Chapter 84: Can't Survive the Winter

There were so many sweet potatoes and taro that they filled ten large baskets.

Lin Qi brought a total of six baskets of sweet potatoes and taro to the fork in the road to trade. Brother Tan's donkey cart was not big, and carrying these six baskets was already the limit.

She brought all six baskets, but still didn't see Xu Hexiao.

Xu Hexiao didn't come until Brother Tan showed up driving a ox cart.

"He didn't know about the transaction tonight?" Brother Tan was puzzled. "That doesn't make sense. He personally delivered the goods to me yesterday."

"He knows. Something must have delayed him." Lin Qi said, and changed the subject, "There are ten large baskets of sweet potatoes and taro, and I only brought six baskets tonight. Do you want the rest?"

"Yes, I want as many as you can get. Your stuff is so good, and it's already well-known. Even if it's sweet potatoes and taro, those people are willing to try it." Today, the two children in their family had steamed sweet potatoes and taro for breakfast, and they also wanted to eat at noon. They almost had a fight because there wasn't enough food. This time when he took the goods back, he planned to keep one basket of sweet potatoes and one basket of taro. In the winter, roasting sweet potatoes while warming the fire is so comfortable.

"Then come and get it tomorrow." Lin Qi said.

"In addition to sweet potatoes, I also want vegetables, as many as I can get." In winter, there is either cabbage or radish, and there is a shortage of green vegetables, especially high-quality green vegetables. The green vegetables grown by Lin Qi were praised by even the two children in his family who disliked eating green vegetables the most, not to mention other people.

"Then tomorrow I'll have four baskets of sweet potatoes and taro, and two baskets of vegetables," Lin Qi said, a little annoyed, "and some preserved fruits, jams, and dried fruits that I'm planning to sell as well. Your car is too small to carry them all."

"There are also preserved fruits, jams and dried fruits!" Brother Tan's eyes lit up and he stared at Lin Qi, "Is there a lot?"

"There are six jars of preserved fruits and four jars of jam. The dried fruits are persimmon cakes, dried hawthorns and raisins. There are four cloth bags for persimmon cakes, and two cloth bags each for dried hawthorns and raisins. As for the jars, you know, I took them from you. They can hold 40 kilograms of wine." Lin Qi said.

Every time she said something more, Brother Tan's eyes lit up a little more. He was so excited that his hands were shaking. "I want them all. I won't calculate the price for you this time. We'll just split it. You get 60% and I get 40%. How about that?"

This is not a gold nugget, it is clearly the God of Wealth.

Recently, he has made a lot of money with Lin Qi's goods. Many people are jealous, and many people have secretly been trying to find out where his goods come from. In order to tie her firmly to his boat, he chose to make concessions. He believed that no one else would give her such a high share except him.

When Xu Hexiao arrived, he just happened to hear Brother Tan mention the profit sharing.

"Is your share a profit share or a direct share of the sales price?" Xu Hexiao asked.

"Of course it's profit." Brother Tan rolled his eyes at Xu Hexiao, "There are also favors, travel expenses, and fuel costs. These will cost a lot."

"The process of planting, picking, and making it cost a lot." Xu Hexiao said calmly, "Even those jars, she spent money to buy them from you."

Brother Tan choked and said helplessly, "I have to bear more risks. If I get caught, it's speculation and profiteering, and I might end up in jail."

"She can also grow a lot of vegetables and can supply you throughout the winter. In the future, we will have not only vegetables, but also various fruits and grains. Oh, and we also have more than 200 kilograms of wine." Xu Hexiao said slowly, "If we want to continue our cooperation, your sincerity is not enough."

Brother Tan pointed at Xu Hexiao and said angrily, "You shouldn't have come tonight."

"If I hadn't come, she wouldn't trust you and wouldn't give you so many goods." Xu Hexiao was calm and composed.

"Sixty-five percent profit, no more." Brother Tan gritted his teeth and said.

"Sure. But you have to provide jars, cans, and various bags for free." There will be a lot of things to make in the future, and the consumption of these things will be very large, which will also be a considerable expense.

"Okay." Brother Tan agreed, "Ship all your goods here tomorrow. I'll drive a large truck over and deliver them directly to the provincial capital that night."

"Is there a limit on the amount of vegetables?" Since it's a big truck, it should be able to carry a lot of things.

"No limit. Eight or ten baskets is no problem." Since they are going to run a trip, the more goods the better. "Don't forget the wine."

After watching Brother Tan walk away, Lin Qi turned to look at Xu Hexiao, "Are you unhappy?"

Xu Hexiao hummed, "Is it so obvious?"

He thought he had hidden it well.

"Yeah. It's very different from usual. I feel like you're going to cry." Lin Qi's black and white eyes stared at Xu Hexiao's face, with worry in her eyes.

Xu Hexiao smiled bitterly. He was indeed about to cry, and he cried for a while on the way, so it was too late.

Xu Hexiao reached out and gently hugged Lin Qi, resting his chin on her shoulder, and asked in a hoarse voice, "Qiqi, is grandpa not doing well? You can feel it too, right? That's why you advised me to spend more time with grandpa."

Lin Qi's heart sank. She didn't want to lie to Xu Hexiao. "Grandpa's health has deteriorated so badly that he won't be able to hold on for much longer."

"Don't you have any other options?" Xu Hexiao regretted it as soon as he said this. "I'm sorry."

I'm just anxious, I don't want to force you.

"It's okay." Lin Qi could understand Xu Hexiao's feelings. He was just desperate and trying every possible means to find a cure.

