Chapter 21 Mung bean soup.
He Susu didn't expect that there would be a follow-up to the lipstick sales. It seems that lipstick is still very attractive to female comrades who have a little spare money these days.
She pretended to be embarrassed and hesitated for a while before saying, "Zhu Yun, how many lipsticks do you want to buy in total? I can help call my friend in Shanghai to ask. If they have the lipsticks, it will be fine if you buy them and send them to me."
"As for charging more money, wouldn't it be considered as profiteering if I took it? Zhu Yun, you are my high school classmate. For the sake of friendship, I will ask for you. If everything goes well, you should receive the lipstick in four days. Come to the cinema and take a look then."
Zhu Yun was happy to hear this: "That's great, Susu. It's really a shame to trouble you. You're right. We were wrong and that's why we said we wanted to give you more money."
But she also remembered the big favor of helping Shanghai buy lipstick, so she leaned closer and lowered her voice and said, "In the future, if our textile factory has defective cloth for internal sale, the kind that doesn't require a ticket, I will tell you in advance, and I can help you buy it if you want."
He Susu's eyes lit up: "That couldn't be better. Thank you, Zhu Yun."
These days, cloth coupons are limited in quantity, and it is difficult to collect enough to go to the supply and marketing cooperative to buy cloth for clothes. Although cloth or ready-made clothes can be exchanged in the shopping system, it is difficult to explain to my family. If I can buy defective cloth from the textile factory, it would be the best.
Zhu Yun waved his hand: "I should be the one thanking you."
He Susu asked: "By the way, did your colleagues specify what color lipstick they wanted?"
Zhu Yun had already memorized it, and now he directly reported it: "Two pink ones, three apricot ones, and one tea red one."
There was one lipstick she wanted. This lipstick not only made her look more youthful, but also made her look prettier. Zhu Yun liked it and was willing to spend her salary to buy another lipstick in a different color so that she could change it when the time came.
He Susu nodded: "Okay, I'll make a note of it. If my friend can help buy it and send it to you, you can get it when you come in four days."
She secretly felt lucky in her heart that Zhu Yun reported exactly six lipsticks, and the last time the purchase limit for lipsticks in the shopping system was also six, so she didn't exceed the limit.
After finishing the discussion about lipstick, He Susu asked with a smile: "Are you still going to the movie?"
Zhu Yun shook his head embarrassedly: "I came here specifically to talk to you about the lipstick. Let's not watch the movie for now. I'll come over next time when I have an appointment with friends."
"Okay then." He Susu expressed her understanding and said goodbye to her with a smile.
No customers came for a while. He Susu saw that it was time for the movie to start, so she got up and went to the corresponding screening room to watch the movie.
She went back to the ticket counter and sat down again. With nothing to do, she simply called up the shopping system screen and started searching for lipstick.
There is no special offer for lipstick at this time, and the diligence points required for redemption are naturally not the previous 3 points, but the original price of 6 points.
However, compared to the six yuan she had previously reported to Zhu Yun for a lipstick, He Susu felt that it was worth spending six points of diligence to exchange it.
During this period, she washed lunch boxes and pots at noon, and swept the yard with a broom after dinner in the evening. Even if she had to exchange some pork from time to time, she saved a lot of diligence points.
It takes 36 diligence points to exchange for six lipsticks. He Susu looked at the number in the diligence column and realized that she had to go home and sweep the yard at night to accumulate enough diligence points.
After things were sorted out, He Susu relaxed her brows, turned off the shopping system screen, and took a short break.
After finally making it to the end of get off work time, He Susu said hello to Sister Chen and hurriedly rode her bike home.
The eldest sister-in-law was cooking in the kitchen, the others were working in the fields, and the children were probably playing outside after collecting grass for the pigs. He Susu ignored her usual habits and directly found a broom to sweep the yard.
When He's mother and her group came back from work, they saw their daughter sweeping the yard with a smile on her face, as if she was not working but rather doing the great thing of picking up gold.
She couldn't help but say, "You don't even know how to rest after get off work. Normally, you would sweep the yard after dinner to digest your food, but why are you sweeping the yard right after you get home?"
The five children looked at their aunt with confusion. Who likes to work? Their aunt used to be lazy and did nothing, but now she only likes to sweep the yard.
