Chapter 14 Lipstick.

April came in a blink of an eye, and He Susu mailed manuscripts to the magazine twice during this period.

Although the fee per thousand words for youth magazines is higher, she still prefers to write articles for the people in the alleys. Those interesting stories full of human touch in the countryside are easy to obtain, and ideas flow like a spring when she starts writing. It is not difficult, and the final length of the article is not short.

These days, she would only go out for a walk after dinner in the evening, just to hear more fresh country stories.

Maybe because she had been hanging around the village more often, the villagers had a new view of her:

"The girl from the He family in the east of the village has been staying at home for so long and has never come out to work. The He family really spoils her too much. Recently, I often see her walking around everywhere, appearing and disappearing like a ghost."

"We were just chatting and laughing together, and when I turned around, I saw this girl standing there with her ears perked up, which scared me."

"I think she's not young anymore, so she'll have to start looking for a husband sooner or later. The people in our production team know everything about her. Even if she looks good, if she can't help with housework and can't work to earn a cent, who would be willing to marry her?"

"Well, you never know. It's possible that she will marry directly to a city man."

Of course, they only said these things in private and didn't dare to let the He family hear them. Who doesn't know how protective the He family is of He Susu?

He Susu could probably guess what the villagers were spreading, but she didn't care.

She sent two more articles to submit, but her luck was not as good as the first time. One time, one of her articles was barely selected, and the other time, none of them were selected at all. In the reply letter, the editor politely said that she was welcome to submit again next time.

He Susu was a little discouraged, and her laziness came back, and she didn't want to write any more articles. Although writing articles seems to be effortless, it requires accumulating writing materials, thinking about it, and then writing it out. A long article will take at least several days to write.

Although her article was not selected, she still used the diligence points she had accumulated from sweeping the yard at home to exchange for a chicken and two kilograms of pork in the shopping system and took them home. She told her family that she bought them with the royalties she earned.

The He family was no longer so surprised that her articles were selected one after another, but they were still very happy. They were happy that He Susu had made progress and could make money by writing articles, and they were also happy that they could have meat to eat.

Zhao Miling and Qian Chunhe thought that their sister-in-law had some good points, that is, she was very generous. She was willing to use the money she earned from writing to buy meat for everyone to eat. Didn’t they see that the children had grown fat? Just by being able to buy meat, she was much better than other sisters-in-law.

The eldest and second brothers He were naturally happy to be able to eat meat, but they also felt a little guilty because they, as brothers, were incompetent and had to rely on their younger sister to be able to eat meat.

In response, He Susu comforted him, "Big Brother and Second Brother, you don't have to think so much. If that's the case, it's because of you that I can eat food. We are a family, there's no need to worry about so much."

He's parents advised her privately: "Susu, don't be so honest and spend all your money on buying meat for us. You should save some money for yourself so that you can use it for future needs."

He Susu said confidently, "Dad and Mom, I know this. We work so hard all our lives just to have enough food and drink. We should buy more meat when we make money. We can't let our mouths suffer. It's also thanks to the connections of my classmates that I can buy meat without meat coupons."

He's parents were simply helpless with her. The meat went into their stomachs, and they enjoyed all the benefits. They also remembered the kindness in their hearts. They planned to calculate the money for the meat later and save it for Susu first.

There is a happy event in April, He Qiaoyi is getting married. He Shengli is very happy about his daughter marrying off, and he wants to host a banquet at home, not to mention his daughter's in-laws. He has already informed his family and asked them to come over for dinner.

They are all from the He family. He's mother and her two daughters-in-law have agreed to go back and help Wu Hua.

He Susu was thinking about her friendship with Sister Qiaoyi, and she should give her something to congratulate her when she got married. She opened the shopping system and looked at the dazzling array of items for a long time, but she still couldn't decide what to give.

Large items required a high labor value to exchange, so they were naturally not something she could give away. Rice, flour, meat and vegetables were naturally not suitable for exchange and gifting.

It was not until that evening that He Susu opened the shopping system again with the intention of killing time, and unexpectedly discovered discounted items mixed in among many other things.

This lipstick was quite rare nowadays, and the packaging was the same as what He Susu had seen in the hands of a classmate before. The column for the required diligence value had 6 points written on it, but now it was crossed out by a gray slash and a new number was added - 3 points.

He Susu clearly remembered that the lips of the average-looking female classmate were rosy and translucent that day, which made her look energetic and beautiful. Many female classmates in the class asked her what she put on her lips.

The female classmate said that she had put on lipstick. This lipstick was brought back by her cousin from Shanghai. It was the most popular cosmetics among women there. It cost seven or eight yuan per stick and was not easy to buy. She also borrowed her cousin's lipstick to put on, and she didn't expect the effect to be so good.

He Susu was envious at the time, but helplessly, this lipstick was a rare commodity in Shanghai and she could not buy it. She could only comfort herself that she was naturally beautiful and did not need the lipstick to add color.

I didn't expect to see this lipstick in the shopping system. He Susu thought about what was advertised when she first had this shopping system, that it could be exchanged for everything that was in line with the productivity of this era. Now it seems to be true.

Moreover, it was the first time she knew that the goods in this system could be exchanged at a discount. Compared with the diligence value originally required, this was simply too cost-effective.

He Susu immediately decided to give Sister Qiaoyi a lipstick as a wedding gift, and she exchanged one for her diligence points.

