There was not much work left in the fields after the autumn harvest, and the village was also preparing to pay the public grain tax. The brother and sister had not gone to work for the past two days. They ran to the mountains after breakfast every day. The family had stored a lot of chestnuts, hazelnuts, and pine cones, and the woodshed was already full of firewood. The brother and sister planned to go to the mountain to chop some more firewood and put it next to the small door they opened, so that it would be convenient for the original owner's parents to come and use it.
The brother and sister had just come down from the mountain and were about to cook when they saw a few female educated youth coming over from the educated youth compound. Xu Ning immediately put away the smile on her face, and her eyes became squinted, with an expression that made them difficult to deal with and not to be provoked.
Walking in front were the heroine Lin Miao and a short-haired girl. Su Ning saw that Lin Miao looked similar to the description in the book, with a pair of large eyes on her oval face that flickered. Although her skin was a little tanned after the autumn harvest, it looked whiter than the others. Behind them were Li Fengjiao, Lin Qiuhua and the female educated youth with pigtails.
Xu Ning stood at the kitchen door, holding a fire poker.
The heroine Lin Miao spoke first, smiling, "Hello Xu Zhiqing, I came to Yushu Village to work in the countryside about a month ago. I am Lin Miao from Jiangsu Province. She then introduced the girl with the student head next to her, Xia Qing from Jing City, and pointed to the two girls with braids behind her and introduced them as Liu Fang from Hai City. The three of us went to the countryside together. I heard from Fengjiao and Qiuhua that you and your brother live here, so we came over to get to know you."
Xu Ning squinted his eyes and said, "Hello, my name is Xu Ning, welcome to Yushu Village, I am from Beijing City."
Then he pointed at Xu An who was standing next to him and said, "This is my brother, Xu An," and then he stood there with his legs crossed, holding the fire stick in both hands, without saying anything.
Li Miao tiptoed into the house and said with a smile, "Xu Zhiqing, are you cooking? Can we go to your house and take a look?" Xu Ning said expressionlessly, "The house is too messy, it's not convenient." Li Miao's face was blank, looking aggrieved. Li Fengjiao behind her muttered, "I said she was difficult to get along with, but you insisted on coming."
Xu Ning heard it, looked at her sideways and said, "Why is your butt itchy? How about I scratch it for you?" Then he walked towards her. Li Fengjiao turned around and ran towards the Youth League Courtyard, and Lin Qiuhua followed her quickly. The other three were stunned. It was Lin Miao who reacted first. She smiled awkwardly and said, "Xu Zhiqing, since it is not convenient for you, we will leave first and visit you another day." Then she took the two people who were still there and left.
After the few people walked away, the brother and sister burst out laughing.
After dinner, the brother and sister prepared to go up the mountain again. They wanted to store more things for the winter while it was not too cold yet.
Xu Ning plans to go into the city tomorrow and take some food out from the space. The food at home has been almost eaten up, so he takes a little out of the space every day to mix with the food, but it’s time to finish it, otherwise Xu An will be suspicious. The original owner’s parents should be arriving in the next few days, so the family needs to prepare more food before they come.
Just as they locked the door, they heard Sun Hao shouting, "Xu Zhiqing, there's your package, come and get it." Xu An heard it, dropped his backpack and ran to the Zhiqing courtyard in front, and Xu Ning followed.
After receiving the package, the brother and sister hurried home. Along with the package, there was a letter and a remittance slip with the address of Jinshi Military District. It was sent by their eldest brother Xu Yang. Xu Ning opened the letter and it said that he had received the letter sent by the brother and sister last time. He praised the brother and sister for being capable and now having their own houses. He said that he would come to see them when he had home leave. He also said that he would send them money every month in the future and they could use it when they needed to buy things. He asked Xu An to listen to his sister. Finally, he said vaguely that they should not tell others about the situation at home in the village, should not contact their family, and should wait for their parents to contact them.
Xu Ning opened the package again, and inside was a military coat and two pairs of cotton gloves. He knew that these must have been given to them by Xu Yang himself because he was reluctant to use them. How could he have saved these things when he had been in the army for less than a year? Supplies in the army were in short supply, and it was very cold in Jinshi in winter. He sent them military coats and he certainly had nothing to wear.
Thinking of this, Xu Ning planned to send something to him. When the original owner's parents arrived, they would write a letter to tell him the news.
