Chapter 26

Xu Di carried the chicken in her left hand and a basket in her right, inside were three jin of prawns and over ten eggs.  She finally had a reason to take something out of her space.

Looking at the rooster struggling in her hand, Xu Di thought about the other roosters in her space.

The chicks she had hatched, there were hens and roosters, although there were more hens than roosters, there were still quite a few.

Now, there were five or six hundred hens in her space, and two or three hundred roosters.

She couldn’t keep so many roosters in her space, she had to find a way to sell them, she could keep a few roosters for breeding.

She had been busy with work matters recently, and Xu Di hadn’t gone out to buy things for a long time.

She walked and thought, and soon arrived at the family courtyard.

“Oh, Xu Di, where did you buy this chicken? Did the supply and marketing cooperative get a new shipment?”

An acquaintance in the family courtyard saw the big rooster struggling in Xu Di’s hand, she quickly asked where she bought it.

“Auntie, I didn’t buy it at the supply and marketing cooperative, I met a villager in an alleyway, we traded.”

Xu Di lowered her voice, the other person understood immediately, she had encountered someone engaging in speculation.

“The grocery store got a shipment of fresh prawns, no tickets needed, one yuan a jin, they just arrived.”

“Really, then I’ll go take a look.  I haven’t been able to buy pork for days, the people at home are craving it.”

The aunts and grandmothers who heard the news ran home to get their baskets, no tickets needed, they would buy some to satisfy their cravings.

“What’s going on outside?”

“Nothing, I told them that the grocery store got a shipment of prawns that don’t need tickets.”

“I was wondering, why were they running so fast.”

Xu’s mother squinted for a while, she couldn’t sleep soundly during the day.

“Mom, there’s no pork, I met someone selling chicken, I bought one.”

Before Xu Di came in, she put the chicken at the door and covered it with a basket.

“I thought I heard wrong, I heard a chicken crowing when you came in.”

Xu’s mother went out to kill the chicken, Xu Di poured the prawns from the basket and prepared to clean them.

“How much was the chicken, it’s so big, it can’t be cheap, the five yuan I gave you wasn’t enough, was it?”

“Three yuan a piece, I also bought twenty eggs.  It’s rare to find them, all the egg tickets at home are gone.”

Xu Di quickly explained, she had also bought eggs, she was being honest.

“Okay, eggs are hard to buy now.  You keep your own money, don’t be so loose with it, you’ve spent it all.”

Xu’s mother remembered the tin frogs Xu Di bought for Xu Jun and Anan during the New Year, they weren’t cheap.

“I know, I’ll be tighter with my money from now on.  I’ll save it all when I get my salary.”

Xu Di was a regular employee, she earned thirty yuan and eight cents a month.

Sister Li from the personnel department told her about her salary yesterday, and about work uniforms.

“Yeah, save it all.  You’re not married yet, you don’t need to give your family living expenses.”

Xu’s mother wasn’t being biased, Xu Li started working early, before he got married, Xu’s mother saved all his salary.

After getting married, Xu’s mother only asked them to pay ten yuan a month for living expenses, they kept the rest of their salary.

Xu Di was a daughter, she didn’t need a dowry when she got married, she didn’t need to prepare the three major items, she could save her salary, no problem.

The two of them chatted and worked in the kitchen, they ate a simple lunch, and they would have a feast together at night.

After cleaning up, Xu Di went back to her room to take a nap, Xu’s mother was busy packing clothes, it was getting warmer, she had to find the summer clothes.

Xu Di took a nap, but she couldn’t sleep, she got up and went into her space.

“It smells so good!”

Xu Di hadn’t been in for a few days, the fruit trees in her space were blooming.

There were no obvious seasonal changes in her space, everything grew according to the number of days.

Xu Di took a look, it seemed to be the apple tree blooming, she didn’t really recognize it.

Never mind the flowers, she should collect the eggs first.

Xu Di carried a basket and bent over to collect eggs, she hadn’t been in for a few days, there were quite a few eggs.

When she finished collecting all the eggs, Xu Di’s back ached.

Xu Di had dug up all the chive roots, she only left a little bit.