He Susu smiled and explained: "Today is special. After sweeping the yard, it looks clean and tidy. It makes me happy to see it."
She finished sweeping the last corner of the yard, put the broom back in its place, then walked into the living room and sat down to talk to her family.
At night, He Susu was in her room, she called up the shopping system screen, and directly exchanged six lipsticks according to the colors Zhu Yun reported.
The diligence column returned to 0 again, but He Susu was not too disappointed. She looked at the six lipsticks in the storage compartment, and thought about the money she could exchange for them soon. She smiled happily, and even slept sweetly at night.
Four days later, He Susu was busy in the cinema. When she looked up, she saw Zhu Yun waiting there.
She signaled the other party with her eyes to wait a moment, wrote down the movie tickets that the customers in line wanted to buy, collected the corresponding money, went to the corresponding screening room to watch the movie, and then came back to the ticket counter.
He Susu: "Zhu Yun, I'm done, come over here."
Zhu Yun came over and asked nervously, "How's it going, Susu, did you buy the lipstick?"
He Susu nodded: "I called a friend the other day, and he went to the supply and marketing cooperative to buy the lipstick you wanted that day and mailed it to me. Here, these are it."
As she spoke, she took out the lipstick that she had specially taken out and put in the package in the morning and handed it to Zhu Yun.
Fortunately, there was no one in the cinema at that time, which made it convenient for them to carry out the transaction.
Zhu Yun took it with surprise, and seeing that they were all the colors she reported, and the quantity was correct, she thanked him, "Great, thank you Susu."
She took out the money she and her colleagues had collected from her pocket and said, "Here is thirty-six yuan. Susu, please count it and keep it."
He Susu took it and counted it: "It's thirty-six yuan for sure."
The two chatted for a while, but Zhu Yun still didn't watch the movie. She said, "Susu, I'm going back first. My colleagues in the office are waiting for me to bring back the lipstick. They will definitely be happy to see it."
He Susu nodded: "Okay, then we'll see each other when we have time."
After seeing Zhu Yun off, He Susu put away the thirty-six yuan on hand. Together with her previous savings, she now had some assets and could easily buy anything she wanted.
After get off work that day, she rode her bicycle to the supply and marketing cooperative and happened to see egg cakes, which were a rare fine grain and did not require a cake ticket. However, it only cost one dollar and twenty cents per pound, which would have been a sky-high price under normal circumstances.
He Susu was just a little more generous because of her new income of thirty-six yuan, so she immediately said to the salesperson, "Give me a pound of egg cake."
The salesperson didn't expect that the egg cake could actually be sold. Seeing that there was business, she immediately weighed out a pound of it for her.
He Susu brought egg cakes home. Because she was delayed for a while at the supply and marketing cooperative, the He family had already returned home from work. She parked her bicycle in the yard, carried a pound of egg cakes and said, "I bought a pound of egg cakes. They are fresh and hot. Come and try them."
When everyone heard this, they all became greedy. When they saw He Susu open the wax paper to reveal the egg cake that had already been cut into small pieces, everyone reached out to take a piece and started to taste it.
He Susu was the first to eat the egg cake. It was soft and delicious with a little sweetness and the aroma of eggs. After eating one piece, people wanted another.
She did take another piece and ate it, and told her family: "Everyone, eat as much as you can. This egg cake won't taste good if you keep it."
So, a pound of egg cake was eaten up in just a few bites.
He's mother savored the sweetness in her mouth. She felt sorry for her daughter for spending money to buy the egg cake and being so generous as to let the whole family eat it all. She also couldn't help but sigh that the egg cake was worthy of being made of flour, eggs and sugar. It would be great if it could be eaten as a meal.
With the egg cake in front to fill my stomach, the sweet taste of the egg still lingers in my mouth, and everything I eat for dinner tastes delicious.
Time flies, and it is July in a blink of an eye. The weather is getting warmer.
The sun was like a furnace, scorching the earth, and I would sweat all over if I moved a little.
He Susu would also sweat a little when riding her bicycle to and from get off work. Fortunately, there were electric fans at the cinema to cool her down. When she returned home in the evening, she would stand at the door and get some fresh air to get rid of the heat all over her body.
