NOVPUB
Chapter 185: Chapter 178 Again Meeting My Bestie
Shen Yunfang glanced at the time and decided it was about right to head home. She planned to freshen up a bit before starting her workday.
But just as she came down the mountain, she saw Ergouzi loitering at her doorstep. 𝔫𝖔𝔳𝖕𝖚𝔟.𝔠𝔬𝖒
Ergouzi also spotted Shen Yunfang and hurried over, saying, "Sister Yunfang, you’re back, I brought you some sparrows."
As he spoke, he carefully pulled out a small package from his pocket, wrapped in leaves.
"I might have roasted them a tad too much. The bones can be chewed right along with the meat, so chew it a few more times when you eat it. It’s really tasty," he said, as if savoring the flavor of the sparrows, and took a slurping swallow of his saliva.
"Alright, thank you," Shen Yunfang said, smiling as she ruffled his mop of hair. The boy might be a handful, but he was a good kid, generous and righteous.
"Hehe," Ergouzi, used to her touch, didn’t resist and just chuckled sheepishly a few times. "By the way, when I was coming over just now, I saw Shen Dafu’s daughter looking for you. She even asked if I knew where you had gone."
"Oh? What did you tell her? Do you know what she was looking for me for?" Shen Yunfang was quite surprised; it had been a long time since the two had seen each other.
She spent her days in the village, and Shen Yingxue, who had a temporary job in the county, rarely came back. Even when Shen Yunfang got married during the New Year’s, Shen Yingxue hadn’t come over. Shen Yunfang thought their relationship had ended there, but now Shen Yingxue was looking for her again.
"I told her I didn’t know where you were. She didn’t say why she was looking for you but told me to let you know, when I saw you, that she needed to talk to you and asked you to go to her place," Ergouzi said with his head not quite comprehending the intricacies, "Sister Yunfang, don’t be a fool and go looking for her. That Shen Yingxue is too sly. You’re no match for her."
The last sentence was left unspoken.
Shen Yunfang didn’t know what to say, being called naive by a kid young enough to be her grandson. It seemed her past impression on others wasn’t too great.
"Alright, I am really naive, aren’t I? I won’t go looking for her. If she needs something, she’ll come to me," Shen Yunfang said, not quite pleased.
Ergouzi snorted; how could she not be naive, swapping sparrows for wild vegetables?
In the eyes of most people, wild vegetables are everywhere and can be gathered without spending a penny, but sparrows are different. The few well-roasted sparrows they had couldn’t be gotten for less than fifty cents each in the city. So, to the villagers of Gaijiatun, Shen Yunfang’s behavior of trading sparrows for wild vegetables was seen as downright foolish. That’s why the parents of those children didn’t interfere. They let the kids do as they pleased, as long as their own child didn’t lose out.
"As long as you’re aware," said Ergouzi, seeing she truly understood. He strutted off like a little adult, his hands behind his back, swaying from side to side as he walked toward the village. He hadn’t gone far when he remembered something and turned back, "Don’t be lazy tomorrow, make sure you catch plenty of sparrows. If there aren’t enough for us to trade, hmph." The threat was implicit.
Shen Yunfang almost laughed at the child’s antics, "Don’t worry, however many baskets of wild vegetables you bring, I’ll exchange for an equal number of sparrows. There will be enough for sure."
Reassured by the promise, Ergouzi finally toddled off contentedly.
Shen Yunfang quickly opened the door and went inside, tossing what she was carrying at the entrance, then grabbed a basin and headed to the kitchen. She lifted the lid of the pot and scooped out a ladle of hot water, mixing it with some cold water from the jar beside her, and washed her face luxuriously. She then dampened a towel and gave her body a quick wipe.
Seeing time was indeed short, she grabbed a melon from the well in the backyard and munched on it as she walked outside.
Reaching the work site, she caught sight of Old Man Shen on his way home, greeted him—much like punching the clock at a job—and then Shen Yunfang ambled over to the straw shed.
With nothing to do, she took out the shepherd’s purse she had picked earlier that day and sat down at the edge of the field to carefully pluck it. Suddenly, several sparrows flew over, fluttering and chirping. Shen Yunfang quickly put down the shepherd’s purse, picked up the slingshot and pebbles beside her, and aimed at a sparrow about to land. As soon as one pebble was shot, she quickly picked up another and aimed at a sparrow flying erratically before shooting again.
This time, her luck was better, and the second shot also hit its mark.
Shen Yunfang didn’t care to check immediately, seeing that the sparrows in the sky had flown away, she picked up the shepherd’s purse and continued plucking. As the sky began to darken, there had already been seven or eight flocks of sparrows. Shen Yunfang knew it was about time, later when it got dark, she wouldn’t be able to see the sparrows in the field. Ensuring no one was around, she threw the shepherd’s purse into her storage space and crawled into the field to collect the sparrows.
Although she didn’t care much for the bit of meat, no matter how small, it was the fruit of her own labor, and it would definitely be wrong to waste it.
"Yunfang, Yunfang, are you here?"
Shen Yunfang was searching for sparrows when she heard someone calling her. By the voice, she knew it was Shen Yingxue.
"Yeah, I’m here, just a second," replied Shen Yunfang as she quickly found all eleven sparrows in the field before crawling out.
Shen Yingxue looked at Shen Yunfang, dressed in her work clothes and holding dead sparrows, and her brow unconsciously furrowed, but her lips curved into a smile.
"Yunfang, why did you go into the field?"
"Hehe, I just took the chance to shoot a few sparrows, and here I’ve picked them up," Shen Yunfang said, holding up the dead sparrows in her hand.
"Oh my, you really are something. Those sparrows are so small, and there’s hardly any meat on them, why bother?" Shen Yingxue complained, seemingly out of concern.
Shen Yunfang didn’t respond, whether there was meat or not, it was her own pleasure that mattered.
"Let’s not talk about that. Where have you been this afternoon? I went looking for you and no one was at your house," asked Shen Yingxue.
"What else could I be doing? I went to the edge of the mountain to gather pig feed," answered Shen Yunfang while walking into the thatched hut. She found a piece of straw rope and tied the legs of the sparrows together, hoisting up all eleven like a large bunch.
"Sigh, life in Gaijiatun Village is just too hard," Shen Yingxue exclaimed, and then remembering why she had come, she asked, "Yunfang, you’re done with work, right? Let’s go together, I have something I want to ask you about."
"What is it?" Shen Yunfang was quite curious.
Shen Yingxue replied with a face that struggled to hide embarrassment but feigned calm, "You can’t laugh at me. Someone introduced me to a prospective match, and I don’t know if he’s good or not. I thought that since you have experience, I should ask for your advice."
Shen Yunfang looked at Shen Yingxue with a half-smile, not sure what to say. Comrade, if you want to pick a fight or show off, find a better excuse, okay? What do you mean ’I have experience’? Your mom and dad have decades of experience, why ask me?
Thinking that Shen Yunfang was reluctant to listen to her, Shen Yingxue quickly said, "I didn’t mean anything else, just that you’ve recently gotten married, so you must have more experience than me. I was hoping you could give me your opinion on this match."
Shen Yunfang replied somewhat uneasily, "This is something I really can’t help you with. My partner and I didn’t need to size up each other, and besides, in our village, there’s no shortage of people who have been married; even your parents have more experience than me. I think, you’d better ask your parents for advice on this matter."
