Zhou Guoqiang went into the county town again, bought a large steelyard and a small one. The big one was left for use when collecting pigs, and the small one was left for selling pork.

  With everything ready, Zhou Guoqiang and Zhao Yuzhen began to get busy.

  Zhou Guoqiang rode a tricycle around villages, looking for households that wanted to sell pigs.

  He was originally a substitute for killing pigs, and whoever's pig grew up to be able to sell had a good number in mind, rarely running empty legs. He gave cash, which is more fair than the butcher's scale, so people who have pigs to sell are happy to sell to him.

  Zhou Guoqiang pedaled his tricycle back home with a pig in tow and then went back to his old trade: slaughtering pigs.

  When it's time for the fair, take the pork to the market and sell it.

  Zhou Xiaoyun found a piece of cardboard and wrote "Pork is the best, price is the lowest" in big characters with a brush. She inserted the sign into the tricycle's basket. Passersby looked at the unusual sign and brought Zhou Guoqiang quite a few customers.

  There are some scattered pork vendors in the market, and few have long-term stalls like Zhou Guoqiang. Zhou Guoqiang thought that at the beginning of doing business, he would rather earn less money to get a good reputation, so he deliberately lowered the price a bit. Moreover, the scale is always high and never short of weight, making people who buy from left and right neighbors satisfied and return, saying that Zhou Guoqiang does business very well.

  People who heard about it would specially look for his stall to buy meat, and soon after, his pork stall became the best business in the market with its low price advantage.

  Zhao Yuzhen always brought Xiao Bao and Er Ya with her whenever she went to the market with Zhou Guoqiang, taking care of business while also taking care of the children.

  At that time, the pigs raised by each family were sold when they weighed over 100 catties. After removing the internal organs and fur, a pig would yield only tens of catties of meat, which could be sold out in just one market session.

  Later, when people in the village had guests coming to their homes, they would go to Zhou Guoqiang's house to buy meat. Later on, even people from neighboring villages came to Zhou Guoqiang's house to buy meat. Even if it wasn't a market day, he could still sell some pork every day. Zhou Guoqiang was originally worried that the pork wouldn't sell and would go bad after a long time, but this worry turned out to be completely unnecessary.

  After a lot of twists and turns, Zhou Guoqiang's pork business finally got on track.

  One catty of meat can earn one or two jiao, and after selling dozens of catties, you can at least earn a few yuan. Plus, every part of the pig is valuable - pig liver, waist, blood, stomach, intestines... everything can be sold for money. From Zhou Guoqiang and Zhao Yuzhen's increasingly cheerful faces, it's clear that their income is quite satisfactory.

  In the evening, there were scattered small amounts of money in the wooden box, and Zhao Yuzhen was happily counting the money. However, there were too many coins, and she would get confused after a while.

  Zhou Xiaoyun came over to help, she sorted out the coins into stacks, one corner, two corners, five corners, one block, two blocks, five blocks, and so on. Before long, she counted out the total amount of money in the cash box: 33 yuan and 4 cents.

  If you subtract the cost, you can earn nearly ten yuan per market, which is a number that Zhao Yujuan dared not think about before. As she counted the money, Zhao Yujuan's hands were shaking slightly.

  About a month later, Zhou Guoqiang returned the 200 yuan to Zhou Fang.

  This way, within a year, our family will be able to build a house. Zhao Yuzhen thought with relish. Thinking of the beautiful prospect, Zhao Yuzhen smiled until her eyes narrowed into a slit.

  Home life has also undergone changes, and this change first occurred at the dinner table.

  Zhao Yuzhen was busy and sometimes didn't have time to cook, so Zhou Xiaoyun started making some simple dinners. Zhao Yuzhen was originally worried that such a young child wouldn't be able to cook, but later saw Zhou Xiaoyun directing Dabao to light the fire and cooking by herself, and the taste of the food she made was actually quite good, so she put her mind at ease. Later on, it evolved into one day three meals, more than half of which were made by Zhou Xiaoyun herself.

  Zhou Xiaoyun was very skilled in cooking in her previous life. To put it another way, whoever has been a "cooking" housewife for seven or eight years will not be bad at cooking. Moreover, the one at home is also very picky about food, and Zhou Xiaoyun's progress in cooking skills can also be attributed to her ex-husband's nitpicking.

  Since Zhou Xiaoyun cooked, Xiao Bao was the happiest.

  Pork is sold to make money, it's impossible to eat every day, but from time to time, you can still get some leftover five-flower pork. Zhou Xiaoyun stir-fries the five-flower pork with some soy sauce until it's bright red, and when you take a bite, your mouth is filled with oil. Even Xiaobao, who doesn't like eating meat, can eat several big pieces.

  Usually when the meat is sold out, there are always some big bones left. Zhou Xiaoyun takes such bones and puts them in a pot to simmer into a thick bone soup, which is used for cooking dishes and porridge.

  Xiao Bao has a small appetite and doesn't like to eat, but when he sees his sister use bone soup with some cabbage to make a salty rice porridge, the aroma is so enticing that his appetite opens up and he can eat two bowls.

  Xiao Bao's thin arms have started to gain some flesh, which makes Zhou Xiaoyun extremely happy. The bone soup has a great calcium supplement effect, much better than drinking any oral liquid. Drinking more of it can also enhance Xiao Bao's weak body and boost his resistance.

  Zhou Xiaoyun went to great lengths to get Xiaobao to eat more, deliberately cooking dishes that suited his taste. As she watched Xiaobao's appetite grow and his body become stronger, Zhou Xiaoyun was overjoyed.

  Zhou Xiaoyun herself has also gained a lot of weight, her originally somewhat dry and yellowish skin has become much rosier, no longer looking so withered. Indeed, eating well and having more nutrients really makes a difference!

  Zhao Yuzhen is busy every day, taking care of the children and doing household chores, as well as going to the market with her husband to sell meat. With Zhou Xiaoyun's help in cooking, her workload has been greatly reduced. Zhao Yuzhen is delighted and can't help but boast about her daughter to everyone she meets.

  As soon as Zhou Xiaoyun heard Zhao Yuzhen mention "my family's eldest...", she fled in a hurry, her face flushed with embarrassment. If you want to boast, you have to wait for others to praise you, who has their own family boasting about themselves? It would be strange if people didn't laugh behind your back.

  However, the praise from her own mother at least shows that her status in her mother's mind has been improved. Zhou Xiaoyun thought of this and felt very pleased. Which child does not hope to get their parents' love, care, and praise?