The old ladies talked about everything and anything. The one who spoke to Old Lady Zhao was from the Fifth Brigade of Shengli Commune and usually worked as a matchmaker.
When she mentioned Wang Ying, it wasn't really because she knew that Old Lady Zhao had once had intentions towards Wang Ying, but because she was envious and regretful.
I regret that I didn't find such a good girl earlier. She has a house and money, and her family isn't involved, so it's easy to find her as a son-in-law!
She has a lot of young men who are hard to marry, and Wang Ying is so well-endowed that she has to ask for at least ten yuan as a matchmaker's fee no matter who she introduces her to!
As for envy, it was envy of the matchmaker Xu Shuang found. The matchmaker circle was very small, and the people in the surrounding communes knew each other. I don't know where that old woman got such a good life! She actually picked up a ready-made one!
"I originally thought that if your young mistress didn't have a boyfriend, I would be the first one to introduce such a good girl to your family, but who knew that I was a step too slow and the young woman found one herself! Sigh, but your family is also capable, they found their own daughter-in-law..."
This was a bit hard to accept, and it was purely to put pressure on Mrs. Zhao. The money a matchmaker earns is the introduction fee, the thank you fee, and the meal she can have when she gets the job done.
The Zhao family was so good. One moment they told me they wanted to find a stepmother, but the next moment they made the decision on their own. They didn't even bother to tell me about it, didn't even prepare a banquet, and didn't even say a word, leaving me out in the wilderness.
The matchmaker talked a lot, not noticing the change in Mrs. Zhao's expression.
When they arrived at the destination, all three of them got off the car.
The matchmaker waved her hand and returned to her team.
Old Mrs. Zhao was almost suffocating behind me!
Obviously, that was the daughter-in-law she had long favored!
House! Money! Job!
If she could get this daughter-in-law, first of all, she would have a place to live at home. She could move into Wang Ying's house with her husband and Xiao Sanzi's two children!
Wang Ying still has a job! Although a barefoot doctor only makes five or six yuan a month, there are not many places to spend money in the countryside, so five or six yuan is not a small amount! It is enough for their family to have enough food!
The more Old Lady Zhao thought about it, the angrier she became, especially since Wang Lingling was right in front of her. She wanted to compare a daughter-in-law who could earn money and own a house to a stupid daughter-in-law who was arrested even when she went to the city to buy food. Old Lady Zhao simply couldn't think about it any more. The more she thought about it, the more she felt she was immersed in bitter regret.
As soon as Old Mrs. Zhao got home, she lay down, moving left and right on the kang. When she closed her eyes, she thought about money, house, and work!
Wang Lingling arrived home in a daze. When the two children saw her, they rummaged through her pockets without asking her where she had been during this period. They just stared at her and asked for candy and treats.
When Wang Lingling married, she brought all her private savings with her. She had always been cunning. Sometimes when Li Chunjuan gave her money to exchange things at Xu Shuang's house, she kept some for herself. Sometimes when she went to town to give money and food coupons to her brother, she kept some more. Over time, she saved up seven or eight yuan for herself.
However, after marrying into the Zhao family, Wang Lingling's seven or eight pieces of private property quickly shrank.
In order to please her two children, she spent a lot of money buying snacks for them.
Even if there was none in the brigade, there would always be some in the town. She bought a bag of pear candy and gave one to the child if he called her "Mom".
She was originally very happy thinking that she had conquered the two, but the older one rolled his eyes and started calling the younger one stepmother. He called her stepmother when she didn't give him candy, and only called her mother when she gave him candy.
At this moment, the two children kept calling their stepmother "stepmother". If something didn't go their way, she would be called a vicious person and a big villain!
Wang Lingling almost couldn't stand. At this point, she couldn't deceive herself anymore. The two children didn't take her seriously. They thought she was just a tool to serve them and do whatever they wanted!
No! Even a tool can say something nice!
These two children were completely blind to the fact that she had taken apart her cotton-padded clothes to make small clothes for them, that she had taken great pains to take care of them from dawn to dusk, and that she had bought them candies and other things. In their eyes, all this was her due!
It's your fault if you can't do it, but it's not worthy of praise if you do!
