"Xuemei, I'm most afraid of summer and autumn harvests. You don't know that the village we went to last year only gave us a corn cake at noon. They were so stingy. We have moved to a different village this year. I hope it will be better." Luo Yao said.
Xuemei met Luo Yao when she was in junior high school, and now they are in the same class in high school. Luo Yao is very blessed, lively and enthusiastic, and very likable.
"Our village is quite nice to the students who come from the commune to support agriculture. The food is not particularly good, but we always make sure they have enough to eat."
"I want to go to your village to support agriculture."
"We are far away from the county town. If you go to our village, you won't be able to go home for half a month."
"But forget it. You don't know that every time I participate in the summer and autumn harvests, I get sunburned. Ever since I started junior high school and had to participate in the summer and autumn harvests every year, I haven't had a white complexion."
"Why are you looking at me like an idiot?"
"Xuemei, why don't you get tanned? I envy you so much. You always get your white skin back in a month."
"I'm just like my mother. She's the same. It's better for you to wear a straw hat when you go out to the fields."
"I wore it, but it didn't work. I might look like my father, and my mother is also white. Luo Yao stopped and compared their heights with her hands. Xuemei, have you grown taller again?"
"Yes, I went home last week and my mom measured me with a ruler. I'm already 1.65 meters tall."
"Why are you still growing taller? I haven't grown any taller since I started high school. It's so strange! By the way, Xuemei, my family only has three taels of candy tickets for you."
"That's enough for the summer harvest. Yaoyao, how much do I give you?" Xuemei whispered in Luo Yao's ear. They had to be especially careful about exchanging money for things now. The commune fair had been closed since last year, and Father Liu had to trade his game with acquaintances instead of going to the black market.
"Xuemei, next time you can just bring me a can of chopped peppers. My parents have been busy with work lately, so I've been cooking for myself. My cooking isn't very good, but the chopped peppers you and your mom make are delicious and go well with rice."
"Okay, I'll get you a can next time. By the way, Yaoyao, what time is it now?"
"It's 3:15. School is dismissed so early today. This is so we can gather our energy and work hard on the summer harvest tomorrow."
"Then you can take advantage of today to rest. Yaoyao, my brother and sister are waiting for me over there. I'll be leaving first."
"Sister, sister, over here." Shengnan shouted. Shengnan started school late at the Li family, so she is only in the first grade now.
"Mingwu, Shengnan, Sitong, it's still early, let's go to the supply and marketing cooperative first."
Xuemei went to the supply and marketing cooperative and bought two taels of white sugar and ten White Rabbit milk candies. This was what she had promised Qingya and the other three. She spent a total of two taels of sugar coupons and one yuan, twenty-four cents. Xuemei felt very sad about spending this money!
Xuemei now has a savings of 212.57 yuan. In the past few years, Xuemei used her own space and Liu's mother to trade mountain products and food with people in the commune and the county town, and earned a lot of money. However, since last year, Xuemei and Liu's mother have only traded things with acquaintances. So far this year, Xuemei has only earned 6.30 yuan. How could Xuemei not feel bad when she spent one-sixth of her money in one go?
"Comrade, we have a new batch of hairbands from Hai City. Do you want any? They come in several colors, including red, yellow, and black."
When Sitong heard about the hairband, her eyes widened. Shengnan also liked it, but she restrained herself and just looked at it a few more times.
"Comrade, how much is this pair?" Xuemei asked after looking at Shengnan and Sitong.
"Five cents a pair? Not expensive, is it?"
"It's not expensive at all. It's almost as much as my bus fare from the county town to go home." Mingwu muttered softly in the back.
Xuemei hardened her heart and said to the salesperson, "Comrade, I want six red ones and one yellow one."
"Sister, why did you buy so many things? I really don't understand you women." Mingwu complained.
"You little brat, you'll understand later. Sitong, this is for you and your cousin; Shengnan, this is for you and Yanan; Mingwu, this is for Juhua, take it home and give it to Juhua. After dividing it, Xuemei still has a pair of red and a pair of yellow hairbands left in her hands."
"Sister, I don't want it. It's too expensive. Can you return it?"
"Shengnan, we just need to take good care of what our cousin gave us. As long as we remember how good she was to us, that's all. Cousin, I'll go home and ask my sister to embroider a shoe insole for you."
"You're so good at borrowing flowers to offer to Buddha, why don't you embroider it for me yourself?"
"Cousin, if you dare to ask me, I will dare to embroider it."
Xuemei thought about Sitong's skill in embroidering the mandarin ducks into ducks, and said quickly, "Forget about your embroidery. Shengnan, take it and treat it as a reward for helping big sister get lunch at school."
"Big sister, I only help you out once in a while when you're busy. What's the big deal?"
"Sister Shengnan, please stop being so nagging. Juhua has done nothing but it's okay. I just don't have it. I wish I were a girl."
"Okay, you have one too. This is for you." Xuemei handed Mingwu a White Rabbit milk candy.
"Sister, you are so kind. You are the best sister in the world..."
"Okay, that's enough. Let's go! We will miss the 4 o'clock bus later." Now there is one more bus from the commune to the county town. It departs from the county town to the commune at 12 noon and returns to the commune from the county town at 4 pm.
…
"Sitong, does your village know that you are going home today to participate in the summer harvest? Will they send an ox cart to pick you up?"
"I know. Yesterday we had the principal call the municipality and they should have sent someone to notify our village chief. Hey, we don't know when our village will get electricity. Once it does, we can install a telephone and avoid all this hassle. Orange Village is really lucky; it got electricity a few years ago."
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