Chapter 14: Break Up
After cooking the dishes, Xiao Jun and Zhang Jianguo were called to eat. During the meal, Tang Yue asked, "Have you learned how to cook?"
Xiao Jun and Zhang Jianguo shook their heads at the same time. What else could Tang Yue do? She could only let them watch her for another day tomorrow. After dinner, Xiao Jun diligently took the bowl to the well to wash it.
Tang Yue ignored him and took out the firewood and cut it into pieces of the same length. She bundled the big and small pieces separately. The small pieces were used for cooking now, and the big ones were placed in the firewood room for heating the kang in winter. After dinner, everyone sat at the door and chatted. Zhao Yingying asked directly, "Yueyue, why did you cut so much firewood?"
Tang Yue said that she wanted to chop more now so that she could have firewood to burn in the cold winter when she couldn't go out.
Zhao Yingying said she was too tired to cut the trees and would buy them directly from her fellow villagers when the time comes.
Tang Yue told her to inform them in advance, as people would stop chopping wood when they had enough for their own use, in case they were left with no firewood to sell.
When Zhao Yingying heard that this would be the case, she quickly said that they would go and order it tomorrow. No one wanted to go chop wood, so they would go and order it tomorrow.
Seeing that no one wanted to chop wood for fear of being tired, Tang Yue suddenly felt that she and they might not be the same kind of people. They just muddled through and relied on subsidies from their families, and never thought about how they would live if their families stopped providing subsidies. She wanted to rely on herself, but forget it. She was not very familiar with them, and even if she reminded them, they would not listen to her. Even Xiao Jun and Zhang Jianguo, who came out of the compound, would not work if they could. They had better conditions and no shortage of subsidies.
After Tang Yue collected the firewood, she placed the small bundles of firewood in front of the stove and the large bundles of firewood in the backyard to the firewood shed. She boiled two pots of water in a cooking pot and placed the bathtub in the bedroom. She put one bucket of boiling water in it first, then added river water until it was just enough for washing. She placed the other bucket of boiling water on the side and added more when the water cooled down.
After taking a shower, I washed my clothes with the bath water, rinsed them twice with clean water, and hung them over in the firewood shed. I collected the bath water directly into the space, and then used my mind to pour it on the ground after entering the space. When I was done, I went back to the room, blew out the candles, and prepared to go to bed.
Before going to bed, Tang Yue entered the space to feed the animals, drank a cup of spiritual water, and then left the space. She lay on the kang, found an unused notebook, recorded the work points she earned today, and thought about the work she would do tomorrow. She wondered if she could feed the chickens. If she could, she would buy two and put them in the backyard. She could also eat eggs outside when she was asleep. She had to buy half-grown eggs.
The next morning, she got up very early, made breakfast for three people, brushed her teeth and washed her face, put on skin care and sunscreen, and went next door to call Xiao Jun and Zhang Jianguo to have breakfast. Tang Yue did not go to wake others up today. She did not want to live like someone else's nanny. It was a little after six o'clock when she finished her meal. She locked the door and went to Uncle Li's house to buy two drying mats.
I bought two drying mats at two yuan each. As soon as I got home, I heard Zhao Yingying and Zhu Xiaoqin saying, "Why didn't Tang Yue wake us up this morning or make breakfast for us? She almost made us oversleep."
When Tang Yue heard this, she walked over directly and said, "Is she your nanny? You still need her to serve you. Do you want to be a capitalist's daughter? If you admit it, I will serve you."
When Zhao Yingying heard Tang Yue say that she was the eldest daughter of a capitalist, she became anxious and said, "Don't talk nonsense. When did you say you wanted to be the eldest daughter of a capitalist?" After saying this, she quickly pulled Zhu Xiaoqin away.
The male educated youth nearby just listened to the quarrel, but no one said a word. It was as if they had thrown the steamed buns away to the dogs yesterday.
Tang Yue was too lazy to pay attention to them. She really didn't realize they were such bad people even when she was in the car. She could say they were really good at pretending. Just then the bell for work rang, so she picked up her things and walked towards the team headquarters.
When he saw Aunt Guihua, he walked over and asked, "Aunt Guihua, can we educated youth raise chickens?"
Finally, she said I could raise two, so I asked Aunt Guihua to help me get two half-grown hens, and I would go with her to catch them after work.
I continued to weed the fields today. I weeded half an acre of land this morning. After work, I went to catch some chickens with Aunt Guihua. They were one dollar each, a total of two dollars. They were all half-grown hens that could lay eggs if raised. On the way, I went to Uncle Li's house and bought a chicken coop. The coop is quite big and can hold at least five chickens. It cost me fifty cents.
After returning home, I put the chicken coop in the backyard, locked the chickens in it, and prepared to cook. When I was steaming rice, I put two sweet potatoes next to it. I would feed the chickens the sweet potatoes later. I took out the wild vegetables I picked yesterday and fried them. I asked Xiao Jun and Zhang Jianguo to watch me while I was cooking. I didn't want to cook for them in the evening, so I told them during the meal that I would cook for myself in the evening. After cleaning up the dishes, I closed the door and entered the space to feed the pigs. I fed all the pigs that needed to be fed and then left them alone. I drank a cup of spiritual water and instantly left the space.
Tang Yue sometimes thought, wasn't she a homebody at the moment? Why did she try so hard to integrate with them? Was it because she didn't have anyone familiar with her at that time and felt lonely? Later, she felt that it was not the case.
I unconsciously thought that I was still in my 20s. Looking at those little brothers and sisters, I unconsciously wanted to take care of them, but people will always get more than they deserve. For example, why did I have to wait for others to wake me up this morning? Why did I have to ask others to prepare breakfast and deliver it to my door? Maybe it was because I was too easy to talk to at the beginning and too generous with my gifts, which made others think that I was easy to control.
