Liu Jiali was stunned for a moment and asked hesitantly, "Ah, are you going home?"

Yao Youjun asked curiously, "What else?"

As he said that, he closed the door of the dormitory and walked towards the gate of the steel plant.

Liu Jiali followed his steps closely, walking beside him, pulling at her pigtails awkwardly, hesitating, "I, I thought..."

"Why?"

Yao Youjun didn't hear what she said clearly and looked at her in confusion.

Liu Jiali thought about the casual conversation she had overheard between her father and her mother, and finally mustered up the courage to shout.

"Didn't the people in your workshop say they wanted to introduce you to someone and ask you to go and find a wife?"

Yao Youjun was stunned. Finally, he reacted and pointed at himself in surprise. "Looking for a wife? Me? Are you kidding? I need my parents' consent to find a wife! How could I possibly go if my parents didn't agree?"

Originally he was trying to get in touch with his eldest brother-in-law's cousin, but later when he went back to his eldest brother-in-law's house, his eldest sister told him privately that Chu Lifang and Sun Jianjun from their brigade had fallen in love, so she gave up on him.

Yao Youjun had not had much contact with Chu Lifang, so he did not feel anything when he heard it. He thought, forget it, as he just wanted to go to work properly.

Liu Jiali was delighted, but she pretended to be calm and said, "Then, when do your parents plan to see you?"

Yao Youjun answered without hesitation, "I definitely won't consider it this year. I have to get a regular job no matter what. I'll wait until I'm completely settled. Well, the earliest I can consider it is the second half of next year, right?"

"You said that?"

Liu Jiali felt better after hearing this. She was only seventeen this year. Her father said that he would find her a job when she graduated from high school in July next year. By the time her job and other things were stable, it would be around this time next year...

Yao Youjun didn't react, "What?"

Seeing that the station was just ahead, Liu Jiali stood face to face with Yao Youjun, smiling brightly and saying, "You said we'd meet again in the second half of next year! You have to keep your word! Otherwise, you're nothing but a puppy!"

“······”

Yao Youjun was dazzled by Liu Jiali's smile and didn't react for a while. It took him a while to let out an "ah".

Seeing that the bus to the Changsheng Corps was about to leave, Liu Jiali hurriedly urged, "Hurry up and leave, I'm going home..."

After saying that, he waved at him and ran away with light steps.

Yao Youjun, “…”

Yao Xiujuan packed the dried sweet potato chips and pumpkin chips separately at home. She was surprised to see that the cabinet at home that was specially used to store dried goods was full. When did her family accumulate so many dried goods?

Mrs. Chu saw that Yao Xiujuan had been putting out the dried sweet potatoes and pumpkin for a long time and didn't come out. She thought she couldn't find a place to put them, so she walked in and asked, "Xiujuan, can't you find a place?"

Yao Xiujuan turned around and shook her head, "Found it."

Then he pointed to the dry goods in the cabinet and said, "I'm just surprised that there are so many dry goods in our house..."

She just counted the dried eggplants, dried spinach, dried radishes, dried cowpeas, and even the dandelions and alfalfa that only appear in spring are dried...

Mrs. Chu was stunned for a moment when she heard this, then she patted her chest with a smug smile and said proudly, "I prepared this. Our vegetable garden is large and we grow a lot of vegetables, especially spinach, which grows so fast. By the time the other vegetables are ready to eat, we can't finish the spinach. It's almost grown old, so I thought it would be a waste, so I blanched it all and dried it. I thought I could use it to make noodles in the winter!"

"As for those things called alfalfa and dandelions, didn't Lifang and your sister Xiuli often go digging them together back then? They dug so much and couldn't eat it all. It would be a shame to throw them away after all the effort. So I also blanched them and dried them in the sun like the spinach..."

Yao Xiujuan gave Mrs. Chu a thumbs-up in admiration, "Grandma, you are amazing! Your granddaughter-in-law didn't even think of that..."

Old Mrs. Chu was delighted by Yao Xiujuan's praise and said lovingly, "You and Xiaotian are still young and haven't experienced so much. Grandma has experienced two famines and two escapes in her life, so she knows that no matter what it is, as long as it can fill your stomach, it must not be wasted! Wasting will bring thunder and lightning, so..."

Yao Xiujuan knew that Mrs. Chu had experienced a lot, so she understood the value of food. She thought it was a good thing. With more dried vegetables at home, she could have more variety in her meals during the winter.

Here, Chu Tian and his companions finally paid their public grain tax before noon of the next day. Chu Tian was initially worried that the stationmaster would make things difficult for them, and was even thinking about giving him something in private. However, although the stationmaster was strict, he would not make things difficult for them. As long as the dryness of the grain met the requirements and the cotton was not mixed with too many impurities, they would pass smoothly.

When everyone walked out of the regiment headquarters, they all breathed a sigh of relief, which showed that everyone was afraid that they would not pass the test in one try.

Captain Sun called out, "Didn't some of our team members say they wanted to go shopping last night? Why don't we go now? We'll meet under the big tree outside the regiment grounds in an hour."

As soon as he finished speaking, everyone dispersed, leaving only Chu Tian and a few others.

Chu Tian pulled Sun Weiguo over and said before they could speak, "Weiguo and I want to go shopping..."

Chu Min knew what Chu Tian wanted to do, so he pulled his eldest brother who wanted to go with him, smiled and nodded, "You go ahead, we'll go for a walk..."

Chu Tian saw Chu Min's actions, his eyes flashed, "Then we'll go first..."

After saying this, he swiftly took Sun Weiguo and drove away in a carriage.

Sun Weiguo turned around and glanced at the Chu brothers who were still standing there. "Brother Tian, ​​let's just leave like this, okay?"

Chu Tian glanced at him sideways, "What's wrong with that? Should we publicly tell them that we're going to engage in speculation?"

Sun Weiguo, "..."

Chu Min watched Chu Tian and the other two leave before looking at Chu Jie. "Xiao Jie, you don't have any money. Do you need me to give you some first?"

Chu Jie thought about it and nodded, "Okay, then I'll borrow Brother Min's money first, and I'll return it to you when I get back..."

Chu Min took out a dollar and handed it to Chu Jie, "Don't worry, is one dollar enough?"

"That's enough."

Chu Jie took it, looked at his two brothers and several cousins, said hello and left.

Chu Min looked at Chu Jun and the others again. Before he could say anything, they waved their hands and said that they had a few cents on them and planned to go to the supply and marketing cooperative together. Seeing this, Chu Min left alone.

An hour later, when Chu Tian arrived under the big tree outside the regiment, there was no carriage left. Only Chu Min was left. "Second brother, where are the people in the team?"

Chu Min picked up a large sack from the ground and placed it on the carriage. "I let them go first."

Chu Tian blinked, "Then why didn't Second Brother leave?"

Chu Min smiled and said, "Because the second brother wants to go with me!"

Chu Tian, ​​"..."