Chapter 32: Competitors

When Feng Yi was a child, he never had chicken legs.

Although the Feng family’s life was decent, they only slaughtered chickens on special occasions.

Occasionally, they would slaughter a chicken. With so many people in the Feng family, chicken legs never made it to him; he couldn’t even get chicken meat.

When Old Lady Feng was managing the household, she would sometimes give him a chicken head. Later, when Zhou Qiaoxia took over, she wouldn’t even give him that.

The first time he had a chicken leg was just a month ago, when Jiang Liyun brought one to the brick factory to visit him.

After that, it became unstoppable. During this time when they slaughtered chickens, chicken legs were basically reserved for him and Jiang Liyu.

According to Jiang Liyun, it’s because they are the youngest, so they get the chicken legs.

Now, even when Jiang Liyun makes fried chicken, he gets a share of the fried chicken legs.

Feng Yi feels a sense of being cared for and loved.

He is truly happy now! Jiang Liyun is really good to him!

Feng Yi enjoys his meal, and so do the others.

Jiang Lame takes a bite of the fried chicken but can’t bring himself to swallow it.

He, who rarely speaks, can’t help but praise, “This fried chicken is really delicious.”

Wu Xiaochun also cherishes eating his fried chicken and can’t help but express concern: “Frying this chicken meat requires so much oil.”

Jiang Liyu doesn’t think too much about it; she looks at Jiang Liyun with sparkling eyes and says, “Second sister, you’re so good at running a stall!” She has been eating really well lately!

Jiang Liyun smiles and pats Jiang Liyu’s head.

After tasting the fried chicken, the family opens the pot, serves rice, and enjoys it with the fried chicken.

Eating only fried chicken is not enough; they still need rice.

With such delicious fried chicken, they can have an extra bowl of rice!

The Jiang family members were eating happily, and next door at Uncle Jiang’s house, Uncle Jiang’s grandson and granddaughter were also eating happily.

Jiang Liyun gave Uncle Jiang two small pieces of fried chicken, and Uncle Jiang gave them to his grandson and granddaughter.

The two children were shouting how delicious it was while eating, making Uncle Jiang very envious.

He also wanted to eat, but he didn’t want to snatch food from the children.

“Your brother is so stingy, only giving us these two pieces? There are bones in them, not much meat,” Aunt Jiang muttered.

Uncle Jiang said, “There was only one chicken, and they have so many people in their family. Li Hai even has to take some to his girlfriend. How much do you expect them to give us?”

Just now, Li Hai came to borrow a bicycle, holding an enamel cup, obviously to take fried chicken to his girlfriend.

Aunt Jiang said, “You help them with work every day; what’s wrong with having a couple more pieces?”

“I already had lunch at their house, and I brought the two children with me!” Uncle Jiang was a bit upset. “You don’t pay any attention to the children. They run next door every mealtime; it’s embarrassing!”

At this moment, Uncle Jiang’s grandson said, “Grandpa, it was Grandma who asked us to go!”

Uncle Jiang suddenly felt annoyed. “Why are you always thinking about taking advantage of others?”

Aunt Jiang said, “You help them with work every day, and they’re always borrowing things from us. What’s wrong with letting the two children eat at their house?”

Uncle Jiang felt Aunt Jiang was too petty, but Aunt Jiang felt the Jiang Lame family next door was always taking advantage of them.

A small quarrel broke out at Uncle Jiang’s house, while on the other side, Li Hai had already brought the fried chicken to the He family.

The fried chicken was really delicious. On the way, Li Hai thought several times about stopping to eat the fried chicken himself and then turning back home.

Anyway, He Chunlin wouldn’t know.

But after hesitating, he didn’t do it and instead arrived at the He family’s house.

The He family had just finished dinner and was clearing the table. Li Hai parked his bike at the door and said to Uncle He, “Uncle, is Chunlin here? I need to talk to her.”

After Li Hai brought a bunch of gifts last time, his relationship with He Chunlin became public.

Living in the same commune, the He family also knew about the Jiang family’s situation. Uncle He knew that the Jiang family had started building a house, so his attitude towards Li Hai had improved a lot.

Before, they didn’t want Li Hai to date He Chunlin, which is why they didn’t treat him well. But now that Li Hai and He Chunlin are determined to get married…

They naturally wanted the son-in-law to get along well.

Uncle He invited Jiang Li Hai in for tea and called for He Chunlin.