Who made you a stepmother!
Wang Lingling was completely devastated. The two children saw that they really couldn't get the candy out, so they shouted "stepmother" in displeasure and ran away. Wang Lingling felt dizzy and went back to her room and lay down on the bed.
Her health was so bad that after she returned home, her sister-in-law just looked at her blankly, and the two children ran out, leaving no one in the room.
Wang Lingling's tears fell, and she fell asleep while crying.
Old Mrs. Zhao in the next room tried to hold it in on the kang for a while, but she couldn't hold it in any longer.
She regretted and resented, but she had not yet thought of dealing with Wang Lingling. She was just imagining the benefits she would get if she married Wang Ying, and her heart ached at the thought.
She endured it again and again, but she couldn't help it anymore and told her husband.
"Why didn't I hold on a little longer? We missed such a good opportunity to kiss!"
"If Xiao Sanzi had a wife like this, our lives would be much better!"
"Those are two big blue brick houses! Can she live there alone?"
"She earns five or six dollars a month, and she can feed us eggs for a month!"
"Tell me why I didn't decide right away! Why should I wait for Xiao Sanzi to come back?"
"She will definitely be very happy with this condition if she is with our little Sanzi. She will definitely agree as soon as I say it!"
…
As she spoke, Old Mrs. Zhao's slow mind finally turned to Wang Lingling.
"It's all Wang Lingling's fault!"
Old Mrs. Zhao gnashed her teeth and said, "If she hadn't hooked up with Xiao Sanzi first, we wouldn't have been able to change people."
She had completely forgotten how overjoyed she was when she heard Wang Lingling say in the hospital that she didn't want any dowry or banquet and was willing to be the stepmother.
She now felt that it was Wang Lingling who ruined her family's good fortune.
Old man Zhao took a puff of his pipe and said, "What's the point of talking about this now?"
The marriage is already over, the mistress has already reported to the army, and she has found a partner. Even if you divorce Wang Lingling now, don't even think about getting her back.
Old Mrs. Zhao rubbed her chest and said, "I'm angry if I don't say it out!"
But saying it out loud makes me even more angry!
Old Mrs. Zhao also knew that she had to hold her nose and swallow it, but her heart felt like it was on fire. It was nothing else but that she felt wronged.
Big loss!
Wang Lingling graduated from junior high school and Wang Ying graduated from high school.
Wang Lingling has no job, so Wang Ying can be a barefoot doctor.
Wang Lingling brought a bag of tattered clothes when she got married, but Wang Ying brought a big house with her.
What a loss!
Old Man Zhao: "Then you should ask the third daughter-in-law to do more work. She has ruined our family, so this is what she deserves."
Old Mrs. Zhao nodded vigorously: "It's hers! If it weren't for her, we would all be living in a blue brick house now!"
Wang Lingling was asleep, and she had no idea that her bad life could get even worse.
Time flies, and in a blink of an eye it was the 15th. Early in the morning, everyone in the team got up early.
The adults were busy cleaning the stove, and the children were all gathered around it tightly. Many people got up and waited on the threshing floor. The women gathered together to make shoe soles and clothes and hats, and the children ran around in groups of three or five.
It was the same every year. When it was time to distribute the pork, all work except the menial work in the orchard stopped, and every household was busy preparing for the winter.
Tian Youfu stood aside and waited for the people from the animal husbandry station to come and collect the pigs.
The brigade had to raise ten pigs every year, and according to regulations, they would raise two for their own consumption. When the animal husbandry station came, they would weigh the pigs first. Pigs below a certain weight would not be accepted, and the excess would be paid for or divided into meat. This was also the reason why every family was eager to raise pigs for the brigade. In those days, every family had children, and the children could play with the pigs and get enough grass from the mountains to feed the pigs. The pig manure could also be used to fertilize the private plots.
After the pigs are delivered, the extra part will be calculated as money. If it is less, it will be a few yuan, and if it is more, it can be more than ten yuan!
Who wouldn’t be moved!
Tian Youfu inspected the pigs one by one and planned to take the fat ones to the supply and marketing cooperative. The skinny ones were left for the brigade to divide among themselves.