But the people working in the fields have a hard time. As soon as they bend down to work for a while, the sweat starts to drip down and their clothes are soaked.
After internal discussions, the production team moved the morning work time forward by half an hour and the afternoon work time back by an hour to avoid the time when the sun was at its hottest, so as to prevent the villagers from falling down due to the heat.
He Susu was concerned about the hard work of her family. She heard in the cinema that drinking mung bean soup can relieve the heat, so she simply exchanged five kilograms of mung beans and one kilogram of sugar from the shopping system and took them home.
She told He's mother, "Mom, I bought some mung beans and sugar. You can take some time every day to cook a pot of mung bean soup for Dad and Big Brother to eat. It can help relieve the heat from working in the fields for too long."
He's mother didn't care: "This time of year is the hottest time of the year. You can get through it by just enduring it. There's no need to drink mung bean soup. Listen to mom, take these back to the supply and marketing cooperative and ask. Maybe you can get your money back."
He Susu refused: "I won't take it back. These mung beans and sugar are specially for you to make mung bean soup. I didn't have the ability before, but now I have money, so I buy some to make mung bean soup for you to cool down. It's not a big deal."
Mung beans can relieve heat, sugar can add some sweetness and can also replenish physical strength. It is best to drink mung bean soup on a hot summer day.
Knowing that her daughter was stubborn and unable to convince her, He's mother bought the mung beans and sugar and had to agree: "Okay, I know. Don't worry, I'll make mung bean soup every day."
Her daughter did good things for the family, which was a rare kindness, so He's mother naturally would not hide it and told the whole family about it.
Needless to say, Mr. He, the eldest and second brothers He, and Zhao Miling and Qian Chunhe, the two sisters-in-law, also care about their sister-in-law's kindness.
There was no need to buy the mung beans and sugar, but the aunt remembered that they were tired from working in the fields and were suffering from the sun, so she gave them some to cool them down.
Needless to say, the five children were so happy to be able to drink sweet mung bean soup every day, just like drinking sugar water.
It just so happened that He Susu didn't have to go to work the next day, so she took the initiative to take over the task of cooking mung bean soup.
He's mother hesitated: "Susu, can you do it? I'd better let you cook."
He Susu insisted: "Mung bean soup is not a difficult dish to cook, just leave it to me, mom, you guys just wait to drink the mung bean soup."
He's mother had no choice but to let her do as she pleased.
The next day, He Susu slept until she woke up naturally. Her family had already gone to work and the sun was already very hot. After breakfast, she thought about her family working in the fields and hurried to the kitchen to cook mung bean soup.
Estimating the amount of food for the family, He Susu picked up three handfuls of mung beans and washed them by the well, then went to the kitchen. She first lit the stove, added water to the pot, poured all the washed mung beans into the pot, covered it with a lid and began to cook.
While killing time, He Susu estimated that it was almost done, so she went to the kitchen again to open the lid of the pot. The water in the pot turned green, and the mung beans were all boiled. She used a spatula to push the mung beans to roll to prevent them from sticking to the pot. After several times, she let the mung beans in the steamer continue to cook.
This time the time was a little shorter. He Susu went into the kitchen and opened the lid of the pot. She saw that the mung beans had all turned into sand. She went to get some sugar and added two spoonfuls of it, then pushed it with a spatula again to help it melt.
The mung bean soup in the pot was rich and sweet, so she turned off the fire in the stove.
He Susu put the mung bean soup in a slightly larger basin, took it to the well and put it in the wooden bucket, then put the wooden bucket in the well to cool it. In this way, the mung bean soup will be cooled later. It is really refreshing to have a bowl of it on such a hot day.
He Susu remembered something and opened the shopping system to look at the diligence value column. Sure enough, 1 diligence value point was added.
At noon, when the He family came back from work, He's mother looked at her daughter and before she could ask anything, He Susu smiled and nodded: "Don't worry, mother, I have already cooked the mung bean soup and put it in the well to cool it down."
He's mother laughed and said, "Okay, our Susu is really good. Now she can cook mung bean soup."
