With something on her mind, and it was a big deal for their family, Lin Xiuqing sat at the door all day long, looking up into the distance from time to time, looking forward to Ye Yaodong's return.
The old lady knew it was half past two, so she picked a lot of sweet potato vines from the vegetable field and came over.
"A Dong likes to eat this. I'll fry one for him later. They should be back soon, right? Let's put the rice down and cook it first. When they come back, they might start gathering the dried fish in a hurry.
What if you don’t have time to eat?”
"Yes, what you said is that I will put down the rice and cook it right away. When he comes back, I will let them eat first and then work after eating."
After Lin Xiuqing finished speaking, she gathered up the sleeves of the sweater that had just risen, put it in the basket, then got up and went to the house to cook.
"Go ahead, I'll pick the sweet potato vine and wash it before you take it in."
As soon as Ye Yaodong came back, he saw white smoke coming out of his chimney before he got home. He was still wondering, why did he cook so quickly today?
He thought he had remembered the time wrong, so he checked his watch to make sure it was only three o'clock.
"Dongzi is back? Come in quickly and sit down for a while. It's cold outside. First, sit in front of the stove and rub your hands to keep warm."
"Are you cooking so early?" he said as he walked into the house.
"Go in and tell her. Ah Qing took a call this morning and asked her to tell you."
"What phone number...?"
He got stuck mid-sentence, then reacted quickly. His eyes widened in surprise, "Is it from the army?"
The old lady smiled and said nothing.
Lin Xiuqing sat in front of the stove and looked at him with a smile, "I don't know if it was a call from the army. He didn't say clearly..."
"Ah...no?" Ye Yaodong was instantly disappointed again.
"Why are you so anxious? Listen to me... I don't know if it was a call from the army. After all, the other party didn't say it clearly, but he told me that his name is Zhao Weimin and he asked you to deliver 1,000 kilograms of fish tomorrow.
Work it to the same place as yesterday morning and deliver it at the same time."
Ye Yaodong's heart was ups and downs because of her, and he suddenly said angrily: "You woman, you have to say a sentence in several paragraphs, and you almost didn't give me time to rejoice."
"Zhao Weimin is the logistics team leader Zhao, and he collected the dried fish. He called me this morning and said he wanted 1,000 kilograms, right? I went to ask the neighbors, and asked my eldest and second brothers.
Look how many they have?"
"Don't worry, the rice is already cooked. You just need to stir-fry the sweet potato vines and you're ready to eat. Otherwise, I'm afraid you'll be busy gathering the dried fish and won't have time to eat."
"It's okay, it doesn't matter. I'll go and ask first. I guess they don't have much in stock. They left it back yesterday to dry it. It will probably take four or five days to dry it. Some time ago, every household didn't dry much."
"Then I'll call you later."
Ye Yaodong didn't wash his hands either, and hurried out again without even taking a sip of water.
The old lady looked at his hurried back and couldn't help but said: "I would have told him to eat first, and then told him while eating. I just came back and went out again before my butt was even hot."
"The food hasn't been cooked yet, so it doesn't matter if he goes next door to ask first."
"Then let's sit down and rest for a while."
"You asked him to ask me, didn't I just say it? He is worried himself, what can he do? It won't be long, just ask him to come back to eat when the vegetables are fried, it won't be too late.
minute."
"Um."
Lin Xiuqing took out all the vegetables and put a large bowl of rice on the table. Then she heated a pan with oil, quickly poured in the sweet potato vines and stir-fried, then chopped the minced garlic and threw it in and continued to stir-fry.
She also muttered, "There is nothing delicious but he actually likes to eat sweet potato vines. I have never seen him eat them before... They usually feed them to pigs, but he suddenly likes them and competes with the pigs for food...
"
"What's the matter? In the cold weather, besides radishes and cabbages, there are only leeks and sweet potato vines that grow the best. I didn't have to eat them before, so I still eat them all."
Lin Xiuqing just thought about it briefly, and listened to the old lady's rebuttal, but she didn't say anything.
Ye Yaodong went out for a walk, talked to his neighbors and then came back.
"Already agreed? How many pounds do you all weigh?"
"I don't know, it's just a small quantity. I asked them to pick out the varieties first, and then come over and weigh them. Eat first, and then work after eating."
He went to wash his hands before sitting down and picking up chopsticks to eat.
Lin Xiuqing also sat down, "I received a call this morning. When I came back, I originally wanted to collect a few hundred pounds for you, but the old lady said I didn't know what your plan was, and it would be too late to wait for you to come back. I think about it,
I don’t know how much you plan to charge. Is it the same price you told me yesterday?”
"Yes, that's right. This makes it easier to settle accounts. If someone gets jealous again and feels uncomfortable watching me make money, go and ask about the approximate price of the things. Then it will be bad if they come back and accuse me of being evil and exploiting the folks."
"That's true, we haven't made any money yet? It's already been said in the village that we've made several thousand more." Lin Xiuqing is well aware of rumors.
Ye Yaodong saw that the old lady had not sat down, and Ah Qing had not eaten. He asked doubtfully: "You haven't eaten yet, what are you looking at? There are two other children, are they screaming?"
The old lady smiled and said, "I'm not hungry. It's not time for dinner yet. Let's wait for the two children to eat together later. They are playing and no one is around. This time is a bit early."
"We can just eat them together. If we are hungry at night, we can cook the noodles. This will save us having to reheat the food over and over again later."
"If you want to work in a hurry, you eat first and don't worry about us."
"That's up to you."
Hearing someone calling at the door, Ye Yaodong took a few bites and went out with the big and small scales.
Lin Xiuqing also went out to help.
The family still has 360 kilograms, and they only need to collect another 640 kilograms, which is enough for the time being, but 640 is a lot.
They can't just weigh the goods as soon as they bring them over. They have to pour out the goods brought by the neighbors bag by bag and check them. What if someone fishes in troubled waters and throws in the goods that are not dry enough and have too much water to take advantage of the weighing?
Or maybe mixed with other fish.
What you fear most is that you meet someone who makes trouble, and they don't want to see you well. What should you do if you deliberately add rocks to it? It's not like no one has done it to harm others and not benefit yourself.
After all, this is not his own product, so he has to be careful when receiving it, and since it is going to be sent to the army, he has to do a good job of integrity and quality first.
But fortunately, my neighbors are not sneaky or cunning.
When I went to ask before, I told them to sort them out in advance. Now I came over and checked, and there was nothing wrong with them.
I was so sleepy that my brain felt like a blur. It took me an hour and a half to write 1,000 words. My brain was stuck and I couldn't move at all. I just finished writing the previous paragraph and then immediately forgot what I wrote before.
This chapter has fewer words
Chapter completed!