NOVPUB
Chapter 96: Chapter 92: Oil Pressing (5th Update)
The next day, Shen Yunfang got up bright and early. It was her day off, and she was planning to go to the county to gather some information and do a bit of shopping. After eating a quick breakfast, she carried a sack of soybeans and headed for the entrance of the village.
On their days off, Uncle Yougen from the production team would drive the brigade’s horse-drawn cart to the entrance of the village to wait for anyone who wanted to go to the county or around the brigade; it was free of charge.
Arriving at Wang Jianjun’s house, Shen Yunfang called for Jianjun’s wife, and then the two chatted and laughed as they went to catch the horse-drawn cart.
Initially, Yunfang had arranged to go with Dashuan’s wife, but since she was pregnant and already in her fourth month showing quite a bit, she felt too lazy and didn’t want to go out. Shen Yunfang then asked around and found that Erzhu’s wife and Jianjun’s wife were available. In the end, only Jianjun’s wife was free, so the two of them set off to the county together.
After the autumn harvest, the villagers didn’t have much to do, so when they reached the entrance of the village, the cart was already filled with eight or nine people. Fearing there wouldn’t be enough seats, the two women hurried to secure a spot.
Soon after, two more people showed up, so everyone squeezed in a bit and managed to sit down.
Seeing the cart was full, Uncle Yougen didn’t wait any longer; he directly cracked his whip, and they set off.
"Yunfang, I see you go to the county every month. Is it because your boyfriend sends you quite a bit of money? What do you buy?" Shen Huiping, who was about the same age as Shen Yunfang and also her primary school classmate, inquired. Huiping had dropped out of school to do farm work at home because her family wouldn’t let her continue her education.
Shen Yunfang smiled at her. Although this classmate was from the same village, their relationship was just average. In fact, except for her own relatives and the family of Big Sister Wang, Shen Yunfang didn’t have close relations with many people in the village. Due to her studying for over a decade, she rarely got to play with other children from the village, and perhaps out of jealousy or something else, Shen Yunfang lacked close friends. Her once best friend, Shen Yingxue, had drifted apart, and thus, over the past year, not a single kid had come to play with her.
"I don’t buy much, mainly go to the county to sell chicken eggs each month," Shen Yunfang said casually, avoiding mentioning anything about her boyfriend. She wasn’t one to show off about such matters. After all, people could still get divorced after getting married, and since they weren’t married yet, it wasn’t certain he would be hers, so she didn’t see any point in flaunting.
"Why go all the way there to sell eggs when you can also sell them in the next village?" Shen Huiping clearly didn’t believe what Shen Yunfang said.
People from the village would usually go to the neighboring village to buy essentials like oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar or to sell chicken eggs as it was much closer than going to the county.
"You can get a better price in the county," Shen Yunfang replied, reluctant to engage further, but noting the interest of others in the cart, she tossed out an indifferent comment.
"Haha, Yunfang, the price of chicken eggs is the same everywhere," one of the aunties laughed and said.
The others had looks of mocking disbelief, probably thinking that Shen Yunfang wasn’t telling a very convincing lie. Everybody sold eggs now and then, so of course, they knew about the pricing.
"Not at all, the eggs from Yunfang’s chickens are big. The county’s supply and marketing cooperative pays six cents each," Jianjun’s wife quickly spoke up for Shen Yunfang, not liking the looks on people’s faces.
"How is that possible? They’re all the same chickens, so how come yours lay bigger eggs?" another old lady questioned skeptically.
Jianjun’s wife quickly lifted the cover of Shen Yunfang’s basket to show everyone, "Look and compare if you like, aren’t they all bigger than yours?"
Some actually took the bait and began to compare their own eggs, which they also intended to sell, with those in Shen Yunfang’s basket, "Hey, they are indeed a size larger."
Jianjun’s wife smiled in satisfaction.
"Yunfang, what do you feed them? What makes them lay such big eggs?" an old lady inquired, seeking insight.
"Nothing special, I just have more time, so I forage some wild greens and get some earthworms to feed the chickens; they grow well on that," Shen Yunfang replied, not minding sharing the wealth with everyone.
Everyone suddenly realized. Oh, so the rumor that Yunfang’s family raised a lot of earthworms was for this reason.
