Chapter 49: Returning Home for the New Year
As the Chinese New Year approached, there were a few sporadic snowfalls in Donghua Town, and people from outside the village gradually returned.
Maybe it was a bus carrying travelers returning home late at night, quietly returning home under the dark and windy sky without disturbing anyone except their family members.
Xia Wu also saw some unfamiliar faces while walking around the village. When he went home and asked, he found out that they were people who had returned from work.
The sound of machines on Yantou Mountain attracted the attention of these people, and many people ran to the foot of the mountain every day to watch the excitement.
Yang Guojun is in the mountains almost every day. When he sees acquaintances asking questions, he chats with them briefly.
The most common question asked by villagers is: "It must cost a lot of money to clean up such a big mountain."
Yang Guojun understood the principle of not showing off one's wealth. He said with a worried look on his face, "What can I do if my child wants to have an affair? I've spent all my savings, and who knows when I'll see the money back?"
Some people expressed sympathy, thinking that Yanggou Village was too remote. They had to plant so many fruit trees and invest so much money, but who would they sell them to? If they wanted to make a profit, they would have to wait for ten or eight years.
The village is so small that any little news in anyone's family would have spread far and wide. When they heard that Xia Wu was the daughter that Yang Guojun and his wife had just found and that she didn't have a partner, many young men who had returned from working away from home had their own plans.
After walking to the gate of Yang's house several times and seeing Xia Wu, no one dared to step forward.
She is so beautiful that she will definitely have no trouble chasing after her. However, some people who know their own limitations dare not get involved in this mess.
In addition, Xia Wu made a big fuss in the village that she had borrowed hundreds of thousands of yuan to lease the mountain and also owed foreign debts. In total, she was in debt of at least 400,000 to 500,000 yuan. Those who were not self-aware backed off when they heard about these debts.
Xia Wu didn't make any money and owed a lot of foreign debts, but she didn't worry too much about it. Instead, the villagers were worried about her. For a time, she became a negative example in the village.
Zhao Jing had just returned from Shanghai and slept until noon the next day. Her mother was picking rice seeds in the yard. When she saw her get up, she didn't even look up and said, "The rice is in the pot, still hot. Come on and eat."
Zhao Jing yawned and rubbed the eye mucus at the corner of her eye, "Where's my dad?"
"He went to work in the mountains. Your grandfather went too."
"Which mountain? How much does it cost? Are you tired?"
"It's Yantou Mountain. The daughter of Yang Guojun from the village rented the mountain. Last month, our family received around 5,000 to 6,000 yuan. They're planting trees on the mountain and are now building a water tower. Your father and grandfather have been working there for a while. They used to make 100 yuan a day planting trees, but now they're working on the mountain construction site. Your father makes 150 yuan a day, and your grandfather makes 100 yuan."
Yang Jing's eyes widened. "Isn't Yang Wei still in college? Why is she back here farming on the hillside?"
If she remembered correctly, Yang Wei was admitted to a prestigious university. This was too much!
"It's not Yang Wei," Li Hongli looked back and saw no one around, so she lowered her voice and said, "Wasn't Xiaowen sick when he was a child? His parents saved up money to take him to Beijing for medical treatment. At that time, Liu Guizhen was pregnant and happened to give birth in Beijing. I heard that she accidentally took the wrong child away from a wealthy family. Now they have taken the biological child away and returned a daughter to the Yang family."
"The one who came back is Yang Guojun's biological daughter, Xia Wu. She's very pretty. I heard she even studied abroad!"
Zhao Jing was squatting by the well, brushing her teeth. She couldn't close her mouth when she heard the gossip. Foam dripped from her mouth. She shouted, "What era is this? And there are still such ridiculous things?"
"Yeah, that's what I heard anyway. Xia Wu is a pretty good girl. If it weren't for her renting the land, our family wouldn't be able to make any money recently."
Back to reality, Zhao Jing rinsed her mouth, went to the kitchen to get two buns, sat opposite her mother and chatted with her.
"Isn't my dad working at a construction site? Is there no work again?"
"Alas, it's not that there's no work, it's that the boss ran away. The money I owe is being delayed from today to tomorrow, and I don't know when it will be paid."
Zhao Jing's heart sank. "How much is owed?"
"You owe your father more than 20,000 yuan, and your grandfather still hasn't received 7,000 or 8,000 yuan."
Zhao Jing went out to work after graduating from high school but failed to get into university. She has worked as a factory girl and made milk tea for many years. She is not afraid of hard work or fatigue, but she has not saved much money.
Her family situation is similar to hers. They are all hardworking and will do anything to make money. Unfortunately, fate played a trick on them. A few years ago, her grandmother was diagnosed with cancer. It took two years to treat her and cost 200,000 yuan, which drained the family's money. She even passed away.
Not long after Grandma Zhao Jing passed away, Li Hongli was diagnosed with breast cancer. The family scraped together money and borrowed a lot of money from foreign debt, and finally managed to cure her mother.
