52.052 Unexpected travel

The hotter the weather, the more peaches ripen. Those that are soft to the touch are all brushed off the truck and not loaded onto the vehicle. These are the sweetest ones and are sold to the villagers at a low price. Su Yu also bought a bamboo basket of them and tied it to the back seat of the truck to take them home.

"Xiao Yuan, Ping An, come out and open the door for me." The sun was shining so brightly that the cicadas were chirping incessantly, and the alley, usually filled with elderly men and women, was deserted.

They unloaded the bamboo basket first, then pushed the bicycle through the door and the three of them worked together to carry the basket of peaches into the house.

"Auntie, let me help you." A boy suddenly darted out, lifted one side of the bamboo basket, and walked inside amidst Xiao Hei's barking.

"Auntie, your house is so clean." Little Liu stared at the bright red peaches in the bamboo basket and lied.

"Little Liu, take two peaches home to sweeten your mouth. Thanks for your help, otherwise Ping An and Xiao Yuan and I really wouldn't have been able to carry them in." Su Yu washed her face in the basin, picked up the peaches with undamaged surfaces and put them on the table, while the peaches underneath had already been crushed.

"Here, eat this broken one first." She took one, peeled it, and started eating it. Xiao Yuan and Ping An also took some, and Xiao Liuzi picked and chose, finally taking the biggest one.

He ate peaches while keeping his eyes fixed on the basket of peaches. He twirled the peach pit in his mouth before spitting it out. With his sticky fingers outstretched and his eyes full of expectation, he said, "Auntie, do you need a son? I'll be your son. You don't need to worry about my food and lodging. Just make sure I eat my fill of peaches, and I'll call you 'Mom' just like Ping An did."

Su Yu laughed and quickly took a big peach from the basket and stuffed it into his hand, saying, "You can have peaches even if you don't call for Mom."

It's different. The more Xiao Liuzi eats, the more he craves peaches. At home, he can only get half of the peaches each time. He also wants to be like Ping An, to have a stepmother who works in an orchard, to pick peaches, and to sit on the tree and pick the sweetest ones to eat. He doesn't care if she doesn't work for wages, he just wants to be able to eat peaches to his heart's content, and he'd even be willing to sleep in the orchard and keep watch overnight.

"Auntie, really, I'll call you Mom too." He wouldn't give up.

"No way." Xiao Yuan rolled her eyes at him. "You have your own mother. Don't call my mother 'Mom.' My mother is mine."

"It's mine too. Don't be shameless. You have a mother, yet you keep calling others your mother." Ping An pushed him, urging him to leave quickly.

"What are you doing!" Su Yu slapped Ping An, how could she push someone like that? "Xiao Liu was just joking, and you two actually believed him."

"I wasn't joking." He finished the peach.

"Little Liu, where did you run off to? Come back and keep an eye on your sister," Little Liu's grandma called out.

Su Yu picked out three relatively intact peaches for him and saw the child who had randomly claimed a mother off. Once he arrived, Xiao Hei's barking never stopped, it was so noisy.

"You ran to your house? No wonder your dog kept barking." When Xiao Liu's grandma saw her grandson still holding peaches, she laughed and scolded, "This glutton, how could he take your aunt's peaches?"

"It's alright, he's just a kid, a few peaches aren't worth much."

"Auntie, do you have any extra peaches? Can you sell me three or five pounds? Or can you buy some for me tomorrow? I'll pay you." These novelties are impossible to buy at the supply and marketing cooperative; they're snatched up as soon as they're delivered. She's been wanting to buy some from Su Yu, but hasn't had the chance.

“Yes, my aunt has a basket of them,” Xiao Liuzi interjected.

"Yes, but I bought them to give to my siblings. Buying and selling privately is speculation, which I don't do," Su Yu refused, and asked Xiao Yuan to bring out four or five peaches. "Auntie, the peaches I can buy are all damaged and will spoil by tomorrow. I don't have the face to buy these for you. If you don't mind, take a few home to eat." Peaches aren't expensive. Even if she made a profit by reselling them, she would only earn three or five cents at most from a basket of peaches. She might even get reported. Why would she give someone a handle to use against her?

