80.080 Second Trip
Winter came exceptionally early this year; frost fell in mid-October. Su Yu's work in the orchard also stopped, with only the old ox panting as it pulled the plow through the orchard.
"Are you going south?" Su Yu asked the man lying on the bed.
"Yes, let's go early. We need to bring back a batch of fresh fruit before the New Year. The purchasing agent will be going with us too. I heard they have some lychees and oranges. I'll have someone buy a few pounds of each to bring back. You haven't tried any yet, so let's eat our fill and satisfy our cravings." He had been worried about accidents on the road, but the company was very considerate and sent three cars to go together. With so many people, his concerns were dispelled.
“I’ve never eaten it before. Bring more money and tickets, and buy back any good ones you come across.” Su Yu packed out two sets of his early autumn clothes. The further south you go, the higher the temperature gets. Wearing a thick cotton-padded coat there would probably make you feel like you’re going to explode from the heat.
"Ugh, I want to go too." She flung her clothes aside and threw them onto the bed as she backed away. Now that she wasn't working, she was going to be stuck at home again.
Ning Jin refused: "It won't work this time. There are seven or eight people, not just me and Lao Wang. If you go, outsiders will gossip, and you don't have a letter of introduction. It's cold in this weather, and you won't be able to sleep in the carriage. If you're bored at home, go visit your eldest sister, second sister, and third sister."
Su Yu didn't reply. Once she said it, her desire to go out with them became uncontrollable. Staying in this small town was comfortable, but after several years, she was getting a little tired of it. She needed something new and exciting.
"If I can get the letter of introduction, can I hitch a ride with you?" she asked, turning around and resting her hand on his chest.
“If you’re not sleeping well, don’t make yourself sick.” He didn’t respond.
"I'm not afraid, just tell me if it's okay or not." She cupped his face in her hands, kissing him repeatedly, then pried open his smiling eyes, urging, "Is it okay or not?"
Sigh, there's just no way to deal with her. The man held her bent leg and temporarily gave in, saying, "Then I'll go ask?"
"No need to ask." Su Yu stated her plan: "I'll go to Qiu Fuli to get a certificate, and ask him to put in a good word with the factory to take me along. That should be fine, right?"
"Aren't you afraid of hardship? This involves driving for many days in a row."
“I’m afraid of hardship, but I want to be with you. You’re always out and about, and I can’t see you whenever I miss you. I’ve stopped working now, and I just want to go out and spend time with you.” Su Yu said this half-truthfully. She really did miss this man when she was home alone, especially after dinner when the two children went back to their room and she felt that the little courtyard was empty.
"You really missed me?" Ning Jin squinted at her.
"Really, you're my man. Who else would I think of if not you? Of course, I think of you the most when my feet are cold." She said this a little shyly, pressing her face against him. He didn't smoke or drink, and he had a very unique scent—warm, reliable, and with a hint of masculine hormones—that made her feel a little restless.
The man couldn't hold back any longer and rolled over to pin her down. "Then you prepare a thick quilt, we'll use it together tonight."
He had agreed, and Su Yu gave herself a thumbs up.
The next day, Su Yu rode her bicycle to Qiu Fuli's house to find him. "Sister-in-law, is Brother Qiu home? I need to talk to him about something."
"Yes, come in." Qiu Fuli's wife poured a porcelain jar of boiling water for her to warm her hands, then took the child and went out.
"Brother Qiu, would you like to add some new varieties of fruit trees to the orchard?"
"How so?"
Su Yu told her about the grafted branches, "They all died, not a single one survived. I think it might be the wrong variety. Now the cannery is going to the south to pick up goods, I heard there are oranges and other varieties of tangerines, as well as plums and nectarines. I was thinking if we could buy a few trees from our orchard and try pollinating and grafting them with our fruit trees, so that we can improve the varieties."
Qiu Fuli glanced at her and bluntly exposed her: "You want to go to the south with your man."
