Indeed, the goods that come from the city—look at all the things laid out on the kang (heated brick bed)—are all sorts of things. You could say you don't need to buy anything for the New Year, or even not buy anything for the rest of the year.

Leaving aside them, let's talk about Uncle Ma's family and Uncle Zhou's family. The two baskets that Grandpa Huang brought back the next day were also full. I can say that they brought almost everything I could use or eat from the supply and marketing cooperative.

I don't know where they got these tickets. I'm not worried about Uncle Zhou's family because his aunt is the director of the supply and marketing cooperative.

But why did Uncle Ma's family bring so many things? It wasn't until later, when I learned that Uncle Ma's aunt worked in a pharmaceutical factory, specifically in logistics, and that some things didn't need to be bought, and some things could be obtained by exchanging tickets with others, that I realized I had been overthinking things.

In the dead of winter, almost no one in the village goes out. However, I still go out for a five-kilometer run every morning. When I have something to do, I also go to Grandpa Huang's house to give my two children some guidance and teach them a few words.

However, I visit Grandpa Wang's house most often. Lately, the weather's gotten colder, so I can make more dumplings, steamed buns, sticky rice cakes, and the like. I can help Grandpa Wang make these things so he doesn't have to cook for himself every day. He can just make some porridge and stir-fry some vegetables, which is fine, considering his age.

And what about myself? I reorganized the space and planned its layout.

First, let's talk about the yard. The area that used to be planted with fruit is still mostly fruit trees, but I've planted more strawberries and watermelons. I've planted vegetables in the areas where cantaloupes and honeydew melons used to grow. Anyway, there's already plastic sheeting on hand, which was prepared before my internship in my previous life, so I can make good use of it.

I plan to arrange the land on the west side like this: I will plant medicinal herbs, such as ginseng and lingzhi, in the space about one meter wide closest to the west wall.

Then divide the remaining half in two, planting corn or other crops in one half, which can be kept for future consumption or for sale.

What about the other half? Divide it in half again. Plant sweet potatoes on one half. Sweet potatoes are high-yielding. This is so that we don't have to buy grain when it's distributed next year. Also, I'm still growing. Taking too much other grain out of my space might be discovered and I might not be able to explain its origin. But sweet potatoes are fine. I need the most sweet potatoes when it's time to distribute grain. I'm not afraid of being investigated, am I?

The remaining half can also be divided in two. One half can be planted with grains like various beans, and the other half can be planted with potatoes, since potatoes are both a vegetable and a staple food.

I'm going to make use of the greenhouse near the east wall. That way, we can have both fresh fruit and green vegetables to eat in winter, which is great.

A few days ago, while I was husking corn, I overheard Aunt Hua say, "It was so chaotic when I went to the city the other day."

"What happened?" Grandma Qi asked.

"Seventh Aunt, you don't know, there are arrests happening everywhere in the city right now?"

"Arrest people? Who are you arresting?"

"Arrest the egg seller"

"Egg seller"

"Yes, I heard someone sold a large quantity of eggs in the city."

"That can't be right. Our chickens stopped laying eggs long ago, when it snowed. The eggs we brought here..."

"Who can argue with that?"

"That doesn't necessarily mean the chickens won't lay eggs anymore. The two chickens we keep at home have been laying eggs every other day recently."

"Then why arrest them?"

"I don't know, but they're arresting the egg seller. They say they're going to catch him and convict him of speculation and profiteering."

"ah"

"Sigh, never mind, never mind, this is..."

And so they changed the subject. Hearing this, I realized that selling just 1000 eggs could attract attention; it seems the county town is still too small.

I definitely can't sell so many eggs every time anymore. I thought I could buy more and make more money. Sigh, I can't sell like this anymore. I'll just sell one or two hundred eggs each time I go to collect my subsidy! And I have to choose a time when everyone's chickens have already been ordered. Sigh!

So now we need to reorganize the house. Only two rooms are for refrigeration; the rest are temperature-controlled. But eggs need more than just temperature control; they also need to be kept fresh, otherwise they'll still spoil.

Another point is that the food I can currently obtain through my own labor and subsidies is enough for my own consumption, so the food grown in the space can only be stored away there.

Although I don't grow a lot of anything, as it stands, as long as I stay in the countryside for a day, I don't need much food here. I'll only consume some wheat flour and rice, but even if I have a big appetite, how much can I eat by myself?

After thinking about it, I moved the furniture from the living room to the bedroom. The storeroom to the west of the study was already full of things, and now the only empty space in the study was between the desk and the bookshelves.

The shelves on the north side of the bedroom were also full of things, and the bed was near the south side. Now let's rearrange them. This way, all the furniture will be placed back-to-back, and if we put everything from the living room in, it will be just as full. Let's put the shelves and things in the living room.

In the bedroom, I'll still use a large water tank and specially made shelves. This area will be used to store grains, along with the existing flour and rice. I plan to use the large water tank for unhulled wheat, corn, rice, and the like. We'll rotate these three crops, ensuring all the grains in the space become organic, pesticide-free products.

The shelves in the living room are now filled with durable, non-perishable items, such as enamel basins, enamel plates, thermos flasks, kettles, and other bottles and jars—anything that isn't needed for the time being is placed here.

I plan to put the grain I earn from work points in the remaining space. I always feel that it's safer to put the grain outside than inside the space, and it won't get infested with insects, right?

Just leave a little bit outside; leaving it out for too long will be too conspicuous. Even if everyone knows how much grain we have, it won't work. It's because we're afraid of shameless people coming to borrow grain. We don't know anyone, so who knows what kind of person they are or whether they'll return it?

The warehouse still has quite a lot of stuff, but it's relatively less than before. The most there are still a few pigs that were raised a couple of years ago, and now they're all neatly arranged, piece by piece.

The chicken, duck, and goose meat we used to buy are still stored there, though not a lot, maybe a hundred or so of each. But it's been enough for the past two or three years. When we need more, we'll just slaughter chickens from outside. We still have over 3,000 eggs, but that's fine. There are also one or two pigs belonging to my third and fourth brothers.