Chapter 11: Selling Wild Boar

Along the way, Mi Xia and Mi Qiu chatted about this and that. Mi Xia wanted to push the cart, but Mi Qiu wouldn’t let her. As dawn broke, they arrived at the address Zhang Xiaoyu had given them.

Mi Xia went up and knocked on the door. A man’s voice came from inside: “Who is it?”

“Zhang Xiaoyu, is that you? It’s Mi Xia.”

Within a minute, the door opened. Mi Xia winked at Zhang Xiaoyu, who glanced outside and understood.

Mi Xia spoke first: “Brother Zhang, do you remember me? Brother Mo brought me here once. He told me to come to you if I needed anything. My brother hunted these wild boars in the mountains, and we want to sell them. Do you buy them?”

She pointed to Mi Qiu and introduced him: “This is my brother.”

“Sister Mi, yes, yes, Brother Mo specifically instructed me before he left. Brother Mi, please push the cart into the yard,” Zhang Xiaoyu greeted them.

He’s a businessman, his adaptability is really strong; a wink and he knows what’s going on.

Zhang Xiaoyu came over to help Mi Qiu push the cart into the yard. “Brother Mi, stop here. I’ll get someone to unload the pigs. Please wait a moment.”

Mi Xia casually looked around. One side of the yard was filled with sacks and a scale, while the other side had some seasonal vegetables planted.

A few minutes later, Zhang Xiaoyu came out with several men. “Come on, guys, let’s unload the wild boars from the cart.”

Mi Qiu also helped, and soon the pigs were unloaded. Zhang Xiaoyu directed them to weigh the pigs. There was one adult wild boar weighing 158 kilograms and two young wild boars weighing 50 kilograms in total.

Wild boar meat isn’t as tasty as domestic pork, so it’s cheaper. It cost 1.4 yuan per pound, and they also needed ration coupons. For 208 kilograms, the total cost was 291.2 cents plus various coupons.

Mi Xia collected the money and coupons, and Mi Qiu finally relaxed. After greeting Zhang Xiaoyu, he left with Mi Xia, secretly telling Zhang Xiaoyu that she would come again tomorrow.

Mi Qiu was stunned. They had earned so much money; he had never seen that much money in his life, let alone held it.

“Brother, let’s go. I’ll take you to the supply and marketing cooperative to buy some cloth and shoes. Let’s see what we need for the house and buy some food.”

Mi Qiu instinctively pushed the cart outwards. When he heard Mi Xia call him, he came to his senses. “Little sister, is this real?”

Mi Xia smiled, “Feel the money and you’ll know if it’s real.”

“No, no, don’t take it out. Don’t show off your wealth,” Mi Qiu said nervously.

They arrived at the supply and marketing cooperative. Mi Xia found a place to leave the cart and took Mi Qiu inside.

It was crowded. Mi Xia took Mi Qiu to the cloth counter. Six feet of cloth is enough to make a suit of clothes for an adult. Ordinary cloth costs 6 cent per foot. They have three older children, so they bought more.

Mi Xia asked the clerk for 24 feet of blue cloth, 12 feet of black cloth, and 18 feet of gray cloth—enough for adults and children. The rest could be used for whatever their sister-in-law wanted. She handed the money and coupons to the clerk and took Mi Qiu to buy shoes, one pair each.

She bought Mi Qiu a pair of loafers, and T-strap shoes for Zhang Hongxia and herself. The items were simple and lacked variety. She also bought a pair of shoes for each child.

“Little sister, you don’t need to buy for me and your sister-in-law. Ours are still wearable.”

“Brother, didn’t you promise me yesterday? Don’t say that again.”

Mi Qiu nodded helplessly. Then she bought a pound of Great White Rabbit Creamy Candy, wanting to try the candy from this era. In total, they spent more than 50 yuan.

They put the things on the cart and bought rice and flour. Thinking about sending the children to school, she bought pencils, notebooks, and erasers. Their sister-in-law could sew some school bags later.

She also needed to take the college entrance examination, so she had to go to the garbage dump to see if there were any books about the college entrance examination. When they arrived, Mi Xia asked Mi Qiu to wait outside while she spoke to the gatekeeper about buying some old newspapers to paste on the walls.

