Chapter 44 Unable to bear watching her suffer again
As its name suggests, Guangmingding Brigade Village has many low hills and mountains, which results in a very low rice planting area. Compared with other villages, this means they have far fewer sources of income. Now, the organization wants to try planting medicinal herbs in their village, and the herbs will be directly purchased by the military hospital. If this is successful, they will be the only ones in the town!
When the village's income and social status increase, when he, Madford, goes to meetings in town, he'll be able to walk around with his head held high!
Madford kept imagining this scene, and his footsteps became loud and rapid until Grandma Madford hit him on the bottom with a broom. He jumped up with a "whoop!" and cried out, "Auntie, why did you hit me!"
Grandma Mai glared at him: "How come you're so young and your hearing is worse than mine? I called you so many times, but you just listened to a cow's ass?"
Madford was so angry he jumped up and down: "I'm doing serious business! I'm taking the young expert to see the land; we're going to plant medicinal herbs in our village!"
Grandma Mai knew about it; after Madford returned from the meeting at the military region, most people in the village knew.
She ignored Mai Defu, walked up to Qin Suisui, stuffed two cucumbers and two large tomatoes into her hands, and said with a smile, "Suisui, are you tired? Did you come out to work before you got better?"
Qin Suisui had originally planned to go to Grandma Mai's house after finishing her work, but she unexpectedly ran into her on the way. She quickly took the tomatoes and cucumbers and nodded with a smile: "It's all good, Grandma Mai! I received all the food you asked someone to send me. I ate it last night, and it's still as delicious as ever!"
Grandma Mai laughed so hard her eyes almost disappeared. Seeing that Mai Defu was winking at her from the side, she knew she couldn't delay important matters, so she took Zan Zan's hand, who was following Qin Sui Sui, and said, "Zan Zan, your mother is busy with work. Do you want to come home with Grandma to play with Brother Ada?"
Zan Zan glanced at his mother, then at his grandmother, hesitating. He wanted to go to the mountain with his mother, but he also wanted to play with his brother Ada.
Qin Suisui noticed his hesitation, squatted down, and asked him with a smile, "Is Zan Zan hot? If it is, go home with Grandma Mai to play. I'll pick you up when I'm done with my work, okay?" The sun was very strong outside, and she was indeed a little worried about taking Zan Zan up the mountain.
Zan Zan blinked at her and said, "But I promised Daddy I would take good care of Mommy!"
Qin Suisui smiled and pointed at Su Yunyi and Mai Defu: "Look, Mom isn't alone, she has Aunt Su and Uncle Brigade Captain with her too!"
Su Yunyi suppressed a laugh and said, "Don't worry, Zan Zan, Aunt Su will take good care of your mother. I promise to hand her over to you in perfect condition in a little while."
Zan Zan nodded, took Grandma Mai's hand, and walked away, turning back to look at her every few steps.
Qin Suisui and Su Yunyi followed Mai Defu directly up the mountain from the end of the village.
The mountains along the coast are generally not very high, with the highest elevation not exceeding 300 meters. They are currently undeveloped and covered in wild grass and miscellaneous trees. Along the way, Qin Suisui discovered many medicinal herbs unique to the southern regions, secretly transplanting them all into her spatial dimension.
After Madford led the two on a tour, Qin Suisui finally chose a hillside near the end of the village. The main reason was that it was a sunny spot with relatively loose soil and a sloping terrain, so there would be no waterlogging even if it rained, making it very suitable for the medicinal herbs they had previously selected to grow.
This hillside area is quite large, about two or three acres. If the trial planting here is successful, the entire hillside will be used to grow medicinal herbs in the second half of the year.
After initially defining the area, Mai Defu took out a measuring tape to measure the area she had circled, and Su Yunyi followed behind Mai Defu to record the dimensions. Qin Suisui, on the other hand, wandered around the area to scout out the location.
It has to be said that Qiongtan Island is truly a treasure island. The species on this mountain are even more abundant than those in the previous grove. Qin Suisui felt as if she had opened a treasure box. As she traversed the mountain, she secretly transplanted any rare medicinal herbs and fruit trees she found into her own space.
Walking into a dense forest, Qin Suisui actually discovered wampee! Wampee is a fruit unique to the south. It can aid digestion, quench thirst, relieve asthma, and nourish the stomach. It has extremely high nutritional and medicinal value and is almost never seen in inland areas.
She remembered sneaking a bottle of yellow-skinned fermented soybeans, a gift from her grandmother's friend, when she was little, and was amazed by its deliciousness. She never expected to encounter a yellow-skinned fruit tree here! Qin Suisui's mouth watered at the thought of that sweet and sour taste. Such a large yellow-skinned fruit tree should bear fruit soon, right? It should produce quite a lot of fruit, shouldn't it?
She excitedly looked around and, seeing that no one was around and that neither Mai Defu nor Su Yunyi had noticed her, she touched the fruit tree and, without anyone noticing, transplanted it into the space.
"Mission accomplished!" Qin Suisui clapped her hands and turned to leave. Just then, she suddenly heard someone speaking not far away, and the voice sounded somewhat familiar.
She crouched down and hid in the bushes, looking in the direction the sound came from. She saw that the educated youth Zhang who had clashed with her at the educated youth settlement earlier was now talking to a man.
Perhaps because of her comfortable living conditions, Zhang, the educated youth, was more robust than the average female educated youth of that era, and about 1.7 meters tall. She completely blocked the man in front of her, so Qin Suisui couldn't see him clearly. She only heard Zhang, the educated youth, say impatiently, "Aren't you going to the black market? Help me send the things out as soon as possible!"