"You're exaggerating. Helping a neighbor buy something isn't speculation." But she didn't dare mention buying anything from Su Yu again. She took the peach and said, "Then I'm taking advantage of you today. I have some cowpeas drying. I'll give you a handful when they're dry. They're delicious stewed with meat."

"Okay, thank you, Auntie." Su Yu replied with a smile. After the grandmother and granddaughter entered the house, she turned around and went inside. She picked out all the peaches from the basket and stacked them against the wall in the main room to dry, planning to send some to her parents and third sister when it cooled down in the evening.

"By the way, what about your exam results?" she asked the two children.

"Tie for first place, both perfect scores." Ping An raised his chin with a hint of pride.

"Good, you two have secured your allowance for next semester." The implication was one of satisfaction. "By the way, what about your sister Er Ya?" she continued.

"Fewer than the two of us, but still not bad, both scores were over 90." He spoke like a teacher evaluating students' grades, his manner somewhat unpleasant.

"Remember to give Er Ya a couple of peaches when she goes out to wash clothes or gather firewood," she instructed Xiao Yuan. He added that Xiao Yuan was the one who mostly fed Er Ya, and since Er Ya had saved him, he should express his gratitude.

Xu Yuan nodded; he was already quite adept at this clandestine practice.

At five o'clock in the afternoon, Su Yu pushed her bicycle with the basket tied to it out the door. Before she even left the alley, she saw two women holding a notebook asking an old lady in the alley. She recognized the two women, but before she could remember who they were, they called out to her.

"Su Yu, right? It's so rare to find you home this time." The short-haired woman walked over and asked, "You live next door to Du Xiaojuan, have you heard her hit Er Ya again?"

"From the Women's Federation!" Su Yu exclaimed in surprise, not expecting a follow-up visit.

"Hello comrade, thanks to your diligent and responsible supervision and protection, I haven't heard any sounds of Er Ya being beaten recently." She lifted the old cloth covering the basket, took out the intact peaches, and gave them to the helpful women's federation comrades. "I was wondering why Du Xiaojuan had been so well-behaved for so long. It turns out you were doing follow-up visits and supervision. With you here, Er Ya's life can be guaranteed."

“Protecting vulnerable women and children is our responsibility.” The short-haired woman took the peach and said, “I heard you went to work in the orchard? No wonder you were able to get so many peaches.”

"Take more if you like them. These are all overripe and broken, so they can't be kept." Su Yu helplessly flipped over the good peaches on top, showing them the peaches that had already broken open and were oozing juice. "These can't be eaten tomorrow. I bought a basket of them at a low price to give to my relatives' children to sweeten their mouths. Otherwise, they would have been picked up and fed to the pigs."

"That's true, it'll rot by tomorrow." The short-haired woman waved her hand and said no, "You should leave now, it'll be dark soon."

Su Yu handed the six good peaches to the two women from the Women's Federation, asking them to come and check on her more often when they had time, so that Du Xiaojuan wouldn't relapse into her old ways. With them supervising her, as long as Du Xiaojuan didn't go crazy and refuse to work, she wouldn't dare to beat or scold Er Ya again.

The Women's Federation staff were going to visit Du Xiaojuan's house, so Su Yu rode her bike ahead. She felt much more at ease knowing that the Women's Federation staff were making a follow-up visit. She wouldn't have to squat by the wall and watch over her every time there was any noise from next door, fearing that Er Ya would be locked up at home and beaten. Adults beat children; there are plenty of ways to make you suffer in silence.

"Why are you bringing peaches again? Don't tell me your salary isn't enough to cover your expenses." Old Su's usual chair was moved from under the eaves to outside the gate, and he was always the first to notice when guests came to his house.

"It didn't cost much, just three cents for this big basket. I'll take some to my second and third sisters later. These peaches don't keep well, and the adults don't have to help the kids; they can each eat a couple." She peeled one and handed it to her father, frowning as she smelled the pungent smell of cigarettes on him. "Can't you smoke less? You know you're coughing terribly, but you keep smoking. You're so old, yet you act like a child, with no self-control. You're no different from Xiao Yuan, who ate so many peaches that he couldn't eat anything else."

