Starting a new chapter in life

She quickly stepped forward to stop the person, "Excuse me, ma'am, which road leads down to the 13th Company?"

The visitors were two women, who looked to be in their thirties. They were carrying a basket covered with a cloth, and if you listened carefully, you could hear "cheep cheep cheep" sounds. She guessed that they were either chicks or ducks and geese. Since she didn't know them well, she didn't want to ask them.

One of the women, with her hair in a bun, asked, "Young lady, are you going to the company now? It's spring plowing season. Are you going to visit relatives or help them with the work?"

Jingyan's eyes widened: "Is everyone doing spring plowing now? My cousin works in the 13th Company. We had arranged for her to take me to the mountains to dig for wild vegetables in the spring. I saw that the grass has grown quite a bit now, so I thought it was about time to come. But this is my first time here, and I don't even know which path to take."

The woman pointed to the fork in the road where they had come from: "If you follow this road, you'll get to the 13th Company. Which company are you going to? We're from the 13th Company, and we know everyone in the company."

Seeing their somewhat wary expressions, Jing Yan replied, "I'm going to find He Chunni..."

"Oh, this is Chunni'er's family. Are you surnamed Zhang or Gao?" another woman with a braid asked.

"My surname is Zhang."

The woman with the braid quickly said, "Then you should go quickly. Chunni asked me to get her a few more chicks, saying that Sister Zhang from the city wanted to raise them. She took them from my house four or five days ago. Go to her house to get them. We have other things to do, so we won't take you there. There should be some old people sitting under the trees at the crossroads of the company, chatting. Ask them for directions to Chunni's house."

Jingyan thanked the two people and walked inside, while the two people chatted as they walked towards the city center of Jiang City. The two groups gradually disappeared into the distance...

After walking for about twenty minutes, Jingyan finally saw the shadows of houses hidden behind the trees. She continued walking along the path that had been trodden out, and after turning a corner, she saw a slightly wider road. At this time, the branches had sprouted leaves, and the tips of the two rows of poplar trees on the roadside intersected and shaded the area. As the wind blew and the trees swayed, sunlight dappled in, but it did not feel hot.

Several elderly people sat on small stools, holding water cups and thermos bottles beside them, chatting leisurely, some leaning against tree trunks or chair backs. Some who played chess sat directly on the ground with chessboards on their stools. Although the space was small, they played with great enthusiasm.

Jingyan walked over, and several elderly people waved to her when they saw her: "Whose little girl are you?"

"Hello, grandpa and grandma, is this the Thirteenth Company?" Jing Yan asked politely with a smile.

An elderly woman nodded: "It's the 13th Company. Who are you looking for? There's no one in this company I don't know."

"I need to go to He Chunni's house. Could you tell me how to get there?"

"Oh, Chunni'er's house. Just walk along this road, turn left at the second intersection, and it's the third house. Are you surnamed Zhang or Gao?" The old lady gave accurate directions and asked questions casually, but it was clear that she knew a lot about her and Sister Gao.

“My surname is Zhang, Auntie. Is spring plowing hard? I was originally planning to go up the mountain with Sister He to dig some wild vegetables, but if spring plowing is busy, I won’t go up the mountain,” Jingyan asked.

"Spring plowing is alright. The men can manage the fields. Our company has three oxen to help. The women and children just do odd jobs. If you want to go up the mountain to dig some wild vegetables, even if Chunni can't go, her child can take you. Don't underestimate the kids in our company. They've been around the nearby mountains since they were little, they know it like the back of their hand. Go on, it's only an eight or nine-minute walk, not far." The old woman waved her hand, turned around and took a shoe sole from her basket, put on a ring, and began to sew a shoe sole.

Jingyan thanked the old woman and followed her directions to He Chunni's house.

As they approached the door of the third house in the second row, they could see He Chunni feeding chickens through the wooden fence. Chickens of three different sizes—small, medium, and large—were clucking and vying for food in the coop. Jingyan called out, "Sister He, are you busy?"

He Chunni looked up and saw Jing Yan. She quickly poured the chicken feed from the basin into the wooden trough, put the basin by the door, and opened the wooden door to welcome her: "Sister Zhang is here. Please come in. I was thinking of going to your house in a few days to ask if you have finished building your chicken coop. The company is hatching chicks these days. I saved a few for you. Here they are, being raised here."

Jingyan followed her inside: "How many do you have? Isn't it said that each household can't have more than four?"

