Chapter 71 It’s really useful.

After the Lantern Festival, time flies by quickly.

He Susu rested at home for several days and resumed her normal life rhythm, and all the fatigue from taking the train disappeared.

The primary school in the army has started, and the children who love to play under the trees in the streets in the afternoon go to school. He Susu feels much more comfortable after her nap, and the entire family compound becomes much quieter.

Su Yu goes to work, Dabao goes to school, and Erbao is sent home on the way every day.

The child has been familiar with his aunt's house for a long time and is not afraid of strangers. He plays as he pleases. He Susu doesn't have to take care of him. She just urges him to drink more water occasionally. When she is free, she takes out some cakes or candies for them to share.

They get along pretty well.

He Susu has taken a break for such a long time and feels that she should pick up writing again. The new year should bring a new beginning.

Before the New Year, she rushed to finish the third story, thinking that she would not let a story drag on for more than a year, so as to give readers a perfect ending and give herself enough time to rest during the New Year.

She didn't want to spend the New Year's holiday eating melon seeds and chatting while she was busy writing manuscripts in her room.

Sitting at the desk again and taking out a new manuscript paper, He Susu's imagination ran wild, and she scribbled unconsciously on the paper with a pen in her hand. She always felt that there were too many ideas in her mind, all scattered here and there, without any order.

Never mind. He Susu took advantage of the inspiration and ideas in her mind and wrote them all down on the manuscript paper, planning to organize them later.

Her trip to Shanghai during the Spring Festival broadened her horizons. It is indeed a big city, much more prosperous than her hometown and the army. It can be seen in all aspects of food, clothing, housing and transportation, but everyone's high spirits and expectations for a better future are the same. They are all so positive and strive to live every day well.

He Susu grasped every difference she observed. The overseas Chinese shops and Western restaurants left a deep impression on her, the garden architecture of Yu Garden made her linger, and the bustle of the pedestrian street was unforgettable.

After she wrote down the inspiration that popped into her mind, she couldn't help but turn to a new page of manuscript paper and write down her impressions of the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

After finishing writing, He Susu looked over everything she had written in the morning, and her eyes became brighter and brighter.

She has a clear idea now. This time she wants to write a story about an outsider who comes to Shanghai to live and work.

She recalled the styles of articles that had been published in previous magazines and knew what kinds of stories the editors preferred—down-to-earth, patriotic, struggle, and progress.

Connect these four themes with the story you want to write, and after clever artistic processing the main thread of the entire story will become clear.

Because she had just returned from Shanghai not long ago, He Susu still had a wonderful feeling for that city, which made her adept at selecting key plot points in the story. No matter whether they were good or bad, in the end they could become good content to promote the development of the story and enrich the character of the protagonist.

Of course, if there is a protagonist, there must be supporting roles. In addition to rapid progress, life is also inseparable from the daily necessities of life. If those trivial matters are well written, they can attract the readers' attention and resonate with them.

He Susu recalled the people she met in Shanghai, the lively atmosphere in the tube-shaped building where a shout could be heard throughout the entire building, the old men and women who spontaneously helped to look after the bicycles parked downstairs when they had nothing to do, the friendly, considerate and sensible parents-in-law, and of course Cheng Shi's sister-in-law who could never say a good word was naturally listed as a villain.

It can be considered as a small grudge on her part.

The preparations before writing the fourth story went much more smoothly than He Susu had imagined.

Perhaps it was because the story this time was based on reality and was very fresh, or perhaps it was because the experience of writing articles over the past year or more allowed her to become adept at structuring the story and setting up the characters before writing. In short, everything went very smoothly.

After setting up the final ending, He Susu breathed a sigh of relief.

She stood up and stretched her legs and legs to lengthen her neck. She always felt uncomfortable after writing for a long time at her desk. Normally, she would stand up and move around after writing for an hour or two. But today, she was so excited that she forgot about it.

She put away the manuscript papers on the desk and walked out of the room to see Erbao sitting alone on a chair playing with his building blocks.

Erbao looked up and saw his aunt coming out. He immediately put his building blocks aside and got down from the chair: "Aunt, you finally came out."

Knowing that my aunt was writing something, my mother said that my aunt was working and must not be disturbed. Erbao was tired of playing and wanted to talk to my aunt, so he went to my aunt's room and quietly peeked in. Seeing that my aunt was writing seriously, he didn't say anything and sat back on the chair to play. Finally, my aunt came out.

He Susu touched his little head and said, "I was so absorbed in writing an article just now that I stayed up for a while. Are you hungry?"

