"Who’s at the door, dear?"
"Aunt, it’s me, Su Yuanyuan."
"Yuanyuan? Yuanyuan, you’ve come back?"
"Yes, I’m back. I came to see you all."
At this time, noises came from the other two rooms as well.
Hu Chunhua came out and grabbed Su Yuanyuan’s hand, "Come on, let’s get inside, hurry up and get inside."
Inside the house, Yang Minggang hurriedly took out the urine pot, and Hu Chunhua rolled up the blanket on the kang (heated bed).
"Yuanyuan. Hurry up and get on the kang. And that young comrade should also come up and warm up."
Su Yuanyuan sat on the kang as a matter of course. "Aunt, this is my neighbor from Jiangbei, who has helped me a lot."
Hu Chunhua, upon hearing this, immediately took Tan Shaoting’s hand, "Xiao Tan, hurry up and get on the kang to warm up a bit."
At this time, the three children of the Yang family also came in.
"Yuanyuan, you’re back?"
"Big brother, big sister, second brother, I’m back. Big brother, could you go to the village chief’s house, that’s Uncle Yang Hongwen’s house, and call them over?"
Yang Zhigang nodded and said okay, then went out.
"Girl, how are you doing in Jiangbei?"
Su Yuanyuan nodded, "It’s alright. Although it’s been a drought these two years, I’ve been quite lucky and completed my tasks."
Hu Chunhua sighed, "That must be so tiring for you."
"I’m alright. If I plant a hundred acres, they’ll give me a small donkey to use. Besides, the two of us partnered up, so it’s manageable."
"Xue’er. Go make some food for Yuanyuan. There’s still some white flour, just make them noodle soup."
Yang Xue agreed and went out to cook.
At this time, Su Yuanyuan didn’t stand on ceremony.
Tan Shaoting knew that this girl usually kept her distance from others. He thought she was particularly reluctant to eat at other people’s homes. Now, seeing her , it meant she really valued this family.
Hu Chunhua held Su Yuanyuan’s hand, "Yuanyuan, what brings you back this time?"
"We just wanted to check out the cotton crops, and we happened to pass by, so I came to see you.
Also, I know the disaster here has been severe, so I brought you some food."
"Why are you worrying about us? Do we still need you to worry about us? We’ll be relieved if you take good care of yourself."
"I’m doing well. By the way, is the communal kitchen system still in place here?"
Hu Chunhua nodded, "I reckon it won’t last until the New Year. Now we have porridge three times a day, and there’s hardly any grain left in it."
"Is there any food left from before at home?"
Hu Chunhua nodded, "We’ve been following your advice, using the food sparingly, so it should last a year or so. We’ve also grown a bit in the yard to get by."
"Yuanyuan, you must be careful in Jiangbei. Da Qiang wrote to say that at his farm, there wasn’t any harvest at all."
"Aunt, it’s the same for us. Zhao Yanli and her siblings, five of them came this year. They planted sweet potatoes like me, and the harvest was alright. Anyway, the tasks were completed, but not much was left."
"That’s already quite good. Da Qiang wrote a letter that I read for his family. He said he didn’t earn a penny last year, just a bit of grain. This year is the same."
Yang Minggang was sitting on the side, smoking, listening to the conversation.
Just then, there was a noise outside, and Yang Hongwen and Xu Chunjiao followed behind Yang Zhiqiang into the room.
Su Yuanyuan stood up and smiled, "Uncle, Aunt. Sorry for calling you over so late."
Xu Chunjiao took Su Yuanyuan’s hand, "Girl, how are you doing in Jiangbei?"
"Aunt, I’m doing quite well. Don’t worry."
Yang Hongwen also sat on the side, smoking with Yang Minggang.
"Aunt, I called you over to bring you some food, just happened to have this channel, so please quickly take it.
A bag of corn, a bag of sorghum, a bag of wheat, a bag of sweet potatoes, ten winter melons, and ten pounds of hanging oil for each family."
They all saw the cart outside, but no one looked closely. So it turned out to be for them.
"Girl, when are you leaving?"
"I’ll be leaving after visiting Zhao Tian’s house tomorrow."
"How are Qingxiang and the others doing there?"
"Not bad, they’ve also completed their tasks this year, but not much food is left."
"Ugh, I regretted it after they left. Knowing they’re doing alright, I’m relieved."
"Uncle, they’re doing okay."
Then they asked Su Yuanyuan about her life in Jiangbei, and hearing that she had a hundred acres of tasks, they all felt sorry for her.
Now it’s almost nine o’clock, "Uncle, Aunt, let’s talk tomorrow; it’s getting late, and you should quickly take your food home."
Yang Hongwen knocked out his tobacco pipe, "Girl, we’ll keep this stuff, but you have to take the money. We know you bought it, and just thinking of us and bringing us food makes us more than happy."
Yang Minggang nodded, "Yes, having food is already more than enough for us."
"Uncle, I’m just repaying the kindness you showed me, please don’t talk about money."
"No, I said it. Just the thought you bring is enough for us. We won’t give you much, I know the price of grain outside, let’s give you seventy bucks per family.
If you refuse, we won’t take it."
Su Yuanyuan was quite helpless, but finally agreed to what Yang Hongwen said.
Yang Minggang and Yang Hongwen unloaded their household’s goods. Yang Hongwen and his wife took the cart and left.
At this time, the noodles were also ready. Su Yuanyuan ate a bowl, and Tan Shaoting didn’t feel comfortable eating more, so after one bowl, he put down the bowl. However, Hu Chunhua served him another bowl. "A young man needs more food than this to be full, eat up!"
About fifteen minutes later, the couple returned with the cart again. They handed Su Yuanyuan seventy yuan.
"Girl, are you going to stay at our house?"
Hu Chunhua responded, "Sister-in-law, it’s convenient for them to stay here. Yuanyuan can share a room with Xue."
"Yes, Aunt, we’ll just stay here."
After sending the couple off, Hu Chunhua and Su Yuanyuan went to the daughter’s room. Tan Shaoting and Yang Minggang stayed in their room.
That night, Hu Chunhua asked a lot about Su Yuanyuan’s life at the Jiangbei Farm.
"Mom, let’s talk tomorrow. Yuanyuan has been traveling all day."
Only then did Hu Chunhua stop.
The next morning, bright and early, Hu Chunhua made noodles for the two of them, while their family went to the canteen for breakfast.
When they returned, Su Yuanyuan and Tan Shaoting headed to Zhao Tian’s house.
Now, Zhao Tian’s house was just the couple, and who knows what they were thinking.
Zhao Tian and Han Lixia looked a bit surprised when they saw Su Yuanyuan coming in.
Su Yuanyuan noticed the couple were weaving baskets. They were really diligent people, but Zhao Tian was just soft-hearted towards his brother’s family.