Chapter 032 Something big happened!
The waterwheel mill pounded rice relatively slowly. It took Ye Qing more than half an hour to pound the sack of rice for the first time.
Yes, pounding rice in this era was so troublesome. The rice was pounded with the primitive water-peeling tool. The first time pounding, the rice came out as brown rice with a thin layer of yellow skin. It had to be pounded a second time to get the white polished rice that was completely free of the husk.
At that time, many families in rural areas were short of food, so they mostly ate brown rice that had been pounded once. Only families with children would pound refined rice to make rice soup for their children.
However, Ye Qing never had a problem of not having enough food. The taste of brown rice was not very good and it was so coarse that it cut her throat. It was more palatable than corn and sorghum flour, so she pounded it all into polished rice, and collected all the remaining bran and broken rice in a basket and took it away.
These grains of rice were catalyzed by her wood-type supernatural power. The bran and broken rice still retain spiritual energy. They would be great for raising chickens, so she couldn't bear to throw them away.
The pounded rice weighed only about thirty pounds, and Ye Qing carried it back home without being noticeable. Occasionally, she met one or two villagers on the way. They looked at the sack in her hands but did not ask her many questions.
The main thing is that Ye Qing lives in Grandma Zou's house, and everyone knows about it.
Grandma Zou was a martyr's relative, and the commune distributed a fixed amount of pension every month, so the old lady's family definitely had no shortage of food.
Of course, it was eye-catching for an old widow to live so well. Some people wanted to steal her money. For example, Zhao Mazi, who was a gambler, lazy eater and glutton, once broke into the old lady's house and tried to steal something.
But this guy didn't touch anything when he entered the old man's house. Instead, he was kidnapped by Captain Wu who knew the news. His father, Zhao Laozhu, beat his second son severely in front of everyone in the village at the sunning ground.
At that time, Zhao Mazi realized that the person in the whole village who really should not be provoked was not Captain Wu, but the blind old woman.
It's no joke that Grandma Zou's family is full of loyal and brave people. Because Kaoshantun has this old lady as its governor, and with the old lady's title as a martyr's widow, Kaoshantun has received countless invisible benefits over the years, and the commune will unconsciously favor their small village.
For example, when purchasing mission pigs, the purchasing station would give them a slightly higher price, and would deliberately let them off the hook when weighing them, turning a blind eye to their feeding the pigs in advance.
For example, when the grain was delivered to the granary every year, other villages were required to wait in line, but they could brazenly go through the back door and jump the queue.
Even during the process of spot-checking grain quality, even if the grain is found not to be dried enough, the grain station will not ask the grain to be sent back for re-drying before delivering it, and there has never been a situation where the purchasers have taken bribes.
In comparison, other production teams did not receive such good treatment. Every year when it was time to inspect the grain and the task pigs, everyone, from the production team leader to the members, had a gloomy face as if facing a powerful enemy. They didn't know how much they had to eat before they could successfully hand in the results of a year's hard work.
Because of this, the people in the entire village showed special respect to Grandma Zou. The cadres of the production team all hoped that the old lady would live a long life and they wanted to worship Grandma Zou.
Zhao Mazi broke into the old lady's house and stole without knowing the seriousness of the matter. It would be fine if he stole the old lady's money, but he was afraid that he would scare the old lady to death! If a person died like this, then the mascot that protected their village for so many years would be gone!
So Captain Wu was extremely angry and tied up the man on the spot. Even Zhao Laozhu, who always doted on his old son, broke several sticks in front of all the people in the village and almost broke Zhao Mazi's leg.
With the case of Zhao Mazi, no one in the village would dare to take advantage of the old lady.
It can be said that in the Kaoshantun production brigade, no matter how bloody the situation is outside, no one will be so foolish as to come to Grandma Zou. Grandma Zou will always be a peaceful and tranquil haven.
When Ye Qing first chose to live in Grandma Zou's house, he didn't know that this old lady was such a special existence in the village. It was only after he learned about the past of the old lady's family that he slowly figured out the whole story.
No wonder the team leader never placed anyone in the old lady's house even though so many educated youth had come to the village to work in the fields before. Moreover, when arranging people this time, he also emphasized that the people who moved in must take care of the old lady's food and daily life.
