqing."

"Hey, this little girl is really pretty. Come sit down and eat."

Yang Qingqing was just sighing about how good the relationship between her mother-in-law and daughter-in-law was when she heard

"Qingqing, this is my mother, not my mother-in-law. My mother-in-law and my partner both have jobs and can't take care of me, so I go back to my parents' home every day. Anyway, it's not far away. My mother-in-law wanted my sister-in-law to take over my job. She also said that I can rest assured to take care of the children at home in the future! I'm not stupid. Fortunately, my partner and I are of the same mind. Yesterday afternoon, he took a leave to go to the military district to ask, and we are relieved. I brought you home today. Don't you mind?"

"Well, I don't mind. If I were your sister-in-law, I would ask her too. Do you believe me now?"

"Yeah, I'm eight and a half months pregnant now, and I want to work until the end of this month. There are still ten days left. Starting next month, you will take over my shift, and when I'm out of confinement and can go back to work, we'll..."

"Okay, it's okay with me. You can come back, just tell me."

"That's good. You said before that you only want money but not tickets. We are not that kind of people. We can give you both money and tickets. It's just that you may have some trouble. I hope you don't blame me."

"What trouble?"

"It's my sister-in-law. She might come to you. But don't worry, we will keep an eye on him. We're afraid we might neglect him."

"Is it just your sister-in-law? There is no one else."

"No, no, my mother-in-law has work and doesn't have time to go. Even if she had time, she wouldn't go. She is a very face-conscious person and likes to act pretentiously. So she won't come to you. Also, two colleagues want to introduce someone to take my place. You should know this. They may not like you, but they won't cause trouble for you openly."

"I've told you all this. Do you still want to take over? It's okay if you don't agree. I just don't want to cheat you."

"It's nothing, I can do it. Don't worry. I can handle it. Sister-in-law is such a good person. So when are we going to go and complete the formalities?"

"Come to the supply and marketing cooperative to see me on the last day of this month. I will take you to see the director. Then you can start working directly on the first day of next month."

"Okay, then it's settled. I'll come back at the end of this month."

Yang Qingqing helped to clean up the food and chopsticks, and then was driven out by the old man to talk to Yue Mei.

After leaving Yue Mei's house, Yang Qingqing went to the station to wait for the bus. She was not going to take anything back today. She couldn't explain why she always took things back.

When Yang Qingqing arrived at the door of her house, she saw that the yard she bought had been completely renovated. There were several people working inside, and Uncle Ma was also helping.

"Uncle, I'm back. Is there anything I can help you with? It's almost done now. There's nothing to worry about. Do you want to come and see how it's done? Tell me what needs to be changed?"

"Okay, thank you."

Yang Qingqing looked around and felt that there was nothing to change. Everything was fine at this stage. The windows were also covered with window paper. It looked like they used to use glass, but some of the glass was broken, so they covered it with paper.

"Uncle, I'll give you the money for the window paper later. If you need money for anything else, just tell me and I'll give it all to you. You can't say no! If you don't want it, I won't dare to ask you for help again."

"You kid, it really didn't cost much. Just one dollar for the window paper and tiles. The tiles were bought from several families, all from the village. I've already paid you. Your uncle spent so little money on you, and you still want to give me money. If I took it, what kind of person would I be? If you give it to me, it would be a pity for your uncle."

"Uncle, please don't say that."

……

After a lot of pushing and shoving, Yang Qingqing still didn't give the money. Uncle Ma was determined not to accept it, so Yang Qingqing thought that she could exchange it for something else and give it to Uncle Ma later.

Yang Qingqing still cooked in the evening, but there was no meat today. Yang Qingqing also made three dishes: fried cabbage, scrambled eggs with cucumber, and cold peanuts (this dish was cheated again), and cornmeal steamed buns.

When the children saw today’s dishes, they were not as happy as yesterday, but they still ate very happily. They did not eat meat and eggs every day before, and today there were eggs instead of meat, so the children were happier.

"Brother, sister-in-law, children, I want to announce a good news, not two good news"

"Aunt, what is it?"

"Aunt"

"aunt"……

"Well, our house is about to become a chicken farm. Now I'll tell you the first good news. I bought the house. Another good news is that I found a temporary job. How's that? Isn't it great?"

Yang Qingqing proudly announced

"Yang Qingqing! What did you say? You bought the house? Didn't you say you wanted to rent it? And where did you find the job? Is it so easy to find a job? Otherwise there wouldn't be so many educated youths."

