Chapter 21
Two days later, it was time to go to the county town to attend the market.
The jelly was very popular last time, and it was of course the main attraction this time. Since there were seven chickens laying eggs at home and Lu Che earned another twenty eggs from repairing the tractor, Jiang Yao decided to make dozens of tea eggs to sell today.
Normally, a large raw egg costs 1.5 cents, and a small one costs 1 cent. Now, after processing, a large one costs 3 cents, and a small one costs 2 cents. The seasoning costs about 5 cents, and you can make a few cents more by selling dozens of eggs.
In order to get a good position, they went to the market at four in the morning as usual. Unexpectedly, they met Lin Fang on the road. She went to the market with Lin's mother.
Jiang Yao was very happy for her that she had the courage to come forward.
Lin Fang was very grateful to Jiang Yao, "If you hadn't encouraged me that day, I wouldn't have been able to start a new life so quickly." She looked at Lin's mother's slightly hunched back and said with emotion, "Someone in the production team next door also encountered the same thing as me. Her parents thought she was ashamed, but my parents didn't. They always defended me, so I can't be depressed anymore."
"It's best if you think this way." Jiang Yao said with a smile.
"Yeah." Lin Fang nodded. "I may not be able to get over it all at once, but I will try my best. I have made up my mind. It doesn't matter if I can't get married in this life. I will work hard and give myself and my parents a better life."
"Yes." Jiang Yao said these two words to Lin Fang as well as to herself. She cannot change the overall environment at the moment, but as long as she works hard and strives, life will still be full of hope.
Arriving at the market, Lu Che picked the same spot as last time and began to display the goods.
Lin Fang and her daughter were beside them, unloading the vegetables from the ox cart.
As the sky gradually brightened, more and more residents came to the market to buy vegetables.
This market was held on Sunday, just like the last one, but today's business was obviously better than last time. This was because the syrup prepared by Jiang Yao was very sweet and it was delicious when mixed with jelly.
In fact, the sweetness of this syrup is already super sweet in later generations, and it does not conform to the concept of healthy eating. But sugar is expensive and scarce these days, and being able to eat a bowl of super sweet jelly is very satisfying.
The reputation of jelly has improved, and the sales of tea eggs have also increased. Although the price of a tea egg is as high as that of two raw eggs, the aroma of the stew can make people salivate from a distance, so some people are still willing to spend money to satisfy their appetite.
As for Lin Fang, her sales were also pretty good. Probably because she was facing strangers in the county town and had no psychological burden, so she was able to go out and sell her products with all her might.
By ten o'clock, she had only two bunches of vegetables left.
She moved over and said to Jiang Yao, "Yaoyao, I've almost sold out here, how about I help you sell some?"
"No need. We have to sell vegetables here until at least 3 or 4 in the afternoon before we go back. There's no rush." Jiang Yao said, "Auntie is old and gets up early to pick vegetables. You can go back early after selling them and let her rest."
"Okay." Lin Fang also felt sorry for her mother, so she did not insist. Just then someone came to her stall, and she hurried to greet the customer.
"Aunt, I only have two bunches of vegetables left. If you want both, I'll give them to you at a lower price." Lin Fang said as she looked up, but when she saw the person who came, she couldn't help but be stunned.
The woman had already recognized Lin Fang. She looked at her with contempt and disgust. "How dare you, a dirty woman like you, come out to sell vegetables? These vegetables must be as dirty as you are. You're selling them to others to eat. Are you doing this to disgust people?"
As she said that, she raised her foot and kicked away the two pieces of vegetables that Lin Fang had picked.
Lin Fang's face turned pale instantly and her body couldn't stop shaking. Lin's mother immediately hugged her.
Jiang Yao had no impression of this woman, but from what she said, she could tell that she knew that Lin Fang had been bullied and that she hated Lin Fang because of it.
"Hey, what are you trying to do?" Even though she didn't understand what was going on, Jiang Yao quickly stopped the woman when she saw she was about to step on the vegetables.
Lu Che knew his girlfriend very well and knew that she would not sit idly by, so at the same time, he had already blocked the woman's way.
"Hey, you second-rate guy, are you trying to meddle in other people's business?" The woman stared at Lu Che with disdain.