Erbao nodded immediately: "I'm hungry!"

He wanted to go find his aunt because he was craving for some pastries.

"Have you finished the glass of water I poured for you?" He Susu asked as she walked to the kitchen to get some pastries.

Erbao held his head high and said proudly, "I finished it a long time ago. I drank the whole cup!"

He even deliberately put emphasis on the words "a whole cup".

"Okay, Erbao is awesome. I'll give you a whole piece of yam cake later." He Susu said with a smile.

Because the third sister-in-law had asked her to control Erbao's diet in the hope that he would lose weight, she only gave Erbao half a piece of cake every time before, and it was useless no matter how much the boy acted coquettishly.

Erbao smiled happily and said, "Okay! Thank you, aunt!"

He secretly decided to drink more water when he came to his aunt's place in the afternoon, and drink more water tomorrow, so that he could eat more cakes!

He Susu brought out two pieces of cake from the kitchen. The aunt and niece each had one piece, then sat down on chairs in the living room and ate leisurely.

After finishing eating, I picked up the literacy cards specially made by my third sister-in-law and started to test my second baby.

Fortunately, although the child loves to play, he does not dare to be vague about the words his mother asked him to recognize. So he can answer his aunt's questions easily. Basically, he can recognize and read every word, and can even form a proper word with most of them.

He Susu was very satisfied with Erbao's test results and praised him a few words. Seeing that the kid was so excited that he said he would bring in new literacy cards to learn words in the afternoon, she smiled and agreed.

After sending the child to play by himself, He Susu went into the kitchen to prepare food.

She took out a piece of pork, cut it into slices, and marinated it with starch, salt, etc. She planned to put it on a plate and then crack two eggs and steam it together. This way, if she stir-fried it with pickled spicy cabbage, it would be enough for the couple to eat.

Luckily it was cold enough that there were natural freezers everywhere, so we didn’t have to worry about the pork going rancid after a few days, and it was also much easier because we didn’t have to air-dry it into bacon.

In the next few days, He Susu took advantage of the novelty and started writing the story.

Maybe she didn't feel like writing after a long break during the New Year, so she only wrote about one or two thousand words each time in the first two days. Later on, maybe her writing felt better or she had a better understanding of the protagonist of the story, so she just kept writing with the pen, and basically didn't encounter any lags.

A week later, she successfully put together a 20,000-word manuscript, put it in an envelope and planned to take it to the mailroom to mail it to the magazine.

By the way, she also wrote two letters, one to her parents and the other to her eldest sister. The letters were nothing more than talking about her life in the army, what she did and what she ate. They looked boring, but her parents and eldest sister loved reading them.

Of course, at the end of the letter, I did not forget to ask about the health of my parents, and reminded them that it would be spring planting soon and I must remember to buy some meat to replenish the family.

She also stuffed three pounds of meat coupons and two pounds of sugar coupons into the envelope. The sugar coupons were for buying brown sugar for her pregnant sister-in-law. The letter to her eldest sister also naturally asked about how she and her two children, Haohao and Juejue, were doing recently.

Before leaving, He Susu asked, "Erbao, I'm going to the mailroom to mail a letter. Do you want to come with me or stay at home?"

Erbao had been detained at home for a long time and naturally wanted to go out, so he immediately responded: "Aunt, I will go with you."

He swept his building blocks aside, slipped off the chair, put on his shoes, and followed his aunt.

My second child often runs down to the military family compound to play with other children and is very familiar with these roads.

Now he followed his aunt to the mail room, chattering all the way. Whenever he saw a tree, he would talk about how he once played hopscotch here with a friend. Whenever he saw a stone chair, he would talk about how he and his brother came here to sit and rest after playing together for a while.

He Susu listened to him patiently, occasionally responded with a few words, and soon arrived at the mail room.

Because she often comes here to send letters, even the staff are familiar with her. They will greet her with a smile and then take the envelope. After checking everything to make sure it is correct, they will start to stamp the postmark and put on the stamps.

After paying the money, He Susu said hello to the staff and walked back with Erbao.

Erbao is a child who has finally come out and sees everything new. When his elder brother is in school, he gets out of school late in the afternoon. When his mother comes to his aunt's house to pick him up, she directly calls him to go home. Only on Sundays when his elder brother is resting can the two brothers go downstairs to play with their friends.

This time he was not restrained in looking for playmates. He was very outgoing and could play with other children in no time.

Looking at Xiaogu with pitiful eyes, Erbao began to act like a spoiled child: "Xiaogu, we finally got out for a trip, you must be tired from writing, why don't you get some fresh air outside."

