Chapter 12: Going to the Market

The day after her children’s full-month celebration was the market day.

Lin Yue got up early that day and dressed her two little ones in red padded jackets.

She had specially made these jackets for her children to wear for their full-month celebration. She had asked everyone she met for advice and had several teachers before she managed to finish making these two small clothes before her confinement ended.

The fabric for the clothes was from her own red jacket she wore for her wedding. It was originally her cousin’s, and it wasn’t as bright anymore.

Later, her cousin passed the university entrance exam and went to study in the city. She thought the jacket was too rustic and ugly, so she gave it to the original owner for her wedding and then nagged her mother to buy her a new one.

The day before the wedding, her cousin had even mocked the original owner, saying that if she hadn’t given her a red jacket, she wouldn’t even have a red veil for the wedding.

The original owner had been bullied by this cousin since childhood, but she knew that this time, it was out of good intentions, so she was always grateful.

The original owner had few clothes and cherished this jacket without any patches. The cotton inside was also good quality, perfect for making a padded jacket for each of her two little ones.

The shoes were tiger-head cloth shoes made by Zhang Dalian.

The little shoes were soft and warm, with fine stitches. Holding them felt like holding a piece of art.

There were also two little hats, made by Zhou Shenzi.

Zhou Shenzi’s name was Zhou Pandi. Her husband died during the War of Resistance Against Japan, leaving her with only a son. Zhou Shenzi single-handedly raised her son, and he was now married. He had married the village secretary’s daughter. She thought she had finally turned her life around, but her daughter-in-law was a difficult woman, and she had bottled up a lot of resentment.

Zhou Shenzi couldn’t bear to see the original owner suffer. She had helped her out several times before.

She felt that she was a widow, unlucky, and was embarrassed to give the two hats.

But her daughter-in-law discovered them and sarcastically said several times in the village, saying that Zhou Shenzi didn’t care about her two grandsons and was busy raising other people’s grandsons.

Zhou Shenzi was furious when she heard her daughter-in-law say that.

A woman who could single-handedly raise her child couldn’t possibly be meek. She was hesitant to give the hats, but after her daughter-in-law said that, she gave them to Lin Yue openly.

Lin Yue felt very uncomfortable and was afraid that Zhou Shenzi would be embarrassed, but Zhou Shenzi slapped her on the shoulder and said nonchalantly, “What are you afraid of? Do you think I can still be manipulated by my daughter-in-law? Let’s be honest, even if Liu Dehui is just the village secretary’s daughter, even if she’s the daughter of the Emperor, she has no right to tell her mother-in-law what to do! Don’t worry about her!”

Actually, in this area, it was rare to find a man who hadn’t been to war. Some came back, some didn’t. So, there were many widows in the village.

Only Liu Jinfeng was called a widow in Tian Da Village. People never looked at others differently. Zhou Shenzi cared so much about her “widow” status because of her personality.

She had been tough for half her life for her son. Lin Yue knew that if she didn’t accept the hats, it would only make her lose face. So, she accepted them with peace of mind.

After dressing her two little ones, Lin Yue started to get ready herself. She took out the beeswax balm she had made last night. There were all kinds of skin care products in the future, but she didn’t know how to make them. This beeswax balm was just beeswax mixed with some lard, and she had added a drop of spiritual spring water.

It was called beeswax balm, but it was still a bit hard, even harder than lipstick.

But the weather was dry and cold, and beeswax had moisturizing properties, so it was better than nothing.

She added the “yellow foundation” she made to it and applied it to her face. It was smoother than before.

Lin Yue applied a little to her hand, using the warmth of her palm to melt the beeswax balm before applying it evenly to her face. There was no mirror at home, so she looked into the water jar. She could only vaguely see that her face was dark yellow.

She also specially prepared one for her two little ones. She took it out and applied a little to their faces before wrapping them in swaddles, tying the two children to her, one in front and one behind, with a sling. She then picked up a bamboo basket and went out.

Luo Ershen’s eldest daughter-in-law was called Sun Meifeng, and she was her cousin from her mother’s side.

Sun Meifeng was beautiful and diligent, but she was not very talkative and a little self-conscious, so she didn’t like to go out.

Luo Ershen thought Lin Yue was a good person, so she often brought Sun Meifeng to visit. The two of them got along well. Luo Ershen was happy and encouraged them to interact more.

Lin Yue and Sun Meifeng had agreed to meet at the village entrance. When they arrived, a donkey cart was already parked there.

There were two donkey carts in the village. They would pick up people at the village entrance on market days, and the money they collected would be considered the brigade’s income.

It cost two cents to take the donkey cart back and forth. They would leave when the cart was full, take people to their destination, and then come back to pick up the next batch.

If someone came at an inconvenient time, they might have to wait at the village entrance for half a day.

Of course, some people were unwilling to pay and would walk to the market.

Lin Yue saw many old women walking to the market with their children, their hands behind their backs.

At this time, doing business was not allowed. To buy things in the city, you had to go to department stores, state-run vegetable markets, and grocery stores.

In the countryside, besides the supply and marketing cooperative, you had to go to the big market, which was held once every five days.

Today, they were going to the Xiaowu Village market. It was the biggest market in the area because it was close to the county town. It was very lively. Every time it was held on the first and fifth days of the lunar month, it was crowded with people. 

