But the next morning, Lin Jiaojiao still couldn’t set off together with the Zhiqing.
Because Zhang Aihua wanted to go to the county town with her.
She said she was going to buy some things, and the two of them just happened to be going the same way.
And they didn’t need to squeeze onto the brigade’s ox cart either. Daduizhang had pushed a bicycle back early in the morning, saying it had been borrowed by a relative’s family.
With a bicycle, it was more convenient to get around.
It was just that she didn’t know whether, with Zhang Aihua following along, she could still sneak things out of the Space.
But there are always more solutions than difficulties. Lin Jiaojiao believed in herself—she was absolutely not a fool or an idiot.
Just getting a few things—it shouldn’t be too difficult.
At 7:10, the Zhiqing had already set off.
The village’s ox cart rolled out of the village, heading toward the county town.
Their village wasn’t far from the county town—even walking wasn’t scary.
So everyone wasn’t in such a hurry.
“Jiaojiao, do you know how to ride a bicycle?”
Zhang Aihua had tied a back basket to the side of the bicycle’s rear rack—this was for holding things.
She had also tied a thick cloth onto the rear rack, so that sitting on it wouldn’t hurt one’s bottom.
After getting everything ready, she asked Lin Jiaojiao.
“Auntie, I know how to ride.”
“Let me give you a ride!”
Lin Jiaojiao wanted to go push the bicycle, but was stopped by Zhang Aihua.
“The road ahead isn’t easy to travel. I’ll ride and carry you.”
“The latter half of the road is fairly flat—you can carry me then.”
Actually, this worked too.
The two of them taking turns pedaling wouldn’t feel too tiring.
Lin Jiaojiao had no objections.
Anyway, Zhang Aihua was more familiar with the road conditions than she was.
The two of them greeted Daduizhang, then rode the bicycle off.
What Lin Jiaojiao didn’t know was that Daduizhang was also going to make a trip to the county town.
By his calculations, his eldest nephew should have arrived in Chuncheng by now.
He needed to make a phone call to ask—see if the person had arrived, and whether there was any news about his daughter?
Although the couple had already decided in their hearts that Lin Jiaojiao was their daughter.
They still had to verify things before they could confess to the other party.
Otherwise, without any evidence, if the girl didn’t believe them and thought they were bad people, what then?
Even if she wasn’t their lost daughter, the couple had already discussed it—they would acknowledge her as their goddaughter.
To look so alike—it was truly a rare fate in this world.
If they didn’t form a kinship bond, it really wouldn’t make sense.
He thought that if they proposed acknowledging her as a goddaughter, the girl wouldn’t refuse.
Halfway there, Lin Jiaojiao switched with Zhang Aihua to sit.
The two of them rested only once in between, and arrived at the county town in one go.
They took a different road, so they didn’t run into the village’s ox cart.
They even arrived at the county town earlier than the ox cart.
Zhang Aihua didn’t take Lin Jiaojiao to the Gongxiaoshe. Instead, she pulled her into an alley.
There were many common folk up early here, and those who came out all carried something or other in their hands.
There was food, vegetables, and grain.
Only the quantities weren’t very large.
And everyone was in a hurry, not chatting or talking.
Lin Jiaojiao guessed that this might be the Heishi.
But weren’t Heishi all taboo? Why would Zhang Aihua bring her here?
It was only after going in and hearing the surrounding people’s whispered discussions that she understood.
This wasn’t a Heishi at all.
Rather, it was a street where one could set up stalls to sell goods.
It was said that the people above generally didn’t bother with this place. Even if someone came to investigate, word would be sent ahead of time for people to clear out.
But everyone who came here still kept quiet.
Causing trouble here was not a wise choice.
One could very likely be driven out by the boss here, and never be able to enter again for the rest of one’s life.
You had to know that these days, even with money, it was not easy to buy what you wanted.
Because supply fell short of demand.
There were many people in need, but the goods available were pitifully few.
So no one dared offend the boss here.
“Auntie, look! They’re selling an old hen over there.”
As Lin Jiaojiao spoke, her steps had already shifted in that direction.
“Jiaojiao is craving chicken. No need to buy one—we have some at home.”
“If you want to eat it, I’ll kill one for you later.”
Lin Jiaojiao had not expected that a single sentence from her would make Zhang Aihua think about killing one of the family’s chickens.
The chickens at home were meant to be kept for laying eggs.
Just because she wanted to eat one, they would kill it.
She felt so touched inside…
But she still dragged Zhang Aihua closer. These days, every bite of meat was worth treasuring.
“Ma’am, how do you trade for this old hen?”
These days, you could not say “buy” when buying things—you could only say “trade.”
It could be bartering goods, or it could be exchanging money.
But if you said it wrong, it was easy to have a big label pinned on you.
Even if there was nothing wrong, they could still make trouble for you.
“I want milk powder. Do you have any?”
“My daughter-in-law just gave birth, but she hasn’t been producing milk. My little grandson is about to starve, so I brought out the family’s old hen to trade for some milk powder.”
“It’s fine if it’s a little less. As long as it can save my grandson’s life first.”
There were quite a few people asking the price, and the older woman was very patient, explaining seriously to each one.
Zhang Aihua’s heart skipped a beat. She knew this deal was hopeless.
It looked like they would not be able to trade for the old hen.
“Ma’am, I do have some milk powder here.”
“It only weighs one jin. Do you think that’s enough?”
If it was not enough, she would think about adding some money coupons.
“Enough, more than enough.”
Having one jin was already good. Earlier, someone had even wanted to trade two liang for her old hen.
This was an old hen she had raised for three years, and she had scrimped and saved, catching insects and picking greens every day to feed it.
The old hen was very fat, and even now it could still lay one egg a day.
A three-year-old hen still producing that many eggs was truly not easy.
She usually treasured this old hen greatly. If it were not for her eldest grandson, she would not have been willing to sell it at all.
If killing the chicken for her daughter-in-law to eat could make her produce milk, then the older woman would not have sold the chicken.
After all, once the milk powder was finished, it was gone, but if her daughter-in-law had milk, there would be no worry that her grandson would go hungry.
But was there any other way?
Her daughter-in-law simply would not produce milk, no matter whether she was fed chicken soup, pork rib soup, or crucian carp soup.
She had even drunk a lot of tetrapanax, but there was not the slightest effect.
The older woman was so worried that she could only take one step at a time.
“Then, ma’am, I’ll give you this milk powder, and I’ll take the chicken.”
The old hen’s legs were tied, so there was no worry it would fly away.
Zhang Aihua quickly put the old hen into her own back basket to prevent anyone from coming over to snatch it.
But why did Lin Jiaojiao have milk powder?
The conditions in her hometown were not good, and on top of that, she had a pair of vicious parents.
Still, Zhang Aihua chose not to ask at this moment, planning to ask more carefully later.
Jiaojiao was a good child. She definitely would not do anything bad.
Having traded for the old hen, Lin Jiaojiao was very happy.
“I heard this chicken is still laying eggs. Let’s go back and raise it for a while first.”
Lin Jiaojiao stroked the old hen’s feathers and said to Zhang Aihua,
“Alright, I’ll do as you say.”
Eating eggs wasn’t bad either; it wouldn’t be too late to kill it once it stopped laying.
The two continued walking forward and soon discovered another good find.
Both unconsciously quickened their pace and soon hurried over.
Though they were somewhat puzzled—why hadn’t anyone come to buy something this good?
But it didn’t stop them; they had the heart to snatch up a bargain.