Just when he was about to tell Xu An to pack up his things and go up the mountain, he saw Xu An holding the letter and crying while reading it. Xu Ning felt very upset when he saw him like this, so he hugged him and comforted him, "Don't cry, Xiao An, we will listen to big brother, our parents and little brother will be fine, let's go, let's pick up some more pine nuts, hazelnuts, etc., and send some to big brother later."
Xu An nodded heavily and said, "Sister, let's pick up more and send more to my eldest brother. When we get news about my parents and my younger brother, we can send some to them as well."
Xu An was more motivated in the afternoon, and the brother and sister picked up a larger basket than usual in that afternoon.
The next day, Xu Ning went to the city to ask him if he wanted to go. He shook his head and said, "Sister, you go ahead. I'll go up the mountain to pick up pine nuts. Don't worry, I won't go into the mountains. Jianmin and I will follow the aunties in the village to pick them up together."
Xu Ning told him not to carry so much at a time, and if he couldn't carry it, he should wait for her to come back and carry it. Seeing Xu An nodded in agreement,
Xu Ning just picked up the backpack and walked towards the village entrance. As soon as he arrived at the village entrance, he saw Old Chen sitting on the ox cart. There was a man and a woman holding a child on the ox cart. In the past few days, everyone in the village ran to the mountains and few people went into the city. When Xu Ning got on the cart, Old Chen would not wait any longer, and he could not wait any longer.
After Xu Ning and Old Chen agreed on a time to go back, he went to Zhao Jianshe's house first. This time he brought a basket of chestnuts and hazelnuts for Zhao Jianshe, but he didn't take the pine nuts because they hadn't been pine cones yet. When Xu Ning arrived at Zhao Jianshe's house, Zhao Jianshe's wife Su Hongmei and an old lady were at home. The two looked similar, so they should be Su Hongmei's mother.
Su Hongmei saw Xu Ning rushing out with the child in her arms and said, "Xiao Ning, you haven't come to my place for a long time. Come in and sit down."
Xu Ning followed her into the house, put the basket on the table, uncovered the cloth and said, "Sister-in-law, this is what my brother and I picked up in the mountains. I'm bringing some to you today."
Su Hongmei saw the huge basket and said, "Why do you have so much? Sister-in-law, just keep a little and bring it back to eat with your brother. Put these chestnuts in the rice when you cook in winter and you can eat them as food."
Xu Ning said, "Sister-in-law, there are many of these in the mountains, and they are not rare in the countryside. This one is just picked and is not dry yet. You can take it outside to dry it. The sun is good today, so I will pour it out to the yard for you!" Sun Hongmei took a few bags to put underneath, and Xu Ning poured out all the fruits in the basket.
Xu Ning put down her things and prepared to leave. She bought some things and planned to go back early to go up the mountain in the afternoon. Su Hongmei saw that she couldn't keep her, so she asked her in a low voice if she wanted wool. Xu Ning's eyes lit up when she heard this. She didn't have any wool in her space, so she planned to go to the black market one day and knit a sweater and trousers to send to Xu Yang.
Xu Ning said, "Sister-in-law, I don't have a ticket."
Su Hongmei said, "No ticket is needed. A batch of defective wool arrived at the supply and marketing cooperative yesterday, and only a few people inside know about it. If you want it, I can take you to find my sister. My sister works at the supply and marketing cooperative." Xu Ning said quickly, "Sister-in-law, I need it. Please take me there." Su Hongmei asked her mother to help look after the children at home, and the two of them went straight to the supply and marketing cooperative.
When they arrived at the supply and marketing cooperative, Su Hongmei pulled Su Hongying aside and whispered a few words to her. Su Hongying then took them to the warehouse. When they arrived at the warehouse, Su Hongying said, "Everything is here. How much do you want?" Xu Ning took a look at the wool yarn and found that it was unevenly dyed, but there was nothing wrong with it otherwise. It would be fine as long as he wore it to keep warm.
Xu Ning asked Su Hongying embarrassedly, "Sister Hongying, can I buy more? How much can I buy at most?" Su Hongying thought for a while and said, "I can only give you five kilograms at most. As you can see, we only have this much and so many people in our supply and marketing cooperative can share it." Xu Ning said hurriedly, "Thank you, Sister Hongying. Five kilograms is already a lot," and then he took out the money. The defective wool yarn did not require a ticket, and it was one dollar and fifty cents per kilogram, so five kilograms was seven dollars and fifty cents.
