Chapter 470 Private Land

Zhou Xiaomei really couldn't resist the temptation of the egg: "Then sister-in-law won't be polite to you? You give me an egg a day, and you can eat as much vegetables as you want in the yard."

She had few chickens and many children in her family, and her two sons needed more nutrition for their studies.

There weren't enough eggs at home.

Liu Yinyin had no objection, and the two of them hit it off immediately. Zhou Xiaomei immediately went home and picked a basket of vegetables for Liu Yinyin.

"You've just arrived at the family home. If you have any questions, you can always come to me."

Liu Yinyin smiled and said, "Thank you, sister-in-law."

"You're welcome." Zhou Xiaomei waved her hand, "We're neighbors, this is fate."

According to Zhou Xiaomei, there is no nursery in the family compound, and there are not many children of Gu Yanyan's age.

Liu Yinyin had a headache. After careful consideration, Gu Yanyan would only be four years old in a month, and he would be too young to go to school...

At noon, Liu Yinyin made fried eggs with chili peppers, stir-fried Chinese cabbage with mushrooms, and loofah and clam soup.

The peppers, Chinese cabbage, and loofah were all given by Zhou Xiaomei. There was also a handful of beans and a few eggplants in the basket, just enough for dinner.

The staple food is white flour steamed buns.

While eating, Liu Yinyin told Gu Cheng about Gu Yanyan.

"It's not good for children to stay at home all the time. Yanyan complained several times this morning, saying he wanted to go out and play, and that he missed his friends in the nursery."

The military area here is really remote, and not many people are willing to join the army. Zhou Xiaomei said that half of the houses in the family compound are empty.

Gu Cheng pondered, "How about sending Yanyan to town to attend primary school next year? It's a bit early to start school at the age of five. Then she can repeat a grade and study for two years."

Liu Yinyin: "...Does the teacher agree?"

It’s not that she doesn’t want to send Gu Yanyan to school, but the child is too young to be managed, although Gu Yanyan is relatively obedient and has good self-care ability.

But, after all, school is not a nursery. If Gu Yanyan can go to school, can other children aged four or five also be sent to school?

Wouldn't it be a mess then?

Gu Cheng thought for a moment and said, "When I have time, I will go talk to the school leaders."

Rules are dead, but people are alive, and they can always work out a suitable solution.

Liu Yinyin nodded and said, "We have a bicycle at home. If Yanyan goes to school in town, I can pick him up."

Zhou Xiaomei mentioned that there are dormitories in the town’s school, but Gu Yanyan is too young to live in the dormitory.

There is no rush for studying. Gu Cheng talked about another matter: "There is no supply and marketing cooperative in the family compound. We have to go to the town to buy vegetables. However, the logistics department of the army has procurement personnel who go to the town to buy things every day. If you have vegetables to buy, you can ask them to bring them back."

Not everyone in the family compound has a bicycle, and it is troublesome to go back and forth to the town, so many people ask the logistics staff to help bring back the vegetables.

Liu Yinyin: "I heard about this from Sister Zhou this morning."

Gu Cheng guessed, "The sister-in-law who brought dumplings home yesterday?"

Liu Yinyin nodded: "Yes, she told me a lot about the army today, and also... the vegetables we ate today were all sent by her. I exchanged eggs with her, one egg a day."

It's good to have a give-and-take relationship like this, and Liu Yinyin doesn't want to owe anyone a favor.

Speaking of vegetables, Gu Cheng thought of his private plot.

"The army has allocated a private plot of land to us. I will till the soil after work and plant some radishes and cabbages."

Winter is coming soon, and it is too late to plant other vegetables now. We can only plant some radishes and cabbages for winter consumption, and we will have some harvest.

Liu Yinyin suggested, "Our family can't eat much food. I think the private plot is quite far from here...why don't we tidy up the land in the yard? Even if we plant less, it will be enough to eat, and we don't have to go back and forth."

The house they were allocated came with a small yard with a dry toilet, a chicken coop, and a place to dry and wash clothes.

There isn't much land available for growing vegetables, so having half an acre would be good enough.

However, Gu Cheng has to go to the army for training every day, and Liu Yinyin has to take care of several children, so they don’t have much free time to work in the vegetable garden.

Just plant as much as you can.

Gu Cheng thought: "That's fine."

He thought that if he went on a mission, he would have no time to take care of the vegetable garden in his private plot.

Liu Yinyin has to take care of several children and has no time to spare.

After another busy afternoon, I have almost finished cleaning up the house.

There are four rooms, three of which are bedrooms and one is a study.

The children will sleep with her and Gu Cheng first, and then have their own rooms when they are older.

Towards evening, Zhou Xiaomei came home again.

"Yinyin, tomorrow morning I'm going to the army logistics department to ask Master Liu to bring back two pieces of tofu. Do you want to buy anything? I'll talk to him later."

Liu Yinyin subconsciously asked, "Is there any meat?"

Zhou Xiaomei: "You can buy it if you have meat coupons."

"Then I'll buy two pounds of pork." Liu Yinyin found a meat ticket and gave it to Zhou Xiaomei, "Excuse me, sister-in-law, I want to buy two pounds of pork belly. If you don't have pork belly, you can have spare ribs."

Zhou Xiaomei sighed and said, "By the way, have your family's private plots been divided up? Do you want me to help you turn the soil?"

Zhou Xiaomei asked this because she was thinking that Liu Yinyin had to take care of three sons and didn't have much time to take care of the vegetable garden.

Liu Yinyin told her: "We were allocated a piece of land, but Gu Cheng and I are not planning to grow vegetables there for the time being."

We have to wait until the children are a little older before growing vegetables.

"What a pity!" Zhou Xiaomei came from the countryside and couldn't bear to see the land being wasted. She thought for a moment and said, "Yinyin...how about this? Let me plant the vegetable plot in your home first."

"From now on, I will be responsible for providing vegetables to your family. You don't need to exchange eggs for them."

Liu Yinyin hesitated and asked, "Sister-in-law, can you take care of two vegetable plots by yourself?"

Zhou Xiaomei said, "It's not that difficult. I'm just sitting around at home doing nothing anyway, so I might as well find something to do."

As long as they can fill their stomachs, it doesn’t matter if they are a little tired. The thing country people are least afraid of is hardship and fatigue.

The private plot is empty anyway, if Zhou Xiaomei wants it.

Liu Yinyin did not object: "Sister-in-law, if you want to grow vegetables, go ahead and I'll ask you which piece of land it is later."

Zhou Xiaomei smiled and said, "Okay."

"Sister-in-law." Liu Yinyin took out a bag of dried shrimps and a bag of dried bean curd from the cabinet and handed them to Zhou Xiaomei. "I brought back a lot of dried seafood from the island. Take two bags back and try them."

Zhou Xiaomei said, "It's not cheap, is it? I'll give you the money."

"No, there are plenty of dried seafood on the island, and it won't cost much."

Although the New Military District is also in Qing City, the transportation conditions are backward these days.

Therefore, although there are dried seafood for sale in the town, the prices are much higher.