Thank you, I love you, even if it's poisoned wine, I'll drink it with a smile. Hy筕陈涵 (Hy筕陈涵) enjoys this!
Some people had already learned their lesson; once they borrowed, they would borrow again. Others were secretly glad that the grain belonged to the collective, because even if they came to borrow, they wouldn't get any.
Liu Maocai knew what was going on, after all, quite a few people from other villages had come here recently.
"Everyone, go get your food first, and I'll talk to you while you eat." Liu Maocai saw that everyone looked listless, but he didn't care.
"And the most important thing is to pay the grain tax. Almost everyone guessed that our village would have a good harvest this year, so we can't use money to fool people about the autumn grain."
"Even if you have money, you can't necessarily buy food outside, so our village is being watched by too many people."
At this moment, Wang Hongxi also stood up and said, "I went to a meeting the day before yesterday, and all the village chiefs came over to ask me if the sweet potatoes had a bumper harvest. The newly appointed township head also asked me about the yield separately."
I told them our output was only half of last year's, but I didn't think anyone would believe me. The township head's final target for us was 40,000 jin.
I thought it was okay, so I agreed. At least the autumn grain task was completed, and there was no need to hand in anything else.
We still have sorghum to harvest, but that should give us enough grain for next year.
After hearing this, everyone gathered in twos and threes and felt that this was acceptable. People nowadays are more aware that the interests of the country are above all else, so they are not opposed to paying grain taxes.
And that's how it was settled. The deadline for delivering the grain was set for the day after tomorrow; the sooner it was delivered, the less trouble there would be, since they still needed to harvest the sorghum when they got back.
The next morning, Zhang Hongmei went to fetch water, and the village was quiet. Normally, people would have been out and about long ago; everyone was exhausted.
They were still herding sheep up the mountain when they reached the sweet potato field and found that some bok choy had been eaten. However, the rabbit did not escape either; instead, it fell into a trap.
Worried about the radish patch, I rushed over and found that it hadn't been gnawed on, so I started watering it.
By the end of the day, my arms and legs felt like they didn't belong to me anymore.
I forced myself to go home and feed all the animals that were opening their mouths before I could go into my space to rest.
Zhang Hongmei doesn't plan to go with the grain delivery team tomorrow; instead, she wants to deliver some sweet potatoes to the former principal or a teacher.
But then I felt it wasn't right. The sweet potatoes were originally planted in the space, but luckily they were planted in my own plot. If I gave them away, no one would suspect me of stealing them.
I rummaged through the storeroom and found two large bags of dried sweet potatoes from last year. I'll distribute these among them, and also give some to Li Juying. It's not much, so I'll send these for now and figure out what to do if they really can't hold on any longer.
The next day, Liu Erya came over and asked, "Hongmei, what are you doing?" Five snakeskin bags were tied to the back seat of the car, and there was another bag on the front beam.
"I'm going to deliver some dried sweet potatoes from last year to Aunt Li, and also to the principal and teachers."
What's in the bag in front?
"The old cucumbers I picked."
"Then go ahead, I was originally planning to ask you to come up the mountain with me."
"Don't go by yourself."
"I'm not stupid, hurry up and come back."
Zhang Hongmei rode away on her bicycle. She parked it at the school first.
"Grandpa, could you watch the house for me for a bit? I'll be out in a minute."
"Go."
Zhang Hongmei went straight to the principal's office and said, "Principal, I'm here."
"Why are you here today? What's the matter?" The old principal was so thin that his cheekbones were particularly prominent.
"It's nothing, I just brought you and Teacher Liu some leftover dried sweet potatoes from last year. I can't finish them all by myself."
“Take it back. We don’t want your stuff. Although things are tough, we all eat government-supplied food, which is much better than yours.”
"Come on, even with coupons and money, you can't necessarily buy food now. Just take it, and pay me back when things get better, okay? Why be so inflexible?"
The old principal knew Zhang Hongmei was right, but he was really embarrassed to take something that belonged to an orphan.
Zhang Hongmei noticed the principal's embarrassment and said, "We can help each other out. Once the difficulties are over, you can give me more rice and flour. See how good I am at calculating? I'm exchanging coarse grains for fine grains."
The old principal looked at Zhang Hongmei helplessly, knowing that the girl was trying to comfort him.
"Okay, thank you. We'll take the dried sweet potatoes. I'll go get them with you."
"No need, I came by bicycle, I can just push it in."
After leaving school, Zhang Hongmei went to the township government, and it took a lot of persuasion before Li Juying finally accepted her.
After thinking about it, I decided to go home. I always felt unsafe outside. And I wouldn't need to do anything for the grain tax.
I fed the sheep when I got home at noon, so I won't be herding them today.
In the afternoon, I tidied up the yard, picked the old eggplants, sliced them, and laid them out on a drying rack to dry in the yard.
The same applies to green beans, except they don't need to be cut, but they must be blanched in boiling water until half-cooked before drying.
Seeing that the pumpkins and squash in the yard were turning yellow and the winter melons were quite large, I couldn't resist picking one, cutting it in half, and sending it to Liu Maocai's house.
Dinner was sorghum rice porridge, stir-fried winter melon slices with chili peppers, and vinegar—a sour and spicy flavor that was especially appetizing.
After dinner, the village became lively as those who had delivered their grain taxes returned. Today went smoothly, and Hu Aiguo was dismissed from his post because of Wang Jianguo's downfall.
Everyone had excited expressions on their faces because the village had received an award from the township.
People in this era place particular importance on the affirmation given by the state.
This newly appointed township head is impressive; he's won people's hearts.
The next day was still about cleaning up the mess; we still had to turn over and dry the sweet potato slices and vines.
The children had much more freedom, with no set tasks to perform, but none of them were idle. They discussed with Liu Maocai about planting scallions in the sweet potato field so as not to delay next year's spring planting, and then they could plant the scallion seedlings in the yard.
Seeing the children's willingness to work, Liu Maocai agreed, but they could only plant on the edge of the field, since the land also needed to be tended.
Zhang Hongmei didn't go with them; instead, she went up the mountain to herd sheep again.
Then he secretly went to the cave behind the mountain and brought out the corn stalks from his spatial storage.
I can actually save myself a lot of trouble, at least I don't have to chop firewood anymore, I can just burn this in the winter.
Just as she arrived at her doorstep, Liu Maocai stopped her and said, "Hongmei, here's a letter for you, and a money order."
"A letter? From where?"
"It must be from the military."
Zhang Hongmei took the letter and saw the military postmark. This should be a letter from Yu Chenglong, right?
I only check my messages in my social space after I've finished all my work.
The letter wasn't long; it simply explained that the reason they hadn't written for so long was because they were on a mission and would soon be going to the battlefield. So they sent her various receipts and told her there would be a money order. They also told her not to reply, as they should be on the battlefield.
This time, 120 yuan was wired. Zhang Hongmei doesn't know how to use these receipts and money. She still doesn't know whether Yu Chenglong is good or bad. She's beholden to him, and she doesn't need the money herself.
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