"Grandma, this is a sugar packet. I ate one and I'm giving you one."
"Hehe, the sugar buns are still the best. But today there's stewed fish, so I'll just eat plain steamed buns." The old lady is getting on in years, so she's naturally happy to be able to eat good things from time to time.
Almost every household in the village would send some food to the old lady whenever they cooked something good.
So the old lady had a pretty good appetite.
"Grandma, I'm leaving now. You can rest after you finish eating."
"Go on, go back and get some sleep."
When I got home, I put the leftover fish into my storage space because I was afraid it would spoil if it stayed outside. I can have it again tomorrow.
The next morning, Zhang Xingguo ate his fill of rice porridge, leftover steamed buns, and fish from the previous night, and then drove the sheep away.
Is Hongmei home?
"Third Aunt, come in quickly."
"I brought you radish seeds; it's time to plant radishes."
Should we plant the radishes now?
"Okay, let's plant it now. Where do you want to plant it?"
"There was no room left in the yard, so I planted two more rows of cucumbers, and they're almost ready to be trellised now."
"If it doesn't work, you can plant it in Comrade Zhang's yard. Anyway, they don't grow vegetables, so it's just empty space."
“Okay, I’ll tell Uncle Zhang when he gets back.” Actually, Zhang Hongmei would prefer to plant them in the mountains, where they would definitely grow better than in the yard.
"Where is my second sister, Third Aunt?"
She's turning over the floor at home; she asked me to tell you she'll be over in a bit.
Zhang Hongmei looked at the vegetable garden. The green beans were due for harvest, but she still wanted to plant new ones. "Never mind," she thought, "I'll just plant them in the mountains."
Thinking of this, I stacked up the bean vines, turned over the soil, and replanted them. Since there was no space, I didn't care about replanting.
The squash and pumpkins at home aren't as big as those in the mountains, but we already have a lot. I estimate we could harvest over a hundred, including those from the mountains.
This is all food. We should send a few extra to the teachers, the principal, and Li Juying as well.
Looks like I really need a bicycle.
"Hongmei, where are you planting the radishes?" Liu Erya asked as she came in and looked at the vegetables filling the yard.
"Let's plant it in the mountains."
Liu Erya's eyes lit up. "Wait here, I'll go find some more radish seeds, let's plant more." With that, she threw down the pickaxe and ran off.
Zhang Hongmei had prepared the tools, but she hadn't decided where to plant them. If they were too close to a water source, they might be ruined; if they were further away, there were underground channels, but watering them would be a problem.
Let's talk about it when we get into the mountains. A little while later, Liu Erya ran back, carrying two large paper packets. "Hongmei, I also want some purple radish seeds! I love purple radishes the most!"
“Let’s go then. There are only three steamed buns left at home. I also picked two cucumbers and two tomatoes. We’ll make do with that for lunch.” Zhang Hongmei carried a shoulder pole, with a rake and a hoe on Liu Erya’s shoulder, and a basket on her back.
The two walked and discussed where to plant them, but they couldn't find an ideal place. Finally, they decided to plant them next to the sweet potato field.
When they arrived at the sweet potato field, they saw Zhang Xingguo weeding. "What are you two doing here?"
"We're here to plant radishes."
"Should we plant it here? There are too many weeds, and the trees are blocking the view."
"If we plant it elsewhere, it might get ruined." Zhang Hongmei thought for a long time but still couldn't think of a safe place.
“Go east, there’s a piece of land there, the soil looks alright, let’s plant there.”
The two found the place Zhang Xingguo had mentioned, and decided to plant it here. The plot of land was three acres in size, and it took them five whole hours to finish planting, but there were still radish seeds left over.
It was past 3 p.m. before the two finally sat down to eat. Zhang Hongmei was too tired to eat much, so she only ate one tomato, and the rest went into Liu Erya's stomach.
"The soil around the red plum tree doesn't look dry, does it need watering?"
"Let's stop watering and go back quickly. You're not allowed to come here alone again."
"I know, I'll definitely call you to come with me whenever I go up the mountain. I'm not as brave as you."
The three of them herded the sheep home together. Seeing two cars parked at the gate in the distance, they knew Zhang Shouyi had returned.
They should be back by now; it's been almost two weeks.
Dinner consisted of rice, scrambled eggs with tomatoes and cucumbers, and steamed eggplant.
There wasn't much food at home, but with so many people, the quantities had to be large, so Wang Xiaoshun helped with the cooking.
Zhang Hongmei wondered how so many people could possibly get so much gold up there.
But seeing them unload bags of grain from the trucks put my mind at ease.
Zhang Shouyi is truly cunning; he gave the village truck an excuse to come.
The old lady, Wang Hongxi, Liu Maocai, and the village's strong laborers all came over, each carrying a bag. Wang Hongxi brought out a large steelyard and each family received twenty jin of corn kernels and ten jin of sorghum.
This was life-saving food! Words of gratitude overwhelmed the Zhang family father and son.
"No need to thank us, everyone. My father has been very fortunate to have been taken care of by everyone while living here. He is going back to work this time, so we would like to express our gratitude with this small token of our appreciation. Please accept it."
Seeing that Zhang Hongmei had finished cooking, the old lady didn't stand on ceremony and invited the others to eat. Everyone happily went home after receiving their share of the food.
Zhang Hongmei gave Zhang Shouyi a thumbs up, thinking how thoughtful he was. Not only did he earn everyone's gratitude, but most importantly, he managed to move the goods away without anyone noticing.
During the meal, Zhang Shouyi told Zhang Hongmei to move her things over to him that night.
Around 11 p.m., those people ran back and forth more than ten times before finally moving all the things into Zhang Hongmei's cellar.
Zhang Shouyi handed over the list, IOU, and property certificate to Zhang Hongmei.
"Let's go up the mountain now. It's quiet and we won't see anything."
"Okay, no problem. But can we get it out before dawn? There aren't enough people, are there?"
"Don't worry, there's no problem. Let's go. My dad and Wang Xiaoshun aren't going, and Wang Xiaoshun doesn't know either."
"I understand, I know what I should and shouldn't say."
The two men got into the truck, while the rest of the passengers sat in the back. Zhang Shouyi drove himself. Of course, this had to be kept secret.
They drove to the foot of the mountain in no time, and only stopped when the car could no longer pass.
Several well-trained men got out of the car, standing in a row with flashlights in their hands. Zhang Shouyi locked the car doors, and the group continued on their way.
Zhang Hongmei was afraid she wouldn't have enough time, so she ran. The others could keep up with her by taking long strides, which made Zhang Hongmei grit her teeth in anger. She was sure she would have long legs.
The journey that usually takes two hours only took one hour today.
Zhang Shouyi and Zhang Hongmei went down first, while the rest of them waited for news upstairs.
When Zhang Shouyi saw the thirty-five boxes full of gold, he was quite shocked. This was no small sum, and the IOU had to be rewritten, mainly because the amount was incorrect.
Zhang Shouyi calmed himself down. He walked to the cave entrance and shook the rope vigorously.
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