"That's for residents in towns; things have been relaxed quite a bit in the countryside." He Chunni led Jing Yan into the house.

"Why target urban families?" Jing Yan didn't understand. Back in Liaoning Province, each household in the village only raised four or five chickens, and she always thought that was the limit.

“City dwellers don’t have very big yards, and they live in close proximity. With so many poultry, the smell is strong, not to mention that some families keep a rooster. The rooster crowing early in the morning disturbs the neighbors.”

“Oh, then I’ll take six as we agreed before. By the way, my chicken coop is all built, so I can take the chicks with me when I go back today. Do you think I should take all the chicks or two of the bigger ones? Back in my hometown, my fourth sister took care of all the chickens and ducks. I’ve never really taken care of them properly, except for occasionally picking up an egg.” Jingyan asked for her opinion.

"If you don't mind the price, half-grown chickens are the easiest to raise, just like chicks. With an adult chicken to look after them, you can save yourself a lot of trouble."

"Okay, I'll do as you say. How much is it in total?" Jing Yan asked.

"The chicks are four cents each. I've been raising these half-grown ones for about a month now. There are two half-grown ones and four chicks. That's two yuan and fifty cents in total, right?" He Chunni didn't intend to make money off her.

"How about I give you five chicks and I'll give you three yuan?" Jingyan pulled out three one-yuan bills and handed them to her, then asked, "Do you have time today? I've come all this way, and I'd like to go for a stroll on the mountain you mentioned, dig up some wild vegetables, and also, do you have any eggs at home? I'd like to buy some eggs to take home."

"I'll go check the kitchen to see how many eggs we have left. We kept four hens in the kitchen during the winter, and only released them in the spring. They only started laying eggs recently. My mother-in-law has been cooking for us lately, so I don't really know how many we have left. But don't worry, sister, if we don't have enough eggs, I'll take you to ask other families in the company. We'll be able to scrape together enough." He Chunni hurried off to the kitchen to count the eggs, all in a flurry of activity.

Jingyan didn't want to sit alone in the house, so she strolled out to the yard. Being in the company was great; it felt like her hometown. This yard was huge, four or five times the size of her current one. And this was just the front yard; she'd seen from inside that there was also a back yard, where they could grow vegetables. But when visiting someone's home, it wasn't appropriate to wander around aimlessly.

It's fine to just admire her from afar, after all, even if she had such a big yard, just thinking about tending to it and turning the soil would be exhausting, let alone having to do it herself. A small yard has its advantages; you can grow enough for your own family's consumption, and the work isn't tiring at all, which is quite nice.

A moment later, He Chunni came out of the kitchen carrying a small basket: "My family only has twenty-three. My mother-in-law wants to keep three for the children, so she asked me to give you twenty. How many more do you want? I'll go to the company to get them for you."

“If you don’t have any, fifty or sixty will do. If you have more, a hundred will also be fine. I’ll sell them to you at the market price of seven cents each, okay?” Jing Yan said.

He Chunni nodded in agreement: "I'll go and collect the money for you. Our company's eggs can't be sold on weekdays, except at the market. I can buy them from them for about five cents each. You're giving me too much money, seven cents is too much."

Jing Yan smiled and said, "If you sell them outside, seven cents is the normal price without a coupon. Of course, everyone picks the big ones, and you can get a discount on the smaller ones. But I'm not reselling eggs, so I won't take advantage of you."

"Come with me to the mountain to dig for wild vegetables today, and then take me back in a cart. Consider the price difference in eggs as my transportation fee. If you can gather more, you can take them with you. Even if my neighbor doesn't need them, it's worthwhile for you to make a trip to Sister Gao's place; they're all seven cents each, so you should be able to make a little profit."

He Chunni was inspired by her: "Okay, little sister, wait a minute. I'll talk to my mother-in-law and take you up the mountain to buy eggs. I'll have my mother-in-law handle it and see how many she can get. No matter how many, I'll send you back."

Jingyan took out the money again and handed it to her: "Here, I have seven yuan left. Here you go."

He Chunni didn't hesitate. She took the money, counted it, and handed it to her mother-in-law who had just come out of the kitchen: "Mom, I'm taking Zhang Meizi to the mountain to dig some wild vegetables. You can help me collect eggs in the company. Just buy them at five cents each, no need to haggle. I'll sell them to Zhang Meizi for seven cents, so we can make a profit."