He Chunlin quickly came out.

Jiang Li Hai naturally wouldn’t stay for tea at the He family’s house. He took Chunlin to the nearby field for a walk and handed her the fried chicken, saying, “Chunlin, my sister made something delicious. I brought some for you to try.”

The fried chicken had cooled a bit, but it was still crispy. He Chunlin took a bite of the chicken wing and immediately exclaimed, “What is this? It’s so delicious!”

“This is fried chicken,” Jiang Li Hai said.

“This fried chicken is really tasty!” He Chunlin noticed another piece of chicken and said to Jiang Li Hai, “Li Hai, you should eat too.”

Jiang Li Hai really wanted to eat, but coming all the way and giving He Chunlin just a chicken wing seemed too stingy. He reluctantly declined. “I’ve already eaten; this is for you.”

Chunlin nodded and continued eating the piece of chicken.

Jiang Li Hai watched her and suddenly thought about his sister making promises to Feng Yi and such.

Jiang Li Hai said, “Chunlin, if you marry me, you can have fried chicken every few days!”

Chunlin’s eyes lit up.

Initially, she liked Jiang Li Hai because he looked good. Later, she wanted to marry him because he was educated and different from other men in the village.

She didn’t mind Jiang Li Hai being a bit poor; as long as he liked her, it was enough!

But at that time, she wasn’t particularly eager to get married to Jiang Li Hai. It was only at this moment that she couldn’t wait to marry him.

Realising this, He Chunlin fell silent.

Could it be that, for her, fried chicken was more important than a love poem expressing Jiang Li Hai’s feelings?!

Jiang Li Hai didn’t chat with He Chunlin for too long. After she finished eating, he hurriedly rode his bicycle home.

Feng Yi still needed to ride this bike to buy meat; he couldn’t delay his sister’s business.

When Jiang Li Hai arrived home, Jiang Liyun and the others had already finished dinner.

Sitting down at the table, Jiang Li Hai discovered that his family had saved some fried chicken necks for him.

His family still cares about him!

Jiang Li Hai was deeply moved and finished two bowls of rice in one go.

That night, as usual, Jiang Li Hai slept at Jiang Youwen’s house along with Feng Yi.

During this period, his relationship with Feng Yi improved, and they started talking more.

Now, unable to sleep, he began telling Feng Yi about his love story with He Chunlin: “Chunlin really likes me. I only brought her two pieces of fried chicken, but she insisted on giving me one.”

Feng Yi also had a lot to say, wanting people to know how good Jiang Liyun was to him.

Hearing Jiang Li Hai’s words, he wasn’t sleepy anymore. “Li Yun insists that I eat chicken legs; she doesn’t eat them herself and keeps them for me!”

Jiang Li Hai paused and continued, “Earlier, when Chunlin’s parents wanted her to marry someone else, she refused. She likes me the most.”

“Before, Li Yun rejected Xie Zugen and came to find me every day!”

Jiang Li Hai went all out: “Chunlin knitted a scarf for me!”

Feng Yi took off his own pants and showed Jiang Li Hai the new underwear he just put on. “Li Yun bought this for me!”

“Damn!” Jiang Li Hai cursed and suddenly felt like fighting with Feng Yi.

But if they really fought, he wouldn’t win.

Before, when someone bullied Feng Yi at the brick factory, Feng Yi ended up smashing the person’s head!

He had never fought with someone like that in his life.

Since he couldn’t win, he let it go. Besides, considering that Feng Yi would help him build his house tomorrow, he didn’t want to argue.

Jiang Li Hai lay down, covered his head with a blanket, and fell silent.

However, Feng Yi couldn’t fall asleep, no matter what.

He was wearing the underwear bought by Jiang Liyun and washed with her hands!

He didn’t want to wash these pants! He had to wear them for several days!

Contemplating the idea of wearing his pants for a few more days, Feng Yi, the next morning, sneaked away to wash his pants.

The imagination was delightful, but the reality was stark.

Jiang Liyun had no idea about Feng Yi’s colourful dreams from the previous night. As usual, she got up early, prepared everything, and took her whole family to set up a stall in the town.

While walking on the road, Old Man Feng from next door rode past them on his bicycle, carrying two baskets of vegetables on the rear seat.

Old Man Feng was going to sell vegetables in town again? Was it because the cost of raising chickens became too high, and he couldn’t bear it?

