The original senior educated youths had been ambitious. They had built two pigsties, intending to raise four or five pigs so that they would have meat to eat.
But later, they discovered that being able to raise even one pig successfully was already quite an achievement.
However, because of that, there were ready-made pigsties available, so Song Ziyao did not need to build new ones.
After putting the two piglets inside, Tan Jinhe frowned and asked: “What are you going to feed them?”
Song Ziyao replied: “Corn, sorghum, sweet potatoes, wheat bran…”
Before she could finish speaking, she was met with Tan Jinhe’s incredulous gaze.
That look clearly conveyed four words: “What a spendthrift woman.”
Song Ziyao added: “The concentrated feed will only be supplementary. Their main food will still be coarse feed.”
Even so… she was still a spendthrift woman!
The average cultivated land per person in Shengli Brigade reached 1.5 mu, which was considered relatively high. As long as there were no disasters, a strong laborer could receive five hundred jin of grain rations a year.
And most of those rations consisted of the very corn, sweet potatoes, and sorghum that Song Ziyao had just mentioned.
Using people’s food rations to feed pigs, if that was not being wasteful, what was?
Song Ziyao explained: “A female educated youth receives 350 jin of grain a year. My appetite is small. Half a jin of grain a day is enough for me. The rest can be used as pig feed, and then I can eat meat too. Isn’t that great?”
“Oh, right. My family also sends me five jin worth of fine-grain ration coupons every month.”
In reality, all the food she ate came from her space. The grain distributed by the brigade was consumed at a rate far below even half a jin a day.
After hearing that, Tan Jinhe frowned and said: “You eat too little. How can you have the strength to work…”
As he spoke, he could not continue.
Did eating more necessarily make someone fit for labor?
Suddenly, Tan Jinhe said in a low voice: “The brigade intends to appoint a clerk. Think of a way to get it.”
Song Ziyao’s eyes immediately lit up.
Tan Jinhe’s heart began to race when he saw those sparkling eyes. Unable to stop himself, he added another sentence: “It’s easier to approach Accountant Tao. Don’t go to the Senior Party Secretary or the Production Brigade Leader.”
“Tan Jinhe.” Song Ziyao said softly: “thank you for telling me this.”
The young girl’s voice was so gentle it seemed ready to drip with sweetness.
Tan Jinhe could no longer stay there. He hurriedly turned around and said: “I’m leaving.”
Song Ziyao watched his departing figure, her mood exceptionally good.
After Tan Jinhe left, Song Ziyao first cooked pig feed in her space and fed the piglets, adding spring water to it as well.
She was afraid that the pigs might suddenly grow to full size after drinking the spring water, so she had first conducted an experiment using chicks.
After confirming that the situation she feared did not occur, she finally felt at ease feeding it to the pigs outside the space.
However, she still needed to observe the pigs’ growth. If the spring water did not significantly affect their development, she would stop adding it in the future.
Next, Song Ziyao began unpacking the parcel.
She examined it carefully. Aside from the cotton quilt, bedding, and clothes, there was nothing else inside.
In other words, Feng Shihui had not sent the twenty yuan and ration coupons she had promised.
This surprised Song Ziyao somewhat. Had Feng Shihui given up on maintaining her “good stepmother” image?
Or did she think that now that Song Ziyao had left home, there was no longer any need to keep up the act?
However, Song Ziyao had already considered that possibility and had long prepared a countermeasure.
Early the next morning, Song Ziyao went to find Tao Chunni.
After learning that Tao Chunni was going to town that very day, Song Ziyao said: “That’s great. Please help me send a telegram.”
After Song Ziyao left, although the marriage arrangement with the Lu family had only been temporarily shelved, Feng Shihui felt troubled by it. Yet after only a few days, she experienced a sense of relief unlike anything she had felt before.
During the day, Song Gaofei had to go to work.
She could completely cast aside her disguise and simply be herself!
Having acted as a good stepmother for nearly ten years, there were times when she could barely tell whether that persona was really her.
Only after Song Ziyao left did she feel that she was truly the mistress of this household.
And it was precisely because she relaxed that way that, when it came time to send the parcel to Song Ziyao, a thought suddenly arose in her mind.
She would not send Song Ziyao the twenty yuan and ration coupons.
She had entered the family through a proper marriage to Song Gaofei. She was the mistress of the household and had the right to allocate the family’s assets.
