“Girl, it’s not that I don’t want to sell them to you. You know how things are these days. Only rural households are allowed to raise a few chickens and ducks. Don’t get yourself in trouble.”
Shen Qingqing remained calm and explained frankly,
“Auntie, don’t worry. I’m not doing anything illegal. Speculation and profiteering are crimes! I’m just an ordinary citizen. How would I dare do something like that?
“I’m buying a few chicks for my grandmother to raise. She’s getting old and has trouble walking, so she asked me to come to the market and take a look for her.”
Hearing this, the old woman seemed to relax.
Although rural markets were permitted at this time, they were mainly meant to allow farmers to exchange everyday necessities with one another. If someone were caught secretly selling things to city residents, who knew what kind of trouble they might get into?
So after hearing Shen Qingqing’s explanation, the old woman felt reassured.
Her guarded attitude immediately turned enthusiastic.
She lifted one corner of the basket, reached inside, and pulled out several chicks covered in soft yellow feathers.
She held them out to Shen Qingqing.
“Girl, take a look. How about these? The chicks my old husband and I hatch are famous around here for being healthy. We even make sure to feed them well.
“Just look at how lively they are! Aren’t they good? I guarantee they aren’t sick or weak. Take them home and raise them properly, and they’ll be perfectly fine!”
Shen Qingqing didn’t know much about these things, but judging from the chicks’ loud, crisp chirping and vigorous fluttering, she could tell they were indeed lively and healthy.
She smiled with satisfaction.
“Auntie, I trust you. How much are the chicks? Give me five.
“And do you have ducklings too? I’ll buy a few of those as well. I can split them with my neighbor so they won’t have to make another trip.”
“I do, I do! I have ducklings too…”
As she spoke, the old woman put the chicks back into the basket, lifted the cover on the other side, and pulled out a duckling.
“Take a look. Are the ducklings okay?”
“They’re good. Auntie, just add them all together.”
As she spoke, Shen Qingqing pointed at the bamboo baskets on the ground.
“Auntie, I see you’re selling these bamboo baskets too. Are they for sale?”
“These? My old man weaves them in his spare time. If you like them, you can take them. I’ll give you a cheaper price.”
“Great!”
Shen Qingqing calculated today’s expenses.
The chicks and ducklings were 35 cents each, while the two bamboo baskets together cost 20 cents.
It didn’t sound expensive, but altogether, it still came to a considerable amount.
Three yuan and seventy cents.
Shen Qingqing felt a little heartbroken.
She had saved and scrimped for so long and only had a little over ten yuan.
And now, one trip outside had already cost her 3.70 yuan.
But after thinking about it carefully, once the chickens and ducks grew up, they could lay eggs and provide meat.
Anything she couldn’t eat could even be sold for money.
As for the bamboo baskets, they would have cost much more if she had bought them from the supply and marketing cooperative.
With that thought, Shen Qingqing felt better.
She paid the money, secured the basket containing the chicks and ducklings onto her bicycle, and pushed it along.
Once she had gotten far enough away from the crowd, she found an unoccupied spot and secretly put the chicks, ducklings, and basket into her dimensional space.
There were no fences around the farmland inside her space.
She didn’t want to enter one day only to discover that the chickens and ducks had run around and destroyed all the vegetables she had just planted.
So she simply kept the chicks and ducklings separated and covered them with the baskets.
As Shen Qingqing walked, she made another round through the other side of the market.
She also bought several bowls.
Although the bowls were clumsy and rough, being able to buy them at all was good enough.
She could put them in her dimensional space and use them to hold water for the chicks and ducklings.
The chickens and ducklings were taken care of.
But where was she supposed to find a piglet?
In this era, only the communes and production brigades were allowed to raise pigs.
Private individuals weren’t permitted to raise them, let alone acquire piglets.
But Shen Qingqing wasn’t willing to give up just like that.
If she didn’t make use of the space, wouldn’t such a wonderful place be completely wasted?
As she pushed her bicycle home, Shen Qingqing kept thinking about where she could get a piglet.
The days passed one after another.
Soon, the day when Shen Qingqing and Shen Jiaojiao would leave to join their husbands in the military was approaching.
Bai Nianyun had nearly finished preparing their dowries as well.
One day after dinner, Shen Qingqing took her little cloth pouch containing her money and went to a black market in the county town.
Although the government strictly prohibited the existence of black markets, there was no way to eliminate the demand.
The country operated under a planned economy, and almost everything required ration coupons.
Whenever there was a wedding, funeral, or other major event, where were people supposed to get all those coupons?
But things sold on the black market didn’t require ration coupons.
Although the prices were higher, it was still better than having to use coupons!
Perhaps Shen Qingqing was simply lucky.
The moment she entered the black market, a woman wearing a hat pulled her aside.
“Girl, want some meat?”
“Meat? What kind of meat?”
Shen Qingqing was puzzled.
The woman wore a hat and had her head wrapped in a scarf. A large basket hung from her arm.
She looked around before carefully lifting the cloth covering the basket.