Her mother-in-law looked at her with a somewhat complicated expression, but still held onto the money tightly and asked, "You're selling it for seven cents, isn't that a bit much...?" Seeing her trying to wink at He Chunni, Jingyan couldn't help but laugh, "Auntie, don't worry about me thinking it's too expensive. I insisted on paying seven cents. Just keep the bigger ones for me."

The old woman breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this, put the money in her pocket, and said to He Chunni, "Nizi, go up the mountain. You'll definitely get the egg-collecting business sorted out."

He Chunni agreed, went to the warehouse to get a basket and a small shovel, and then left home with Jing Yan, walking through the company towards the rolling hills behind.

As they walked and chatted, Jingyan jokingly said with a smile, "Your mother-in-law treats you well. She was very supportive of you saying you wanted to come out with me."

He Chunni smiled and said, "My mother-in-law is definitely not the kind of mother-in-law who makes people suffer, but we have had our share of disagreements in the past."

Jingyan looked at her curiously, and He Chunni asked with a smile, "You think she cares about me a lot because she cooks at home now and she's nice to me when I need her help, right?"

Seeing Jingyan nod, he continued with a hint of helplessness in his voice, "That's because I can earn money for the family and improve their lives, which is why they've treated me much better. When I first married into her family, I was subjected to a lot of her gossip and criticism."

There are five siblings in my family: three boys and two girls. I'm the second oldest. I have an older brother who, as a teenager, practically lived off his father. My two younger brothers and sister are all still young and don't earn many work points. Supporting the whole family, relying on my parents, my older brother, and myself, has been incredibly difficult.

Although my parents weren't overly sexist, it was an undeniable fact that men were stronger and earned more work points. So during the busy farming season, my dad and older brother got the most to eat. They did all the hard work, and being underfed would harm their health.

I'm the eldest sister, and I work incredibly hard. That's how my reputation for being capable spread around the neighborhood. About four years ago, my husband's family saw my abilities and came to propose marriage, offering a dowry of sixty yuan, which was quite generous at the time. However, my family wasn't well-off. My parents loved me dearly, but our family's circumstances were what they were.

My older brother wasn't married yet, so I left half of the bride price with my family. Together with the thirty-four or thirty-five yuan they had saved, we used that money to get my brother married. I brought the remaining thirty yuan with me when I married into the family.

At that time, my mother-in-law was very unhappy. She felt that I was siding with my own family. Ugh, my parents raised me, and my siblings and I have a good relationship. I wouldn't stand idly by if they could help me out. Anyway, I'm not someone to be trifled with. I didn't tolerate her giving me attitude. We argued a few times, and later my mother-in-law stopped fighting so much because she was afraid of being laughed at by the neighbors.

When did my life start to get better? It started when the market opened. I was strong and daring. At first, I would just take some vegetables from my yard to the market to sell. I was just going to give it a try, and I never expected that I would actually sell them. Although the price wasn't high, it was still some income. Later, I sold whatever else I had at home.

As I've been able to earn money, my mother-in-law's attitude towards me has become better and better. Last year, after I met you and Sister Gao, I even sold the remaining pigs from the production team for the New Year. Later, you even helped me collect wild ginseng. Now, I have a much higher status not only in my husband's family but also in the production team.

After these two years, I've come to understand that for a woman to stand on her own two feet, she still needs to have her own abilities. Only when she has her own abilities can she stand tall. Although He Chunni is not highly educated, she is indeed very insightful and, well, also quite assertive.

"How is your family doing now?" Jingyan asked.

“Life is getting better and better. My younger brother and sister-in-law are growing up and can help with the housework. My older brother and sister-in-law are also capable. There’s more and more hope for the future. Today you gave me another idea: we can collect eggs from the production team and sell them secretly in the city. If things can really stabilize, I’ll have my older brother and sister-in-law do it too. It’s just running errands. Every little bit helps.” He Chunni was full of enthusiasm.

“Right now, nobody really cares. You might make a little money if you’re bold, but once someone notices the business opportunity and starts reselling eggs, we won’t even talk about whether they’ll get investigated. At the very least, your business will be affected. The company itself doesn’t lack eggs; Jiang City is nearby and can consume a lot of them. But there’s a limit to how many we can get. You need to be aware of that. Once someone starts competing with you for business, your risk will be much greater.” Jingyan gave her a heads-up.