"Yes, I came to ask you for a letter of introduction, and also to ask if you want to introduce new fruit trees. If so, I'll bring a few back." Su Yu showed no panic at being exposed, and changed her story naturally. "Now the orchard situation is cleared up. Apart from some pests and diseases caused by a lack of pesticides, there's nothing major. I feel guilty taking the meager 10 yuan salary from the orchard. I just happened to see the word 'grafting' in a book. If it's successful, not only will we have new varieties of fruit, but we can also shorten the fruiting time of the trees."
Qiu Fuli was quite touched by what she said. Now that the orchard has expanded, Yu Yuan'an and Su Yu are idle. He had thought about how to find them jobs, but he didn't know much about planting. He wanted to lower their wages, but he felt it would be like killing them after they had served their purpose. He was afraid that they would lose heart and run away. If that happened, the higher-ups would transfer a lowly talent like Liu Quan, and he would be the one suffering.
“Okay, I’ll write you a letter of introduction and approve a hundred yuan for you. If it’s not enough, I’ll make up the difference when you get back.” He nodded in agreement.
"You should talk to the cannery; they're a sister company after all. Ask them to help us bring back some fruit trees so my husband and I don't have to beg around for help." That's the most important thing.
Qiu Fuli gave her the letter of introduction and took her to the finance department to get the money. "Come on, I'll go with you to the cannery." He got on his bicycle and told his wife that she didn't need to cook lunch for him.
The matter was easily resolved. Qiu Fuli went to the cannery's leaders and said directly that if it was a large fruit tree, they only needed ten trees, and the saplings could be arranged by Su Yu.
“Okay, we’re all brother units, and we support your work.” After all, the cannery is the one that directly benefits from introducing new varieties.
Old Man Su and his wife were picked up by their youngest son-in-law again in the dead of winter. This time, Old Man Su didn't say that his youngest son was dishonest. Running around outside had indeed broadened his horizons and given him courage.
"Bring an extra blanket. It might snow when we come back. You can wash the blanket if it gets dirty, but it's terrible if someone gets sick." Old Su instructed from the yard. This time, his youngest son was on official business, so he dared to speak loudly and wasn't afraid of others knowing.
"I know, Dad, you really worry Mom a lot." Su Yu glanced at the old lady sitting by the fire in the room, noticing her sullen expression, and asked softly, "Did you two have a fight?"
Old Man Su glared at the person in the middle of the room, a rare occurrence for him, and said irritably, "You're having another episode. You've eaten too much and gotten senile. You think I've lived too long and you're trying to drive me crazy."
Su Yu knew from the tone of her voice that this matter was related to her brother; it was probably the old lady giving something to her neighbor's son again.
"Let me tell you, youngest sister, if I die in the future and your mother does something foolish, you four sisters shouldn't worry about her too much. Let whoever wants to support her take care of her." Old Man Su said loudly, not afraid that anyone would hear him, but only afraid that those who should have heard him wouldn't.
"Alright, alright, stop yelling. Don't make my mom cry." Su Yu didn't interfere with the old couple's dispute. She went to the kitchen to prepare the dough, planning to bake two stacks of sesame brown sugar cakes and sesame pork lard cakes that evening. She could heat them up over a fire on the way and eat them.
The next day, before Xiao Yuan and Ping An woke up, Su Yu and Ning Jin left, with her hands tucked into her sleeves, only feeling warm when she got into the driver's seat.
“I cleaned it up, and I put old newspapers and the old blanket I used to use as a cover. You can sit there when I’m driving.” Ning Jin pointed to the place where he used to keep his car repair tools.
Su Yu glanced at it; it was indeed clean, with a blanket spread out, so she could even take a nap.
The biggest worry on this trip south was getting lost. I wasn't familiar with the roads, and even with a map, I sometimes lost my way and took the wrong path. The third time we went further and further astray and had to turn back and choose a new route, Su Yu said, "We'll use up a lot of gas alone. This trip will cost us some money."
"There are quite a few, but the fish and meat canned goods are not yet ready. If the taste is right, they can be stored for several months without spoiling, but the fish and meat supply is not enough. There is not enough fresh meat to distribute, so where do we get the spare meat to make canned goods for the factory?" Old Wang smacked his lips and said, "We have been researching this for more than a year, and we don't even know if we have made enough money from the fish and meat canned goods we have sold."