At that time, Zhao Jing earned five or six thousand yuan a month working, and only kept fifteen hundred yuan for herself, and sent the rest back home.
Her grandfather is in his sixties or seventies and works at the construction site with her father all day long.
Zhao Jing also has a younger brother named Zhao Liang, who is studying in a county high school. He has decent grades and receives grants and scholarships every year. His monthly living expenses are 300 yuan, which he can get by with the grants. He can't bear to buy new clothes even if they are too short.
Zhao Jing felt sorry for her younger brother and was afraid that his self-esteem would be hurt, so she often bought some cheap shoes and clothes from PDD and sent them back to him.
Although the family is poor, they work together and no one falls behind. It's just that it's very difficult to make money these days.
Zhao Jing ate the buns expressionlessly, feeling anxious inside.
Li Hongli happened to ask her, "Why did you come back so early this year? When will you leave after the Chinese New Year?"
Zhao Jing sighed inwardly. She came back early because she had an argument with someone and could no longer work in her original factory. She wanted to stay back for a while, have a good New Year, and then leave.
But as soon as she came back, she heard bad news one after another, everything was related to money, and she began to feel anxious again.
"I won't be home for the Lantern Festival. The factory is busy before the New Year, and things should be better after the New Year. I can earn more if I go earlier."
"That's fine. I'll save all the money you send back for you. It'll be your dowry when you get married. My body..."
It was the familiar nagging again, which made people feel tedious but also warm in their hearts.
Zhao Jing cooked lunch. Her father Zhao Shuhua and her grandfather came back from the mountain, and the family ate and chatted.
Zhao Shuhua said, "Don't be idle at home. Help your mother with some work. You're already a grown-up girl, but you sleep so late every day. How will it look like if you marry into another family in the future?"
Zhao Jing rolled her eyes. "It's not like I get up this late every day. I got home in the middle of the night yesterday. What's wrong with me sleeping for a while?"
Her father is a nice guy, but he doesn't like to speak. He has the air of a feudal patriarch. When Zhao Jing was a child, she was always scolded and cried. Now that she has grown up, she can talk back to her father.
"Okay, our daughter doesn't stay at home every day, so don't talk about her," Li Hongli stopped him and tried to persuade him. She knew that the man was worried about her poor health, but she had not done any heavy work since she recovered from a serious illness. She just cooked and washed clothes at home all day long. How much effort could it take?
Grandpa Zhao Jing ate in silence. After he finished, he said to Zhao Jing, "Go dig bamboo shoots from the bamboo forest and take them to the village committee."
Zhao Jinghui, who was digging bamboo shoots, asked: "Why do we have to send them to the village committee?"
Li Hongli quickly explained, "The village is harvesting winter bamboo shoots. They can sell for 10 to 20 yuan per pound. Your father and grandfather made a lot of money digging bamboo shoots some time ago."
However, everyone in the village knows that they can make money by digging bamboo shoots, so they have almost dug up all the bamboo shoots at the foot of the mountain. Now it is much harder to find bamboo shoots than before.
I guess in a while, there will be no more good opportunities to make money like this.
"What do the villagers do with winter bamboo shoots? Who do they sell them to?"
"It's Xia Wu. She knows a lot of people and sells them to people in big cities."
Li Hongli and the others couldn't explain what was going on, so Yang Jing didn't ask any further.
After dinner, her father continued to work. Yang Jing carried a basket and a hoe, ready to dig bamboo shoots.
I'm just sitting around at home doing nothing, so I might as well dig some bamboo shoots and sell them for money. How great is that?
But just as her mother said, the winter bamboo shoots in nearby places had been dug up, so she had no choice but to go to Zimu Mountain. She heard that in addition to winter bamboo shoots, wild fungus could also be sold.
Zhao Jing was lucky. She dug seven or eight bamboo shoots and picked some wild wood ear mushrooms. It was like she was back in her childhood. She was so tired that she was sweating. However, picking wild products in the mountains was much more comfortable than sitting in a factory and screwing screws.
Alas, who would want to go out to work if they can find a job at home?
Zhao Jing took the winter bamboo shoots to the village committee, and sure enough, there were many people queuing up to buy bamboo shoots.
The village accountant Yang Mingkai is responsible for keeping accounts, and Yang Guofeng is responsible for checking the quality of the winter bamboo shoots and weighing them if they are qualified.
Soon it was Zhao Jing's turn. Yang Guofeng saw her and greeted her: "Hey, Jingjing is back. When did you get home?"
Zhao Jing smiled sheepishly: "I came back last night."
"You don't even have two days to rest. Your dad must be urging you to work again."
Yang Guofeng knew the situation of every household in the village, and his words hit the nail on the head, which made Zhao Jing laugh.
"My dad is just like that. He can't sit still, and he can't stand seeing others sitting idle. It's not a big deal. I just happen to be homesick, so it's nice to go for a walk in the mountains."
