Happy National Day, October 29th!
With the start of the school year approaching, Su Yu took her two children to the supply and marketing cooperative to buy notebooks and pencils. "You two keep an eye on things first, I'll go get some cloth," she said to her two hesitant children.
Passing by Du Xiaojuan's counter, Su Yu acted as if she didn't see her, handing the cloth coupons to the woman buying fabric. "Comrade, give me two feet of cotton cloth and one foot of green polyester." After saying that, she asked, "Is one foot of cloth enough to make two small schoolbags? I've never made them before, so I don't know."
“Absolutely enough, three are enough,” the woman pulling the cloth said. After Su Yu left, considering Du Xiaojuan was there, they exchanged knowing glances and smiled without saying a word.
Su Yu had never done needlework before. She took the two schoolbags apart and sewed them back together, then took them apart and sewed them back together. She even had to carry the old lady while sewing them. She stayed up two nights in the evening to finish sewing the two army green schoolbags. She outlined a five-pointed star with red thread. Xiao Yuan and Ping An were so happy when they got their hands on them that they wanted to sleep with them on their chests. They looked forward to going to school day and night.
"How long has it been since you last touched a needle?" After Xiao Yuan and Ping An ran out to show off their schoolbags, Yu Anxiu began to frown and complain. "The stitches are big. If you fill a bag with sand and walk to school, half of it will probably leak out by the time you get to the school gate."
Su Yu knew that the old lady would nitpick. This was the neatest sewing she had ever done after taking it apart three times. "It's hot, and clothes that let in drafts are the coolest. They also let the books breathe so they don't get heatstroke," she said stubbornly, refusing to admit that her sewing was ugly.
"You're just talking nonsense. I think you should wait until winter to add cotton to it." Yu Anxiu couldn't win the argument with the shameless girl. She peeled off the withered leaves of the garlic, washed it clean, and hung it in the sun. Her little girl's cooking was better than hers, and she grew vegetables better too. The garlic sprouts in the yard were so thick that they couldn't be eaten even if they were just used as a condiment, so she simply pickled them and mixed them with porridge.
Su Yu took the two children to register. They had been arguing for two days, but somehow they made up and were now as happy as ever, even walking arm in arm.
On the first day of school, Su Yu handed over her tuition to the teacher, registered her name, and looked back to find that the two rascals had disappeared. She waited outside for a while, and seeing that more and more people were going to work, she still hadn't seen them. Thinking that there was no rush, she didn't wait any longer and hurried to the cannery.
When she came back at noon, she took out two oranges from her pocket, peeled them, and carefully divided them into five pieces. This was supposed to be a serious injury, but in reality, it was just a small tear. The logistics staff took it back to "take care of" it.
"It's sour, I don't like it. Give it to Xiaoyuan and Ping'an." Su Changguo pushed the oranges in front of the two children with a look of disgust.
"Don't let them have it. There will be plenty tomorrow, and there will be plenty in the future. Don't feel sorry for them, just eat it yourself." Su Yu ate her portion first, with an expression that said if the old man didn't want to eat, she would.
"You're such a grown man, and you're still so greedy." Old Man Su said helplessly. His two grandsons didn't want his food either, so he had to eat it himself. It was sweet and sour, quite refreshing.
Staying at his youngest daughter's house is more comfortable than at home. He and his wife can say and do whatever they want without worrying about what other people think. Most importantly, the children are well-behaved. If he were at home, he could just be eating a sweet potato and the children would swarm around him asking for food.
"Xiao Yuan, Ping An, did you see Er Ya at school this morning?" Su Yu asked.
“I see, we’re all in the same class,” Xiao Yuan said.
“She sat at the very back because she arrived the latest, and all the seats had already been chosen,” Ping An said.
"That girl next door, right?" the old lady chimed in, knowing that the girl was rescued by her daughter, and she kept an eye on her from time to time. "That girl is alright. In the morning, when her brother goes to school, she stands outside and asks her mother for tuition. There are neighbors outside, so it's easy for her to get the money. It's just that her mother doesn't look good. She tells her to go to school, but not to forget to do the chores at home."
Hearing her say that, Su Yu felt relieved. It was a good thing that Er Ya could be flexible. If she remained silent and did not know how to resist, no matter how much others helped, it would be a waste of time.
The snail shells they had collected had been kept for three days, with the water changed several times. Su Yu cut the loofah into small pieces and gave them to her mother and two children. The four of them worked together to scrub the dirt off the snail shells, washing two whole bowls of them.
"Should we cook it, then pick out the meat and stir-fry it?" the old lady asked.
"Cook the big ones and pick out the meat, stir-fry the small ones with their shells on." Su Yu carried the bowl into the kitchen.
"This tastes strange, it has a muddy smell." Yu Anxiu didn't understand, and when she saw Su Yu pouring oil into the pot, she stood aside and shouted: "Alright, alright, you can't even save up dried fish, can you? How can you use so much oil to stir-fry this stuff? It's all hard shell, you're just wasting food."
Under the watchful eyes of three people, Su Yu reluctantly added dried chili peppers, bay leaves, and a handful of Sichuan peppercorns to the pot, much to the old lady's dismay as she cried out that she was wasting food.
