Witty Wife, Better Life

"Uncle, I want to ask you something." Shen Yunfang finally had her fill and was ready to ask some serious questions.

Shen Yeqing put down his small wine cup and looked at his niece, "What is it?"

Shen Yunfang was a bit embarrassed, "It's nothing big, I just wanted to ask how to get some cotton and cloth, you know my mother isn't around anymore, and she never told me about these things before, so I'm a bit lost on my own all of a sudden."

She was telling the truth, when she found there were no thick cotton-padded jackets at home, she searched her memory but found nothing related to this matter. Back at home, her mother never let her deal with these things, so now on her own, she was completely clueless. For a rural child, her mother's way of raising her was quite odd.

Regarding Shen Feiyang, she knew that in this era, whether it was buying cloth or cotton in the city, you needed ration coupons, otherwise you couldn't buy anything even with money, but when it came to the countryside, she really had no idea how to get these things.

When Old Lady Shen heard Shen Yunfang's question, her back stiffened instantly, she glanced nervously at Shen Yeqing, and upon seeing his gaze turn towards her, she quickly squeezed out a smile and said, "Ah, look at me, I've been so busy every day that I forgot about this matter, it's all my fault."

Shen Yunfang didn't understand the implication behind her words.

Old Lady Shen braced her hands on the kang bed, scooted her bottom back into the kang, moved to the kang cupboard, reached out to open the door, and rummaged inside, bringing out a dust-covered handkerchief, which she then carefully unfolded.

"Some coupons were distributed in our production team recently, your uncle gave your family's share to me, asking me to deliver them to you, but I got busy and forgot about it. It only came back to me when you asked today. This actually makes things easier, I'll give them directly to you," Old Lady Shen said with a smile.

Everyone present could hear the insincerity in Old Lady Shen's words and could see how reluctant she was to extend her hand out, their eyes glued to the coupons inside the handkerchief.

Money was useful at that time, but those coupons were even more useful than money, as they could also be turned into cash in the city.

Uncle Shen couldn't stand his wife's stinginess. As the leader of the production team, he got more ration coupons than others every year, but his wife was never satisfied, even skimming off the orphan and widow's share, which was really something. He snatched the handkerchief out of his wife's hand in one swift motion.

Shen Yunfang's hand, which had just stretched out, retracted again. That was supposed to be mine, why was it intercepted by someone else?

But Uncle Shen had good intentions. He flipped through the coupons for a moment, frowning as he said, "What about the coupons you borrowed from Third Aunt last year? Why have you dragged it out for a year without repaying?"

Old Lady Shen was about to cry. Is this man really family? Why can't he tell the difference between insiders and outsiders? "Heh, wasn't it because Xiuyu is getting older? I wanted to make a proper set of clothes for the child, so she'd look presentable when going out. I scrounged everywhere and still couldn't gather enough, so I thought since Third Aunt's family is small and wouldn't need that much, I just borrowed some to use. Ah, children are debts! These past few years, I've been robbing Peter to pay Paul just to return what I owe to outsiders. I thought since Third Aunt is family, it wouldn't be a big deal to pay her back slowly... Who knew... Look at what a mess this has become." Old Lady Shen slapped her thigh indicating she also never anticipated this.

What she didn't say was, I never expected her to die just like that.

Uncle Shen quite understood his wife. He disregarded her excuses. Now that his younger sister was gone, he felt that the borrowed coupons should be returned to his niece as soon as possible, it was improper for their fully-intact family to take advantage of an orphaned girl, particularly when that orphan was his own niece.

"Alright, I get your point. It's not easy for Yunfang on her own, so hurry up and return whatever you owe Third Aunt to Yunfang. Aren't you afraid Third Aunt might come looking for you at night?" His last words were spoken very softly, only Old Lady Shen heard them.

Although feudal superstitions were being suppressed at that time, rural women still deeply believed in karma. Seeing Old Lady Shen shiver with fear, her eyes darting around to see if any unclean presence was staring at her, confirmed that belief.

