Although late autumn comes slowly on Shengshan Island, it arrives quickly.

It was as if we had just said goodbye to the summer heat and immediately entered the embrace of cold. The summer on the island is hotter than outside, and the winter on the island is also colder than outside.

Xiangcheng is too far away from Shancheng. When Lin Tao first came to the island with Li Chengxi, it was summer. When the weather got cooler, Lin Tao discovered that there was no thick cotton quilt at home.

Lin Tao originally wanted to take out the winter quilts at home and dry them in the sun while the weather was good, so that she could cover them directly when the weather got really cool.

As a result, I searched through all the quilt cabinets at home, but only found a not-too-thick quilt.

After asking Li Chengxi, she found out that Li Chengxi used this quilt to cover himself during the winter. Lin Tao was shocked and helpless. She really didn't know how he could survive the winter with such a thin quilt.

She could only comfort herself by saying that Li Chengxi was a grown man and was not afraid of the cold, but she was not like that. Her physique was such that she was not afraid of heat but was afraid of cold.

In summer, Li Chengxi would come back sweating every time, but she rarely sweated, unless she went to the sea with Chen Shuifen and Xu Yuting like last time. But in winter, it was different. She had to cover herself with a thick quilt, otherwise she would be too cold to sleep.

Li Chengxi went to the supply and marketing cooperative the next day, intending to buy some cotton to make a thick cotton quilt for Lin Tao, but unfortunately the supply and marketing cooperative did not purchase any cotton this year.

Li Chengxi came up with another idea. He planned to wait for one of his comrades to leave the island and ask them to bring back some cotton.

However, before his comrades left the island, Chen Shuifen found out about this.

Chen Shuifen pulled Lin Tao and said, "Teacher Lin, you want to buy cotton? Why didn't you tell me? I know where I can buy cotton!"

Taking advantage of the weekend, Lin Tao, Xu Yuting and Chen Shuifen went to buy cotton.

Xu Yuting has quilts at home and a lot of winter clothes. The baby in her belly will be born next summer, so she doesn't need to make thick clothes for the baby. She has cotton for everything. Why did she come here? It's because she was too bored at home.

Wang Yuanliang has been out on a sea inspection lately, and Xu Yuting is feeling bored at home alone. She wants to look for Lin Tao, but Lin Tao has to go to school, so she can only read books at home or go to Chen Shuifen's house to talk to her.

Now he no longer minding that Chen Shuifen talks like an old hen, he just worries that no one talks to her.

After more than three months of pregnancy, Xu Yuting's belly has changed and is slightly bulging. But if you don't look carefully, you can't see it because she wears loose clothes.

Lin Tao was worried about her, so she always held her arm when they walked on the street, for fear that she would accidentally fall.

Chen Shuifen was familiar with the place, and she led the way to the door of a simple house. The fishermen's yard was not built with bricks like the houses of their families, but was surrounded by fences.

Standing outside, you can see clearly what is happening in the yard.

Although this family's house looks simple due to being out of repair for many years, it is kept clean.

"Sister, sister!" Chen Shuifen called out several times towards the yard.

There was soon movement in the house. A woman who looked to be about 30 years old came out. She should know Chen Shuifen. She smiled when she saw her and quickly opened the door for them.

The woman tied her hair into two braids and tied them up at the back of her head, looking neat and tidy.

Although the clothes she wore were not new, they were clean. Although the skin on her face was not very white, it was not as dark as the fishermen here.

The woman saw Lin Tao and Xu Yuting looking at her, smiled at them and invited them in: "Please come in, sit for a while, I'll go get you some water."

"No hurry, no hurry." Chen Shuifen called her, "Girl, do you still have cotton? I remember that you are the only one on our island that has cotton, right?"

The woman nodded: "Yes, I wonder how much you want, big sister?"

Chen Shuifen: "I don't want it, it's my sister who wants it. She wants to make a thick quilt, but the supply and marketing cooperative doesn't have cotton, so I brought her to your place to have a look."

Then it was Lin Tao's turn to negotiate with her. The woman was easy to talk to. Seeing that Lin Tao wanted a lot, she told her that there was not much cotton in her house this year, but there was some left over from last year. If Lin Tao took all, it would definitely be enough to make a quilt.

And the old cotton can be sold cheaper to Lin Tao.

Lin Tao saw that the woman was easy to talk to, and she happened to need cotton. Last year's old cotton was in good condition, and it would not be hard to tell if it was mixed with this year's new cotton. It should be warm enough to make a quilt, so she took all of it.

Cotton was not bought with money, but was exchanged for grain coupons and oil coupons.

It just so happened that Lin Tao was now working as a math teacher and received two salaries, and also received double the tickets of all kinds, so she was very prompt when giving the tickets.

In fact, she and Li Chengxi could not use up all the tickets every month, and sometimes they would save some to send to Lin Changhai and Aunt Fang who were far away in Xiangcheng.

