Zhang Yue put the packet of cash Zhou Cang gave her at the bottom of the cabinet, her ears bright red.
In two more years, she would be eighteen, and then they could register their marriage and become a real couple.
Thinking of this, she felt a bit vexed. Ever since Fugui Ge came back from hunting and solved their family's food shortage problem, some people in the Village seemed to have their eyes on their family.
These past few days, people kept passing by their house, especially Old Woman Li from the front yard, who had been visiting frequently recently.
On the surface, she was chatting idly with Grandma, but her words always revolved around how much Fugui Ge could hunt and how much grain he could exchange for.
Or whose family in the neighboring Village had a good-looking girl suitable to be Fugui's wife or something.
Is that stinky old woman blind? Can't she see me?
She's doing it on purpose! This Old Woman Li is a semi-professional matchmaker. For the small thank-you gift for matchmaking, she even received a pig's head a few years ago.
Since then, Old Woman Li's market value somehow increased, and anyone who wanted her to arrange a match, a pig's head became the minimum standard.
Hu Xianglan was also annoyed by her, but she couldn't show it and offend her. One must know that matchmakers often travel around within a radius of ten li.
Whatever she wants to say, whether good or bad, can easily affect a person's reputation.
Today she came again, pulling Hu Xianglan into idle chatter at home until Zhou Cang came home dragging the sled.
Zhou Cang and Zhang Quanfu first went to Zhao Kaishan's house, giving him a sack of fish, which made Old Zhao ecstatic. With both fish and meat, he could have a wonderful New Year!
Then they went to Zhang Quanfu's house, preparing to unload one sack, but Quan Fu pressed down on the sack, not letting Zhou Cang unload it.
"Fugui, I'll just keep a few small ones to eat, take these back!"
"What nonsense are you talking about? We did this together, there are two sacks, one for each of us is just right!" Zhou Cang saw him being stubborn, grabbed Quan Fu's belt with one hand, and pulled him back.
Quan Fu's wife came out with the child upon hearing the noise to watch the fun, and seeing the two of them fooling around, she also watched with a smile.
Zhang Quanfu was thus easily pulled aside by Zhou Cang. Seeing Zhou Cang stand the sack upright on the ground, his eyes turned a little red.
"Fugui, you..."
"Stop dawdling, Sister-in-law, hurry up, clean two fish and stew soup for the child to drink, replenish their nutrition, look how thin they are!"
Zhou Cang pointed at Quan Fu's child and said to Zhang Quanfu's wife.
Zhang Quanfu's wife looked at her man, saw that he was just rubbing his hands and smiling foolishly without continuing to refuse.
She then understood that this sack of fish was theirs, turned her head, and said to her daughter next to her,
"Hua'er, go get the scissors, I'll make you fish to eat!"
"Yay!" The little girl cheered and ran into the house, and soon came rushing out, holding up the scissors and handing them to her mother.
"You guys take care of it, I'm heading back!" Zhou Cang waved his hand.
"Take the fishing net down, I'll clean and mend it!" Zhang Quanfu reached out and lifted the fishing net down, saying.
The fishing net they used all day had a lot of grass sticks stuck to it, and some parts were torn. Normally, it needed to be cleaned and mended after each use.
"Alright!" Zhou Cang didn't stand on ceremony. The two had already discussed going fishing a few more times in the coming days. After keeping enough for their own families, they would sell the rest.
The white fox had already woken up and was currently curled up in Zhou Cang's quilt.
Quan Fu's wife and child were far away and didn't dare to stare at the sled, so they didn't notice this creature, otherwise, they would have been startled.
Zhou Cang dragged the sled home. As soon as he entered the yard, the white fox jumped off the sled and paced around in the yard.
"Fugui Ge!" Zhang Yue's pouting mouth immediately relaxed the moment she saw Zhou Cang, and the unpleasantness brought by Old Woman Li was also thrown to the back of her mind.
Hu Xianglan and Old Woman Li also came out to look. Hu Xianglan was already used to it, but Old Woman Li was seeing Zhou Cang return from hunting for the first time and felt very shocked.
"That must be a sack of fish!" Old Woman Li thought to herself.
For people who ate sorghum porridge all day without any meat or fish, the smell of fish in this yard was simply overwhelming!
She swallowed her saliva. Her old man was a good-for-nothing, apart from working in the Production Team to earn work points, he had no other way of making a living.
She had to rely on showing her face and arranging marriages for others to earn some extra money. Thinking about it made her angry!
"Fugui is back, what good stuff did you catch?" Old Woman Li initiated the conversation.
"Uh, I'm back!" Zhou Cang replied while unloading things, not taking this old woman with eyes full of worldly concerns too seriously. Was she going to snatch the fish or something?
Seeing that Fugui wasn't very enthusiastic towards her, Old Woman Li felt a bit disappointed and quickly explained her intention,
"Fugui, your Auntie Li has a niece, she's from the fifth team in the south, how about I introduce you to her?"
Zhou Cang was stunned when he heard this. What the heck?
He looked at Grandma and Zhang Yue, and saw the old and the young covertly rolling their eyes at the same time.
Especially Zhang Yue, her eyes were a little red!
Which deity is this? Doesn't she know I have a little wife?
Zhou Cang ignored her, dragged the sack into the storage room, and put away his hunting rifle and other tools.
"Zhang Yue, is the food ready? I'm hungry!"
He then looked at Old Woman Li and said, "Uh, Auntie Li, want to eat together?"
In the Northeast, it is basic etiquette to invite someone to eat if it's mealtime.
Normally, people would go home at this time and wouldn't actually eat at someone else's house.
But today, this Old Woman Li seemed possessed, she approached Zhou Cang wanting to talk more about her niece.
"Fugui, let me tell you, oh my god!" Old Woman Li suddenly shrieked.
The few people were startled and looked in the direction she was looking.
"Oh!" Hu Xianglan and Zhang Yue were also startled.
They saw a white fox squatting on the ground, looking up at them!
"This, this, this! How did a fox spirit get in?"
The white fox turned its head and looked at Old Woman Li. Its initially smiling expression suddenly turned into a baring of teeth!
"Oh my god! No offense, no offense!" Old Woman Li was so scared that she put her hands together, bowed towards the white fox while running, and slipped out along the edge.
Seeing this, Zhang Yue didn't feel scared at all. This fox had helped her vent her anger!
After scaring away Old Woman Li, the white fox turned its head and looked at Hu Xianglan and Zhang Yue with a smile.
"Chirp chirp!"
"I found this in the woods when I was fishing. The little thing isn't afraid of me, and it even asked me for fish to eat and drank my liquor." Zhou Cang said with a smile.
"But its alcohol tolerance isn't great, it fell asleep in my quilt after drinking too much, so I brought it back!"
Hu Xianglan's eyes widened when she heard this, and she said, "You child, do you know what this is that you brought it home?"
"Yeah, it's an Arctic fox. There aren't many around here. It's because it's too cold up north in winter and hard to find food, so they run south."
"Don't talk nonsense, this is a fox spirit!" Her own surname was Hu, so she was considered a relative, and thus not too scared.
"You really didn't catch it? Then what do you plan to do with it?" Pulling back Zhang Yue, who wanted to squat down and pet the fox's head, Hu Xianglan asked nervously.
If Fugui said he would kill it for meat, that would absolutely not be allowed! She must stop him!
"What's there to do? I think it's quite smart, let's keep it!"
Upon hearing this, Zhang Yue could no longer hold back, and reached out to stroke the white fox's head.
The white fox no longer bared its teeth and even rubbed against Zhang Yue's palm.
"Chirp chirp!"