Witty Wife, Better Life-Chapter 45 - 43 What You Have What I Lack
Chapter 45: Chapter 43: What You Have, What I Lack
Chapter 45 -43: What You Have, What I Lack
Shen Yunfang patted her own cheeks and waited until she had completely calmed down before composedly storing the money on the table into her space.
She switched on the electric light and then started to tidy up her dwelling for the upcoming month.
Yes, the acquisition station had already implemented electric lighting.
The one hundred watt bulbs, aside from making the room bright and clear, also lit up a small portion of the courtyard through the windows.
She first opened the door of the room, turned on the yard lights to illuminate the front courtyard brightly, then went to the duty room and picked up the coal shovel in front of the stove. She then scooped up a shovel full of briquettes from near the wall, and back in her own room, she ignited the stove.
The design of this room was different from her home, the stove’s flue was directly connected to the kang, so as long as the stove was lit, the kang would be warm without needing to be fired up.
She walked under the table, picked up the washbasin and chamber pot, and went straight to the backyard. There was a well in the backyard, and water had to be drawn manually.
She scrubbed the washbasin and chamber pot thoroughly by the well. These things, she didn’t know how many hands they had passed through, and if they weren’t cleaned properly, she would feel disgusted using them.
That wasn’t all, she also boiled a basin of water on the stove, and once it boiled, she scalded the washbasin and chamber pot with the hot water again.
Only after thorough disinfection could she use them with peace of mind.
She then took the kettle from the duty room stove and boiled a pot of water. She cooled a bowl of boiled water for herself to drink, and the rest she poured into the thermos.
She realized that in the Northeast, such a thermos was quite practical during winter. If she got the chance, she would get one for herself too.
Next, she took some stored food from the space and started to eat heartily.
Lastly, she boiled another basin of water with the clean washbasin, and with the warm water, she brushed her teeth and washed her face. After finishing her ablutions, she spread her bedding on the warm kang, turned off the light, and went to bed.
Early the next day before dawn, she woke up, and after a simple wash and meal, she headed out to stroll the big streets again, this time choosing the opposite direction from yesterday.
Today she was prepared to accomplish a lot, as she had to make sure to get things right.
And then Shen Yunfang saw a department store, saw a post office, saw a bathhouse, and also found her target.
A block of residential buildings, the five-story kind. She inquired and found out it was the family area of the auto parts factory. Shen Yunfang decided that she would come here at night.
Having set her goal, she leisurely walked back. Passing by the bathhouse, she even checked the sign erected at the entrance, which stated it was open from ten in the morning until eight at night.
Shen Yunfang nodded her head, thinking that if she had time, she would come to take a bath today. She had to be clean and tidy to welcome the new year, after all.
Jian Hui arrived punctually for work at eight-thirty, and of course, there wasn’t much to do. Jian Hui didn’t order Shen Yunfang to work either, so the two of them just chatted and knitted in the duty room.
In the meantime, Xue Jialong came by once. Shen Yunfang was somewhat surprised; she had thought that, after yesterday’s verbal clash with Shen Yunfeng, no one from that side would bother with her this month. Unexpectedly, her cousin-in-law showed up on the second day.
“Brother-in-law, what brings you here?”
“Haha, your sister is worried you might not be comfortable having just arrived, so she sent me to check on you,” Xue Jialong said with a laugh.
Shen Yunfang couldn’t believe those words, “What’s there to look at? I’m here to work; there’s nothing I’m not comfortable with.”
“That’s great, that’s great. If you’re having trouble, just tell your brother-in-law,” Xue Jialong said, his impression of his cousin sister was still quite good, “Your sister mentioned you’ll be cooking for yourself here, so I brought you a pot today and pulled some honeycomb coal over too; it’s upfront. You can check it out later and see if you can figure out how to use it.”
“Brother-in-law, thank you so much, I really need this stuff now,” Shen Yunfang said sincerely.
“What’s there to thank me for? We’re all close relatives, and besides, you came here to help your sister, so it’s only natural for brother-in-law to do what he can,” Xue Jialong truly felt that if anyone should be saying thanks, it should be him.
Regardless of whether Xue Jialong was sincere, Shen Yunfang found his words to be very comforting.
“Yunfang, I heard you say the other day that you wanted to come to town to shop, right? Tell me what you’re looking to buy, and I’ll see if I can get you an employee discount,” Xue Jialong was thinking about the batch of goods that had just arrived; there were some defective items, and he had the authority to sell them at a discount, and without providing a receipt too. Since it was all for family, it was natural to offer them the best deals first.
Shen Yunfang’s eyes lit up as she heard this. My goodness, could there be such a good deal?
She immediately started thinking: the thermos flask she saw yesterday seemed quite practical—it would be good to buy one. The house didn’t have any washbasins either; she should buy two of those as well, one for the face and one for the feet. Of course, if she could also manage to buy one for washing the bottom, that would be even better. And there was only one quilt at home, too few—better if she could buy some more cotton and fabric. There was no bed sheet at home, either; it wouldn’t be convenient always having to take the bedding apart…
“Brother-in-law, my family lacks pretty much everything; why don’t you tell me what you have,” she pondered for a long while, feeling that they lacked everything and decided to see what he had instead.
Xue Jialong paused, looked at Shen Yunfang, and burst into laughter, then truly started listing off the various items they had in stock.
As he listed each item, Shen Yunfang would nod her head. Eventually, Xue Jialong couldn’t help but laugh out loud.
Ah, this young girl is so interesting, following the way she’s nodding, she might as well take half the supply and marketing co-op back home with her.
Shen Yunfang wasn’t embarrassed; she truly lacked everything.
In the end, Xue Jialong had no choice but to jot down the few items Shen Yunfang strongly requested to buy. As for the rest, he would choose and bring them to her—she was short of everything, after all, so whatever he picked would presumably fill a gap.
Shen Yunfang wasn’t stingy either and directly handed Xue Jialong twenty yuan.
You have to understand, in these times, matches were two cents a box, rice was 0.14 yuan a kilogram, so the purchasing power of twenty yuan was pretty formidable.
Moreover, Shen Yunfang wasn’t planning to purchase any luxury goods like clothes or shoes, just household necessities, which made this amount of money fairly substantial.
Furthermore, the twenty yuan she handed over amounted to about half of her total savings. Initially, she had a little over sixty yuan; after buying grain twice, that came to forty-seven yuan, and she spent nearly six yuan at the supply and marketing co-op, plus three yuan on some pork offal. Adding ten yuan her fiancé had sent her in the past three months, she had less than nineteen yuan left.
But luckily, after arriving in town, her older cousin had given her thirteen, so she had thirty-one yuan in her pocket. After giving twenty to her cousin brother-in-law, she was left with eleven yuan.
Oh, not quite, it should be twelve yuan—she had earned one yuan from selling vegetables yesterday.
After Xue Jialong left, Shen Yunfang lost the mood for further chit-chat and dashed to the backyard to scrub the pot.
As for the honeycomb coal, not many people were using it at this time. Compared to coal balls, it was a bit pricier; of course, it couldn’t even compare to free firewood. Xue Jialong had brought over about thirty pieces for her.
“Oh, you’re planning to cook for yourself here? What happened, why aren’t you eating at your sister’s place?” Jian Hui asked with a face full of curiosity.
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Shen Yunfang chuckled foolishly, “Yeah, my sister tells me to eat at home, but it’s such a hassle to travel back and forth multiple times every day. I’d rather just fend for myself here.” She couldn’t air her family’s dirty laundry everywhere.
Jian Hui snickered in her heart upon hearing this but didn’t press any further.
