Chapter 70: Going to the County Town

Jiang Liyun didn’t spend the whole day at the dumpling shop that day; she went home at noon.

Upon returning, she saw Sun Jinshan and Jiang Liping affectionately cooking together behind the stove.

Seeing them, Jiang Liping greeted them with a smile and said, “You’re back. We’ve made lunch and even prepared soup.”

Yesterday, Jiang Liping mentioned that she and Sun Jinshan were going to Li’s house, which might take some time. They would also have dinner at Sun’s house in the evening, so they weren’t sure if they’d be back for lunch. Hence, Jiang Liyun only brought back the food prepared for Jiang Liyu.

Unexpectedly, Jiang Liping and Sun Jinshan were already there, but they had already cooked for themselves, so there was no need to worry about going hungry.

“We only brought food for Xiaoyu. Will one soup be enough?” Jiang Liyun asked. “Otherwise, I can fry some eggs.”

“It’s enough,” Jiang Liping said, getting up and ladling out soup from the pot. “I added two ham sausages to the soup!”

Sun Jinshan knew she didn’t have much money, so he had bought some gifts in advance for her to take to Sun’s house in the evening.

Among those gifts were ten ham sausages. Just now, Sun Jinshan took out four and told her to keep them for herself. She used two of them to make soup.

Jiang Liyun glanced at it and found that she had made ham sausage, egg, and vegetable soup.

This was quite extravagant.

In her fan soup, why did she only add a bit of ham sausage bits? It was because ham sausages were quite expensive at this time, costing about one yuan per piece.

Of course, the ham sausages at this time had a relatively high meat content.

In 1986, China introduced the first ham sausage filling machine, and in 1987, ham sausages became popular nationwide.

Jiang Liyun didn’t know about this before, so she asked Sun Jinshan to check in Shanghai when he went to sell chicken breast meat. The result was that there was only a small, newly opened factory producing ham sausages in Shanghai. The ham sausages produced were in high demand, and even distributors had to wait a long time to get their orders.

They couldn’t sell their chicken breast meat there.

Nowadays, ham sausages are considered expensive gifts.

“Uncle, Aunt, I came in a hurry today and didn’t prepare anything. I’ll prepare some gifts next time and visit you again,” Sun Jinshan said to Wu Xiaochun and Jiang Lamei.

Wu Xiaochun and Jiang Lamei both had guilty expressions and couldn’t say anything.

They were afraid that one day Sun Jinshan would find out that Jiang Liping wasn’t what he thought, and he might cause trouble for them.

But they wouldn’t speak ill of their daughter, so they could only try their best to be good to Sun Jinshan, offering tea and water.

Sun Jinshan felt flattered and proudly enjoyed the attention.

In the brick and tile factory, there were only men, and many of them, when they went to their in-laws’ homes, were troubled.

He never thought he would be so well-received!

However, Jiang’s parents had always been like this; they were good people… Jiang Liyun was the only one with a different personality.

He was going to be Jiang Liyun’s brother-in-law!

Sun Jinshan looked at Jiang Liyun proudly.

Jiang Liping also felt a bit proud.

Jiang Liyun: “…” She felt that these two were a bit inexplicable.

At this moment, Jiang Liyu came back.

Seeing the ham sausage soup on the table, she exclaimed with joy, “Ham sausage!”

Jiang Liyun had brought her fan soup before, and she had tasted the bits of ham sausage inside, loving the flavour!

She talked to her classmates about ham sausages and found out that none of them had ever tasted them. Now, she could enjoy ham sausages!

Jiang Liping and Sun Jinshan had breakfast, consuming an ordinary worker’s daily wage. The same went for lunch.

Of course, this was also because the wages at this time were extremely low.

After lunch, Sun Jinshan took Jiang Liping to his home.

On the other hand, Jiang Liyun went to the commune’s junior high school to pick up the contracts she had asked the school teachers to help print.

There were quite a few chicken farmers in the village, and writing all the contracts by hand was too troublesome, so she decided to have them printed.

At this time, movable-type printing was available. There were printing shops in the county town that could print various materials, but they didn’t bother with small orders like hers.

Jiang Liyun used hand-copied hectograph printing.

Learning materials were scarce at this time. Exams were often created by the teachers themselves, and then they would “print” them for the students using hectograph printing. Almost all schools had hectograph equipment.

The contracts produced this way were handwritten and not very clear.

Fortunately, having contracts at this time already puts her ahead of others. Many people didn’t bother to sign contracts when doing business.

The contracts were template-based, and specifics would be filled in later. After confirming there were no issues, Jiang Liyun thanked the teacher who helped her, giving him two yuan as a token of gratitude.

Afterwards, Jiang Liyun began organising the information of the chicken farmers.

She and Feng Yi would be engaged soon, and she wanted to sign contracts with the villagers and feed mill before the engagement.

Tomorrow, they would go to the county town, and before the Chinese New Year, she planned to go to Shanghai.

Jiang Liyun had long planned to go to Shanghai, but being a woman in this era made it inconvenient to travel alone.

Transportation was inconvenient at this time, and there were no surveillance cameras. It was easy to encounter danger when travelling alone.

However, she couldn’t stay at home all the time. She still had to go out and take a look. At that time, she would let Feng Yi accompany her.

By then, they would already be engaged, and it was entirely reasonable for Feng Yi to accompany her on long trips. As for the shops in the town, Wu Xiaochun and Jiang Lamei could handle collecting money, and she could ask Aunt Jiang for help in making dumplings for a few days.