Mi Xia looked around for treasures, but most of what she saw was worthless, and anything of value was damaged.

Finally, she took a few relatively new books about the college entrance examination and a few test papers and put them in her space. She also took some old newspapers to weigh.

Books and test papers were contraband, so Mi Xia didn’t dare to take them out. Fortunately, she had her space. The newspapers cost 2 cents 3. She put the newspapers on the cart. Seeing the cart piled high with goods, Mi Xia was satisfied.

Mi Qiu witnessed his little sister’s spending habits and felt heartache all morning, but the money was his sister’s earnings, so he didn’t say anything.

When they got home, Zhang Hongxia had already prepared lunch: braised pork, rib soup, braised pig’s trotters, stir-fried pig intestines—a particularly sumptuous meal. Everyone ate their fill.

After cleaning up the dishes, Mi Xia gave the cloth to her sister-in-law and distributed everyone’s things. Everyone was happy. Zhang Hongxia kept saying she was spending too much money, but she couldn’t hide the smile on her face.

Mi Xia also mentioned sending the children to school. Elementary school tuition was only two or three yuan per semester, so Zhang Hongxia prioritized making school bags for the children.

Mi Xia took out the remaining money and gave Zhang Hongxia ten ten-yuan bills. She quickly refused.

“Take it, sister-in-law. The children are going to school soon. They need to eat well to have the energy to study. They’ll need new clothes, shoes, and notebooks. You can use the money to pay their tuition.”

Mi Qiu felt uncomfortable. He, a grown man, couldn’t even support his family and had to rely on his younger sister for help.

Mi Xia sensed her brother’s unease and quickly said, “Brother, Xia Xia and I will rely on you from now on. Mo Haoyue is gone, and thankfully you and sister-in-law took us in. Otherwise, Xia Xia and I wouldn’t know where to go.”

“What are you saying, little sister? This is your home too. Come back whenever you want; no one will say anything,” Mi Qiu’s attention was diverted.

“Little sister is right. From now on, she and her mother will rely on you, brother. Otherwise, if they are bullied, there will be no one to support them,” Zhang Hongxia also saw her husband’s unease and encouraged him.

Mi Xia said goodbye to Zhang Hongxia and went up the mountain with her backpack. She was going to Zhang Xiaoyu’s tomorrow, so she went to the mountain to find more mountain goods today.

“Husband, others wish they had a sister like this. Little sister is so good. She doesn’t have any selfish thoughts. She gives me money and lets us eat whatever we want. Why is that? It’s because you’re her brother.”

“Little sister is so excellent. Shouldn’t you be happy? Although you’re not as good at hunting as little sister, you’re very good at farming. Everyone has their strengths. I think you’re amazing. You support me and the children so well.”

“Now, our family is doing so well because of little sister. We will remember this in our hearts. In the future, if little sister needs anything, we will help her even if it means giving everything we have,” Zhang Hongxia felt uncomfortable seeing her husband like this.

“Yes, wife, I know. I just feel indebted to little sister. Tomorrow, I’ll tell the children to be filial to their little aunt,” Mi Qiu felt his wife was right. He would be even better to his sister from now on.

On the mountain, Mi Xia didn’t think that much. She happily collected wild rabbits, pheasants, wild goats, wild boars, and roe deer.

There was also a deer, bird eggs, wild eggs, various mushrooms, wood ear mushrooms, and a hundred-year-old ginseng root.

She spent the whole afternoon on the mountain and went home as it was getting dark.

Her backpack contained a pheasant and two rabbits, along with some mushrooms and wood ear mushrooms, covered with grass on top.

As soon as she reached the front door, she smelled the aroma and her stomach rumbled.

“Sister-in-law, I’m back. I’m so hungry,” Mi Xia said coquettishly.

“Go wash your hands, and dinner will be ready soon,” Zhang Hongxia replied with a smile.

Mi Qiu came over, took Mi Xia’s backpack, and went to the kitchen. Mi Xia washed her hands and went to see Mo Zhixia. She had been too busy lately and hadn’t spent much time with her child. She would go to the county town again tomorrow and spend a few days with her child when she returned.