After receiving the letter from her father, Zhou Xiaozheng, Zhou Jiao read the newspapers from a while ago, and she felt even calmer. Seeing so many things come to fruition was like a weight lifted off her head, and she felt more at ease.
After sending the reply letter to her father, she looked from the yard to the house.
I started by keeping the basic necessities of life, and put all the rest of the unnecessary things, even Professor Liu's old things in the warehouse, into the space.
Zhang Guoqing returned with his son in his arms. Seeing this, he whispered in her ear, "Take your time. We still have a month or so. Make a list for me to see what's missing. I'll make it up for you."
Zhou Jiao nodded, pulled him into the study, took out two pieces of densely written paper and handed them to him.
Zhang Guoqing looked at the many things added to the back and knew that this was a masterpiece she had created some time ago when she took her son out into the world. Anyway, he had confiscated the tools used in the crime, so he didn't bother to bring up the past.
"Besides preparing fine grains, the most important thing is firewood. I've always thought about how much coal briquettes we have at home, but I really forgot about this. And toilet paper. It doesn't matter if you don't have anything else, but you can't do without it."
Zhou Jiao was startled when she heard this and quickly said, "Don't buy the fine grains. It's not the right time to come out now. Smart people will come to their senses later. We can't keep the food in our family's private plot, so don't wait any longer for the coarse grains in the backyard. You arrange a time for us to go back and secretly process them, and then tell Mom and Dad to give them to others to eat fresh."
With the reports of several typical examples of bumper harvests, he knew that food was becoming increasingly difficult to find, but he had been waiting for this year's harvest since last year, so how could he miss it?
Zhang Guoqing frowned and pondered. After a long moment, he pulled out a blank sheet of paper and listed his schedule. Since fine grain couldn't be purchased openly, he would look for it on the black market, looking for last year's human traffickers.
Zhou Jiao tapped the table with one finger and said, "There's another way to buy food. Hide your name. I have a potion to help you disguise yourself. Just keep quiet and others won't notice."
If you go to Captain Liu's place, you must remove your license plate. You must disguise yourself when interacting with the black market or human traffickers, and you are prohibited from using any vehicle."
Zhang Guoqing looked at her sideways. She was really good at hiding things. No wonder she had bought so many things with her son. He wondered where his wife got the courage from.
"Hehe... I just prepared the prescription my dad gave me. It's working pretty well."
"Haha... I'll talk to you about these things later. The village backyard, the things inside, and the firewood need to be dealt with for a day; I'll find the snakehead tonight for the fine grains. As for Captain Liu, I have to find a way to borrow the unit's truck, which will also take a day. I need to return my godfather's sidecar, so I can go to the provincial capital for a day to buy some small things."
Zhou Jiao nodded. This is the most reasonable arrangement at the moment. I'll add more details later.
After the discussion, Zhou Jiao thought it was still early and decided to go to the kitchen to make dumplings and buns. Zhang Guoqing, on the other hand, went to Zhao Dashan's house with his son in his arms.
Zhang Guoqing didn't mention anything else, just said that he needed to go to the provincial capital to bring back some things.
Zhao Dashan was more talkative. He took two keys from a bunch of keys and handed them to him, reminding him to bring some spare oil.
Zhang Guoqing was stunned by his quick action. Then he remembered that today was a day off, and even the on-duty staff had gone back to work. It seemed his plans would have to change again.
As soon as they got home, Zhang Guoqing explained the situation. Zhou Jiao quickly put away the things in the kitchen and took the child. After tidying up a bit, she held her son and waited for him at the intersection.
They sped all the way to a place not far from the village, removed the license plate, and after changing their clothes, the family of three arrived at Captain Liu's village and parked in front of the warehouse where they had parked last time.
Zhou Jiao sat in the car holding her son and did not get out. The whole process was negotiated by Zhang Guoqing and Captain Liu.
After more than an hour, more and more sacks were loaded into the rear compartment. Finally, all kinds of fruits and vegetables were loaded onto the car.
Zhou Jiao watched Zhang Guoqing hand the other man four hundred yuan, secretly wondering what goodies were inside the sack. She glanced at the rice drying in the yard and drooled with envy.
Zhang Guoqing got into the car and waved outside, then drove some distance out of the village before stopping by the roadside.
He laughed and said, "The last time Dad came here, the fine grain was 25 cents. I asked for 26 cents straight away. Captain Liu hesitated, but the person next to him agreed first. He said that except for the fishing villages, it's sold loose anyway, so it doesn't matter who sells it to. The rice was just milled this morning, so we came at the perfect time; if we're not too early, we won't run out."
One thousand kilograms of flour, five hundred kilograms of rice, and they didn't have any more. That left exactly three hundred and ninety yuan. I refused the remaining ten yuan and asked for coarse grains. Don't do anything to the extreme; it harms nature. I asked for the extra fruits and vegetables from their village.
"Well, that's up to you. Don't collect the coarse grains. I'll go collect them first."
Zhang Guoqing took his son, held him in his arms and followed Zhou Jiao to observe the surroundings.
The couple continued to collect grains in this way, earning 26 yuan of fine grain. Except for a few villages that had just harvested rice, the harvest was still abundant.
Zhang Guoqing spent around 2,000 yuan on the 10 or so villages he worked in. In the end, Zhou Jiao and he tallied up the harvest, and found that besides fruits, vegetables, and later chicken and duck eggs, they also collected nearly three tons of rice and flour.
This amount of fine grain was enough to tide the family over, and the couple was content. The remaining villages were either too far or too remote, so after discussion, they decided to give up. Next, they would follow the orchards in Province K that Liu Sanyuan had mentioned to see what other local specialties they could find.
As they were about to reach the city, the couple started playing the family dress-up game again.
Try the local specialties and get to know some of the local conditions.
After analyzing the information obtained, the car drove all the way to the countryside.
The couple knew this was their last chance, and that if they missed it, they would never get another chance. As they encountered villages along the way, Zhang Guoqing, in addition to coarse grains, began buying crops and agricultural products at high prices.
As dusk approached, the couple finally got what they wanted and bought two black pigs at twice the price. After putting the unconscious pigs into the space, they also came to the orchard.
The orchard is filled with the fragrance of fruits and vegetables. The apples, grapes and other fruits hanging high in the garden are mouth-watering. Unfortunately, no matter how much stock there is, the staff inside are determined not to sell them to the outside.
Zhang Guoqing, who had always relied on money to make his way, encountered a troublemaker, which gave him a headache. He had no intention of getting involved and declined the rotten fruits offered by the other party.
Under Zhou Jiao's teasing, he continued to wander around the villages within a ten-mile radius. Since there was such a large orchard, he was sure that every household in the surrounding villages would have a few fruit trees in their yards.
Zhang Guoqing's prediction was finally successful, and he got the information from the children in exchange for a few candies. He began to go door to door and even accidentally bought a batch of eggs.
As the sun set and the sky grew darker, the couple, filled with excitement at their successful return, set off on their journey home.
The truck was returned. In the days that followed, except for two trips back to their hometown and a trip to the provincial capital, the family's life returned to a quiet and leisurely state.
The supplies packed tightly together in the space did provide the family with adequate food and clothing. However, both Zhang Guoqing and Zhou Jiao knew they would face even greater challenges.
Once you have overcome all the hurdles, you will truly have enough food and clothing and live a stable life.
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