There are also Xiao Jun and Zhang Jianguo. They had lunch at my place in the morning. They didn't say anything when others talked about it. It's really perfunctory to say that they like each other. Of course, it may also be that girls quarrel and boys don't get involved. So, isn't it good to be alone if you want a partner? Work hard to make money and become a rich woman. It seems that you still have to go to the black market during the holidays.
I couldn't sleep at noon and there was still an hour before work, so I wanted to borrow a hoe to dig some vegetables in the backyard, but I didn't want to disturb other people's naps, so I just put on a backpack and went to dig wild vegetables, pick mushrooms and chop firewood. There were so many things in the Northeast, it was a rich harvest. Half of the backpack was filled with wild vegetables and the other half was filled with mushrooms. As it was still early, I continued to collect firewood. If there was nothing on the ground, I went to chop dead branches from the trees and tied two large bundles, which were just right for carrying. If there were too many, it would be difficult to carry and would be dragging. As it was almost time, I prepared to go out.
When they returned to the dormitory, the people living in the same row had all gotten up and were sitting at the door chatting. Tang Yue ignored them and went to work on her own. She washed the wild vegetables and mushrooms and placed them on the drying mat, leaving some for dinner, and carried the firewood to the backyard. This was a bit too troublesome. She would open a separate door in the backyard when she had time. She would tidy herself up, fill the kettle with water, and when she heard the bell, she would lock the door and go to work.
When Tang Yue went to work in the afternoon, she asked the scorekeeper to borrow a hoe and return it when she went to work the next day. She also asked where there were bamboos and whether they could be cut. The scorekeeper said that there were no bamboos in the Northeast. It was too cold here and bamboos did not grow. There was no way but to concentrate on weeding. Tang Yue felt that it was good to be alone without so many social interactions and without having to guess their little thoughts.
Today, Tang Yue finished weeding an acre of land. Although Tang Yue had a lot of money in her bankbook, it was different because she earned it herself. Although she was tired, she felt a sense of accomplishment.
After work, I borrowed a hoe, returned home, unlocked the door, went into the living room to feed the animals, then came out, opened the door to the backyard, and started digging. To be honest, it was really easy. I had something to do with it, and I finished digging the two acres of land in half an hour. Except for a few blisters because my hands were too tender, I didn't feel tired at all.
I went back to the house and found radish and cabbage seeds, and planted one mu of land. This is for pickling pickles and sauerkraut in the winter. There are many vegetables in the space that are difficult to take out, so I have to plant them outside. When I eat them, I put them together with the ones in the space so that they will not be easily noticed.
I have been pulling weeds for more than a week and I finally have a day off tomorrow. I have earned about 30 centimeters in total. Tomorrow I will go to the commune to see if there is any black market. Tang Yue has planted vegetables in the past few days and filled the woodshed with firewood. I cut a few sticks to build a clothesline, dried wild vegetables and put them in two large bags, and a large bag of mushrooms. I also cut a lot of sticks and built a toilet in the space. I also picked a lot of turnips, washed and chopped them, and put them on the drying mat in the space to dry, preparing to stew them in winter.
I went to bed early at night and got up at five o'clock the next morning. I went into the space to feed the animals. After breakfast, I carried the backpack and prepared to go out. There was a ox cart waiting for me under the big banyan tree.
When Tang Yue arrived, several people were already waiting. When she saw the captain's aunt, she walked over to say hello. Aunt Guihua quickly introduced several people around to Tang Yue, "This is the calligrapher's aunt Qiuju, this is your aunt Shufen, and this is your aunt Hongmei."
Whenever Aunt Guihua introduced someone, Tang Yue would call out the same name.
After the introduction, Aunt Guihua said to Tang Yue, "Yueyue, why don't you come to play with others?"
But I can't let my aunt think that I don't like her and that's why I don't go to her house. "Aunt, I'm so busy. I have to chop wood and pick wild vegetables and mushrooms every day. If I don't stock up a little more at home, I'll feel insecure and afraid that I'll go hungry."
Tang Yue hurriedly complained to Aunt Guihua, and when the other aunts heard her, they knew that this was a man who lived a simple life and was definitely not as aloof and unsociable as the rumors in the village said.
Aunt Guihua exchanged glances with the other aunts nearby. The next time they heard such a message during a chat, they would clarify to her that the little girl was a down-to-earth person and was still young.
Then they talked about what to buy at the commune. Tang Yue mentioned that she was going to the commune post office to collect subsidies. When the aunts heard about subsidies, they asked what it was about. Tang Yue told them about her life story again, and the aunts looked at her with pity.
After waiting for more than ten minutes, the ox cart arrived. Aunt Guihua hurriedly pulled Tang Yue to the cart, fearing that there would be no seat left. Tang Yue had never known that she had to fight for a seat on an ox cart. The ox cart slowly moved for an hour and a half before arriving at the commune. The driver said that the cart would leave at two o'clock in the afternoon and that they would not be allowed to wait after that time.
I went to the post office first to get this month's subsidy. The food subsidy was directly in the form of military grain coupons, so I didn't have to worry about the coupons expiring.
After getting the subsidy, she walked to a remote and deserted corner and pretended to take out cosmetics from the backpack. She drew the original owner's grandmother so well that she couldn't recognize her when she came back. She was so ugly that she put away the cosmetics and took some fine grain and oil samples from the space.
Tang Yue didn't plan to sell it bit by bit by herself, and planned to go directly to the black market boss to save time and money. She was just afraid of being robbed by the black market. But she was not a pushover, so she carried a stick with her.
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