Witty Wife, Better Life-Chapter 73 - 71 How come this money doesnt last at all

She used to buy fifty pound pots, but she certainly couldn’t take that much at once; hence the need for these smaller pots. She would bring him one pot, just as a gesture.

This year, she had planted a lot of garlic. When it was time to harvest, she planned to pickle some sweet garlic and take a few bulbs for him.

He would probably also enjoy chili sauce, which she also had to put into a pot.

Her forte was making pickled long beans, so those had to be included as well. As she tallied up in her mind, adding this and that, she realized she had bought too many pots.

By the time she arrived at her doorstep carrying the pots, she saw Elder Shen standing at the entrance of her courtyard, standing on tiptoes and peering inside.

“Elder Shen, you’re here. Is there something you needed?” Shen Yunfang approached, but the elder didn’t seem to notice her, still stretching her neck and peering inside. Shen Yunfang had to speak up.

Compared with the troublesome Second Aunt Shen and the mercenary Second Elder Shen, Shen Yunfang preferred the hypocritical Elder Shen. At least on the surface, they got along, and some things didn’t need to be said outright. This way, faces could be saved.

Elder Shen, busy peering inside, jumped with a start at the sudden voice from behind, patting her chest and exclaiming.

“Oh my goodness, you scared me half to death. Why don’t you make a sound when you walk?” Turning around and seeing Shen Yunfang, Elder Shen remarked.

It’s not that I’m silent when I walk; you were just too focused on snooping. Shen Yunfang rolled her eyes in response.

“Elder Shen, were you looking for me for a particular reason?” She put the basket on the ground, pulled out the keys from her pocket, and unlocked the courtyard door.

Elder Shen then remembered that she had been caught peeking, which made her a bit embarrassed. However, her attention quickly shifted to the basket on the ground, and she felt immediately better.

“No big issue. I saw that you haven’t been home these past few days, so I came to check on you. You’re not angry with your elder, are you? What did you buy there?” She curiously glanced at the basket.

“Well, I happened to go to the county to withdraw money and passed by the supply and marketing cooperative. So I bought a few pots,” replied Shen Yunfang, proactively lifting the burlap cover for the elder to see.

Elder Shen peered in and saw the pots, which piqued her interest momentarily. Yet she chided Shen Yunfang to herself, thinking she really didn’t know how to manage money. She hadn’t even warmed the money in her hands before she spent it on these useless things.

“Why did you buy so many? Yunfang, don’t take it the wrong way, but we need to be frugal. And why did you lock your courtyard door?” What she wanted to ask was what valuable things Shen Yunfang had that needed locking up.

The last few times she came, Yunfang had been at home, so she didn’t see the lock.

“Now that we are raising pigs at home, if I’m not around, it’s safer to lock the door.” Shen Yunfang placed the basket at the foot of the wall, planning to wash it in the backyard when she was free.

She had intended to invite Madam Shen into the house to sit, but as soon as Madam Shen entered the yard, she went straight to the backyard, “I’ll go check on how big the piglets have gotten first.”

Shen Yunfang didn’t mind her. She had just washed her hands when Madam Shen ran back like the wind.

“Yunfang, what have you been feeding the pigs? How did they grow so fast?” In just about a month or so, the piglets seemed to weigh around sixty or seventy pounds, much bigger than those at her own home. “Wow, why are there so many chicks?” She was then astounded by the full brood of chicks on the kang (traditional Chinese heated bed).

Shen Yunfang moved the wooden box inside a bit to make room for Madam Shen to sit down.

“I didn’t feed them anything special, just swill mixed with bran. I bought these chicks at the market a couple of days ago.” Of course, her pigs grew faster than others—what they were fed compared to what her pigs were fed were simply not the same grade.

“Why did you start raising so many chickens at once? Can you afford to feed them all?” The shock from the chickens was greater than from the pigs, so her attention was drawn to the chicks.

“Just getting by with raising them. These days I’ve been digging up more wild vegetables in the mountains, giving them just a little bit of grain; somehow, they’ll be fed. Besides, it’s uncertain whether all these chicks will make it to adulthood.” During those times, control over diseases and pests was very weak, so whether livestock could grow up depended on fate—every household raising chickens would lose a few.

Some families that started spring with ten chickens would be lucky to have three or four left by New Year’s.

“Hmm, as long as you have a plan in mind,” Madam Shen didn’t say much further, although she was quite skeptical. It wasn’t that easy; if it were as she said, that growing a few extra bundles of vegetables could feed that many chickens, then she would have raised them long ago.

However, looking at the chicks, she got an idea.

“Yunfang, raising so many chickens at once, are you short on grain at home?”

“Definitely short. What’s up, Madam Shen, are you thinking of selling me some grain?” Shen Yunfang caught the hint in her words. It would be great if there were grain to buy.

“Although I’m in a tough spot, you need it, and I… also need it, so, of course, I have to sell some grain.” She had wanted to say that even though it was difficult for her, she would still have to sell, but feared ending up in a disagreement like last time, so she quickly steered the conversation back on track. “But I’ve only got corn left.”

In truth, after the last sale of grain, her family had just enough to last until the Start of Autumn. If they were to sell more now, they would have to settle for watery meals twice a day instead of three.

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But compared to money, these were all trivial matters.

Upon hearing this, Shen Yunfang was delighted. She was planning to brew more wine to store away, wasn’t it said that the longer the wine was stored, the better its aroma and the purer it became? She could take advantage of this time to brew more wine, so they’d have something nicer to drink later on.

Moreover, she had just bought a hundred pounds of rice from Erzhu’s wife a few days ago, which should be enough for a while.

“Okay, Madam Shen, it’s a good thing you came today. In a few days, even if I wanted to buy, I wouldn’t have enough money.” She hinted at her own lack of funds, discouraging further scrutiny. The constant visits made it hard to keep secrets at home. It would be best if everyone stopped coming, and just lived their own lives.

“That’s right, it’s important to buy grain; other things we can save on. Money is hard to earn,” Madam Shen added with a sigh.

“Exactly, Madam Shen. Last time I bought grain from you, outsiders got wind of it. If I hadn’t acted quickly, the both of us would have been paraded through the streets for speculating and profiteering.” Yunfang felt that warning Madam Shen was necessary due to her loose lips.

Madam Shen’s eyes flickered as she hurriedly assured her, “Who is that big-mouthed? Next time you hear such talk, just slap her, slap her hard. No worries, I’ve got your back. We must firmly deny it. Rest assured, this time no one will find out.”

Late in the evening, Madam Shen personally delivered a hundred pounds of corn to Shen Yunfang and walked away with ten yuan, happy as can be.

So, she spent another ten yuan buying a hundred pounds of corn. Together with the hundred pounds of rice she had bought from Erzhu’s wife two days earlier, the thirty-seven yuan Li Hongjun had mailed hadn’t even warmed up in her pocket before it was all gone.

Why does money have to go so quickly?