Zhang Hongmei chatted with him for more than half an hour before leaving, by which time they had both finished class.

Go check out the supply and marketing cooperative in the township. Zhang Hongmei is actually a petty person; the incident last time still bothers her, but she can't get revenge.

Upon arriving at the supply and marketing cooperative, he went straight to the food counter and said, "Comrade, I'd like to buy brown sugar."

How many kilograms do you want?

"Ten catties."

"Fifteen yuan plus fifteen jin of sugar coupons."

Zhang Hongmei took out her money and coupons, thinking to herself that the township had more supplies than the county.

He took out a cloth bag and filled it. "Comrade, do you have any white sugar or rock sugar?"

"No."

"Xiao Jiang, people from Sunjiawa are coming to buy brown sugar. Prepare some for them."

"Sister Wang, how many do they want?"

"Ten catties."

"But there isn't any."

"How could there not be? I just saw there were still thirteen jin left."

"I just sold ten jin?"

How much did you sell it for?

"Why can't it be sold? Whoever takes it first gets to keep it. Why would we specially reserve it for them?"

"Xiao Jiang, I'll go tell the director."

"Go ahead, I'll wait here."

The woman surnamed Wang swayed away, while the girl named Xiao Jiang sat indifferently behind the counter.

"Comrade, have I caused you any trouble?"

“It’s nothing, I just can’t stand her. She dares to accept bribes and leave things behind. She even said she wouldn’t sell brown sugar to Liujiatun in the first month of the lunar year. Does she think she’s in charge here? Do you still want some? There are still three jin left.”

"Then isn't it more difficult for you?"

"What's there to be afraid of? I'll sell them as long as I have the money and the tickets, and nobody can say anything about it."

"Alright, give them all to me. I'm from Liujiatun."

"That's even better, you can have them all."

Zhang Hongmei put the brown sugar back into the cloth bag. She decided to stay and watch the play. Little Jiang noticed Zhang Hongmei's intention, rolled her eyes at her, but said nothing.

The woman surnamed Wang returned shortly afterward, but the director did not come.

"Xiao Jiang, give me those three jin, they'll come over and pay me in a bit."

"Sister Wang, you're too late again. I've already sold them all." Xiao Jiang said, shrugging with an innocent and helpless expression.

"You're going too far! Don't you know I want to buy it?"

"I don't know. I'll sell them if I have money and tickets. I've never heard of anyone being allowed to keep them."

"Don't you know the rules? You can't short sell anymore?"

"Who made these rules? I know the work guidelines by heart; it's not written here."

Their commotion attracted the attention of the other sales clerks, who all gathered around.

The three sales clerks are all people who only care about their own business and can only try to smooth things over.

The saleswoman surnamed Wang turned and went back to her counter. "I'm short one yuan today. We agreed on one yuan for ten pounds. It's all that idiot's fault. Hmph, I'll teach her a lesson she won't forget."

Xiao Jiang glanced at Zhang Hongmei sideways. "Have you seen enough? Was it good?"

Zhang Hongmei gave a thumbs up, "Sister Xiao Jiang is amazing. That's how you have to deal with people who lack professional ethics."

Stop flattering me and get out of here.

Zhang Hongmei checked the time and estimated that they would still be half an hour away, so she went to wander around somewhere else.

The food supply station only had seasonings, and not many of them; nothing else.

I went to the junkyard again, hoping to find something bargain, but in the end I only found two bowls and a vase that I liked. It cost me a dime in total.

I hurried to the bus stop in front of the township government to wait for them, afraid of missing them.

I only felt at ease after asking around and finding out that the car hadn't arrived yet.

After waiting for more than ten minutes, Er Ya and Zhu Zi finally got off the bus.

Zhu Zi was still riding his bike, with Er Ya in front and Zhang Hongmei behind.

Upon arriving in the village, the two couldn't wait to go home. Er Ya had never left the house before. Moreover, she hadn't been back for almost twenty days, and she had been missing it terribly.

As March arrives, the weather gradually warms up, and the earth thaws.

The village was busy digging sweet potato pits. Zhang Hongmei was a shepherd, so she wasn't assigned any tasks. In her spare time, she still taught the children to read.

Shi Tou and San Ya have both started school and walk to the village every day. Zhang Hongmei gave each of them three pencils, an eraser, a small knife, two arithmetic notebooks, and two grid notebooks.

The schoolbags were sewn by Li Cuihua, and each child also had a pencil case. Seeing that the two children didn't complain about walking such a long way to school and were even cheerful, showing they had endless energy every day...

The village carpenters were also trying to find a solution. Since the river had dried up and the well water could not be used for farming, they thought of the pools in the mountains.

Getting water down the drain is easy; one or two buckets is manageable, but planting sweet potatoes requires a lot of water.

But it was in the mountains, and going up and down the mountain was really impractical. In the end, we decided to replant the sweet potato field that Zhang Hongmei had opened last year, and also plant the radish field. The old hunter also provided several places, all of which were not far from the pond.

Now, every day the women dig sweet potato beds at home, while the men go to the mountains to make sweet potato ridges.

After feeding the sheep, Zhang Hongmei would help put sweet potatoes in the sweet potato kang (a heated platform bed), add wood ash, cover it with sand, and insert willow branches. She would help with any chores that came up.

Half a month later, all the sweet potato sheds were covered with plastic film, and they were just waiting for the sweet potato vines to grow.

When Zhang Hongmei received Song Zigan's letter, it took her a while to remember who he was. She simply replied to his letter and then forgot about him.

Plant all kinds of melons in the mountains; there's plenty of space.

Because water was inconvenient, I secretly went to the pond and filled all the containers that could hold water. Even so, I made two trips.

They also took the time to deliver a bag of sweet potato flour, a bag of dried pumpkin, a small bag of shredded radish, and dried radish to the old principal.

That day, I found a treasure in the countryside: a small millstone. It looked very exquisite, and I really liked it. I didn't even realize that no matter how exquisite it was, it was still just a millstone.

With the rice husks in the millstone, you can try to mill rice. If you can, try the rice you grew yourself.

Everyone is preparing seedlings; whether they grow or not is another matter, but if they don't plant them, they'll have nothing left.

Because last year's potatoes grew exceptionally large and plentiful, Zhang Hongmei decided to use plastic film again this year. She remembered to buy plastic film from the agricultural machinery station next time she went to the city; it's a valuable item. She'd also tell Liu Maocai about it. Actually, plastic film isn't expensive at all. Hopefully, everyone can use it!

After taking off her cotton-padded coat and changing into her autumn clothes, Zhang Hongmei had grown taller, and the pant legs and sleeves were too short. Li Cuihua took the time to make her two more outfits. Actually, she could wear Cui Lin's clothes now, although they were a bit loose, the length was just right.

But Zhang Hongmei didn't want to wear it. She hadn't even worn any new ones. She felt a bit resistant to it, though she couldn't explain why.

I need to replace my shoes too, thankfully I bought a few pairs at the market. Otherwise, I'll have to keep chasing after people to make new ones. I'll go back to the market in a few days; the shoes this old lady makes are quite comfortable and fit well.

The sweet potato vines had grown and were ready to be planted, so everyone threw themselves into the heavy physical labor.