At a certain college in the provincial capital, Meng Zhehan came out of class and met Uncle Zhu in the message room. He was holding a pile of newly arrived magazines, newspapers and letters. Upon seeing Meng Zhehan, Uncle Zhu greeted him, "Teacher Meng, wait a minute. There is a letter for you."

Meng Zhehan stopped and said, "Thank you, Uncle Zhu."

Uncle Zhu handed over three letters. Meng Zhehan took them and looked at them. A smile appeared on his calm face. He tore open one of the letters, pulled out a thin piece of letter paper, looked at the three or four lines of words on it, his smile widened, and he shook his head helplessly.

When I returned to the office, I saw someone sitting at my seat. Meng Zhehan said, "You're here so early."

Shen Yu: "Lunch time."

"Don't you eat at our school cafeteria every day instead of eating at the hospitality dinner? Don't you get tired of it?"

"With you."

"Come on, you don't want to eat with those people, but you have to come to me."

Shen Yu watched Meng Zhehan put a stack of teaching materials on the table, along with three letters. One of them was opened and he recognized the handwriting on it. It was the address that he had given and promised to send the oranges:

"Did Sister Taohua send a letter?"

"Well, this little lazy bug only has a few words in his letter: Big brother, I'm home, I had a safe journey, thank you big brother and Comrade Shen Yu for buying things for me, I will repay you."

Meng Zhehan couldn't help laughing: "I don't know how she will repay me, I'm just waiting to eat oranges."

Shen Yu raised his lips and stood up: "Let's go to the restaurant. I'll treat you."

Meng Zhehan: “…” We agreed to carry forward the spirit of hardship and frugality and eat in the school cafeteria with him for a week, but on the third day you can’t hold on and want to go out to eat?

In Linshui Village, after finishing work in the evening, Meng Tao followed the members to return the farm tools to the brigade warehouse keeper, and slipped into the brigade office to ask the team leader Bao Shunfeng to issue a certificate.

Bao Shunfeng glared at him, "What certificate do you want? Where are you going? I see that you have grown up a lot since your trip to the provincial capital. You are not down-to-earth in your work, do not obey assignments, and have learned to be picky and shirk heavy tasks. I tell you, if you learn from those educated youth, you will have no future."

Meng Tao: “…” Uncle, I just want a proof, why are you talking so much?

"Uncle, just open one for me."

"What are you going to buy in the county town?"

"Go to the local product company in the county and buy some of our local specialties."

"What do you buy that for?"

"Uncle, you know that I found a sworn brother in the provincial capital last time. When I came back, he bought me sausages, beef jerky and candy. I have to repay him, right? There's nothing good in our countryside, just some dried vegetables and so on. Other communes have better ones, which are all purchased and sold by the local product company. You can buy more variety in the county. But if you go to the county and can't come back at night, you need a certificate to stay in a hotel."

When Bao Shunfeng heard what was going on, he nodded and said, "You're right. We should return the favor. Then let's go. When are you going?"

Meng Tao knew that there was a time limit for issuing a certificate, so she rolled her eyes and said, "I'm busy these two days, uncle, why don't you leave the time blank and I'll fill it in myself when the time comes."

Bao Shunfeng is old-fashioned and will not give in to Meng Tao. He thinks Meng Tao has no relatives or friends in the county town, so she should come back after staying for one night. If she wants to play around, she can only stay for three days at most, so he booked a five-day stay for her.

Meng Tao was helpless as the time was limited. If something unexpected happened outside and she couldn't come back, it would be fine if people didn't look at the date, but it would be troublesome if they took it seriously.

I had to say, "Uncle, don't write that he went to the county town. Just write 'Comrade Meng Taohua from our village is going out on business...'"

Bao Shunfeng was amused: "You are just a small farmer, and you are out on business. What are you doing?"

However, he still followed Meng Tao's wishes and wrote "Comrade Meng Taohua is here to do business in your area." He tacitly agreed with what Meng Tao said, that if they couldn't buy satisfactory local specialties in the county town, they should go to the district to have a look.

Meng Tao nodded obediently and agreed.

The next day, Meng Tao suddenly decided to go on a long journey and told everyone that he was going to the county town.

Several female educated youth asked her to buy some small things for them. Zhou Cuiling really wanted to go out and play with Meng Tao, but she had to go to work. She pouted and was very unhappy, complaining that Meng Tao picked the wrong time.

Meng Tao felt amused: I am leaving only when you are not free. It will be difficult to do things if you follow me. I will bring you a gift when I come back.

Meng Tao took the village ox cart to the commune early in the morning, and then took the morning bus, but did not buy a direct ticket to the county town, but got off at Fenghe Commune.

I heard from Zhou Cuiling that there is an orchard in Fenghe Commune.

Fenghe Commune is on the way to the county town, which is convenient for the trip and would save a lot of trouble. Meng Tao planned to go to the orchard of Fenghe Commune to buy some fruit first, and then take the afternoon bus to the county town.

After asking passers-by, Meng Tao found out that the orchard was not far from the commune, about thirty minutes' walk away. On the street, she stopped a strong young man on a bicycle and asked him if he was willing to take her to the orchard to visit her relatives. She gave him one yuan for the fare, and the young man readily agreed.

The road leading to the orchard was a gravel-paved mechanized road, relatively flat. The young man pedaled hard and soon arrived at the orchard. After paying one dollar, Meng Tao walked towards the fence gate of the orchard.

Just then the gate opened and a middle-aged man came out. Meng Tao hurried forward to greet him. The middle-aged man asked her what she did.

Meng Tao said she wanted to buy some fruit, but the middle-aged man waved his hand and said, "It's a collective orchard, and the fruit company above is the one that buys and sells everything. They take away whole truckloads, and we don't sell individual pieces to individuals!"

"I can buy more. It doesn't matter if the price is a little higher." Meng Tao said.

The middle-aged man listened, looked at her carefully, looked around, and lowered his voice: "How much can you buy?"

“What fruits are there in the garden?”

"We currently have tangerines, navel oranges, sugar pears, and late-ripening peaches. The county fruit company just took away two large truckloads yesterday."

"What's the price?"

"Oranges, tangerines and pears, 0.6 cents, new varieties of peaches, big and sweet, 0.8 cents."

Meng Tao had been to the fruit company's store in the provincial capital and knew that this price was high compared to the wholesale price.

"Can't it be less?"

"cannot."

“How much can you sell it to me?”

"Three to five hundred kilograms, I can make the decision."

"Okay, I want 500 kilograms."

After saying this, Meng Tao was stunned in her heart: her current property is only more than 300 yuan, it is too risky to throw it away like this, what if she can't get it back? Then she thought that wealth and honor are sought in danger, how can she make a little money without taking some risks? So she made up her mind and followed the middle-aged man into the orchard to pick fruit. The middle-aged man called a woman from the thatched hut guarding the garden to help pick fruit. There were 480 kilograms of oranges, navel oranges, and pears, and 100 kilograms of late-ripening peaches, a total of 580 kilograms.

After paying the money, Meng Tao had no car to transport her, so the middle-aged man quickly went to the nearby village to call for a ox cart, and took Meng Tao and five sacks of fruit to the commune. Meng Tao did not go to the commune bus station, but instead looked at a corner on the side of the road and asked the driver for help to unload the sacks. She gave the driver two yuan and waited for the bus there.

(End of this chapter)