Lu Che glanced at her coldly, "You kicked over someone else's stall casually, do you want to go to the Public Security Bureau next door?"
"Public Security Bureau?" The woman sneered. "The public security bureau has nothing better to do than to take care of the trivial matters of you peasants setting up stalls."
"Then let's give it a try and see if the Public Security Bureau will take care of it." Lu Che sneered.
"That's right, take her away now."
"Well, let's see if the police will give us peasants justice."
“…”
The woman's contemptuous words "peasant head" obviously angered everyone. Seeing Lu Che and Jiang Yao standing up for Lin Fang, they all expressed their support for them.
The woman was stared at by so many eyes that she panicked. She forced herself to calm down and shouted, "You are so ignorant. Do you know that the woman you are helping is a dirty whore?"
As soon as she finished speaking, Lin Fang's body shook even more violently, and she struggled hard to get into Lin's mother's arms.
Jiang Yao looked at her and quickly went over to comfort her.
"Shut up." Lu Che said through gritted teeth.
The woman straightened her back immediately after she saw that she had won back a point. Just as she was about to speak, Jiang Yao stood up again. She crossed her arms around her chest, stood in front of the woman, and said with great momentum: "As the aunt of a gangster, how dare you talk here? If I were you, I would be too ashamed to leave the house. You are so capable, it seems you have no shame."
When she went to comfort Lin Fang just now, Lin's mother whispered to Jiang Yao that this woman was Chen Shuanglian's sister, Chen Shuangyue. They were indeed sisters, equally bad.
"You..." Chen Shuangyue was about to explode with anger. She pointed her index finger at Jiang Yao, but was blocked by Lu Che.
"Get out of here now. If you continue to make trouble here, we will call the police." A street vendor shouted.
"roll……"
"roll……"
The shouts were getting louder and louder. Chen Shuangyue was also scared and stamped her feet in frustration. But just as she was about to turn around and leave, Jiang Yao stopped her and said, "Pay for these two bunches of vegetables before you leave."
"Why should I pay? It's not rotten." Chen Shuangyue said unconvinced.
"It has rolled on the ground several times. If you say it is not rotten, then you can buy it. Anyway, it cannot be sold after being kicked by your stinky feet." Jiang Yao said.
"That's right, buy it quickly, or we'll call the police." The farmer brother echoed.
Chen Shuangyue was also frightened when she saw the group of peasants who seemed ready to revolt at any moment. She could only say incoherently, "Weigh it for me, and I will pay you what you are supposed to pay. I won't pay you a penny more."
Hearing this, Jiang Yao swiftly picked up two bunches of green vegetables, put them on the scale and weighed them, saying, "It's exactly three catties, three cents per catty, a total of nine cents."
"Nine cents, are you trying to rob me?" Chen Shuangyue's eyes widened. "It's clearly two cents a pound, and you're trying to take advantage of me to blackmail me."
"I'm not cheating you. Vegetables have been scarce in the past half month, so they're more expensive. Today, everyone is selling them for three cents." Jiang Yao said, pointing at the vendors, "If you don't believe me, ask everyone if today's vegetables are all three cents a pound."
As soon as he finished speaking, someone shouted, "Yes, I am selling three points."
“I’ll sell three points too.”
"Three points is three points, not a single point less."
“…”
Knowing clearly that this group of peasant leaders were making trouble to cheat her, Chen Shuangyue had no choice but to accept it. She angrily took out nine cents from her pocket and threw it in front of Lin Fang and her daughter, then walked away angrily with two bunches of vegetables.
Jiang Yao picked up the nine cents, folded it and gave it to Lin Fang, saying, "It's okay. Keep the money and go back early with your aunt. You'll be fine after a good night's sleep."
"Thank you." Lin Fang looked up and said gratefully to the farmers who supported her: "Thank you everyone."
"Girl, don't be so polite. Don't worry about what others say. For your own sake and for your mother's sake, you must cheer up."
"That's right. Even if the sky falls, it can be used as a blanket. It will eventually pass."
“…”
Everyone comforted Lin Fang with words, and she was deeply moved, which also changed her inherent cognition. There may be evil people in this world, but most of them are good people.
