Although Jiang Siyu claimed she didn’t like keeping pets, she was very responsible—dog food, cat food, canned goods, cat sticks, dried fish, cat litter, and dog litter. Anything the puppies and kittens might need, she bought it all.
Three dogs and two cats, plus one more cat at home—a pregnant one at that. Zhang Shaoquan felt a headache coming on for Song Ying’s sake. Raising all these kittens and puppies, and feeding them cat food and dog food…
Tsk, tsk, that costs a pretty penny.
But with Song Ying’s friend present, Zhang Shaoquan kept his mouth shut.
It wasn’t until after they’d dropped Jiang Siyu back at the hotel that Zhang Shaoquan spoke up.
“Yingzi, your family’s going to keep three dogs?”
He figured cats didn’t eat much—it was the dogs that really put away the food, especially since Yingzi’s three dogs were all large breeds.
Song Ying scratched her head. “Well, since I bought them, I’ll raise them.”
Zhang Shaoquan said, “You might as well just feed them table scraps. Dog food alone would cost over a thousand a month.”
Song Ying nodded. “Got it, Uncle.”
Although Song Ying wasn’t married yet and wasn’t that old, she understood things well. When neighbors, relatives, and friends started nagging, all you had to do was nod and say “mm-hmm.”
No need to say much to them, because even if you did, they wouldn’t understand.
Zhang Shaoquan asked, “Anything else you need to buy, Yingzi?”
Song Ying replied, “Uncle, let’s go to the beef jerky street on Center Street. I’ll buy some beef jerky and dairy products for Sister Mi to try. Then we’ll hit the supermarket to get groceries.”
Work started tomorrow. They were responsible for feeding the workers lunch, and there wasn’t much food left at home.
“Alright.”
The two of them arrived at Center Street. Song Ying bought ten pounds of freshly roasted beef jerky, four boxes of milk skin rolls, and four blocks of milk tofu.
“Uncle Zhang, let’s swing by my friend’s place. I’ll give her some beef jerky to try.”
She set aside two pounds of beef jerky and one box of milk skin rolls. Jiang Siyu didn’t care for milk tofu. It was almost noon, and the shop was getting busy—Jiang Siyu was a bit swamped. Song Ying handed her the stuff, and Jiang Siyu asked, “What’s this?”
Song Ying said, “Beef jerky and milk skin rolls. The stuff you like.”
Jiang Siyu took them with a smile. “Thanks, Yingzi. I’ll message you on WeChat after my shift—it’s a bit busy right now.”
Song Ying waved her off. “Go on, go on.”
The hotel where her friend worked sat diagonally across from the biggest supermarket in their banner—the RT-Mart.
“Uncle, let’s go get the groceries.”
“We’ve got seventeen people, right?”
Zhang Shaoquan nodded. “Yeah, seventeen. Ten bricklayers and seven laborers.”
Seventeen people, plus Sister Mi made eighteen, and with their family of three that was twenty-one in total. That was a lot—two full tables of people. They’d need to buy plenty of food.
Song Ying started by buying five roast chickens and five big carp. They had some lamb and pork at home, but not much, so she went ahead and bought half a pig. Actually, even half a pig wouldn’t last that long—with twenty-one people eating, it would last a week at most, and probably not even that.
Meat was just about covered. Next came vegetables, seasonings, and drinks.
Hmm… Song Ying decided not to buy alcohol. She was worried that if the workers drank too much at lunch, they’d be slow getting back to work in the afternoon. So she bought drinks instead—two cases of Dayao Jiabin soda and two cases of Xianquan water.
When they’d left, the car had been empty. On the way back, it was packed to the brim. The trunk was filled to capacity with cat and dog food, cat litter, and dog litter, while the back seat was piled with groceries—fish still flopping around in plastic bags.
Zhang Shaoquan laughed. “Well now, we’re heading back loaded down!”
Song Ying said, “Uncle, does Auntie have time tomorrow or the day after? If she’s free, could I ask her to come help out at my place? With this many people to cook for, I can’t manage it all on my own.”
“I won’t have her help for free—I’ll pay her wages.”
When Zhang Shaoquan heard this, he said, “Oh, what money? It’s just a small favor. I’ll go back and ask her. It should be fine—the cows at home just need feeding morning and evening, so she’ll be free in the morning.”
“Alright, Uncle, go back and ask her for me.”
When they reached the concrete road in the village, Zhang Shaoquan got off and let Song Ying drive.
She’d need to go to the city again in a couple of days—nothing special, just to buy groceries. The vegetables she bought today looked like a lot, but they’d probably only last two or three days.
She needed someone to go with her. If her cousin wasn’t available, she’d ask Sister Mi to go along.
“Oh, you’re back! Your grandpa just came back from herding the sheep too.” Chen Shuqin came out to help carry the groceries.
Seeing the drinks on the back seat, Chen Shuqin muttered, “Why didn’t you put these in the trunk?” Big items like that should go in the trunk.
Zhang Shaoquan said, “The trunk’s full of stuff, Auntie. Yingzi bought three dogs and two cats, and the cat food and dog food filled it right up.”
Chen Shuqin knew about the dog her granddaughter’s classmate had given her, and she also knew about her grandpa asking her to buy a Border Collie—but wasn’t that just two dogs?
And she’d bought cats too.
Song Guozheng came out. “Yingzi, did you buy me a Border Collie?”
Song Ying opened the trunk. “Grandpa, not just a Border Collie—I also got you a German Shepherd and an Alaskan Malamute. Three dogs, that’s plenty for herding your sheep.”
“Oh, and there are two kittens too.” Song Guozheng spotted the two little cats.
Song Ying said, “This one I bought.” She pointed to the Siberian Forest Cat. “And this is from Jiang Siyu—her ex-boyfriend found it, and when they broke up, neither wanted it, so she gave it to me.”
“It’s a purebred cat too, called a Siamese. I looked it up—apparently it’s a cat of the Thai royal family.”
Chen Shuqin picked up the cage with the Siamese cat. “Oh my, such a noble little thing!”
“And what about this one? Where’s this cat from? Why is its fur so puffy?”
Song Ying said, “It’s from Russia. It’s called a Siberian Forest Cat.”
The Siberian Forest Cat is Russia’s national cat—like their country’s domestic shorthair, it’s a natural breed, not one that was artificially cultivated.
Of course, the Siamese is also a natural breed.