Those who raise skinny pigs can just consider themselves unlucky. At most, they can get two more pieces of meat when the pigs are distributed. It's your fault for not raising the pigs well. Why should the animal husbandry station accept them if they don't meet the requirements
Tian Youfu had calculated clearly that the team did not hand over ten pigs every year. Those that could hand over six or seven were considered to be well raised, and the rest would continue to be raised and handed over individually next year when the sufficient number was raised. It was also a good opportunity to take advantage of this break to breed the pigs and raise a few piglets, thus saving the money to buy piglets from the animal husbandry station.
The pigs that are left behind are usually better sows, which are carefully cared for during the winter so that they can give birth to piglets next year.
Tian Youfu counted them and found something wrong: "One is missing. Whose pig hasn't been driven over yet?"
Before the livestock station arrived, he had to select the pigs that had been handed in and then designate the one to be slaughtered that day.
The people around looked around, and some of them noticed: "Yongshun's family didn't come!"
Tian Youfu frowned. He originally gave Wang Yongshun and his wife the pig for Wang Ying's sake. When Wang Ying was divided, he didn't give the task pig to her because he was afraid that Wang Yongshun and his wife would be malicious and make trouble for the pig. Then Wang Ying would not only not get the benefits from the brigade, but also have to pay for the task pig. However, Tian Youfu had already thought about it. He planned to give the extra pork that should have been counted for Wang Yongshun and his wife to Wang Ying.
Anyway, the pig was given to Wang Ying out of respect, and I heard that it was Wang Ying who took care of it for the past six months.
“Here it comes!”
Those who were curious were staring at the distance. Wang Yongshun and his wife also drove the pigs over. The pigs' squeals could be heard from a long distance away.
Tian Youfu swallowed what he wanted to say and prepared to look at the pigs first. When he saw the pigs, he got angry.
"Look at what kind of pigs you are raising! How come they are as thin as dogs?"
Sure enough, everyone exclaimed that the pig was poorly raised. They hadn't seen such a poorly raised pig in years! The pig also looked dazed and looked listless.
Wang Yongshun rubbed his face and smiled apologetically: "It's just that I've been too busy at home recently... Besides, this pig is not small anymore."
He is very short of money now, and is just waiting to share the profit after paying the pig!
Tian Youfu was furious: "There's no way the animal husbandry station would accept a pig like you! I went to see your pigs a while ago, and they were clearly not like that!"
Tian Youfu was not the kind of person who would just hand out the pigs and then leave them alone. He would occasionally go to see how the pigs were being raised. After all, they were not only responsible for handing in the pigs, but also for their own team to eat. If someone kept the pigs skinny every year, the members would definitely be dissatisfied.
Wang Yongshun was embarrassed. This was not because he and Li Chunjuan were arguing. The family had been messing around recently, so the pigs were naturally fed carelessly. In addition, the weather was cold, and the pigs lost a lot of weight, so they looked dry.
"Captain, this pig looks skinny, but it's actually underweight! We'll be fine after we put it on the scale!"
He refused to give up and insisted on handing over the pig.
Tian Youfu was too lazy to argue with him. Seeing Wang Ying and Xu Shuang coming over, he pointed at Wang Ying and said, "You can't raise pigs well, so just return the pigs to Wang Ying. Anyway, we won't be able to harvest your pigs today, and our team won't be able to distribute such skinny pigs to everyone."
How many people are there in the whole brigade? The pigs are distributed only once a year, during the Chinese New Year, one at a time. This skinny pig has no fat, so there are not enough to share!
Li Chunjuan was originally looking down, but when she heard this, she refused to do it: "I raise pigs. Why should I change people after raising them for so long? Besides, if I can't raise them well, how can she? How can she raise pigs well with her laziness?"
This is also the point that Li Chunjuan and the gossips have criticized Wang Ying for recently, saying that Wang Ying does not cook and eats ready-made food made by Xu Shuang every day. More than once, people have seen Xu Shuang bringing food to Wang Ying. Even if Xu Shuang does not bring food, Old Lady Xu will rush to call Wang Ying to eat at noon.
