Starting a new chapter in life

"What kind?" Jing Yan asked curiously.

"It's the simple kind, just a few pieces of wood put together. It can be used as a clothes rack outside or as a clothes hanger inside. Except for not having an outer cover, it functions almost the same." Yuan Xiaoling drew a simple diagram for her with paper and pen.

Jingyan looked at the picture and thought it was a good idea. "Why don't you keep this picture? I'll ask Zhou Zhijun about it when he gets back."

Yuan Xiaoling also felt that many families would not want to hire someone to make such things because they don't require much skill and don't offer the same privacy as a wardrobe. She didn't insist and readily agreed before saying goodbye and leaving.

But Yuan Xiaoling had been a great help today, and Jingyan felt bad letting her leave empty-handed. Giving her money would seem too formal, so she could only give her something. She rummaged around and found about half a pound of milk candy, and grabbed five or six eggs to give to her: "Take this home to sweeten your child's mouth. You really helped me a lot today."

Yuan Xiaoling declined, saying, "It's just a small matter. Jingyan, you're being too formal with me."

“If I were really being formal, I would have just given you the money. Why would I bother giving you these things? Take them. This isn’t for you, it’s for the child. Take it back with you. Otherwise, I won’t feel comfortable bothering you in the future. You’re a know-it-all, you wouldn’t want me to keep asking you for help, would you?” Jingyan continued to persuade her.

Yuan Xiaoling declined again, but in the end she couldn't persuade her and accepted the gift before going home.

Jingyan locked the door. Although it was a relatively simple and honest era, she still had to be wary of strangers. After confirming that the door was locked, she fetched water and wiped down all the furniture that had been brought back today. Just thinking about how He Zhijun would be happy to see the house no longer empty when he returned made her happy.

After finishing tidying up, looking at her home, Jingyan was filled with emotion. She never dreamed that one day she could live in such a big house. Now she not only has a house but also a loving husband. Whether this is a dream or reality, she is content.

Pregnant women often feel sleepy. When she woke up, it was already bright daylight. She had just finished getting ready and had a quick bite of noodles when someone knocked on the door. Jingyan was puzzled. She didn't know many people around here, and she wasn't familiar with her neighbors. Yuan Xiaoling should have already gone to school. Who could be coming?

However, she didn't dwell on it too much and went straight to open the door. When she opened the door, she saw a petite, slightly plump woman with delicate features standing outside. She looked to be no more than forty years old. "Hello, who are you looking for?" Jing Yan was sure that she didn't recognize this person and had never met her before. She had no recollection of her at all.

The woman smiled and spoke in a soft, sweet voice, somewhat similar to Yuan Xiaoling's: "I'm Yuan Xiaoling's mother. She said you wanted to buy chicks, so she asked me to take you to pick some out today."

Jing Yan suddenly realized and quickly moved aside the doorway. "Hello, Auntie, please come in. Sister Yuan told me about this, but I haven't been remembering well these past few days and I forgot. Thank you for your help, Auntie."

The woman's smile was gentle. "It's okay. Then pack your things and bring a basket to put the chicks in. Xiaoling said you also want a kitten. My friend's cat's kittens will be a month old in a few days. How about this weekend? I'll take you to pick one out."

Jingyan slung her bag across her body and slung a basket over her shoulder. As she locked the door, she replied, "Then I'll have to trouble you, Auntie. Sister Yuan said that we only need to give the owner 50 cents. Is that a bit too little? You've already done me a great favor by helping me find my cat, so it's not good to do me any more favors."

The woman looked at Jingyan with even more affection: "It's not a small amount, it's just a token, a way to buy some food for the mother cat. Actually, if you don't want it, they can't afford to keep so many cats. They can't bear to throw them away, and not everyone is willing to keep them as pets."

These days, it's not easy to support your own family, let alone have extra money for pets. You've actually helped him out; you're not exactly appreciating his kindness.

Jingyan was relieved to hear this: "Okay, I'll come to your house on Saturday?"

The woman shook her head: "No need, I'll come find you then, it'll be on my way. If you come to find me, then we'll both be going the long way around."

"Thank you, Auntie," Jingyan said sincerely.

The road they had traveled was not short, and this time it was all main roads, at least straight and regular routes, not winding alleys. After walking for nearly two hours, they finally saw a house. Aunt Yuan led her straight to a farmhouse.

