Chapter: 7 Warmth
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| China's Food Ticket Picture |
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“It’s not early. Try it. I added sugar to the newly collapsed Rice Krispies before the Chinese New Year. It’s sweet.”
The village chief’s wife put the bowl on the table next to Shi Xiaoai and watched her pick it up and take a sip before continuing with a smile: “Xiao xiao, your uncle came back to talk about what happened in the morning. Hey, where is all this? Guiquan’s injury was because of his bad luck. What does it have to do with you?
However, moving back to the city is always a good thing. You should leave if you can. It’s difficult for you to raise two children alone, and you can’t afford to get into trouble with their folk. “
I can see that this household is headed by a woman. Ever since his wife opened her mouth, the village chief has been smoking and never spoke a word.
Shi Xiaoai said: “Thank you, aunt, sorry for causing you trouble.”
“No trouble, no trouble. This is what it should be.” The village chief’s wife waved her hands.
Because both parties were impatient, they got to business without saying a few words.
The village chief’s wife was not pretentious. She said: “When I was young, I wasn’t afraid of your jokes. Our family doesn’t have much cash now.”
Seeing the old man raising his eyes, the village chief’s wife glared back and continued: “If you don’t have cash, you don’t have cash, but we are not the ones who take advantage of others! Auntie knows you are in need.” If you come to us for money, there’s nothing wrong with it, so do you think this will work?”
“Auntie, tell me.”
“We’ll scrape collectively and ask Erjun to go to his grandma’s house in the evening. We can scrape closely a hundred and fifty yuan, maybe a little more. No matter how much we squeeze closely, you can use the money first and leave the rest. Please drop your address when you move, and we will return it.
You should also know the character of your uncle and me after we have been together for so many years. We are not the kind of people who do immoral things. We will pay you back when we say we will. When we hand you the cash, we will write an IOU.
In addition, the Erjun has already gone to buy train tickets for you. Don’t hand over the cash for the tickets. Let’s settle the accounts together later. Do you is okay? “
After hearing what his wife said, the old village chief stopped smoking. He raised his head and looked at Shi Xiaoai. Apparently, he agreed with this proposal.
This was a solution that Shi Xiaoai had never dared to think of before arriving.
You know her original intention is to swap as much as possible. If she can’t change it, she can save a train ticket and exchange it for some food without losing money.
Therefore, after hearing the proposal from the village chief’s wife, she agreed.
Today, the wishes of both parties were fulfilled, and the atmosphere in the room became much more relaxed.
The old village chief was no longer embarrassed today and discussed the house price with Shi Xiaoai.
Shi Xiaoai’s family was in business, so of course, she knew how to give up when things were good, not to mention that she still had people to ask for.
She generously proposed to the old village chief again how much she wanted.
The old village chief was very satisfied with this trust.
He didn’t mean to take advantage and quoted a price of four hundred yuan. This price was enough to buy materials to set up a fresh house.
It’s nothing more than building a fresh house with as solid wood as the one we used to set up.
Shi Xiaoai didn’t discuss the price with the old village chief. She just proposed that besides cash this time, they would pay future repayments with mountain goods or grain.
After hearing this suggestion, the old couple was stunned.
“Xiao Ai, we had little wild things in the mountains here. How high would those wild vegetables and fruits be worth? After paying the public rations, we wouldn’t have enough left at home.”
The village chief’s wife was the first to express her disapproval.
“Auntie, I don’t need food rations from your family. After we get our household registration back, we will have food supplies every month. If we chew average food but do not have proper nutrition, we shouldn't be able to eat enough.
I mainly want to order mushrooms, fungus, wild tea, and the like from the mountains. You may also know that any food in the city requires a ticket. These things are all over the hills and plains here, but you may not buy them in the town even if you have money. “
“But then your family can’t eat so much.” The village chief still felt that this was taking advantage of others and said.
“If we can’t finish our portion, I can exchange it with someone else!”
Shi Xiaoai smiled: "Besides since we're going back without friends or support, there's always somewhere to ask for help, which can also be used to give gifts."
"That's okay. Then I'll start preparing it now. I still have a lot of mushrooms, fungi, yellow flowers, and wild tea at home. My brother-in-law likes to drink it. He had some in stock before. Don't worry; I will definitely be able to sort it out for you before you leave. At least I can guarantee you this. You can take it back to give away enough for others. In addition to the mountain products, I will grow some peanuts on my land when I sow seeds next year and then send them to you for oil extraction! You also need to pay for the oil in the city!"
The village chief's wife is easy to talk to; Shi Xiaoai and the couple have a great conversation, and it takes little time to solve the house problem.
Early the following day, when the sky was bright, Erjun knocked on the door with the village's mule cart.
There was also a big sack in the car.
Arjun already knew that this house would soon be used as a wedding room for him, so he couldn't help but look at it quietly after entering.
When he saw that the furniture in the room was almost unchanged, Shi Xiaoai and her children were carrying a package each, and there was a large travel bag at their feet; he suddenly became anxious.
"Sister-in-law, why didn't you take anything from this house? What will you use to cook when you go to the city? What will you use to sleep?"
He said and was about to go into the house and pull up the mattress on the bed.
"Here, we take it." Shi Xiaoai helplessly pointed to a bed roll placed on the stool outside: "I took a quilt."
"Is that enough?"
"I can't lift more than that!"
After hearing this, Arjun couldn't say anything else.
He also heard that Shi Xiaoai and the others were going home for a funeral. There were no relatives at home, and there was probably no one to pick them up.
What's more, they have to change cars on the way.
There are too many things to carry.
He pursed his lips, reached into his pocket, took out a roll of money and an envelope, and handed it over: "Sister-in-law, this is one hundred and eighty yuan. At present, the family can only take out so much. In the envelope are you. The migration certificate also contains an IOU from my father, and the train tickets are also placed inside."
He pointed outside: "In that bag is a bag of wild tea, wild vegetables, and two of my own. Take the pickled bacon back and eat it."
Finally, he took a cloth bag from his arms, stuffed it into Mingrui's hand next to him, and smiled: "You can take these eggs with you to eat on the road."
Looking at the simple and honest appearance of Erjun's smiling face, and then looking at the bulging cloth bag in his son's hand, Shi Xiaoai felt the warmth from the outside world for the first time since traveling through time.
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