Chapter 91 Niu Mudan, Ponytail
At the door of the supply and marketing cooperative in Xicheng, Beijing, Director Niu straightened his hat that was squeezed crooked and came out with an unhappy look on his face.
I didn’t buy anything!
The Chinese New Year is just around the corner, but the family hasn't prepared all the gifts yet. This year is a critical time for Lao Gao's promotion, and there are many important favors to be paid, so we can't be careless at all.
It so happened that this year the supply of materials in the city was in short supply again, and everyone flocked to the supply and marketing cooperatives. Normally, they were stingy, but during the New Year, everyone held a wad of money in their hands and snatched things fiercely.
This was her third visit, but she still hadn't bought anything satisfying.
Director Niu returned to the compound with a frown on his face, but was stopped before he could even enter.
I looked up and saw Xiao Yang, the mail delivery man from the post office.
"Director Niu, there's a letter from your family, and I was just about to deliver it to you!"
Director Niu took the letter and saw that it was from Heilongjiang Province.
As she walked towards home, she wondered, "Don't they have any relatives or friends in Heilongjiang Province?"
After returning home, she opened the letter and saw Mingdai's name on the last page. She thought about it for a moment and then remembered who it was.
The letter was not long. It started with a simple greeting, expressing gratitude to the family, and then talked about life in Liujiawan.
Director Niu was not very interested in Yu Mingdai's life in the countryside, but he was interested in the description in her letter about the endless red dates, endless chestnuts, endless hazelnuts, and endless walnuts!
What's more, every household has a surplus of dried goods, including fungus, mushrooms and so on.
Finally, he even mentioned the Caoji Market, and lamented that the jerky in sacks and the wind-dried chickens and rabbits hung in rows were all very cheap, but they could not be sold because the villagers had no money.
In the end, although people in the countryside have enough food and good food, daily necessities are in short supply. If people here want to buy a bar of soap, they have to go to the supply and marketing cooperative to grab it. There are no such things as gloves, enamel basins and pillowcases.
Director Niu became more and more excited the more he watched. How could she get these?
Her parents' family owns a textile factory, and the things distributed every year cannot be used up at home, so they can give her a lot. Gloves alone are brought home in boxes, and there is no shortage of pillowcases, pillowcases and other things in her family.
As for soap and other things, she remembered that Lao Gao had a good brother who worked in a soap factory!
The more she thought about the contents of the letter, the more excited she became. When Director Gao came home from get off work, he was shocked by his wife's enthusiasm and his waist began to ache.
Director Niu looked at him holding his waist and rolled her eyes: "What are you thinking about! I don't need you today! Let me show you this!"
The crisis was resolved, and Director Gao immediately stood up straight, took the letter and read it carefully.
After reading it, I sipped my hot tea and said, "The young comrade has a good life in the countryside. He is a smart guy."
Director Niu snorted coldly: "Don't you see anything else?"
Director Gao thought about it and his eyes lit up: "You mean..."
Director Niu nodded: "Let's collect some daily necessities and exchange them with Mingdai for some local specialties from the countryside. She and the village captain's family are getting along very well, so there shouldn't be any problem!"
Director Gao thought about his competitors in the hospital and nodded: "If I can really get these things, my promotion to senior director will be basically settled."
Director Niu snorted coldly: "If I wasn't worried about your trivial matter, would I be so anxious and run to the supply and marketing cooperative again and again?"
Director Gao stood up and sat over, holding his wife's slightly sturdy waist: "I am so lucky to marry a peony like you."
Just a few words made Niu Mudan smile happily.
The two first sent a letter and a package to Mingdai, expressing their desire to communicate with her for a long time, meaning to treat her as a relative.
She also tactfully proposed to exchange her unused daily necessities for some of the local specialties and food that she could not finish.
The package sent out together contained a bag of White Rabbit milk candy and a red silk scarf, which was the most fashionable item at the time. Director Niu had originally bought them for his young lady, but he reluctantly gave them up in order to keep Mingdai.
It was a week later that Mingdai received the letter.
At this moment, she is harvesting leeks in the space.
The vegetables outside the space, leeks and chives are still tender, but they can also be eaten.
Most of the oyster mushrooms have entered the fruiting period and can be picked.
It will take another half month for the bok choy and spinach, as they are still tender seedlings now.
Mingdai plans to take some time to go to the county town with Liu Dazhui to see if the vegetables can be delivered to the county government compound. She wants to find out why Zhou Sinian's file is stuck, so she can only try her best there.
