Chapter 93 New Year Gift
Last night, Brother Tan drove a donkey cart to bring Xu Hexiao back. In the cart, besides Xu Hexiao and Brother Tan, there were more than two hundred sacks, more than ten jars, more than forty cans, and the money from the previous batch of goods.
Last time, she mainly sold vegetables and meat, and made a few hundred more money than the previous time. Brother Tan rounded it up for her, which was exactly two thousand yuan.
The total amount of money in the bank and the cash on hand is already five thousand.
Five thousand yuan! How much money does the Lin family owe? Have they paid it off?
Let’s leave some money for mom when we go back this time.
"Brother Tan said he would borrow a car today and should be able to drive here to transport the rice in the evening. Let's put the rice into bags in the afternoon." Xu Hexiao stuffed more than 200 sacks into the bottom of the backpack, and then put two 40-jin wine jars into the backpack, and the backpack was full.
Xu Hexiao handed the backpack to Lin Qi and took another one for himself. This time, there was no sack taking up space. The backpack could barely hold three jars.
"They take up too much space. Why don't we just tie them up with vines and carry them into the mountains?" Lin Qi suggested. She had done that before and could transport them all in one or two times.
"No need." Xu Hexiao refused. "We have to carry several thousand kilograms of rice tonight, so save some energy. As for these jars and cans, bring some every time you go into the mountains. You will finish them in a few times. There is no rush."
With his speed, he could only carry several thousand kilograms of rice in one trip. The rest depended on her. He really didn't want her to work too hard.
One afternoon, Lin Qi and Xu Hexiao were packing rice into bags.
"These rice grains are very full, and the weight is probably more than 5,000 kilograms." Xu Hexiao said, looking at Lin Qi worriedly, "How about selling 2,000 kilograms this time?"
Lin Qi shook her head. "Whether it's 5,000 kilograms or 6,000 kilograms, it's not difficult for me. Don't worry."
Xu Hexiao looked at her thin shoulders. He felt distressed when he thought about her carrying those heavy objects over and over again. "Next time, we won't plant so much. We can just plant enough for ourselves. We are not short of money. Grandpa said that all the Xu family's property will be given to you. There are several boxes of gold bars in it."
Lin Qi: “….”
She couldn't help but doubt the truth in those words.
Xu Hexiao knew she didn't believe him when he saw her expression, so he said helplessly, "In the past few years, we were under strict supervision and had to work very hard every day, more than ten hours a day. When we were not working, there were countless eyes staring at us. Once we made a rash move, we would definitely be discovered, so my grandfather and I had to starve. Later, when I was older, I played hide-and-seek with those people and often sneaked to the black market. I was cheated several times before I met Brother Tan."
Lin Qi suddenly realized, "So that's it."
"Natural disasters were severe in the past few years. Not to mention people like us in the five black categories, many people with good family backgrounds starved to death. It was very difficult for my grandfather and I to survive." What Xu Hexiao didn't say was that their house at the time could not store any food. It would be visited several times a day, and even the water he had worked so hard to carry from the mountains would be stolen.
Speaking of starvation, Lin Qi felt it deeply, as the original owner died of starvation.
"There are many people starving now." Lin Qi said, "So we should grow more rice and sell more."
Xu Hexiao pursed his lips and said, "It's just a drop in the bucket."
"But life would be boring if I don't grow anything." Lin Qi said. She has a wood-related ability, so if she is not allowed to grow anything, what is the point of her doing?
Xu Hexiao was silent.
"Growing things doesn't put any pressure on me." Lin Qi picked up a grain of rice and injected supernatural power into it. The rice quickly sprouted and grew until it bloomed and bore ears of rice.
Xu Hexiao looked at this scene in shock and even forgot to breathe.
After a long while, Xu Hexiao came back to his senses and said in a very serious tone, "Don't show this ability of yours to anyone except me."
"Of course, I'm not stupid." Lin Qi said.
Xu Hexiao: “….”
In his opinion, it was quite stupid. If he were someone with this ability, he would definitely keep it a secret and not tell anyone.
Six thousand kilograms of rice were put into sacks, each sack holding one hundred kilograms. In the end, there were sixty-five sacks in total, with twenty or thirty kilograms left in the basket.
"Sell these 60 kilograms, and keep the rest for ourselves." Xu Hexiao said, "Are you going to bring some rice back home this time? I'll help you pound some tomorrow."
"Yes." Lin Qi thought for a moment, "In addition to rice, I also want to bring smoked wild boar meat, sheep, pheasants, hares, preserved fruits, jams, and some wine."
"We'll slaughter a pig tomorrow and divide the pork. I'll give you my share as well. It's about ten hours' journey, and after it's marinated with salt, there shouldn't be any peculiar smell. Wrap it tightly with oilcloth, and others shouldn't know what's inside." He remembered that he still had some oilcloth.
Lin Qi nodded. If that was the case, she would have to bring a lot of things the day after tomorrow.