Isn't this a lazy woman
Li Chunjuan argued: "I have raised the pig from 10 kilograms to nearly 100 kilograms now, and she took it over to raise it. Why? Otherwise, you can ask her to give me the money for the 70 or 80 kilograms of meat! Otherwise, no way!"
Tian Youfu was so angry that he laughed: "This is a mission pig! You haven't even raised it to the required weight in the mission, and you still expect to give you 70 or 80 kilograms of meat? You are dreaming!"
Li Chunjuan insisted: "The animal husbandry station didn't come, how do you know it's not enough?"
Tian Youfu looked at Wang Yongshun who didn't say a word, and knew in his heart that the couple had made up their minds to walk on the scale at the animal husbandry station today.
"Okay, you can keep your pigs. If they don't meet the standards of the animal husbandry station, you can't keep them for the brigade to distribute. Either you find someone to raise them now, or you can take them back and raise them when they meet the standards."
It’s not that Tian Youfu let it go so easily, but...
There is no pig grass in winter, but the food that the pigs at home eat is food!
Wang Yongshun and his wife's pigs are extremely thin. If they really want to raise them, they will have to spend a lot of food in the winter. In addition, it is cold in winter, and the pigsty is also cold, so they have to prevent the pigs from freezing to death.
Originally, Tian Youfu was planning to give the pig to Wang Ying to provide her with some food, but Wang Yongshun and his wife took it instead.
Sorry, no!
If you kill the mission pigs, you will have to take work points as compensation, and at least you will have worked for three months for free next year.
Wang Yongshun looked unhappy. How could he not know this inside story? But he was really short of money now. It was probably not his family's turn to get the task pigs next year. This year he wanted to see some money from the pigs.
Wang Ying and Xu Shuang stood at the back of the team. Old Lady Xu looked at the two young people with a smile. She did not go over to them, but instead followed a group of old ladies to chat. She would look up and feel happy. As for the nonsense of Wang Yongshun and his wife, the old lady did not care to pay attention to them. Stupid people are stupid. How could I not realize that my former in-laws were so ignorant before
After a while, a car from the animal husbandry station arrived.
The big iron scale was moved down and checked one by one.
"Hey, you pigs are skinny enough, don't use it, it will definitely not be enough!"
The guy at the animal husbandry station spoke bluntly and disliked the skinny pigs: "Does this pig look sick? Why don't you go to our animal husbandry station and ask a master to take a look."
There was a burst of laughter all around, leaving the young man confused.
Wang Yongshun's face flushed, and Li Chunjuan was still throwing a tantrum: "How do you know it's not enough if you haven't passed the scale?!"
Young man: "I have been doing this for a long time, and I can't get enough of this pig."
Wang Ying also laughed. This guy was interesting. He looked like a young man, but he acted like a veteran as soon as he opened his mouth.
"Come on, come on, I'll give it to you!"
Li Chunjuan was throwing a tantrum and the young man couldn't handle it.
"Look, you're still more than 40 kilograms away from the standard. Go back and take care of it."
There was another round of laughter all around. The young man scratched the back of his head, thinking that this team was really weird.
"Okay, these are the ones we're taking away. Do you think this number is correct?"
Tian Youfu signaled the brigade's accountant to count the money, and said to Wang Yongshun and his wife: "Did you see that? I told you that you can't divide up the pigs. There are so many missing, and the brigade doesn't have enough to share. You decide whether to find someone else to raise the pigs or take them back to raise."
Li Chunjuan puffed out her lips and wanted to say in a tough manner that she would go back and raise the child.
Wang Yongshun understood, so he pulled the man away and wiped his face, saying, "I won't support him anymore."
This year, Wang Ying and Wang Lingling are missing two mouths to feed, but correspondingly, a lot of income is also missing. Wang Yongshun's heart is bleeding: "We won't raise them anymore. Can the team count these dozens of kilograms of work points for me?"
Yes, raising pigs also gives you work points, although not much, but it’s something.
Wang Yongshun was thinking that he could make as much money as possible.
Li Chunjuan was still not convinced. She felt that she had not raised the pigs up to standard, but she had raised more than half of them after all, so she had to take the work points and the money had to be shared with her.