Ye Qing was very suspicious that Captain Wu was most likely influenced by the inexplicable luck of the kinki heroine and made such an exception.
After all, the old lady was already well taken care of by the Gu family, and even if the educated youth were not arranged to be a live-in nanny, the old lady's daily life would not be affected at all.
Therefore, this opportunity to live in Grandma Zou's house should have been reserved for Yin Shuang by Captain Wu.
But who made Yin Shuang fail to understand the meaning and accept this good luck?
She didn't want to work from dawn to dusk in the village while being a free babysitter for a 70-year-old man, so she gave up this best living environment to Ye Qing for nothing.
Ye Qing has been living very well at Grandma Zou's house these past few days. The old lady is very smart and open-minded, and she definitely won't interfere in his affairs.
When the meal was ready, she would come out to eat. In the evening, when it was time to go to bed, she would wash up and go to bed. When she had nothing to do during the day, she would take out her needlework basket and secretly take out the thousand-layer soles to sew the soles and uppers of shoes.
Although it cannot be seen, she slowly fiddled with it bit by bit, and the stitches on the old cotton shoes she made are quite fine.
At first, Ye Qing didn't even realize that the old lady was making shoes for her. It was not until a month later when the old lady took out the cotton shoes and asked Ye Qing to compare them to see if they fit her feet. Only then did she realize that the old cotton shoes were made specifically for her.
Of course, that’s another story.
Ye Qing has only been in the village for less than a week. The old lady provides Ye Qing with a place to stay, and Ye Qing gives the old lady acupuncture to treat her eyes every night. The two of them rely on each other for what they need, and since they both have lived in Shanghai and have similar personalities, they get along very well.
In the evening, Ye Qing steamed a large bowl of rice with new rice, and served it with fried spicy shredded potatoes and scrambled eggs with sauerkraut. The simple meal was exceptionally delicious. The old lady, who usually didn't eat much, finished the whole bowl of rice.
The old lady knew whether there was white rice at home, but she didn't ask Ye Qing where he got such delicious refined rice.
A deaf or dumb person cannot be a father-in-law. Grandma Zou knows this truth very well. She always adheres to this principle towards the people in the village and Ye Qing.
Because she ate too much, the old lady couldn't go to bed early and had to go for a walk outside to help digest the food.
She didn't need Ye Qing to send her off. She leaned on a crutch and slowly groped her way to Gu's house, saying that she wanted to visit Gu Weixi who was bedridden and taking care of the baby.
The Gu family's house was right next door, less than twenty meters away from Grandma Zou's fenced courtyard. The old lady was used to taking this route on weekdays, so she could easily find her way there even if she couldn't see, so Ye Qing didn't bother.
After she cleaned the kitchen, she fed the old hen some bran and broken rice, and then went to the old carpenter's house.
Ye Qing was very satisfied with the three wooden boxes she bought last time, so she wanted to find an old carpenter to make a desk and a larger bath tub.
Yes, it was not until she arrived at Kaoshantun that Ye Qing realized that the impression she had from novels that people in Northeast China went to public bathhouses to take a bath was actually wrong.
In the 1960s and 1970s, public bathhouses were only available in towns in Northeast China, not in rural areas, so most people did not take baths in the winter. Some sloppy farmers might not even take a bath in the entire year.
This was simply shocking to Ye Qing, a pure southerner. She couldn't imagine that the people in the village got up early and worked in the fields from dawn to dusk every day, not only were they sweating profusely, but they were also covered in countless rice dust. After returning home at night, they actually didn't take a shower. They just washed their faces casually and went to bed. How could they sleep?
Ye Qing has been in Kaoshantun for a few days and has been worried about the problem of taking a bath every day. These days, she has been wiping her body with a basin of hot water before going to bed, but it is really not effective. She feels that she can rub several pounds of mud out of her body. If she doesn't take a good bath, she is afraid that she will go crazy.
So she couldn't wait to find the old carpenter to make her a bathtub that an adult could sit in, so as to solve the biggest problem she encountered when she came to the Great Northern Wilderness.
In addition, although there was a kang in the room, there was no table.
Although the wooden box she bought could be used as a table if placed on the kang, she had to sit cross-legged, and her feet would get numb after a long time. It was also troublesome to move the box around, so it would be more convenient to just make a small desk and place it by the window.
