Starting a new chapter in life

He Zhijun nodded: "That's great. If we need anything in the future, we'll have a place to get it. Jingyan is really lucky."

"Oh right, I also bought a lot of soybean cakes. I plan to raise a few chickens in the yard in the spring. Sister He said that soybean cakes can also be used as fertilizer. When I want to use them in the spring, she will teach me how to do it. That way, we won't have to deal with farmyard manure. That stuff has a terrible smell."

"You can decide these things. Just see how much time I have. It would be best to do it during my vacation so I can help out at home. If we're raising chickens, we'll need to build a chicken coop, right? I'll go and find out where there's a brick factory and buy some red bricks to build the coop."

Jingyan quickly stopped her: "We don't need the brick factory. Sister Gao is also helping me find out if anyone in the neighborhood wants to build a wall or renovate a warehouse during the off-season. If so, they can get some old bricks. There's no need to use good bricks to build a chicken coop. Sister Gao also said that if we buy old bricks from other people, they can come over and help build the chicken coop. I think this idea is better."

He Zhijun nodded: "That's fine, but it would be best if it was during my vacation, or if I could ask for leave. We can't just stand by and do nothing when they come to build the chicken coop for us. You're a woman, so there's no need for you to do that dirty and tiring work. It's perfect for me to come back."

Jing Yan nodded: "That's fine too."

After breakfast, He Zhijun insisted on dragging Jingyan to the supply and marketing cooperative. Jingyan could not refuse and had to put on her coat. Just as she reached the door, she saw He Chunni pushing a cart. Jingyan greeted her, "Sister He, what brings you here?"

He Chunni looked at her happily: "I came to find you. Last time, Zhang said that she only had two eggs left at home. It just so happens that every household in our company has saved some. I brought them over today to ask if you want to keep them. Once you've made your choice, I'm going to go to the community to find Gao to see if I can sell the rest."

Upon hearing this, Jing Yan nodded repeatedly: "Sister He, please push the cart in first. I want some eggs. I'll ask my neighbor if they want to buy some too. I borrowed a handcart from someone when I went to pick up a package yesterday. I'm just returning the favor."

He Chunni smiled broadly upon hearing this, and quickly pushed the cart into the yard. Jing Yan closed the gate and turned around. The cotton cloth on the cart had already been lifted. There weren't many items on the cart, except for two large buckets of soybean oil, two large baskets of rice, four tied-up chickens, and dried mushrooms, dried wood ear fungus, peanuts, and melon seeds.

Sister He looked at He Zhijun with a smile: "This is your husband? He's really handsome."

"Sister He, didn't you say there were eggs? Why don't I see them?" Jingyan didn't pay attention to Sister He's words, but she really couldn't find any eggs.

Sister He glared at her: "Go get something to put the eggs in, and I'll do a magic trick for you."

Jing Yan was completely confused, and He Zhijun quickly said, "I'll go get the basket."

As He Zhijun left, Sister He nudged Jing Yan with her shoulder and said, "You have good taste, young lady. The young man is really handsome and looks very energetic. No wonder you were willing to leave your hometown with him."

Jingyan said with some helplessness, "Sister He, I followed him out of my hometown not only because he is good-looking, but also because he is educated and a soldier. I think he is reliable. Relationships need to be nurtured and maintained. If you are always separated, even the best relationship will be worn down. So naturally, we should try to shorten the distance as much as possible."

Sister He gave her a thumbs up: "That makes sense!"

He Zhijun returned quickly and placed the basket beside the cart. "This is the basket my family uses to store eggs."

Sister He looked at Jing Yan, smiled, and reached into... the rice basket. When she came out, she was holding two eggs. Jing Yan's eyes widened: "Is this even possible? How can you hide eggs in rice?"

"You don't know this, do you? Most people use rice husks to prevent the eggs from breaking. Actually, soybeans and rice can also be used. I just wanted to save space so I could bring more things, so I didn't use rice husks, which are hard to carry back. I just put them in the rice. Look, not a single one is broken." Sister He said proudly.

Jingyan couldn't help but give her a thumbs up: "You have a good idea."

After she finished speaking, she couldn't help but reach in and ask, "How many eggs did you bring, sister?"

There should be around four hundred.

"So many? Are your chickens that prolific at laying eggs?" Jing Yan's pupils dilated in shock.

Sister He patted her on the shoulder: "Now every household is limited in the number of chickens they can raise. How could my family alone not be able to save up so many? All the eggs for our brigade for the past two weeks are here."