She put them in a large basket, waiting to plant them in the winter, they wouldn’t rot in her space anyway.

Xu Di left some of the empty land to plant vegetables, she planted corn on half of the rest, and wheat on the other half.

She originally wanted to plant rice, but she didn’t know if she could plant it without water.

She didn’t have time now, she would try it later when she had the chance, she wanted to eat rice.

Feeling that it was about time, Xu Di left her space, she opened the door, and immediately smelled a fragrance, it was the smell of stewed chicken.

“Mom, what time is it?”

Xu’s mother looked up at the clock, “It’s four o’clock, did you wake up?”

“Yeah, I woke up.  It smells so good, Mom is really a great cook, this smell, I’d be full just smelling it.”

“Then you won’t eat the meat tonight, just smell it?”

Xu’s mother was amused, this child, she really knew how to talk.

Xu Di laughed too, the two of them stood in the living room, giggling for a while.

In the evening, the rest of the Xu family came back one after another.

“Second Sister, why are you back so early?”

Xu Jun was sweating, he didn’t know what he was doing at school, he was covered in dirt.

“I won’t go to school anymore.”

“Really, that’s great, when will I be able to stop going to school?”

Xu Jun didn’t like going to school, he didn’t like studying, he couldn’t even finish his homework.

It was the same with all the kids these days, no one at home cared about their studies, it all depended on their own initiative.

As long as they didn’t cause trouble at school, and the teacher didn’t call home, everything else was fine.

“You, just wait.”

Xu Jun was ten years old now, in the third grade of elementary school.

Elementary school was five years now, junior high and high school were both two years.

If everything went smoothly, he would have six more years to finish high school, and the college entrance exam would be restored by then.

Xu Di thought, she should still focus on this child’s studies, otherwise, when the college entrance exam was restored, he wouldn’t have any hope.

“Sigh, my head hurts.”

A child with teeth, and a headache, he was acting quite convincingly.

“Don’t keep complaining, look at your clothes, go outside and dust them off, you’ll get a table full of dust when you eat later.”

Xu’s mother couldn’t do anything about him, he was always covered in dust, his clothes wore out quickly.

Xu Jun was used to it, he took the old towel at the door and went out to dust himself off.

Xu’s eldest sister-in-law also came back with Xu Ping’an, the little guy could walk quite well now.

“Auntie, Auntie, flower.”

“Oh, it’s really a flower, where did you pick it, is it for Auntie?”

“Here, fragrant.”

Xu Ping’an smelled the fragrance, he handed the flower to his aunt, and ran to the kitchen.

“Grandma, Grandma, meat, meat…”

Xu’s mother saw the little guy coming in, his nose was quite sensitive.

“Go wash your hands, dirty hands don’t get meat.”

“Mom, wash hands, wash hands.”

The little guy ran out again, he went to find his mom to wash his hands, he was so busy.

After washing his hands, he ran back to show his grandma, he got a piece of chicken.

“Delicious…”

The whole family was together, the food was also on the table.

“Wow, what’s the occasion today, the food is so good!”

Xu Jun looked at the chicken and potato stew, the braised prawns, his mouth was watering.

“Mom, did Xu Di get her job?”

Xu’s eldest sister-in-law looked surprised.

“She did, the Liang family arranged it, keep your mouths shut, don’t tell anyone, we’ll talk about it later.”

“We know.”

“We won’t say anything.”

It was good that it was settled, the rest didn’t matter.

“Pour me some wine, I’m drinking on my daughter’s behalf, have a sip.”

Xu’s father usually didn’t drink, he couldn’t hold his liquor, he only drank a couple of sips when he was happy.

“It’s really on your daughter’s behalf, the chicken and prawns today were bought by Xu Di.”

Xu’s mother poured Xu’s father a liang of wine, that was his limit, he couldn’t drink as much as she could.

“Thank you, Auntie.”

“Thank you, Second Sister!”

The family atmosphere was livened up by the children’s thanks, everyone ate happily and chatted happily.

Tomorrow, Xu Di would start work, she was entering a new stage of her life.