"You are a good girl. Let me see, the bamboo shoots you dug are all good. Leave them here. You can peel the skin of the bamboo shoots and weigh them to calculate the price later." After greeting Zhao Jing, he got busy again.
Zhao Jing took the winter bamboo shoots to an open space nearby and followed the example of others to peel off the thick outer shells of the bamboo shoots, leaving only a few thin layers. After Yang Mingkai confirmed that they were qualified, they could be weighed.
Finally, I told Zhao Jing that she had dug a total of 13 pounds of bamboo shoots, and one pound weighed twenty yuan, which came to 260 yuan.
But you have to wait until tomorrow to collect the money.
Yang Jing was delighted. Fortunately, she did not slack off. She could not earn so much even if she screwed screws in the factory for a whole day.
"Uncle Mingkai, do you harvest winter bamboo shoots every day?"
If she collects every day, she plans to stay at home for a longer time after the New Year.
"How could that be? Winter bamboo shoots are almost out of season. I bet you went to Zimu Mountain to dig them up today. They're not selling as well as before. I guess they'll be gone in ten days or so."
After hearing these words, Yang Jing's heart sank.
Yang Mingkai smiled and said, "Maybe it can still be sold next year. You can come back early then. It won't be a pity."
Yang Jing smiled bitterly: "I was thinking that if I could earn this much money every day, I would go out to work later and spend more time with my mother at home."
"Some time ago, we made a lot of money digging bamboo shoots, but now it's no longer possible. Every household in the village is digging bamboo shoots. If they keep digging, the bamboo forest will probably shrink next year, affecting the ecology." Yang Mingkai seemed to have thought of something and suddenly asked Zhao Jing, "Jingjing, can you use a computer?"
Zhao Jing nodded, "I know a little, what's wrong?" She had even enrolled in classes and taught herself before.
"Then you can leave later. When your uncle Guofeng is done with his work, maybe he can find you a job."
"What kind of work?"
Yang Mingkai smiled and said, "It's just typing orders on the computer and replying to messages. What's that called outside? Customer service, right?"
"Yes, it's customer service."
For some reason, Zhao Jing had a suspicion in her heart. She asked tentatively, "Are you working for the daughter of Uncle Jun's family?"
"You know everything?"
"I guessed," Zhao Jing explained with a smile. "My dad and grandpa work in the mountains, don't they? He was the one who told me about digging bamboo shoots to sell. I guess no one else in the village is looking for customer service."
Not long after, Yang Guofeng finished his work. When he learned that Zhao Jing knew how to use a computer, he took her to find Xia Wu and told her the situation on the way.
Xia Wu shoots videos online and has accumulated a lot of fans. She grows more than two acres of strawberries, which are very popular when sold online. She also helps the village sell winter bamboo shoots, and receives hundreds of orders every day.
Xia Wu was too busy to handle the work by herself and couldn't find any help, so she asked Yang Guofeng to help her find someone who knew how to use a computer. It just so happened that young people in the village had returned one after another recently, but not many of them knew how to use a computer.
Yang Guofeng rode a tricycle to transport the bamboo shoots peeled by the village committee to the Yang family for composting.
The fertilizer pit dug by Yang Guojun is getting bigger and bigger, but it is still not enough. Hundreds of fruit trees on the mountain need to be fertilized. Xia Wu said that for the sake of health, he does not plan to use pesticides, so fertilizing the trees is crucial.
Fortunately, the bamboo shoot shell fertilizer is of good quality, and the shells left over from selling winter bamboo shoots can be used even after being burned.
"Is Xiao Wu at home?"
"I am here!"
Zhao Jing stood next to Yang Guofeng and heard a pleasant voice coming from the house, like the chirping of an oriole, crisp and tender. After a while, a neatly dressed girl with a ponytail walked out of the yard. She had fair skin and no makeup, and her facial features were delicate like a star. She was more beautiful than Zhao Jing had ever seen.
She was stunned for a moment and didn't even hear Yang Guofeng introduce her.
"Quiet?"
Yang Guofeng pushed her and asked her to follow Xia Wu into the house. Only then did Zhao Jing react, her face turned red, and she quickly followed.
"Zhao Jing, Jingjing, right? Can I call you that?"
Zhao Jing was somewhat flattered by Xia Wu's friendly demeanor. She nodded repeatedly, "Sure, everyone can call me that."
"Okay, you can call me Xiao Wu or Xia Xia. Sit here and I'll tell you how to do it..."
In just ten minutes, Zhao Jing learned how to operate the system, which was to reply to customer information, confirm the order quantity, then make the order and ship the goods.
These tasks were previously done by Xia Wu. She was really too busy and thought about focusing on shooting videos. However, there were a lot of trivial things to do every day. Helplessly, Xia Wu could only ask others for help to free herself up.
Yang Jing got the hang of things quickly, and Xia Wu agreed on a salary with her: three thousand yuan a month. The salary wasn't very high, but it was close to home and she had more free time.
It's a part-time job anyway, so why do I need a bicycle?
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