"Actually, you have helped grandpa a lot. Grandpa eats the vegetables you grow, the wine you brew, and the animals you raise, and he no longer suffers from sleeping at night. In the past, he often couldn't fall asleep in the middle of the night." Not only grandpa, he also felt the benefits brought by the food.

The biggest benefit is that I have grown taller, and the cramps in my legs and feet that I used to have are gone, and I no longer have the problem of hypoglycemia.

"I can relieve grandpa's pain, but I can't control the decline of his body." After all, humans are not plants. Plants can grow new shoots as long as they have roots, but humans cannot.

Even though she was at the height of the apocalypse, she could not save a dying body. At most, she could help extend its life by a few months and alleviate some of its pain.

That night, Xu Hexiao lay flat on the bed, listening quietly to his grandfather's heavy breathing and his gentle tossing of his body. It was not until the second half of the night when his grandfather fell asleep that he fell asleep with him.

The next morning, Xu Hexiao came to Lin Qi to practice boxing as usual. Lin Qi practiced with him for a while, and then went in to cook breakfast.

"Grandpa wants to eat roasted sweet potatoes, right?" Lin Qi asked.

Xu Hexiao hummed and reminded her, "You light the fire first, don't touch the cold water, I'll cook it later."

Breakfast was ready, and they both ate first. Lin Qi wanted to go to the mountains, so she didn't let Xu Hexiao go with her.

Xu Hexiao watched her walk away and was not in a hurry to go home. Instead, he helped clean Lin Qi's house and helped her wash the vegetables in the yard.

After watering the dishes, Xu Hexiao took the breakfast left for his grandfather home.

Grandpa, who usually gets up at this time, was silent. Xu Hexiao thought that his grandfather fell asleep in the second half of the night, so he thought that he had not slept enough and did not go to the room to call him.

However, two hours later, Xu Hexiao realized something was wrong. He rushed into the room in panic, and the first thing he did when he got to the bed was to feel his grandfather's breath.

Very weak, but still there.

Xu Hexiao's legs went weak and he almost fell to his knees.

Xu Hexiao came out of the room, asked for leave from the team leader first, and then went to find Doctor Ma.

"You and I will go and invite Lao Ma." The captain frowned and followed Xu Hexiao's steps.

The two did not communicate with each other throughout the whole process, each thinking about their own thoughts.

When Lao Ma saw the two people coming in, he already had some guesses in his mind.

"There's nothing I can do if I go." Old Ma said helplessly, "Not to mention me, no matter who comes, the result will be the same. It's good enough to survive this winter."

"You haven't seen it yet." Xu Hexiao's voice was hoarse.

"Go and take a look." The captain advised.

Lao Ma sighed and said, "Let's go and have a look."

This was the first time, other than Lin Qi, that an outsider had come to Xu Hexiao's newly built house.

It was clean and tidy. Although there were few pieces of furniture, it had everything it needed. It was much better than the straw hut we had before, the captain commented in his mind.

Old Man Xu had already woken up at this time, sitting in front of the bed wrapped in a quilt. Seeing his grandson coming in with the doctor and the captain, he said weakly, "I just overslept, it's not that serious."

Xu Hexiao hummed, "I'll feel relieved if a doctor takes a look."

Doctor Xu Hexiao and Ma Da moved a chair and said, "Please take a look."

Lin Qi didn't wait for the spring to come. She sowed seeds in two rice fields this morning. When the brigade grows rice, they usually raise seedlings first. After the seedlings grow well, they pull up the seedlings and take them to the fields to plant rice seedlings.

Lin Qili skipped a series of work and directly sowed the grains, then stimulated the growth of the seeds, and only stopped when the seedlings bloomed.

She also helped to stimulate the growth of some grass by the pond. Worried that the food would be too monotonous with only grass, she threw some vegetables into the pond, crushed some wax gourds, loofahs, melons, and watermelons, and threw them into the pond.

As soon as these foods entered the water, they immediately attracted the scramble of fish. There were quite a few of them, both big and small.

Lin Qi licked her lips and said, "Let's have a pickled fish hotpot tonight."

Lin Qi made wine and preserved fruits in the morning. After lunch, she took a nap in bed and started preparing the goods after waking up. In addition to the vegetables in the cave, Lin Qi planned to prepare eight more baskets of vegetables.

There were not enough baskets, so Lin Qi had to continue weaving. This time, she simply made twenty at once, and the ones she didn't need for the time being, she stacked them up and put them in the corner of the cave.

Fortunately, she can stimulate the growth of vines, otherwise she would have to look for vines all over the mountain just to weave so many baskets and backpacks.

There were a lot of things tonight, and Lin Qi thought Xu Hexiao would go into the mountains to help move them, but until she had moved all the things, she still didn't see Xu Hexiao.

What happened?

Lin Qi was feeling a little anxious. Just when she was thinking about whether she should go back to check, Xu Hexiao ran over, panting.

"I'm sorry. I'm late." Xu Hexiao looked at the mountain of goods and blamed himself very much.

"What happened to Grandpa Xu?" Lin Qi asked.

Xu Hexiao nodded, "Doctor Ma said my grandfather wouldn't survive this winter, so I went to town to invite a doctor, but he came to see me, shook his head, and left without even prescribing any medicine."

Xu Hexiao did not mention how difficult the process of seeing a doctor was.

Looking at the distraught Xu Hexiao, Lin Qi was unable to utter any words of comfort. All words were so pale in the face of birth, old age, sickness and death.