But Lin Changhai didn't really need these tickets. He was a worker and had tickets every month. They said they were sent to the two of them, but in fact most of them were given to Aunt Fang. Lin Tao understood it in her heart, but she had long regarded Aunt Fang as half a mother, and didn't think there was anything wrong with giving the tickets they saved to Aunt Fang.

Li Chengxi would not say anything at all, as he has always been very supportive of these things.

He would hand over his monthly allowance to Lin Tao before it even warmed up in his pocket, and all household affairs were decided by Lin Tao.

After changing the cotton, Lin Tao looked around the yard again. There were vegetables, chickens, ducks, sheep, and even rabbits. The rabbit had just given birth to a litter of little rabbits, all curled up in the mother rabbit's arms.

Lin Tao and Xu Yuting were both very curious about the rabbits. The hostess saw that they liked the rabbits, so she asked them if they wanted rabbits and gave one to each of them.

Lin Tao and Xu Yuting were both embarrassed. How could they take someone else's rabbit for free?

But the hostess said it was okay. Rabbits give birth very quickly. They gave birth to a litter not long ago and now they have given birth to another litter. They can't keep so many rabbits at home, so they give them away to people living nearby. If they like them, it's okay for them to take one.

After hearing what she said, Lin Tao and Xu Yuting each asked for a rabbit.

But the rabbit just gave birth, so it would be difficult to take it away now. The hostess said it would be better to wait for another week, so that the rabbit would be easier to take care of after the confinement period. They could come and get it, or she could send it to them.

As for Chen Shuifen, she didn't want it. She said that if she took a rabbit back home, she would be guaranteed to be strangled to death by that little bastard Zheng Hongxing in her family within three days, so she would not want rabbits anymore.

When they left, the hostess walked with them for a while and only went back when they reached a fork in the road.

On the way, Lin Tao couldn't help asking Chen Shuifen: "Sister, is the sister just now also from Shengshan Island?"

Chen Shuifen shook her head: "You mean her? How can she be from the island? Her name is Zhong Jing, and her husband is a counter-revolutionary who was sent down here. Don't look at her like this now, she actually has a good background, she is a college student. But even if she is a college student, it's useless. When she comes here, she can only go out to sea to fish like the fishermen here."

After hearing this, Lin Tao thought to herself, no wonder.

No wonder she found a thick stack of books on Zhong Jing's table when she was at her house. She is truly a learned person who loves to read wherever she goes.

At the same time, I feel sorry for Zhong Jing, a good college student, who was sent here with her husband and became like this.

When Lin Tao was thinking about these things, she began to ponder another thing.

Their school is so short of teachers now, so can they let Zhong Jing go to teach in the school?

However, she is just thinking about it for now, and she doesn't know whether it can be accomplished. She doesn't plan to tell Chen Shuifen and Xu Yuting about this for the time being. Lin Tao plans to talk to Yang Ai Dang about it next time.

After buying cotton, you can't make a quilt directly. The cotton is in clumps, and you have to find a master who specializes in cotton fluffing. With Chen Shuifen around, Lin Tao doesn't need to worry about these things.

As soon as they came out of Zhong Jing's house, Chen Shuifen took them to the home of the cotton-spinning master. The cotton-spinning master was a 50-year-old uncle, who was quite kind and gave Lin Tao a price that was not expensive.

However, originally the master wanted Lin Tao to come and get it in two days, but Chen Shuifen said a few words to the master and asked him to add a plug to them and take Lin Tao's cotton out today.

There is only one day off in a week, so the sooner you make the quilt, the sooner you can feel at ease. The weather is getting cold quickly, and you never know when the temperature will drop suddenly, and you won’t be able to rush when the time comes.

Seeing that Lin Tao was in a hurry and that there was not even a thick quilt at home, the cotton-spinning master agreed to make Lin Tao's first.

When seeing the cotton, the old teacher's first words were to praise Lin Tao's cotton, saying that it was good and would be made into a quilt after it was fluffed. It would definitely be loose, soft and warm to cover yourself with.

Lin Tao and Chen Shuifen were both from the countryside and had seen cotton-picking before, so they were just fine when they saw the old master doing it. Only Xu Yuting had never seen it before and thought it was a rare thing.

However, she was pulled out by Lin Tao after watching for a while. There was a lot of cotton wool when she was playing with it, and Xu Yuting was not wearing a mask, so she inhaled a lot of cotton wool and felt uncomfortable.

The old master's skill in fluffing cotton is really good. He fluffs the cotton into fluffy cotton wool, which looks like there is much more cotton than before.

No wonder when Lin Tao was a child, when he watched others fluffing cotton in the village, he listened to the old cotton-flicking master singing "Puffing cotton, fluffing cotton, half a pound of cotton is fluffed into 828 grams."

The fluffy cotton was flattened, and Lin Tao took out the cotton lining she had brought, and together with Chen Shuifen, put the cotton in.

