Xu Shengwu continued, “My little sister has already talked to the restaurant, and they’ll buy our village’s products first. Even if they don’t need much later, our village will definitely be among the ones they buy from. Even if only one village gets to sell, it will be ours.”
Suddenly, all the villagers’ complaints and unhappiness turned into pride. Can you believe it? Their village was so amazing! If Yushan Commune only bought from one village, it would be their Xujia Village.
Xu Jiangmin saw that the villagers were no longer complaining. Instead, everyone was praising Father Xu for having such a good daughter. He was so angry that his lips were blistering.
Zhou Huiru mumbled under her breath, “Why don’t they keep making a fuss? These people are such cowards. Captain Xu is so openly using his power for his family, and they don’t dare to say anything.”
Though her voice was low, those who were listening carefully heard her.
Sun Dacao, who was usually at odds with Mother Xu, surprisingly spoke up. “Zhou Huiru, if you’re not happy, find a way to bring work to our village yourself! If you can’t, don’t talk bad about others. Speak directly if you have a problem, instead of cursing people behind their backs. That’s sneaky.”
“Sun Dacao, stop talking nonsense, what did I say?” Zhou Huiru yelled, panicking.
Sun Dacao raised her voice. “You said Captain Xu was using his power for his family! Why is he using his power for his family?” Even if someone was doing something for personal gain, that was their own problem.
“Sister Zhou, what you said is too much,” a villager countered. “The Captain found us such a good deal. How is he using his power for personal gain? He’s trying his best to make our lives better.” He started doing some mental math. Cabbage at five cents a catty, other vegetables at two cents a catty. They also had mushrooms at home, and mushrooms sold for a high price, even ten yuan a catty. If they sold a little each day, they could make a yuan a day. If they sold more mushrooms, it could be several yuan a day. And if they could catch wild animals, that would be over ten yuan a day. Everyone did the calculations in their heads, and the more they calculated, the happier they became. One yuan a day meant thirty yuan a month, which was as much as a worker’s salary. They couldn’t even imagine such an amount.
Sun Dacao was also very happy. She didn’t grow many vegetables, but she had a lot of mushrooms. She was lazy and couldn’t do heavy work, so she just went up the mountain with the children to pick mushrooms. She had saved a lot over the years. If she sold all of them, it would be a large sum of money.
After Father Xu finished speaking, he walked back home with the loudspeaker.
That evening, Mother Xu bought a fish and cooked braised fish. She also happened to run into Huo Chen and managed to buy a chicken from him for a good price. The young man hadn’t wanted any money at first, but Mother Xu, being a bit of a bargain-hunter, insisted on giving him some.
They had pheasant stew, braised fish, vinegared cabbage, and spicy and sour potato shreds. Since Xu Ying started working, their meals had been as simple as before, so this sudden feast had the whole family devouring it. Only Xu Shengwu sat at the table, eating his food slowly.
Before the family had even finished their meal, Uncle Xu and his daughter, Xu Jingjing, arrived at their door, carrying eggs as a gift. As soon as he stepped into the yard, Uncle Xu looked at Father Xu with deep gratitude. “Brother, thank you for what you did for Jingjing!”
Father Xu brushed it off. It truly had nothing to do with him directly.
Mother Xu quickly corrected him. “If you want to thank someone, thank my daughter. It was her and Director Sun who suggested your Jingjing be the counter.”
Uncle Xu felt a warmth spread through his heart. “When Yingying comes back on her day off, bring her to our house for a meal.”
Mother Xu nodded quickly. Xu Jingjing stood quietly nearby, also full of gratitude for her cousin. She never thought she would get a job. Especially now that she was old enough and had work, her chances for a good marriage would be much better in the future.
On the other hand in the county this was Xu Ying’s first time living alone in the county compound. As soon as she finished work, she biked home at top speed. After locking the courtyard gate from the inside and parking her bike, Xu Ying slipped into her personal storage space. Tomorrow was Wednesday, and Huo Chen would likely come to her for supplies.
Xu Ying organized the things she didn’t need in her space and then took out the items she planned to sell tomorrow. She had already opened half of the white flour sacks—ten large bags, each weighing fifty kilograms. Then there was a lot of rice, wheat, peanuts, and vegetables. Keeping these in the space would keep them fresh. For meat, she had pork, duck, and chicken, all available. She first brought out a large bag of flour and half a bag of rice. She decided not to take out the vegetables, planning to keep them for herself. For meat, she took out two chickens, still alive with their feathers. The duck had already been prepared and was awkward to take out, so she left it.
After getting everything ready, Xu Ying treated herself to two duck collarbones and a duck head from the deli section of her space. The duck head was very spicy. It wasn’t too spicy at first, but the more she ate, the hotter it got. Xu Ying kept breathing heavily, but the spiciness was intense, so she ordered a bottle of mineral water. Even water couldn’t stop the heat. But it was truly refreshing. Her eyes turned red from the spice, but Xu Ying still picked up another duck head. The next day, her mouth was red from the spice, but otherwise, she was fine. She wanted to eat more vegetables.
She worried that Xu Jing and her third aunt might make mistakes at work, so she got up early the next morning. It was already winter, and the morning was freezing cold. Xu Ying put on her gloves, hat, and scarf, bundled up tightly, and rode her bike out. In the cold wind, only her eyes and nose were visible; her mouth was covered tightly by the scarf.
After finally entering the village, as soon as she got off her bike and arrived home, she found that her house was completely surrounded by people. Xu Jing stood in the crowd, looking a little panicked.
Xu Ying stopped her bike and shouted loudly, “Everyone, line up! We’ll start weighing and collecting vegetables one by one. If you keep doing this and delay the collection, no one will earn a single penny!”
When everyone heard that they might not make any money, they immediately panicked and started forming a line on their own. When Xu Jing saw her cousin, she felt relieved, as if her main support had arrived. She waved to Xu Ying, “Yingying, come here!”
Xu Ying walked towards her. “Sister Jingjing, do you know what to do?”
Xu Jing shook her head nervously. “Third Aunt said she would check first, and then we’d weigh them.”
As expected from an elder, Third Aunt Xu acted calmly. She inspected everyone’s vegetables one by one. If the quality was good enough, she would nod to Xu Jing. Xu Ying directed from the side, and Brother Xu began to weigh the produce. One family was taken care of at a time, receiving their money, while the rest waited their turn.
There wasn’t much work in the fields now, so Mother Xu stayed at home. When her daughter came back, she was very happy. “Why aren’t you going to work today?”
“I’m resting today!” Xu Ying rubbed her hands, which were a little cold. All her warm breath went into her scarf, making it a bit damp after a while. But her head could be bruised or bleeding, she thought, and she still wouldn’t take off that scarf, or her beautiful look would be ruined!