Jing Yan looked at He Zhijun: "How many do we want?"

“You decide. It’s cold now, so the eggs won’t spoil easily. Why don’t we buy more?” He Zhijun said.

Jing Yan nodded: "Then, let's keep fifty."

"Okay, shall we keep this chicken?" He Zhijun asked.

"Wouldn't four be a bit too many?" Jing Yan hesitated.

"Then let's keep two for now. I'll prepare them tonight, and you can stew them whenever you want. It's freezing now, and although they're not completely frozen, they shouldn't spoil."

“Okay, keep two.” Jing Yan nodded.

"Keep some peanuts and melon seeds too, you can have them as snacks when you're not doing anything at home," He Zhijun continued.

Jingyan nodded as she picked up the eggs: "Okay."

After Jingyan finally finished picking out all fifty eggs, there were already several cloth bags on the ground. Jingyan looked at He Zhijun with a blank expression, "This is what you called 'some'? Don't you think there are too many left?"

“It’s getting cold, these won’t spoil easily. They won’t spoil even if we eat them until next spring. If we can’t finish them, we can just consider it as buying New Year’s goods in advance. This is the first time the two of us are spending the New Year together. If we can’t buy them, that’s fine. But since we’ve come across this, I won’t let you go without snacks.” He Zhijun said this with great confidence.

Jing Yan nodded: "Then let's calculate how much these cost first." There was a hint of helplessness in her voice.

He Chunni was very happy: "Oh, Zhang, your man is really good, he loves you very much. Let me do the math. We don't need coupons here, so the unit price is a little higher. Eggs are seven cents each, which is three yuan and fifty cents. Two chickens weigh seven jin and eight liang. The supply and marketing cooperative charges seven mao per jin, and the black market charges one yuan and twenty cents. I'll charge you one yuan, so it's seven yuan and eighty cents in total. Peanuts and melon seeds will be charged according to the supply and marketing cooperative price. Five jin of peanuts are two yuan, and ten jin of melon seeds are also two yuan, so it's fifteen yuan and thirty cents in total. Just give me fifteen yuan, girl."

"Thank you very much, Sister He." He Zhijun carried the things back to the kitchen. Jing Yan took out her small bag, counted out the money, and handed it to He Chunni. "Sister He, please wait a moment. I'll ask the neighbors if they want it."

"Okay, okay, then I'll trouble you, young lady."

Jing Yan went outside and knocked on the door next door. After a short while, someone came out to open the door. It was the same woman who opened the door. Jing Yan greeted her with a smile, and the woman felt awkward about being rude: "What is it?"

"Um, I have an older sister who lives in the 13th Company. Today she brought some farm produce like eggs, soybean oil, and live chickens. I was thinking of coming over to ask if you wanted some? No coupons required."

"Eggs, and live chickens?" The woman, who had been looking listless, suddenly perked up. "Where are they?"

"In my yard..."

"Wait for me a moment, I'll go back and get the money and basket."

Watching the woman hurriedly return to her room, Jing Yan's lips twitched involuntarily. She had thought the woman had a cool and aloof persona, but now it had all crumbled.

The woman came out quickly, left the gate ajar, and followed Jingyan into the courtyard with a basket slung over her shoulder. When she saw the things on the cart, her expression brightened considerably: "Wow, there's quite a lot of stuff here. How much are they?"

After asking around about prices, she bought everything without holding back. She bought the remaining two chickens, a hundred eggs, and about ten kilograms of rice, as well as a little of everything else. He Chunni finally charged her thirty yuan for the goods, and both parties were very satisfied.

The short-haired woman smiled at Jing Yan and said, "My surname is Chen, Chen Xinyue. I'm a primary school teacher. If you ever come here again, I'll be home whenever school is on holiday. Just call me and I'll buy whatever you can here. You don't need to carry it back or get a ticket. It's cheaper than the black market and safer too. We should keep in touch!"

Jing Yan nodded quickly: "That's no problem. Even if I'm not home, Sister He can just knock on the door."

He Chunni nodded quickly: "That's right, that's right. Next time I go to the city, I'll stop by Zhang Meizi's place first and let you choose first."

He Chunni and Jing Yan helped Chen Xinyue deliver the things home. After they came out, Jing Yan asked her, "Are you going to the neighborhood office to find Sister Gao later?"

"Yes, Zhang, I'll probably come back at the beginning of next month. Once it's December, the company's three remaining pigs will be slaughtered. The captain said our company will keep one for ourselves, and we're planning to sell the rest at the market. Do you want me to save some good meat for you in advance?"

