Fang Pingying put on her plaid dress, leaving it unbuttoned for fear it was too tight. Underneath, she wore a dacron blouse she usually wore on the outside, which caused no trouble.
Entering the kitchen, Luo Honglan was already rinsing rice to make porridge.
Luo Honglan, in fact, was wearing two layers of clothes, but her outfit had several small patches on it, and it obviously seed a little too big, as if it wasn't her own.
Fang Pingying, thinking of taking her to town later, said to her, "After we eat, your older brother will stay ho to keep an eye on things, and we'll go buy things in town."
Luo Honglan, hearing they would go to town, was very happy and looked at Fang Pingying with a smile, "Really, sister-in-law? You're taking to town?"
Fang Pingying smiled and ruffled her hair, "Silly girl, you've never been to the county, but haven't you been to town either? You're so happy over a trip to town."
Luo Honglan peeked out into the courtyard and whispered, "Actually, it's been a while since I last went. When we need to buy things, it's usually mom and dad who go. I have to stay ho to watch the house. And I have food and clothes at ho, so there's nothing I really need to buy. Mom doesn't usually let wander around."
"Well, think about it, is there anything you want to buy in town? If there is, we can buy it all at once." Fang Pingying asked her while adding so water to the pot, waiting for Luo Honglan to put in the rice to cook the porridge.
Miss Fang has a pretty hair clip, she said she bought it in town. I want to buy one too," Luo Honglan tilted her head to think, then smiled contently like a child, "The hair clip isn't expensive, only twenty cents. I have my own money."
"If you like it, buy it," Fang Pingying replied, then pointed to her clothes, asking, "Do you have other clothes? You should change into sothing else when we go out."
"Yes, I'll change before we leave," Luo Honglan nodded quickly.
Fang Pingying smiled in response and then helped Luo Honglan with the breakfast.
Since there were no leftovers from last night, they had to make fresh porridge in the morning.
Under Fang Pingying's managent of the als, the household did not eat as lavishly as before. The rice porridge did not contain at, only so greens and fresh corn kernels.
Additionally, Fang Pingying took so fernting cornal from the house and kneaded it into so cornbread.
Having green vegetable and corn porridge with cornbread for breakfast was not only frugal and nutritious but would still be considered a decent breakfast even decades later.
The Luo Family mbers didn't say anything upon waking; they could all see that, although the house used to eat lots of at, it was because Zhou Yuni was too lazy to make proper als, always making do in a hurry.
To avoid trouble, she would prepare a whole day's worth of als early in the morning, and if the weather was not too cold, she would often not bother reheating the food for lunch and dinner, just eating it casually.
But ever since Fang Pingying ca to the household, although they ate less at, whenever she had ti, she would put in the effort to prepare als, and the food was naturally tasty with effort spent on it.
After getting used to it, the family no longer had complaints about the als.
Before, even though Fang Pingying was the one cooking, Zhou Yuni was the one managing the al budget. Seeing Fang Pingying saving a considerable amount of food money for the household every day, Zhou Yuni was usually in a good mood and happily praised Fang Pingying for being skilled in household managent. She would also hint at Fang Xiu that being a daughter-in-law required being careful with money.
Now, it was Fang Pingying's turn to manage the money, and she inevitably started feeling dissatisfied with the al arrangents again. But since nobody else in the family complained, she didn't feel it was her place to say too much. Only when she was in a bad mood or disagreed with Fang Pingying would she find an excuse to make a fuss.
After breakfast, Fang Pingying swiftly cleared away the dishes and cleaned up the kitchen, then took so money from the house, ready to go to town to shop.
Seeing Luo Honglan co out of the house in a change of clothes, Fang Pingying suddenly rembered that she wanted to ask Zhou Yuni for so fabric to make clothes, so she went to Zhou Yuni's room to ask her, "Mom, do we have any unused new fabric at ho?"
Zhou Yuni, still bearing a grudge over the money issue ntioned by Fang Pingying, answered with a cold face, "What do you need fabric for?"
"The seasons are changing, and I was thinking of making a new set of clothes for Zhiyong. Apart from the military uniforms he brought back from the army, he doesn't have any decent everyday clothes," Fang Pingying deliberately ntioned making clothes for Luo Zhiyong first, to gauge Zhou Yuni's reaction. If Zhou Yuni agreed readily, then she would bring up that she also wanted to make clothes for herself.
If Zhou Yuni wasn't even satisfied with making clothes for Luo Zhiyong, there was no point in ntioning her own needs.
After asking her question, Luo Dashan, who was sitting on the kang, hurriedly intervened, "Yes, yes, when you two got married, many relatives gave fabric as a token of affection. Take so and make a set for yourself and Zhiyong, those pieces of fabric are just lying around..."
Before Luo Dashan could finish, Zhou Yuni began to berate him, "What do you an 'yes'? Those fabrics were given as gifts by others, and when the ti cos, we need to return the favor. We aren't as well off as we used to be; it's not like we can take out money to repay these favors whenever. With just those few pieces of fabric, if we use them all up for ourselves, what will we do when we need to return the favor later?"
Hearing this, Fang Pingying didn't say much. She replied with a light smile, "It's okay, mom, if you need the fabric, then keep it for yourself. I just ca to ask. If there isn't any, I'll just buy so in town later. Either way, clothes are a necessity."
Fang Pingying hadn't really expected to get any fabric from Zhou Yuni; it was more of a formality, to prevent Zhou Yuni from grumbling later, accusing others in the family of being wasteful with money while she herself hadn't made any effort to save.
Truly, if this is what Zhou Yuni ant, that the fabric was for maintaining relations, Fang Pingying didn't mind, since she'd have to spend money to buy fabric later anyway. Whether she bought it now or later, it made no difference, and Fang Pingying wasn't one to be petty about that bit of fabric.
After saying her piece, Fang Pingying called for Luo Honglan and headed for the town.
The town was far from as bustling as it had been before. Added to that, it wasn't market day, and aside from a few people living around the town who passed through for errands, there was hardly anyone else to be seen.
Only the Supply and Marketing Cooperative had its doors open for business.
Fang Pingying, with Luo Honglan in tow, made straight for the Supply and Marketing Cooperative. They first went to the food counter and bought so honey, inquired about fresh lemons—the Cooperative said they didn't have any, and didn't even know what lemons were.
At that ti, compared to several decades later, honey wasn't expensive; two yuan bought a large bottle, and the vendor even claid it was local wild honey with high purity.
Fang Pingying didn't know much about these things, and since she wasn't particular when making hawthorn jam, she felt it was suitable and made the purchase.
After buying the honey, Fang Pingying took Luo Honglan to the counter specializing in girls' hair accessories, chose a few hairpins and elastic bands for her, and spent only several cents. Fang Pingying paid for them.
The young girl happily held those hairpins, chuckling, "Sister-in-law, you're so good to . I've never had such nice things from my mom in all my years. Everything I wear or use is hand--downs from my sister."
Fang Pingying patted her forehead and smiled, "You can't let these words slip at ho; mom would be upset."
Luo Honglan stuck out her tongue and whispered, "I know, I'm just telling you secretly."
"Co on, I'm going to buy so fabric to make clothes. Co with ," Fang Pingying said, pulling Luo Honglan toward the fabric counter.
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