There is a skill to putting on cotton. First put the inside on the bottom layer, then put the cotton on the top layer, then roll and turn it over, and the cotton will be in. Then iron the four corners and you're done.

In just one day, Lin Tao's new quilt was ready.

After returning home, Lin Tao found a piece of cloth with elegant patterns to use as a quilt cover. The previous lining cover could not be used directly because it would be difficult to wash if it got dirty.

The cotton quilt is not as warm after washing, so you have to put another quilt on the outside.

Lin Tao took the needle and thread and sewed several times on the inner cover in order to fix the cotton and the inner cloth cover so that the cotton inside would not easily move around.

When Li Chengxi came back in the evening, there was already a warm and thick cotton quilt in the house.

However, this was the quilt that Lin Tao prepared for the winter, and it couldn't be used yet, so Lin Tao folded it and stuffed it into the cabinet.

"The quilt was made so quickly?" the two talked while eating.

Lin Tao nodded: "Yes, thanks to Sister Chen, if I were alone, I would have no idea where to exchange for cotton or where to make cotton, and I would probably have been frozen all winter."

Li Chengxi gave her a piece of fish belly meat. Knowing that she was teasing him on purpose, he immediately admitted his mistake with a very proper attitude: "I didn't think it through and forgot about it."

He usually spent the winter like this, and he didn't feel that cold. In addition, it was summer when Lin Tao came, so he had thought of the cabinets, beds, toilets, etc., but forgot about this.

Lin Tao smiled and said, "You have thought it through very carefully. Apart from me, Yuting is the only one on the island who can enjoy these treatments."

Besides that, Li Chengxi was reluctant to let her do any heavy work. Knowing that her cooking was not tasty, he made her do the dishwashing job because he was afraid that she would get too tired.

What's more, a person who knew nothing about Chinese cuisine before now knows what to cook in each season, and he has become more and more skilled in turning the soil. If people who don't know know this, they would think that Li Chengxi was born a farmer.

Then, Lin Tao told Li Chengxi about her meeting with Zhong Jing today and asked him whether it was appropriate for Zhong Jing to teach in his capacity.

Li Chengqi felt that it was not a big problem. Zhong Jing's man was a counter-revolutionary but she was not. If Zhong Jing had not come to the island with her, it would not have affected her teaching in the mountain city.

Lin Tao said that after dinner, she would go talk to Director Yang about this matter. If it works, that would be great, but if it doesn't, there is nothing we can do.

Li Chengxi nodded: "I'll go with you."

After dinner, Li Chengxi went to wash the dishes as usual.

After tidying up the house, the two took a shower and then planned to go out.

In the summer before, they would take a walk before coming back to take a shower because the weather was hot. If Li Chengxi took a shower in advance, he would be covered in sweat after walking outside and would have taken a shower in vain when he came back.

But now that the temperature has dropped, I am not afraid anymore.

Since the weather turned cold, Lin Tao stopped letting Li Chengxi take cold showers. In fact, Li Chengxi was in good health, so taking cold showers in winter was common.

But he was very touched that his wife cared about him, so he listened to Lin Tao and refused to take a cold shower if she told him not to.

When they arrived at Yang Aidang's house, Yang Aidang and Commander Qi had just finished their meal. They were planning to go out for a walk. As soon as they went out, they saw Lin Tao and Li Chengxi.

It just so happened that the four of them went out for a walk together.

Yang Aidang and Teacher Qi had two sons and a daughter. Both sons went to the army, and the daughter studied in high school in her hometown. Yang Aidang said that the movement in Teacher Qi's hometown was not serious, so the school was not affected and classes were not suspended.

The two men, Li Chengxi and Commander Qi, walked at the back, while Lin Tao and Yang Aidang walked in front.

Yang Ai-dang asked about Lin Tao's school: "You have to teach both Chinese and mathematics recently, you must be very busy, right?"

Lin Tao then took the opportunity to talk about Zhong Jing's situation: "Actually, it's okay for me to be busy. The students are all very sensible and have organized mutual aid groups. It's okay for me to be busy for a short period of time, but over a long period of time, I'm afraid that I won't be able to keep up and will delay the students' learning progress."

"I haven't found out about Zhong Jing's situation. Okay, I'll find out when the time comes to find out what her husband did wrong and then see if we can let her become a teacher in the school," said Yang Aidang.

Most of Yang Ai's work was related to military wives, so she knew them all very well, but she didn't care much about counter-revolutionaries.

After all, these are all managed by organizations and it is not her concern.

But today Lin Tao talked to her about this. It is not impossible to let the wife of a counter-revolutionary be a teacher, but we have to see what kind of situation this counter-revolutionary is.

If there is no problem, that would be great. The school just happened to be short of teachers, and Zhong Jing was a college student who used to be a teacher in Shancheng, so she was just the right person.

After receiving Yang Aidang's reply, Lin Tao nodded and stopped talking about this matter and turned to talk about other things.

She could only take the lead in this matter, and it would be bad to say too much. This was all she could do to help Zhong Jing.