Over here, Tan Shaoting drove the cart home, 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 summer 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 some cucumber salad.
Tan Shaoting recounted his morning meeting with Ma Changshun and Feng Baoshan.
Su Yuanyuan nodded in approval. This saved them both some 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 someone came to take some, 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 home. Besides, is it really okay for us to just lock up and leave ?"
"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 some 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 moment. "Right, I’ll ask about it tomorrow. Do you want to come to the city with me?"
Su Yuanyuan shook her head, "No, I don’t want to go anywhere right now."
Actually, she was a bit worried about home, 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 , she still felt only sleep could relieve her fatigue.
Tan Shaoting was much more disciplined, just meditating 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 come over.
"Xiao Tan, what brings you here?"
"Uncle Bai, just came to see you."
Tan Shaoting drove the donkey cart into the yard.
"Uncle Bai, what’s happened?"
Bai Lisheng sighed, "Come inside."
The two entered the living room, and Bai Lisheng’s wife brought some water.
"Uncle Bai, what about the livestock?"
"I’ve gotten word, they’ve all been sold this year."
Tan Shaoting could tell that Bai Lisheng was truly reluctant.
"Xiao Tan, you came for something?"
Tan Shaoting smiled wryly, "I was thinking of going out for a while, bringing the two donkeys and sheep from home over for Uncle Bai to look after."
"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 some 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 home, 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 some grain behind."
Bai Lisheng nodded with a smile, having been with livestock for over thirty years. Staying at home 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, someone 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 prime of life, doing work meant for the elderly felt pointless.
"Uncle Bai, so you discuss it with your wife and brothers at home. In about twenty days or a month, I’ll come pick you up."
Bai Lisheng nodded, "Alright, let’s do that, we’ll tidy up. But my brothers will come later; they have to wait for their holiday, I’ll go first, then come 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 home."
Although he didn’t stay the night, he did stay for a meal.
He clearly felt the Bai family’s meals had worsened, but it was understandable, considering this year’s drought.
When he got home, he first put the donkey cart in his previous house, fed the donkeys, and then went back.
At that time, 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 meat sandwiches.
During the day, the two tidied up the vegetables in the yard. After lunch, Su Yuanyuan let Tan Shaoting get some 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 ; a day or two won’t make much difference."
In the morning, Su Yuanyuan steamed four steamer 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.