After saying that, he handed something out. It was wrapped in a handkerchief and rolled up, so you couldn't tell what it was.
But the man opposite her seemed a bit weak-willed. When he took it, his hand trembled, and he dropped the handkerchief on the ground, revealing what was originally rolled up. Qin Suisui saw clearly that it was a folded piece of white paper.
She was puzzled. Why would she need to wrap a blank sheet of paper in a handkerchief? Or was there something written on it that was covered up and she couldn't see it?
She suddenly remembered that when she arrived at the educated youth settlement at noon, Zhang, the educated youth, was also holding a roll of paper in his hand, which looked somewhat similar to that white paper.
Just then, Medford suddenly waved to her from not far away: "Comrade Qin, come and take a look, is this how these plots of land are divided?"
Qin Suisui jumped in fright, looked up, and met Zhang Ming's gaze. The man in front of her was nowhere to be seen.
"Okay, I'm digging for medicinal herbs here, I'm coming!" Qin Suisui wasn't flustered. She patted her clothes, got up, picked up a moneywort, and walked over to Mai Defu and Su Yunyi.
Unexpectedly, Zhang Ming also came over. She gave Qin Suisui a meaningful look, but deliberately held a grudge and did not greet Qin Suisui and Su Yunyi. She only greeted the brigade leader Mai Defu and then carried a large basket full of grass down the mountain.
Qin Suisui asked Mai Defu with some confusion, "Captain, why doesn't Zhang Zhiqing have to work?"
Madford took a puff of his pipe and sighed, "She doesn't lack money or work points, so she took the initiative to do the work of cutting pig feed in the village!"
After saying that, he glanced regretfully at Zhang, the educated youth who had already walked away: "What a pity for such a big man, such a good worker, it's a pity he wasn't ambitious!"
"How many years has she been working in the countryside? Has she never even worked in the fields?"
"No, she was sent to the countryside the year before last. She did work in the fields when she first arrived, but after less than two months, she came to me saying she couldn't work anymore and needed to cut pig feed. She only asked for two centimeters a day and even showed me her medical records. I had no choice; I couldn't force a sick person to work in the fields. That's how it's been for the past two years. Now that you mention it, I'll have to ask her tomorrow if she's recovered and if she can work again! If she can't, I'll just send her back to where she started!"
In the past two years, many educated youths have come to their brigade. They are all skinny and can't do much. The farm work here is much heavier than elsewhere. Rice is planted twice a year, and at other times they have to go to the forest to tap rubber, collect rubber, and process rubber. The workload is heavy, and the educated youths take leave every few days, taking up their spots for nothing!
Qin Suisui never expected that her question would disrupt Zhang Ming's comfortable life. After they confirmed the land, they slowly walked down the mountain. The next step was to hire someone to cultivate and tidy up the land, which would take at least two or three days. Of course, these things were not her concern. After agreeing on a time with Mai Delong for inspection, she and Su Yunyi went to Mai's old lady's house to pick up Zan Zan.
It was already past four in the afternoon, but the sun was still very strong. Zan Zan and Ada were playing with Grandma Mai in the vegetable garden. When they saw them return, Zan Zan ran towards Qin Suisui. Qin Suisui caught him and picked him up, patting the little guy's back reassuringly: "How was it? What did Zan Zan and Brother Ada play together?"
Zan Zan smacked her lips: "I ate oyster omelet and jelly with Brother Ada! Now Grandma is taking us to pick watermelons!"
At this moment, Grandma Mai waved to them and said, "Sui Sui, Su Zhiqing, come quickly! My watermelons are ripe. Each of you can choose one to take home and eat!"
Qin Suisui's eyes lit up. Watermelon! She loved it! She grabbed Zan Zan and rushed into the vegetable garden.
I didn't even notice last time I came that Grandma Mai also grows watermelons. Her vegetable garden is truly a treasure trove!
Grandma Mai tapped the watermelon on the ground and said with a smile, "I don't know what kind of watermelon this is. It's not very big, but it's very sweet! My good-for-nothing son brought it back before. After he finished eating it, I just threw the seeds on the ground. I didn't expect it to actually grow!"
Qin Suisui went over to take a look and, wow, this small watermelon patch had grown more than twenty large watermelons, as well as many small fruits that had just sprouted. It really looked like it had a strong vitality.
She didn't stand on ceremony: "That's great! I love watermelon, thank you Grandma Mai!"
Grandma Mai knocked on the melons for a while and finally picked three ripe ones. She took them home, washed them with well water, cut one open, and let everyone try it. They were indeed very sweet! The flesh was crisp and had a high water content! Especially the freshly picked melons.
Qin Suisui was thinking that she should also throw the watermelon seeds she finished eating into her space, hoping they might survive. Suddenly, a familiar voice came from outside: "Suisui, Zan Zan."
Qin Suisui was taken aback, and then she saw Pei Jiuyan standing in the courtyard, smiling at her against the sunlight.
What brings you here?
Qin Suisui quickly got up and welcomed them in. After Pei Jiuyan greeted Grandma Mai and Su Yunyi, he patted her head and asked, "Are you tired? Weren't you going to go beachcombing? I've come to pick you up."
Actually, no. In the afternoon, Pei Jiuyan felt uneasy in his office. He had felt the same way Qin Suisui had a couple of days ago when she was attacked. When it suddenly came back, Pei Jiuyan was afraid that something would happen to her again, so he rushed over. He couldn't bear to see her suffer again.
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