121. 121 Deep Consideration
"Baozhi, are you getting a package? Who sent it to you? Why are you so happy?"
Er Ya hugged a cardboard box with a big smile and said, "It's a special product from Northwest China that my aunt sent me." She didn't open the box, but carried it to the office, and then carried it home in the same way when she got home that evening.
"Sis, you're back. Dinner isn't ready yet, wait a bit." Xiao Hu's voice came from the kitchen, accompanied by the sizzling sound of oil.
"Hmm, I'm not in a hurry." Er Ya focused on unsealing the package. As soon as she opened it, a rich citrus scent wafted out. She first opened the envelope inside, looked at it, and then put it aside. She then took out two packets of goji berries and dried lily bulbs from the box.
"Who sent it to you, Aunt Su?" Xiao Hu asked, tucking his hands behind his back. She was the only person in their family who was willing to send things to them.
"Yes, Aunt Su knows I have a boyfriend and has even met your brother Cai's parents, so she sent me some special products from Northwest China so I'll have something presentable to show off next time I meet people." Er Ya knew that Aunt Su was indirectly giving her face. She had no elders in her family, and those who had shown her kindness were not related by blood, but someone was thinking of her so that she could look better in front of Cai Zhiran's parents.
“That’s great. We can send things to Aunt Su from now on. My older sister, Qiaoqiao, and I can eat the dried radishes, dried cowpeas, and braised pork that we’ve been making. With Brother Ping’an here, we won’t send the red sausages we buy anymore. We’ll send the ones we make ourselves. We’ll make our own sausages in late autumn and send them to her.”
Er Ya glanced at him sideways. "Ping An bought his, we bought ours. The intentions are different. Zhang Xiaohu, don't talk a good game, you're stingy when it comes to doing things." She snatched the tangerine from his hand and wouldn't let him eat it.
"Don't wrong me, I didn't mean to be stingy. I just thought that things I made would be more sincere." He followed her, nimbly reached into the box, took out another tangerine, quickly peeled it, and put it in his mouth. "It's so sweet. It's just like what they say in the book: the Northwest has high temperatures and plenty of sunshine, so the fruit can't taste bad."
Er Ya ignored him, went into the storage room to rummage for any edible dried vegetables, wrapped them in newspaper, and planned to send them over tomorrow.
After working for a year, she used her salary and savings from previous years to buy a house in a small alley in the city. Xiao Hu also came to the city to attend junior high school, and Daya no longer had to squeeze onto the tram and walk for about 20 minutes back to the countryside after work every day. Now, whoever comes home first cooks. Daya occasionally brings back groceries from restaurants, and on weekends, Xiao Hu takes Qiaoqiao out of the city to the village to grow vegetables.
He wasn't this frugal before. Ever since she started dating Cai Zhiran, Xiao Hu and his older sister have been living frugally, trying to save every penny for her dowry. There are four people in their family: two earn money and two are still in school. After deducting the money she earns to support Qiaoqiao, Da Ya only has about ten yuan left each month. Her own salary is sixty or seventy yuan a month, but she has to give money to her family for household expenses and spend money on work, such as clothes, shoes, and occasional gifts for colleagues' weddings or newborns. If she can save thirty yuan a month, that's considered good.
She understood Xiaohu's stinginess, the helplessness of not being able to earn money but having to spend it. She knew that Xiaohu's current situation was more awkward than when she was struggling to go to junior high and high school. He was afraid of holding her back, and even though it was already a fact, he still wanted to salvage the situation.
"I'll buy some fish this weekend and dry them," Xiao Hu said, glancing at her furtively. Seeing that his sister didn't object this time, he smiled and repeated, "I'll go buy them the day after tomorrow. I learned how to marinate fish from the aunties in the village, and the dried fish they make is delicious."
"Don't let your grades drop. You can only have a future if you get good grades, go to a good university, and find a good job. My older sister and I are examples of that. It's up to you to choose," Er Ya warned him.
"I know, I'm studying hard."
She delivered the package to the post office, and Xiao Yuan in the capital also received a box of tangerines sent to him by his mother. This was the first time he had ever received food from his mother.