Wu Xiaochun and Jiang Lamei, despite their soft personalities and illiteracy, were not foolish.

At least they could calculate the money for selling buns, even if they had to use a computer as a last resort.

Jiang Liyun kept busy until the evening.

While Jiang Lamei’s family and Jiang Liyu had dinner early, she wasn’t in a hurry to eat. She waited until Feng Yi came back before having dinner together.

As they were eating, Sun Jinshan brought Jiang Liping back.

Both of them looked quite happy, suggesting that things had likely worked out.

Jiang Liyun asked Jiang Liping a question and found out that it was as she had expected—the matter had been resolved.

“Sun Jinshan’s parents are probably not very pleased with me, but Sun Jinshan wants to marry me, and there’s nothing they can do about it!” Jiang Liping was particularly happy. “Men like Sun Jinshan are real men!”

Jiang Liping was curious about Jiang Liyun’s past relationships. It turns out both of her previous partners were like children, obedient to their parents. Sun Jinshan, however, was different; he could make his own decisions.

As Jiang Liping suspected, Sun Jinshan’s parents were dissatisfied with her. Sun Jinshan was young and wealthy, making him a sought-after match. It was surprising that he wanted to marry a woman who had been married before. Although there was no official marriage certificate, they had already held a wedding banquet, making it practically equivalent.

During dinner, Sun Jinshan’s parents couldn’t say much in front of Jiang Liping. However, when Sun Jinshan left to take Jiang Liping home and returned, his mother confronted him: “Ermao, are you really going to marry that Jiang Liping? She’s been married before.”

“But she’s beautiful!” Sun Jinshan insisted.

“Her reputation is not good.”

“But she’s beautiful!”

Sun Jinshan’s mother had no response. Her son had always liked beautiful women, and that hadn’t changed.

“Mum, think about it. The children she’ll have in the future will be so beautiful!” Sun Jinshan added.

“Aren’t you afraid of what others will say? You’re marrying a divorced woman.” His mother voiced her concern.

“They can say whatever they want. When I become a big boss, they’ll just flatter me.” Sun Jinshan was thick-skinned and didn’t care about others’ opinions. Plus, Jiang Liping was so attractive; taking her out would boost his image.

Sun Jinshan’s parents took turns trying to dissuade him, but he remained adamant. Finally, he dropped a bombshell: “Mom, we better hurry up and get married. If she gets pregnant, it’ll be troublesome!”

“What did you do with her?” Sun’s mother was shocked. What had her son done to the girl?

“We got intimate!” Sun Jinshan admitted openly, although, in reality, they had only kissed once.

He knew how to handle his parents. After revealing this, Sun’s mother was momentarily stunned, then said, “Then we should quickly arrange the wedding.”

“Yes!” Sun Jinshan agreed.

Just as he finished speaking, he noticed his father picking up a broom from the corner. Realising trouble was brewing, he quickly turned around, only to find his sisters closing the doors of the hall.

His older sister said to her husband, “Old Liu, hold him down!”

“Ah!” Sun Jinshan received a sound beating.

Being hit with a broom wasn’t painful, but it was a bit embarrassing. Luckily, nobody outside knew about it.

As he endured the beating, his sister and mother casually discussed arranging a matchmaker to propose marriage to Jiang’s family.

“Besides the proposal, I need to talk to people about Jiang Liping’s situation. She’s young and innocent; she was deceived in her previous relationship,” Sun Jinshan’s older sister remarked.

“Yes, that’s a good idea,” Sun’s mother agreed.

She didn’t want Jiang Liping as a daughter-in-law, but with her son involved in such matters, there was little choice. They would have to accept her into the family.

“I’m going to the county town tomorrow. Dad, please don’t beat me anymore!” Sun Jinshan pleaded with his father.

Sun’s father snorted coldly but finally let go of Sun Jinshan.

The next day was the day they had arranged to go to the county town to sign contracts with the feed factory and the chick-selling factory.

Jiang Liyun didn’t go to town. After seeing off Feng Yi and the others, she waited for Sun Jinshan to arrive.

This time, they decided to ride bicycles to the county town. First, it was difficult to catch a ride, and second, even if they did catch one, they would still need to find a tricycle once they arrived, which would be an additional expense.

They figured it would be more cost-effective to just ride their bikes. Plus, it would only take a little over three hours to get there. If they could finish their business quickly, they could return the same day.

Jiang Liyun didn’t want to stay in a guesthouse; it wasn’t safe. After packing a bunch of things into her bag, she saw Jiang Liping getting up.

“You’re up so early today?” Jiang Liyun asked.

Jiang Liping replied, “I agreed with Sun Jinshan to go to the county town today. If we can’t make it back, I can stay in the guesthouse with you!”

Jiang Liping was interested in staying in a guesthouse. As she spoke, she applied snowflake cream to her face in front of the mirror, then took out a powder compact and applied powder to her face.

Cosmetics were scarce at that time, and most people only used powder compacts and lipstick.

After applying powder to her face, Jiang Liping took out a sharpened “special pencil” and used it to draw her eyebrows. The pencil lead was very soft, similar to an eyebrow pencil, so it could be used as one. Plus, it was cheap.

She also applied lipstick to her lips, then rubbed a bit onto her hands and applied it to her cheeks as blush.

Of course, she also paid attention to her hairstyle. After a bit of fussing, Jiang Liping’s appearance improved significantly.