This time the shopping system was quite smart. Four options, namely bright red, apricot red, peach red and tea red, popped up for her to choose from. There were also pictures provided for her to compare the differences between the four colors.

He Susu thought about it and heard from her classmate that lipsticks do have different colors to choose from. The same person can have different charms with different colors of lipsticks, and different people can have different styles with the same lipstick. She chose an apricot red lipstick based on Qiaoyi's skin color and lip color.

During this period, one of her articles was selected by a magazine and she got 1 point of diligence. The rest of the diligence points were earned by He Susu sweeping the yard every night and occasionally taking over the dishwashing work of her nephews and nieces. She was just barely good at washing dishes now, and if she was more careful, she would not make the same mistake again.

Thinking that this lipstick can only be bought in Shanghai, she might as well save some to give one to her elder sister. It would also be nice if she could find a chance to exchange the rest for others. Relying on her hard work points, she exchanged five lipsticks in one go, four in different colors and one apricot color that she liked.

There was no way. If the shopping system hadn't prompted that the maximum number of redemptions for a single item was 6, she would have been able to exchange more.

He Qiaoyi's wedding was scheduled for April 25th, but the family had to prepare the banquet and food two or three days in advance.

Pork is hard to buy these days. When He's mother went to help Wu Hua, she heard about this and came back to talk to her daughter about it: "Susu, can you help and ask your classmate to bring back two kilograms of pork? I haven't mentioned this to your aunt, if it's too much trouble, forget it."

Wu Hua's family did have meat coupons, but the best parts of pork were hard to buy. Even if one went to the county town early and queued up, one might still end up disappointed.

He Susu was happy to help: "Sure, I'll go to the county town to find my classmates, it shouldn't be a problem."

"Well, that's good. Your aunt is planning to make a braised pork dish, which will be popular with everyone and will also make you look good. See if you can buy the pork belly with three distinct layers like last time." said He's mother.

He Susu nodded: "Okay, I understand. Is there anything else you want to buy?"

He's mother: "The vegetarian dishes are almost ready. We'll kill a chicken and your aunt will go buy the tofu that morning. You can just help buy the pork belly."

As she said this, she stuffed the 1.72 yuan she had earned from buying meat into her daughter's pocket. When she came back with the meat and took it to her sister-in-law's house, she would naturally pay her back.

So He Susu accepted the request and went to the village entrance to take a bullock cart to the county town after breakfast in the morning. She also carried a basket of eggs, all of which were laid by her two chickens. She saved them day by day to make a basket and took them to the supply and marketing cooperative to exchange for money.

The supply and marketing cooperative bought eggs at 52 cents per pound. Thirty eggs weighed nearly two pounds. After checking that the eggs were plump, clean and not broken, the other party gave me one dollar.

He Susu then went to the steel plant's family compound. Her elder sister had sent a message home earlier, saying that she was taking a day off today and asked her to come over if she was free. As someone who was idle at home, she naturally had time.

"Sister, I'm Susu." He Susu knocked on the door and shouted.

Soon there was a response from inside, and He Xiuxiu came over to open the door: "Finally you're here, come in quickly."

He Susu followed him in and glanced into the room.

He Xiuxiu smiled and said, "Don't look, I'm the only one at home. My parents-in-law and your brother-in-law have gone to work, and Haohao and Juejue are in the nursery. You should stay here and have dinner with me today, otherwise I'll be alone."

He Susu readily agreed: "Okay, as long as Big Sister doesn't dislike me."

"Don't mind. I'll make your favorite fried hairtail later." He Xiuxiu said, "I went to buy groceries today and found some hairtail so I quickly bought a few pieces. If you're not too slow, they'll be gone."

He Susu really likes to eat hairtail: "It seems that I am lucky today."

He Xiuxiu went into the house and took out a package: "I called you over here because I want you to take these three cans of meat back home to eat. This is considered a welfare benefit from the factory. It is given once a month. Last time, we gave them to our family to eat. This time, I'll keep one box, and the rest will be for you and your parents."

If we talk about the good welfare of this meat processing factory, in addition to the invisible convenience of buying meat, the workers on the canned meat production line can get four boxes of canned meat every month.

He Xiuxiu is a diligent and intelligent person. She has a good eye for work and quickly got started with the job after arriving at the meat canning workshop. She received several compliments from the workshop director and has managed to gain a firm foothold in the workshop.

He Susu was not polite either: "Thank you, elder sister. Come to think of it, I have never eaten this canned meat. My parents will definitely be happy if they know about it."

He Xiuxiu: "This canned meat tastes really good. It contains really well-braised pork belly, and even the broth is fragrant."

She took out a thermos from the package and said, "This is my wedding gift to Qiaoyi. I have to go to work that day and cannot take a leave. Please tell her for me."

Thermos is practical. You can put it in the house and you don’t have to go out to get water when you want to drink water at night. It is a good gift and also a token of her thoughtfulness.

He Susu nodded: "Okay, I'll help you give this thermos to Sister Qiaoyi and tell her."

He Susu chatted with her younger sister, and she started with the same old story: "I'm now working in a meat processing factory, and I've asked a few colleagues I know to keep an eye out for me. If there's a suitable job, I'll let you know."

"Thank you for your concern, elder sister." He Susu agreed, but she didn't take it to heart. What she was most thinking about was the fried hairtail fish for lunch.