"This is a village called Yanjia Village. Most of the people here are surnamed Yan. It is said that a family settled here and multiplied. However, the people in this village are not xenophobic, and many of the wives are from other places."

This is already on the edge of Haishi, considered the countryside. Most of the vegetables and other produce sold at the supply and marketing cooperative come from the surrounding rural areas. The grandmother in this family is incredibly skilled at hatching chicks; the hatching rate is very high, and the survival rate is also high.

It's a pity that the regulations were strict a few years ago, and this skill was wasted. Now that no one cares, she can support her family with just this skill.

Jing Yan agreed: "Yes, having a skill to rely on is something you can benefit from for a lifetime."

It seemed like they got a lot of visitors every day, since the gate was never closed. The two entered and saw a huge chicken coop in the yard, at least four or five times the size of Jingyan's, filled with chicks of all sizes.

The fluffy, light yellow chicks waddled around following the adult hen, who would occasionally peck at the ground, seemingly eating nothing. There was no feeder, only a water bowl in the corner, where a chicken would occasionally take a sip. It looked quite lively.

"He raises so many chickens," Jingyan couldn't help but exclaim.

At this moment, a woman in her fifties, wearing a faded white overcoat, dark blue trousers, and with her hair tied up in a bun, walked over carrying a basin of chicken feed. Seeing them, she smiled and said:

"Hey, Green Grass Girl, what brings you here today? Your family doesn't need to catch chicks this year, right? You can still lay eggs for another year, and then you can get chicks next year."

Aunt Yuan smiled and replied, "Sister, you're joking. My family really doesn't need to catch chicks this year. This is Jingyan, she just moved here this year. She wants to raise a few chicks, so I brought her here to find you."

The old woman looked at Jingyan: "Little girl, do you want to catch four? Roosters or hens?"

Jingyan smiled and said, "Hello, Auntie. I'm planning to raise four hens so we can eat their eggs."

The old lady was very straightforward: "Chickens are one cent each, so four are forty cents."

Jing Yan frowned slightly: "Auntie, I raised chicks back in my hometown, and chicks there only cost three or four cents each. Why are they so expensive here?"

The old woman didn't find her question strange at all: "I can sell those chicks for five cents each, but I usually don't sell those. Newly hatched chicks are hard to raise without some skill."

I sell chicks that are already ready to be raised. It takes a lot of time, effort, and resources, so the price will be a bit higher. But you definitely won't lose out!

Jingyan then remembered that Sister He had raised her chicks at her own home for a while before giving them to her, but Sister He hadn't charged her for taking care of them. Thinking about it, she understood and took out four cents without hesitation and handed it to the old lady.

The old woman put the money in her pocket, opened the door to the chicken coop, went inside, and placed the chicken feed bowl next to the water bowl. A bunch of chickens, big and small, quickly surrounded it and began to peck at the food eagerly.

Aunt Yuan leaned closer and said, "This money was well spent. Look how energetic these chicks are; they're clearly healthy. Her prices are always the highest in the area, but she also has the most customers because they're easy to raise."

Jingyan nodded and looked at her: "I know, Auntie. Thank you for bringing me here. Does she sell chickens too? The kind you eat as meat."

Aunt Yuan didn't quite understand what she meant: "Every year, her family has old hens that don't lay eggs. They are mostly sold to women in the neighborhood who need to replenish their nutrition after giving birth. Ordinary people don't usually eat chicken. If you want to buy chicken and eat chicken, you can ask her later."

Jingyan nodded. The old woman over there had already started picking out chickens. "Little girl, hand me your basket, I'll catch some chickens for you." Jingyan handed the basket over through the fence, and the old woman quickly scooped up four chickens, put them in the basket, and handed it back to her.

Jingyan took the basket and asked, "Auntie, do you sell adult chickens here? I'd like to buy two to cook with."

The old lady quickly said, "Selling! Our chickens are either young roosters with tender meat, or old hens that are great for soups and stews. Which one do you want?"

"I want the meat to be tender, I want to make a stew."

"Then I'll pick out two young roosters for you, just over a year old, the meat will be the best." The old woman said, then went inside, grabbed two, closed the gate, found two pieces of rope in the yard, tied the chickens' feet together, and stuffed them into a net bag.