"How is it? Delicious, right? Am I wasting food?" When the food was served, Old Man Su ate lotus root stir-fried with lard, while the other four who didn't need to avoid certain foods ate a plate of stir-fried snail meat and half a bowl of spicy snails. Xiao Yuan and Ping An didn't even use chopsticks; they scooped the snail meat into their bowls with spoons and squeezed it with their hands, sucking on the spicy food and reluctant to put it down.
In the afternoon, Su Yu was carrying the snail shells she had specially saved at noon, preparing to go to work, when she was surrounded by her two little rascals with their schoolbags. "Mom, do you have to bring food to work?" They were practically saying they had to bring food to school too.
"Yes, someone gave me oranges today, so I'm giving some to my colleagues to eat. If you two want some, we can go collect snail shells in a few days." Su Yu didn't dare give them too much; if they ate too much chili, only they would know how uncomfortable it was to go to the toilet.
"Come on, comrades, I brought some stir-fried snail shells. They taste pretty good, come and have some." Su Yu had gone to the office and it wasn't time for work yet, so she invited the others to eat.
“It smells good, I’ll try it.” Wang Xiaoxia, who was sitting next to Su Yu, was the first to offer her opinion, and once she started, everyone else gathered around.
"It tastes good, but it's spicy." The older woman in the office took a breath, looked at the greasy bowl, and exclaimed in surprise, "No wonder it tastes good, there's so much oil, did you use up several days' worth of cooking oil in one go?"
"Not that much, just enough oil for two or three days of cooking. To make it taste good, you need Sichuan peppercorns, chili peppers, and bay leaves to mask the earthy smell of the snail shells," Su Yu explained, urging them to continue eating: "Eat more if you like it, so I don't have to take it back. I cooked a lot at once, and my family had a satisfying lunch today."
"Then we won't stand on ceremony." The office suddenly became lively. In the afternoon, Su Yu had the opportunity to go to the factory with others to inspect the canned food production. Some were peeling oranges, some were cutting yellow peaches, some were washing cans, some were putting on lids, and some were carrying things. Everyone was busy.
"They're quite hygienic. They're all wearing hats and masks," Su Yu praised from behind. The masks were all made of cloth and looked quite clean.
“Of course, our factory manager hired a technician who works in a big city. He paid a lot of money for him, and that’s how much he earns a month.” Wang Xia held up two fingers.
"Two hundred?" Su Yu's eyes widened. She knew this knowledge too; if she were to do it, she would only need one hundred.
"Yes, I heard they're also researching how to make canned meat and fish, and what kind of machines to buy. These were all suggestions from that technician," Wang Xiaoxia explained to Su Yu, who knew nothing about it, while holding a notebook.
Well, two hundred is indeed hard to earn, so she, with her limited knowledge, is giving up on dreaming.
After Su Yu joined the logistics department, she went to inspect hygiene with others every day. She got to know many people and learned that she could secretly buy cheap fruit without needing a ration coupon from the fruit transport drivers in the factory. She didn't hesitate at all and could buy two catties of oranges, a catty of yellow peaches, and apples transported from other places every few days.
"These oranges are so sweet. The ones sold at the supply and marketing cooperative aren't as good as the ones from your factory," the old lady muttered as she ate the oranges Su Yu bought for the first time.
"These are freshly harvested apples, right? We don't grow apples here. Where did you buy them? Were they expensive?" she asked again that day.
"The truck drivers travel everywhere and can always find things we don't have here." Su Yu cut an apple for the elderly couple. As they get older, their metabolism slows down. These past few days, she's noticed her mother walking with her legs apart after coming out of the toilet, clearly because her legs have gone numb from squatting. That's why she buys fruit for them every day to help with bowel movements.
"Is it expensive? Can you still buy it?" Yu Anxiu continued to ask.
"Six cents a pound, do you like it? If you like it, I'll buy you more after we finish these."
"Old people can eat or not, it doesn't matter. Manxing and the others haven't tasted apples for years." The old lady muttered, glancing at Su Yu, who caught her eye. She lowered her eyelids and then raised them again. "I'll pay for it, I won't let you pay. You buy me two or three pounds."
Old Su sat there eating an apple without saying a word, but his silence implied that he shared the same sentiment.
"You're really rich." Su Yu pouted. "I'll buy it for you when you get back. Give me the money first."
Since she said she would pay, Su Yu didn't stand on ceremony. She had an obligation to support her parents and children, but not an obligation to include her nephews.
Two days later, Su Yu went to the supply and marketing cooperative to buy fish. When she came out, she met a woman looking at her. She was a relative from Ningjin. Su Yu immediately noticed that her nose and mouth looked similar to Ningjin's.
"Third sister-in-law, Mom's sixty-fifth birthday is in a few days. I wonder if my younger brother will be able to come back," Sister Ning asked.
“I don’t know either. There’s no set time for him to come back. If he can make it in time, he probably won’t deliberately miss his mother’s birthday,” Su Yu replied.
That's for sure. Ning Hua came to see her specifically not to ask if Ning Jin was coming back. She didn't know if Su Yu was genuinely unaware or pretending. Now that Su Yu wasn't responding, she couldn't say anything more.
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