Over here, Tan Shaoting drove the cart ho, and lunch was dumplings filled with leeks, eggs, and shrimp.
Su Yuanyuan waited for Tan Shaoting to return before cooking the dumplings.
Cooking dumplings in the middle of sumr is quite a chore. So, Tan Shaoting was in charge of tending the fire.
The two sat in the living room to eat, with a plate of vermicelli sausage, a plate of cured sausage, and so cucumber salad.
Tan Shaoting recounted his morning eting with Ma Changshun and Feng Baoshan.
Su Yuanyuan nodded in approval. This saved them both so effort, honestly.
"Where should we store the corn stalks? Can we just leave them in the field?"
"We’ll have to leave them in the field. When we get back, we’ll deal with them then. They’ll dry out with the ventilation."
Su Yuanyuan nodded. That’s fine; even if soone ca to take so, they wouldn’t take much.
"Tan Shaoting, I’ll go abroad by myself. There are a lot of things here too."
"I also want to see abroad. I haven’t seen foreigners yet."
Su Yuanyuan gave him a look. "But we have livestock at ho. Besides, is it really okay for us to just lock up and leave like this?"
"Don’t worry, I’ve already discussed it with Director Feng. We both need to go together. As for the livestock, we’ll take them to Uncle Bai’s,
bring so grain, and also bring more sweet potato seedlings."
"Are the sheep going too?"
"Of course. All of them. Uncle Bai has a lot of livestock."
"Really? Everything belongs to the collective now; how can he still have so many animals?"
Tan Shaoting thought for a mont. "Right, I’ll ask about it tomorrow. Do you want to co to the city with ?"
Su Yuanyuan shook her head, "No, I don’t want to go anywhere right now."
Actually, she was a bit worried about ho, about Hu Chunhua and them, but they were obedient. They didn’t sell any grain, kept it instead, so even if there’s a drought this year, they’ll get through the year without any problems.
In the evening, the two practiced their skills. Su Yuanyuan was very eager now, hoping to harvest more grain.
By then, even if it’s covered in snow or fallen, they can directly gather it. What a great skill!
Thinking of this, Su Yuanyuan smiled. She wasn’t worried about a shortage of food there at all.
In the middle of the night, she stopped. Sleep was still necessary, being like this, she still felt only sleep could relieve her fatigue.
Tan Shaoting was much more disciplined, just ditating like that, and Su Yuanyuan really envied him.
Around four o’clock, Tan Shaoting carefully got up, hitched up the cart, and left.
He went straight to the city, to the Bai family.
Bai Lisheng was quite surprised to see Tan Shaoting co over.
"Xiao Tan, what brings you here?"
"Uncle Bai, just ca to see you."
"Co on in, hurry."
Tan Shaoting drove the donkey cart into the yard.
"Uncle Bai, what’s happened?"
Bai Lisheng sighed, "Co inside."
The two entered the living room, and Bai Lisheng’s wife brought so water.
"Uncle Bai, what about the livestock?"
"I’ve gotten word, they’ve all been sold this year."
"All sold?"
"Exactly."
Tan Shaoting could tell that Bai Lisheng was truly reluctant.
"Xiao Tan, you ca for sothing?"
Tan Shaoting smiled wryly, "I was thinking of going out for a while, bringing the two donkeys and sheep from ho over for Uncle Bai to look after."
"You’re going out?"
"Yeah, I want to check out the fertilizers outside, last year there wasn’t a chance, so this year I’m going earlier, not sure if I can bring so back."
"Is that little girl going with you?"
"Yes, we’re both going together."
"How about this, I’ll go to your place to help look after the livestock, otherwise, I’m just idling here, it’s better to be at the farm, where the livestock can be cared for better."
Tan Shaoting was taken aback, "Uncle Bai, that would be too much trouble for you."
Bai Lisheng shook his head, "What’s the trouble, during winter at ho, there’s nothing to do anyway, might as well go to the farm, fewer things to do there."
"Are your wife and brothers going too?"
Bai Lisheng nodded, "We’ll all go together; as long as we’re not lazy there, we won’t be cold."
"Thank you, Uncle Bai. It’s perfect; my house is empty now. I’ll also leave so grain behind."
Bai Lisheng nodded with a smile, having been with livestock for over thirty years. Staying at ho for more than half a year was really suffocating, getting out for a while would be nice.
Actually, the street had arranged work for him and his wife as street sweepers. But before they could start, soone took their place, so they were unemployed now.
Even though their tickets were only the lowest tier, doing nothing and still getting tickets made him very satisfied.
He honestly didn’t want to sweep the streets, not because it was disgraceful, but because he felt in the pri of life, doing work ant for the elderly felt pointless.
"Uncle Bai, so you discuss it with your wife and brothers at ho. In about twenty days or a month, I’ll co pick you up."
Bai Lisheng nodded, "Alright, let’s do that, we’ll tidy up. But my brothers will co later; they have to wait for their holiday, I’ll go first, then co back to get them. No need to worry."
"Will you stay the night?"
Tan Shaoting shook his head, "No, I’ll head back, still have things to do at ho."
Although he didn’t stay the night, he did stay for a al.
He clearly felt the Bai family’s als had worsened, but it was understandable, considering this year’s drought.
When he got ho, he first put the donkey cart in his previous house, fed the donkeys, and then went back.
At that ti, Su Yuanyuan was also up.
"What do you want to eat?"
"I want beef noodles."
Su Yuanyuan didn’t mind, and they each had a bowl of beef noodles; she even gave Tan Shaoting two donkey at sandwiches.
During the day, the two tidied up the vegetables in the yard. After lunch, Su Yuanyuan let Tan Shaoting get so sleep.
Life continued this way into mid-September. The two knew there wouldn’t be rain anyway, so Tan Shaoting went to find Ma Changshun.
"Group Leader Ma, let’s start the autumn harvest tomorrow."
"Sure, it’ll probably take three days to finish the cornfields."
"That’s great, I’ll take charge of the corn stalks."
"Just tell everyone where to put them."
Sixty people in three days for one hundred acres, it won’t be easy. In fact, being late by a day or two wouldn’t matter.
The next day, the harvest began over there.
Su Yuanyuan was in charge of weighing, and Ma Changshun noticed they were short-handed.
"Group Leader Ma, let’s just do it like this; a day or two won’t make much difference."
In the morning, Su Yuanyuan stead four stear baskets of cornbread, with tomato and egg soup and salted vegetables cooked with small miscellaneous fish.
So at noon, each of the sixty-three people got two cornbreads. Although it wasn’t enough to fill them, it was already very good.
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