Chapter 28.1

There were still about ten days left until the New Year, and after resting at home for two days, Li Xiao started feeling restless. Leaning on the cane he had made himself, he went to the city with Zhou Jian to sell cooked food.

Their cooked food business had become quite diverse, and business was good, which led to more vendors selling cooked food in the city’s market. However, because their food tasted great and their stall was clean, many regular customers would actively seek them out to buy from them.

As the New Year approached, the market became particularly busy, and neither Li Xiao nor Zhou Jian wanted to miss out on the recent business boom.

Back in town, the neighbors also began preparing for the New Year. Most of the conversations were lively, discussing which places had discounts and which shops had good deals.

Jiang Rou didn’t understand these matters very well. In the past, her parents handled the preparations for the Chinese New Year. Occasionally, they would take her along to shop, but she was only interested in going with them if it meant getting new clothes.

As for what to buy, she vaguely remembered it was usually some meat, vegetables, new bowls, new chopsticks, and couplets.

With Li Xiao not at home, Jiang Rou decided to take the money and handle the shopping herself. She bought the couplets, bowls, chopsticks, and new clothes first. She planned to have Li Xiao buy heavier items, like meat and rice when he had the time.

A few days later, Wang Yan came by and brought sweet potatoes and potatoes from her mother’s farm, along with dried cured fish, sausages, salted duck eggs, and two live ducks.

She filled half a snakeskin bag and, rubbing her frostbitten red hands, said, “My brother sent these. Sister-in-law, please enjoy them. If you need more, just let me know.”

Jiang Rou didn’t know what to say when she saw what Wang Yan had brought. “This is too much. You should keep some for yourselves and take the rest back. Li Xiao and I can’t finish all of it.”

Wang Yan laughed heartily. “We have plenty at home, sister-in-law. Don’t be polite. If you can’t finish it, you can always give some away.”

She had heard that Zhou Jian would be going south with his big brother this year to make a living. Although her big brother and sister-in-law were good people, she didn’t want to take advantage of their kindness.

By treating her sister-in-law well, her brother would see it, and when the time came, he would take better care of Zhou Jian.

Hearing this, Jiang Rou stopped being polite and packed some homemade snacks for Wang Yan to take back for her children.

After Wang Yan left, Jiang Rou sorted through the things. She tied the two live ducks in the yard, planning to keep them until the New Year for a meal.

After lunch, Jiang Rou took her child to the vegetable market. Since she couldn’t buy too many things while carrying An An, she had been going out after dinner these days, buying a little bit at a time, treating it as an evening walk.

An An enjoyed it as well. Now, whenever she saw her eating, she would kick her feet excitedly. Especially when she finished eating and started cleaning up, she would get even more excited, constantly turning her head to look at the door, knowing they were about to go out.

Jiang Rou couldn’t help but laugh at this, thinking what a clever little baby she was.

There were no fresh vegetables left at the vegetable market by noon, so Jiang Rou decided to check if there was any mutton. Buying beef and mutton depended on luck, and even if you arrived early, it wasn’t guaranteed that you could buy one.

But today, Jiang Rou was lucky. She came across a mutton vendor who had just arrived at the back door of the vegetable market. Since not many people raised sheep in the countryside, mutton meat was rare. Usually, the lamb was transported from other places, slaughtered, and sold, making it relatively expensive.

But perhaps because the New Year was approaching, some people from other places had driven their sheep here to sell. Today, the family selling lamb was busy, with five people—some watching the sheep, some weighing the meat, some counting money, and one person slaughtering on the spot. Only the youngest, a four- or five-year-old girl with pigtails, stood beside her brother, curiously watching everything around her.

Their prices were very fair.

As a result, there was a crowd around the stall.

Jiang Rou squeezed her way to the front with some effort. The earlier batch of lamb had already sold out, leaving only some scraps on the stall. Jiang Rou didn’t buy those and waited for the freshly slaughtered lamb.

Others were also waiting.

Jiang Rou worried that An An might get scared in her arms but was reluctant to move back. She raised her hand to shield An An’s eyes, but it didn’t work—An An tilted her head to sneak a peek.

At first, Jiang Rou didn’t notice. Her gaze was on the slaughtered lamb, considering which piece to buy.

