Chapter 95: Earning Money
Zhoujia Village is not far from Liujia Village, only four or five kilometers away, and can be reached in less than an hour on foot.
Liu Ersao has an older brother and a younger brother. The one who is carrying a shoulder pole and following Liu Ersao to deliver green plums is Zhou's eldest brother.
He is a man in his thirties. Zhoujia Village is even poorer than Liujia Village. The eldest brother of the Zhou family is as thin as a bamboo pole, with a pale face and skinny body, and it is obvious that he is malnourished.
Actually, the food in Liujia Village has not been good recently. The villagers have to gnaw on sweet potato leaves and boiled wild vegetables every day, and everyone has a green face.
Mrs. Liu smiled and asked, "Yinyin, are two baskets of green plums enough?"
Yesterday, her family heard that someone wanted to exchange eggs for green plums, so without saying a word, they ordered several children in the family to go up the mountain to pick green plums.
There are many green plum trees on the mountain. In just one morning, I picked two baskets full of green plums.
Liu Yinyin didn't say anything. She just let them come in and have a drink of water. She turned around and went to clean up the eggs.
The two baskets of green plums were not weighed, so their weight was unknown, but Liu Yinyin took a quick look and estimated that they were about 100 pounds.
The green plums look quite big, so they must have been picked from the good ones.
Liu Yinyin put fifty eggs in a basket, thought for a while, and then took a bag to fill it with five pounds of cornmeal.
Carrying the things out, Liu Yinyin said to Liu Ersao and her brother and sister, "Fifty eggs and five catties of cornmeal. Can I trade them for something?"
It's not that she didn't want to give more, but food was too precious at that time, and giving too much would make people suspicious.
Mrs. Liu smiled and said, "Why do we need so many things?"
Green plums are not worth much, so there is no need to exchange them for eggs. What’s more, there is even food.
Mrs. Liu was very happy after the accident. In her opinion, the reason why Liu Yinyin gave so many things to the Zhou family was just for her sake.
The eldest brother of the Zhou family was also so surprised that he was speechless.
Liu Yinyin took the opportunity to say, "If you have green plums in the future, you can send them to me again. Just like today, I will exchange them for eggs and grains."
The corner of Liu Ersao's eye twitched, and she wondered, "What? This much is not enough?"
There are about a hundred kilograms of green plums here, which should be enough no matter how we prepare it.
Although it is a good thing to be able to subsidize her parents' family, if she cheats her sister-in-law, Jiang Cuihua will be furious with her!
Liu Yinyin didn't explain much, but just said: "Don't worry about that, I will definitely be useful."
Mrs. Liu glanced at her sister-in-law suspiciously. She vaguely guessed something, but she didn't say it out loud.
After sending the eldest brother of the Zhou family away, Second Sister Liu asked in a low voice: "Yinyin, are you going to sell the green plums..."
Realizing that she had said something wrong, Mrs. Liu quickly changed her words and said, "Are you going to the city to exchange things?"
My sister-in-law's family often eats meat, but when she says that it is all bought from the supply and marketing cooperative, Liu Ersao doesn't really believe it.
Even though my uncle-in-law eats commercial grain, he only has so many meat coupons in a month, so how can he eat meat every other day?
There was also food. The food stored at home was also bought from the city. Jiang Cuihua did not tell her family much about it.
But Liu Ersao could guess that her sister-in-law must have some connections in the city.
Liu Yinyin just smiled and said, "Just like my second sister-in-law, pregnant women have changing tastes. Some people like to eat sour things."
So, is there anyone in the city willing to exchange green plums for money or other supplies?
Mrs. Liu felt that she had guessed it right, so she smiled until her eyes narrowed, and without asking any more questions, she just said, "I know, don't worry, I'll send you green plums next time I have them."
Liu Yinyin said nothing, which was considered as her tacit agreement to what Liu Ersao said.
There are so many green plums in Zhoujia Village, it would be a pity to waste them.
After Mrs. Liu left, Liu Yinyin kept five kilograms of green plums and sold the rest to the system, earning nearly a thousand yuan in one go.
Liu Yinyin was indeed going to use the five pounds of green plums left over to make candied green plums.
Making candied green plums is not difficult, but it is very troublesome. First, you have to wash and crush them, then marinate them with salt for seven or eight hours.
Then soak it in clean water, marinate it with sugar, cook the sugar water, and continue to add sugar and marinate for three or four days.
It's very troublesome and will take several days to complete.
Liu Yinyin was free at home and had some time to do something.
Time flew by, and in the next month or so, people from Liu Ersao's family came several more times to bring green plums to Liu Yinyin.
The quantity of green plums delivered each time was very large, and they were delivered on a cart.
Liu Yinyin also accepted all the offers. She lived in a remote area and the villagers had to go to work, so they would not notice what was going on here.
Besides, Second Sister Liu always came with them every time, so it didn't matter even if others saw them. At most, they would just grumble and wonder when the relationship between these two sisters-in-law became so good.
In one month, Liu Yinyin earned nearly 10,000 yuan by selling green plums.
The family also made several jars of candied green plums. The jars were not big and could only hold five or six pounds of candied green plums.
The candied green plums made by Liu Yinyin tasted pretty good, but Gu Cheng didn’t really eat such sour and sweet things, and Liu Yinyin couldn’t eat much by herself.
Two jars of this stuff were given to Mrs. Liu Er, but as she was pregnant, she didn't dare eat too much of it.
If I have the chance in the future, I can go to Aunt Li and ask if I can exchange the candied green plums for other supplies.
The cost of sugar-pickled green plums is not high, so you won’t suffer any loss if you exchange them for any supplies.
Not only her, but also Liu Ersao's family reaped a lot. Liu Yinyin's family didn't have many eggs, so they exchanged them directly for food.
All in all, about 180 kilograms of cornmeal were given out.
In the blink of an eye, Liu Yinyin's vacation ended and a new semester began.
The winter and summer vacations these days are different from those in later generations. The summer vacation is not as long as two months.
In the new semester, due to the abnormal weather this year, everyone says that it is a bad year and we can’t even have enough to eat, so what’s the point of studying?
Therefore, the number of students this semester has decreased instead of increased. The school has two fewer students, with only twenty left.
However, after school started, Liu Yinyin had not been in class for half a month when the school was closed again.
The time for release is not short, because the autumn harvest will start soon in the village.
Food is the lifeblood of farmers, and on important days like the autumn harvest, the entire village has to mobilize.
Not only the village schools, but also the commune schools had to be closed in order to harvest the crops.
Even if the harvest is poor this year, as long as there is food, there is hope.
The school was closed the day before the autumn harvest was announced.
It's almost September and the weather is still as hot as ever. These past two days, it's not only hot but also stuffy.
That afternoon, Liu Yinyin was picking watermelons in the yard. The watermelon vines in the field had dried up, and they would easily rot if left on the ground.
Liu Yinyin picked seven big watermelons and fifteen cantaloupes and moved them all to the utility room.