"It's better to ventilate until you are tired of playing before going back, right?" He Susu asked with a smile.

Obviously knowing that Erbao had seen those kids on the other side of the road skipping rope and couldn't walk anymore, she looked at her watch and said, "I'll give you half an hour at most. We'll go home when the time is up."

Erbao immediately clapped his hands and cheered: "Great! Thank you, aunt!"

So He Susu took Erbao across the road and let him play with the other kids. She then found a stone chair, brushed off the dust on her head, and sat down to rest.

The location of this stone chair is very good. There is a big tree to provide shade, but it is not afraid of being exposed to the sun. There is no wind at this time, so it is not cold.

He Susu watched the children jumping rope with a smile. From time to time, they would quarrel over who missed the jump and who jumped extra. Erbao was actually the leader among them and could always judge who was right and who was wrong in just a few words. The children were all convinced and would pout one second and grin wildly the next.

She couldn't help laughing out loud and found it very interesting.

Before she got married, she lived with her brother and sister-in-law. She would occasionally go downstairs with her two children to watch them play.

After getting married, He Susu stayed at home most of the time and would not go out unless there was something important to do. Cheng Shi would find a way to get her out for a walk so that she could breathe some fresh air. Now it was fun to watch the kids playing, and it was also a chance for her to relax and have a rest.

When half an hour was up, He Susu called out, and Erbao kept his promise. He said hello and goodbye to his friends, then ran over to follow his aunt home.

After successfully sending out the 20,000-word story manuscript, I waited for a reply from the magazine to see if it would be selected for serialization.

Although she was very confident in herself, He Susu still chose to take a few days off and wait until she received a reply before continuing to write the article.

During these days, she had her period.

After discovering that, He Susu instinctively wanted to find a menstrual belt to change into, but suddenly she remembered the rare sanitary napkins she bought from the Overseas Chinese Store in Shanghai. She took the bag, opened it, took out a piece, and went to the bathroom to change into it.

It was not difficult to change it according to the method taught by the salesperson. He Susu came out of the bathroom easily and felt that it was much lighter than using a sanitary belt.

When I was in school, many female classmates would suffer from stomach pain during their menstruation. In severe cases, they would turn pale and be in so much pain that they could not walk. However, He Susu had been in good health since she was a child. Apart from having some strange feelings that she was afraid to show and usually moving in a gentle manner, she had no other discomfort.

Of course, she would not treat herself badly, so she went to the kitchen to make herself a cup of brown sugar water.

After a day's experience, He Susu couldn't be more satisfied with this sanitary napkin. She felt that it was a rare treasure that would benefit countless women.

Every time you go to the toilet and it gets dirty, you can just change it directly. There is no need to wash it in rotation like a sanitary belt. According to the salesperson, it is much better from the perspective of hygiene and safety.

He Susu planned to mention the usefulness of this sanitary napkin in a letter to her mother-in-law later, which could be regarded as a preparation for buying sanitary napkins in the future.

During the entire menstrual period, three or four tablets were used a day. He Susu found that she had used more than two packs. If there were ten packs at home, they could last for four or five months.

By then, if my mother-in-law can get some overseas remittance coupons and buy some to send over, and I can exchange some from the shopping system to mix things up, I can basically live a whole year without worries and live comfortably like this.

Husband and wife can talk about anything, and He Susu also mentioned to Cheng Shi that sanitary napkins are very useful, but of course she didn't go into details.

Cheng Shi nodded and suddenly realized. It was inevitable that Susu would be a little impatient when she felt uncomfortable during her period every month. But this time, she was not like that. She was in a good mood and had a smile on her face. It turned out that it was the sanitary napkin that did the trick.

He also said: "Since this sanitary napkin is a good thing, next time I write to my parents, ask them to keep an eye out for it. If there is a chance, exchange some remittance coupons for them and save them up, and then help buy sanitary napkins and send them to us later."

He Susu nodded: "I think so too."

Good things never happen alone, and the phrase "good luck comes in a row" is not wrong. He Susu also received a reply from the magazine.

The letter said that the subject matter of her story was very novel, and the beginning was full of the flavor of Shanghai. The protagonist, as an outsider who had just arrived in Shanghai, felt just right for her surprise, curiosity, envy, hesitation, and longing, which initially opened the curtain of the story and attracted readers to look forward to how the protagonist would integrate into Shanghai life and find a job.

