Yu Jiu blushed crimson and didn't want to talk to him anymore.
Her only first kiss in both her lives!
The atmosphere was ambiguous and stagnant. Xu Zijiang wanted to say something, but he was afraid of drawing Yu Jiu's attention to himself. If the abnormality in his crotch was discovered, he would really be unable to clear his name as a hooligan.
Fortunately, another customer arrived. The man, wearing a large Shanghai brand watch, saved the two from the awkward situation. He spoke with an air of wealth and power.
"If I buy the rest of this bag of mugwort, how much will you pay me?"
"Buy it all? There are at least three or four hundred of these, maybe even more." As soon as business was mentioned, Yu Jiu immediately stopped being shy. She carefully calculated and quickly offered a slightly conservative price.
"Twelve yuan. If you really want it, I can give you a discount."
Selling them out early means I can go home earlier and save a few hours, so I don't care about a dollar or two.
How much to reduce?
"Let's do it together, it'll cost you eleven in total, is that alright? I'll also give you this bag, you can take everything with you, it'll be easier to carry that way."
Yu Jiu generously said that the elder brother did not haggle and readily nodded and took out the money.
"Okay, he's an honest guy."
Oh, they really bought it all? Yu Jiu didn't even ask what they were planning to do with so much. After counting the money, she was about to leave and part ways with this man. But the man called them back first. He leaned over and whispered something.
"To be honest, I'm a middleman. I'm taking this to the county town or the city to sell. If you have any extra, you can sell them to me directly. I'll buy them at today's price and won't try to lower the price. This way, you can save some trouble. But you have to be quick. I'll still be here at this time tomorrow. After tomorrow, I won't want them anymore. You can think about it."
So they were middlemen. No wonder they bought so much. Mugwort could definitely fetch a higher price in the county town. However, due to time and geographical constraints, Yu Jiu and Xu Zi couldn't go there late at night, so they had to settle for selling it here, which would at least make some money.
However, the market here was smaller than she had expected. She only sold a little over half a bag before the market started to weaken. She would go back to pick more to sell in smaller quantities tomorrow, but she estimated that she wouldn't be able to sell many. It was best if someone bought them now, so she nodded without hesitation.
"Okay, then we'll come back here to wait for you at this time tomorrow. How many do you want, or do you want as many as you want?"
"I'll take as many as you can, no matter how many kilograms or how many stalks, as long as you can pick them."
"OK."
The two verbally agreed on the time and price, and both left satisfied. They hadn't gone far from the black market when Yu Jiu couldn't wait to split the money with Xu Zijiang and assign harvesting tasks.
"We'll work harder at noon and in the afternoon without resting, picking more mugwort so we can make more money. After we sell the mugwort tomorrow, we can take a short break these next couple of days and buy some meat to nourish ourselves. What do you think, Captain?"
As they talked, Yu Jiu realized she was being a bit too assertive, so she obediently asked Xu Zijiang a question in return.
Xu Zijiang said, "I don't care what I think, I only care what you think."
"I think you're absolutely right, I'll listen to you!"
He curled his lips in a serious manner, his smile dazzling. Fortunately, it was dark, so Yu Jiu couldn't see him clearly, but she smiled along with him. It's good to have a partner who can do whatever you want; it saves trouble.
"Then it's decided."
She said cheerfully, and then the two hurried back to the team. On the way, Xu Zijiang still held Yu Jiu's hand and put his arm around her shoulder, protecting her in his arms without any doubt. The cold moonlight shone down, casting two long shadows, their bodies half-overlapping, looking inseparable.
Yu Jiu thought to herself, "We've already kissed, so let's hold hands. It's just that the road is too difficult to walk on, not that I'm being delicate."
Because the mugwort sold out faster than expected, the two of them had time to catch up on their sleep after they returned. When they heard the noise, Yu Jiu got up with a yawn, without attracting anyone's attention.
"Xiao Jiu, you don't have to go to work today either, why are you up so early?"
"Huh? No, they should still need to go to work."
Yu Jiu couldn't take advantage of Xu Zijiang's favor to skip work every day, otherwise it would really be as Li Nannan said, that Xu Zijiang was showing favoritism. Yu Jiu wouldn't leave such a stain on Xu Zijiang's record.
However, he didn't get enough sleep at night, and the sun was blazing and hot during the day. The hoe was heavy, and his arms ached. Yu Jiu was so sleepy that he kept dozing off in the field, his little head nodding off. He almost let the hoe hit his foot.
Xu Zijiang, his heart pounding, rushed over and snatched the hoe from her.
“Ancestor, are you hoeing the ground or hoeing yourself? I told you tonight... never mind, you should go back to the educated youth settlement to rest. You don’t need to work this afternoon, I’ll take care of things here.”
"ah?"
Yu Jiu was so sleepy that her head was all tangled up. She opened her mouth blankly, seemingly unable to hear what Xu Zi was saying. After a long while, she yawned and became a little more awake, her voice listless.
"Don't you have any work to do? You're always helping me with the work, so what about yours?"
Yu Jiu was indeed at her limit. She hadn't expected the work in the fields to be so tiring. She used to be able to work even when she was sleeping well, let alone when she was sleeping poorly. It seemed she had overestimated herself. She needed to adjust her strategy in the future. She should only go to the black market on her days off and make sure she got enough rest on other days. Otherwise, she might die of exhaustion in the fields.
“I’m the team leader. What do I do? I’m just responsible for supervising everyone’s work. I have plenty of time. Listen to me, go back to sleep now, and don’t go tonight.”
Xu Zi raised his chin, speaking in an unyielding tone.
"Alright, Captain, then I'll leave it to you."
Yu Jiu thought for a moment and agreed. She yawned again, tears welling in the corners of her eyes. In the sunlight, they looked like sparkling pearls embedded in the corners of her eyes—very special and beautiful, especially in that situation…
"cough."
Xu Zi quickly turned his head away from her, clearing his mind of the filthy thoughts. If he were to react in public, the news would spread throughout the surrounding brigades within a day, and he and the young educated youth would be ruined for life.
He's easy to talk to; he's thick-skinned and can just put up with it. But the young educated youth probably never wants to see him again in his life!
"No trouble at all, go back to sleep!"
Xu Zijiang kept his head turned away, not looking at her, only showing her the back of his head. Unexpectedly, he looked quite tough, and the back of his head was quite round.
Yu Jiu chuckled to herself and slowly made her way back to the educated youth settlement. When she passed by the pile of mugwort, she made sure to pick it all and take it back with her. She even noted the location of the mugwort she couldn't pick. It's as if the word "making money" is etched into her DNA.
As everyone knows, Yu Jiu was almost beaten up by Li Nannan and Chen Yuan yesterday, so she didn't sleep well last night and was very tired. It's normal that she couldn't work. Besides, it's not that the team leader didn't assign her work; it's just that Xu Zijiang did the work that was supposed to be hers, so it was hard for others to complain. Therefore, Yu Jiu perfectly skipped another day of work and slept soundly at the educated youth settlement.
At noon, Captain Lin came to deliver the money, and Xu Zijiang finally remembered to release Li Nannan. Li Nannan had already cried all her tears. She was hungry and tired, and the first thing she said when she came out was...
"I've already sent a telegram to my parents. They're coming to pick me up soon. Xu Zi, you just wait!"
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