Knowing that his wife is someone who doesn’t make promises easily, but once agreed, she will do her best to fulfill them, Lianshan felt completely relieved when he saw her nodding.
He turned his attention to solving the problem with the vegetable cellar.
The cellar originally prepared for storing potatoes, cabbages, and radishes was filled up by his diligent wife with grass seeds, grains, hazelnuts, and pine nuts.
The cabbages, radishes, mustard greens, and other vegetables in the front and back gardens were also taken care of very well by her.
Seeds that were sown late, after the Beginning of Autumn fesival, surprisingly sprouted and grew better than those sown earlier by most families in the village.
The cabbages that were planned to be left until they grew big like heads of corns were tied up early with straw ropes by her, fertilized occasionally with worm castings, and now, despite being planted later, the ones with large heads and good cores looked perfect for winter storage.
What was once considered a silly venture by those who saw it, quietly turned into top-quality cabbages and radishes praised throughout the village.
Praise, envy, and secret inquiries about whether Shuzhen had any special skills made Lianshan feel proud and gleeful, not knowing how to contain his delight.
He specially took a day off, fearing that his wife, with her belly, wouldn’t be able to handle cutting cabbages and moving them around.
But after seeing the results, Lianshan was genuinely a bit worried.
Among the various vegetables grown, cabbage took up more space, with half of the small half-acre land planted with it. The rest was occupied by the worm bed, radishes, mustard greens, cilantro, spinach, and a pool of chives.
Thanks to Shuzhen’s good management, just the cabbages in more than two tenths of an acre, Lianshan estimated, weighed nearly two thousand pounds.
Even with more effort, it would only take about six hundred pounds of cabbage to pickle two barrels of sauerkraut.
The remaining over a thousand pounds, along with radishes, the existing and yet-to-be-dug potatoes...
"Why don’t we ask Hai Zi, Xiao Yue, and our elder and second brothers if their family has enough cabbage and radishes? If not, then everyone can share a bit.
If everyone doesn’t need them, just sell them to the production team.
After all, our family has enough dried mushrooms and pickled mushrooms; we have whole bags of dried black fungus and other vegetables. Even garlic eggplant, salted cucumber, chili paste, and kimchi aren’t lacking in preparations.
Once the worm bed is covered with plastic to make a greenhouse, we can grow chives, spinach, scallions and whatever else; how much cabbage, radish, and potatoes can we really eat!" Not wanting to see her husband troubled, Shuzhen suggested thoughtfully.
Lianshan thought it through and realized it was indeed a logical idea.
Okay, let’s first cut down the cabbage and pull up the radishes.
He would ride his bicycle to each family after work and see if they ran out. If not, he’d go to the Lin family.
Although he was very unwilling to deal with that little man Lin Yuanzhi, the fact was, they were also members of the Liu family village. There was no sense in selling outside when the village members’ cabbages were not enough.
Despite the price at the procurement station not being as favorable as giving it to village members, exchanging some cabbages and radishes for some grain could help a bit with rationing grain for the family.
In the North, cabbage was almost a staple on every household’s table throughout the year. To avoid a winter dominated by pickled vegetables, every household sincerely planted many cabbages and radishes.
Lianshan specifically rode over to ask, and besides a warm feeling, everyone expressed gratitude but declined the offer.
Even when he got to Lin Yuanzhi’s place, he refused too.
After all, if their vegetables couldn’t be eaten, he wasn’t going to care whether that rubbish of the Lians wasted away or not, right?
It was best for them to rot in the ground, let them annoy him further with their joint mischief!
Trying to put on airs, Lin Yuanzhi cleared his throat and wanted to talk about his challenges as brigade leader and decline the offer.
Really, with the busy autumn harvest, every place needed him as brigade leader to organize and manage; who had the time to care about your little trivial matters? Did they really think as a manager of hundreds or thousands of village members he was that idle?
However, he didn’t want to care, but he couldn’t ignore that Dai Honghua had her weakness controlled by Shuzhen, so he couldn’t afford to offend them.
Lianshan straightforwardly said that their family’s cabbages and radishes were too many, and with few family members to consume, Shuzhen asked if the brigade leader could help. The tone was calm and ordinary, but to Dai Honghua, it was full of unquestionable authority.
Is it because you have leverage, so you have nothing to fear?
Dai Honghua was extremely resentful inside, yet smiled warmly on the outside. She spoke before her habitually formal-spouting husband could refuse: "Okay, why not? It’s just a request!
In the afternoon, we’ll have Zhiyuan ask at the short meeting if anyone needs cabbages or radishes, they should go to your place. Whether it’s for exchanging grains or following the procurement station’s purchase price, you can discuss it yourselves."
Clearly reluctant to the extreme, yet still biting the bullet to say nice things for her family. Dai Honghua’s bizarre behavior was something Lianshan had observed many times, but every time he saw it, he felt curious and puzzled.
No idea what exactly his wife had over her, turning a ferocious tigress into a clawless house cat.
After a somewhat absent-minded thank you, Lianshan turned around to continue his work at home.
Leaving Lin Yuanzhi with a sullen face and full of suspicion, he looked at his plump wife: "Hua’er, didn’t you despise Liu Shuzhen the most? You said she looked like she’s eternally mourning, skinny as a stick, definitely not blessed. Used to sit on the kang scolding her several times a day was not enough, and now..."
"I still scold her plenty!" Dai Honghua cut off Lin Yuanzhi’s words with a cold smile, aggressively countering.
"Yes, but after scolding, you haven’t stopped protecting her!" Lin Yuanzhi threw up his hands, feeling puzzled over his wife’s mind, as unpredictable as a June day. Not long ago, she was cursing Liu Shuzhen to death in hopes of befriending Bai Jing, and now, while still cursing at home, she secretly protects her afterwards.
"Hmph, protect? I’m lazy to protect her! I just, I just pity my big nephew in her belly. Clearly destined for a young master’s life, now stuck to be a peasant son in the countryside, just thinking about it makes me..." She closed her triangular eyes and wailed a couple of times, instantly clearing any doubts Lin Yuanzhi had.
He thought to himself all women, in their softness, couldn’t bear to see their own offspring suffer more.