The editor praised her writing style and her ability to construct characters, and paid her five yuan per thousand words as usual, agreeing on a time to send her next manuscript. A remittance slip for one hundred yuan was also enclosed in the letter.

He Susu breathed a sigh of relief after reading it. Even though she had expected it, she was still a little nervous. Now she felt relieved. Her ability to write stories was still as good as before and even improved. She would have a stable income again.

To celebrate this event, the meat dishes prepared that night were richer.

When Cheng Shi came back and saw what was happening in the kitchen, he was a little surprised. Normally, the two of them would eat one meat and one vegetable at home. He asked with a smile, "Did anything good happen today?"

He Susu nodded playfully: "Yes, is it a good thing to receive a reply from the magazine? The editor paid me five yuan per thousand words, and praised my writing style and story-writing ability for improvement."

Cheng Shi had read the story written by his wife this time. He didn't expect that taking her back to Shanghai would inspire her inspiration.

At that time, he was looking at everything the protagonist saw when he first arrived in Shanghai. The writing was full of the unique flavor of Shanghai, and even the authentic dialect spoken between neighbors was so vivid. At that time, he felt that the story written by Susu this time would definitely be popular.

He smiled and nodded. "Great! Congratulations on writing another touching story. The editor has a keen eye for talent. Your story is worth the money. But you will be busy again."

He Susu said indifferently, "It's okay. Writing articles at home is easier for me than for those workers who go to work in the factory. And I find writing stories more and more interesting now. Through my own ideas, I let the protagonist of my story go through a wonderful experience and live a wonderful life step by step. This feeling is wonderful."

“I love writing articles. I love the feeling of creating, especially when I know that readers like it too.”

If it weren't for her passion, no matter how high the pay was, He Susu wouldn't have been able to keep writing articles for so many years.

Ahem, although she did get enough rest.

Spring came and the weather gradually became warmer. Green tender leaves quietly grew on the branches of the big trees planted in the family compound.

I heard from Mrs. Wu and the others that everyone was busy turning the soil on the allocated land and sowing vegetable seeds for them to germinate.

After eating pickled spicy cabbage and pickled radish cubes for a whole winter, everyone is tired of them.

He Susu also asked Su Yu about this. Su Yu was busy at work during the day, so she used Sunday to turn the soil in the vegetable garden and sow the vegetable seeds. The daily watering task was left to He Lianzhou in the morning.

At home, Cheng Shi also used his rest time to turn the soil. The vegetable patch in the yard was not very big, and he turned the ground all over with a hoe in less than half an hour after dinner in the evening. The air was filled with the smell of fresh soil.

There were still vegetable seeds at home, so Cheng Shi divided the vegetable field into several areas and planted cabbage, water spinach, Chinese cabbage, rapeseed, and lettuce, and left a small area for planting onions, ginger, and garlic.

After eating too much pickled spicy cabbage in winter, I can’t wait to eat fresh vegetables, so all the vegetables planted in my home vegetable garden are green vegetables.

Cheng Shi and Susu have discussed it and plan to clear out a small plot of land to plant tomatoes, cucumbers and other vegetables after the vegetables have grown and are almost eaten.

The vegetables had just been planted in this family compound, and He Susu and Su Yu saw that they were available when they went to the county grocery store to buy vegetables.

Vegetables have just been supplied and are almost as scarce as pork. Almost every customer who comes to the grocery store to buy things leaves with a bag of green vegetables.

When He Susu and Su Yu saw this, they hurried over to pick the vegetables, lest they were sold out sooner.

Green vegetables can be exchanged in the shopping system, but there is no source. He Susu was really surprised to see vegetables. As long as the grocery store can sell green vegetables, she can exchange them from the shopping system.

Looking at the vegetable stall now, because I didn't come early, only one-third of the vegetables were left. The leaves mostly looked like the leftovers, and they were wrinkled and looked unpresentable.

He Susu picked and bought a pound of water spinach, while Su Yu ordered a cabbage and a handful of choy sum, and then they went to pick other things.

He Susu walked around the grocery store and bought two pieces of tofu, a piece of dried tofu, a crucian carp, half a chicken, a duck, half a pound of black fungus, half a pound of mushrooms, and a pound of rice noodles.

These things filled the backpack half full in no time. He Susu and Su Yu left the grocery store and went to the slaughterhouse.

On the way, Su Yu sighed, "Finally, we have some fresh vegetables. Unfortunately, there aren't many good ones left. If we buy too much, it won't be easy to store. When the vegetables in the garden grow up and are edible, we won't have to spend money to buy them."