"Dad, is Mom urging you to go back?" he asked the man who had just finished cleaning the house. He had been dragged to clean this small courtyard house since he had no classes these days. He had taken down the stove in the yard and the clothesline tied under the eaves.
Ning Jin glanced at the cardboard box, shook his head and said, "That's not what she meant. If she wanted me to come back, she would have written directly to me. Your mother isn't the type to beat around the bush. She probably just missed you, which is why she sent you food."
Xiao Yuan's eyes crinkled with laughter. It was a sweet dilemma. His mother was urging him to go to the Northwest during his vacation, and his maternal grandparents kept writing to him, wishing he could split himself in two to fulfill his filial duties to both sides.
That's what they said. Two days later, Ningjin boarded a train heading northwest with lots of bags and packages. When he arrived at the station, he happened to meet Engineer Lü, who was there to pick up drinking water and deliver some letters.
"There's a package containing your Section Chief Su's mail; it was sent from Northeast China."
Ning Jin glanced at it, saw it was from Er Ya, and put it back without interest. It was quite a big package, and he wondered what it contained.
"This girl, she's already burdened with so much on her own and she still sends me things." Su Yu took the dried vegetables and soybean paste into the kitchen, saw a bag of pine nuts, and shook her head, saying, "Next time I'll tell her not to send me this stuff, it's not cheap."
"If you want to eat it, I'll have Ping An send it to you. You can also go and buy it yourself when you take your leave at the end of the month." He was in a much better mood after spending more than half a month in the city. He felt that Su Yu should go out for a trip every month. Now that he's in the Northwest, she doesn't even take her leave. She's practically become a native of the desert. This won't do. She can't lose contact with the outside world, lest she waste the rest of her life here.
"How is Ping An?"
"They said they've submitted the application and it's under review." He rubbed his hands together; the air was so dry. "I hope it gets approved soon. No one in our family has committed any crimes. Once it's approved, I'll find something to do as soon as possible."
"Getting bored?"
He nodded. He was annoyed. He was just not destined to enjoy a peaceful life. He felt that having nothing to do was more tiring than driving a sports car. The days were passing by aimlessly, and the speed of life was making him panic.
Su Yu chuckled to herself, grabbed his arm, and asked, "Do you have any ideas about the specialties of our Northwest?"
"What do you mean, 'you Northwest'? You're not from the Northwest."
"Do you have any ideas about our local specialties?" Su Yu asked again, removing the "Northwest" part.
"How so?"
"The desert not only has aloe vera but also cistanche. Other parts of the Northwest have goji berries, licorice, safflower, and codonopsis. Fruits include winter jujubes, sand dates, gray dates, citrus fruits, and apples. Why don't you register a company, become your own boss, and then sell these things to other places?"
"No way, I don't have that ability. How can someone who only graduated from high school start a company? Besides, aren't most companies government-owned these days?" He waved his hands repeatedly, afraid that Su Yu would make the decision for him if he was too late.
“Actually, it started out like you running a truck.” Su Yu pressed his hand down and continued, “That’s what I was thinking, but it hasn’t really materialized yet. I was thinking of selling our aloe vera to foreign companies. These days, foreign companies have the capital to make cosmetics. If a deal is reached, there will definitely be a third-party transportation company or their transportation fleet involved. You want to work but don’t dare to be a middleman anymore, right? We’ll sell our aloe vera cheaply. You register a company, we’ll sell the aloe vera to you, and you can ship it south. You’ll just be a middleman and make a profit. Once you’re familiar with the roads, you can go to orchards or collect Northwest specialties from scattered locations and sell them elsewhere.”
If she weren't ignorant about skincare products and lacked the technology, capital, machinery, and talent, she would have let Ningjin start a skincare company. The main problem is that university graduates are flocking to state-owned enterprises these days, and experienced and skilled professionals are highly valued. She doesn't have the ability to poach talent, and she wouldn't dare use inexperienced university graduates. Skincare products contain complex ingredients that she doesn't understand; if something goes wrong, not only will Ningjin face legal trouble, but she won't be able to stay at the Forestry Bureau either.
