Shi Zhen was very enthusiastic toward the villagers and told them that he was braising a pig head and preparing to sell it in town tomorrow. He also said that the pig head would take a long time to braise and the finished product would not be available until tomorrow morning.
”If you want to buy, you can come here early tomorrow and I will sell it to you at a cheaper price,” Shi Zhen said. People in the village got up early. He didn’t plan to go to town too early tomorrow morning. He could sell some in the village before leaving.
Carrying pig head meat to town was really tiring.
Their village was relatively close to town, and because of this, the village was relatively wealthy.
But even so, everyone didn’t go to town that often.
Over a decade later, what was now a very long distance would be considered very close. For example, Changxi City, which was only around a half hour’s drive from Anshan Town. The elderly in their village had never been there, but in the future, those young people would go there because it was popular to go to the city to buy a new set of clothes when getting married.
Therefore, people in the village rarely bought meat and bought cooked food even less often. Now that they smelled such a fragrant smell, they all said that they would come buy some tomorrow morning.
After dinner, everyone was idle. Many people came to Guan Baiyu’s place one after another. Guan Baiyu couldn’t entertain everyone inside, so everyone stayed around the door to chat.
They talked about the fragrant pig head meat in the pot, and also talked about Shi Zhen, Guan Baiyu’s cousin. Someone asked Shi Zhen about the affairs of Guan Baiyu’s grandfather’s family.
Not long after Shi Zhen came to this village, everyone in the village heard about him. Last time when people came to kill pigs, everyone had a chat with Shi Zhen. Now, they learned more about Shi Zhen.
”You are a good person. I don’t know what Xiao Yu’s biological grandfather is thinking. He doesn’t even want his own grandson.”
”Xiao Yu’s life has been much better since you came.”
”Xiao Yu suffered a lot in the past, but it will be better in the future.”
…
Shi Zhen was Guan Baiyu’s marernal cousin and did not ask Guan Baiyu to change his household registration and change his surname. To the villagers, his kindness to Guan Baiyu was actually subsidizing old Guan’s family and helping old Guan’s family raise their children. So some people actually thought that Shi Zhen, this cousin of Guan Baiyu’s, was a bit foolish.
Of course, no one said this to his face.
At about 8 p.m., these people dispersed. Shi Zhen waited for them to leave, took care of the pig head, and then went back to Guan Jianguo’s place with Shi Xinghuo to sleep.
When Shi Zhen woke up the next day, he felt sore all over again – his muscles were probably strained again.
It was only just after 5 a.m. when Shi Zhen and Shi Xinghuo arrived at Guan Baiyu’s place for breakfast.
It took a lot of time to cook congee, and one would get hungry again soon after eating it. Therefore, Shi Zhen simply cooked a large pot of rice, which was enough for the three of them to eat for a day, and also cooked two lettuces.
Before they could eat, someone came to buy pig head meat.
They were all from the village. Shi Zhen calculated the price a little lower and sold it to them for 1.50 yuan per catty. He also said that starting tomorrow, he would sell pig head meat at home every morning and evening. If they wanted to buy it, they could come and buy it. It waa cheaper than buying in town.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
The population density here in J city was high, and there were many people in the countryside. Every now and then, something fresh would appear, and everyone wanted to buy some to try. So much so that this pig head was sold out before Shi Zhen could bring it to town.
Guan Jianguo bought two catties in one go. He was tired from driving a tractor all day, and his income was not bad, so he was not short of three yuan.
When he was buying it, the second grandma who brought her granddaughter to watch the fun was particularly dissatisfied with her son’s lavish style. “You can just buy half a catty and try it. Why buy two catties? How can you eat all this…”
”I can eat two catties by myself,” Guan Jianguo said to his mother.
The second grandma’s eyes widened. “So what if you can eat it? Your dad can eat a whole chicken at a meal. But when has he ever eaten a whole chicken at a meal?”
Guan Jianguo ignored her. If he listened to her, his family would never eat meat.
The second grandma kept talking. “Nowadays, life is really getting better and better. In the past, forget meat, I couldn’t even eat enough. That year, there was no food at home, and I was so hungry that my head grew bigger. Finally, I lined up for several hours for a free rice ball and after eating it, I got better.”
Immediately next to her, an old lady who had also brought her grandchildren to watch the fun, answered, “In the past, I sprinkled some salt or a spoonful of soy sauce in congee and ate it directly. Nowadays, people have to eat pickled vegetables fried in a lot of oil and won’t eat plain steamed food.”
Another old lady said, “Yes! I still remember our time when the whole family would eat a preserved egg. Dip a piece in some soy sauce and lick it to serve with congee… This morning my grandson actually ate a preserved egg by himself.”
There used to be other houses near Guan Baiyu’s house. Before Guan Jianguo and the others built new houses, they lived next to him.
Now most of the houses here had been demolished, leaving some piles of stones. These old ladies were sitting on the stones and chatting.
The older grandchildren they brought with them were playing nearby. The younger ones were being held in their arms, but when they got tired of the talking, they reached out to cover their grandmother’s mouth.
After talking about the old days, they didn’t care that their grandchildren were already impatient, and started rehashing things that happened in the past again.
After Shi Zhen sold the pig head meat, he went to town and brought back four pig heads in one go.
Food like cold-cut pig head sold better when it first came out, but it would definitely not sell well in the future. He might as well take advantage of this period to earn more.
The pig head braised last night was sold out at home, so Shi Zhen could only start braising another one and go to town after lunch.
He went with Guan Baiyu. When he arrived in town, he put down his things and gave two yuan to Guan Baiyu. “Xiao Yu, it’s rare for you to come to town. Go buy something to eat.”