It wasn’t until the little girl across from her grinned that Jiang Rou realized something. She looked down, saw the curious expression on An An’s face, and couldn’t help but smile.

At that time, baby carriers weren’t yet available, so Jiang Rou had learned from Wang Yan to wrap An An with a bedsheet. That’s how babies were carried in the countryside.

Jiang Rou found it convenient, so she adopted the method.

An An, wrapped up against its mother’s chest, craned its neck to look outside, not feeling scared at all…

Jiang Rou waited for a while, and when the cleaned lamb was finally placed on the stall, she, who had been thinking about which piece of meat to buy, no longer had time to deliberate. She focused on steadying herself, holding An An close to her chest with one hand to avoid being squeezed aside, and frantically pointing with the other hand, “This piece, this piece, and also this one—I want them all.”

In the end, she managed to snatch three lamb chops and a large leg of meat, leaving her satisfied with her purchase.

Afterward, she bought some radishes, planning to make lamb soup at home.

On the way, Jiang Rou ran into Aunt Wang, who was coming back from somewhere. Aunt Wang was pushing a large 28-bar bicycle, with the back seat and front crossbar loaded with various items.

She noticed Jiang Rou and greeted her with a smile. “What good things did you buy?”

Jiang Rou spread out the meat in her hand to show her. “I bought some mutton. I wanted to buy pork, but I couldn’t find anything suitable. I feel safe eating the meat from your family’s place.”

Uncle Wang was still recuperating at home, so the Wang family’s shop had paused operations.

Aunt Wang looked a bit proud when she heard this. “That’s right, your uncle is an honest man. You don’t have to worry about the meat he sells. It all comes from animals raised by folks in the neighboring village. They eat bran and wild vegetables, grow strong, and their meat is delicious. Unlike those pig farms where they give injections and feed the pigs, a pig grows up in just a few months. How can that meat be any good?”

Jiang Rou nodded in agreement as she listened.

The two continued walking and chatting. As they approached Jiang Rou’s house, Aunt Wang suddenly hesitated and then said, “Xiao Rou, there’s something I want to tell you. Don’t be upset—I don’t know all the details, but I thought it’d be better to let you know first.”

Jiang Rou was surprised when she heard this and turned to look at her.

Aunt Wang paused and said, “It’s like this. Yesterday afternoon, someone saw Li Xiao with a pregnant woman on the street; they said that the woman was tugging Li Xiao. Some people were saying bad things, but I scolded them. If you hear anything, don’t take it to heart. Li Xiao is a good kid. There’s definitely some misunderstanding here. You should ask him about it when you get home.”

Both Jiang Rou and Li Xiao were good people, and now they had such a lovely little An An. Aunt Wang genuinely wished them well.

Jiang Rou frowned slightly. Li Xiao hadn’t mentioned anything about this.

However, she didn’t dwell on it. She knew Li Xiao’s character well enough. He was daring enough to take on challenges, but she couldn’t believe that he would get involved with another woman, much less get her pregnant.

This guy had been deeply influenced by Lin Meiru, and he always kept his distance from women. If “Jiang Rou” hadn’t taken the initiative, he probably would never have gotten married in his lifetime.

Even Zhou Jian had said that when he was young if he saw a female classmate fall, he would walk around her without even a glance.

He was very cold.

However, Jiang Rou still looked at Aunt Wang gratefully, understanding that she was doing it for her own good. She smiled and said, “Thank you for the reminder, Auntie. I’ll ask Li Xiao when I get home, but I believe he’s not that kind of person. Others may not understand, but I know how much he cares for An An and me. He wouldn’t do something like that.”

Aunt Wang was still somewhat worried. After all, men can have their moments of weakness. She remembered how, in his younger days, even Uncle Wang had a wandering eye for pretty girls.

But after hearing Jiang Rou’s response, Aunt Wang felt a bit more at ease. She had been concerned that Jiang Rou might hear some rumors and end up quarreling with Li Xiao. So, she nodded and gently reminded her, “Just ask him calmly. Don’t start a fight over it. It’s probably just idle gossip. Some people can’t stand to see others happy.”

“Yeah,” Jiang Rou replied.

Even though she agreed, Jiang Rou didn’t take it seriously and had forgotten all about it by the time she got home.

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