The last time Ye Qing came, the old carpenter and his family were all at work, so they didn't meet each other at all. This time they were all at home, because Ye Qing bought three wooden boxes in one go last time, which was quite generous, so when she arrived, the old carpenter and his family were particularly warm to her.
After Ye Qing told the old carpenter what she wanted to customize, he readily agreed. And after Ye Qing expressed her willingness to pay a little more for her hard work, he patted his chest and guaranteed that he would make what Ye Qing wanted within three days.
Ye Qing really needs such a considerate old master. As long as he can get the bath tub she wants as soon as possible, he will let her pay first.
But people at that time were still quite simple and honest. Ye Qing was planning to pay him first, but the old carpenter refused to accept it and insisted on waiting until the product was made and Ye Qing accepted it.
After getting a satisfactory answer, Ye Qing returned home happily, and then began to think about building a simple shower shed behind the compartment where she lived.
It is not difficult for Ye Qing to build a shed. She has supernatural powers. She just needs to nail a big frame and let the vines climb up along the frame.
If the vines are spread out in several layers and the branches and leaves are tightly surrounded, they can keep warm, insulate, shade and shelter from rain.
However, this plan was quickly rejected by Ye Qing himself.
She could use this method to save trouble when repairing the fence in the yard, because the fence is inconspicuous and it is normal for plants to grow on the fence, so it basically will not attract attention.
But if she built a bath shed behind the house and was so fussy about it, with such a large clump of vines rising from the ground and growing around her bath shed, as if they were trained to hit wherever they were pointed, anyone with a discerning eye would know that this is not normal, okay?
So Ye Qing only dared to think about it in his own mind, and later he felt that he should consult the uncle next door.
So Ye Qing went to Gu's house again, and took Grandma Zou back with him.
The Gu family's house is much bigger than Grandma Zou's. The main house has three rooms, and there are side rooms on both sides of the back of the main house. The kitchen and utility room in the front yard are all proper rooms, unlike the kitchen and firewood room of Grandma Zou's house which are built outside.
There are three main rooms. Gu Zhenxing and his wife live in the main room in the middle. One of the rooms on both sides is the bedroom of the eldest son Gu Weidong, and the other is the wedding room of the current Gu Weixi and his wife. The two side rooms at the back are where the youngest son and daughter live.
Aunt Gu was a hard-working person. She kept every room of the big house tidy and clean for her whole family. It was even neater than the green brick and tile house of the team leader that Ye Qing had visited before.
Since he needed help, Ye Qing did not show up empty-handed.
She took out a box of soap that she had brought from Shanghai. She bought it for five yuan. When she was packing her luggage, Song Chunhua saw the pile of soap and gave her a lecture.
Soap is not common in the countryside and is not available in the supply and marketing cooperatives in town, so when Ye Qing took it out, it immediately caught the attention of Aunt Gu and Gu Weixi and her daughter.
This soap is many times more upscale than the stinky soaps used in the countryside, both in appearance and smell. It is difficult for any woman to resist its temptation.
However, the mother and daughter of the Gu family are both very honest people. Even though they like this soap very much, they are determined not to accept the things given by Ye Qing.
Ye Qing had no choice but to explain: "Auntie, I still have some. Besides, my family is in Shanghai. If I need this thing, it won't be a big problem to ask my friends to help mail a few pieces to me."
"Besides, I don't come here for no reason. I came here today specifically to ask Uncle Gu for help. If you don't even want to accept this little thing, then I'm embarrassed to ask for more."
Only after saying this did Miao Cuilan accept the things.
Gu Zhenxing quickly said, "Miss, if you have anything to say, just tell me directly. Don't be polite to your uncle."
Ye Qing hurriedly told her that she wanted to build a bathroom behind the closet.
Gu Zhenxing immediately laughed: "It's just a small matter, is it worth it for you to bring a bar of soap before you dare to open your mouth? You just want to build a heat preservation shed, which is very simple. I will get you some wood to make four pillars, and then use dry straw to build a roof, and then wrap the ground film around it a few times."
This made Ye Qing stunned: "Mulch? Do you mean plastic mulch? Can we buy plastic mulch here?"