Tian Youfu said sarcastically, "You didn't hand in the pigs, so I don't know how much you can get. Besides, they only count the excess when they collect the pigs. You haven't even exceeded the amount, so why should they count it for you?"
Tian Youfu waved his hand and said, "Come on, there is none. If you train like this, it's good enough that the team won't hold you accountable for your mistakes. If you don't want to, just take it back and continue to raise it."
It is impossible to take it back. No matter how stupid Wang Yongshun is, he would never do such a losing business.
Tian Youfu suppressed the couple and handed the pig to Wang Ying: "Wang Ying, do you want to raise this pig?"
It is still necessary to seek opinions, after all, raising pigs in winter is a bit troublesome.
Wang Ying thought about it and said, "I want it."
Although it was convenient to go up the mountain now, and she even found a fish pond on the mountain, she still lacked meat and pork on weekdays. Xu Shuang worked in a restaurant, and there was a quota for meat tickets every month, which was not completely relaxed.
Wang Ying couldn't stand the fact that she could only eat meat at the end of the year.
In order to eat meat, Wang Ying thinks raising pigs is very cost-effective.
Next year, wait until the weather gets warmer and then hand over the pigs, and you can get a lot of money.
Just like that, Wang Ying brought home a skinny pig.
Li Chunjuan laughed loudly behind her back: "What a joke! With her laziness, she might even make the pigs even thinner!"
Wang Ying and Xu Shuang went home together. There was an abandoned pigsty in the yard. Xu Shuang used some bricks left over from some time ago to patch up the door of the pigsty. "I'll call someone to add a roof to the pigsty tomorrow."
Wang Ying nodded, and while Xu Shuang was not paying attention, she poured some spiritual spring water into the pig trough.
After finishing the work here, there was a gong-banging sound over there. Once the task pig was handed over, the team prepared to slaughter the pig!
Although the process of slaughtering a pig is scary, many children are afraid but also want to watch it. They cover their eyes and watch the pig die through their fingers, gasping with fear.
Tian Youfu did not ask the butcher in the town for help. Instead, he asked the young and strong men in the brigade to hold the pig down. There were old people in the village who had been helping to slaughter pigs all year round. They were very skillful and quick with the knife.
After the pig is slaughtered, the process of dividing the pork is very pleasant.
Tian Youfu asked the accountant to calculate it in advance, and all that was left was to go forward and call out his name to claim the pork.
Xu Shuang told the accountant: "My family and Wang Ying's will be counted together."
The accountant calculated it in no time, and when it was the turn of the two families, they were already in the middle, and Xu Shuang and Wang Ying stood in front of the pork.
Xu Shuang pointed at the pig's neck: "This one."
Wang Ying immediately thought of several ways to eat pork belly, and her eyes were filled with anticipation.
Xu Shuang took the lead and picked three pounds of pork belly, and the rest depended on what Wang Ying wanted.
With Xu Shuang, a professional chef, around, Wang Ying was confident: "Pig bones, pig trotters, pig intestines, and pig brains."
Li Chunjuan almost died of laughter, all Wang Ying wanted were leftovers!
The old lady next to Old Lady Xu also said, "Ying girl, this is not the right person to manage the family. You have to teach her a lesson later."
Old Lady Xu narrowed her eyes and said, "What's the matter? You haven't eaten the pig's trotters made by my little boy! Once you have tasted it, you will never want big fat meat again. How many people in our town go to the restaurant to eat just for the pig's trotters? If you don't understand anything, don't try to persuade me. I just think Ying girl picked the best."
Tian Youfu watched from the side. Every time the pigs were divided, the most annoying thing was the offal and leftovers. The members wanted them. If they had no choice, they would be very happy if they could eat some offal. But with the fat and pork belly, the offal and leftovers were not enough.
We all know that these things taste good when cooked, but not everyone can get all the ingredients together. If they are not properly boiled and the fishy smell is removed, they will taste worse than lean meat.
Speaking of fatty meat slices, not everyone likes to eat fatty meat slices. The main reason is that there is a very urgent issue at hand, which is the problem of oil usage.
