Chapter 70 Can You Give Me a Ride?
Liang Shengdi set out early in the morning to ask for the address. The chef was very enthusiastic and even helped her write a letter of introduction for her to take away.
As soon as Chen Chunhua and Lin Guoqing came back at noon, she quickly handed the paper with the address and the letter to them.
"He said it's quite far, about forty kilometers, and you'd better take a car."
Lin Guoqing uttered an "ah". He and Shen Chunhua had originally discussed asking Shen Chunhua to take a leave to sell mushrooms, after all, men were counted more work points. But if it was so far.
"Then I'll go. If I can't get a ride, I can still walk. I might not come back tonight."
Chen Chunhua felt a little sorry for her man, so she suggested asking Lin Fuqiang to borrow a bicycle. Lin Guoqing thought about it and shook his head.
"It would take two or three hours to ride there by bike, so forget it. If I can get a ride, the bike will just be a burden. Besides, if I ask to borrow a bike, they'll definitely ask what you need it for. It's not easy for us to earn a little money, and it would be troublesome if the villagers found out."
Finally, Chen Chunhua and Liang Shengdi squeezed into the mushroom house together and picked mushrooms frantically. It took them less than an hour to fill the large backpack that was usually used to carry vegetables, and they even added two large baskets of mushrooms.
After picking them like this, there are basically no mature mushrooms left in the house.
Lin Guoqing couldn't calculate the weight of the basket with his own small beam scale, so he could only estimate it by carrying it himself.
"...Do you think there are more than ten pounds here?"
Chen Chunhua took a look and said, "...including these two baskets, it should be around 17 or 18 kilograms, right?"
She was not sure either. The mushrooms were really light and fragile, so they did not dare to compact them. She could not guarantee how much mushrooms would be in the large basket that was usually filled with 30 to 40 kilograms of vegetables.
"Forget it, let's just go. We've already picked all the sweet potatoes." Lin Guoqing covered the basket and the basket with cloth so that the contents couldn't be seen from outside. Then he put on a wide-brimmed straw hat, took the letter, and put two sweet potatoes in his pocket and was about to go out.
Chen Chunhua quickly called him and ran to the drawer, took out a few one-dollar bills and stuffed them into Lin Guoqing's pockets.
"If you really can't come back at night, don't be too hard on yourself. Find a place to eat and sleep."
Lin Guoqing looked at the bills and counted them. It was five yuan! He stuffed three more bills back into Chen Chunhua's pocket and said, "You won't need that much. It won't be a problem to find a place to stay under a bridge in the hot summer."
Chen Chunhua's brows immediately furrowed, and Lin Guoqing quickly tried to smooth things over, "If I don't sell the mushrooms, I'll still get the money! I can use it when the time comes! Don't worry, you won't starve to death or freeze to death!"
After saying that, he checked the time and said, "I have to go, or everyone will wake up."
The sun is strong in the summer, making it easy to feel sleepy. People who don't usually take a nap will do so at home. It's still more than half an hour before work starts, and the whole village is quiet. Even the dogs lie listlessly in the shade.
Lin Guoqing took the opportunity to stride out, carrying a basket on his back and a basket in each hand. However, he was still seen by those who were out and about with too much energy.
Before going to work in the afternoon, Chen Chunhua went to the team where Lin Guoqing was located to find their team leader Chen Jinshui and ask for leave for him.
She had originally thought of an excuse: her mother-in-law wasn't feeling well, and Lin Guoqing had gone with her to see a doctor. For this reason, Liang Shengdi had just gone out in the scorching sun, saying she was going to fish in a distant river.
However, Chen Jinshui spoke first when he saw Chen Chunhua, "Chunhua, I just saw Guoqing leaving the village at noon, carrying a basket and a backpack. Where did he go?"
Chen Chunhua's eyes rolled, and she thought of a new excuse the next second. "Hey, I'm here to ask for leave from you on his behalf! I have something going on at my parents' house, and I asked him to help me go there."
When visiting a wife's parents' home, one usually doesn't go empty-handed, but even if it's nothing important, one wouldn't bring so many bags. Besides, Chen Chunhua's relationship with her parents wasn't great, and everyone knew that. Now that she was saying something was wrong, Chen Jinshui didn't believe it.
Chen Chunhua's words made it clear she didn't want to tell anyone what was going on. And since she'd already asked for leave, she had no intention of taking advantage of the group. Chen Jinshui didn't ask any further questions.
"Okay, I'll put it on record. He'll come tomorrow, right?"
"Come back, come back. If you don't come back, I'll ask you for leave again!"
***
Here, Lin Guoqing walked along the main road, carrying a basket on his back, occasionally looking back to see if there were any approaching tractors or anything like that. There were no regular buses to the provincial capital, so they had to rely on walking. Or they could go to the county seat first, which only came once a day. That was even more time-consuming.
Occasionally, a van passed by, but he didn't dare to stop it. In his impression, only people of some status could drive a van. How could a peasant like him be allowed to store mushrooms there? If they made the van dirty, he wouldn't be able to afford the compensation even if he sold ten baskets of mushrooms.
He hoped for a tricycle or tractor, something that, even if it wasn't on his way, would at least give him a ride a few miles. It was too hot that day. He'd only been walking for half an hour when his shirt was soaked.
"Fortunately, I didn't ask Chunhua to deliver this thing..." He wiped the sweat from his forehead while carrying the basket.
Suddenly, a horn honked behind him. Turning back, he saw a light truck with a bunch of brand new bicycles neatly stacked in its open compartment. Lin Guoqing quickly put down his basket and waved.
The truck stopped and a head popped out of the passenger seat. "Fellow countryman? What's up?"
Seeing his politeness, Lin Guoqing quickly ran forward with a grin on his face, "Comrade, I want to ask, where are you going?"
There were two people in the car. The driver was a bit older, with a handlebar mustache and wearing a blue sailor shirt. The other one, a bit younger, sitting in the passenger seat, was wearing a white short-sleeved Dacron shirt and looked like a city dweller.
The young man looked at Lin Guoqing's typical peasant outfit, turned around and looked at the driver, and said honestly, "Let's go to the provincial capital."
Lin Guoqing was so happy to hear this, "I'm going to the provincial capital too! Can you give me a ride?"
When he was at work, he heard people chatting about how drivers on the road were generally reluctant to give passengers a ride because they were afraid of being hijacked.
He also put down his basket and lifted the cloth to show them the mushrooms that were full inside.
"I'm delivering mushrooms to the food station in the provincial capital. I have a letter of introduction. I'm not a bad person." After thinking for a while, he added,
"I can still pay for the journey... but it might not be much..."
The two people in the car laughed. In fact, when they saw the basket of mushrooms, they were already half relieved. Lin Guoqing said he had a letter of introduction, and the young man opened the car door directly.
"Come on in, it's free, but you'll have to squeeze in. The back of the car is full of bicycles, so there's no room for you."
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