Gu Zhenxing was immediately amused when he heard this: "Look at what you said, we are not isolated from the world, how can we not have this stuff? In the spring, we have to use this agricultural mulch film to grow rice seeds and build greenhouses for rice seedlings. It is very good for keeping warm and accelerating germination."
Using plastic film to build greenhouses for breeding and germination is indeed the most suitable and convenient method, but Ye Qing really did not expect that agricultural plastic film had been popularized in the rural areas of Beidahuang in the early 1970s.
Of course Ye Qing agreed to this good thing. Although the shed made of plastic film was a bit crude, Ye Qing didn't mind it at all.
As long as the bathroom is built, she can renovate it however she wants. She can then secretly wrap it tightly with vines inside the shed. It will definitely be warm and comfortable, so she can take a bath anytime she wants.
After making an appointment with Gu Zhenxing on the time to set up the shed, Ye Qing happily took Grandma Zou back home.
When she got home, she gave the old lady acupuncture treatment as usual, and then sat on the kang in the room, lit the dim kerosene lamp, took out paper and pen, and began to write a letter.
Kaoshan Village has not yet had electricity throughout the village. Only the threshing ground has a power line and a radio speaker connected. Other places have no electricity and can only use candles or kerosene lamps for lighting.
Grandma Zou is blind and has no need for lighting at home, so Ye Qing had to beg for kerosene from the Gu family.
It had been a few days since she came to Kaoshantun, and she was going to write a letter to Song Chunhua, Chen Youde, and Zhao Yongfei, the purchaser of the machinery factory, to let them know that they were safe.
There were three letters, the thickest one was to Song Chunhua, and the thinnest one was to Zhao Yongfei. It took me until after eleven o'clock in the evening to finish writing them.
The earthen kang in the compartment has been heated for four or five days and is almost dry. Ye Qing plans to move to the compartment and sleep there as soon as possible. Otherwise, he won't dare to turn over after Grandma Zou wakes up at four or five o'clock every morning, for fear of making noise and disturbing her.
However, the weather was about to turn cold. She had been sleeping with Grandma Zou these past few days, and her quilt was also the old lady's. If she wanted to move to the compartment, she would have to prepare her own mattress and quilt as soon as possible.
So Ye Qing planned to go to the town. On the one hand, she had to mail the letters she had written, and on the other hand, she had to find a way to get some cotton back and then find someone to help make thick quilts and cotton jackets for the winter.
So, the next day Ye Qing went to the captain to ask for leave.
It so happened that the team leader had just prepared the application materials for the Kaoshantun Health Station and was going to the commune, so he said he would give Ye Qing a ride to the town.
Ye Qing was of course more than happy not to have to walk by himself. After all, Kaoshantun was five or six kilometers away from the town, which was still a bit far.
After sending her to the town, the captain rode away on his 28-inch bicycle. Ye Qing did not ask him when he would return after finishing his business. She guessed that it would be impossible for her to hitchhike back to the village. She could only go and do her own business first, and decide how to return later.
The town is called Qingshan Town. There are only a few simple shops, a food station, a supply and marketing cooperative, a post office, an agricultural technology station, a police station and a bus station in the town. You can almost see the end of the street at a glance.
Several communes and dozens of production brigades all lived around Qingshan Town, and tens of thousands of people purchased their daily necessities from this town.
But when Ye Qing went to the supply and marketing cooperative and the food station and took a look around, he was shocked.
She had originally thought that the goods sold in the supply and marketing cooperatives and department stores in Shanghai were outdated enough, but when she arrived in Qingshan Town, she discovered that many of the counters in the stores were empty and could not even fill up a few shelves or display windows.
It turns out that there is no place to spend money.
Ye Qing looked around but didn't see anything he liked, so he had to take his three letters to the post office.
When she went to the post office to mail a letter, the postman was not very patient and threw out three envelopes for her to fill out herself.
But this involves postal codes, and Ye Qing has no idea what the postal code of Shanghai is. She glanced at the postman, thought for a moment, took out a handful of peanuts from her pocket and handed them over.
These peanuts were the ones Ye Qing had saved when she was catalyzing the squirrels in Sheshan earlier. She kept a few pounds of them and originally planned to take them on the train as a snack to pass the time, but then too many things happened on the train and she had no chance to take out the peanuts and eat them.
