Chapter 44: Going to the Market

“He’ll definitely paint it in the worst light!”

Chen Xuelian added, “Dad, you have no idea. The new deputy director who just arrived at our garment factory graduated from a prestigious university and was transferred directly to his post! He’s incredibly impressive, becoming a deputy director the moment he arrived! Who knows what kind of high-ranking official he’ll become in the future. Since our family’s factory is affiliated with my factory, we might have to ask him for favors down the road!”

Chen Donghai’s expression finally softened.

He was a businessman.

At the end of the day, profit came first.

No matter how disappointing Chen Qiming was, his grades were indeed good.

If he could get into a top-tier university, it would definitely be a huge help to his business once he graduated.

Sigh.

Chen Donghai sighed inwardly.

Forget it.

He is my own son, after all.

“I can let the past go, but you must get into university!”

Chen Donghai glared at Chen Qiming and scolded, “Otherwise, I’d rather take the family fortune to my grave than leave you a single penny!”

Chen Qiming did not dare to make a sound.

He hung his head, looking pitifully at Zhao Lanzhi.

Zhao Lanzhi’s heart immediately ached for him.

“I think you’ve truly lost your mind!”

Zhao Lanzhi pulled Chen Qiming close and gave Chen Xuelian a look. “Take your brother out to get something to eat! School starts in a few days, so he needs to build up his strength!”

Chen Xuelian nodded and quickly led Chen Qiming away.

In the room, Chen Donghai poured himself a cup of water and drank it in silence.

Zhao Lanzhi wiped away her tears, sat down next to Chen Donghai, and said, “No matter how bad Qiming is, he’s still our biological son, you know?”

Chen Donghai sighed.

“It’s precisely because he’s my son that I’m so strict with him!”

He finished, then couldn’t help but add, “In the past, Chen… Xie Zhao was like this too! Look at him now!”

“Didn’t Xie Zhao also come looking for us time and time again?”

Zhao Lanzhi couldn’t help but say, “Isn’t he also reluctant to let go of the good life he had with us?”

“Qiming made mistakes in the past, but you can’t keep holding onto them. Even the Chairman said that a comrade who corrects his mistakes is still a good comrade. You can’t treat Qiming like this!”

Chen Donghai finally fell silent.

He let out a long sigh, his mind beginning to calculate.

After some time, he would have to send his son out to get some real-world experience.

Only by letting society toughen him up could he set the boy straight!

*

Xiangmin Town.

Today was market day.

People from all the surrounding villages would come to set up stalls and sell their goods.

There were also food stalls, including noodle stands, wonton shops, scallion pancakes, and Beggar’s Chicken, lined up in a row, their aromas drifting for miles.

Xie Tian tugged at Tian Xiufen, a basket slung over her right arm containing the needles and thread Tian Xiufen had just bought.

“Mom, let’s go! Hurry up to the butcher shop! If we’re late, all the good fatback^[1] will be gone!”

Tian Xiufen smiled helplessly and flicked her on the forehead.

“You’re just a little glutton!”

She glanced at the sun. It had already been an hour; if they didn’t go now, they really wouldn’t be able to buy any fatback.

Tian Xiufen pulled Xie Tian along, weaving through the crowd and heading straight for the butcher shop.

Business at the butcher shop was decent. People stood around in small groups, pinching the meat and picking through the cuts. Some children, craving meat, dragged their parents and refused to leave, demanding to buy some to take home. It was a lively, bustling scene.

Tian Xiufen squeezed her way in, took a look, and spotted a good cut of meat.

It had a thick layer of fat on the bottom and about an inch of lean meat on top. Cut from near the front leg, it was tender and flavorful, making it perfect for shepherd’s purse wontons.

“How much for this cut?”

Tian Xiufen pointed and asked.

“Ah, this is a great cut, very flavorful! Look at this, thick fatback and well-proportioned lean meat. It’s top-notch for making dumplings or stir-frying with chili peppers! If you want it, I’ll let you have it for one yuan eighty! That’s a very cheap price!”

The butcher quickly chimed in.

Tian Xiufen reached out and touched it on the chopping board. Her greasy fingertips proved the meat was fat enough and would yield plenty of lard.

She was very satisfied.

“One yuan seventy! How about I buy the whole piece?”

Tian Xiufen feigned hesitation, looking at the butcher. “Look, if it were all fatback, I’d take it off your hands without a word. But there’s such a large chunk of lean meat here! One yuan eighty isn’t worth it.”

As she spoke, she poked at the meat a couple of times, then pointed to the large bones in the corner. “Weigh it for me at one yuan seventy, and I’ll take these bones off your hands too. Deal?”

Compared to later generations, bones in this era were truly worth next to nothing.

Cooking them wasted firewood and effort, and in the end, all you got was some broth. The meat scraped off the bones wasn’t even enough to get stuck in your teeth.

The butcher had originally planned to take the bones home for himself if he couldn’t sell them, but he hadn’t expected Tian Xiufen to want them!

Ha!

He grinned and nodded readily.

“Deal! One yuan seventy for the meat. As for these bones, I’ll charge you one yuan per jin! There’s actually quite a bit of meat left on them!”

With that, he swiftly grabbed a straw rope, threaded it through the large piece of pork, and placed it on the scale.

Tian Xiufen quickly leaned in to look.

“Four jin and three liang!”

He chuckled, grabbed the bones, threw them onto the tray, and weighed them next. “Five jin and six liang!”

Immediately after, the butcher clicked away on his abacus and said to Tian Xiufen with a smile, “That’s twelve yuan and ninety-one fen in total!”

He thought about it, then reached out to grab a piece of pork liver and threw it in with the bones. “Let’s just make it an even thirteen yuan!”

A sharp gasp!

Thirteen yuan!

Hearing this price, the surrounding crowd turned in unison to stare at Tian Xiufen with surprise and envy.

In this day and age, who didn’t buy meat in tiny portions?

Buying a single jin was already the height of luxury!

Yet looking at Tian Xiufen, her clothes were no different from theirs. How could she spend so generously?

In truth, Tian Xiufen’s heart trembled when she heard the price.

She regretted buying so much.

But on second thought, her husband, son, and daughter had all been exhausted lately. On top of that, her daughter-in-law was currently recovering from childbirth and needed to eat well and drink plenty of soup to produce milk.

She no longer felt the sting of the expense.

The fatback could be rendered into lard for cooking, the lean meat would be used for wontons, and whatever was left over could be frozen outside without spoiling.

Tian Xiufen carefully pulled a small purse from her pocket.

“Here, thirteen yuan. Count it.”

The thick stack of small bills was what Xie Zhao had given her before they left the house.

Once the thirteen yuan changed hands, the butcher’s face lit up with a broad grin. He took the money, found a small sack to pack the meat and bones together, and handed it to Tian Xiufen.

“Here you go! It’s a bit heavy!”

Tian Xiufen took the sack.

Just as she was about to speak, she heard someone calling her from nearby.

“Oh! If it isn’t Second Sister-in-law Xie! You came to the market today too?”

The voice was sharp and shrill. Tian Xiufen did not even need to turn around to know who it was.

Liu Cuihua.

The Liu family’s daughter-in-law.

That entire family had loose lips and loved to stick their noses into everyone else’s business.

Tian Xiufen instinctively tucked the sack of meat closer to her side and forced a smile.

“Oh, it’s the Liu family’s daughter-in-law.”

She said, “I brought my daughter to the market. I didn’t expect to run into you here. What a coincidence.”

Liu Cuihua just grinned without saying a word.

However, her sharp eyes had already spotted the bulging sack.