Old Man Su acted as if he hadn't heard, not even lifting his eyelids. When Su Yu picked up the peaches and put them on the table in the main room to leave, he said, "If you stop interfering with my smoking, don't come next time. If you need anything, have Xiao Yuan run the errand. I'm your father, you always treat me like your grandson, and it makes me unhappy."

Su Yu glanced at him sideways, thinking he was such a child. "Even if you're unhappy, you can still listen. You don't want me to come, but I'm coming anyway. If you don't want me to manage you, then smoke less."

Old Su looked up, gave her a very irritating look, and waved his hand like he was shooing away a fly, "Hurry up and leave, you're more nagging than your mother."

After his little girl left, he wiped his hands, which were stained with peach juice, on the ground, brushed off the ash, took out a tobacco box from his pocket, pinched out some tobacco, stuffed it into his pipe, lit it, exhaled a puff of white smoke, and said happily, "Hey, even if you don't let me smoke, I'll still smoke."

Su He happened to be home when Su Yu visited. She gave Su He half of the remaining peaches and asked Xiao Xing and his sister Xiao Yue, "Are you two going to Auntie's house? Xiao Yuan and Ping An are on holiday. If you go, the four of you can play together."

Xiaoyue was only fourteen years old. When they heard that they could visit relatives, both children stared at their mother with expectant eyes.

"No, I'll only cause you trouble. You don't even eat lunch at home yourself." Su He refused. Her period was late this month, and it seemed like she was pregnant. The two kids at home could help her out.

“I can come back at noon now. I’ll just go there in the morning and be back by noon. It’s fine. Xiaoxing will sleep with Xiaoyuan, and Xiaoyue will sleep with me,” Su Yu explained, thinking that her third sister was genuinely afraid of causing her trouble.

"So easy?" Su He was shocked. She couldn't help but think of the job her older sister had bought for her. If only she had bought it, she wouldn't have had to work in the fields while pregnant. But then she remembered that the family only had thirty-seven yuan. Buying the job would mean she would be in debt for a thousand yuan. She had never seen so much money before.

Forget it, if she really buys it, the debt will be so heavy that she won't be able to eat or sleep.

“No, we can’t leave. We need someone to help with the chores at home. If she and her brother leave, the chickens and ducks will all get thinner.” You can’t compare people. Being born into a poor family like theirs means the children have to work harder.

Since she had already said that, Su Yu had no choice but to give up and said to the two children, "You two stay home and feed the chickens and ducks. Auntie will bring you more fruit if she buys any."

Although dates aren't as sweet as sugar, they still offer something to look forward to. The two children saw Su Yu off with Su He. Xiao Xing asked, "Auntie, do you like to eat ground pebbles? There are lots of them by the roadside after it rains here. If you like them, I'll pick some for you."

"I like them, thank you Xiaoxing." Su Yu waved to the sensible child and rode her bike to the next village. When she returned, the basket of peaches was gone, but there was a layer of mung beans at the bottom, given to her by Su Tao, which had been grown in her family's private plot last year.

Ning Jin finished another long-distance trip and noticed that Su Yu went to the orchard every morning around 6 a.m. and returned before 10:30 a.m., spending the rest of the day indoors avoiding the sun. Thinking that the next transport trip was a short-distance journey of at most three days, he suddenly felt a pang of interest and asked, "You said you wanted to go with me, do you still want to go?"

"Can I go again? Where will Lao Wang sit if I go?" The cargo truck can't carry people; the canvas is tied tightly.

"This time there's not much cargo, mainly because we'll be bringing back saccharin. He'll sleep in the truck bed, and you can sit in the passenger seat. I'll show you the beautiful landscapes you've been talking about."

The man had already made all the arrangements, so Su Yu didn't hesitate and immediately agreed, saying, "Okay, before you leave, bring my parents over to stay with the kids for a few days. They can't refuse that." There wasn't much going on at the orchard; she just needed to let them know.

The trouble started when Ning Jin told Xiao Yuan and Ping An. They insisted on going, and no matter how much she pleaded, they still refused. Ning Jin lost her patience, took off her shoe, and said with a dark face, "You two should stay at home. You've become so spoiled that you can't even understand what I'm saying."

It worked immediately; the two kids immediately wilted and became well-behaved.