"Brother, listen to me. Really, listen to my explanation and don't be angry."

"Yang Qingqing, you have become more capable. I think you want to be beaten."

"Brother, you see, it is better to buy a house than to rent one. This way we can better integrate into our village. The house will always be ours, so we don't have to buy a house when the children grow up."

"But didn't we agree to rent a house? When we have more money, I will buy one. Your money is for your dowry. You can't touch it."

"That's all my dowry, so what if I move some of it? Look, I've found a job! Don't worry, second brother, I will definitely be able to earn the money back. The dowry won't be small, so just use it now as advance payment. Okay?"

"Okay, let's not talk about the house for now. How's your work going? You've only been here a few days."

"You can say I'm lucky! On the first day I went to the county town... and today I agreed with Sister Xuemei that I would return the job to him after she finishes her confinement. I calculated that he can work in the supply and marketing cooperative for at least three months. I don't believe that I can't find a job in three months." Yang Qingqing told her second brother and others about the job.

"That's good. You're lucky. You found a job as soon as you arrived. Then work hard and see if you can find a long-term job. Even if you can't find one, your second brother can still support you."

"Qingqing is amazing. She found a job so quickly. Now that the children are on summer vacation, let them go to my mother's house so that there will be someone to watch over them. We can work without worry, and when school starts, let them go to school to study."

"Thank you, second sister-in-law. Will this be too much trouble for Auntie and the others? Let's give the children's food rations to Auntie and the others. We can't let them subsidize us."

"Need I tell you? Your second brother is not that kind of person. Let the children take it over when the time comes."

"That's right. Your second brother and I have always provided food rations to my parents. The children need a lot of food every day. If they don't provide food rations, my parents will have no objection, but my brother and sister-in-law will have an opinion."

"That's good. And second brother, I told my eldest brother and the village chief and accountant today that they will come to our house for dinner tomorrow night. And there are also my sisters-in-law, uncles and aunts. It's a good opportunity to get acquainted with them and also serve as a warm house. Do you think it's okay?"

"You're asking me now? Isn't it too late? You've already said it, how can I chase you away? I have to go to the army tomorrow morning, and I will be back early in the afternoon. I will go shopping early tomorrow morning."

"No, no, no, I'm ready."

"What have you prepared? How did you prepare? You've only been here for a few days and you've become so capable!"

"I asked Sister Yue Mei and Sister Wang for help. They are both available and said they would save some for me, hehehe."

"You are really good. You are really capable. What do you want?"

"I didn't ask for anything! I'm not sure what will be left at Sister Wang's place, I have to go check tomorrow to find out. Mainly because she works at a state-owned restaurant, and their chef has to give the order. As for Sister Yue Mei, I asked her to save some snacks and roasted nuts for me. There are also two bottles of wine, but brother, do you still have the wine tickets? Sister Yue Mei needs tickets for everything."

"I still have two wine tickets. See if you need anything else and talk to your second sister-in-law. I'm not sure what the tickets at home have."

"Qingqing, tell me what you need. If there's nothing, I'll go see my mom first."

"Thank you, second sister-in-law. There's no need for anything else. We still have some leftovers from my eldest brother and his family, which is enough. I just need two wine tickets. I have to go to the county town tomorrow. I'd like to trouble Aunt and the others to take care of Wenjing and the others for the next two days. Second sister-in-law, please deliver the children's food rations to Uncle and his family. If I go, Aunt and the others will definitely not accept them. And do you want to ask my second brother and his family to come back for dinner tomorrow? Second sister-in-law"

"Okay, I'll go deliver the rations later, and ask my dad and the others if I should go call my second brother and the others. I guess they don't have time to come back, as they usually only come back during festivals. They rarely come back on weekdays. It's too much trouble to make the trip. I'll go ask them."

"Okay, sister-in-law, tell me and I'll check the number of people. Can you come back to help tomorrow afternoon? I'm afraid I can't do it alone."

"Okay, I'll be back at noon tomorrow. I'll tell my mom later. Let her come to help in the afternoon. This way it will be faster. Your aunt's cooking skills are pretty good."

"Auntie's cooking skills are impeccable. I feel embarrassed for always stumping them these past two days. Thank you, second sister-in-law, hehe."

"You just arrived and there are a lot of things to do. It's not a big deal for relatives to help each other. You also brought a lot of gifts! My parents accepted them all."