Reborn in the 1970s, Zhang Sanniu's new life

After listening to San Niu's words, Da Niu and Er Niu also started to study with San Niu!

Zhang Laosan then started teaching Da Niu and Er Niu to recognize characters again. After teaching them for a while, Zhang Laosan realized that neither Da Niu nor Er Niu was as smart as San Niu. San Niu could remember what she learned after two or three times, while Da Niu and Er Niu would learn it and then forget it again!

San Niu ignored them and focused on practicing calligraphy. She didn't have time in the morning, but she had to make the most of her time in the afternoon!

The next day, because they had to take thirteen chickens, and there were too many chickens to put in one basket, they packed them in two baskets, and Wang Cuihua went with them!

After arranging for Da Niu and Er Niu to stay home and look after the house, Zhang Laosan, Wang Cuihua, and San Niu went to the city together!

Walking along the road, Sanniu thought for a moment and said, "Dad, Mom, I think we should buy more cloth today and sell it for one yuan per foot, or trade it for chickens. That should work, and we can earn double the money!"

"Oh dear, our San Niu is so clever! Father, I think San Niu is right," San Cuihua said happily!

After thinking for a moment, Zhang Laosan said, "Let's buy the cloth and let the villagers exchange it! They don't have any money, so they can't buy it even if they want to. Exchanging it is safer!"

"Yes, Dad is right. Let's use all the money to buy cloth today and have Uncle go and exchange it. Then we'll pay Uncle some wages," San Niu said.

“I’ll also ask our neighbors who are on good terms with us; they’ll definitely be happy to switch,” Wang Cuihua said.

Soon the three of them arrived at the store. San Niu took Wang Cuihua's hand and followed Zhang Laosan to Sister Liu's counter.

Sister Liu was overjoyed to see them. "Brothers, you've come! Oh, this must be your wife! Come visit me whenever you're in town!" Sister Liu said happily.

"Okay, Sister Liu, I'll need your help from now on!" Wang Cuihua said with a smile.

"Sister-in-law, you're too kind. Let's go to the storeroom! It's not convenient here." With that, Sister Liu asked someone to watch the counter for her, and then led them forward.

Soon, Sister Liu led them to the warehouse, where many people who had bought chickens were waiting!

Sister Liu said, "Don't be afraid, they are all employees of the store, they are all here to buy chickens!"

Zhang Laosan nodded and said softly, "Sister Liu, I'd like to use all the money from selling the chickens today to buy cloth. Is that alright?"

"No problem, as long as you send us chickens a few more times, we don't mind buying as much fabric as you want. I'll talk to our manager and ask him to reserve some extra fabric for you," Sister Liu said readily.

"Thank you so much, Sister Liu!" Wang Cuihua said happily.

Next, weighing the chickens, collecting money, and settling accounts were all handled by Sister Liu without Zhang Laosan and the others having to worry about it. She had also collected all the money!

The people who bought the chickens happily paid and left with their chickens!

Since they were in the warehouse, Sister Liu led the three of them to the storage room where the cloth was kept. "These are all cloths that cost three cents a foot. Pick whatever you like. Once you've chosen, I'll have the accountant settle the bill for you," Sister Liu said.

After listening to Sister Liu's words, Zhang Laosan and the others picked out several bolts of cloth, including blue ones for men, some for women, some with floral patterns, and one bolt of military green cloth, which Zhang Laosan also took!

While the three of them were picking out the cloth, Sister Liu went to the office and called the accountant. The accountant quickly helped them calculate the accounts. They had just used the money from selling the chickens to buy the cloth, leaving them with only one yuan. Zhang Laosan used that one yuan to buy notebooks and pens!

After thanking Sister Liu, Zhang Laosan and the others happily carried the cloth home!

When Zhang Laosan, Wang Cuihua, and Sanniu arrived home, their uncle and aunt were already waiting for them!

Lunch is ready, made by my aunt and my daughter!

"Brother, sister-in-law, you've arrived! Uncle, aunt, the three of you greet Wang Dayong and his wife!"

"Oh, you're back! Sit down and rest for a bit. Dinner's ready. I'll get some rice," Auntie said, heading towards the kitchen.

Soon, my aunt and my eldest daughter brought in the food. For lunch, we had cornbread pancakes, stir-fried cabbage with rice noodles, and sweet potato porridge. Everyone gathered around to eat, and we finished our meal quickly!

After finishing their meal, everyone sat down at the table. San Niu took out her notebook and wrote down the money she made from selling chickens that day, the money she made from buying cloth, and the size of each color of cloth. She also wrote down the number and weight of the chickens she caught from her uncle's house yesterday.

San Niu put down her pen and said, "Uncle, how many chickens did you bring today? How many kilograms did they weigh in total? Tell me so I can keep track and not forget later!"

"Oh my, San Niu can even write and keep accounts!" said Auntie.

"I just learned it. I keep accounts for convenience, so we can easily keep track of the books and avoid any discrepancies," San Niu said.

Wang Dayong and his wife were astonished that Sanniu could write and keep accounts. Sanniu hadn't gone to school, so where did she learn to read? They were both very surprised!

San Niu looked at her uncle and aunt, who were stunned. She called out, "Uncle, Uncle, I'm still waiting for you to tell me the weight of the chicken we caught today!"

After hearing San Niu's words, the eldest uncle came to his senses and said, "We caught all the chickens in the house today, a total of 14, weighing 62 jin!"

Upon hearing this, San Niu quickly wrote it down in the ledger!