It wasn’t just villagers who came to the market, even people from the city who ate rationed grain came to join the fun.

Xiaowu Village and Tian Da Village were quite far apart. It took more than an hour for the donkey cart to arrive.

Lin Yue looked at the sun in the sky. It was probably only around eight o’clock, but the market was already packed with people.

This was the first time her children had seen so many people. Their little heads turned left and right, unable to keep up. Their eyes darted around constantly, unable to take it all in.

Little Linghan kept making “Ooh ooh ah ah” sounds.

Several people couldn’t resist poking the little ones’ cheeks when they saw the adorable babies in Lin Yue’s arms.

Because the New Year was approaching, there were many stalls selling couplets and lucky characters, as well as window decorations and firecrackers. As far as the eye could see, everything was red, creating a very strong New Year atmosphere.

Lin Yue had never been to a market in her previous life. She found everything novel.

She saw someone selling willow baskets of various shapes. She thought they were practically works of art and wanted to buy a few, but Sun Meifeng stopped her.

Sun Meifeng held the basket and gestured for a while. Before Lin Yue understood, the woman selling the baskets understood. She wasn’t angry that her business was failing. She kindly told Lin Yue, “This young daughter-in-law is saying that she knows how to weave these baskets, so she told you not to buy them!”

Lin Yue was surprised, “Meifeng, you know how to weave these baskets?”

Sun Meifeng smiled shyly at the woman selling the baskets and nodded repeatedly.

Sun Meifeng had nimble hands. Lin Yue knew she was good at making clothes and sewing shoes. She could make children’s toys, stools, and chairs. She could also weave cloth, but she didn’t know she could weave baskets.

Lin Yue happily took Sun Meifeng’s hand, “Good sister-in-law, teach me when we get back. When I learn, I’ll weave a few for you!”

Sun Meifeng was amused by Lin Yue and nodded in agreement, her eyes shining.

As they walked and browsed, whenever Sun Meifeng wanted to buy something, Lin Yue would ask the price and haggle, and Sun Meifeng would pay.

Luo Ershen just wanted Sun Meifeng to get out more and not stay at home all the time.

She had come to the market early and had already bought most of what she needed. She was about to go back.

Seeing the two women happily browsing the market, she reminded Sun Meifeng, “Later, if you see someone selling chicks, pick a half-grown hen.

Remember, don’t buy chicks. It’s too cold, and we won’t be able to raise them.”

Then, she turned to Lin Yue, “You only have one old hen at home, and the New Year is just a few days away. You’ll have to kill the chicken then. Why don’t you buy two now? It won’t make a difference in a few days.

But don’t buy chicks for cheap. You don’t have any experience, and you won’t be able to raise them.”

Lin Yue thanked Luo Ershen and said she would help her take the things to the donkey cart, but Luo Ershen waved her off. So, the two women continued happily browsing the market.

Lin Yue bought a lot of things, mostly things that were commonly used at home, like brooms and baskets. She also bought needles and thread and a pair of scissors, so she wouldn’t have to borrow them all the time.

There were also brooms for sweeping the kang, several pottery jars of different sizes, a bunch of miscellaneous things that filled a whole basket, and a new mat. They would replace the old mat on the kang for the New Year. It was already torn.

Sun Meifeng didn’t need to buy anything, so she put the things that Lin Yue couldn’t carry in the basket behind her.

There were also vegetable stalls at the market, mostly cabbage, potatoes, spinach, and other common winter vegetables. Every household in the village had them, so they were mostly sold to people from the city.

Some people also planted chives, garlic sprouts, and scallions on their kangs, which were considered rare vegetables. They brought them to the market to sell, but they were usually expensive.

Lin Yue saw the chives and her mouth started to water. She wanted to eat chives dumplings.

She had also planted chives in the space, but she had planted them from seeds. They needed to grow roots for the first year and couldn’t be eaten.

Even with the accelerated time flow in the space, she wouldn’t be able to eat them before the New Year.

She was short on cash and had to spend it wisely, so she didn’t dare to buy anything to eat.

Actually, Lin Yue most wanted to buy meat. Since she started cooking for herself, she had only eaten fish twice, and those were sent by Principal Xu. She hadn’t tasted meat at all.

There were many rabbits in the space, but she didn’t dare to kill them. She couldn’t even kill a chicken, so she could only watch the rabbits hopping around in her space and drool.

As expected, Lin Yue didn’t see a single meat stall in the entire market, which made her very disappointed.

She did encounter a few people who came over secretly. They were selling their old hens.

Lin Yue wasn’t interested in tough old hens, and she didn’t dare to kill a chicken herself, so she firmly refused.

There were often thieves at the market, and even the police patrols were useless. Lin Yue was afraid that these people who came over had bad intentions, so she pulled Sun Meifeng to a less crowded place and carefully checked her two children. After making sure they were okay, she continued browsing the market with Sun Meifeng.

They had already bought most of what they needed. After buying the chicks, there was basically nothing else they needed.

They met Wang Xiuxiang and her sister-in-law, Zhang Xiaomi, on the way. Hearing that they had also finished their shopping and were about to go back, they asked them to accompany Sun Meifeng back, while she went to buy some more things.

Sun Meifeng took the mat and broom basket, which were too large for Lin Yue to carry, and followed the two women to take the donkey cart.