Free Love

An hour later, the room looked brand new. Because it was made of yellow mud and it had been a long time since someone lived there, there was a layer of dust on the ground. In order to avoid dust getting into the air, after a simple sweep, Yu Bing sprinkled a thin layer of water on the ground. Then, she opened the doors and windows so that the sun outside could shine into the room and dry the water.

After Xiao Sheng finished his work, he realized that there was an unfinished mat in the living room, so he started weaving. Yu Bing sat at the side in boredom as she watched Xiao Sheng quietly.

At six in the evening, Mr. Wang returned home with a handful of wormwood and some vegetables. When he saw the two of them sitting in the living room, he hurriedly stopped them and said, “You two are guests, so why are you helping me work? You can’t do this! Stop!”

Xiao Sheng stopped what he was doing and looked up with a smile. “I weave at home quite often. I have nothing to do now anyway.”

Yu Bing echoed, “Mr. Wang, just let us do some work. We’re really bored.”

Mr. Wang could tell that the two of them were diligent people like him and couldn’t stand being idle, so he smiled helplessly and said, “Alright, I won’t stand on ceremony with you guys. Just treat it as your own home. I’ll go cook now.”

Yu Bing really wanted to cook, but she knew that Mr. Wang’s family couldn’t afford to waste ingredients, so she could only turn around and continue watching Xiao Sheng.

Seeing Yu Bing’s bored expression, Xiao Sheng suggested teaching her how to weave. Yu Bing nodded repeatedly. She had watched him so many times but had never done it before.

historical

After Mr. Wang finished cooking, he turned around. When he saw the intimate interaction between Xiao Sheng and Yu Bing in the living room, he no longer doubted their relationship.

When he carried the dishes into the living room, he teased, “It’s popular for young people to marry who they like these days instead of having arranged marriages. You guys got married out of love, right?”

When Xiao Sheng and Yu Bing heard this, they blushed. The two of them were not even officially in a relationship yet.

Seeing this, Mr. Wang thought that the two of them were just being shy, so he laughed out loud and said, “Although my wife and I had an arranged marriage, our loving relationship is not inferior to yours.”

The two of them hurriedly went to the kitchen to serve the dishes to avoid being teased again.

Because there were guests, Mr. Wang even took out cured meat and cut a small piece of it.

Mr. Wang made three dishes and a soup. There was cured meat stir-fried with dried bamboo shoots, stir-fried loofah, chives, scrambled eggs, and vegetable soup. Although the food didn’t taste good, there was meat and vegetable, so it was a decent meal for treating guests with.

After dinner, Mr. Wang told Yu Bing and Xiao Sheng that his friend was interested in selling 200 pounds of flour.

The supply company’s price was 0.18 yuan a catty of flour, if one had stamps. Yu Bing and Xiao Sheng didn’t have stamps, so the purchase price of Mr. Wang’s flour was set at 0.26 yuan, according to the black market price.

Even if Mr. Wang could receive flour that was lower than this price, they didn’t interfere. As long as the quality was fine, they were willing to pay an additional fee of 10 catties of 0.1 yuan.

However, Mr. Wang was an honest person, so he quoted the price Yu Bing and Xiao Sheng offered.

This price was neither high nor low, and he didn’t have to take the risk to sell it on the black market. Therefore, when Mr. Wang mentioned it to his old friend, they quickly agreed after discussing it.

Yu Bing took 260 yuan from the bag she carried on her back and handed it to Mr. Wang. “Mr. Wang, please accept this payment for the 1,000 catties of flour. If you agree, you can just bring the goods back. We’ll pay for the 500 catties and your hard work together when we leave. The payment can be adjusted after that.”

Mr. Wang smiled and said, “It’s fine. You guys are already here, so how could I be afraid that you guys will run away? On the other hand, aren’t you afraid that I’ll pocket so much money?”

Yu Bing smiled and said confidently, “I believe in my own judgment. You’re definitely not a greedy person!”

Anyone who didn’t have ulterior motives would be touched by such unconditional trust.

After Mr. Wang took the money, he said energetically, “Since you trust me so much, I can’t let you down. Every family is idle after dinner, so I’ll go out and find a few families to try my best to gather enough flour for you guys.”