“I don’t have a scale at home, but I weighed it and it’s probably more than four pounds. Two chickens will cost you eight yuan. If you want to buy an old hen in the future, it’s about five or six yuan a chicken. Come over then and I’ll pick one for you.”

Jingyan took the net bag, weighed it in her hand, and couldn't tell how heavy it was, but she didn't say anything more. She thought she would weigh it herself when she got back and then pay the old lady eight yuan.

Just as the two were about to leave, they bumped into Cheng Chunhua, who was about to enter from outside. She was quite surprised when she saw Jing Yan: "Oh my, little sister, what brings you to our village?"

Jingyan raised the basket on her arm: "I'm here to buy chicks. Is this your village? It's really close to my house."

The old woman heard the noise and came over. Seeing Cheng Chunhua, she asked curiously, "Do you two know each other? Cheng girl, what are you doing here?"

Cheng Chunhua smiled and replied, "Sister Zhang bought eggs from me before, and she also bought rapeseed oil from my family. That's how we met. By the way, Auntie, my mother-in-law asked me to come and pick out an old hen. She's going to the city to visit my husband's older sister tomorrow."

My husband's older sister just gave birth a few days ago, and the news just came back. My mother-in-law told me to come over and pick some out. "Auntie, do you have any old hens for sale?"

The old woman nodded: "Of course we have old hens, you can choose for yourself in a bit."

Cheng Chunhua thanked her and looked at Jing Yan: "Little sister, now you know our village. Come visit me sometime. My house is at the very end of this road."

Jingyan smiled and agreed, "Then Sister Cheng, you go ahead with your work. We'll head back now. I need to put these chicks in the coop as soon as possible."

After exchanging a few more pleasantries, the two parted ways. Aunt Yuan walked a short distance and looked at Jing Yan with a smile, saying, "You're quite popular, aren't you? You've made friends so quickly. But I heard from Xiao Ling that you don't seem to have much contact with your neighbors."

Jingyan wrinkled her nose: "I can't understand the people around my home, so I haven't interacted with them. Sister Yuan told me before that the older people here can only speak the local dialect. How come the aunt I saw today can speak Mandarin, even though she has an accent, I can understand her."

Aunt Yuan smiled and said, "That's because there are many outsiders in Yanjiacun. It's easy to get a house here, and each family's garden is big. They can't eat all the vegetables they grow, so they take most of them to the city to sell. They can earn some money, so they don't insist on speaking only the local dialect. That way, if they meet people who only speak Mandarin outside, it won't affect their business."

"Don't they grow grains here?" Jingyan asked in confusion. Along the way, apart from the vegetables in each family's garden, all she saw outside were fields of rapeseed flowers. Although they were beautiful, they couldn't be used as food.

“We don’t grow much grain here, but the surrounding counties grow it on a large scale. We have two crops a year here. After the rapeseed is harvested, we plant a crop of wheat, which is considered a kind of grain. I don’t know anything else, since I don’t know much about farming. So, do you want to farm? It’s very hard work,” Aunt Yuan said, sharing what she knew.

Jing Yan shook her head: "I also think farming is hard work and I don't like doing it, but doesn't the collective care what we plant here? It should also be a work point system here, right?"

"Yes, but my family has been in the city for many years, and the whole family works here. We haven't really paid much attention to what's happening here. Anyway, the supply and marketing cooperative will bring in new grain during the autumn harvest."

"New grain tastes better. The grain we workers are given rarely comes from the new grain; it's mostly from the previous year. If we want better quality grain, we have to buy it with coupons," Aunt Yuan said.

"By the way, your husband is in school, so there won't be any more grain available from the market. Do you have enough grain coupons? If not, this village keeps a lot of grain for their own consumption after the autumn harvest every year. You can buy it from them without coupons, although it will be a little more expensive. But it's definitely new grain. My family buys some grain from them every year," Aunt Yuan continued.

Jingyan suddenly realized: "No wonder I felt you were familiar with the auntie who sells chickens. I see. I remember now. Thank you, Auntie. By the way, I heard that the slaughterhouse in the city offers special-priced meat to its employees every day. Do you have any connections for that?"

Aunt Yuan nodded: "I know a few employees at the slaughterhouse. You want to buy meat? How much do you want?"

Jing Yan nodded: "I'd like ten catties of pork belly and ten catties of spare ribs, is that too much?"