Chapter 32: Full Centimeters, Borrowing a Cone

I took the newly bought small stool and went to work.

As soon as Zhou Sinian appeared on stage, the whole audience fell silent.

They chose the corn pile at the old place. Zhou Sinian was skilled in the business and started working with a spike without Mingdai's instruction.

Mingdai followed along and rubbed the corn, wearing new cotton gloves. The aunties around her called her a spendthrift, and the young girls and wives were envious.

Today, Aunt Huang and her family chose the cornpile next to Mingdai and Zhou Sinian.

Amidst everyone's admiring expressions, Aunt Huang came closer.

"My dear Miss Xiao Ming, you are so polite. You even gave Tiedan four pieces of peach cakes. What a precious thing."

Even though his voice was trembling and his posture was ready to escape at any time, he was already very brave.

Ming Dai smiled and raised her head: "Auntie also gave us so many vegetables and mountain products. I just had some chive dumplings this morning. They were so delicious that they made my tongue drop. I have to ask Auntie how she grows them so deliciously."

These words touched Auntie Huang's heart. She leaned over and shared her planting experience with Mingdai. Finally, she promised to give Mingdai a crop of leek roots.

"When next spring comes, you can plant some chives and eat them soon. I tell you..."

As she was speaking, she found herself sitting right in front of Zhou Sinian, and the words were stuck in her throat.

Fortunately, Zhou Sinian was busy working and didn't even look up, so Aunt Huang felt relieved.

Seeing that Mingdai and the others were working quickly, Aunt Huang didn't say anything more. She just told her to come home when she had time to get some soybean paste and sauerkraut.

The two things that are indispensable in winter here are soybean paste and sauerkraut.

Mingdai agreed with a smile.

Aunt Huang returned to her seat and immediately surrounded herself with a group of people. While talking, she would occasionally look in the direction of Mingdai and Zhou Sinian.

Neither of them paid any attention. Mingdai planned to finish her work early, go back to clean the vegetable cellar, and then go to the village to buy some vegetables. Otherwise, in the middle of winter, if she turned into vegetables, even if Zhou Sinian was a madman, he would still be suspicious, right?

Mingdai's pile of corn was quickly rubbed amid the envy of the crowd. Most of it was done by Zhou Sinian, and Mingdai didn't even get one-third of it.

The villagers were envious after seeing this, and the educated youth were jealous.

Especially the female educated youth.

Among the old educated youth, Song Lanlan glanced at the brand new cotton gloves in Mingdai's hands, and her mouth was filled with sourness.

These are cotton gloves. Even the girls in the city would be reluctant to use them if they got them. They would tear them apart to make scarves. Now they are being worn on Mingdai's hands while she is rubbing corn. It seems like a waste of resources.

Liu Yan gritted her teeth in hatred. They all came from the capital, and took a train. How could she, who was from the west of the city, be doing better than herself, who was from the east of the city!

Although I also work at home, I have never done such rough work. At most I just do laundry and cook.

Yesterday I rubbed myself all morning and got three blisters. I went to Chen Erhong to ask for leave crying.

Before Chen Erhong could even open her mouth, Song Lanlan scolded her.

"Oh, you are such a capitalist lady, you are really good at acting like one. Fang Rou also had blisters on her hands, but she didn't even complain or ask for leave. Why are you so special?! Do you still want to continue to be the master and oppress us poor slaves?"

These were very serious words. If it weren't for the simple Liujiawan, Liu Yan would have been taken away for investigation.

Liu Yan was stunned and raised her hands, not knowing how to respond.

Chen Erhong was getting more and more outrageous, so she glared at Song Lanlan and frowned at Liu Yan: "Everyone has been through this before, it's impossible to ask for leave, I'll help you prick the blood blister later, you'll be fine once you get used to it."

Liu Yan had no choice but to agree and continued working with the blood blisters bulging out. Four more blisters bulged up in the evening.

At this moment, Fang Rou was also feeling depressed and her hands were hurting.

And she forgot to bring her work gloves, so she is rubbing the corn with her bare hands.