In the countryside, most of the oil used is soybean oil, and almost every family grows some peanuts in their own plots to supplement the amount of oil they eat. But even this is not enough, and every family has to live on a bland diet.
The situation in the city is no different. There are few oil coupons, and the little that a family is given is not enough to last until the end of the month, so the only thing they can do is to save as much as possible.
Wang Ying also found out after experiencing it that there is something called oilcloth these days. Pick up the cloth, dip it in oil, and slide it across the bottom of the pot. This is the amount of oil intake for this meal.
There is a shortage of oil. Everyone is counting on the pork they are allocated to make oil. That little bit of lard will last until the double harvest next summer.
Wang Ying picked the pig's offal, and Tian Youfu would not let her suffer a loss: "We'll count three pounds of pig's offal as two pounds, and give you some pork belly as an extra."
Wang Ying nodded, drooling.
With so much meat, she had lots of ideas for what to order!
Xu Shuang was not unhappy at all. She put away the meat she was given, called Old Mrs. Xu, and went home with Wang Ying.
Leaving behind a whisper.
"This Ying girl really doesn't know how to live."
"Forget it. She has no one to teach her, isn't that right? But Xu Shuang is so weak. Why does she let her do whatever she wants?"
"Tsk tsk, the Xu family kid still has a stubborn back. From now on, he has to listen to his wife."
…
Xu Shuang didn't know that his image would be fixed in a certain misunderstanding for a long time in the future. He was busy cleaning up the pig intestines.
Wang Ying didn't just sit there and watch. She cleaned up the pig brains. Just before Tian Youfu left, he gave her a small piece of pig blood. Wang Ying put the brains aside and said to Old Lady Xu, "Your blood pressure is a little high. I'll go home and get some Gastrodia elata. Ask Xu Shuang to close the brains and stew a pot of Gastrodia elata and pig brains. You can drink it for two days in a row and take two more prescriptions later. You should be fine this winter."
Old Lady Xu waved her hands: "I can just take the medicine, why bother with that? Ask Xiaoyaer to make you a brain flower."
Wang Ying savored the delicious taste of the brains and insisted reluctantly: "There is still so much meat, so it doesn't matter if there are some brains. I'll ask Xu Shuang to stew it for you this afternoon."
Old Mrs. Xu was so beautiful that she was about to burst into tears. She really wanted to bring over those old ladies who had just made sarcastic remarks to see how much Ying girl missed her.
Such a good daughter-in-law, I can’t find her even with a flashlight!
Xu Shuang packed up the pig intestines and put the pork shanks in two halves into a deep pot. Holding the pig's trotters in her left hand and the pig intestines in her right hand, she asked Wang Ying, "How do you want to eat it?"
Wang Ying stretched out her hands eagerly, "Pig intestine noodles! Pig's trotters stewed with soybeans!"
Xu Shuang: "Okay."
Take a casserole, clean the two pig's trotters and put them in, add some soybeans and stew them together, pour half a cup of rice wine in the middle, and the aroma will waft out of the casserole.
Stir-fry the pig intestines and stew them until fragrant. Pour a spoonful of pig intestines on the hand-rolled noodles and add two chopsticks of cabbage to the soup.
The soup is rich and all your senses are shouting for its fragrance!
Wang Ying finished half a pig's trotter and a large bowl of pork intestine noodles. She couldn't eat the rest. Xu Shuang had put half a bowl of soybeans left at the bottom of the casserole.
“Save it for dinner with rice!”
If you are not too craving for the pork intestine noodles, the pig's trotters stewed with soybeans should be eaten with rice. Pour the soup on the rice and stir evenly. The rice with the soup will taste more delicious.
Old Mrs. Xu didn't think Wang Ying ate too much. She was led by Wang Ying to eat a big bowl of noodles. Only when she stopped did she feel that life was really good now.
I just miss my eldest son.
Old Mrs. Xu fell silent suddenly, but she had to endure it. She had to wait until next year to contact her eldest son again, so she could only let him live a hard life there this year.
Xu Shuang also told her about Wang Lingling's report a few days ago. Old Mrs. Xu regretted it so much. How could she find Wang Yongshun's family? How could she run into Wang Lingling, such a troublemaker!