When she returned to town to mail the letter, she put a few handfuls of peanuts in her bag in advance, considering that she was unfamiliar with the place and that the eight major officials in those days were a bit difficult to deal with.
As expected, if you want to be popular when you go out, you have to be polite. When Ye Qing took out a handful of peanuts, the postman took a look and the impatient look on his face immediately eased a lot. He even asked her:
"Aren't you supposed to send a letter? What's the problem?"
Then, when Ye Qing said he didn't know the postal code, the postman took out a thick booklet and quickly helped Ye Qing find the postal codes of each district in Shanghai.
Three letters were each stamped with an 8-cent stamp, the envelopes were sealed, stamped, and thrown into the mailbox. The letters were considered to have been delivered, but no one could predict how long it would take for them to arrive.
However, after seeing the stamp that the postman put on the envelope, Ye Qing suddenly thought of something.
During this special ten-year period, a lot of red stamps were issued. These stamps may not look very impressive now, but after 20 or 30 years, they were sold at sky-high prices.
Ye Qing has no hobby of collecting stamps, and she has no idea about the types of stamps to collect. She only vaguely knows that there are a few special red stamps, each of which was once worth a house in Shanghai.
Anyway, she was already at the post office, and she didn't need the money, so she went to the post office counter again to give it a try and asked:
"Comrade, can I buy stamps individually? Can I buy some to keep for my next letter?"
Ye Qing thought that these days the communes and production teams were so far away from the town and transportation was not convenient. It was not easy for most people to come to the post office. Some people must have bought stamps and envelopes, and when they needed to write letters, they would write the letters and wait for the postman to take them away when he passed by the village.
So it shouldn't be surprising that she asked to buy some stamps individually.
Perhaps because she was really soft-hearted, the postwoman didn't roll her eyes at Ye Qing because of the handful of peanuts in front of her. She just asked her, "How much do you want to buy?"
Ye Qing glanced at the older sister and asked tentatively, "How many kinds of stamps are your post office issuing now? Can I buy a set of them all?"
The postwoman was stunned, and immediately exposed Ye Qing's lame excuse:
"You didn't buy this stamp to write a letter, but to collect stamps, right?"
"The post office has all the stamps issued in the last three years, but these are very common. There's no point in collecting them. They're not worth much money."
Ye Qing suddenly felt embarrassed. She felt ashamed that she had been so careful to cover up the truth. She thought that the lie she told was very clever, but she didn't expect that it would be seen through at the first sight.
However, seeing that the postman had a calm expression, it showed that stamp collectors were very common in this era. Ye Qing no longer concealed his intentions and nodded openly:
"Yes, I have a hobby of collecting stamps. I like to collect stamps. Whether they are worth money is secondary. I feel like I am not satisfied if I don't buy a few stamps when I come to the post office. Please take a look at the types of stamps our post office has and give me some of them. Don't worry, money is not a problem."
Ye Qing's words made the postwoman's expression pause.
She didn't bother to persuade him any further. In a small post office like Qingshan Town, only a handful of people came to send letters every day. There was no telling how many stamps were piled up in the post office, gathering dust. Now that someone was willing to buy them, she was of course more than happy to do so.
She hurriedly dug out several outdated stamps from under the display cabinet at the post office:
"Are you sure you want all these packages?"
Ye Qing nodded immediately: "Yes, please give me a set of both!"
The postman immediately began to count the stamps in his hand, and then he counted them very quickly. After counting the stamps, he immediately said to Ye Qing:
"It's twelve dollars and thirty-six cents in total. Calculate the denomination yourself and see if you are right."
Ye Qing didn't care about this at all. It was almost the same. She could get hundreds of red stamps at once by spending this little money. She paid very quickly. After all, the appreciation prospect of this thing in the future was very considerable.
Ye Qing quickly handed the money to the other party, then neatly put the stamps in the notebook and carefully put them into his bag.
The collection value of a stamp depends on its condition. Fingerprints, creases and dirt will all affect its selling price, so Ye Qing does not dare to be careless at all.