After Lin Fang and her mother returned, it was almost time for dinner.
Lu Che cooked some sweet potatoes, and Jiang Yao thought that everyone should have one and one or two tea eggs, and that would be their lunch.
"Let's eat." Jiang Yao was about to take out the sweet potato when she heard Lu Che say, "I'll go to the post office to send you a letter. Wait for me and we'll eat together when I come back."
"Okay." Jiang Yao took out the letter she wrote to Jiang Zhen last night from her messenger bag, as well as a small package containing the dried winter melon and radish that Lu Che insisted on sending.
The post office is close to here. Maybe there were a lot of people sending and receiving letters today, but Lu Che didn’t come back until half an hour later.
"Have you sent it? Come and eat." As soon as he sat down, Jiang Yao handed him a sweet potato. Unexpectedly, he took out something wrapped in paper from his pocket and put it in her other hand.
"What is this?" The paper package was warm. Jiang Yao opened it and found that it contained two buns. From the fragrance, they must be meat buns.
Farmers may not be able to eat meat during festivals, so it is impossible for anyone to make meat dumplings and sell them. Even if there are other channels to buy meat, they dare not do so. In the entire county, only state-owned restaurants can buy dumplings.
"Where did you find the ticket?" Jiang Yao asked in a low voice.
Lu Che also answered her in a low voice: "No, the workers inside secretly made one and sold it, no tickets are needed."
“Isn’t that expensive?”
"Not bad, one for the price of two. Okay, eat it while it's hot."
"Yeah." Jiang Yao agreed and took one of the meat buns and handed it to him.
“No need, you’ve eaten it all.” Lu Che peeled off the sweet potato skin in a few seconds and started eating it in big mouthfuls.
Jiang Yao's palms were warm as she held the meat bun, and her heart was warmed as well. This man might not have much at the moment, but he gave her everything he had and the best of everything.
She cut the bun in half, handed him half, and said, "I want to eat an egg. If you can't finish two buns, you can eat half."
Lu Che then raised his hand and took the bun.
Jiang Yao and Lu Che closed their stall and went home at 6pm. This time they closed their stall later than last time, not because business was bad, but because they made 40 kilograms more jelly than last time.
The result of selling more and working harder is that he earned more money today. Jiang Yao sat on the ox cart and counted carefully. He earned a total of sixteen yuan and three cents today.
This time there is a lot more than last time, but the jelly can only be sold one or two times at most. When autumn comes, this cold thing will no longer be popular.
She needs to think carefully in advance about what she can sell to make money after the fall.
When they returned to the Lu family, Lu Qing had already prepared the meal, including Jiang Yao's portion.
After a tiring day, she didn't hesitate and went back to her room to take a shower and sleep after eating.
Lu Che was considerate of her hard work and didn't bother her before bedtime, but he would wait in her small kitchen early the next day and wait until she had kissed enough before going to work.
Jiang Yao said she disliked this man's clinginess, but she was still happy in her heart. People in love are like this, they can't wait to be with their partner every minute. Especially after a period of practice, someone's dog-biting kissing skills have greatly improved, and she likes kissing him more and more.
After breakfast, Jiang Yao and Lu Qing went out to get handmade materials, but unexpectedly they ran into Chen Shuanglian on the way.
When enemies meet, their eyes are full of jealousy. Jiang Yao thought that this encounter would inevitably lead to a "fight". Just as she was ready to engage in a verbal battle with the shrew, Chen Shuanglian turned around and ran away as if she had seen a ghost.
"Are we ghosts?" Jiang Yao asked Lu Qing.
Lu Qing laughed and said, "It's scarier than a ghost. We are now Chen Shuanglian's nightmare. Not only did we send Lu Zhisen to prison, but we also ruined her eldest son's marriage."
"Is that true?"
"have."
It turned out that Chen Shuanglian's eldest son Lu Zhihai had been dating a worker and was about to get married. When Lu Zhisen's affair came out, the worker girlfriend immediately broke up with Lu Zhihai.
"I guess no parents would dare to marry their daughter to such a family."