Besides, twenty yuan! What family would give that much money to a child sent down to the countryside? Even if others found out, they would not think she was being harsh.
With that thought, Feng Shihui truly removed the envelope containing the money and ration coupons and sent it to her own natal family instead.
After doing so, Feng Shihui even felt that it might not be a bad thing if Song Ziyao stayed in the countryside forever and never returned.
She might not be able to climb into the Lu family through marriage anymore, but at least she had gained her freedom!
She no longer needed to pretend to be a good stepmother and could openly dote on her own two children.
Although her two children had never really suffered any hidden disadvantages, she had always favored Song Ziyao outwardly. Shanshan constantly complained that she was biased, and as a mother, that truly pained her…
Thinking of this, Feng Shihui began considering cleaning up Song Ziyao’s room and letting Shanshan move into it.
But before she had time to clean the room, something suddenly crashed down upon her without warning.
The mailroom notified her to come sign for a telegram.
All private letters at the factory were collected from the Post Office by the factory mailroom and then delivered to the mailboxes of each building. However, something like a telegram had to be collected personally from the mailroom.
The mailroom was usually very busy, but as soon as Feng Shihui walked in, she felt that everyone had paused their work and was looking at her.
Feng Shihui’s heart skipped a beat. Forcing a smile, she asked the person in charge of the mailroom, Cheng Xinjie: “Xiao Cheng, is there a telegram for me?”
With a half-smile, Cheng Xinjie handed her a piece of paper. “There is. Yaoyao sent it to you. Take a look.”
The moment she heard that it was from Song Ziyao, Feng Shihui knew things had gone badly.
When she took it and looked at it, the unease in her heart immediately became reality.
There were only eight characters written on it:
“Unable to endure hunger, send money and ration coupons immediately.”
Holding the telegram slip, Feng Shihui recalled the looks everyone had given her when she entered. She was so angry that her hands trembled.
Cheng Xinjie chuckled twice and added fuel to the fire. “Sister Feng, what does Yaoyao mean by this telegram? Before she went to the countryside, I seem to remember hearing that you promised to send her twenty yuan every month along with the ration coupons allocated to her. So how has the child ended up unable to endure hunger?”
Another woman also said: “The child has only just gone to the countryside and hasn’t earned any work points yet. At most, the brigade can advance her some coarse grain. Of course she can’t get enough to eat.”
Feng Shihui forced a smile and said: “She took quite a lot of things with her when she left…”
Before she could finish speaking, Cheng Xinjie cut her off. “But none of those things were food! Besides, you’re the one who publicly announced that you’d send the child money and ration coupons. Nobody forced you to do it! But if you find it difficult, then forget it. We aunts can pool some money together and send something to the child.”
“I agree. No matter what, we can’t let the child suffer.”
Those words made Feng Shihui’s heart tighten.
If Cheng Xinjie really gathered money to send to Song Ziyao, then leaving everything else aside, the face-conscious Song Gaofei would be the first to skin her alive!
At that moment, Feng Shihui regretted withholding that small amount of money and ration coupons more than anything.
She had maintained the act for so many years. Why had she chosen this particular moment to fuss over such worldly possessions?!
Feng Shihui forced an ugly smile and said: “Xiao Cheng, you’re overthinking it. Actually, I was worried that carrying too much money might bring trouble to Ziyao. But what you said makes sense. Even if it brings trouble, that’s still better than letting the child go hungry… I’ll go back and send it to her right away.”
After thinking for a moment, Cheng Xinjie said: “Sister Feng, how about this? After you go home, ask Deputy Factory Director Song to write a note. Starting next month, the finance office can directly transfer twenty yuan from his salary to Yaoyao. Then, together with the subsidies allocated to Yaoyao, they can be mailed to her.”
Feng Shihui’s smile was on the verge of collapsing. “I can’t make that decision. I’ll have to go back and ask Old Song what he thinks.”
“Fine, go ask him.”
As soon as Feng Shihui walked out of the mailroom, her face darkened immediately.
At that moment, she deeply regretted it.
Why had she insisted on being a good stepmother?
Now that very reputation had bound her hand and foot, leaving her unable to move.
Feng Shihui clenched the telegram slip in her hand and walked home.
Since Song Ziyao had shown so little consideration, then she would let Song Gaofei teach her a lesson!