The five children could not help but run to the well and try to peek at the mung bean soup hanging in the wooden barrel. Except for the oldest Guifang, the other four were scolded by He's mother: "Why are you getting so close? Didn't I tell you not to get close to the well? It's dangerous. You are so greedy like mice that have been hungry for who knows how many years. If I see you again, I will beat you with a stick!"
Seeing grandma was angry, Guixi and the other two were so scared that their mouths trembled. They hurried away from the well and raised their hands to promise: "Grandma, we won't dare to do it again."
Only then did He's mother calm down. She was not making a big deal out of nothing. There was a case in the village where a child fell into a well while playing and died. The family was very sad.
Zhao Miling and Qian Chunhe saw what happened, and privately reminded their children again and again, telling them not to look into the well.
After lunch, they took a nap. When they woke up, it was time to go to work. The He family members went out one by one, and the five children followed them to cut grass for the pigs.
He Susu was responsible for delivering mung bean soup to the fields for them to drink later. Of course, mung bean soup is better to drink when you are busy and tired, as it can be used to relieve fatigue during the halftime.
At about four o'clock, He Susu picked up the wooden barrel hanging from the well, reached out and touched the basin of mung bean soup. She could feel the coolness through the wall of the basin, which meant that the mung bean soup must be cold as well.
She went to get a bamboo basket, put a whole pot of mung bean soup into the basket, then went to the kitchen to count the bowls according to the number of people, took a big soup spoon and put them all into the bamboo basket, then covered the basket with the lid.
He Susu went out carrying a bamboo basket.
As the weather got hotter, the women working in the fields lost the mood to chat, for fear that they would become thirsty from talking too much and the water in the bamboo tubes they brought would not be enough to drink.
They saw He Susu passing by carrying a bamboo basket, and they were wondering why she came out on such a hot day when she could just stay at home.
He Susu also took protective clothing, wearing a long-sleeved plaid shirt on the upper body and long pants on the lower body, and a bamboo hat on her head that her father had woven for her, which just blocked the scorching sun and prevented her from getting tanned when she looked back.
The He family was working in the fields, sweating profusely, and their clothes were soaked. He's mother looked up and saw her daughter coming over, and shouted, "Susu is here, let's all take a break."
When everyone thought of mung bean soup, they immediately perked up and put down their farm tools and walked over.
"Mom and Dad, come and have some mung bean soup." He Susu opened the lid of the bamboo basket, took out the bowl inside, and used a large soup spoon to scoop a bowl of mung bean soup for each of them.
He's mother took the mung bean soup and drank it in big gulps. The mung bean soup was icy cold, and it felt like a piece of ice when it went into her mouth. As she swallowed it, the coolness spread from her mouth to her stomach, and her internal organs all felt comfortable.
Father He drank the mung bean soup in silence. After finishing a bowl, he praised, "It's really good."
Needless to say, Brother He and the others, after drinking the whole bowl of mung bean soup, they felt a little cooler and more energetic.
Guifang and a few others were cutting grass for pigs with bamboo baskets on their backs, but they had actually been paying attention to the situation in the fields. When they saw their aunt coming over and their parents standing together drinking mung bean soup, they hurried over.
He Susu also filled a bowl for each of them.
On such a hot day, children love to drink something cold. They hold the mung bean soup in their hands like they are chewing a popsicle, saying "so cool", "so sweet", and "so refreshing" every time.
People working nearby saw them gathered together with smiles on their faces and curiously asked He's mother what she was eating.
Mother He smiled and said, "My daughter felt sorry for us working hard in the fields, so she specially cooked some mung bean soup and chilled it for us to drink to cool us down."
When everyone heard this, they were a little bit unbelievable. When did the He family's daughter become so sensible?
But that was the fact, they had all seen it with their own eyes. The mung bean soup must have been icy and delicious, which was why the He family was talking and laughing. They could only praise He Susu for being sensible.
They were also feeling hot and wanted to drink some iced mung bean soup, but unfortunately it was not available.
He Susu didn't drink mung bean soup at home, so she also took a bowl of mung bean soup to drink. The cold mouth and sweet taste, the mung bean paste can be swallowed directly without chewing, it is really delicious. The whole person feels a little cooler and not so hot.
After hearing her mother tell her to mark the bowls and use them directly for dinner without washing, He Susu smiled and agreed, then took the bamboo basket home.