After buying the stamps, Ye Qing was ready to go to the Agricultural Technology Station. But just as she was about to leave, the postwoman inside suddenly called her:
"Hey, young comrade, do you have any special requirements for stamp collecting? Do you want those old editions that were issued in the past?"
Ye Qing was stunned for a moment. After she understood what this elder sister meant, her eyes suddenly widened and she turned around in surprise.
Seeing that Ye Qing had what she wanted, the elder sister stopped sitting inside and walked out directly, closed the door, and winked at Ye Qing, signaling her to follow.
Seeing this strange lady walking towards the street, Ye Qing was a little wary, but she couldn't resist the huge temptation of the old version of the stamps. In addition, she was confident in her ability to protect herself, so after a little hesitation, she followed her.
What Ye Qing didn't expect was that this older sister actually brought her to the Agricultural Technology Station and asked a middle-aged man inside the station for the key.
The man pulled out a bunch of keys from his trouser pocket and threw them over, and the older sister took Ye Qing to the back of the agricultural technology station again.
Only then did Ye Qing realize that behind the storefronts in the town were small residential courtyards with green bricks and black tiles.
The lady from the post office came to the gate of the yard and opened a rusty iron gate. Seeing that Ye Qing looked a little nervous, she quickly explained:
"This is my home. The one at the agricultural technology station just now was my husband. I asked him to get the key to open the door. Please wait here for a moment. I'll go get the booklet."
As she spoke, the elder sister went into the yard, opened a door, and walked in. Not long after, she came out holding a booklet:
"These are the stamps I have collected since I started working at the post office. Basically, I have all the stamps that have been issued in the market in the past ten or twenty years. I estimate that there are about four or five hundred of them. If you want them, this whole book is two hundred yuan. If you want them, you can take them."
Ye Qing's heart started beating wildly when he heard this.
She quickly opened the book, and when she saw clearly what stamps were inside, her eyes almost popped out of her head in shock.
The stamps in this album are really complete, from the commemorative stamps at the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China, to the later Special 6, Lu Xun commemorative stamps, model operas, and red poems from the early years, every edition is complete, and even the issue time, stamp name and commemorative significance are clearly noted.
What is more important and exaggerated is that Ye Qing also saw several special stamps in it. They are the four stamps that even Ye Qing, an outsider, has heard of: "Red Horizontal Edition of Jiangshan", "Victory", "Large Red Vertical Edition" and "Black Inscription".
These stamps were recalled and destroyed on the day of issue due to issues such as printing errors. They were basically not circulated in the market. Therefore, the few authentic ones that have been released in later generations have been sought after by countless philatelic enthusiasts. Their prices have continued to rise. At one point, a single stamp was sold at an auction house for a price close to that of a house in Shanghai.
Ye Qing really didn't expect that a handful of peanuts given to her casually would unexpectedly cause her to be hit by such a huge piece of pie falling from the sky!
From this booklet, she could tell how professional and passionate the lady in front of her was about stamp collecting. In comparison, she was just a low-level, emotionless speculator, and was clearly inferior to this lady.
Ye Qing suddenly felt uncomfortable, and even felt that she was not worthy of owning such a high-end stamp album. She raised her head and looked at the elder sister awkwardly:
"This - big sister, this stamp album is so exquisitely made, I can tell at a glance that you put a lot of thought into it. This is what you like, right? How can I take your fancy?"
The lady from the post office was quite straightforward and said to Ye Qing directly:
"I won't beat around the bush. My son is getting married soon, and my husband and I are short of money. We are anxious to raise funds."
"I saw it when you bought stamps just now. You must be an educated youth from another place. And you seem to be quite generous. Your family must be well-off, otherwise you wouldn't have the spare money to collect stamps."
"Just tell me if you want this booklet. If you do, take it. I'm here to get it for you. I can't wait too long. Just be straightforward and give me a definite answer."
Seeing that this elder sister really wanted to sell the booklet to cash in, Ye Qing immediately put away the guilt in her heart.
The other person begged her to buy it, so she can't be considered taking advantage of the situation, right?
Ye Qing read the booklet from beginning to end and made a rough estimate. If the entire booklet was worth the face value of the stamps, the total value should be around 60 or 70 yuan.
But this thing cannot be calculated entirely according to the face value of the stamp. If this lady herself was not a postman with professional convenience, it would be difficult for others to put together such a complete history of the development of New Xia country stamps.
