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Chapter 146: Chapter 140 Purchase Goods
"What time is it, and you’re just now showing up? My son is already hungry," Qiu Shuping started to pick a quarrel as soon as Shen Yunfang entered the ward.
She could have gone to the cafeteria to get some food for her son, but first of all, the Food Coupons and money her son gave her were limited. Although the hospital’s cafeteria was quite cheap, she couldn’t afford to eat there three times a day. Moreover, these past couple of days, she really enjoyed the taste of this woman’s cooking. It not only saved money but also tasted good, so of course, she preferred to wait for her to cook and bring it over.
Shen Yunfang didn’t say a word but glanced at Li Hongjun, "I’m not hungry, don’t worry." 𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙥𝒖𝒃.𝒄𝒐𝒎
Qiu Shuping felt frustrated to see her own son dismantling her stage but ended up being pulled away by old man Li in the end.
"Your dad sure has a good temper." If she encountered such a wasteful mother, she would have smacked her already. Shen Yunfang fumed inwardly.
In fact, she just thought about it and vented verbally. From the day she decided to marry Li Hongjun, she had lost any chance of fighting with Qiu Shuping. No matter what, she would have to respect her from now on.
"My dad just cares too much about face," Li Hongjun said with a smile.
Actually, at home, his mom was still afraid of his dad. When his dad got angry, he really would get physical. When he was young, his dad and mom would fight hard. No matter how tough his mom was, she was still a woman, so it didn’t take many times before his dad subdued her. So, his dad was in charge of the big decisions at home, and his mom of the smaller ones, although there weren’t many big decisions to make in all those years.
Another thing was his dad cared a lot about face. Even if he was angry outside, he wouldn’t lose face by arguing with a woman. His mom took advantage of that and dared to act this way.
Shen Yunfang placed the things in her hand on the table and came to Li Hongjun, "Come on, do you want to use the restroom?"
"How did you know?" Li Hongjun was somewhat surprised.
"With your stubborn character, as if your mom would take care of you," Shen Yunfang rolled her eyes.
"Heh heh, my wife knows me best." Li Hongjun chuckled foolishly for a moment. Indeed, he hadn’t relieved himself all day, and to avoid going to the restroom during the day, he even refrained from drinking water.
After taking care of his physiological needs, Shen Yunfang went out to get some hot water and used a towel to wipe Li Hongjun’s hands and face—a task his mother would definitely never think of doing.
After everything was done, she moved the table to the bedside and opened the food she had brought one by one.
"Time to eat."
Li Hongjun craned his neck to look at the amount of food she had brought and was surprised, "What soup?"
"Bone soup."
"Did you buy it?" Pork wasn’t easy to buy in the city; no, it should be said that pork wasn’t easy to buy anywhere at this time.
"Uh-huh, don’t worry about it. You just focus on eating everything I make for you. I got some coupons, enough for you to eat for a while," Shen Yunfang said, too lazy to make up excuses and just saying she had meat coupons was easier.
Li Hongjun didn’t probe further, feeling full of gratitude. Yet in his heart, he silently vowed that since his wife treated him so well, he would treat her doubly well in the future.
"Alright, you’re in charge at our home." He still gave her all the coupons from his pocket. "Take these, buy whatever you need with them."
Shen Yunfang flipped through them; they had all kinds of special coupons, with no regional restrictions and could be used anywhere. They must be the ones Li Hongjun had been saving for months. "Alright, then I’ll hold onto them for now."
Shen Yunfang insisted on feeding Li Hongjun first, causing him to stare at the cornbread she brought to his lips in a daze.
"What’s the matter, don’t you like it?" Shen Yunfang asked, puzzled.
"No, am I allowed to eat it?" It wasn’t that Li Hongjun didn’t like it. He had been so hungry these past few days that he felt dizzy and didn’t dare to say a word.
"Eat up, I asked the doctor. Three days have passed since your surgery, you can eat normally now. But it’s best to eat something easy to digest." After all, he would be constipated if he lay in bed without moving for a long time.
"Alright, I’ll listen to you." Li Hongjun bit into half of the cornbread in one go.
And so, the two of them ate like this, sharing six cornbreads, a small pot of egg custard, and a bucket of bone soup between them.
"Wife, your cooking is really delicious." Li Hongjun lay in bed full from his meal, still savoring the flavors.
