Chapter Twenty-Nine: Tasting
After the grandmother picked two sacks of vegetables and fruits, both those she had mentioned and those she hadn't, An Songyu and her granddaughter were finally let go.
With great difficulty, An Songyu carried the things to the newly built two-story house site, and then simply put them down for the time being.
Anyway, she'll be passing by here when she leaves the silkworm house.
"Your dad is really planning to build four five-story buildings, not just one!" Shi Youqin couldn't help but ask when she saw the houses her third son was building.
An Songyu smiled and nodded.
If it weren't for the fact that the houses in the village are at most five stories high.
Her dad probably wants to build a few more floors.
That makes sense; if we build a few more stories, the current foundation won't be able to support it.
Then, it's uncertain whether it will be completed before the demolition.
Seeing her granddaughter still smiling, Shi Youqin was even more speechless: "Are all the people in your family incredibly carefree?"
“Our village is not as close as the neighboring Lin Village to the new district that will be built in the future.”
"Although there are indeed five-story buildings in the village, they have developed agritainment, fishing grounds, and even swimming pool barbecues and camping, and they are doing very well."
"We never lack customers, all year round!"
"What about your family? Not a single person comes to the village to run a business."
"If you build so many houses and they're all empty, you won't even be able to recoup your costs. What will you do then?"
"Grandma, don't worry!" An Songyu quickly reassured her, knowing that the old lady meant well.
But you can't just make statements about something like demolition and relocation that's still uncertain.
Even her uncles and aunts were being cared for by her father and younger uncle.
As things stand, things seem pretty good so far.
At least after An Songlin's wedding, not only his eldest uncle and fourth uncle's families increased the area of their contracted orchards.
Both of my aunts have come back to the village to visit more than once.
They probably all have some ideas, but it's unclear how long it will take them to make a decision.
In addition, seeing the An family's appearance, the village's previously neglected orchards began to attract attention.
Currently, no one in the village has started contracting out the land.
But who knows what will happen next.
It's unclear how many people will actually take action before the demolition begins.
While thinking, An Songyu observed Shi Youqin's expression. Seeing that she still had her brows furrowed, she quickly added:
"Grandma, maybe Dad... just wants to get it all done at once?"
“After all, our family has now built a silkworm house and leased an orchard in the village. I believe that Dad’s focus of development will shift to the village in the future.”
"He is still young and has a job."
"But what if he retires in eight or ten years?"
"Then you'll go back to the village and run the business like your uncle and the others?"
As she talked, An Songyu began to believe it made sense.
She couldn't help but feel a little guilty, but then she saw that Shi Youqin's expression had relaxed somewhat.
An Songyu breathed a slight sigh of relief, finally she didn't have to keep making up lies.
In the afternoon, when An Songyu left the village, he made a phone call to An Jianping's office.
When she had loaded all the harvest she had collected in the village that day onto the truck with An Jianmin's help and arrived at the station, An Jianping was already waiting for her there.
The father and daughter carried their belongings out of the station and onto the back of their bicycles before An Jianping quickly left.
He came out temporarily during his work hours.
The Rongdi bus terminal is actually not far from the Shuncheng No. 1 Silk Weaving Factory.
The buses that go outside the city do not pass by the First Silk Weaving Factory.
To get to the entrance of the residential area, you have to take a long detour.
That's why An Jianping made this special trip.
An Songyu rode her bicycle, which was loaded with clothes, home with some difficulty.
It wasn't until we entered the family quarters that some acquaintances greeted us and came over to help.
Many hands make light work.
With everyone working together, they managed to move all the items from the car to An Songyu's house in just one trip.
An Songyu quickly gestured for everyone to sit down, and Aunt Chen, who was sitting next to her, waved her hand and smiled:
"Ah Yu is really something. It's just a matter of lending a hand, why is she being so polite with the aunties?"
The other two aunties who were helping also happily declined.
They were just chatting downstairs in the residential area.
She only helped because she noticed that the things in An Songyu's car looked heavier than hers.
"Auntie, please don't stand on ceremony!" An Songyu deftly opened the basket that had been hanging on the handlebars, gesturing for everyone to look first:
"This is the first batch of mulberries this year from the mulberry fields that our family contracted."
"I picked half a basketful today!"
"This is a good opportunity to invite the aunties to try it."
Mulberries are not exactly a common fruit for residents of Shuncheng District these days.
However, as a family member of a silk factory worker.
They also knew that although mulberries were not common, they were not particularly precious.
Now, the aunties weren't in a hurry to leave.
So, An Songyu quickly went to the kitchen and soaked the mulberries in salt water.
Aunt Chen and her friends became the first people in the residential area to taste the delicious mulberries this year.
"These mulberries are so fresh!" Aunt Liu, who lives in the building in front of An Songyu's house, couldn't help but exclaim after tasting just one.
"It's really fresh!" Aunt Chen nodded without even tasting it.
After eating two, I couldn't help but exclaim, "It's been so long since I've tasted this flavor!"
"How long has it been since you've had it? We've barely even tasted it a few times!"
"That's true! These days, it's getting harder and harder to collect silkworm cocoons locally."
"I don't know how many of these mulberry trees are still standing."
"Will our factory be affected?"
"If it were going to have an impact, it would have done so already!"
"How much of the material in our factory is still sourced locally these days?"
"Really? But isn't Shuncheng a well-known silkworm breeding base?"
"That's from so many years ago!"
Listen to the three of them discussing amongst themselves.
An Songyu gained a clearer understanding of the mulberry planting and silkworm breeding industry in Shuncheng.
That evening, as the family ate the fresh, first-harvest mulberries, An Songxiang felt a particular regret:
"I was there just two days ago."
"Why didn't we see the mulberries ripe at the time?"
"So you got to eat too, didn't you?" An Songlin said to his sister with a forced smile.
"I just wanted to eat it, didn't I? I wanted to pick and eat it too!" An Songxiang said, hugging An Songyu's arm as she sought approval.
An Songyu smiled and said, "Don't worry, when you go there again this week, you'll see ripe mulberries in any mulberry field."
This isn't An Songyu fooling his sister.
When she picked mulberries today, she saw that almost every mulberry field had mulberries starting to turn red.
At its rate of ripening, there shouldn't be too many by Sunday.
Reminded by An Songyu, An Songlin quickly said goodbye to his family:
"Mom and Dad, Aying and I are not staying."
"I'll go to my classmate's place later and ask about the situation."
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