Lowering her voice, she said,
“Girl, it’s a little wild boar we caught ourselves up in the mountains. Don’t let its small size fool you. The meat is tender…”
Shen Qingqing’s eyes lit up.
A wild boar? That works too!
But while they were talking, the contents of the basket were revealed.
Shen Qingqing looked down.
Her expression instantly changed from delighted to disappointed.
Inside the basket lay a skinny, bony little wild boar.
Its body was covered in wounds, and it looked like it was barely alive.
It seemed as though it could die at any moment.
Seeing how disappointed Shen Qingqing looked, the woman quickly grabbed her just as she was about to leave.
“Don’t go, girl! Think about it. Even though this little wild boar is skinny, it’s still meat, right?
“I can tell you’re an honest person. If you want it, I’ll sell it to you cheaply. How about it?”
Shen Qingqing looked at the piglet.
There wasn’t even a couple hundred grams of meat on its entire body.
She couldn’t help wondering whether it would even survive if she bought it.
But it was still a living pig.
If she fed it some spiritual spring water, maybe it would survive?
She looked up at the woman.
“What’s the lowest price you can sell it for?”
The woman immediately brightened and held up her fingers.
“Twelve yuan. You take the whole thing.”
Hearing that, Shen Qingqing turned around and walked away.
What a joke. Twelve yuan?
Pork at the supply and marketing cooperative only cost 76 cents per jin.
She wasn’t even sure whether this pig weighed ten jin.
And even if she bought the live pig, once the bones, organs, blood, and everything else were removed, how much edible meat would actually remain?
Did this woman really think she was a complete fool?
Seeing the deal slipping away, the woman hurriedly blocked Shen Qingqing’s path and gave an awkward smile.
“Good girl, don’t rush off. If you think it’s expensive, Auntie can lower the price.”
Shen Qingqing stopped.
“What’s the lowest you can sell it for?
“And Auntie, don’t take me for a fool. Once the piglet’s organs and hide are removed, how many jin of meat would even be left?
“Besides, wild boar is so skinny that the meat will be tough.
“If meat at the supply and marketing cooperative didn’t require ration coupons, I wouldn’t have come here to try my luck.
“But you’re asking more than ten yuan for one little piglet. That’s far too expensive. I’d be better off saving my coupons and buying meat at the cooperative!”
Having been called out so directly, the woman looked embarrassed.
She gave an awkward laugh.
“Well… Auntie can lower the price, can’t I?”
“How about ten yuan? You take the whole thing!”
This girl looks so quiet and gentle. How is she so sharp? I couldn’t fool her at all!
Shen Qingqing silently rolled her eyes.
“I’ll give you seven yuan. If you can sell it for that, I’ll take it. If not, I’ll go look somewhere else.”
“Seven yuan is too little!”
The woman muttered reluctantly.
“How about you add a little more?”
“Seven yuan and fifty cents. That’s my final offer. I don’t have any more than that!”
Shen Qingqing pretended to leave.
The woman quickly stopped her.
“All right, all right! Seven fifty it is.
“You’re a sharp one, girl. Fine, Auntie will take the loss and sell it to you.”
Shen Qingqing happily pulled out her little cloth pouch and counted out the money.
Hearing the woman’s words, she couldn’t help rolling her eyes again.
This piglet was so skinny and small that if it had been sold by weight, it wouldn’t even have fetched five yuan.
Yet this woman had started by asking for more than ten!
What a shameless profiteer.
If the piglet hadn’t still been breathing, Shen Qingqing wouldn’t have been willing to make herself the fool.
Once the money and goods had changed hands, Shen Qingqing took the piglet out of the woman’s basket and carefully placed it inside the basket she was carrying.
Then she quickly left.
She had to find somewhere deserted and put the piglet into her dimensional space so she could feed it spiritual spring water.
If she delayed any longer and the piglet died, she’d be furious enough to spit blood!
She had paid 7.50 yuan for this pig!
That amount could have bought ten jin of pork at the supply and marketing cooperative.
Her heart ached terribly.
She touched the cloth pouch tucked against her body.
When she had left home, it had still been thick and full.
Now it was nearly flat.
Shen Qingqing felt like crying.
But then she thought about how, if the piglet survived and grew up, she could eventually have several hundred jin of pork.
That thought finally gave her some psychological comfort.
As soon as Shen Qingqing left the black market, she found a secluded alley and entered her dimensional space.
She had already secretly put the piglet into the space while no one was paying attention.
The cloth covering the basket concealed everything, so she wasn’t worried about anyone discovering it.
The moment she entered, she saw the piglet lying on the ground, barely alive.
But perhaps it was just her imagination.
She felt that the little pig seemed to have a little more energy than it had outside.
Without bothering to think too much about it, she quickly found a bowl, scooped up a large bowlful of spiritual spring water, and held it to the piglet’s mouth.
She didn’t know whether the piglet somehow sensed that the water was good for it.
It surprisingly cooperated completely.
It opened its mouth and desperately gulped down the water.
In one breath, it finished an entire bowl of spiritual spring water.