"Daddy, pat-pat."
"Little tummy, nice and round."
After two bowls of chicken soup and quite a bit of chicken meat, Chen Yang didn't dare let the little one eat any more. These days, people didn't have much meat, and seeing so much oil at once might cause indigestion. If the mountain chicken soup hadn't been so lean, Chen Yang would have only given the child one bowl at most.
"Daddy will pat you. Later, Daddy will fan you, and you can sleep."
Gently stroking the little one's slightly bulging belly, the child let out a soft hum, clearly satisfied with the meal. Soon after, with Chen Yang's gentle patting, the little one fell asleep in his arms.
He placed the child on the straw mat on the bed. Chen Yang then rendered a small bowl of chicken fat from the chicken skin and innards. In those days, people preferred fatty meat; lean meat wasn't as popular. If a pig was slaughtered during the New Year and someone received lean meat, the wife would surely scold her husband for being incompetent and unable to compete with others. It was all about getting a bit of richness; fatty meat could be rendered into lard for cooking.
Chen Yang scooped a small spoonful of chicken fat and stir-fried the cleaned chicken innards with some mountain peppers from the vegetable patch. A rich aroma instantly filled the woodshed. As the innards were almost cooked, Chen Yang added some water and the chicken blood. This pot of stir-fried innards immediately looked appetizing. A pinch of salt was sprinkled on top, and it was served on a plate.
"It would be great if I had a bowl of fragrant rice." Chen Yang never imagined that one day he would crave a bowl of rice so intensely. "No, tomorrow I must go into town to get some fine grain. I need to get some rice, and some flour too. It would be best to buy some refined flour for the little liquor jar to supplement nutrition."
Chen Yang rubbed his empty stomach, wishing he could immediately get a fifty-jin sack of rice. He'd have noodles in the morning and fragrant white rice for lunch and dinner. While eating the chicken innards, he pondered how to make money. Just these few shuttlecocks wouldn't fetch much; at one dime each, that was the absolute limit. After all, pork was only 9 mao per jin back then, but it required ration coupons. He wondered if the black market, where transactions were done secretly without coupons, had opened yet. After all, people's perception of small vendors was still that of undermining socialism. A few years prior, doing business was considered speculation and profiteering, and those caught would be paraded through the streets.
"I wonder if I'll find anything good in the mountains tomorrow. If I can hunt a rabbit or two, I can sell them."
After finishing the entire plate of chicken innards and drinking a large bowl of chicken soup, Chen Yang wiped his earthen bow, deep in thought. "Ah, right, how could I forget about the mushrooms?"
"These mushrooms are good stuff. Fresh ones can be stir-fried, and dried ones can be stored for stewing. Dried mushrooms are not cheaper than pork. We country folk can't afford meat, but people in town, earning tens of yuan a month, eat meat regularly. Surely they wouldn't mind buying some mushrooms to stew with meat?"
Suddenly, looking at the wild mushrooms in the cloth bag holding his arrows, Chen Yang slapped his thigh forcefully. He had put a few mushrooms in the chicken soup, but he had picked a whole bag, at least twenty jin. Even after drying, it would probably be about five or six jin. If each jin was sold for one yuan, this bag of mushrooms could fetch five or six yuan.
Chen Yang immediately felt like he had discovered a huge business opportunity. Although city workers and cadres ate rationed grain and earned wages, nowadays, buying meat, grain, and other foodstuffs required coupons. To buy meat, you needed money and meat coupons; to buy grain, you needed grain coupons. For dried goods like mushrooms, many people might not be unable to buy them not because they didn't want to, but because they didn't have the coupons.
Rural farmers, even if they were not well-fed, had plenty of vegetables, small fish and shrimp from the rivers, mountain chickens and wild rabbits, and wild fungi. If he could bring these items to the city and sell them to those who wanted them but lacked coupons, there would surely be a market. Moreover, most people were afraid of being labeled as speculators and profiteers. Even if they knew they could make money, they wouldn't dare to do it.
But Chen Yang had no such concerns. He knew very well that the spring breeze of reform would soon sweep across the entire land of China. He had only roughly collected some mushrooms from the old woods back then. There were still many mushrooms left on that rotten log. Thinking of this, Chen Yang couldn't sit still. Those mushrooms growing on the rotten log were money!
He spread the mushrooms from the bag onto a winnowing basket to dry in the yard. The weather was hot, and fresh mushrooms wouldn't keep for long, but because the sun was strong, dried mushrooms wouldn't be a problem. If he wasn't worried about leaving the little one alone at home, he would have immediately shouldered his cloth bag and gone back into the mountains. He was feeling antsy.
As Chen Yang endured the entire afternoon with great difficulty, it was almost dark. Shen Xue returned, carrying her sickle and straw hat.
"Chen Yang?"
"Yanyan?"
"Look what good stuff I brought back. Hurry out."
Shen Xue's face was full of excitement. After finishing harvesting the rice today, on the way back, everyone went into the water to wash off the mud. They unexpectedly found a patch of water caltrops. These water caltrops were peeled, revealing tender white flesh. One bite was incredibly sweet, even sweeter than a big pear. She immediately picked a pocketful and rushed back, preparing to give it to Chen Yang and the little one.
"Mama, chicken soup, smells good."
"Yanyan, tummy, full."
However, to Shen Xue's surprise, as soon as she entered the house, the little one ran to her with his short legs, patting his round belly.
"Come, I saved it for you. Hurry and eat the meat and soup. After today, don't let the neighborhood brats smell it, or they'll run over, and it won't be good to refuse them."
During the day, when the adults were working, older children who weren't in school also went to help, herding cattle or gathering pig feed. The production team would give them some work points symbolically, but not like Chen Yang, who was idle. At night, when everyone returned from work, Chen Yang naturally wouldn't be too ostentatious. It wasn't that he feared jealousy, but rather that if children smelled the food and came over, he wouldn't have the heart to turn them away.
These days, everyone was struggling to eat enough. He had finally managed to get some meat for his wife and daughter, and he himself only ate chicken innards, not daring to eat more meat. He didn't want it to end up in someone else's belly.
"No more going into the mountains next time."
"There are many jackals and wolves in the mountains. Don't you remember what happened to Uncle Gen? They never found a complete body; it's said wild wolves dragged him away. And Er Niu, how did his leg become crippled? If the village hadn't sent so many people that time, and brought shotguns, he wouldn't have just broken his leg when they encountered those wild boars."
Shen Xue, smelling the strong aroma of chicken soup, chided Chen Yang, but her mouth couldn't help but water.
"Alright, alright, I know. Hurry up and eat. There's more in the pot after you finish."
"I was thinking of taking you and our daughter into the city to give you a better life. I won't take reckless risks."
"Oh, my fountain pen is out of ink. I want to take Yanyan into town tomorrow to buy some ink."
Chen Yang didn't dare tell Shen Xue about selling mushrooms in the city. If this foolish woman heard, she would definitely stop him.
"Okay, here's two yuan."
"This is all we have at home. See if you need anything else for your studies and buy it."
Hearing Chen Yang wanted to go into town, Shen Xue, without bothering to drink the chicken soup, quickly rummaged in a hidden compartment of the only wooden cabinet at home. She carefully retrieved a small, wrapped handkerchief. Unfolding the handkerchief, she handed over a collection of one-yuan, five-mao, and one-jiao notes, all of them stuffed into Chen Yang's hand.
Looking at the colorful wad of cash, Chen Yang's heart trembled once more.