Rebirth in the 50s: The Couple with the Hidden Space novel Chapter 362

Chapter 362: Chapter 276: Neighbors on Both Sides (Part 2)

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Zhou Jiao watched their departing figures and decided not to go inside the room. After saying a word to Zhang Meili, who came out to watch the show, she headed towards the Wang Family, whose courtyard gate was wide open. She needed to say a few words there; politeness couldn’t be lacking.

A lot of firewood was piled in front of the Wang Family’s door, and Zhou Jiao was always afraid of mice and bugs jumping out whenever she came over.

The Wang Family’s courtyard was about the same size as Zhou Jiao’s home, but with a different layout: five rooms, kitchen in the middle. Now, besides the outer room and the west room being lit, the courtyard was pitch dark without any lighting.

Zhou Jiao remembered that the Wang Family had a dog, living better than the Wang Family themselves. It gnawed on bones every day, didn’t greet people, and often shot a glance at visitors before turning its head arrogantly. As part of a dual-income household at the meat processing plant, the Wang Family’s dog lived a life better than most, a happy dog, and certainly a proud one.

More pampered than the dog were the Wang Family’s flock of hens, spitting wherever they pleased, relieving themselves wherever they wished, without a worry that their territory would be taken over. They could wander the east room, saunter to the west room. Whether these Wang Family chicken sisters could still roam so freely come summer, Zhou Jiao wasn’t sure.

Zhou Jiao carefully stepped over the bomb-like objects on the ground and finally reached the outer house. As soon as she entered, a strong scent of meat hit her. A large pot on the earth stove was bubbling away.

"Auntie, it’s Jiao Jiao. I’m coming in."

Aunt Wang was squatting alone, washing pig intestines and some other pig offal. There were voices inside the room; it seemed like her kids were quite pampered.

Aunt Wang looked up and saw Zhou Jiao, smiling as she said, "Come on in, Auntie’s hands are occupied, can’t get up." She gestured with her finger towards a stool for Zhou to sit on.

Zhou Jiao’s glance caught a few greasy, stained stools, and her eyes twitched. She quickly moved close to Aunt Wang. She’d rather smell the drains than be willing to sit. This Aunt Wang, who knew if it’s because both husband and wife worked at the meat processing plant, the house was full of grease. She’d never seen a clean piece of clothing on the couple. The only daughter in the Wang Family had a white-powdered face, but her clothes were anything but clean.

Zhou Jiao sneaked to the side, feeling the smell was a bit better, and said, "Aunt, thank you. If you hadn’t mentioned it, we wouldn’t have had a chance to buy any. Food that goes into the mouth is scarce these days, let alone this stuff."

"No need to thank me. As soon as I saw your yard lit up, I knew you were back. This time, Uncle Wang didn’t know where his factory got a batch of pigs from. The higher-ups thought the number was enough and distributed some bones and organs for employees to buy at internal prices. Really cheap, and the bones had meat on them. The factory workers, upon hearing the internal supply, were all eager to keep the meat.

Take a look at the meat on the table; all trimmed by me. Quite a deal, right? You’re too skinny, have to eat a lot, boil the bone soup longer and drink it like water, it’ll definitely fatten you up.

When I was a girl, I was only seventy to eighty pounds, and now it’s almost doubled, all from drinking soup." Aunt Wang kept busy with her hands, and her mouth kept encouraging Zhou Jiao to drink soup, often glancing up to check on her.

Zhou Jiao smiled and nodded continuously, not forgetting to respond with "uh-huhs." Listening to Aunt Wang talk about what welfare benefits the meat processing plant had each year, who inside was the most calculating, and who bought the most.

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