“That’s great. I should be able to keep half a pig. But my knife skills aren’t good. I can’t cut meat or separate bones well. Could you help me cut it up? I can just throw it into the warehouse to freeze. When I want to eat it, I can take a piece back and thaw it. It’s simple and convenient.”

“No problem, the butcher in our company is really good at it. It’s just cutting it into pieces, very simple. I’ll just leave you half a pig’s worth, and I’ll bring it over directly so you don’t have to make a trip.” He Chunni was very happy.

"Then go to Sister Gao's place later and tell her to confirm the time you're coming. With Sister Gao's help, our community should be able to distribute the one and a half heads of meat. This is much faster than you having to go all the way to set up a stall and wait. It also saves you a lot of money on stall fees."

"Alright, I'll head over now. Just say you made the right choice coming to us." Watching He Chunni hurriedly push her cart away, Jing Yan smiled and said to He Zhijun, "Looks like I'm pretty lucky. At least the people I've met here are all lovely."

“That’s right, you’re very lucky.” He Zhijun agreed with this statement.

“By the way, Sister He said that her company will slaughter a pig for the New Year at the beginning of next month. I ordered half a pig from her. The butcher will help me cut the pork into pieces. But I don’t know how much meat there will be, or if I bought too much. It’s just the two of us this year.” Jingyan brought up the pork.

“A pig can only yield a maximum of 80 jin of meat. Even if we keep 40 jin, it will be gone by next year. Besides, it includes ribs and big bones. I’m worried it won’t be enough. I’ll buy the pork from my older sister. I’ll see if I can buy some beef and mutton from the army.” He Zhijun never skimps on food, after all, he has never lacked food since he was a child.

"Is there anything else we need at home? While I'm home, let's get everything ready so you can stay home and enjoy the winter. It's getting colder and colder, and the ground is slippery after the snow, so let's stay home as much as possible."

Jingyan rolled her eyes: "I want to go to the recycling station. Will you come with me?"

"What are you going to the scrap yard for?" He Zhijun asked, somewhat puzzled.

"Hmm, I'd like to go over there and see if I can find some sheet metal. I'd like to find someone to make me a grill. When you're on vacation, I'll make you a barbecue. I might not be good at stir-frying, but grilling meat should be fine."

"You know how to make barbecue?" He Zhijun's eyes widened. He hadn't eaten barbecue for many years. Since the movement started, all the snacks he used to eat had disappeared. It was too difficult to eat something good. No one dared to defy the trend.

Jing Yan nodded: "I can bake it, but I can't guarantee the taste."

He Zhijun immediately made a decision: "Let's go to the scrap yard and see if we can find a charcoal grill. If we can't find one, it's okay. Just tell me what kind it looks like, and I'll draw it out and make it myself. I can apply to the logistics department to buy the materials."

The couple went to the scrap yard in high spirits. At the gate, the old man guarding the gate looked at the two strangers with a wary expression: "What are you looking for?"

He Zhijun stepped forward, lit a cigarette, and handed it to the old man, saying gently, "Grandpa, we came to see if you have received a barbecue grill. If you have one ready, we'll buy it."

"Barbecue grill? Young man, things are stricter now, especially buying and selling. What are you going to do with that? Aren't you afraid of getting caught? It's one thing for ordinary things, but with this kind of food, if you get caught, you won't even have time to pack up before you can run away. I advise you, don't bother." The old man said earnestly.

He Zhijun's mood was completely unaffected. "It's almost Chinese New Year, and everyone's preparing to hibernate. My wife and I are just staying home with nothing to do, so we're making our own barbecue skewers. Otherwise, all we do all winter is stew and stir-fry, which is really boring."

The old man... tucked his cigarette behind his ear and looked at him with a somewhat complicated expression: "Go to the innermost room and search it. There are all kinds of stoves and pots that have been collected there, iron ones and copper ones. They all look usable to me, so I didn't send them to the steel mill."

After saying that, he roared, "Old woman, you take those two young men and go pick some out. Tell them not to wander off."

An old woman came out from the inner room, put on her hat and scarf, and muttered, "You old geezer, all you do is order me around. Remember to keep an eye on the fire, or if it's out when I come back, I'll give you a good beating."

The old man waved his hand: "Alright, I know. They're looking for a stove. Tell them to hurry up. It's getting cold. Don't let your old arms and legs get frostbite."