Looking at Wang Ying again, she couldn't be more satisfied. It would have been great if the two of them had been engaged earlier when Wang Ying's mother was still alive.
Wang Ying didn't have to suffer for two years, and her family wouldn't have to endure this misfortune.
After distributing the pork, the next thing to do was to distribute the grain. Tian Youfu was very busy. As soon as he finished distributing the grain, he began to organize people to go into the mountains to hunt wild boars.
It takes about seven or eight days every year to hunt wild boars. It is a joint operation with several surrounding brigades. We go deep into the mountains and bring back the wild boars we kill and share the spoils. Although wild boars are fishy, what else do you need when you can have meat to eat during the winter
After the wild boar hunting team went far into the mountains, Wang Ying went to the fish pond again. Fortunately, this place was close but located in a remote area, so no one discovered them.
But it makes sense that for a fish to grow that big, it must have been a big fish for several years, which shows that it has never been targeted by anyone before.
Wang Ying caught another fish and prepared to take it home to fill her stomach first. Their wedding banquet was just around the corner, but it was not appropriate to have fish at the banquet. Xu Shuang said that it would be hard to explain if they took the fish out, as there was no place nearby that could produce such a big fish. So the two kept this little secret and planned to go up the mountain again after the wedding to store fish for the winter.
The closer it got to the wedding, the more idle Wang Ying felt.
Xu Shuang had taken care of everything. Besides his master, the other people helping in the kitchen were his senior brother who was also in the county town. His aunt, Old Lady Su, also sent some fresh vegetables and helped collect some dried vegetables from the summer sun in the brigade. All the arrangements for the wedding banquet were in place.
Wang Ying stayed at home for two days and finally decided to start her own business.
She first found Tian Dazhu's house, which was the house where Tian Youfude had mentioned that there was a pregnant woman.
As soon as she entered the house, Wang Ying frowned. Tian Dazhu's house was located on the downhill side of the brigade, and it was still very cold inside. Normally, if there was a pregnant woman at home, the kang should be heated up at this time. Adults could withstand the cold and wait, but pregnant women should be more careful.
A little girl with black dust on her face hid when she saw Wang Ying, and another short girl flashed into the house. Wang Ying could only shout twice.
After a while, a skinny woman came out. She had a protruding belly and deep wrinkles between her brows. "What are you doing?"
Wang Ying asked politely, "I am the barefoot doctor in our brigade. You must be my sister-in-law, right? The brigade leader asked me to come and see your fetus."
Qian** snorted coldly: "My pregnancy is fine! You don't need to check!"
Wang Ying patiently explained: "You are now more than five months old. The fetus grows fast at this time. I will feel your pulse to see if there is any problem with the baby. You should also pay attention to the next few months. If some babies are found to be in the wrong position early, I will have to push them for you first..."
Before she could finish her words, Qian** got angry and spitted hard, "You little girl, what do you know? This is my son! I raised him very carefully, and you come up here and curse me for the wrong fetal position? Besides, have you ever given birth? When it comes to giving birth, I know much more than you do! Do you want you to argue with me here? Get out! Don't let me see you!"
Wang Ying frowned: "Don't be in a hurry to vent your emotions. Let me show you. The mountain will be closed for more than two months. You have to be careful. There are some precautions. I have to explain it to you clearly..."
"You know nothing! I've already given birth to two children! Everything is going smoothly, why do you have to meddle in my business?"
"I'm not charging you any money for showing it to you, so you have nothing to lose."
"Get out of here right now! I don't want a piece of your girl to show me!"
Qian** was hiding in the house while shouting. When he was backing away, he accidentally knocked down the little girl behind him.
She screamed and kicked him hard: "Get out, get out! Didn't I tell you two not to enter the house? Get out now!"
She pushed the two children out and slammed the door shut.
Only then did Wang Ying see the appearance of the two children clearly. One was older and looked to be almost ten years old, while the other was younger and seemed to be around five years old.
The older one said timidly, "Sister, please go. My mother said that my younger brother is timid and hides away when he sees too many girls."
The younger one nodded and said, "Mom said that my little brother doesn't want to see me and my sister, so she told us to stay away from her."
