CHAPTER 36: CHAPTER 36: WILD MANDARINS

An Hao and his group were in disguise.

But honestly speaking, whether they were in disguise or not made no difference.

They could only fool strangers, not acquaintances.

There were lots of people selling in the forest, and equally many buying, but it was very quiet.

All the transactions were silent.

Apart from footsteps, you could barely hear anyone talking.

"What are you buying?"

A young man in a blue jumpsuit stopped them. Yi Chichi’s heart skipped a beat. There was someone overseeing this in the forest?

Wang Nan, however, wasn’t surprised at all and seemed prepared, softly saying, "Buying meat."

"Ten cents, that way."

He pointed towards where An Hao and another guy were, then reached out to Wang Nan.

Wang Nan quickly took out ten cents and handed it over.

Then, the young man stepped aside, continuing to keep an eye on everything around him.

There were too many people near An Hao, so Wang Nan whispered, "Where to?"

"To the young man’s side."

Yi Chichi immediately stepped towards where An Hao was; the other guy’s side was too intense, with several brawny men, and one of them gave off a menacing vibe.

She was scared.

The brother and sister An Hao and An Li gave her a sense of security, more importantly, they were from the forest farm, far from here.

The chances of being dragged into any trouble were low.

As for the awkwardness of meeting acquaintances...

What was that?

As long as she could buy meat, she could completely pretend not to know An Hao and his group.

Thinking about this, she calmly treated An Hao and his group as strangers.

An Hao didn’t have such strong nerves. When she found out the new customer was Yi Chichi, her face blushed, and she didn’t dare to look at her directly.

An Li sighed inwardly at this, noting that next time they shouldn’t bring An Hao, as her mentality was too unstable.

Standing in front of An Hao, he lowered his voice, bag in hand, and asked, "What do you need?"

From the sound of it, there seemed to be a lot of meat.

"Do you have pork?"

Yi Chichi talked with him like they were underground collaborators.

"Yes."

An Li told her there were about ten pounds of pork left, but it was all lean meat.

They also had some smoked chicken and rabbit left, and a few big bones. If she wanted, she could take it all.

Yi Chichi realized this meant he wanted her to buy everything.

She didn’t mind but was only worried if Wang Nan and her group would object.

Turning her head, she whispered to Wang Nan and her group.

"Do you want any?"

"Yes."

"Then if I buy, will it be okay if we split it three ways?"

"Of course!"

Then, Wang Nan and her group went to keep watch on their own, while Yi Chichi followed An Li to check out the goods and discuss prices.

With current low market prices, one dough stick cost about four or five cents, a bowl of plain noodles fifteen cents, and mixed soup noodles around twenty-five cents, all needing food stamps.

The price without food stamps was a bit higher.

The market price for freshly slaughtered pig meat was seventy cents a pound, still mostly fatty meat, while lean meat was cheaper.

Since people were generally lacking in oil and water, fatty meat was more desirable, while lean meat, pig heads, and ears were not favored by the public.

She looked over the remaining items, raised her eyes, and said, "Name your price, if it’s reasonable, I’ll take the whole lot."

An Li was speechless, thinking she didn’t look like someone wealthy.

"I don’t need tickets here, so the price is relatively high."

"Understood."

"I’ll give you pork at eighty cents a pound; it’s about 12 pounds here, so nine point six. Smoked chicken is two and a half each, three for seven and a half... three bones together for five cents, total of twenty-three and six."

"Done."

Yi Chichi quickly pulled out the money and paid, An Li speedily took the money and stuffed it in his pocket, "Where’s your bag?"

"Aren’t you giving me a bag?"

Yi Chichi looked shocked, where do people buy things and not get a bag?

An Li looked more surprised than her, "This is a cloth bag."

"??? So?"

"I saved up cloth coupons and spent money to have it made. If you want it, you need to pay extra."

"How much?"

He extended a hand, "Five yuan."

"Oh, then I don’t want it."

Too expensive, and it smells bad and is hard to wash.

She turned to use a new wooden bucket Wang Nan had bought.

It was perfect for holding meat, the only downside being it was too conspicuous, and she’d have to be careful with it when leaving the forest.

An Li felt a bit regretful, he thought he’d made a huge profit selling a cloth bag for five yuan.

Yi Chichi wasn’t aware of what he was thinking. As she packed the meat into the bucket, she found it too heavy.

The wooden bucket was already not light, and adding nearly twenty pounds of meat made the weight skyrocket.

Being troubled over this, Wang Nan swiftly filled it with the mushrooms, chopsticks, and other miscellaneous things they bought, even throwing some grass on top to cover it.

"Let’s go!"

She picked up the bucket and turned to leave, with Yi Chichi quickly pulling Ge Sujuan and following.

Having sold all their goods, An Li and his group left in the opposite direction.

Before long, both parties went their separate ways.

The trading in the forest continued.

They had too much stuff, definitely not returning to the market.

Plus, the pig meat had a strong smell, so to be safe, after a discussion, Wang Nan was left with the goods in a meadow by the path, while Yi Chichi and Ge Sujuan went to the market for Aunt Ma’s things and then come back to meet up.

Soon, they settled Wang Nan down.

"Before we get back, don’t make a sound."

Before leaving, Yi Chichi reminded softly.

"Got it."

Wang Nan nodded, waving like swatting flies, urging, "Hurry up."

"Alright."

Upon leaving the path, Yi Chichi and Ge Sujuan looked around and, not seeing anyone nearby, sped back to the market.

They didn’t see Bai Chen or Zhou Qiuyu.

On inquiring at Aunt Ma’s stall, they learned Zhou Qiuyu had left with Liu Lan, who came back from the commune.

Accompanying them were Bai Chen and his group.

Yi Chichi acknowledged with an "Oh" and said to Aunt Ma, "Then, Aunt, Juanzi and I are heading back too."

"Go on."

Twenty minutes later, Yi Chichi’s group successfully reunited with Wang Nan.

Except Wang Nan’s expression was a bit strange, like she had experienced something indescribable or eye-opening.

Noticing this, Yi Chichi asked curiously, "What’s up?"

"Ran into a pair of wild lovers."

"Wild... Lovers in a place like the meadow..."

Before Yi Chichi could say the word ’lovers,’ her eyes widened suddenly, "Do you mean what I think you mean by wild lovers?"

Ge Sujuan just laughed, "What else, there’s no water in a meadow, it’s not a wetland, unsuitable for mandarin ducks."

Clearly, the wild lovers Wang Nan mentioned were people.

Yi Chichi’s gossip interest piqued, "They didn’t notice you, right?"

"No."

She hid well; in contrast, those two wild lovers were really bold, making so much noise she feared for them being discovered.

"Do you recognize them?"

Wang Nan’s expression was a bit conflicted, which indicated something fishy.

"You actually know them?" Ge Sujuan looked shocked and brainstormed who could be bold enough to rendezvous on the meadow during such a bustling market day.

"You know them too; actually, you’ve seen them."

With Wang Nan’s comment, a bad feeling crept up in Yi Chichi’s mind, and she kind of knew, sort of guessed who one of the wild lovers was.