Daily Life in the 70s
Chapter 232: Picking Up Eggs

Chapter 232: Chapter 232: Picking Up Eggs

Upon leaving the Cui family’s house, Yang PeiMin still felt uncomfortable. She wasn’t sure if it was because she had stayed too long in Gao Hong’s oddly-smelling house or because Gao Hong had been pulling at her and kneeling, pleading with her. She decided she needed to go home, light the stove, bathe, and change her clothes.

Gao Hong kept holding her back, insisting that she make a promise, but she could only assure that she herself wouldn’t gossip. However, she couldn’t guarantee others wouldn’t—using the excuse of a stomachache, she managed to escape.

Gao Hong wasn’t foolish; she knew how to use her own suicide attempts to cover up her issues, yet she chose to trouble others with these burdens, which was truly discomforting. To put it coldly, what did her life or death matter to Pei Min?

She was neither Gao Hong’s father nor her mother; the situation was indeed a classic case of giving an inch and taking a mile.

It clearly was a trap.

If she agreed, she would be the fool.

She decided she had enough of dabbling in Gao Hong’s messy affairs.

After cleaning herself up and washing her clothes, she planned to go out. Her home needed too many things; even if she didn’t go to the city, simply heading to the town would be good and could help dispel some bad luck.

Descending to the second floor, she stopped by Luo Dahua’s and let her know she was going out to buy some things and asked her to keep an eye on her place.

Luo Dahua, cradling her little daughter who was feeling unwell, responded, "Sure, no problem. If you could, bring back some meat. The little girl has been craving meat porridge."

Yang PeiMin nodded.

Just as she was about to leave, Luo Dahua stopped her, unable to resist asking about her recent visit to the Cui family.

Yang PeiMin briefly explained.

Luo Dahua’s eyes widened in shock. "Gao Hong surely has some schemes, but why does she need such assurances from you? Is her brain somewhat off again? What can you even guarantee? Words are on others’ lips. If people talk, you could unfairly be blamed. Do they think your family is well-off and plan to take advantage by pinning things on you, as Gao Hong’s mother-in-law did, to make money?"

Although Luo Dahua had previously clashed with Mrs. Cui, she hadn’t extended her anger to Gao Hong and treated her as before. They had all thought Gao Hong was a straightforward hard-worker with a good impression and even defended her when Mrs. Cui was mistreating her.

But now, with all this mess uncovered, especially after Kong Ya revealed Gao Hong’s secrets, she realized she had misjudged her. Gao Hong wasn’t as honest and quiet as she seemed. Moreover, Luo Dahua was distressed, as last night’s screams had terrified her. Her frustration, previously suppressed due to her husband’s role in mediating family disputes, flared when Gao Hong made such demands. So, she dissected Gao Hong’s maneuvers with Yang PeiMin, revealing a chain of cunning plots.

Yang PeiMin blinked, incredulous. Could that really be a possibility?

Luo Dahua disdainfully curled her lips, "Just like Kong Ya said, ’Like family, like mind,’ the quietest dogs bite the hardest. Sister-in-law, this is partly my fault; I shouldn’t have asked you to go."

Yang PeiMin shook her head, "It was still good to go; it prepared me for what might come."

After a few more words,

Yang PeiMin left.

Xiao Xu wasn’t around, but she had borrowed a bicycle. She remembered the way to the town, and cycling there by herself was no issue.

Though the road was bumpy and uneven, it wasn’t very far; she reached the town in about an hour and a half, just around noon.

It just happened to be lunchtime, so I went into a small restaurant and had a bowl of lamb dumplings and a pancake.

Afterwards, I parked my bike outside the front of the Cooperative Society.

There wasn’t much to buy in town, mainly just everyday living necessities, along with some fruits, vegetables, and meat.

At that moment, I truly missed my refrigerator; I could have stockpiled a week’s worth of groceries in one go and wouldn’t have to go out shopping often, and I still could have meat at every meal.

When I came, I also brought a sack in advance. After buying everything, I would tie the sack to the back seat before heading back.

Because I had already bought a batch of living necessities during my last visit, and Shen Yiyue hadn’t used them all up, I didn’t need to buy those this time, but the new house needed a lot of new things for decoration. I had to buy curtains for the three windows, a new lock for the door, and items like tablecloths, brooms, and mops. I had to buy them all anew since the old ones were no longer usable.

I took out the list of items I had and had the salespeople fetch them one by one.

By the time I left the store, my sack was brimming with goods.

It was quite a task to carry it out alone.

As I was pondering whether to ask for help or to manage it on my own to get it up to the third floor of the dormitory, a child carelessly ran into me, bumping into the sack in front of me. As I held the sack, I loosened my grip on the opening and dropped the sack on the ground, spilling the contents, and the net bag of eggs I was holding in the other hand also met the same fate, all smashing.

The child realized the havoc he had caused and immediately ran off.

Someone nearby saw the incident and started scolding the child, "Whose kid is this reckless, bumping into people and then running away?"

Yang Peimin originally wanted to grab the boy, but her own sack had also really caught her attention. She hurriedly packed everything back in, having to just chalk it up to bad luck.

When she finished repacking everything, she saw the puddle of egg liquid on the ground and felt helpless.

Someone then said to her, "Young lady, grab a bowl and clean off some of the dirt on top. There’s a lot in the eggshells too, you can pick them up; they’re still edible. Don’t waste them."

"Right, right, even with a bit of sand, it doesn’t matter. What haven’t we eaten in the past years? It’s a pity to look at those eggs."

"Miss, hurry up, if the wind picks up, more dirt will blow over and it’ll be even more regrettable. If you don’t have a bowl, I have a bamboo tube here I can lend you to hold them."

People gathered around and, in twos and threes, urged her to pick up the broken eggs from the ground.

Yang Peimin sweat.

She smiled and thanked everyone, shaking her head; she didn’t plan to pick them up, "Thank you all, really, it’s such a pity. I’d love to pick them up, but I just can’t handle these delicate tasks. I have a weak stomach and fear getting sick from eating sand, not to mention I live far from here. If I were to pick them up now, I wouldn’t even know what they’d taste like when I get home."

"You’re not going to take them? Since you aren’t picking them up, let me do it."

"I want them too, I want them; these are good."

"Don’t anyone touch them!" A loud voice startled the two people who were about to bend down to pick up the eggs.

An elderly woman hurried over.

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