Chapter 15: The Pig Is Sick

Tang Xiaomin hadn’t returned yet at noon, but she had already finished cooking. After exercising, her stomach immediately began growling in protest.

The chicken and mushroom stew from yesterday was already gone. After thinking for a moment, she struggled to climb off the kang and decided to use the white flour she brought to make buns filled with shepherd’s purse and eggs.

The eggs, to explain, were either bartered from locals or wild eggs picked from the mountains.

Kneading dough was also labor-intensive, but that was the one thing she didn’t fear anymore. She welcomed physical labor—she wanted to get stronger and avoid being flabby.

She made several large white flour buns, though she didn’t have any leavening powder and had to use unleavened dough.

Unleavened buns were even better. She rolled the dough thin and packed in a generous amount of filling.

They were truly thin-skinned and heavily stuffed. Each bun was about the size of an adult man’s fist—she made seven or eight of them.

In the space she had scavenged, there was a steamer from the Jiang family, which she took out and used directly. Everything was bought from local villagers—don’t ask which one; even if you ask, she won’t tell.

“Wow, Manman, you made so many buns!”

“Come try them—shepherd’s purse with egg and celery with meat fillings.”

Tang Xiaomin was truly surprised this time.

“You even have meat filling?”

Jiang Manman gave her a mysterious smile.

“What if I said I went out early to buy it after finishing my chores?”

Hearing that, Tang Xiaomin actually believed her.

“I believe it! You don’t know, but your speed at doing chores is already famous in the village.

Today, the team leader even praised you by name. He said that among the educated youths, you work the fastest and the best.

Sigh, you should’ve seen the look on Li Hongmei’s face—it immediately sank.”

Jiang Manman nibbled at a bun, thinking that she probably maxed out the village’s hate meter.

But who cares about them? She wasn’t some gold nugget who had to live to please others.

“Don’t mind them—come eat the buns.”

Tang Xiaomin took a bite and her eyes lit up.

“Mmm, so good! Shepherd’s purse and water celery really are perfect for bun fillings. Delicious!”

“Hey, can I buy two buns?”

Jiang Manman glanced at the man standing by the fence. What was his deal?

“One yuan for four buns.”

She thought she might’ve asked for too little, but then heard Zhou Ye say:

“Give me eight.”

Jiang Manman was just about to ask if he could even eat that many when another male voice came from outside the yard:

“Brother Ye, that pig’s not doing well again. I think it’s really sick this time. What should we do?”

Zhou Ye was just washing his hands. Hearing this, he frowned and said:

“Wash your hands first. After eating the buns, we’ll go take a look. If it’s really bad, we’ll have to butcher it.”

“You cooked, Brother Ye?”

The young man looked about eighteen or nineteen, a bit shorter than Zhou Ye. Unlike Zhou Ye’s buzzcut, he had a 2/8 parted hairstyle.

As he washed his hands, he peeked toward Jiang Manman’s courtyard.

“Someone moved into that yard? Who’s so bold?”

Zhou Ye saw Jiang Manman had packed up eight buns and handed over two yuan in exchange.

“Mazi, come eat buns.

Two educated youth girls just moved in over there. Their cooking’s not bad—eat up.”

“Oh!”

Mazi craned his neck toward the yard, spotted Jiang Manman and Tang Xiaomin, smiled and greeted them:

“Hello, ladies. I’m Ge Mazi.”

Jiang Manman and Tang Xiaomin exchanged glances.

“I’m Jiang, she’s Tang.”

Zhou Ye shot Ge Mazi an annoyed look.

“Can’t even keep your mouth shut while eating. Hurry up, eat, then head to the pig farm.”

Mentioning the pig farm made Ge Mazi frown. He grabbed a bun and took a bite.

“Sigh, that pig… hey, this bun is delicious!”

Zhou Ye knew they were tasty. From yesterday’s chicken stew to today’s buns, it was clear—this girl either had a chef at home or was a skilled cook herself.

“Just eat. Of course I know the buns are good.

Finish up and then we’ll go check on that pig. She’s a breeding sow I was saving. Unless there’s no choice, I don’t want to butcher her.”

Ge Mazi agreed:

“I don’t want to kill her either!

Last year she gave birth to ten piglets and all survived. This year, she could give another ten. If we kill her, the pig farm could lose at least ten pigs.

Do you know how much ten pigs are worth?!”

Zhou Ye was already frustrated, and the guy just kept talking.

“Enough chatter. Finish eating and go to the pigsty. If it gets worse, we’ll have to get the doctor from the town clinic.”

Ge Mazi shook his head.

“Hard! That guy last time was the worst—his eyes weren’t eyes, his nose wasn’t a nose. Kept saying he treated people, not pigs.

That boar died after he treated it. We couldn’t even go after him for it. Damn unlucky!

How about we don’t go to him this time? Maybe try another village or the township?

Oh, the one I just had was shepherd’s purse and egg—this one’s celery and meat. There’s meat in it!

No wonder you’re doing so well, Brother Ye—eating like a king. Did that female educated youth fall for you and offer to cook for you?”

He wasn’t quiet either. With just a flimsy fence between yards, it was impossible not to hear.

Zhou Ye rolled his eyes.

“Are you blind? Didn’t you see I gave her two yuan just now?

These buns were paid for—with money, not with my face!”

As he spoke, he pointed to his face. Across from him, Ge Mazi stared at the bun in surprise.

“Two yuan? Then I better eat slowly and savor it.

Bro, you really splurged.”

“Can’t shut your mouth even when eating, can you?”

Zhou Ye rolled his eyes again. Meanwhile, Jiang Manman was still eating in the courtyard and had caught everything they said.

After graduation, she opened an online store instead of working in her field because she didn’t want to start out doing grunt work in nursing or running errands in various departments.

When the online store boom hit, her shops exploded in popularity.

She could make money lying down—why would she want to smell disinfectant in a hospital?

However, that didn’t mean her medical skills had gone to waste.

During her studies, she’d constantly hung around her animal husbandry classmates, using their adorable livestock for practice.

Chickens, ducks, geese, pigs, cows, sheep—she had researched them all. Her classmates would often consult her for animal care.

She almost got twisted from a future top internal medicine doctor into a veterinarian.

When job hunting got annoying, she even worked at a pet store for a while—she had treated teacup pigs before too.

“Ahem!

Comrade Zhou, I’ve been hearing them call you ‘Director’ and thought you ran some factory. But from your conversation, is it a pig farm?”

Ge Mazi immediately stood up proudly.

“Exactly! Don’t look down on it—since our Brother Ye joined after retiring, our pig farm has grown rapidly.

Two nearby meat processing factories in neighboring cities rely on us for deliveries. Last year, our pig farm was even rated ‘Excellent.’

The pigs raised at Wangjiazhuang’s pig farm next door? Not even close to ours!”