Especially since there were four special stamps that had not been officially issued. It was no exaggeration to say that if she bought this booklet for two hundred dollars, the return she would get in the future would be dozens or even millions of times the cost.
Ye Qing was also a person who was very efficient and decisive. She really liked this booklet, and since she knew that she would make a steady profit if she bought it, there was no reason for her to pass up such a good money-making opportunity.
She nodded immediately and said:
"Sister, if you are really determined to sell it, then I will buy it! But I am in a hurry today and I don't have so much money with me. Can you keep this booklet for me for two days? After I prepare the money, I will come to the town to pick it up from you?"
Ye Qing did have two hundred yuan on her, as she was wearing all the money on her body. But these days, not to mention in the countryside, even in the city, no normal person would go out on the street with dozens of big Tuanjie bills in his pocket, so Ye Qing was cautious and did not give the money on the spot.
But after the lady at the post office received Ye Qing's affirmative answer, her heart was immediately at ease.
She nodded and smiled, "Of course that's no problem. I'll keep this booklet for you, and you don't have to worry about me selling it to someone else."
"Don't worry about your laughing at me, but for this kind of thing, people who don't know anything about it won't understand its value at all. If they knew I was asking for two hundred dollars, they would probably think I was crazy about money."
"So it's not easy for me to find a suitable buyer. I'm lucky to meet someone like you who is generous and knowledgeable."
This is the truth. Not to mention Qingshan Town, even in the entire Jiaotan County, the number of people willing to spend two hundred dollars to collect stamps can probably be counted on one hand. If Ye Qing doesn't want it, this booklet will definitely end up in the hands of this lady in three to five years.
Perhaps because Ye Qing was easy to talk to, the elder sister put away her usual arrogance and treated Ye Qing warmly and kindly:
"My name is Xu Xianzhen, what's your name, big sister?"
Ye Qing reported his name, and the elder sister asked again:
"If there are new stamps issued next time, do you want them? If you do, I'll leave you a set in private. When you come to town, just come to me. What do you think?"
Of course Ye Qing wanted it very much. Stamps from this period, no matter which version, have great potential for appreciation. Could she think that she earned too much money?
After chatting with Xu Xianzhen for a few more words, Ye Qing realized that this lady had been out for too long and if he continued chatting, it would delay his business. So he locked the door and went back to the post office in a hurry. Ye Qing also went back to the Agricultural Technology Station in front.
She did not forget that she had another important reason to come to town - to buy cotton seeds.
But what Ye Qing didn't expect was that there were no cotton seeds for sale in the agricultural technology station in Beidahuang!
This really made Ye Qing dumbfounded on the spot.
"Cotton seeds? Why are you buying this stuff? We don't grow this stuff here. Not to mention whether the yield is high, it's even a problem whether it can survive. Comrade, which commune are you from? Who asked you to buy this stuff?"
Xu Xianzhen's husband, who is also the head of the Agricultural Technology Station, was also puzzled when he heard that Ye Qing wanted to buy cotton seeds. He looked at Ye Qing as if he were an alien.
Only then did Ye Qing realize that she seemed to have made a very serious common sense error.
Because in her impression, cotton can be grown in the frontier and in the south, so she naturally thought that this plant is not picky about region and climate and can grow anywhere.
But now, reality slapped her hard in the face, making her realize how ridiculous her previous self-conceit was.
Without cotton seeds, she can't grow cotton, so where do her quilts come from?
Ye Qing, who had always been able to plan and strategize, had never suffered any setbacks and rarely made mistakes since he awakened his superpowers, was now completely paralyzed and at a loss for a moment, not knowing what to do next.
She shrugged her head, hung her head and prepared to leave.
As a result, when I just walked to the door, I almost bumped into someone.
When he saw the newcomer, Sister Xu's husband at the Agricultural Technology Station smiled:
"Professor Qiao, you came at the right time. There is a little girl here who wants to buy cotton seeds. I don't have them here, but you are from the provincial agricultural science department, so you should be able to get them."
The person who came in was a middle-aged man wearing a straw hat and dirty clothes, dressed like a farmer who had just come to the fields. After hearing what the person in charge of the agricultural technology station said, he immediately looked in Ye Qing's direction:
"Cotton seeds? What are you buying them for?"
