Chapter 14: The Village Pig Slaughter

She liked doing business with straightforward people who put everything on the table—it was fair to everyone.

“Then I’ll give it to you when it’s convenient for you.”

With the contract settled, they moved on to talking about money.

Gu Yuelin said, “I have the bicycle ticket and the watch ticket, but not enough money. If you have money, could you lend me some first? I’ll pay you back when I earn enough.”

“You give me the tickets, I’ll go buy them.”

“You’re going to buy them?”

“Yes, aren’t I buying them for your family?”

“Oh, I was worried you wouldn’t know how to ride a bike.”

“No problem, I can ride.”

Since she said so, Gu Yuelin didn’t argue and took out the tickets to hand to Feng Mian.

Feng Mian took them and saw they really were one bicycle ticket and one industrial ticket for buying a watch.

The ticket scalpers were skilled—these kinds of tickets were even available.

“I’ll buy the food tickets and send them to your house.”

“Alright.”

Deal done.

After finishing the negotiation and eating all the dishes, Feng Mian called the waitress to settle the bill.

She took out three yuan and fifty cents and gave it to the waitress, who accepted the money but didn’t leave, still staring at her.

Feng Mian was a little confused. “Isn’t it three yuan fifty?”

“Yes, it is, but where’s the food ticket?”

“What? We still have to pay with food tickets?”

When the waitress heard this, she exploded, “What do you mean? You came to a state-run restaurant and didn’t know you need food tickets?”

Feng Mian blushed and was speechless—she really didn’t know.

“If you have them, hurry and show them. If not, I’m calling the police!”

“We have them, we have them,” Gu Yuelin hurriedly took out the food tickets and gave them to the waitress, finally ending the matter.

The two of them left the state-run restaurant, and the waitress kept grumbling behind them, making Feng Mian blush with embarrassment.

Her first time inviting someone to eat, and she almost got reported to the police—what a disgrace.

“It was my first time eating at a restaurant. I thought paying money was enough; I didn’t know food tickets were needed too.”

Gu Yuelin said, “It was my first time eating at a state-run restaurant too. I’d heard about needing food tickets before, but since you looked so confident, I thought they were just making it up.”

Ah?

Feng Mian felt both embarrassed and awkward.

…

After Feng Mian left, she first counted her money.

After selling rubber bands and couplets, plus the savings she had before, she had nearly five hundred yuan.

All her personal savings, which was quite a lot for this time.

Of course, she wouldn’t use money or industrial tickets to buy the bicycle and watch—that would be too wasteful.

She took out her phone and searched for vintage watches from the 70s—there were some old-style watches but no guarantee they worked perfectly.

After thinking, she decided to get a high-quality replica of the exact same vintage watch, with comparison pictures almost identical, and added it to her cart.

She bought a pair—matching his and hers watches.

For checking the time, since pulling out her phone all the time wasn’t convenient.

The bicycle was the same—on Xianyu (second-hand market) there were used Phoenix-brand bikes, but they were shabby and expensive.

She chose a vintage-style high-quality replica and added it to her cart.

She planned to visit a bike shop another day to compare; if it was the same, she’d buy it.

So the bicycle and watch were settled.

As for the wall dividing the room in two, she originally planned to buy a bunch of bricks to build the wall.

But then she thought about it—it was almost New Year, building a wall would be tough and cold.

While cooking, she noticed the woodshed behind the kitchen was full of old elm wood, leftover from a few years ago when the village cleared land.

They had cut down a large area of forest and converted it into grain-growing farmland.

Every household in the village had collected a fair amount of timber from the trees in that forest.

Turning these logs into wooden planks would be too much work, and she didn’t know how to do it anyway.

So she simply placed an order on Taobao from a factory that specialized in old elm wood; they sold treated and sanded wooden boards ready to use.

After placing the order and receiving the delivery—taking them out from her space storage—the wooden boards were piled up to half the height of the wall.

She tried to lift one down and was shocked by how heavy it was. She had to put in a tremendous effort just to get it down.

Feng Mian rubbed her forehead.

Just this? How was she going to stand them up and build a wall?

As Feng Mian fretted over the pile of wooden boards, there was a knock on the front door.

“Mian Mian, Mian Mian, are you home?”

It was her grandmother Zhang’s voice.

“I’m home, coming!”

Feng Mian hurried to open the door, pulling back the latch and opening it.

Zhang looked puzzled. “Why do you have the door latched even in the middle of the day?”

“It’s cold, to block the wind.”

Zhang came inside but didn’t quite believe her explanation.

“If you’re blocking wind, why latch the door?”

Suddenly she lowered her voice and said, “Isn’t it a bit scary around here lately?”

Feng Mian was startled and nodded slightly.

Zhang bit her lip, clenched her fists, and asked, “Who is it? That shameless Feng Gang? Or that scar-faced thug from the river brigade?”

Feng Mian’s heart skipped a beat. “Has Zhou Mazi been released?”

“Yes, last month. He was sentenced to two years, but since he behaved well, he got out three months early.”

Two months ago, Zhou Mazi tried to bully Yuan Qian. When caught, he refused to admit it, saying he was just stealing, and was even holding ten yuan in his hand.

Zhang was worried about Yuan Qian’s reputation but had no evidence to prove Zhou Mazi came to attack him, so Zhou was only arrested for theft.

Otherwise, the charge of hooliganism would have been longer than two years.

Feng Mian quietly thought she needed to prepare more anti-assault equipment.

Zhang stomped angrily and said, “Mian Mian, don’t get up late tomorrow morning. Come sleep here with me.”

Feng Mian felt touched. “What about Grandpa? He needs to go to the bathroom and drink water at night; he can’t be alone.”

“Let your uncle take care of him,” Zhang said. “Anyway, it’s almost New Year. Your uncle won’t be too busy. He’s the son; it’s his duty to take care of him. When you bring that guy from the Gu family here on the sixth day of the New Year, I won’t worry anymore.”

“My cousin’s getting married on the sixth day, and the family will be busy. Auntie probably won’t want to.”

“Don’t care about her, she’s just a shrew.”

“Grandma, I know you’re worried about me. It won’t be long now. I’ll protect myself, don’t worry.”

She wasn’t even considered an outsider married away—she was a grandchild, and she really didn’t want to cause chaos in her grandmother’s house.

Even if her uncle was willing, she didn’t know how much humiliation he might endure.

Zhang sighed deeply, and seeing how determined she was, she let it go, only reminding her to be careful and to keep the dagger under her pillow, not to sleep too deeply.

…

It was getting colder and colder. Feng Mian looked at the weather and feared it might snow tomorrow night.

She wasn’t planning to go out to sell goods tomorrow but would stay home to prepare for the New Year.

At noon, she ordered fresh frozen shrimp and made garlic shrimp, with a small dish and soup.

After lunch, she put the silver ear fungus she had soaked in advance into a pot to slow-cook on the stove.

The day after tomorrow, the village would slaughter pigs. The production team raised the pigs, and every household could bring their meat coupons to claim the corresponding pork.

Feng Mian also went to get two jin of pork and three jin of ribs.

Meat was valuable now, and bones were cheap. Two jin of meat with three jin of ribs was obviously taking advantage of her.

But she didn’t mind.

When she got back, the silver ear fungus on the stove was done—soft, glutinous, and fragrant, with the jelly perfectly formed.