"Hehe, that’s because you’ve been eating less salt these days, so anything with a hint of saltiness tastes delicious to you," Shen Yunfang teased him.
"That’s only one reason; the other is that your cooking is just delicious," Li Hongjun was very stubborn.
"Alright, my cooking is delicious. If you like it, I’ll cook for you from now on," Shen Yunfang wasn’t serious, speaking as if she were cajoling a child.
"You said it; from now on, you’ll cook for me. But if I rejoin my unit, I won’t be able to enjoy it... Don’t worry, wife, even if I can’t be a soldier anymore, I can still provide a good life for you." Li Hongjun suddenly thought of his leg injury, realizing that he might not be able to become a soldier after all.
"Okay, I’ll wait," Shen Yunfang didn’t comfort him. There was no use dwelling on it. If he couldn’t be a soldier, so what? Couldn’t ordinary people also lead a carefree life?
Soon, a knock sounded at the door of the hospital room. Shen Yunfang looked at Li Hongjun, thinking it was someone to see him.
"You go open the door. It’s probably the hospital delivering the bed." He had spoken to the nurse today, and she had agreed very amiably to bring in an extra bed for him that night.
Shen Yunfang opened the door and indeed saw two young nurses, pushing in a single bed.
Shen Yunfang hurriedly thanked them and sent them on their way. Now she also had a place to sleep at night.
The next morning, after the Li Family couple came, Shen Yunfang left. She took the bus straight to the black market. She wandered around until almost nine o’clock before she saw that middle-aged man from yesterday.
"Young lady, over here," the middle-aged man checked his surroundings and waved to Shen Yunfang.
Shen Yunfang quickly walked over, and the middle-aged man led her through a series of turns to a small alley, where a burlap sack was against the wall.
"It’s all here; you can check the goods." The middle-aged man said this as he pulled open a small opening in the large burlap sack, revealing pigeons with their legs tied at the top.
After checking the size of the pigeons, Shen Yunfang was quite pleased, and then she rummaged through the meat and fish underneath. They all looked good.
"Sister, you can trust me. I’ve been doing this for many years, and what I value is trust."
"Alright, let’s see how much it all is." The fish needed to be weighed and couldn’t be estimated in advance.
"Two carp, one weighing three pounds and two ounces, the other four pounds and two ounces. Six crucian carp in total are three pounds and nine ounces. Round it up; I’ll remove the small change, so it’s eleven pounds altogether, eleven dollars. The beef looks very good, so I took a little more than you asked for, totaling sixty-seven pounds. If you don’t want that much, I can take some out later," the middle-aged man calculated the cost.
"No need; sixty-seven pounds is fine." Beef was hard to come by, so having a bit extra was okay.
"Hehe, sister is generous. Sixty-seven pounds then is two hundred and one dollars; let’s say two hundred, plus the pigeons, ten for twenty dollars, makes a total of two hundred and thirty-one dollars. Sister, just give two hundred and thirty dollars."
Shen Yunfang did some quick calculations in her head and nodded, pulling out a stack of money from her pocket and counted out twenty-three bills to hand over. "Count it, see if it’s right."
"Oh, there’s no need to count; I trust you, sister." The middle-aged man had been watching Shen Yunfang count the money, so he knew it was correct. Still, despite saying he wouldn’t count, he wasn’t idle with his hands.
Shen Yunfang liked this method; counting face to face saved future trouble.
"It’s right, isn’t it?"
"Yes, it’s right, sister. If you need anything in the future, come find me, and I’ll give you the best price," the middle-aged man said with a smile as he flicked through the stack of money in his hand.
"I’ll have to, especially now that I need your help," Shen Yunfang had made herself look around thirty years old, so calling the middle-aged man ’brother’ wasn’t too much. If it were her real age, she probably would have to call him ’uncle.’
The expression on the middle-aged man’s face froze for a moment.
"Don’t get tense; I’m not saying there’s something wrong with these goods. I intend to sell some things," Shen Yunfang saw he was a bit stiff and quickly explained.
"Sister, you really gave your brother a scare there," the middle-aged man visibly relaxed. His line of work meant venturing on thin ice – though it paid well, the risk was just as high, and one misstep could mean serious trouble. "Sister, what do you have to sell? Tell me, and I’ll definitely give you a high price."
These days, there were many buyers but few sellers, and he often had to go out to the countryside to collect goods.
