Seeing Du Xiangqian practically fleeing in panic, Chen Shuning couldn't help but laugh, finding the guy quite amusing.
However, she was fortunate to have a warm winter this year, thanks to Du Xiangqian and He Chaoyang.
She went inside and took a lock from the box. Chen Ma had prepared two locks for her; she used one as a door lock, and the other had been kept in the box unused.
You have to understand that in those days, locks could only be bought with industrial ration coupons. If it weren't for Chen Ma working at the supply and marketing cooperative, she wouldn't have been able to buy them either. In the village, very few people would lock their doors.
However, their educated youth compound was not like the village homes, where each family had their own courtyard and there were often people at home, so they didn't lock it.
But their educated youth compound was different. So many people lived in one compound, all from different parts of the country. Before they came, no one knew what kind of person each of them was.
Liu Shumei said that when she first arrived, her cousin, who had gone to the countryside a few years before her, told her that things were often stolen at the educated youth settlement, and reminded her to buy a box and a lock.
According to Liu Shumei, she didn't pay much attention at the time, but she thought she would need to buy a box to store things, so she obediently bought a box. When she went to town, her cousin insisted that she also buy a lock.
It was precisely because she was obedient that she became the only one among her group of new educated youth who never lost anything.
Since these weren't valuable items, just some food and daily necessities that could be bought at the supply and marketing cooperative, even if there were suspects, there was nothing that could be done if they weren't caught red-handed.
Because of this, the newly arrived educated youth began to buy boxes and locks, and this tradition continued year after year.
Chen Shuning found the lock because he wanted to lock the woodshed. The old educated youth used to collect and burn firewood together, and he heard that every winter, there were disputes over whether they collected or burned more or less firewood.
After all, firewood is very precious in Heilongjiang Province in winter, especially after heavy snow closes off the mountains. Apart from experienced old hunters in the village, almost no one dares to go into the mountains, and even the foot of the mountains is rarely visited.
Because of food shortages, wild animals often come down from the mountains in villages like theirs that are built against the hillside.
Therefore, people have to gather enough firewood before the heavy snow closes the mountains in winter, otherwise they will freeze in winter and no one will pity them.
After all, living right next to the mountains, you may lack other things, but you'll have plenty of firewood in the mountains. As long as you're diligent enough, you can definitely collect enough firewood for the whole winter before the heavy snow closes off the mountains.
And there really are a few lazy people in their backyard, like Yang Wanqiu, who seems to have been the one gathering firewood for Zhao Qianjin ever since she moved out.
After that incident, although Zhao Qianjin stopped coming, she somehow managed to coax Gu Xinyi into eating with her there.
With Gao Hongyuan and Wang Zhi gathering firewood, Gu Xinyi no longer needed to go to the mountains to gather firewood after work.
In any case, Chen Shuning had never seen Yang Wanqiu go to collect firewood even once. Just now, almost the entire educated youth compound went to the back mountain to collect firewood, but Yang Wanqiu remained unmoved and stayed in the house without going out.
To be honest, Chen Shuning admired her quite a bit. Even if she didn't cook, wasn't she cold sleeping on the cold kang at night?
Anyway, Chen Shuning would never rather freeze than go and collect firewood. Moreover, knowing what kind of person Yang Wanqiu was, Chen Shuning was determined to keep a close watch on his woodshed.
Otherwise, someone like Yang Wanqiu, who comes to collect two pieces of firewood today and a few pieces of coal tomorrow, can't be watched 24 hours a day.
Especially since her woodshed originally only contained firewood, it wouldn't have been so bad, but now this whole room full of coal has cost her a lot of money, not to mention the huge favors she's owed.
Adding to the recent incident of Zhong Lingling losing money, Chen Shuning felt it was best to lock up her woodshed.
In any case, her woodshed was not like others', which were just simple sheds built with templates. Her woodshed was a proper house built of mud bricks. Except for the lack of windows, even the door was a proper wooden door bought from the village carpenter.
Once the padlock is on, it's absolutely safe unless it's forcibly removed.
Chen Shuning took a key from the lock and attached it to her key chain. Then, holding the lock, she prepared to lock the woodshed door. As soon as she stepped out, she saw Du Xiangqian, who had just run out from her side.
At that moment, the old captain was talking to him, and Little Iron Egg stood obediently beside the captain.
Seeing that the two were still there, Chen Shuning quickly turned around and went back to the kitchen. She took out the brown sugar ginger and jujube tea that she had saved for Xiao Tiedan, intending to give it to the brigade leader to take back with her later, which would save her from having to make another trip.
She might still have time to go to the back mountain to find Liu Shumei and the others, and perhaps she could gather some firewood.
Tie Dan is still young, and she was really worried about letting the little guy carry the freshly boiled ginger and jujube tea back by himself. If he got burned, she would have done something wrong with good intentions. So she originally planned to lock the woodshed and deliver it to him herself.
Now that she saw him, she didn't need to make another trip. However, seeing that the captain was talking to Du Xiangqian, she didn't want to disturb him. So she gestured for Tie Dan, who was idly kicking a puddle at his feet, to come over.
The little girl and Chen Shuning have always been very close. When she saw Chen Shuning waving, she ran over without hesitation.
The mud splashed up along the way, soaking his trouser leg, making Chen Shuning worry for the kid.
If he goes home covered in mud, he's likely to get a beating.
Seeing Tie Dan rushing towards her like a small cannonball, Chen Shuning hurriedly took two steps back and stood on the steps in front of the house. Only then did she feel at ease. Otherwise, with Tie Dan's speed, her trouser legs would have been ruined.
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