Chapter 39: Settling Accounts

Jiang Liyun discussed the matter of buying quilts with Wu Xiaochun and then glanced at the calendar hanging in her own main hall.

Today was November 25th, the fifth day of the tenth lunar month. She had been reborn for exactly forty days, and it was on the same date last month, the 25th, that she first went to the town to sell pan-fried dumplings.

She had been running her stall for a full month.

Running a stall required various items: folding tables, plastic stools, coal stoves, bowls, plates, etc.

When she first came back to life, she had a bit over 100 yuan from her savings and an additional 130 yuan from Feng Yi. It was far from enough, so at that time, she borrowed another 200 yuan from Wu Xiaochun.

Her initial capital for the business was just a little over 400 yuan.

Ten days ago, Jiang Liyun calculated and found that she had earned a little over 400 yuan by then, recouping her initial investment.

Today, she counted again.

In this month of running the stall, she averaged earning a little over 20 yuan each day. So far, she has earned more than 700 yuan.

However, after making money, there were expenses.

A few days ago, she repaid the 200 yuan she borrowed from Jiang Lamei and her husband, and she also paid them 100 yuan for helping her make dumplings, deducting a total of 300 yuan.

She had also invested in new items for her fried chicken business, including a new pan, a ladle for scooping boneless chicken strips from hot oil, oil-absorbent paper for packaging, several cans of oil, various seasonings, etc.

Yesterday, Jiang Lihai returned from the big city, bringing back 200 kilogrammes of flour, which she also bought with money.

For her current business, she used a coal stove and needed to buy honeycomb coal. Initially, she didn’t have much money, buying dozens at a time at retail prices. Recently, with a bit more money on hand, she directly bought a thousand at wholesale prices, and Feng Yi helped her transport them back using a cart.

This also cost quite a bit of money.

There were also other miscellaneous expenses.

She wasn’t contributing to household expenses now because she was busy, and the household chores had decreased significantly. However, she gradually added some things to the house.

Not long ago, she bought a new basin and new towels for Wu Xiaochun and the others. They previously only had two basins in the house, shared by the whole family for washing both dishes and vegetables, which she found quite inconvenient.

She also purchased soap, an electric kettle, a pot for boiling tea eggs, and even replaced the dim lamps at home with brighter ones.

This month, their family had incurred quite a bit of expenditure on food as well.

So at this moment, she only had around seventy to eighty yuan that she had earned in the past two days.

This money couldn’t be touched. Every day, she had to buy chicken and pork, which required immediate cash payments. Additionally, she needed to keep some money for giving change to customers when doing business the next day.

The money for buying quilts was carefully budgeted from what she had.

Despite having limited funds, Jiang Liyun remained hopeful for the future. As long as she worked hard, she believed she could gradually improve her financial situation.

In fact, comparing their current lives with the initial days after her rebirth, they had already improved a lot. In her previous life, could her family afford to eat meat every day at this time?

She thought Wu Xiaochun and Jiang Liru were in poor health, primarily due to malnutrition. Without sufficient protein intake, their immune systems would weaken, leading to overall weakness and susceptibility to illness.

After resting for a while, Jiang Liyun got up to process the chickens brought by Jiang Yuxian.

Two days ago, it was her first time selling fried chicken, and she had prepared only three chickens. Due to the good business, she sold five chickens yesterday, and today she requested six chickens.

Processing six chickens meant there was a significant amount of offal. While Jiang Liyun handled the chicken meat, Wu Xiaochun cleaned the offal nearby. She carefully peeled off the yellow membrane on the gizzards.

This membrane was actually a chicken gizzard lining. After drying it, similar to dried tangerine peel or mulberry leaves, it could be sold for money.

The offal from six chickens added up to quite a bit, especially since Wu Xiaochun was reluctant to discard even the chicken intestines. When Jiang Liyun made stir-fried chicken offal before, she included the chicken intestines as well.

“Mum, after making the tea eggs, I’ll marinate the chicken offal. Tomorrow, I’ll have my big brother take it to the brick and tile factory to share with the people from the transport team,” Jiang Liyun said.

Yesterday, those people from the transport team helped her out, and she wanted to express her gratitude. Also, Jiang Lihai brought back some groceries from the city, so she needed to return the favour.

“No need…” Wu Xiaochun was a bit reluctant to part with the chicken offal; after all, it was meat.

“We need to,” Jiang Liyun insisted.