Ye Qing heard Sister Xu's husband mention words like "professor" and "provincial agricultural science" just now, and had some guesses about the identity of this middle-aged man, and hurriedly explained:
"Hello, I'm from Kaoshan Village. I cleared a piece of wasteland, but the villagers said they couldn't grow crops there, so I wanted to try to grow something else. It just so happens that every household in the village is short of cotton. If this trial is successful, it will solve the problem of keeping everyone warm in winter."
The middle-aged man didn't know whether to believe Ye Qing's explanation or not. His eyes fell on Ye Qing. He didn't know what he was thinking about, and suddenly asked:
"You are from the south, right? Judging from your accent, you are from Jiangsu, Zhejiang or Shanghai?"
Ye Qing was stunned. She thought that she didn't seem to have an accent, right? How come these two people could tell that she was from Jiangsu, Zhejiang or Shanghai?
Besides, where she came from doesn’t seem to be the point, right?
Ye Qing said helplessly: "Yes, I am from Shencheng."
It was unknown whether the place name "Shencheng" triggered some switches in the other party, but the middle-aged man's eyes changed, and his attitude towards Ye Qing became much gentler and more patient:
"I can get you cotton seeds, but I can tell you clearly that this stuff cannot be grown in Jiaotan County. Cotton is only suitable for tropical, subtropical and warm temperate zones. Our place has high latitudes, low temperatures and insufficient heat, which cannot meet its growth needs. If you want to maximize the value of your wasteland, then I advise you to give up the idea of growing cotton as soon as possible."
Ye Qing has a different opinion on this point:
"You said it can't be grown. Is it because the existing varieties can't meet the conditions? Then why don't you try to cultivate drought-resistant and frost-resistant varieties? If agriculture wants to develop, it won't work if we stick to the old ways of thinking. Innovation and breakthroughs are the key. If we are afraid of this and that before we even try, we will always stay where we are."
If everyone gave up because of a little difficulty, there would be no father of hybrid rice. Yuan's lifelong research started with the first naturally male sterile rice plant.
Ye Qing's words shocked Professor Qiao. He really didn't expect that a child who looked only fifteen or sixteen years old could say such philosophical and profound words.
Their experiment had been stuck in a bottleneck for a while, and the entire team was in self-doubt. However, Ye Qing's words just now seemed to have enlightened him, and several inspirations suddenly came to his mind.
Without caring to stay any longer, and even forgetting that he had gone to the Agricultural Technology Station to get medicine, Professor Qiao turned around and walked out excitedly, saying only to Ye Qing, "I'll give you the cotton seeds in a few days," and then rode away on his 28-inch bicycle.
Seeing Ye Qing's confused face, Sister Xu's husband smiled and explained:
"The professor Qiao mentioned earlier is from the provincial agricultural science institute. He brought a team to open a test field at the military farm to conduct project research. He specializes in genetic engineering. Anyway, I can't understand what he said. I just know that he is very powerful. Don't worry, since he promised to give you cotton seeds, he will definitely not break his promise. You can come to the town again in a few days."
Ye Qing was a little nonchalant at first, but when she heard the familiar term "genetic engineering", her heart suddenly moved.
She was a professor, and she led a team to conduct research on a genetic engineering project. In addition, Professor Qiao looked strange when he mentioned Shencheng. A strange idea suddenly flashed through Ye Qing's mind.
Could it be that Professor Qiao knows her master Han Yabo?
Ye Qing shook his head secretly and quickly threw this ridiculous idea out of his mind.
Unable to buy cotton seeds, Ye Qing could only temporarily pin her hopes on Professor Qiao. Seeing that it was getting late, she prepared to go back to Kaoshantun.
There was no ride available on the way back, so Ye Qing could only walk back on his own. It took him more than an hour to finally get back to the village.
Unexpectedly, when she arrived at the village entrance and had not even had time to catch her breath, she saw the old branch secretary and a few young men running back hurriedly from the fields.
Seeing her standing at the entrance of the village, the old secretary's eyes suddenly lit up. He ran into the village, shouting at her:
"Ye Zhiqing, hurry up! Go to the field! Something happened, something serious!"
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