After that, she went to work as usual. He's mother used her lunch time to cook mung bean soup and chilled it in the well. In the afternoon, during her break from work, she ran home to bring it to the fields for her family to drink, and then brought it back home after work.
Although He Susu didn't get to drink the mung bean soup, she didn't treat herself badly.
She found that there was freshly ground soy milk that could be exchanged in the shopping system. Two cups only required 1 diligence point, and she could choose to exchange it at room temperature or chilled.
So He Susu rode her bicycle to the cinema every morning, and when she was hot and sweaty, she would exchange a cup of iced soy milk from the shopping system, and store the remaining cup in the storage compartment to drink the next day.
The soy milk is also icy cold in the mouth, perhaps because it is freshly ground and very smooth. Drinking a cup of it makes you feel relaxed and in a good mood to start the day's work.
When He Susu was resting one day, her mother took out the cloth coupons she had saved for a year and gave them to her: "Susu, these cloth coupons are enough for you to buy cloth to make a summer dress. The winter dress you made last year, and the two or three summer dresses are almost worn out. It would be better to make one more set, so that you won't be looked down upon when you go to work at the cinema."
He Susu was the only one in the family who had the luxury of making a set of clothes every year. The others just had to mend their clothes for three years. When the clothes were torn, they would sew patches on them. When the children's clothes became too big to fit, they would give them to the younger ones.
He Susu took it with a smile: "Okay, I got it, thank you mother."
She did plan to make some summer clothes. The clothes she wore before had already become worn out after a few months, but there were no holes to patch up, which was not satisfactory to He Susu.
However, she did not go to the supply and marketing cooperative with her cloth coupons to buy the seven-foot cloth as she had done in the past, and she often could not choose cloth of good colors.
At night, He Susu lay on the bed and activated the shopping system screen to check the clothes.
There are various kinds of clothes that can be exchanged in the system, all of which are popular styles of this era. The fabrics include cotton, Dacron, corduroy, polyester, etc. She also saw the most expensive braid sold in department stores and often out of stock.
In the past, He Susu would have chosen the most fashionable braids. Those with floral and plaid patterns were very beautiful and would surely attract a lot of admiration and envy when she wore them. But she didn't know when her taste changed and she preferred the soft and comfortable cotton cloth.
There are also many styles of clothes made of cotton cloth in the shopping system. The tops include shirts with round necks and puff sleeves, the pants are more ordinary, and the dresses also have floral and plaid ones.
Let’s look at the diligence points required for exchange. A top costs about 5 points, pants only need 3 points, and a more expensive dress requires 6 points.
This is the price of clothes made of cotton cloth. Those made of Dacron or polyester will be slightly more expensive. Just like in reality, the highest diligence value is required to exchange for a braided skirt.
He Susu focused her eyes on the clothes made of homespun cotton cloth, compared them with the summer clothes she already had, picked out a yellow top and black trousers, and also chose a light green floral dress.
Thinking that her parents had been wearing the same two sets of clothes all year round, with no one knowing how many patches were sewn on them but they were still reluctant to change them, He Susu picked out a set of earth-gray clothes for her father and a set of navy blue clothes for her mother. Of course, they were both made of cotton cloth.
In fact, it is much more cost-effective to exchange the cloth and take it home to make clothes yourself, which can save some labor points.
But He Susu knew her parents' personalities. If she exchanged the cloth and took it home, they would never make new clothes for her. Wouldn't that be a waste of her kindness?
Fortunately, when buying clothes in the shopping system, the corresponding size will pop up for her to choose. He Susu picked the right size according to her parents' body shapes, put it in the storage compartment after exchanging it, and took it home after get off work a few days later.
After dinner that day, while her parents were free, He Susu went back to her room and took out a package. She opened the package and took out all the clothes inside.
He Susu: "Mom and Dad, I originally wanted to go to the supply and marketing cooperative to buy cloth, and I happened to meet a classmate who had connections and brought back a batch of clothes from other places. They were all made of cotton cloth, the price was right and no cloth coupons were required. I bought myself a summer dress and a dress, and I also picked out a set of clothes for each of you. Take them and try them on to see if they fit you."
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