Xu Ning and Su Hongmei left the supply and marketing cooperative. Su Hongmei thought about it and whispered to Xu Ning, "Don't go to the black market during this period. The autumn harvest has just ended and the authorities are afraid that people will resell grain, so they are very strict. Your brother Jianshe hasn't been home for several days."
Xu Ning was so scared that he broke out in a cold sweat. He was planning to go to the black market to buy two pairs of cotton shoes for Xu Mo. After hearing what Su Hongmei said, he immediately gave up the idea of going to the black market. He nodded and said to Su Hongmei, "I understand, sister-in-law, I won't go."
After parting with Su Hongmei, Xu Ning decided not to go shopping anymore. He found a secluded corner and took out his things.
When Xu Ning was about to get off the car at the entrance of the village, Old Chen stopped her and said, "Xu Zhiqing, don't get off. I need to drive the car to the cowshed and take you to the Zhiqing point.
When Xu Ning returned home, she saw that no one was at home and thought Xu An should still be on the mountain, so she quickly went out to get something. She first took out a bucket of 10 kilograms of peanut oil from the space, opened the package and poured it into the oil can. The oil can she bought could just hold 10 kilograms.
He also took 50 eggs, 50 duck eggs, two chickens, a goose, ten kilograms of pork, 30 kilograms of rice, 30 kilograms of flour, 30 kilograms of corn flour, five kilograms of vermicelli, two bags of milk powder, two kilograms of brown sugar, two kilograms of rock sugar, two kilograms of White Rabbit milk candy, two kilograms of fruit candy, two kilograms of egg cakes, 30 apples, and a few boxes of biscuits, tore up the packaging bags and put them in the box.
He also took ten kilograms of cotton, two quilts, and ten pairs of cotton socks. He would take these first. Xu An would not pay attention to what he bought. He would take out what he needed from the space when the time came.
The things taken out from the space were placed inconspicuously on the kitchen shelf. He asked a carpenter in the village to make this shelf for him. It was layered and could hold a lot of things.
Rice, flour and other things were placed in the room where she lived. A large shelf was made in his and Xu An's room to store grains and vegetables. Because the space was too small, every corner had to be utilized. On the shelf in Xu An's room, there were already four large bags of dried wild vegetables and two bags of various dried mushrooms.
After putting these things in order, he salted ten pounds of pork and put it in a jar. He also smeared salt on two chickens and a goose and hung them up. The weather was getting colder day by day, and they would not go bad if they were hung here. He also salted 50 duck eggs. Seeing that the jar was not full yet, Xu Ning took out 30 more and salted them before filling the jar.
Xu An got all of this done, and looked at the time. It was almost 12 o'clock. Thinking that Xu An would be back soon, she prepared to start cooking. She took out a duck from the space, intending to make some old duck soup. She chopped the duck, cleaned it, and stewed it in the pot. She also grabbed a handful of various mushrooms picked from the mountain and put them in the pot, and pasted a circle of pancakes on the edge. Xu Ning put the firewood in and let it burn. She sat by the door and peeled chestnuts.
Xu An came in with a backpack on his back, his cotton coat unbuttoned and sweat on his head. Xu Ning quickly took the backpack from him and asked him to button it up. Xu An excitedly said to her, "Sister, I heard the aunts in the mountains today that we have to pay the public grain tomorrow. After paying the public grain, we can get food. Sister, how much food can we get?"
Seeing his happy look, Xu Ning smiled and said, "It will definitely be enough for us to eat. Look, we picked so many wild vegetables, mushrooms, and chestnuts on the mountain. We can mix them together and eat them later."
Xu Ning nodded happily and said, "Sister, let's eat quickly, and then go pick up more." After that, he sniffed his nose and said, "Sister, what did you cook? Why does it smell so good?" Xu Ning poured the peeled chestnuts into the pot, covered it with a lid, and said, "Go wash your hands and face, and eat right away!
Xu An stood in front of the stove and watched his sister pour soup into the bowl. In the yellow soup, there were duck meat, chestnuts, and mushrooms. Xu An drooled. Seeing how greedy he was, Xu Ning put the soup on the table and said, "Eat it slowly, don't burn yourself."
Xu An drank two bowls of soup and ate two pancakes. He wanted to eat more, but Xu Ning immediately stopped him, fearing that he would eat too much and get a stomachache.
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