In the end, Wu Xiaochun yielded to her daughter’s decision.

Seeing this, Jiang Liyun got busy again.

Yesterday morning, Jiang Lihai went to town with his colleagues. They didn’t get to try the pan-fried dumplings, so they bought buns instead. In the afternoon, he brought back the flour he bought and sold the rice he purchased to someone in town who specialised in selling rice. It was a busy day.

Today, Jiang Lihai was still busy. He went to the new house to help with bricklaying.

Because Jiang Lihai was around, Feng Yi came back early today and helped Jiang Liyun cut chicken meat.

Chicken breast meat had to be cut into strips, and Jiang Liyun was cutting slowly. Feng Yi, on the other hand, was slicing rapidly.

“Feng Yi, you work so efficiently,” Jiang Liyun praised him.

Feng Yi was pleased to be praised. “Sister Liyun, the house is almost finished. In the future, I’ll help you cut chicken meat.”

“Great, that would make things easier for me. Feng Yi, you’re really helpful,” Jiang Liyun smiled.

Encouraged by her words, Feng Yi cut the meat even faster.

When building a new house, Feng Yi needed to keep an eye on things. Even if the bricklayer was trustworthy, unforeseen issues could arise. For instance, a few days ago, Jiang Erni took some bricks and cement from their construction site to build a countertop in her kitchen.

It was acceptable if Jiang Erni took a few things, but it would be infuriating if someone else did.

Fortunately, their construction site was next to Jiang Xiaojie’s house, and they placed the bricks in front of Jiang Xiaojie’s house. Generally, no one took them.

At present, the overall framework of the house is nearly complete, and they are working on the roof tiles. The house was small, with only two rooms on each floor. Although it had two stories, it was quite compact.

If there were more people working, we could finish the construction faster.

However, this house still needs painting, walls, and doors. Jiang Lihai would pick up broken bricks from the brickyard when he had time, and he plans to build two bungalows behind this house using those bricks.

According to Jiang Lihai’s plan, one of the bungalows behind it will serve as a woodshed and the other as a kitchen. As for the front, one of the ground-floor rooms will be the main hall, the other for Jiang’s lame couple to live in. Upstairs, one room will be for his marriage and the other for Jiang Liyun and Jiang Liyu to live in. It’s just right.

Having Jiang’s lame couple live on the ground floor also has its reasons. Jiang’s lame man has difficulty walking stairs due to his leg problems.

At this time, many families would build an extra bungalow to raise pigs, but Jiang Lihai doesn’t want to. So, he didn’t include this plan.

He has to work, his parents will go to the town to sell goods with his sister, and no one has time to raise pigs. After they sell the sheep they currently raise at the end of the year, they won’t raise them again next year.

Jiang Liyun knows Jiang Lihai’s plan, and she also knows that Jiang Lihai plans to let Feng Yi live in their current old house.

However, Jiang Lihai overthought it. Jiang Liyun doesn’t plan to move to the new house. Before she builds her own house, she plans to continue living in this old house.

Being crowded together, she wakes up early in the morning and worries about disturbing others, which is quite inconvenient. It’s much more comfortable for her to live alone here!

And if she’s lucky, she’ll have enough money to build a house early next year, not in the countryside but in town.

At three o’clock in the afternoon, Jiang Liyun and Feng Yi went to the town to sell fried chicken by pulling a cart.

Their fried chicken stall is still set up at the entrance of the kindergarten.

This is their third day of selling fried chicken, and their fried chicken has already gained some popularity in the town.

Inside the kindergarten, a little boy with his hands on his hips told his friends, “The fried chicken at the school gate is especially delicious. My dad bought me a fried chicken leg yesterday, and it’s the most delicious chicken leg I’ve ever eaten!”

“Do you know? That fried chicken is brought in from a foreign country! People in foreign countries eat it like that!”

“My dad told me that today he bought boneless chicken strips for me to eat, and they’re delicious too!”

Around the little boy, a group of children looked at him with envy.

On the other side, a little girl took boneless chicken strips from her lunch box and offered them to another girl, saying, “My mum bought these for me yesterday; try them!”

The boneless chicken strips had already cooled down, and the taste wasn’t as good as initially, but it was still meat coated in oil.

The little girl happily smiled after tasting the boneless chicken strips given by her good friend.

At four o’clock, the female workers on the day shift at the chemical fibre factory finished work, and everyone left the factory in a rush.

