Three Women in the Cage

Yang Yu finally waited for this day to go to the market so that she could buy some livestock. She was a little excited because this was her first time to go to the market in a real sense.

She walked into the bedroom, gently opened the closet door, and her eyes fell on the stack of bills hidden in the corner. She carefully pulled the money out and counted it carefully, mentally calculating the amount she might need to spend. Then, she carefully counted out a 20-yuan bill, put the rest back where it belonged, and sorted out her clothes. This money was her only savings, and she didn't dare to touch it carelessly. Since she hadn't yet found a way to earn money, she had to keep some for a rainy day.

Afterwards, she came to the gate of the yard, ready to go to the market. When she looked up, she saw that the neighbors in the village were walking in groups of three or four passing by her gate. She watched them talking and laughing, and occasionally they looked into her house inadvertently with a smile in their eyes.

Their house is located at the upper part of the village, which means it is at an important transportation node. Whether going to other villages or going out for business, it is a must-go place. Therefore, every market day, every household in the village will go out, and the gate of their house naturally becomes the only way to go through the village.

At that moment, the courtyard gate of their house was unusually bustling. Some people who usually had tense relationships with them would laugh at them or glance at them with disdain as they passed by. Those who were hypocritical and good at putting on a show would call out in a hypocritical manner, "Second sister-in-law, let's go to the market!" However, they were just pretending and would leave without looking back, deeply despising their family.

Faced with these superficial neighbors, Yang Yu reluctantly responded, "Hey, I need to wait a while, you guys go first."

She wouldn't go with them! They were all people wearing false masks, speaking insincere words and wearing fake smiles, and she had to endure their constant sarcasm. She was really worried that she would be unable to help but expose them on the spot, and even the superficial harmony would be destroyed. In comparison, being alone was more comfortable.

After most of the neighbors had left, Yang Yu was ready to go out. When she was carrying Yaya on her back and passing by the grocery store in the next village, someone suddenly called her.

"Hey, are you going out now too?"

Hearing this somewhat familiar voice, Yang Yu couldn't help but turn around in confusion.

There was a young and beautiful woman with a child about the same age as Yaya tied on her shoulders. Yang Yu looked carefully and found that it was the owner of the convenience store.

The beauty stepped forward, looked at Yang Yu with a smile on her face and said, "Look, this is my daughter. I told you last time that she is about the same age as your daughter. Isn't it fate that they are together?"

Seeing the beautiful woman once again actively approaching him to talk, Yang Yu quietly let go of his grudges and smiled and replied, "It's quite a coincidence!"

"You are going to the market too, right? Let's go together. It just so happens that you have a companion for the journey," said the beautiful woman.

During the conversation, I learned that most of the people in their village had the surname Jiang, so the village was simply named Jiangjia Village.

The beauty was disliked by her in-laws because she gave birth to her first daughter. They said she was not destined to give birth to a boy. So in order to save face, she had to give birth to a son, so she named her eldest daughter "Jiang Qiannan".

"We are in need of a boy, we are in need of a boy. My mother asked someone to calculate it for us. She said that this would let the Goddess of Fertility know that our family is in need of a boy. Next time, she would give us what we are in need of."

"Actually, I don't dislike daughters that much. It's just that in today's environment, if a family doesn't have a son, they'll be looked down upon by everyone. People always say that a daughter once married off is like spilled water. Who would want to be someone else's dowry and get nothing for themselves?"

After talking for a while, she asked Yang Yu, "You also gave birth to a child, right? Did you give her a name?"

"Her name is Zhang Ya. I didn't give her a name that has any meaning. I just wanted her to be elegant and quiet."

In fact, Yang Yu didn't understand what the beautiful woman said. Her parents-in-law and husband disliked her for giving birth to a daughter and had no intention of naming her. In the end, she had to name the daughter herself.

The eldest daughter was named Zhang Huan, simply because I thought the character "Huan" was very suitable for a girl and had a poetic quality. When the second daughter was born, the character "Ya" was chosen, simply because it embodies the beauty of elegance and tranquility.

But in fact, Yang Yu also hoped to have a son. She just didn't want those people to laugh at her. She wanted to prove that since everyone could give birth to a son, why couldn't she? She wanted to fight for that pride. She didn't want to lose.

As they were talking, they arrived at the market, which was already crowded with people from various villages gathered together, and soon they were squeezed out.

Yang Yu was pushed forward by the crowd. When she was squeezed to the place where poultry was sold, she squeezed in desperately. She looked at the chicks in the cages one by one. Before she had time to ask the price, they were decisively bought by others.

Seeing that the cages were getting smaller and smaller, Yang Yu said anxiously, "Boss, I want a few!"

The boss looked at Yang Yu struggling to squeeze into the crowd with the child on his back, and said with pity, "How many do you want? I'll bring them to you!"

"Can I have three? I see you have some ducklings over there. Give me three more ducks and put them in a cage," Yang Yu said in a hoarse voice.

There were too many people, so she didn't speak louder, as she was afraid the boss wouldn't be able to hear her clearly.

The boss nodded and quickly handed Yang Yu a cage with three chicks and three ducklings in it.

"A total of 6 yuan!"

Yang Yu took out money from his purse, carefully counted out 6 yuan and handed it over, then said thank you and walked out with the cage.

Thinking of checking out the piglets, Yang Yu asked the owner next door and headed over. He saw some large piglets, and was in a dilemma. It would be difficult to lug them back so far. He had originally planned to buy smaller ones so he could carry them home, but they were all sold out, leaving only the slightly larger ones.

He asked about the price again, and found out that the cheapest one was 15 yuan. Touching the only 14 yuan left in his wallet, Yang Yu hesitated, and thought that he didn't have a pigpen at home, so he might as well buy it later.

By then, a few poultry can be sold for money, and they can also lay eggs and hatch chicks, which can be sold and eaten by ourselves.

So after Yang Yu made up his mind, he prepared to end the market without hesitation.

When he returned with the cage, he found Zhang Erfa in a daze in the yard. Looking at the cage in Yang Yu's hand, he asked curiously, "Where did you get these?"

Yang Yu didn't want to pay attention to him, so he fenced off an area in the yard and put the chicks and ducklings in there. Watching them chirping inside, Yang Yu scooped a spoonful of rice and threw it in. Watching them scramble to eat it, they soon stopped making noise.

"People have no food to eat, yet you still feed them? Are you crazy?" Zhang Erfa looked at Yang Yu speechlessly.

"You still know that there is no food to eat? Have you ever cared about these things? Since you don't want to care, just don't ask anything!" Yang Yu retorted bluntly.

Zhang Erfa cursed, "You spendthrift woman, don't come looking for me when you run out of food."