Su Zhiqiang certainly wouldn't go and borrow money from Anning.
He still wanted to maintain his dignity as a man in front of Anning.
However, he was somewhat annoyed by Lin Anjie's action of silently taking her dowry to use in her family home.
Turning over, Su Zhiqiang decided to give Lin Anjie the cold shoulder for a while.
Lin Anjie was also fuming inside.
She originally thought that marrying into the Su family would bring her good days, but after arriving, she realized that life with the Su family was even more bitter than coptis.
Su Zhiqiang was not particularly good to her, her two sisters-in-law were each more cunning and formidable than the other, and Su Zhiqiang's mother Liu Erni was not an easy person to get along with either.
Even Su Zhiqiang's two younger brothers showed her no respect due to an elder sister-in-law.
The main issue, though, was that the Su family was poor; their living conditions were unable to compare with the Lin Family.
Although Lin Anjie wasn't exactly eating fine white flour at every meal back in the Lin home, she was able to eat it every now and then, having meat twice a month. But in the Su family, every day it was coarse grains. Forget about meat, when frying vegetables they were even stingy with the oil, every day it was stewed cabbage or radish, and don't even start with how that tasted.
The Su family had yet to be divided, so even if Lin Anjie had the money, she would not buy food just for herself.
With both the elderly and the young to think of, and others eyeing her, if Lin Anjie bought her own food, who wouldn't she share with? If she were to buy for everyone, her money would not last very long.
Not much time had passed since Lin Anjie married into the Su family and she was already unable to bear it.
She decided to have a serious conversation with Su Zhiqiang about making money.
After applying her snow cream, Lin Anjie took off her shoes, climbed into bed, and nudged Su Zhiqiang, saying, "Look, we can't always just scrape by from the land, we have to figure out a way to make money."
Unenthusiastically, Su Zhiqiang said, "Make what money? I only know how to farm. What else could I do? What money could I make?"
Lin Anjie was taken aback, took a deep breath, and with a smile said, "Farming is also fine, you know. I've heard about off-season vegetables, and, I've also heard that there are others doing animal husbandry, raising pigs, chickens, and ducks, and they've made a lot of money. I'm thinking we could start with a greenhouse for vegetables. After making some money, we could open an animal husbandry farm, and then contract the mountain in our village to plant fruit trees on it..."
Lin Anjie's thoughts were indeed very beautiful, but Su Zhiqiang's few words completely disheartened her.
"Stop your wishful thinking. Our family has never been capable from generation to generation. We only know how to farm honestly and don't know anything else. What you said about a greenhouse for vegetables, that's simply impossible. I don't have the ability for that. Also, raising chickens and ducks, if you raise too few you won't make much money, and if you raise too many it's not something to be taken lightly. What will all those chickens and ducks eat and drink? What do you do if they get sick? These are all issues. If you don't understand all that, how will you raise them?"
In truth, Su Zhiqiang's words were all wisdom from experience.
Agriculture and animal husbandry are industries that require experience, patience, and the willingness to endure hardships. It's not something that just anyone can succeed in by merely talking about it.
Moreover, what to raise also depends on the market conditions. If the market is bad, not only would you fail to make money, you could lose everything.
However, Lin Anjie didn't see it that way.
She always thought about how in her past life Su Zhiqiang became wealthy through farming and animal husbandry. She believed that Su Zhiqiang had the capability, just that now he was too lazy, and his mindset was too rigid, which was why he was unwilling to try.
"You know how to farm, and my mother knows how to raise chickens and ducks. Why can't it work? I remember you said that the vegetables in our private plot were all grown by you. Since your vegetables are quite good, then growing greenhouse vegetables will definitely work, and it wouldn't be too different from planting fruit trees."
She moved a little closer: "Zhiqiang, our family's situation is not good. We have to think of ways to improve our life. Not to mention us, when we have children in the future, we have to ensure that they won't have to worry about food and drink, and we should let them attend a good school. All of this requires money."
Su Zhiqiang actually also wanted to make money.
However, he really wasn't as capable as Lin Anjie imagined.
He was just an honest farmer; the large-scale farming and husbandry Lin Anjie spoke of, he really couldn't handle it.
"Enough, let's not talk about that anymore. We'll eat what we have in our bowl. Don't dwell on fantasies."
Su Zhiqiang cut off Lin Anjie's words and turned over again: "I'm tired, I'm going to sleep first."
Lin Anjie was so angry that she bit her teeth.
She really wanted to beat Su Zhiqiang up, but after mimicking a few punches, looking at her own slender arms and then at Su Zhiqiang's burly figure, she still lacked the courage.
Anning had been helping Wang Cuihua prepare food for the New Year at home these past few days.
That day, after she had helped to fry meatballs, she went to deliver some to Lin Jiugen's elderly couple, and upon stepping out, she ran into Xue Feng.
Xue Feng still looked the same; he appeared clean and quite refined.
He was wearing an army coat with his hands clasped, calling out to Anning.
Anning stopped in her tracks, smiled at Xue Feng: "Brother Xue Feng."
Xue Feng walked over with a smile, a bit embarrassed, his face reddening: "Anning, your sister... how has she been?"
Anning looked Xue Feng up and down and after a few glances, she said: "My sister is doing quite well."
Xue Feng's face showed complex emotions: "If she... is doing well, that's good."
Anning smiled: "My brother-in-law treats my sister quite well, besides, my sister hasn't left the village, and the Su family is so close, she wouldn't suffer any grievances."
Xue Feng was somewhat wistful: "Yeah, she definitely would not tolerate grievances, she is so beautiful..."
Xue Feng's voice grew lower and lower, filled with a touch of loss and sadness.
Anning chuckled lightly: "Brother Xue Feng, I've heard that you haven't been to school for a while, don't you plan on taking the college entrance exams?"
Xue Feng and Anning were both in their final year of high school.
Anning had been smart since she was young and started school early, whereas Xue Feng started school late and had repeated a grade in junior high, so although he was a bit older, he was at the same school as Anning.
Xue Feng sighed: "I really haven't been in the mood recently."
Anning tilted her head, eyeing him: "You're pretty good at studying, you might have a chance at college next year, why not continue with it? In my opinion, everything else is ephemeral, it's only the knowledge one learns and the skills one acquires that are substantial. Brother Xue Feng, study hard, and when you get into a good university and find a good job in the future, what kind of wife can't you find?"
After saying all this with a smile, Anning showed Xue Feng the meatballs in her hand: "I won't keep you any longer, I have to rush over to my grandpa's."
She jogged all the way to Lin Hongjun's house.
Xue Feng watched from behind, Anning's words echoing in his mind.
After a long thought, he finally gritted his teeth: "That's also true, I should just focus on studying and get into a good university. Just in case… if An Jie doesn't have a good life in the future, I'll have the confidence to help her."
On her way to Lin Hongjun's house, Anning was constantly pondering over Xue Feng's situation.
In Anning's eyes, Xue Feng truly cared for Lin Anjie.
She searched through the original host's memories; it seemed the original host had also noticed it, remembering that Xue Feng and Lin Anjie had gotten together in junior high, and that Xue Feng genuinely liked Lin Anjie, tolerant of her bad temper, and Lin Anjie probably liked Xue Feng very much too.
Moreover, the original host also remembered that Lin Anjie had been fussing to annul the engagement with the Su family for a while, refusing to marry Su Zhiqiang by all means.
But just then, Lin Anjie changed her mind quite suddenly.
And after that, Lin Anjie stopped responding to Xue Feng, with a hint of hatred in her eyes when she looked at him.
Thinking about all these, Anning felt she might have understood something.