Chapter 118 Dog Date
Xia Zhizhi went out to ask the members' homes who had more mountain products to exchange. Before she got there, she saw Lin Beibei and her other children running down from the foot of the mountain.
"Xia Zhiqing!" Lin Beibei was very happy to see her, and ran over to stuff a handful of dates into her hand: "Here, it's for you, so sweet!"
After giving it to Lin Beibei, he felt a little embarrassed, fearing that she would not like the broken mountain fruits, so he looked at her expression carefully.
The dates were the last of the crop and were fully ripe without covering them. Xia Zhizhi ate one and found it particularly sweet. After she bit into it, she could smell the strong aroma of kiwi fruit. She praised, "Beibei is amazing! Where did you find dates that are so sweet?"
Seeing that she liked to eat them, Lin Beibei was particularly happy, and her mouth curled up immediately: "I didn't find them, Da Ben and his friends found them, and he picked a lot. If you like to eat them, I'll go grab some for you!"
"Oh, that's not necessary..."
Before Xia Zhizhi finished her words, Lin Beibei ran to Daben and stretched out her hand righteously: "Give it to me!"
Lin Beibei was as famous as the big goose in the village. Daben reluctantly took a handful of dog dates from his wicker basket and prepared to give them to her.
Seeing him searching so hard, Lin Beibei snatched the frame from him and said, "Give it to me!"
Poor Daben saw the fruit of his hard work for half a day grow wings and fly away. He felt so wronged that he opened his mouth and burst into tears.
Lin Beibei didn't care about him. She ran to Xia Zhizhi and handed her the basket. She seemed a little shy and said, "Xia Zhiqing, take this. Daben is the best at finding fruits. I'll get it for you next time I see it."
As for how to do it...
Xia Zhizhi was holding a basket of dates. She looked at Lin Beibei who was running away, then glanced at Daben who was still crying. She took out a date, wiped it on her clothes and stuffed it into his mouth. Apart from anything else, Daben was really good at finding wild fruits.
Once can be said to be luck, but if you can find sweet fruits every time, then you are really capable and have a natural talent!
Da Ben cried sadly for a while, and when he saw that everyone had left, he wiped his tears with his sleeves and prepared to go home.
He had been taught in detail by his parents that he couldn't afford to offend Xia Zhizhi, and it was useless to reason with her because when she beat the children, she would really roll up her sleeves and start beating them!
He and Er Shunzi kindly told the other children in the village that this educated youth was not a good person, but the other children did not believe him.
Lin Beibei was particularly angry after hearing this.
In Lin Beibei's heart, Xia Zhizhi was a fairy from heaven, beautiful, kind and gentle, who would be blown away by a strong wind. How could she allow Daben to slander her like that? She rolled up her sleeves and gave these two bad boys a good beating. After that, they dared not promote Xia Zhizhi like that anymore.
Knowing that the dog would never be returned to her, Daben felt sad and wronged. He could only accept his fate and sobbed as he prepared to go home.
It's really pitiful.
"Da Ben~" Xia Zhizhi called him.
Da Ben was so frightened that he thought she wanted to snatch the fruits from his hands. With tears in his eyes, he hurriedly stuffed all the fruits into his mouth, until his cheeks were bulging like a hamster.
What is going on? It's both tragic and funny...
Xia Zhizhi held back her laughter, took out a dime and handed it to him: "Alright, alright, stop crying. How can a grown man cry like that? It's like I'm bullying you. Here, I give it to you. Consider it something I bought from you."
Da Ben took the dime in disbelief.
Last time, when he got two baskets of blueberries, his grandmother only got a dime and didn’t give it to him.
This time there was only one basket, and he was given ten cents, but the money went directly into his hands. How come he felt like he made a profit?
This Xia Zhiqing doesn't seem to be that bad.
I was no longer sad after a while, so I put the money in my pocket and planned to buy some delicious food during the New Year market.
Xia Zhizhi was such a person that she would never let him make money. She stuffed fruits into her mouth while calling him to threaten him: "Remember, you still owe me a basket. Pick the fruits and give them to me. Otherwise!"
Da Ben looked at her raised fist and nodded aggrievedly.
After threatening the children, Xia Zhizhi took the basket and strolled around the village while eating.
White sugar was now a hard currency, and when people who had sugar in stock heard that she wanted to exchange it for mountain products, they were happy to do so. They quickly negotiated the exchange rate with the villagers and exchanged it for a lot of hazelnuts, pine nuts, pecans, mushrooms, black fungus and other dried goods.
She was not happy to take it, so she asked everyone to pack it up and send it directly to the educated youth center for her.
When she returned to the educated youth center, Han Youran and Jiang Xiurong were cooking. She went over and stuffed a date into each of their mouths.
Wild fruits have a particularly strong flavor. Han Youran ate the fruit and asked vaguely, "What kind of fruit is this? It tastes so good, like a kiwi, and there's no hair on the skin."
Jiang Xiurong also thought it was delicious: "Where did this fruit come from?"
"This is a dog date. Lin Beibei gave it to me." Xia Zhizhi wiped the fruit on her clothes and was about to feed them another one, but was seen by Han Youran who turned around.
Han Youran's head was pounding: "You didn't wash the fruit, and you didn't wash your hands either, right?"
"Look, I've wiped it clean." Seeing that Han Youran refused her offer to feed her, Xia Zhizhi stuffed the fruit into her own mouth.
Han Youran grabbed it, filled a basin with water, washed her hands, washed the dog dates and put them in the bowl, and earnestly told her: "I have told you many times that you must wash food before eating. This wild fruit was exposed to the wind and sun outside. The children touched it and you touched it with your hands. It is unhygienic."
Xia Zhizhi nodded while eating: "Okay, okay, I'll definitely do it next time."
Han Youran couldn't help but glare at her. You're actively admitting your mistakes, but you're never going to repent, right?
She really couldn't understand this poor kid, who usually looked like a very clean girl.
The clothes she washed looked as good as new. Every few days you could see her quilts and sheets hanging out to dry in the yard. The house was also kept tidy, without a speck of dust inside.
Having said that, she considered herself a person with a slight obsession with cleanliness, and once she entered Xia Zhizhi's house, she had to admit defeat.
This is why I always forget to wash my hands when I eat. I don’t know why…
After the three of them finished eating the fruit, the members came to bring her some dried goods.
Xia Zhizhi went into the house to get the sugar, which she had already asked Ah Ju to pack in newspapers by pound.
Looking at the baskets of dried goods in the yard, Xia Zhizhi felt that she had made a profit.
The members were also very satisfied. They could exchange these things for a few pounds of sugar, which they could keep for New Year's Day or give as gifts. How great! It saved them money and they didn't have to go to the commune to buy it themselves. Look at this white, high-quality sugar. You might not be able to buy it at the commune.
Xia Zhizhi kept a portion for herself and divided the rest into five portions, which she packed and waited for the postman to take to the table.
She went back and forth so many times that the postman almost became her personal slave. Fortunately, people nowadays are warm-hearted and she knows how to behave, so she offered a cup of sugar water to the person when he delivered something to her. That’s why the postman did not go on strike.
Seeing her packing up the mountain products and putting them into bags, Han Youran pursed her lips and wondered whether she should also exchange some to send to her family in this life.