He Susu nodded: "Yes, it's not easy to come across fresh vegetables, I can finally buy some to taste. I have also planted vegetable seeds in the vegetable garden at home, so it should be ready to eat in a while."

When they arrived at the slaughterhouse, they lined up to buy pork.

When it was He Susu's turn, she ordered three pounds of lean meat, two pounds of pork belly, and two ribs. This time, she bought chicken and duck, as well as a fish, at the grocery store, so she didn't need to buy so much pork.

Su Yu bought a fish at the grocery store, and this time she bought more pork, four pounds of lean meat, two pounds of pork belly and three ribs.

She smiled and said, "Your brother and Dabao and Erbao love to eat meat. They especially like the braised pork ribs with winter vegetables recipe you recommended earlier. This time, we might as well buy three ribs and cook them slowly."

"Braised pork ribs with winter vegetables is very delicious. My family loves it, too." He Susu nodded with a smile.

The two of them didn't need to buy anything else when they came to the county town. They simply walked to the supply and marketing cooperative and waited for the bus back to the army.

After returning to the family quarters of the family compound, He Susu got off the car and walked towards home. She heard Mrs. Shao calling her from behind: "Susu, wait a moment. I have something to tell you."

He Susu stopped and waited for her to come closer: "Hello, sister-in-law, what can I do for you?"

Mrs. Shao: "Didn't we say during the Lantern Festival that we would invite you and Cheng Shi to our house for dinner later? The child's father has been busy with things assigned by his superiors day and night, and he has never found time to invite you to dinner. Now that he has been free these few days, and today he happened to go to the county town to buy meat and vegetables, we thought of inviting you and Cheng Shi to our house for dinner tonight."

He Susu naturally remembered what she had promised before, and she did not shirk it this time: "Sister-in-law, it's hard for you to remember this. Okay, I'll tell Cheng Shi when he comes back and I'll go to your house for dinner tonight. I'll go over to help you when I wake up in the afternoon."

Mrs. Shao was happy to see her readily agree: "Okay, let's put it this way."

He Susu returned home and went into the kitchen to pack up her things, and then redeemed some items from the shopping system.

Add some more rice and flour to the house, and then a handful of fresh Chinese cabbage hearts, two fresh cabbages, a handful of leeks, a handful of rape flowers, and two tomatoes.

The vegetables in the shopping system are very cheap. A pound of vegetable hearts alone is less than 1 diligence point. Therefore, various vegetables can be combined together to calculate the diligence point for exchange, and a total of 3 diligence points are spent.

Thinking about going to Mrs. Shao's place in the afternoon, He Susu spent another 1 diligence point to exchange for a large cabbage and a handful of vegetable hearts, intending to bring them over when the time comes.

After she cleaned up, she started preparing lunch.

After Cheng Shi came back, He Susu told him that Mrs. Shao had invited her to dinner.

She had mentioned this before, and Cheng Shi knew what was going on. In addition, he had a good relationship with Political Commissar Zhang, so he nodded directly: "Okay, I understand. Is there anything at home that I can bring over?"

He Susu said nonsense casually: "I just bought a pound of egg cakes today. I'll take them over this afternoon. I'll go over to help my sister-in-law this afternoon, and take a cabbage and a handful of cauliflower. The grocery store has some fresh vegetables today, and I don't know if Sister Shao has bought any. I'll just take them over."

As for egg cake, you can just exchange one pound from the shopping system later.

At noon, the family also made a dish of stir-fried macaroni with garlic. Cheng Shi was happy to see fresh vegetables and ate a lot of them just now.

Cheng Shi nodded and said, "Okay, if you go over to help first, I'll come back from training in the evening to take a shower and change clothes before going over."

He Susu should be fine.

After waking up from her afternoon nap, she carried a pound of egg cakes and vegetables to Mrs. Shao's house.

Although she was said to be helping out, it was actually Mrs. Shao who was busy in the kitchen most of the time, and He Susu was not assigned much responsibility for preparing food.

Mrs. Shao sincerely invited the couple to her home for dinner, so the dinner was naturally sumptuous.

The meal was a great enjoyment. Cheng Shi chatted with Political Commissar Zhang, He Susu chatted with Mrs. Shao, and a few children joined in the conversation, making it very lively.

After dinner, they sat and drank tea and chatted. He Susu and Cheng Shi returned home, took a shower, tidied themselves up, and then lay down on the bed to sleep.

A few days later, Cheng Shi suddenly received an order to go on an urgent mission, and even the news was delivered by the soldiers in his regiment.