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Chapter 323: Chapter 313 You Can Use It With Confidence
Shen Yunfang had just started working when Dashuan’s wife came rushing in, all flustered.
"Yunfang, Yunfang, have you come back, really come back?" Dashuan’s wife called out as soon as she entered the courtyard.
"Of course, I’m already at home, aren’t I truly back?" Shen Yunfang replied from within the house. 𝚗o𝚟pub.𝚌𝚘𝚖
By this time, Dashuan’s wife had already come inside and walked up to the kang bed, looking Shen Yunfang up and down, finally concluding, "You seem a bit thinner to me, did you not eat well over there, or were things not going smoothly for you? If so, just come back. At least here at home you can always have enough to eat." She was treating Shen Yunfang as if she were an African refugee.
After all, Shen Yunfang had told her about how tough it was being with the military, where the allotted food for family members was barely enough to stave off hunger.
Shen Yunfang looked at herself; with the space she had, it would be difficult for her to gain or lose even a pound in her lifetime, so when Dashuan’s wife said she had thinned, it was purely based on the feeling that she should have lost weight when, in reality, she hadn’t lost a bit.
"Sister-in-law, it’s not as bad as you’re making it out to be. I was fine over there, I had enough food. If the state’s provisions weren’t sufficient, I still had the rice you sold to me to fall back on. How could I possibly lose weight? It’s good enough that I didn’t gain any." Shen Yunfang quickly explained.
Dashuan’s wife thought about it; it was true that Yunfang had bought a lot of rice. Even if she ate it constantly for a year or two, she would have had enough.
"As long as you were doing well, that’s what matters. Your Brother Dashuan and I were still thinking about you, wondering if you couldn’t get used to living over there."
"There’s nothing uncomfortable about living there; it’s also in the Northeast, even colder than here. It’s just that the neighbors there aren’t as good as the ones we have here." Shen Yunfang spoke some truth.
Dashuan’s wife slapped her thigh, "Exactly, where could you find the kind of solid relationships we have compared to those halfhearted ones over there?" She nodded in agreement.
"Sister-in-law, you and Brother Dashuan are so busy, how could you still plant so many vegetables for me? If I hadn’t come back, would you really have preserved this whole courtyard’s worth of vegetables into dried goods?" Shen Yunfang quickly changed the subject.
"Of course, after collecting the harvest in the fall, I wouldn’t have much to do anyway, so I could just take care of it. Besides, what’s there for your Brother Dashuan and me to be busy about? You know how work gets done in the collective. It’s always the same routine," Dashuan’s wife said nonchalantly, waving her hand as if planting a courtyard full of vegetables for Yunfang was no big deal.
This courtyard and the private plots had seasoned crops. When spring came, they simply turned the soil over, scattered the seeds, and didn’t have to care much for it, just watering and weeding once in a while. She could handle it all by herself with an occasional visit, so it really wasn’t a big deal.
Besides, nowadays, many people in the collective were just malingering at work. In the end, however hard they worked, they would still earn the same work points. After a few years, no fool would neglect their own land and toil away on the collective farmland instead.
"Oh, I do have something to tell you. For some reason this spring, I got carried away and ended up getting two extra piglets. I regretted it as soon as I got home. How on earth was I going to manage raising four pigs at once? Even if I had enough grain to feed them, there was no room in my small yard to build an extra pigsty. Later, when I considered that your place was unoccupied and your pigsty was empty, I decided to raise the two pigs there. It worked out perfectly, and I didn’t have to worry about others seeing them and gossiping behind my back. I didn’t tell you in advance, so please don’t be mad at me, sister-in-law." Dashuan’s wife quickly brought this up, aware that she had acted without permission, which wasn’t entirely proper.
"Oh, I thought it was something serious. You’ve been looking after my house and even grew so many vegetables for me, I haven’t even said thank you, and here you are being all polite with me. Besides, even if I did come back to stay, it wouldn’t be for long, how could I raise pigs on my own? You just use it without worry," Shen Yunfang truly didn’t mind about this matter.
Regardless of her relationship with Dashuan’s family, they helped her plant her private plot and vegetable garden. Come autumn harvest, that was several hundred pounds of grain. If she didn’t have space to store it, those grains could have solved a big problem for her. No amount of thanks she could offer the couple would be too much.
Of course, once she knew they had helped her with the planting, she secretly decided that she would take a symbolic portion as "rent" after the harvest, and the rest would be given to Dashuan and his wife. After all, they had put in a lot of effort and weren’t wealthy themselves; they deserved that grain.
"Hehe, then Sister-in-law won’t be polite with you," Shen Yunfang laughed.
Afterward, the two of them cleaned the house together while chatting. There was just a layer of dust inside, not too dirty, so they quickly wiped down the entire house.
Once the house was tidy enough to live in, Shen Yunfang and Dashuan’s wife went back to the Wang Family’s place.
There wasn’t a single grain of food out in the open, so Shen Yunfang needed to find some food before she could cook for herself at home. In the meantime, she would have to mooch off others for meals.
For dinner, Shen Yunfang had originally planned to eat at Elder Shen’s place, but Wang’s mother insisted on her staying, not taking no for an answer. While Shen Yunfang had been cleaning her house, Wang’s mother had swiftly butchered a young rooster and prepared a pot of Northeastern China’s authentic dish, chicken stewed with mushrooms, for the evening. Shen Yunfang thus had no choice but to stay and eat at Wang’s mother’s home.
Over the dinner table, they each shared their recent stories. Shen Yunfang mentioned she would be staying at home for about ten days to half a month, didn’t have any food stocks, and was looking to buy some. She asked Dashuan’s wife to inquire discreetly if anyone had rice for sale, as she wanted to buy some privately.
Wang’s mother initially wanted to say there was no need to buy, as a young woman couldn’t eat much and it would be fine to take a little grain from home without going out to purchase any. But then she remembered Yunfang’s extravagant ways, how she always had a taste for fine flour and rice. There wasn’t much left at home. It wasn’t that she begrudged giving some; there simply wasn’t any to give. So, she swallowed the words that had almost escaped her mouth. The girl obviously wasn’t short on cash; if she wanted to buy, let her buy.
Though she was advanced in years, Wang’s mother’s vision was still sharp, and she was aware of Yunfang’s private dealings with her son concerning pork. With Li Hongjun earning a good income, the girl probably wasn’t short of money.
Dashuan’s wife immediately began thinking about whom she might buy some rice and flour for Yunfang. As for meat and eggs, their own home had chickens and quails, more than enough. And with vegetables plentiful in their garden, Yunfang really only lacked grain.
After enjoying a pleasant meal, Shen Yunfang prepared a bottle of milk powder for her son, watched him finish it, and then let him crawl around on the kang bed, playing with his elder brother. After telling Wang’s mother, she left her child behind and went to visit Elder Shen. Having returned home, it was only right to see her uncle and catch up with him.
"Mom, just gather the bowls in the pot; I’m going to see Fengzhen. She knows how to get by, and there might still be some rice and flour left at her place. I’ll go check it out and bring some back if there is any. I’ll wash the bowls when I return," Dashuan’s wife said before trailing behind Shen Yunfang out the door.
Wang’s mother hummed from the kitchen, muttering under her breath, "I’m not so infirm that I can’t wash a few bowls. Doesn’t have to wait for you to come back to wash them."
"What are you muttering about, mom?" Dashuan called from the yard.
"What can I say? I’m praising how capable your wife is," Wang’s mother replied with a hint of irritation.