"Yes." Lu Qing said, "But I thought others were exaggerating before, but I didn't expect Chen Shuanglian to really become a 'rat crossing the street' now. But it's also true that she offended so many people before, and now everyone is taking the opportunity to add insult to injury."
"This is what she deserves." Jiang Yao thought of what happened yesterday and said, "But her sister Chen Shuangyue is still so arrogant. Yesterday she went to Lin Fang's vegetable stall to cause damage, but was chased away by a group of us vendors."
Lu Qing waited for Jiang Yao to explain the details before saying, "Chen Shuangyue married a worker from the county town. Every time she goes back to her parents' home, she is so cocky."
As they were talking, they had already reached the entrance of the paper mill, and the people queuing up to get materials had already lined up outside.
"With so many people here today, I don't know if we can get the raw materials." Jiang Yao asked with a frown.
Lu Qing: "It should be fine. The busy farming season will begin in a few days. The paper mill has received a lot of raw materials recently, so we have to finish making next month's goods in advance."
"That's good." Jiang Yao felt relieved now and stood at the end of the team with Lu Qing.
The two chatted in a scoundrelly manner. Suddenly, Lu Qing leaned close to her ear and whispered, "Aren't the two Du educated youths who came with you sisters? Why are they not standing together in the queue now? They were like this when I came here yesterday."
Hearing the voice, Jiang Yao looked up and saw that there were five or six people between Du Yuejia and Du Yuejiao. They didn't look like good sisters who loved each other.
It was inevitable that Du Yuejia and Du Yuejiao would fall out, but she remembered the plot of the original book, and they didn't fall out so early. Could it be that she gave Zhao Pengfei a reminder and let him expose Du Yuejiao's true face in advance?
Regardless of whether it is true or not, Jiang Yao doesn't want to care too much about it as it has nothing to do with her.
After a few days of handicrafts at home, it was September, the last month of the rice planting season.
This is related to whether we can have enough food to eat in the first half of next year, and is one of the most important farm work of the production team in a year.
The rice planting must be completed within half a month. In order to prevent people from slacking off, Lu Dazhou distributed the task according to the number of people in each household, and everyone, regardless of gender, age or status, received an equal share.
In the past, all the educated youth in Qingyuan were grouped into one household, but today, in order to make the relationship between the educated youth and the farmers who provide them with housing more harmonious, Lu Dazhou grouped the educated youth and the farmers they live with into one household.
In the final analysis, it is to let the educated youth help farmers share some of the burden and make the farmers feel more comfortable.
Jiang Yao was brought into the Lu family. As a result, the Lu family needed to plant rice in six rice fields. Apart from Old Lady Lu and Zhou Yang and Zhou Xin, the job fell on the three young men, Lu Che, Lu Qing and Jiang Yao.
Of course Lu Che wanted to take on the entire job himself, but the deadline was half a month, and he couldn't finish it even if he worked eighteen hours a day.
Seeing his worried look, Jiang Yao said with some amusement, "I'm not a porcelain doll. I've done farm work before, such as rushing to harvest and working in the sugarcane fields."
In fact, there were only two days when she personally went to the sugarcane fields, and the rush to harvest was done by the original owner, but this time he could only pretend to be the one.
That was true, but Lu Che knew whether his partner was suitable for farm work. He weighed the pros and cons for a long time before saying, "You can go to the fields for the whole morning. It will be too hot in the afternoon, so you can rest at home and do some handicrafts when you are bored."
"Okay." Jiang Yao knew that he would be worried if she didn't agree, so she could only agree for now and deal with the situation as the time went by.
After that, she took the initiative to hug him and said, "Why are you so nice?"
Lu Che hugged her back, "You are not born with good conditions. If you don't perform well, what will happen if you run away?"
"..." Is he so insecure? Also, is she the kind of person who can only share wealth but not adversity?
The next day, Jiang Yao got up before five o'clock to plant rice. Lu Che asked her to sleep a little longer, but she was unwilling. "Why not do more work before the sun comes out? Do you think you can wait until the sun is high in the sky? I can do the work, but I must not get tanned."
"..." Lu Che knew that she had an incomprehensible obsession with sun protection, so he could only let her wrap herself up tightly and go to work.
Although Jiang Yao had taken care of a vegetable garden with her grandmother in her previous life, she had never grown rice.
