"Mom, Luo Yao will come to my house to play tomorrow." Xuemei said.
"What time will you come tomorrow?" Liu's mother asked while cooking.
Xuemei sat on a low stool by the stove, pushed the fire inward, and said, "She called me at noon today and said she'll be working the day shift tomorrow and will be off around four. She'll take the five o'clock bus to the commune and go back with me after get off work. She'll sleep here tonight and take the one-thirty bus back the next day. I happen to have a day off the day after tomorrow."
After Luo Yao passed the college entrance exam, her mother trained her for a month and she was able to get a job as a nurse at the county hospital. She's still a part-time worker and doesn't know when she'll be offered a permanent position. Jobs are so hard to come by in the city these days that even part-timers struggle to get a job.
"Fortunately, the bus schedule has been changed, otherwise your classmate would have to return to the county town at 10 o'clock. The suggestion our commune director made to the county is really good." Liu's mother said.
There are now two buses from the commune to the county town. One is changed to depart at 7:30 and return at 12:00, and the other is changed to depart at 1:30 and return at 5:00.
"Mom, do you have any empty cans at home? I plan to make some chopped chili peppers and chopped ginger at home the day after tomorrow. I see there are not many left at home, and I want to bring some to Yaoyao." Xuemei asked.
"We made chopped chili peppers, chopped scallions, and chopped ginger from the autumn harvest at home and sent three bottles each to your eldest and fourth uncles. The educated youth also exchanged some for them, so now there's only one bottle of each left. Tomorrow, when your father and I go to the mountains to dig bamboo shoots, we'll also pick up some wild scallions. You can make some with us, and when your classmates leave, they can take the three bottles left from our last batch."
"Mom, you just need to work in the village. There should be two or three work points a day in the village now, right? Digging winter bamboo shoots is almost the same as digging in the ground. It's too tiring to dig for a whole day."
"There's been a lot of rain this year, so there are plenty of bamboo shoots. I plan to go with your father to get more bamboo shoots these days before they grow into bamboo. Besides, we may not be able to dig for a few more days, as your father and the others will have to go chisel stones in a few days." Liu's mother replied after serving the dishes.
"Why are we chiseling the stones? What is the commune planning to repair?" Xuemei asked.
"Don't your grandma's Wangjia Village have more than ten fish ponds and several rivers with a lot of fish? Now the commune plans to build a fish factory there. In addition to selling fresh fish, they also plan to process fish products, such as canned fish, cured fish, and salted fish. So the first step the commune takes now is to require the construction of a road." said Liu's mother.
Xuemei took the spatula and asked while cooking, "Where should we start? Do we need a lot of stones?"
"The road from us to your grandma's house is about five miles long. Then we build two three-meter-wide stone bridges across two rivers to Wangjia Village without turning. In this way, it will only be about eight or nine miles for us to go to your grandma's house, and only about twelve miles from Wangjia Village to the commune. It will be much faster then." Liu's mother described.
"Then mother, our village is only good at chiseling stones. We don't need to build bridges or do anything else, right?" Xuemei asked.
"Our village is responsible for chiseling and transporting stones, Wan Village is responsible for building the two bridges in the middle, and Wang Village is responsible for repairing the remaining miles of roads and factory buildings. Production will begin by next summer at the latest." Liu's mother thought for a while and said.
"Then life will be better for grandma and her family in the village. Do you know how many workers this fish factory will hire in Wangjia Village?"
"I don't know. There should be at least three or four vacancies in Wangjia Village, right? I hope your second uncle's family can be selected." Liu's mother shook her head and said.
…
"Yaoyao, you watched me do it a few times. Have you learned it? It's very simple to do these." Xuemei said to Luo Yao.
"I've written down the processes and precautions of these times in a notebook. I'll try again next year and I should be able to succeed. Xuemei, it's getting late. I want to go home." Luo Yao said reluctantly.
"Okay, wait here for a moment. I'll go pack your things. I'll ride my bike to take you to the commune to catch the bus later." Xuemei said after washing her hands.
"Xuemei, why are there so many? I can't even carry them all." Luo Yao said in surprise as she looked at the full backpack.
"I was afraid that you wouldn't be able to get it, otherwise I would have picked more fresh vegetables for you to take back. Now I've only picked the few pounds on the top of the basket. At the bottom of the basket are a few pounds of chestnuts and glutinous rice, and then some dried mushrooms on top; in the middle are chopped peppers, chopped pepper ginger slices, and chopped pepper scallions wrapped in straw. These three bottles were made in advance, and you can eat them directly after you take them back." Xuemei reminded.
When Luo Yao heard Xuemei had taken so many things, she quickly said, "Xuemei, this is too much. Can I get some tickets and money for you? My parents will scold me if I take so many things back."
"No need. You took a lot yesterday, beef jerky and White Rabbit milk candy. These things are expensive and rare. Take the backpack back with you. If your parents scold you, just say you listened to me. Put on the backpack and let's go." Xuemei pushed the bicycle out and said.
…
After Xuemei waited for Luo Yao to get on the bus and go home, she rode her bicycle home. Halfway there, she saw Accountant Li, Li Quanfang, and his brother Li Deliang tying up a naked, wounded, face-swollen man from another village. Meanwhile, He Lai Di and several other women from the village were escorting Li Deliang's wife, Yi Jiao.
It was obvious that something was wrong, so Xuemei quickly stopped her bicycle, pushed it to the side of the road, lowered her head, and pretended she saw nothing.
Li Deliang was Accountant Li's cousin. When their entire family fled south, they were the only two who survived. The two brothers had always been close, but after Li Deliang married, the relationship between the two families gradually frayed, and later became enemies. Something must have happened to Li Deliang's family today, otherwise why would he have asked Accountant Li's family for help?
Yi Jiao was from the county seat. Her two older brothers were deputy director of a cannery and a commune cadre, and she herself worked in the cannery's cafeteria. As to why she married Li Deliang, an unemployed rural man, this was another scandal in Liujia Village.
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