CHAPTER 162: CHAPTER 162: THE GUEST BECOMES THE HOST

"I might have a partner."

A bolt of lightning struck Uncle Yaozi; he stared at Yi Chichi, doubting if he heard it wrong.

"What did you say?"

"Might have a partner?"

"Is it have or not?"

If she does, where did this partner come from? If not, why is she saying she might have one?

Not sure what he was imagining, Yi Chichi saw his face getting darker, so she quickly handed over the telegram, "Uncle, don’t overthink it; the partner is here."

He gave Yi Chichi a suspicious glance, reached out, and took the telegram to read.

It was better not to look; once he did, he felt dizzy.

"You’re going to date Wen?"

"Planning to try."

He made a sound of acknowledgment and returned the telegram to her, "Then have a good talk."

Although the Wen kid was a mischievous brat in his childhood, that was when he was young.

The current Wen Shi is indeed a promising young man.

He matches her well.

"Go slice the herbs."

"Okay."

She brought out the herbs and started working, and while working, she remembered something.

"Uncle, when are we dividing the meat?"

Previously, they went hunting in the mountains and brought back quite a lot of game.

There were three wild boars, more than a dozen wolves, seven silly roe deer, and several wild chickens and snow rabbits.

It was quite a harvest.

They returned late at night and skinned and butchered everything that night because after entering November, the temperature dropped sharply, and it began to snow.

Therefore, those meats were frozen and hadn’t gone bad.

But they still hadn’t been divided.

The team leader even arranged for people to guard the meat, fearing it would be stolen.

"We’ll divide it when the quotas come down."

Uncle Yaozi was concise; Yi Chichi didn’t quite understand, and upon asking, she found out that not only the neighboring commune’s farm had problems this year, but many other farms did too.

This affected the meat supply to each county and commune.

The higher-ups wanted to coordinate and bring some pigs from other places, but it was too difficult.

Hence, the pressure was on each production team.

No choice, only the production team’s pigs were still intact.

In past years, the task pigs were split; half were handed over, and the other half was slaughtered by each brigade and distributed to members.

This year, it might not work; it might all have to be handed over.

Now, each production team is waiting for the news.

Yi Chichi, "??? Then, is it possible there’s no meat this year?"

"No way."

Not only would the team members disagree, but even the team leaders wouldn’t agree.

After a year of hard work, they rely on this bit of meat for New Year’s, to replenish nutrition.

No meat would cause an uproar.

"Lanlan is getting married the day after tomorrow; are you going to accompany her as she delivers the dowry?"

"??? Lanlan isn’t going to the Zhang Family, what dowry?"

She was baffled; could Liu Lan have changed her mind?

Uncle Yaozi was more puzzled than her, "Not going to the Zhang Family? Is Zhang Jun becoming a live-in son-in-law?"

"No."

Yi Chichi shook her head and explained, "Lanlan’s idea is to live at home after getting married."

"I’ll go to Old Uncle’s house to see what’s going on."

As soon as he finished speaking, he dropped everything and ran off.

Yi Chichi’s mouth twitched as she resignedly packed things up and returned to her place to start slicing herbs. Amid the chopping sounds, Da Li came to her side and stretched lazily.

Then—

"Meow meow..."

As it rubbed and meowed, Yi Chichi, who could already tell its meaning through its cries, sighed. One ancestor left, another came.

Now it was snowing, cold and frosty outside, and Da Li started becoming lazy and didn’t like going out.

Every day, it’s either curled up on the warm kang sleeping or lying on a mat Uncle Yaozi specially made for it at the door, watching outside.

Yi Chichi was once curious about what it was watching for hours on end; she squatted beside it to watch, but saw nothing.

Occasionally, a flying bird would appear, acting as a beautiful scenic line.

But she lost the desire to accompany Da Li watching the world like that.

This time was no exception, as Da Li, expressing its needs, once again lay on the mat by the door, waiting for its meal.

Two minutes later, Yi Chichi brought its lunch from the pot.

"Eat!"

This is a health-conscious cat; it drinks herbal tea, drinks warm water in winter instead of cold water.

It doesn’t eat cold food; whether it’s birds it hunted, rats it caught, or cat meals made by Uncle Yaozi, it has to be warm.

In summer, it doesn’t have such preferences and isn’t picky.

Watching it eat noisily, Yi Chichi enviously patted its head, "People aren’t as well off as cats."

Uncle Yaozi was never so nice to her.

He never held back when ordering her around.

Wrapped up like a bear, covered in snow and wind, Ge Sujuan sneered, "Look at you, envying a cat."

Liu Xiaocao’s focus was different from everyone else; she stared at Da Li for a while and said something startling, "I think Da Li has gotten fatter."

"Be more confident; it has indeed gotten fatter."

It gained quite a bit of weight, its fat layers became thicker, and its fur turned denser and smoother.

Running a hand through it felt like touching silk, soft and sleek.

"Why did you both come together?"

She looked outside, and the snow was still falling. The white ground now had two sets of footprints that would be covered by snow soon.

If kids from the south in later generations saw this, they’d rush out to roll around and play with it.

"Old Qian is going on a trip, I came to ask if you have anything you want to bring along."

With Liu Xiaocao’s words, Yi Chichi understood why the two were together.

They must’ve spread the news at the Youth Corps Courtyard before coming to her.

"Where to?"

She was intrigued. Last time Old Mr. Qian went to Harbin with a truck, he brought back two pounds of sausages for her. Although a bit pricey, the taste was exquisite.

Delicious.

"Shenyang!"

"Out of the province."

This trip’s quite far.

"Yeah."

Liu Xiaocao nodded, feeling neither the sadness of her husband’s long trip nor the worry and yearning for a better future.

"He’ll probably be back around the end of December."

It was only the beginning of the month, nearly a month until the end.

She thought about Shenyang’s specialties, grabbed paper and pen, and quickly wrote a list to hand over, "Let Mr. Qian get these, safety first."

"I understand!"

Liu Xiaocao took the list and glanced at it, somewhat troubled, "This beef might be hard to get."

It’s an important farming tool; it cannot be slaughtered for meat casually.

Unless it breaks a leg or dies of old age, but such events are hard to come by.

"Let’s see how it goes."

Yi Chichi didn’t have much hope either, but perhaps Old Mr. Qian would get lucky.

This was the main reason she added beef to the list.

"I’ll come by to see you tonight."

Liu Xiaocao instantly understood her meaning, waved her hand, and said, "No need, we can wait for Old Mr. Qian to return."

This made sense too.

Seeing Ge Sujuan’s anxious and troubled expression, Liu Xiaocao consideredately stood up, "I’ll head back first, you two chat."

"Okay, take care."

Yi Chichi hadn’t reacted much, but Ge Sujuan breathed a sigh of relief and enthusiastically saw the guest off.