“With technology, you’ll eventually break even. Resources will be plentiful eventually. While others are researching technology and buying equipment, your cannery will start making a profit.” Su Yu chatted with him while looking at the car in front of him. The factory will definitely have to go through trial and error. The current leader doesn’t have a business background, and the factory has government support, so his ideas are always bolder.
Over the course of half a month, the passengers' clothes gradually dwindled, and they took many wrong turns before finally arriving at the orchard arranged by the factory. Su Yu became Xiao Yuan and Ping An, newcomers to the orchard, and they freely picked fruit in the orchard.
The branches were laden with pomelos. Su Yu picked out two large pomelos, paid for them, and put them in the hood of the car. There were also custard apples, which Ning Jin had mentioned as lychees. Real lychees are a summer and autumn fruit. Unfortunately, the mangoes had already blossomed, so she couldn't eat any.
"Auntie, do you make any jam? Can you sell me some?" After the meal, she tried to get close to the locals, wanting to buy their homemade bayberry jam and strawberry jam. While buying the jam, she saw that they also made fruit wine, so she shamelessly bought two small jars.
The fruit trees here weren't worth much, so Su Yu bought two large bundles for only fifty yuan. The roots were sealed tightly with mud and wrapped with straw in many places. Finally, a layer of canvas was wrapped around the straw, and it was tied to the last car to take back.
Just before getting on the bus, Su Yu went to buy two bunches of unripe bananas, intending to take them back to share with her relatives.
"No need to buy so much. Once we've scouted the route, we'll come back next year." Ning Jin helped her stack the dozen or so pounds of bananas under the car seat. Now there were only three seats left in the car, and the remaining space was filled with fruit and jam.
"I don't know when I'll be able to come back again. I'm going to buy as much as I want." She climbed into the car, moved the blanket over to sit down, and hugged the blanket to her lap. "It smells so good, all fruity." She sniffed happily.
"Are you planning to eat all the fruit you want for the New Year?" Old Wang thought this was the best smell he'd ever had in the driver's cab. He glanced at Su Yu, a little envious of Ning Jin. He'd heard this woman earned just as much as Ning Jin, and had fewer children. Look at her, she could buy whatever she wanted to eat. He was terrified of her. A single ham cost forty or fifty yuan, and he'd been eyeing it for days but hadn't been able to bring himself to buy it. She saw it and bought it without a word.
Comparing yourself to others will only make you miserable.
There was so much stuff that Ning Jin and Su Yu didn't dare take it out during the day. They only carried the fruit home at night. Su Yu was carrying a bundle of ham wrapped in straw on her shoulder. As soon as she entered the house, she was surrounded by Xiao Yuan and Ping An.
Two bamboo baskets of fruit, all of which I've never seen before, and whose names I've never even heard of.
"Mom, you're so sweet, you know how to shop." Ping An hugged Su Yu's neck and jumped up, then picked up a strangely shaped dragon fruit and asked, "Peel it like an orange?"
"Cut it open with a knife and scoop it out with a spoon." Su Yu patted Xiao Yuan, who was unsure which fruit to eat, and said, "Just pick one, it's not like you can only choose one."
It was too cold for Su Yu's parents to eat. Old Man Su sat to the side watching his spendthrift daughter, shaking his head in relief that she was lucky enough to earn her own money; otherwise, no family could afford to support such a big spender.
"By the way, someone came looking for you after you left. When he heard you weren't home, he said it was a pity and then left."
"Who? What's their name?"
"He didn't say what his name was, but Xiao Yuan said he'd seen him before."
"It's that crew-cut man who came to our house looking for you in the fall, and he even made you sign something," Xiao Yuan said. He took the fruit Ping An handed him, took a bite, pursed his lips, and looked at him. What is this? It's not tasty, and there are seeds inside that will get stuck in my teeth.
Upon hearing that it was a man, Ning Jin turned to look at Su Yu.
"Don't be nervous, he's someone from our county government." Su Yu then realized that she had forgotten to tell him about the tree's fate. "That's it, the tree has been given to the state. There's nothing important here, so don't worry about it. If there is something important, he'll come back."
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