Carrying a small bag of mushrooms, Mingdai called Zhou Sinian, and the two walked towards the captain's house.
There have been several consecutive heavy snowfalls in the past few days, and there is thick snow on both sides of the road. No one dares to relax at night. They have to go to the roof to sweep the snow as time goes by, for fear that the heavy snow will collapse the roof.
It is cold before the snow and even colder after the snow. There was no one on the road at this moment. When the two of them braved the cold wind and arrived at the captain's house, they were busy making straw ropes, waiting to use them next spring.
The gate to the courtyard was not locked, so Mingdai pushed it open and walked in.
Zhou Sinian was very interested in the stable of the captain's house, so he went straight there after entering the door. Mingdai saw Liu Laifu, Liu Laiwang and Liu Laifa were all there, so she greeted them and went into the house with the basket.
The two brothers who were nailing wooden boards to the stable saw Zhou Sinian staring at the horse's butt, swallowed their saliva, and quietly hid the hammer.
In the room, on the kang, Liu Dazhui was teaching Tiedan how to read using the comic strip given by Mingdai, while Goudan was making a mess nearby.
On the ground, Aunt Huang was twisting straw ropes with her two daughters-in-law, while Huang Tao and Huang Xing were following Aunt Zhou, passing straw.
Seeing Mingdai coming in, Aunt Huang quickly stood up and asked her to sit on the kang.
Ming Dai waved her hands and said, "Auntie, I won't go. It's getting dark soon and I can't stay for long. I'm here to look for the captain uncle."
Liu Dazhu looked over when he heard this. Mingdai put the basket on the kang and uncovered the cloth.
"Uncle, the mushrooms are ready to eat, and I can also gather a basket of leeks and chives. Can you take me to the county when you have time?"
Liu Dazhu looked at the two mushrooms in the basket and curiously moved the table over.
"You're growing really well! How many kilograms of mushrooms can you produce in a day?"
Ming Dai thought for a moment and said, "There are about 300 mushroom bags in total, and we can produce at least 30 kilograms a day. If the environment is better, 50 kilograms a day will be no problem."
Liu Dazhu looked at her in surprise: "Can there really be so many?!"
Ming Dai smiled and nodded: "No more, no less."
(The following contents are all novel settings, please do not take them personally!)
Liu Dazhu rubbed the cigarette bag in his hand and said, "Great! Xiaoming, you have done a great job now! If the purchasing station in Mushroom County can accept them, we can plant them on a large scale next year!"
Ming Dai's eyes sparkled, and she said, "Uncle, I think it's better to give it to the county government than to the supply and marketing cooperative."
Liu Dazhu was puzzled: "Why send it there? The purchasing station accepts mountain products, but the county government doesn't."
Ming Dai looked at Liu Dazhu seriously: "Uncle, our goal is to get the county and the commune to agree to our large-scale planting of winter vegetables next year, right? If we want to plant on a large scale, we have to build a special fire wall house, which requires a considerable investment. Does our village have it?"
Liu Dazhui looked embarrassed. They still owed the commune a lot of debts, so of course not.
"If we send the vegetables to the county government, the county government leaders will eat fresh winter vegetables. If they eat well, they will definitely wonder where they come from. At this time, we can come forward and make requests. If we send them to the collection station, they may not be able to eat them."
Liu Dazhu suddenly realized Mingdai's intention of sending her to the county government.
Auntie Huang picked up a ball of tangled straw rope on the ground and threw it at Liu Dazhu: "That's enough! You have to do whatever the educated youth Xiao Ming says. You are such a stubborn person and you haven't paid back the village debts in these years. The educated youth Xiao Ming has come up with such a good way to make money for us, why don't you hurry up and find a way to do it?!"
Liu Dazhu slapped the kang mat and said, "Okay! Let's do it! I'll go talk to Qingmin right away to see how we can get this dish to the county government."
After saying that, he got off the kang, picked up the basket and went out.
Seeing this, Mingdai also offered to leave. Aunt Huang asked her to wait for a moment, gave her a small bag of corn bran, and then let her leave.
Mingdai asked Zhou Sinian to go home, and only halfway did she realize that he had something in his hand.
"What are you holding in your hand?"
Zhou Sinian showed her what he was holding in his hand with bright eyes.
Looking at this familiar black "long hair", she opened her mouth wide.
"Zhou Sinian, you shaved your ponytail?!!"
Zhou Sinian nodded happily: "This one has long hair! Long hair is good for knitting sweaters!"
Mingdai didn't say anything for a long time and decided not to go to the captain's house for the near future!