"Look at what you're saying, when have I ever been one to covet petty advantages? Alright, I won't return what I owe to Old Qiu's family just yet; I'll count on Yunfang for now." Aunt Shen said as she rummaged through the chest at the head of the kang bed and pulled out a handkerchief, then turned her back, extracting a few pieces of paper and stuffing them into Uncle Shen's hand, intending for him to pass them on to Shen Yunfang.

This time, Uncle Shen didn't bother checking and handed the handkerchief directly to Shen Yunfang.

"Yunfang, even though we are not in the city, you still need coupons to buy cotton fabric and the like. Our village issues them once a year, uniformly, with each person getting a pound of cotton and eight feet of fabric every year."

Shen Yunfang took the coupons that Uncle Shen handed to her.

"Also, when your Brother Zhiwen got married, your aunt didn't have enough coupons and borrowed some from your mother. Now that your mother is gone, paying you back is the same. It's just you in the family now, so from now on you're an adult, and you'll have to manage everyday affairs yourself. If you ever don't understand something in the future, just come and ask your aunt." Uncle Shen truly had a heart full of care; if his niece could manage on her own, it would save him a lot of worry.

Shen Yunfang didn't even count the money in the handkerchief, just stuffed it straight into her pocket, shutting out her female cousins' covetous glances.

"My dear uncle, what are you talking about, we're all family here, no need to discuss borrowing or lending. If my cousin suddenly needs it, then just let him use it first, we shouldn't be too particular about these things." Who couldn't utter pleasant-sounding words? Although she wasn't sly, she knew how to exchange courtesies and compliments.

Uncle Shen was quite satisfied that his niece knew to put the family first; within the family, that's how it should be, just lend a hand in times of trouble and that's that.

Afterward, to cover up the slight awkwardness from earlier, Aunt Shen hurried her daughter back to their room after the meal, instructing her daughter-in-law to tidy up the table, while she pulled Shen Yunfang aside for a private chat.

It was mostly about things like "How's your firewood collection, do you have enough for the winter? If you can't manage, make sure to let us know, your Brothers Zhijie and Zhiwen can go up the mountain and carry a few loads for you." "Have you gathered all the sweet potatoes from your private plot? If not, let your brothers help you finish up." and so on.

It was from these caring inquiries that Shen Yunfang learned that although Gaijiatun wasn't wealthy, as long as someone wasn't too lazy, almost every family could eat their fill.

Aside from the year-end grain distribution by the production team, every family had a sizable plot of private land between the village fields. Because of their desire for food, most people grew grain crops on their private land. Whether it was corn or sweet potatoes, come harvest time, they could gather several hundred pounds of food.

Therefore, in Gaijiatun, while the fare wasn't luxurious, as long as one put in the effort, eating one's fill was achievable.

So why did Shen Yunfang's household have so little grain? Mainly because the original owner and her mother weren't capable people, with no labor power at home, which showed a disadvantage during farming. While others tidily cultivated their private plots in a day, the two of them would huff and puff and still struggle to finish after several days.

On top of that, Shen Yunfang's mother wasn't someone who knew how to manage a household properly, so the cultivation of their private plot was quite poor; they would just scatter some seeds and then wait for the autumn harvest, obviously yielding less grain than their neighbors come the end.

Shen Yunfang's mother would usually swallow her pride and borrow grain from relatives before they ran out at home, then repay it during the distribution. The following year, if they were short, she would borrow again. This cycle allowed them to scrape by over the years, but they only grew poorer as time went on.

Since Shen Yunfang's mother passed away, Shen Yunfang weighed her options and realized she couldn't pay back what they owed to relatives. So she dared not to borrow, and to save on grain, she would mooch off different relatives. Over the year, the once unnoticeable young girl became a universal nuisance.

After hearing Aunt Shen's words, Shen Yunfang felt a momentary shame for the original owner's thick skin and lack of insight, but then immediately realized that to fill her belly, she too had to continue the original owner's brazen ways.