”No, I have money,” Guan Baiyu said, “I haven’t spent the money you gave me before.”
Shi Zhen gave Guan Baiyu thirty yuan before, and Guan Baiyu only spent a little of that money to buy firewood.
Guan Baiyu refused to take the money, so Shi Zhen had no choice but to give up. However, although Guan Baiyu didn’t take Shi Zhen’s money, he still went shopping.
He lacked many things.
His grandma left him very little money. If he hadn’t often ranked first in exams in the past two years, and teachers would reward him with pens and notebooks, he was afraid he wouldn’t even have the necessary school supplies.
Now that he had money, he wanted to buy some ballpoint pen refills and some oil, salt, soy sauce and vinegar.
When they met for the first time, his cousin gave him thirty yuan. He once thought that his cousin was very rich, but after observing in the past few days… he discovered his cousin must be very poor.
After talking to Shi Xinghuo, he was even more certain of this.
Guan Baiyu carried a basket and bought everything he needed.
A bag of laundry detergent cost two yuan, twenty boxes of matches cost one yuan, and salt waa forty cents a catty…
Guan Baiyu spent ten yuan on this shopping trip.
He didn’t use the remaining money. His house was running out of food and he wanted to buy some rice from someone in the village.
When Guan Baiyu returned, most of Shi Zhen’s pig head meat had been sold, leaving only one or two catties.
”Brother.” Guan Baiyu called and walked to Shi Zhen.
Shi Zhen gave him a small stool to sit on. “You go over there and sit under the shade of a tree and rest. When I finish selling, we will go back.”
Shi Zhen himself didn’t feel ashamed at all about selling things, but he knew that people of Guan Baiyu’s age might feel a little ashamed about selling things.
Guan Baiyu didn’t feel like this. “I can just sit here.” He didn’t want to be too far away from Shi Zhen.
Guan Baiyu refused to leave. The person Shi Zhen cared about most was sitting next to him alive, and his heart felt at peace.
After Guan Baiyu sat down, Shi Zhen saw what he bought and was slightly stunned. “You didn’t buy anything to eat? Ham sausage, soda and other things are delicious. The meat buns over there are also delicious.”
Guan Baiyu shook his head. “I’m not hungry.”
”A steamed bun isn’t very filling,” Shi Zhen smiled. He happened to see two old ladies selling vegetables at a nearby stall sharing a bowl of small wontons, so he asked, “Then do you want some small wontons?”
The restaurants in town were all concentrated near the farmers’ market, and the bun shop also sold small wontons.
”No need.” Guan Baiyu refused.
He had never eaten wontons, but he didn’t want to spend the money.
”I want some. You go buy a bowl and we can share it.” Shi Zhen gave Guan Baiyu a yuan. Guan Baiyu liked small wontons very much, and had often made them to eat when he was with him. When he got up early in the morning, Guan Baiyu would cook him a bowl of wontons in soup, and then fry a large bowl of egg fried rice or make him an egg pancake.
At that time, he felt that Guan Baiyu was too idle – why bother making two kinds of food for one breakfast? Even if they wanted two kinds of food, wouldn’t it be enough to go out to eat?
But after Guan Baiyu died, he made the wontons himself, but they no longer tasted the same.
Guan Baiyu refused to take the money. “I have money…”
”Guan Baiyu?” A voice suddenly sounded.
Guan Baiyu was stunned and looked up to see Yan Jiangtao and two people about his age coming out of the bun shop next to them. He knew those two people. They were not in his class, but they were in the same year.
”Guan Baiyu, are you selling something?” Yan Jiangtao looked at Guan Baiyu with curiosity on his face, “You are so dirty, can the things you sell be edible?”
Guan Baiyu lowered his head, not wanting to cause trouble.
Yan Jiangtao, however, refused to give up. “What are you selling? It’s so dark that it makes me sick. You smell bad, so the things you sell also stink, right?”
Yan Jiangtao came to town with his friends on the weekend.
He had a lot of pocket money and came to town every weekend to buy things and eat delicious food.
He had never met Guan Baiyu in town before, but now that he had met him, he couldn’t help but find fault with him.
Guan Baiyu still didn’t speak. Shi Zhen’s face turned dark and he asked Guan Baiyu, “Who is this?”
Guan Baiyu said, “My deskmate.”
Guan Baiyu didn’t look at Shi Zhen and couldn’t tell what he was feeling.
In the past, when Yan Jiangtao made trouble for him, he basically tolerated it. It was only when Yan Jiangtao went too far that he would think of ways to secretly retaliate.
But even then, he didn’t dare to go too far. He knew that he couldn’t beat Yan Jiangtao.
But now, Yan Jiangtao said these things in front of his brother…
Shi Zhen heard Guan Baiyu’s words and clenched his fists unconsciously.
Guan Baiyu’s classmates accidentally met them in town and they actually talked like this. How did they usually bully Guan Baiyu in school?
He thought that Guan Baiyu had good grades and would not be bullied in school, but he was wrong.
He hadn’t noticed it before!
Shi Zhen looked at Yan Jiangtao with sharp eyes.
The locals here were not very tall. Yan Jiangtao was less than 1.7 meters tall and was also very thin.
Guan Baiyu was stunted and shorter than him, so he was not afraid of Guan Baiyu, but Shi Zhen was 1.8 meters tall.
After being glared at by Shi Zhen, he didn’t dare to say anything more and walked away cursing.
Behind him, Shi Zhen looked at him for a long time.
Thank you for the chapters
When is the next chapter please 🥺
Updates are every Saturday. Unfortunately, due to commitments for my main series and the fact that future RTS chapters are super long, I can’t update more than once a week.
If this story turns into “improve Guan Baiyu’s life step by step” i won’t mind at all