For the next two days, Yuanyuan helped Yanli tidy up the house, and on the third day, they went to the city together. They needed to buy that little donkey as soon as possible now.
Actually, the two girls didn’t really know much, but Yanli had a laid-back attitude about it, which made Yuanyuan feel a bit inadequate.
"Yuanyuan, when we split from the family, I also got so money. I have a hundred yuan now. If it’s not enough, you can lend so."
Yuanyuan nodded, "I’ll lend you a hundred, and you can add the rest yourself. You’ll need money for other things later, so you should keep so on hand."
Yanli laughed, "Okay, lend a hundred yuan. I’m planning to raise pigs this year. You’ll also need to lend so grain."
"No problem, there are plenty of sweet potatoes and dried potatoes, also winter lons and corn."
"Great."
The two of them went to the city and found soone selling livestock, eventually selecting a small donkey for 130 yuan.
They spent another 20 yuan on a harness and so other farming tools they were missing. At this point, Yanli still had a few dozen yuan left. The donkey cart cost 45.
In the end, Yuanyuan gave Yanli another 50 yuan. Originally, she wanted to give her a hundred, but Yanli refused.
The two of them also went to the supply and marketing cooperative, as they couldn’t miss out on essential supplies for living.
Yanli’s first purchase was a lock. "I feel like it’s only my ho when I have a lock."
After sweeping through the area, the two girls finally drove back ho.
Yanli’s face was full of smiles. She finally had her own ho now. Truly hers— not her family’s, not a man’s. Hers.
Yuanyuan could understand Yanli’s feeling. She had those thoughts too at one point. No matter what, having a place that brings peace of mind is important.
They didn’t go straight ho, instead heading directly to the village where they bought little pigs last year. Each of them ordered two pigs, and Yuanyuan also ordered one on behalf of the Li Family.
There were thirteen piglets in this litter. Yanli placed an order for two pigs for each of her two brothers, leaving four. She thought her two sisters would surely want them as well, and if not, she and Yuanyuan could divide them.
Once they had made the arrangents, they could co back to pick them up in twenty days. After that, the two of them also went to order chickens, ducks, and geese.
This ti, Yuanyuan ordered twenty ducks, and ten chickens and geese each.
Yanli also ordered more ducks this year, even though her ho wasn’t close to the reservoir, it was still sufficient.
The two were full of enthusiasm as they returned. Yanli hadn’t rested the entire day. After lighting a fire, she drove back to her two brothers’ hos to tell them she had ordered pigs and chickens.
The two sisters-in-law were, of course, satisfied. Sun Yun grabbed the nun’s hand, "Xiao Li, do you have enough grain?"
"I borrowed it from Yuanyuan. Don’t worry, Sister-in-law."
She then rushed to her two sisters’ hos.
The Second Sister was very happy since in their old ho, raising pigs was the responsibility of her and her sister. They were really familiar with it and knew it made money.
Over at Zhao Yanping’s place, however, there was hesitation because they hadn’t split from the family yet, and she went to ask her mother-in-law, who ultimately didn’t agree.
Zhao Yanping was about to give birth and looked at her little sister, tearfully.
"Elder Sister, co to my place with . Then have Brother and Second Brother talk things over. This can’t go on."
It wasn’t that she didn’t want to take care of the younger ones, but whatever they did needed to be discussed as a family, and it was obvious that Elder Sister was not happy here.
"No."
"Elder Sister, how did you end up like this? Splitting the family doesn’t an you’re no longer a family. Can’t you take care of them? Besides, you’re the one who’s being neglected, aren’t you? After all, you still have a child to look after.
Let’s go, let’s find Brother and Second Brother. I thought life wouldn’t be too hard for you, but look at how things have turned out? What did Zhiqiang promise us back then?"
"Xiao Li, life isn’t as you think it is." Zhao Yanping said, tears streaming, as though she had resigned herself to reality.
Yanli was so angry she almost fainted, "Elder Sister, just say the word, do you need us to co and back you up?"
"Xiao Li, your brother-in-law treats well."
"Alright, if you think so highly, then I won’t say more. If you want to live this way, I can’t stop you.
Whenever you need , just co and find ."
Yanli didn’t wait for Zhao Yanping to say anything more before driving away. Such an elder sister seed so unfamiliar. Is this how marriage changes people?
If so, Yanli thought, she might never get married for her entire life.
She returned to her elder brother’s house in low spirits, talking to her elder brother and sister-in-law about it.
"Xiao Ping is really being foolish." Sun Yun was also exasperated at her obstinacy.
"I’ll go ask Xiang Zhiqiang." Zhao Qingxiang was equally enraged.
"Elder Brother, don’t let her bla you when you go."
Sun Yun was also quite worried; this older sister-in-law was truly senseless.
"Elder Brother, let’s just keep an eye on the situation for now, and deal with it later."
There wasn’t much else they could do. If Zhao Yanping preferred to listen to Xiang Zhiqiang, they had no other options.
The next day, Yanli vented about the matter to Yuanyuan.
"Yuanyuan, if it’s going to be like this, I’ll never get married in my entire life."
Yuanyuan thought the girl’s mindset was rather progressive.
"If you don’t marry, people will talk behind your back."
"I live for myself, not for them."
Yuanyuan gave a thumbs-up, "Impressive. But it’s not always like that, right? Isn’t your Second Sister the one in charge at her place?"
"Who knows what the future holds? I’ll co grind cornal at your place."
"Sure, my old sheep is really efficient."
The two girls started grinding cornal, sweet potatoes, and potato flour, keeping busy. Preparing these early would save ti later.
"Yuanyuan, the two of us can only raise three heads each."
"It’s fine by . If you can’t handle it, I can raise four."
"I’m just embarrassed that you’re covering the cost of buying the piglets and lending the grain. As for doing more work, that doesn’t bother at all."
"If you can handle it, then just raise three. Don’t worry about anything else." If she had the resource, she would let her borrow; if she didn’t, there truly was nothing that could be done.
The day to fetch the piglets ca, and now it was already around zero degrees during the day. For picking up the piglets, the Zhao Brothers also drove over.
The piglets were brought ho, and Yuanyuan wouldn’t bring them inside, so she put them in the livestock shed built last year. It was possible to light a fire there, though it was a hassle and consud firewood. But that was just a minor issue.
The Li Family was very attentive to their piglets—since they had grown a lot this year, Li Hongxiang wasn’t stingy and let his grandchildren eat them. He kept one pig for the family to eat. Yuanyuan felt this was best; nothing was more important than health.
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