But she was smart enough, and with Lu Qing's guidance, she quickly got the hang of it.
Because Lu Dazhou was very ruthless this time, saying that those who completed the rice planting on time would be awarded ten centimeters a day, and those who failed to complete it would be awarded five centimeters a day. The difference of one percent forced everyone to come to work early.
After working for two hours, Lu Che drank a few sips of water and asked Lu Qing and Jiang Yao to rest for a while. Lu Qing felt that he could still work for another half an hour, and Jiang Yao was really tired, so she went to the shade of the trees at the edge of the field to drink water and rest.
The land allocated to Uncle Tian's family was also nearby. Not long after she sat down, Zhu Xia came.
The two hadn't sat together and chatted for a while. Zhu Xia sat down next to her and joked, "I saw you came to work at around five o'clock today. I was surprised."
"What? I'm also trying to integrate into the collective life of farmers. Don't look down on me." Jiang Yao snorted.
"How dare I look down on you? I envy you." Zhu Xia said, lowering her voice, "At first we all said you were stupid for staying at the Lu family, but now the three of you are doing the work of six people, with each person doing two parts on average. Lu Che is a hard-working person, so I guess you don't have to do any work at all."
"In comparison, we are exhausted. These farmers all have several families. Three or four children is considered a small number, and six or seven is common. If we are included in the farmers' family, we will have to do a lot more work. But we can live under someone else's roof, so there is no reason not to do it."
Even though she is a role model in learning, Zhu Xia is still a mortal, not a god, and this job is really suffocating.
"Just be patient and wait until the educated youth site is built." Jiang Yao knew that she was lucky, of course, but she couldn't help Zhu Xia and the others, so she could only say such plain words to comfort them.
"I hope so." After Zhu Xia vented her bitterness, she felt much better. She was in the mood to gossip with Jiang Yao: "Do you know that the Du sisters have fallen out?"
"I don't know, but I can guess. Recently, when I went to the paper mill to get raw materials, I saw that they didn't even stand together in the queue." Jiang Yao asked, "Why did they suddenly fall out? Haven't they always been very close sisters?"
"The specific reason is not clear." Zhu Xia said, "But I heard that Du Yuejiao wanted to seduce Zhao Pengfei, and when Du Yuejia found out, they had a big fight."
"No way." Jiang Yao pretended to be surprised.
"Why not?" Zhu Xia pouted and said, "Zhao Pengfei is so well-off, why is it strange that Du Yuejiao is jealous of her sister? Besides, they are not born of the same mother, so it is normal for them to be at odds with each other, but it is abnormal for them to be as harmonious as before."
"That's right." Jiang Yao said, "We don't have any relationship with them anyway, so just stay out of their business."
"Of course." Zhu Xia said, "Now the educated youth sites have been disbanded, and I am not a site leader. Although there are activities during normal times, Lu Dazhou asked me to mobilize everyone. I don't care. I don't have the leisure to interfere in other people's private affairs."
"That's fine, let's live a good life." Jiang Yao stood up and said, "We've rested enough, let's get back to work."
"Okay." Zhu Xia also stood up and said, "After we finish planting the rice, it will be almost Mid-Autumn Festival. We can get together then."
"OK."
Jiang Yao returned to the rice fields and worked until eleven o'clock before Lu Che sent her back to cook.
There was no time to go to the county town to buy meat, so eggs became the main dish in the family. She made fried rice with eggs at noon to replenish everyone's energy.
After lunch and a half-hour break, Lu Che was about to go to work. She went to Jiang Yao's room and reminded her, "Don't go this afternoon."
The sun was blazing outside, and Jiang Yao didn't have the courage to go out. But she felt bad that all the work fell on Lu Che, "I'm embarrassed to have let you do it all."
Lu Che raised his eyebrows, stretched out his hand and hugged the man into his arms, saying: "If you really feel embarrassed, then kiss me."
As he spoke, without giving her a chance to refuse, his face was already close to hers.
Jiang Yao couldn't refuse, so she tilted her head back and kissed him.
The author has something to say:
Even the heavy farm work couldn't overwhelm Cheche and Yaoyao who wanted to show their affection...
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