Because the factory was producing chemical fibre, it was very hot inside, so everyone wore relatively little.

Zhou Cuiying put on her coat before leaving, and she saw her newly acquired boyfriend sitting on a bicycle, waiting for her.

Her boyfriend’s name is Shao Daming, a policeman.

As police officers, sometimes they have night shifts. Shao Daming was on duty at the unit last night, so he didn’t have to work today.

“Cuiying!” Shao Daming called out, and when Zhou Cuiying approached him, Shao Daming said, “Cuiying, I’ll take you to eat something delicious.”

“What delicious thing?” Zhou Cuiying asked.

“I’ll buy fried chicken legs for you to eat. I heard it’s brought in from a foreign country!” Shao Daming said.

There aren’t many places to eat in town. When they used to go on dates, they would eat noodles or vermicelli at the few shops in town, and they had already tried them all.

But this fried chicken is something they haven’t had before.

“Brought in from a foreign country?” Zhou Cuiying was curious and excited.

Shao Daming patted the padded seat on the back of his bicycle and gestured for Zhou Cuiying to sit: “Come on, let’s go!”

At the same time, Sun Jinshan walked to town with his younger sister, Sun Cuicui.

Sun Cuicui kept talking: “Brother, everyone says that fried chicken is especially delicious. You must try it!”

Sun Cuicui doesn’t have a job, not because she doesn’t want to work, but mainly because it’s challenging to find employment, especially as a rural person without specific skills.

As a result, she has plenty of free time and often visits the town to play or go out with her friends. She might also engage in activities like foraging for wild vegetables.

Upon learning about the fried chicken being sold in town from her friends, Sun Cuicui really wanted to try it, but she didn’t have much money. Now that her brother is back, she can have him buy it, and she can taste it too!

“If it’s not delicious, I’ll hold you accountable,” Sun Jinshan said.

When Sun Jinshan and Sun Cuicui arrived at the entrance of the kindergarten, the kindergarten hadn’t opened yet. However, in front of Jiang Liyun’s stall, people were already buying things.

Seeing Jiang Liyun and Feng Yi, Sun Jinshan was a bit surprised. “Is it you guys? You’re still selling fried chicken?”

Jiang Liyun replied, “Yes, we sell pan-fried dumplings in the morning and fried chicken in the afternoon.”

“Can you handle it?” Sun Jinshan asked.

“It’s manageable; family members help out,” Jiang Liyun said.

For her and Feng Yi, these times are busy, especially for Feng Yi, who has to oversee the new house construction, making him even busier than Jiang Liyun. However, being young and full of hope for the future, they don’t find it tiring.

“Is the profit good?” Sun Jinshan asked again.

Jiang Liyun smiled and said, “Better than a regular job.”

Sun Jinshan was tempted again; he has always wanted to start a business. However, he hasn’t figured out what to do yet. Sighing, Sun Jinshan said, “I’ll take boneless chicken strips for one yuan, and also two chicken wings and two chicken pieces.”

Sun Jinshan has money in hand, and he’s generous with spending.

Jiang Liyun smiled and placed the ordered items into the frying pan.

At this time, others also arrived and ordered their food.

A young couple directly ordered two fried chicken legs, not worrying too much about the cost. Most people prefer to buy cost-effective items, but young couples in love tend to splurge a bit.

Jiang Liyun got busy; she was responsible for frying, while Feng Yi coated the chicken pieces in batter and the boneless chicken strips in their homemade fried chicken powder.

After Sun Jinshan received his order, he gave Sun Cuicui a chicken wing and took one for himself, and after the first bite, Sun Jinshan looked at Feng Yi with envy. “Feng Yi, do you get to eat such delicious food every day?”

Feng Yi laughed, “Yes, Sister Liyun leaves some for me! Before we started the stall, she made fried chicken at home a few times, and I ate a lot then.”

“That’s great.” Sun Jinshan admired Feng Yi.

Jiang Liyun is so good; he’s almost tempted to compete with Feng Yi!

Of course, just mere thoughts.

At this moment, the kindergarten was dismissed.

Suddenly, many children started clamouring to eat fried chicken, pestering their parents to buy it.

“Mum bought chicken; I’ll fry it for you at home.”

“Don’t cry; Grandma will take you to buy.”

“Sweety, do you want to eat fried chicken legs? Dad will buy them for you!”