In her previous life, she came here in the summer two years later, which was the busy farming season.

The workload was even heavier at that time, and she was so tired that she cried in the fields on her first day of work.

Again, no one felt sorry for her and just told her to get used to it.

But how could she get used to it? She didn't belong here.

Fortunately, with the help of Luo Cheng, she was able to get rid of the heavy labor.

In this life, she came here early, thinking of laying the foundation for the meeting Luo Cheng, but she forgot that Liujiawan also had to work in the winter.

Looking at the shiny blisters on her palms, she thought that the matter of teaching in the commune primary school should be brought up.

Qi Zhijun on the side was also rubbing corn with a grin on his face. As a young man, his hands were smoother than those of ordinary girls, so naturally he got blisters on them.

But seeing Fang Rou not complaining or feeling tired, he was greatly encouraged. He decided to follow Fang Rou's thoughts and awareness, work hard, and never cheat!

Fang Rou didn't know. She would probably hate him even more if she knew. After all, she had experienced this once in her previous life. After the brief oath, Fang Rou still had to do her own work. That useless young man was unable to take care of himself and could not take care of her at all.

Soon, in just one morning, Mingdai and Zhou Sinian had finished harvesting the corn.

After the team leader checked, a girl with a big braid and a butterfly hairpin came over and asked their names.

After learning Mingdai's name, the girl's eyes lit up and her attitude became much friendlier.

This is Secretary Liu’s little daughter, his sweetheart, Liu Miao.

Mingdai saw her looking at herself and blinked at her, which made Liumiao laugh.

"Ahem, Ming Daihe, um, Zhou Sinian is 10 centimeters tall, remember 8 centimeters."

When she read Zhou Sinian's name, Mingdai felt like she was reading something dirty.

After saying that, he turned to the end of the small notebook he was holding and wrote an 8 on each of their names on the last page.

Mingdai raised her toes and looked, hmm, there was another 8 in front.

Look at the above:

Liu Yan: 4;

Qi Zhijun: 6;

Fang Rou: 6:;

Liu Daye: 6;

Zhang Xiaojun: 6;

Cai Mingcheng: 8;

Qin Fangfang: 8;

Mingdai stood up with satisfaction and smiled at Liumiao. She held the small stool for two people, and Zhou Sinian left carrying four sacks of corn cobs.

"Ming Zhiqing, can you lend me your awl?"

Mingdai turned her head and looked at Fang Rou, who looked tired. It was rare for her not to have her chin sticking up in the air.

Fang Rou didn't want to ask for help, but she really couldn't bear it any longer.

Her hands were used to play the violin, but now they were covered with blisters as she rubbed corn.

At this rate, she might not be able to accomplish even half of what she did yesterday.

Aunt Luo has always liked capable daughters-in-law who are frugal and manage the household well, so she cannot leave a bad impression on her.

People around also looked over, especially the old educated youth, who generally did not have these shoe spikes. They wanted to see if Mingdai would bypass them and lend the tool to the new educated youth.

Fang Rou obviously also saw this situation. She cursed secretly and took out a handful of candy from her pocket and stuffed it into Mingdai's mouth.

"Ming Zhiqing, when you have used them for half a day, lend them to me and I will give you a handful of candy each time."

Ming Dai looked at the six candies in her hand. The heroine is quite generous!

He nodded and handed the awl over.

Fang Rou breathed a sigh of relief after receiving it, smiled at her and sat back.

The other old educated youth also withdrew their gaze. After all, a handful of candy was not something that these poor old educated youth could afford.

Mingdai took the candy and left with Zhou Sinian.

After arriving home, Zhou Sinian poured the corn cobs into the kitchen and stacked them into sacks, planning to take them to work tomorrow.

"Do you want to eat?"

Mingdai held up the candy and gave it to Zhou Sinian.

Zhou Sinian looked at it and shook his head, then went back to his room, took a piece of egg cake, and ate it while leaning against the door frame.

Ming Dai smiled. She knew that Zhou Sinian would not eat other people's food.