"No, you’ve misunderstood, Doctor Ye. That’s not what I ant, I just genuinely envy you. After all, we’re only half a year apart in marriage, but it’s clear you’re living happier than I am. I’ve heard, in your household, the unit you were assigned is quite large, and you can even grow your own vegetables, which is great, saves you from buying!"
She hadn’t thought about it until now, but indeed, after spring, they planted quite a lot in their yard. It was all Tong Zhan’s doing; she hadn’t really taken care of it. Every ti she ca ho, she had so little ti, how could she bother with the yard? And he often took vegetables from the garden to visit friends, lest he feel awkward going empty-handed.
"So... what do you an, Doctor Zhou?"
Zhou Yuanyuan chuckled, biting her chopsticks awkwardly, "Actually, I was wondering if you’ve grown any vegetables at ho? If so, could you spare so for us? You know, my in-laws don’t have a household registration, so they can’t get food stamps or vegetable tickets, and our vegetables are often not enough. I’ve asked many people, but knowing you’re with the army now, you should have planted sothing, right?"
Ye Huan never ntioned how large her house was to outsiders; she estimated this rumor ca from colleagues who visited the military unit.
It made sense that they thought a couple like them might have surplus vegetables, no harm in asking.
It’s just—
"Don’t worry, we can pay you the market price."
In this situation, it’s not really speculation, Ye Huan hesitated.
"But I can’t promise to bring so every day, maybe once a week, or every two weeks,"
"That’s okay, just a bit is fine, enough for three or four days. We’re scrambling everywhere to buy vegetables. His health isn’t good and he can’t handle pickles, needs fresh vegetables, but every ti we try buying, there’s nothing good. It’s stressful, can’t be bringing vegetables back every day, right? Of course, if any military wives in your yard want to sell, we’ll buy whatever they’ve got."
Listening to Zhou Yuanyuan, it all made sense. They couldn’t get vegetables; healthy people could eat pickles, but the sick needed fresh produce. Clearly, she was only complaining, her heart’s not bad.
Thinking of that, she looked at her, "My apple tree at ho is ripe. I brought a bag of apples today, do you want it?"
On hearing that, Zhou Yuanyuan’s eyes lit up instantly, "Apples! That’s great. The old man needs fruit for nutrition, and I haven’t had fruit in so long. Ye Huan, thank you so much. Tell you what, I’ll pay the market price. I asked just the other day, apples are 25 cents each, so I’ll..."
"No need, just round it off, 20 cents is fine. They’re hogrown, about five jin. Can you take them all?"
"Oh, are you really giving them all to ? I can’t take all of them, these were picked especially for you by your partner, right?"
"It’s nothing. Whether I eat them or not doesn’t matter, just make sure your old man gets them first,"
"Ye Huan, thank you so much, really,"
"It’s nothing, happy to help. I can bring them to your departnt later?"
"Better not, let’s keep it low-key, I’ll co to you after work, and we can go get them from your place?"
Ye Huan nodded, "That works."
As she said that, Zhou Yuanyuan directly took out one yuan and stuffed it into Ye Huan’s hand, giving her a wink before leaving.
Ye Huan looked at the one yuan bill in her hand, sowhat amused and resigned. The fruits from her space, even selling at one yuan per jin, she still ca at a loss.
Now, after selling five or six jin, she only got back one yuan, quite a loss.
Moreover, her apples are big, red, and delicious. This ti, she considered it a favor; outside, she sold them at 50 cents per jin.
Though not easy to sell, their quality speaks for itself, ensuring they find buyers.
Especially those who’ve tasted them, when they see her again, they don’t even ask, just hand over the money—a testant to the allure of products from her space.
After lunch, back at the dorm, she quickly weighed five jin when no one was around. Since she often sold fruit, she had a reliable scale, if anything, it would overweigh.
In the evening, she made a call to her beloved Old Tong at the communications room. Calls were hard to make, requiring multiple transfers between departnts before eventually connecting to the military unit; non-ergencies couldn’t justify the effort, but this ti, she had to report her period.
When he finally received her call, he intuitively knew it wasn’t good news, "Am I getting disappointed again?"
User Comments
0 comments from readers