Wang Ying had some feeling just now, and now when she heard what the two children said, she also had an expression that was hard to describe.
She had anticipated the situation of favoring boys over girls, but it was not uncommon for someone to do it so obviously and have such a stubborn mind.
She squatted down, took out two candies, and gave one to each of the two little girls: "Okay, then I'll go back. If your mother is not feeling well, you two should be smart and run outside to call for help."
She couldn't help with anything else, and the adults completely refused to help. It must be a sin for these two children to be born into this family.
Wang Ying turned and left, ready to find Tian Youfu to report that Qian** was not cooperating, and her man always listened to the captain
The team leader was asked to tell her family to at least build a kang at home and give the pregnant woman more nutrition. Qian** looked abnormally thin just now.
Wang Ying couldn't help but look back at the two little girls who were holding the candies as if they were treasures, and her heart became much heavier.
The Seventh Brigade was already one of the brigades with relatively good lives in the vicinity. No one starved to death here, and no family was going hungry. But even so, these benefits could not bring any bonus to the two little girls.
There was no primary school in their brigade, so if the children of Shengli Commune wanted to go to school, they had to walk for more than an hour every day to go to the primary school of Shengli Commune. If they were lucky enough to go to middle school, the students of Shengli Commune would be transferred to the nearby Xipo Town to attend Hongqi Middle School.
The number of children currently studying in the Seventh Brigade can be counted on ten fingers, and there is not a single girl among them.
Wang Ying reported Qian **'s family situation to Tian Youfu in a muffled voice. Tian Youfu was also distressed. He had always known what kind of person Qian ** was, but he didn't expect that this man would be so destitute that he would not even see a doctor.
"Don't worry about it. I'll talk to her husband. But her husband is a quiet man and may not be able to control her. You don't know that she is crazy about having a son now."
How could Wang Ying not know? Just by looking at the two girls, she knew what the family was thinking.
Just like some of the boys she had met before the end of the world, the sisters above knew the reason just by listening.
Putting aside the troubles of Qian**'s family, the other two elderly people were fine. Wang Ying prescribed two cheap medicines, and both families bought them with reluctance. They also said that they would contact Wang Ying again before the New Year so that any problems could be discovered in time.
When Wang Ying returned home, she fed the pigs in the pigsty first. Strangely enough, her original spiritual spring water could only work on herself, but after coming here, the spiritual spring water first saved the dying medicinal plants, and then it was obviously effective when fed to the pigs.
Wang Ying suspected that the surrounding environment affected the spiritual spring. In the past, the environment in the last days was bad, so it could only affect herself. Now that she has moved to a new place with beautiful mountains and clear water, the amount of spiritual spring water in her sea of consciousness has also increased a lot.
Although the skinny pig didn't gain much meat, it looked visibly better. When it saw Wang Ying, it hummed for food.
There is a big millstone in Wang Ying's yard. She plans to use the bran distributed by the brigade and the leftover fish bones from her own home to grind into powder to feed the pigs in winter.
After feeding the pigs, Wang Ying went to the state-owned restaurant to find Xu Shuang.
She was in a bad mood at Qian**'s house, and wanted to eat something hot right now. If they went there at this time, they could catch up with dinner and go back to the team together.
Arriving at the state-owned restaurant, Wang Ying saw from a distance that the small-eyed Xie Yuejin was talking to someone at the side of the state-owned restaurant. Wang Ying walked lightly and stopped five steps away, and Xie Yuejin finally saw the person.
Xie Yuejin quickly ended the topic with the other person, winked at him to leave first, and then he came forward enthusiastically.
"Sister-in-law, are you here to see Brother Xu? Brother Xu is in the kitchen! I'll take you there."
Wang Ying hummed and asked, "What did you say to that person just now?"
This question was asked abruptly, and no normal person would ask this question unless they were not close enough to each other.
Xie Yuejin, with small eyes, answered evasively: "That's my cousin. He came to talk to me about family matters."
Wang Ying: “Oh.”
Her sensitive hearing clearly heard that Xie Yuejin clearly said that Xu Shuang would return to the team next month to spend the winter, and he planned to sell the dry goods in the store!