"Let me think about it. I've never had such a thought before," Ning Jin said, somewhat agitated.
"Okay, take your time thinking about it. There's still plenty of time. This isn't something you can just do on a whim. I haven't even taken the first step yet." She still has to wait another month; the effects aren't visible on the skin on her hands yet.
"By the way, is Xiao Yuan coming to visit me during winter break?"
“Come on, I told you you sent him tangerines because you missed him. When I left, he asked me to tell you he would come over after his exams.” Ning Jin smiled. It was funny; this trick seemed to never fail with either Ping An or Xiao Yuan.
“He’ll come over during winter break, and then we’ll go back to our hometown at the end of the year. We’ll come back after the New Year, and Ping’an will also come here for a few days. Then the two of them will take a bus back to school together.” She had arranged everything.
After that, Ning Jin spent most of his time living in the desert with Su Yu, taking her out for trips every month. They would visit various provinces and cities in the Northwest, visit orchards and act as free fruit tree doctors, go to old craft masters to select paper-cutting and colored porcelain, go to Fuping to watch people dry persimmons, and travel a long way to buy sweet potatoes from other people's fields.
Whenever she came across something she thought tasted good, she would buy ten pounds of it. She would send some to Xiao Yuan and Ping An, and then send some to Er Ya every half month or month, keeping some for herself.
After a while, without Ning Jin urging her, she would start to get anxious after finishing her food and take him out for a walk.
Xiao Yuan and Ping An's roommates were in for a treat, getting to eat a different Northwest specialty every month. The guy who robbed Xiao Yuan of his condoms also bought the colored porcelain Su Yu had sent to her son at a low price to give to her girlfriend. Xiao Yuan was willing to make the deal to help them get together.
"Su Yuan, you're leaving already?"
"Yes, I'm going to my mom's. We made plans together," he said, unable to contain his joy.
"Come on, come on, your mind has already wandered away before the exam. Remember to bring us delicious food when school starts next year."
"We'll see when the time comes, we'll bring it if we find it." Xiao Yuan glanced at his watch, seeing that it was getting late, "I'm leaving, that's all."
The cheerful and hurried footsteps gradually faded away in the corridor, while the three remaining people in the dormitory were still lying in bed.
"I really envy Su Yuan. His family must be very good. His mother cares about him a lot and sends him food and clothes every month. He also has an older brother who keeps in close contact with him. He gets as happy as a teenager when he talks about his family."
“He was raised in luxury. Look at his clothes and shoes, none of them are cheap. He even wears three or four watches. I envy him, I envy his father’s open-mindedness. One year during my university break, I went home and read a secret magazine. My dad caught me and chased me away, beating me and scolding me for not studying hard enough.” He snorted and said sarcastically, “Studied hard? If he studied hard enough, would he have a good son like me?”
“Your dad is right, you’ve used a whole bunch of condoms before you’re even married.”
"Hehe." The other person, who hadn't spoken, chuckled meaningfully.
"You bastard, I'm aiming to get married, so shut up about my wife. If I hear you talking about her again, I'll beat you to death, and we're no longer brothers." The guy who was complaining about his dad climbed out of bed shirtless, his face stern, ready to hit someone.
"I misspoke, I promise I won't mention your sister-in-law again." He pleaded sheepishly, knowing he had been too talkative.
*
"Mom, I'm here!" Xiao Yuan shouted as soon as he jumped out of the car.
“Come with me to the fields, we’re short-handed right now.” Su Yu tossed him a bag. “Everything’s prepared for you: a mask, scarf, gloves, and a pair of comfortable shoes.”
Xiao Yuan, still brimming with excitement, was like a lamb led out of a sheepfold, obediently following the lead sheep. A well-dressed, high-achieving student changed into his father's clothes and was wrapped up tightly. Apart from his fair complexion, he looked no different from the locals.
Su Yu thought that Xiao Yuan's path after graduation would be different from hers, so she decided to pass on her experience to him while he was still a student, so that he could be more outstanding, have a broader perspective when he started working, make fewer mistakes and encounter fewer setbacks, and make decisions that were practical and down-to-earth.
A smooth career and a comfortable life are what she can consider for him.
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