"Did you two do something illegal? How come there's so much money and all this fabric?"
It took Zhang Jing a long while to regain her composure.
During these times when even earning a few cents was difficult in rural areas, Zhao Yi pulling out nearly ninety yuan was truly shocking.
"Even if we wanted to do something illegal, who has that much money for us to steal these days? Do you think your father would follow me to do bad things?"
Zhao Yi chuckled and patted Zhang Jing's head. This girl was adorably naive.
"Then does my father have this much money too?"
Zhang Jing looked at the fabric Zhao Yi brought back, feeling indescribably happy. This blue fabric was the mainstream during this period – it would definitely look wonderful made into clothes.
"Your father just accompanied me on one trip, and I already gave him twenty yuan. Do you expect me to split everything equally with him?"
Zhao Yi poked Zhang Jing's forehead playfully as he spoke.
"What? You gave my father twenty yuan? Two yuan would have been enough for one trip. With that much money, we could have done so many things."
Zhang Jing pouted unhappily. Twenty yuan could buy nearly three hundred jin of grain now.
In many places, fifty jin of grain was enough to get a wife – though if both parties liked each other, no grain was needed.
"Your father spoiled you for nothing, you silly girl. What would we do with that much money anyway? There's nowhere to spend it. What we have now is plenty."
Zhao Yi teased.
Zhang Jing pouted without speaking, still feeling they had suffered a loss.
Zhangjia Village
When Zhang Fusheng returned home, the whole family was still waiting in the main room. This was the first time Zhang Fusheng had been out all night, making everyone worried.
"Mom, should I go check at little sister's place?"
Zhang Jun said to his mother Wang Kaihui.
"Alright, take your second brother with you for company. He said he'd be back by evening today, but look how late it is now."
Wang Kaihui felt somewhat unsettled.
Just then, the door opened and Zhang Fusheng walked in cheerfully, finally lifting the heavy stone from everyone's hearts.
"Let me tell you all, you should thank Xiao Yi. Without him, you wouldn't get new clothes this year."
Zhang Fusheng announced before even entering the main room.
He could have returned by noon, but the large amount of fabric in his basket was too conspicuous. Besides, though he hadn't slept all night, the high earnings kept him too excited to sleep anyway.
Seeing the fabric in Zhang Fusheng's basket, everyone's jaws dropped.
"Husband, did you rob the Supply and Marketing Cooperative?"
Wang Kaihui asked Zhang Fusheng.
"The security guards would have beaten you to death! Rob the Supply and Marketing Cooperative indeed."
Zhang Fusheng rolled his eyes at his wife and laughed.
Everyone had already started touching the fabric Zhang Fusheng brought back.
"Where did you get so much fabric? I didn't see you take any fabric coupons from home."
Wang Kaihui asked curiously.
"Listen everyone, don't talk about this outside."
Zhang Fusheng placed two pieces of meat weighing about twenty jin on the table. Only then did everyone notice he had brought back so much meat.
"Last night I went to the mountains to find Xiao Yi. He had actually caught two wild boars. When I found him, he was smoking the boar meat. Later, when we thought it was ready, we carried the meat to the city.
Xiao Yi said the place was called something like the black market, where they buy pork. They bought over two hundred jin of pork without batting an eye, though it was only fifty cents per jin. For the total of over two hundred jin, Xiao Yi gave me twenty yuan."
"I absolutely don't want anything," I said.
"He said he wants to show filial respect to you and make you a set of clothes, but doing it at home would be too conspicuous. So he had me buy fabric instead. In the black market, one foot of fabric costs forty-five cents, no fabric tickets needed."
"I bought ten yuan's worth, enough for all of you to make new clothes."
"Your mother and I have clothes, so we don't need new ones."
Zhang Fusheng said happily, then handed the remaining ten yuan to Wang Kaihui.
Wang Kaihui nodded. Indeed, their son and daughter-in-law needed new clothes. She and her husband had two sets with few patches, so they didn't need new ones at all. Things would be better next year when there would be more eggs from their chickens and the fattened pig.
They could also make money by selling wild raisins.
"Dad, is this meat also from Xiao Yi?" Zhang Jun asked his father.
"Who else would have bought it? Xiao Yi is righteous. You need to understand solidarity. When someone treats us well, you should remember that kindness in your hearts."
Zhang Fusheng nodded.
"Of course," Zhang Jun quickly agreed.
Seeing how eagerly their son and daughter-in-law were eyeing the meat, Wang Kaihui waved her hand.
"Then cut half of this piece to cook and taste. Don't say your father and I are stingy and won't let you have any."
Everyone immediately beamed with joy.
The four of them carried the meat to the kitchen.
"Husband, Xiao Yi is too good to us, more filial than our own son. I feel somewhat guilty about it," Wang Kaihui said to Zhang Fusheng.
"Who wouldn't agree? This child is beyond reproach. We'll just have to be more dedicated in helping them in the future," Zhang Fusheng nodded, agreeing with Wang Kaihui.
Early morning.
Wangou Village.
Zhang Jing had just finished cooking in the kitchen.
At that moment, Zhao Dahai and Li Daju walked in together.
"What's that smell? Did you cook meat?" Zhao Dahai asked Zhao Yi.
"A bit of wild boar meat sent by Xiao Jing's parents, said to be for nourishing her health," Zhao Yi nodded.
Upon hearing this, the two swallowed their saliva but felt too embarrassed to ask to join the meal. After all, their son hadn't invited them, and it was specifically sent by their daughter-in-law's family for her to eat.
"Oh," they both nodded.
"Dad, is the work at the Forest Farm finished?" Zhao Yi changed the subject. Although they were his parents, if anything happened, they wouldn't side with him. In his previous life, when Zhao Yi went to borrow money from his three ungrateful siblings, these two had acted deaf and mute.
Better to give the food to outsiders than to them.
"The work at the Forest Farm is done. We can only work there for just over a month each year," Zhao Dahai nodded.
"Mm," Zhao Yi nodded.
The two lingered in the yard for a while, but Zhao Yi didn't invite them to eat together nor mention giving them fish. They could only leave helplessly.
"Husband, is this really alright?" Zhang Jing asked Zhao Yi, feeling somewhat uneasy.
"There's nothing wrong with it. We've fulfilled the promise of five jin of grain each month. Giving them more to eat would be worse—they'd get used to coming over every day to eat together. Then see if you can manage serving them," Zhao Yi said indifferently.
Zhang Jing didn't know how to respond to this. Zhao Yi was impeccable toward her parents, so she didn't understand why he held this attitude toward his own. Zhao Yi had never explained this matter.
Zhao Dahai and Li Daju returned home and sat in the main room, staring at each other blankly.
"What do you think has gotten into our eldest? He used to be such a filial child. How did he become like this?" Zhao Dahai asked Li Daju, puzzled.
"How would I know? After getting married, he only thinks about his own wife. Plus, he probably doesn't get along with the second and third brothers either—I've never seen him initiate a conversation with them."
Li Daju thought for a moment and said.