Chapter 2061: Chapter 2062: Old Mrs. Zhang’s 1970s Rebirth: Reforming Ungrateful Children 93

"Granny Zhang, are you ready?" Granny Jiang stood at the door and called out.

Even though she’d already checked once just now, she still went over everything again. Otherwise if she got there and realized she’d forgotten something, that’d be a real disaster.

Granny Jiang saw that Zhang Yu was actually carrying a big bamboo basket on her back and was quite surprised. Wasn’t it just supplies for the two of them as an old couple? Was there really any need for such a huge basket?

"Wei Jiang and Wei He are both at work, I’m bringing theirs for them." At first she hadn’t wanted to bother with them, but then she thought about it and figured she couldn’t really ignore them.

They all had to go to work; it wasn’t possible for them to take leave to go shopping. If they didn’t buy anything, what were they going to eat during the Spring Festival?

Everyone knew she was going out to buy stuff—was she really supposed to not get anything for her sons and grandkids?

In the end she’d be the one spending money on food that they’d eat, and she still wouldn’t get any credit for it. Doing that kind of losing deal—who would?

Of course she wouldn’t, so she had specifically asked Wei Jiang and Wei He whether they needed her to help them buy Spring Festival supplies.

That really made them overjoyed. In the past they’d occasionally gone along with the original Zhang Yu to buy New Year’s goods, and to this day they still remembered how lively it was—the crowds were no joke, and things went from being put on the counter to sold out in a flash.

They’d originally been worrying about how they were going to handle buying New Year’s goods. It wasn’t like they hadn’t thought about asking Zhang Yu for help, but they didn’t dare open their mouths, afraid she’d snap at them if they asked.

They hadn’t expected the old lady to take the initiative to ask. That made them so happy they nodded in agreement right away.

"Things eased up between you?" Granny Jiang knew very well how stiff things had been between Zhang Yu and the kids since the family split.

"Ease up what."

"They have to go to work. If I don’t buy for them, I’ll be the one in the wrong again. Anyway it’s just something I can do in passing."

"And this time I made them give me the money and ration tickets. I’m not fronting money or tickets for anyone."

"And if any of them starts whining that what I bought is no good, I’ll stop helping right away." Thinking of how hard the original Zhang Yu had worked to buy New Year’s goods—it really wasn’t easy, you could practically call it a fight.

But in their mouths it was always this wasn’t right or that wasn’t good, which had made the original Zhang Yu furious.

Zhang Yu wasn’t about to spoil them. In short, either they take what’s given, or if they dare whine and fuss, there won’t be a next time.

Granny Jiang also remembered what had happened before. "Exactly, why coddle them."

"Now I’m very relaxed, completely let myself off the hook."

"Before, Feng Xia kept saying she couldn’t do this, that was too hard, but didn’t she still end up learning to make pickles and kimchi from me." If you don’t spoil them, they actually behave pretty well one by one. "And there’s Wei He too."

"He used to say a man can’t be in the kitchen. Now if he doesn’t cook, his whole family will starve to death."

Huh? Granny Jiang knew that Li Juan had come back. Even though the latter hadn’t come to the courtyard since returning, they lived nearby—how could they not know.

She’d thought that once Li Juan came back she’d be doing the housework. Who could have guessed she’d be exactly the same as before. "Li Juan still doesn’t do housework?"

On that, Zhang Yu spread her hands. "I don’t know. Wei He never told me Li Juan came back, so I just pretend I don’t know."

"As for their messy business now, I can’t be bothered to meddle. If they want to talk, I’ll listen." 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

"If they don’t talk, I don’t ask."

"If they run into problems and want my opinion, I make them decide for themselves. Otherwise if things turn out well, it’s all thanks to their own efforts, but if it goes badly, it’ll be that I misled them."

Zhang Yu was actually dropping a hint for her friend. Back in the early eighties, Granny Jiang’s son-in-law had wanted to resign from his work unit and open a restaurant. The two of them had disagreed, saying there were no guarantees.

Later the factory went downhill and he was laid off. In the end the son-in-law did open a restaurant. Business was okay, but the golden years had already passed. Cooks whose skills weren’t even as good as his had gone to sea earlier and their businesses were booming. Over this, he’d lost his temper at his wife plenty of times.

Granny Jiang had no idea Zhang Yu was hinting at her; she just thought Zhang Yu was talking about her own family.

Seeing that Granny Jiang clearly wasn’t taking it to heart, Zhang Yu knew she hadn’t really heard it. It was fine; nothing had happened yet. Once something did, as long as Granny Jiang could remember this, it would be enough.

Everyone was quite surprised to see Zhang Yu with such a big basket on her back. Once they learned she was also buying for Wei Jiang and Wei He, they immediately understood.

Luo Yu’s wife also came over carrying her prepared basket. "Mom, I’m going out to buy things. You keep an eye on the kids at home."

Widow Luo waved her hand impatiently. "Go, go. Honestly, you can’t even handle such a small thing properly."

Luo Yu’s wife glanced at Widow Luo, then turned and left.

Whether things would go the way she’d planned depended on Widow Luo. Luo Yu’s wife gently closed the door and hurried a few steps to catch up with the main group.

"Luo Yu’s wife, we thought you weren’t coming." A neighbor heard footsteps, turned to look, and saw it was Luo Yu’s wife.

"I could’ve come earlier, but my mother-in-law wasn’t feeling well, so I looked after her a bit," Luo Yu’s wife said in a low voice.

As for that excuse, nobody thought too much about it. After all, everyone knew Widow Luo liked to bully her daughter-in-law.

At first they had thought Luo Yu’s wife was a bit pitiful and wanted to give her some support, but she hadn’t appreciated it at all. After that, no matter how Widow Luo bullied her, everyone chose to turn a blind eye. Anyway, helping out never brought any good.

The group arrived at the supply and marketing cooperative and found that there was a lot on offer today—there was hairtail, and even duck, and some candy too, which made everyone delighted.

With both hairtail and duck, there was no need to worry about the quality of the dishes on New Year’s Eve.

After a brief discussion, they immediately split up to queue. As the most experienced queuer, Zhang Yu of course took on the main task of buying duck. Even if it wasn’t the top priority, it was still meat; an old-duck stew was worth having.

After a good bit of scrambling, Zhang Yu deftly managed to grab a dozen or so ducks, then, under the neighbors’ protection, forced her way out through the layers of crowd.

Once they’d fought their way out, they saw that the meat counter was already packed with people. They couldn’t help feeling grateful they’d rushed in early; otherwise it would’ve been tough to get in.

More importantly, more and more people were hearing the news. Even though the cooperative staff were using a loudspeaker to announce that duck stock was limited and there would be more tomorrow, people were still swarming in to squeeze their way through.

Everyone was worried whether tomorrow’s stock would really arrive. They had no choice—this wasn’t the first or second time the cooperative had misled people.

Soon the ones who’d queued for hairtail and candy finished their shopping and rushed out as well. Just as everyone was about to speak—

"Those of you who’ve already bought your things, please leave." A staff member from the cooperative said darkly, ushering Zhang Yu and the others out.

Fine, they knew this wasn’t the place to chat anyway. Everyone carried their goods out of the cooperative and went to a more open spot, where the group started dividing things up.

Just then, a fisherman passed by. "Granny Zhang, they’ve opened up an ice hole. Are you going?"