Considering the recent rise in chicken feed prices and the fact that the Feng family was particularly ambitious, buying over two hundred chicks at once seemed excessive.

In the village, most people raised white feather chickens without following any organised scale; they generally had just a few dozen.

White-feather chickens were prone to illness and couldn’t be free-range. They needed to be kept indoors, especially in cold weather, which required adequate space. However, these days, most people’s houses aren’t that large.

Typically, families would convert a room into a chicken coop, accommodating several dozen at most.

But the Feng family had gone a step further by raising over two hundred, requiring them to free up several rooms.

During this time, the Feng family squeezed in together, but the house was still filled with a foul odour!

And this was just the beginning; as the chicks grew, their feed consumption would increase, as would the amount of chicken droppings.

For the Feng family, the only thing worth celebrating lately was the occasional opportunity to eat chicken—when a chick fell ill and died, they would eat it rather than waste it.

Wait a minute, losing a chick meant losing money; the Feng family might not necessarily be happy about it.

In this era, many people raised chickens, ducks, pigs, and sheep at home. Most of these individuals lacked proper farming knowledge, and with insufficient national supervision, they often engaged in careless practices.

In the 1990s, many farmers indiscriminately used medications during the breeding process, feeding antibiotics in large quantities to poultry and causing pollution by discharging livestock manure into rivers.

Later, the government implemented some related policies, leading to improvements. Jiang Liyun remembered that, eventually, the villagers were no longer allowed to raise pigs.

Nowadays, the situation is slightly better than in the 1990s. People were unaware of the many medicines that could be given to chickens and ducks.

Because of this, she could safely eat white-feathered chicken. Back in the 1990s, she dared not eat the randomly raised White Feather Chickens in their village to avoid having a bunch of veterinary antibiotics in her system.

In this lifetime, she wanted to live to be a hundred and enjoy her life.

Once they reached the town and set up their stall, Feng Yi began making pan-fried dumplings. Shortly after they set up, a couple arrived with a coal stove, placing a water-filled iron pot on it. On top of the pot, they set up a steamer containing freshly steamed buns. The woman selling the buns greeted everyone passing by, saying, “Buns, delicious buns, affordable buns…”

Some people who originally intended to buy pan-fried dumplings ended up buying buns instead.

Fortunately, Jiang Liyun and her family now had three large iron pots, so customers who came to buy pan-fried dumplings didn’t have to wait long after they rotated making batches.

Many people were impatient to wait, and if they saw that the pan-fried dumplings weren’t ready, they turned around to buy meat buns.

Although pan-fried dumplings were delicious, after trying them a few times, they weren’t as appealing.

Seeing someone set up a stall next to them and even attracting customers waiting in line at their stall, Wu Xiaochun felt extremely uncomfortable. “Why are they doing this?”

Jiang Liyun didn’t mind at all; she had experienced many such situations in her previous life.

Back then, when she had a stall by herself, people would cause trouble, claiming that the items she sold were unclean, extorting money from her. Some would take her goods without paying; others used inappropriate language while buying food from her; and one elderly single man even stalked her until she had to fend him off with a ladle.

At that time, she weighed over 130 kilogrammes, had great physical strength from working all day, and possessed formidable combat skills.

In this life, with more people at their stall, such chaotic incidents were rare.

In the following days, the person selling buns continued to stay besides them, taking away some of their business.

However, with three rotating iron pots for making dumplings, customers didn’t have to wait, and their business didn’t decline. In fact, they sold more dumplings each day than before.

Now, in the morning, they sold around 1,600 dumplings, and with tea eggs added, they could earn nearly 30 yuan.

Around this time, another stall selling pan-fried dumplings appeared nearby.

The person setting up a stall to sell pan-fried dumplings was the young man who used to frequently watch them make dumplings. He would enquire about various things and learn from them.

Jiang Liyun didn’t find it strange that he followed suit to sell pan-fried dumplings.

The process of making pan-fried dumplings wasn’t difficult, especially for pork-filled dumplings. After making them a few times, one could get the hang of it. As for pan-frying the dumplings…

They always made and sold them on the spot. The guy had been observing them, and by trying and adjusting the heat at home, he had managed to make them similarly.

In her previous life, after learning to make pan-fried dumplings, she went to sell them in a different place, exploring new markets. However, this guy decided to set up his stall right next to hers, clearly intending to steal her business.

That was a bit too much!