Sixty bags of rice, even if she carried four bags each time, Lin Qi would have to carry them fifteen times. The journey back was not short, and Lin Qi didn't want to bother. She asked Xu Hexiao to go first, and after confirming that Xu Hexiao had walked out of the planting area, she directed the vines to roll up the remaining fifty-nine bags of rice, and followed her towards the fork in the road.
Lin Qi was only slightly faster than Xu Hexiao. Just as she had put the fifty-nine bags of rice neatly away, Xu Hexiao arrived.
Xu Hexiao looked at Lin Qi, whose breathing was steady, and then looked at himself, who was breathing heavily, with mixed feelings.
Brother Tan arrived later than usual. As soon as he got out of the car, he apologized to Lin Qi and Xu Hexiao, and gave Lin Qi a package, saying it was a New Year gift.
Lin Qi opened it in front of him and found five kilograms of White Rabbit milk candy and six boxes of beautifully packaged pastries inside. It can be seen that the price should be not low and they were prepared with great care.
"Thank you." Lin Qi said, "I forgot to prepare a New Year gift for you. If you don't mind, I'll give you a bag of rice?"
"Don't mind, don't mind. Then I'll shamelessly leave one bag." Brother Tan narrowed his eyes with a smile. A bag of rice, more than 100 kilograms, is enough for his family to eat for more than ten days. If it weren't for Lin Qi's delicious rice, more than 100 kilograms would last longer. It was precisely because Lin Qi's food was so delicious that he always had to limit the amount of food his daughter and son ate, for fear that they would eat too much and hurt their stomachs.
On the day of slaughtering pigs, the excitement in Anliang Brigade was comparable to that of Chinese New Year.
The children waited outside the pig shed early in the morning, waiting for the adults to catch the pigs.
Lin Qi and Xu Hexiao went into the mountains early in the morning. Xu Hexiao pounded rice while Lin Qi sorted out the things to take home. There was a 40-jin jar of preserved fruit and jam, a jar of wine, and a jar of jujube honey. She had wrapped the four jars tightly with thin vines, making them airtight.
Putting the four jars aside, Lin Qi went to the planting area and brought back a sheep, a chicken and a rabbit.
"I'll take care of it, you go pound the rice." Xu Hexiao said. For some reason, he subconsciously didn't want her to touch these overly bloody things.
Now, all the prey Lin Qi catches are alive.
Lin Qi had no objection. Compared to moving blood and meat, pounding rice was more to her liking.
By the time Lin Qi had pounded more than 100 kilograms of rice, Xu Hexiao had just cleaned the meat and sprinkled salt on it to marinate.
The rice filled a sack, and the mutton, chicken and rabbit meat filled another sack. There were four jars, two of which were filled with more than 50 kilograms of wild boar meat, and two of which were filled with persimmon cakes, dried hawthorns, raisins and the like.
"The three military coats you want to give to your uncle, aunt and big brother haven't been packed yet, and your clothes, shoes and other things haven't been packed yet either." Xu Hexiao pondered, "I'll go back tonight and modify two cloth bags to make you a bigger backpack."
Lin Qi nodded, "Okay."
Lin Qi returned home after dark. Not long after she got home, the team leader came and brought her five pounds of beautiful pork belly.
"What time does the bus leave tomorrow?" asked the captain.
"I don't know. I just came out of the mountains and haven't seen the ticket yet." Lin Qi said. She didn't know if Jian Tongyi had bought the ticket. She had to go to the educated youth point soon.
"Have you packed all your things? Is it too much? Otherwise, let Aliang's father drive the ox cart to take you to town?" the captain asked again.
"There are too many things. I don't need them." Lin Qi refused. It was cold, and Aliang's father didn't even have a decent cotton coat. She saw him fetching water the day before yesterday. He was wearing several autumn clothes. A grown man was so cold that his nose was snotty. If he drove her, he would catch a cold.
"There are so many things and you don't need a car to deliver them?" The captain glared.
"I can pick them." Lin Qi said calmly, "The vegetables outside my house are ready for picking. Tell the team members, and don't hesitate to pick them if you want to eat them."
The captain was stunned, "Are you really planting this for everyone to eat?"
"I didn't plant it. I just scattered the seeds randomly." Lin Qi corrected the captain's words.
"Okay, okay, you didn't plant, you just scattered the seeds." The captain agreed with her and frowned to make himself look more serious. "The members of our team asked me to ask you how you take care of your vegetables. Recently, the weather has turned cold, with frost and snow, and all their vegetables died. How come yours are still so green and not affected at all?"
This growth is really good!
"How would I know? I'm so busy every day that I never pay attention to them, let alone take care of them." Lin Qi looked innocent.
The captain had an expression that said, "I know you're lying." "Lin Qi, you've learned how to lie."
Lin Qi remained calm, "You should have checked those vegetables. Have I loosened the soil for them? Have I fertilized them?"
"No." It was precisely because there was nothing that he became more curious.
"So I really don't understand." Lin Qi said. She went to the warehouse and picked up two big sweet potatoes and more than ten yams. She put them in a basket and handed them to the captain. "New Year's gift."
"Oh, there are New Year gifts. You are so polite." The captain took the basket with a smile.
At this time, Jian Tong came over, "Lin Qi, where is mine?"
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