Several people asked for more details, and Shen Yunfang patiently explained how to feed chickens with earthworms. However, when they realized it involved cleaning and cooking the earthworms, many lost interest, and few took her seriously toward the end.
Shen Yunfang didn’t mind. She wasn’t keeping secrets, and if people didn’t appreciate her, there was nothing she could do about it.
"Yunfang, which unit is your boyfriend in, what rank is he, and does he earn a lot?" Shen Huiping, seeing no one else asking, leaned in and whispered the question.
Shen Yunfang distanced herself slightly and wondered why she was fixated on this topic; why was she so keen to know which unit Li Hongjun was in and how much money he made each month? Was she thinking of stealing him away? Besides, their relationship was just average; wasn’t it a bit premature to be asking such deep and personal questions?
"I can’t really say exactly which unit, but I’ve heard it’s even further north of here, in the mountains somewhere," Shen Yunfang replied, noticing Shen Huiping’s sigh of relief. What did that mean? Was she looking for reassurance or what?
"Why are you asking this?" Shen Yunfang asked suspiciously.
"No, nothing. I’m just curious, just asking," Shen Huiping quickly explained.
"Haha, Huiping, I heard your mom has also been asking around for a match for you these days, huh? How’s that going, when are you meeting?" a matron chimed in teasingly after overhearing their conversation.
"I don’t, I don’t know, there’s nothing like that," Shen Huiping’s face turned red like a tiny apple.
"Oh my, now she’s getting shy," another old woman joined in the teasing.
The rest of the way was spent with everyone making fun of Shen Huiping.
Upon reaching the brigade’s headquarters, the cart stopped; a group of people would get off here before it continued to the county seat.
Shen Yunfang and Jianjun’s wife got off the cart at the brigade— their first stop was the brigade’s workshop, as Shen Yunfang needed to press oil.
Wuxing Brigade was just a village bigger than Gaijiatun, with the brigade office and workshop both situated on the same street, easy to find.
When Shen Yunfang and Jianjun’s wife entered the oil press with their sacks, the place was empty; they had to spend a while finding the workers who were chatting in an adjacent room.
To press oil from soybeans, the labor cost was one penny per jin. Shen Yunfang had brought a hundred jin, which totaled one yuan. Plus, she bought a plastic bucket to hold the oil, giving the worker two and a half yuan in total.
Shen Yunfang made arrangements with them to come back in the afternoon for the oil and the leftover soybean meal.
Then, both of them headed toward the county seat, light on their feet.
This time, Shen Yunfang had come with Jianjun’s wife, so they didn’t go to the procurement station to see Jian Hui. Instead, they first went to the cooperative to sell the eggs they had in their baskets and bought some daily necessities.
After wandering around half the county, Shen Yunfang dragged Jianjun’s wife into a bathhouse to take a bath.
Jianjun’s wife had never been to a bathhouse despite having grown up; she’d only heard people talk about it during chats, saying you had to strip naked to go in, with the room full of nothing but bare flesh.
Fearing the bathhouse like a terrible flood beast, she refused to go no matter what.
Both women stood in front of the bathhouse and after a long persuasion, Shen Yunfang finally convinced Jianjun’s wife to give it a try.
Yet, once inside the women’s bathhouse, Jianjun’s wife became coy while undressing, especially trying to cover up more as she took off more clothes.
Shen Yunfang didn’t want to embarrass her, so she didn’t dare to look openly, only sneaking peeks when Jianjun’s wife wasn’t paying attention, and then she seemed to understand why she was being so secretive.
A large pair of flowered underpants adorned with patches at the front, back, and sides—probably embarrassed about others seeing and making fun of her.
The two women scrubbed each other’s backs, and with plenty of time, they enjoyed a leisurely wash for over an hour.
Upon exiting the bathhouse, Jianjun’s wife had just one word to say, "Worth it."
After some more strolling, Shen Yunfang saw it was about time, so she took Jianjun’s wife straight to the county hospital.
They didn’t go for a consultation but directly to the pharmacy to get some traditional Chinese medicine.
Jianjun’s wife kept asking her what was wrong.
Shen Yunfang vaguely claimed her back hurt and brushed it off. This matter was somewhat shady; the fewer people knew about it, the better.
