Witty Wife, Better Life-Chapter 60 - 58 New and Old Transition

Second Aunt scrutinized Shen Yunfang but couldn’t see any signs of thinness. “Yunfang, if you have any money or Food Coupons left, give them to Second Aunt. That way, if your Sister Yunfeng needs help again in the future, I could send you there.”

That was nothing but a childish deception.

“I really don’t have any left, Second Aunt.”

After leaving her Uncle Shen’s house, Shen Yunfang went straight to Aunt Wang’s house. With everyone at home, she chatted briefly before taking her new cotton quilt back to her own place.

In the afternoon, the uncle gave her time off. Starting from tomorrow, she would begin her work. Although there was no fresh grass yet, the sheep had been cooped up all winter and needed to be taken out for exercise.

As soon as Second Aunt Wang Yue returned home, she began scolding Second Uncle Shen, “Look at your niece, without a shred of empathy. She took so much money to help our Yunfeng, and I don’t think she’s up to any good.”

Still unsatisfied, she added another line, “There’s not a single good person in your whole Shen family.”

Second Uncle pretended not to hear, dizzy from drinking. He lay down on the kang and began humming a tune.

Second Uncle Shen’s nature was such; neither warm nor hot, he would not argue back, but nor was it possible to expect a response from him.

After all these years, Second Aunt knew her husband’s temperament and didn’t bother with him, instead muttering to herself nonstop.

Meanwhile, Shen Yunfang’s first aunt was discussing the matter with her own husband, “I heard from her Second Aunt that Yunfeng gave Yunfang thirteen yuan and ten jin of Food Coupons this month.”

“That much?” Wasn’t it agreed to be five yuan? Uncle Shen was quite surprised.

“Second Aunt said, that child Yunfang is not as honest as she appears. She went to Yunfeng’s place and demanded money, and Yunfeng had to give it to her, considering they are relatives,” said the aunt.

Uncle Shen thought for a moment and said, “Don’t listen to Second Aunt’s wife; does she ever tell the truth? I don’t think Yunfang is that kind of person.”

Aunt Shen pouted. She also knew you couldn’t take Second Aunt’s wife’s words at face value, but the fact that Yunfang had earned thirteen yuan in a month was indeed true, and it was not a small amount of money.

Moving on to Second Aunt Shen’s house.

“Mom, I want some candy,” Zhao Peng whined around his mother.

“Oh, you little rascal, where am I supposed to get candy for you? Just be quiet, or I’ll have your dad spank you,” Second Aunt Shen said, worn out by his nagging.

“Sister Yunfang has come back from the county; she must be able to buy candy. Go and ask her for some,” Zhao Peng suggested.

“Oh, your Sister Yunfang is back?” Auntie Shen really didn’t know; she hadn’t gone to work today, “Then you just go and ask her yourself. She wouldn’t refuse you, would she?”

“She just didn’t give me any. I’ve been hanging around her for quite a while now, and she still ignored me.” Zhao Peng spoke of his grievance.

“What? She dared not give it to you.” Auntie Shen immediately bristled upon hearing this, but then she calmed down, thinking that the child was so poor he couldn’t even afford to eat, probably he hadn’t brought back any candy, “Alright, alright, just wait for the next market day, Mom will buy you some candy.”

After Shen Yunfang returned home, she didn’t take a break. After all, there had been no one in the house for a month; the kang and the stove were all cold, devoid of any warmth. She had to fire up the kang and warm up the house before she could lie down on the kang and rest for a bit.

Having taken her midday nap and getting off the kang, it was already approaching evening. She had a hearty lunch and didn’t feel hungry, so she decided to get to work first.

First, she cleaned up the western room, sweeping all the dirt on the floor out, then set up a wooden rack in the middle of the floor. There were three tiers on the rack—she planned to fill the first and second tiers with wooden boxes for growing vegetables and use the third tier for mushroom cultivation blocks. The room wasn’t big, and two wooden racks filled it up.

After arranging the racks, she sat down on a small stool by the door, took out a wooden box from her space—Li Hongjun made them, and his craftsmanship was quite good. Their width was about eighty centimeters, length one meter three or four, and they were only about thirty centimeters tall.

She took out unused, rich black soil from her space, which was so fertile that she didn’t need to add any extra fertilizer.

Using a small rake, she broke up and leveled the soil in the wooden box, then planted the leek roots in an orderly manner.

After planting a box, she watered it lightly and then carried it to the west room, placing it on the rack.

And so she continued, box by box, until it got pitch black outside. She finally finished planting all the leek roots, totaling seven boxes. The two-tiered rack could only hold six boxes, so the west room still had space for five more.

She hadn’t yet decided what to grow in the others, so she left them for now, figuring she could plant something in them later.

She remembered something important and quickly took out the thermometer Xue Jialong had gotten for her, hanging it directly on a protrusion on the wooden rack. With this, it would be easier to control the temperature in the future.

Then she moved the earthworms, which had been living in a jar for several months, to a new home. Lined up on the kang were three wooden boxes: one for adult earthworms, one for baby earthworms, and one for earthworm eggs. She sprinkled some water on them and considered it done.

The next day, she got up early to prepare chicken feed and realized that when she went to uncle’s house yesterday, she had forgotten to bring back her own chickens. Today, she had to remember to retrieve them from uncle’s house.

Busy all morning, she finally used the new lock to secure the front gate when she heard the sound of the work gong, then casually headed to the production team.

Arriving at the production team, she discovered an unexpected surprise.

Originally, her small flock had fifteen sheep, but six were slaughtered and handed over to the state during the New Year, leaving only seven. She had been away for a month and was surprised to find eight new lambs in the pen.

There had been six pregnant ewes in the original flock, and she, their little shepherdess, had not noticed at all. She had truly been negligent.

However…

Shen Yunfang’s eyes gleamed, thinking that today she would have some sheep’s milk to drink.

At that time, people didn’t like drinking sheep’s milk because it had a distinct smell that most couldn’t get used to.

But for Shen Yunfang, it was a treat; she didn’t mind the smell one bit.

After taking the flock to the hills and making sure no one was nearby, she began to pull over the ewes that were nursing to milk them.

At first, the ewes were uncooperative, causing her to sweat profusely. Perhaps they resented her rough handling and it hurt them, but after several tries, she got the hang of it.

Finally, she successfully milked a small basin of fresh sheep’s milk.

After storing the basin in her space, she found another empty basin, summoned another mother sheep, and had it also contribute a small basin, continuing until she had visited each mother sheep. Only then did she consider her task complete.

Shen Yunfang sat on a small ramp, wiping her sweat. The task appeared simple, but in reality, it wasn’t—it was quite technical.