After San Niu finished keeping track of the accounts, she started to add up yesterday's accounts, her uncle's accounts, and today's accounts. Last time there were 17 chickens, weighing 72 jin. Adding today's 14 chickens, weighing 62 jin, there were a total of 31 chickens, weighing 134 jin. Since the relatives paid 5 mao per jin, that would be 67 yuan!

After San Niu finished calculating the bill, she said, "Uncle, Aunt, your family has a total of 31 chickens, which weigh 134 jin (62.5 catties). We are relatives and the store's manager buys our chickens for 5 mao (0.5 yuan) per jin. I'll calculate it for you too, so 134 jin is 67 yuan. Uncle, can you check if it's correct?"

The eldest uncle calculated and confirmed it was correct. "Yes, all correct. Thank you so much! You even helped us make more money!" the eldest uncle said happily.

“Brother, you’re too kind. We’re family, of course we can’t treat each other like outsiders,” Zhang Laosan said.

San Niu then asked, "Uncle, Aunt, you two, pick out the fabric first. We just bought a lot of fabric today. After you've chosen, we'll settle the bill and see how much more money we owe you. But the difference will be paid tomorrow. We've already used the money to buy fabric today. We plan to use the fabric you leave behind to exchange for chickens. The fabric is one yuan per foot, no fabric coupons required. Chickens are three mao per jin. You can buy the fabric with money or exchange it for chickens. Uncle, Aunt, do you want to do this? If you do, we'll pay you one mao for every foot of fabric you exchange. Uncle, don't think it's too little. Because we bought so much fabric this time, we even gave the store manager two chickens as a gift. If we hadn't given them a gift, they wouldn't have sold it to us at such a cheap price, let alone sold us so much fabric at once," San Niu said!

When the eldest uncle and aunt heard what San Niu said, they were overjoyed. They never expected such a good thing. Every household is short of cloth now, but every household raises chickens. If they were told that they could exchange chickens for cloth instead of cloth coupons, they would go crazy for it. Oh my, he could make a lot of money!

"Oh, that's wonderful! This is fantastic news! Don't worry, we'll do our best. Once we get this fabric back, it'll be snapped up like crazy!" Auntie said happily.

“Brother and sister-in-law, you two sort out the cloth first, then we’ll settle the bill,” Zhang Laosan said.

Wang Dayong picked out three colors and asked for some. Wang Cuihua took out a ruler, measured the sizes for them, cut them out, and had San Niu calculate the bill for the rest. The couple then happily went home!

After finishing writing down all the accounts, San Niu said to Zhang Laosan, "Dad, let's take a few more chickens to Grandma Wu tomorrow! There are a lot of people in the residential compound, so we can definitely sell more chickens. We can also look around elsewhere to see if we can find a way to sell them. That way it's safer and easier. If we find a way, we can earn more money, and it's almost Chinese New Year, so there will be even more chicken sellers then!"

“Alright, then let your mother come along tomorrow, so she can carry more chickens,” Zhang Laosan said.

"Dad, I have another idea! It's almost Chinese New Year, and everyone in the city wants to buy meat, but they don't have the place or the ration coupons to buy it. I think we can take advantage of the New Year to have Uncle buy a few pigs, slaughter them, and sell the pork in the city. We have all the connections. Oh, and by the way, we can also ask Sister Liu to ask the shop manager. They'll definitely want a lot of meat," San Niu said.

Upon hearing Sanniu's words, Zhang Laosan and Wang Cuihua suddenly understood. "That's right! City people only have two ounces of meat coupons a month. They can't even buy meat if they want to. What a great opportunity this is! Oh, Sanniu is so clever, this is wonderful!"

“Alright, tomorrow I’ll have your uncle start buying pigs. We must seize this opportunity to make money,” Zhang Laosan said.

"Yes, yes, yes, this is a great opportunity to make money! Our Sanniu is so smart and quick-witted! Oh my, this way we can make a lot of money in one winter!" Wang Cuihua said happily!

"Dad, Mom, I want to earn some money so we can buy a bicycle. That way it will be more convenient to carry things, and we can carry more. That way, Mom won't have to come to the city with me every time. Besides, it's just my eldest and second eldest sisters at home, and I'm worried about them," San Niu said.

Zhang Laosan thought about it. Having a bicycle would be very convenient. His third brother would be tired from running around with him every day. Zhang Laosan felt sorry for San Niu, who was so young. Not only did he have to worry about making money, but he also had to follow him around. It was very hard for her!

“Alright, since we have the money, let’s buy a bicycle first,” Zhang Laosan said with a smile!

The whole family was overjoyed at the thought of buying their own car!

Zhang Laosan thought for a moment and said, "Her mother, we still have eggs at home, right? From now on, boil two eggs for San Niu every morning so she can take them with her and eat them when she's hungry. San Niu is only five years old and she comes to the city with me every day. It's hard work for her, so we should give her some extra nutrition." Zhang Laosan paused and then said to Da Niu and Er Niu, "Don't blame your father for being biased. San Niu is young and has to walk twenty or thirty miles every day. It's especially hard for her. I'm just afraid that San Niu will get too tired." Zhang Laosan felt sorry for San Niu and patted her head as he spoke.

"Dad, my second sister and I both know that my third sister works very hard every day. She should eat eggs to help her recover," Da Niu said with a smile.

“Yes, Dad, I’m just happy as long as I can eat my fill every day,” Erniu said!

"You are all good children," Zhang Laosan praised.

After the family finished their happy conversation, the three sisters resumed their focused study!