Starting a new chapter in life

Jingyan handed him the certificate, which he flipped through and then returned to her: "Each person is rationed two tons of affordable coal. Since your family only has one person's food ration, you can only buy two tons. Do you want to buy the high-priced coal? How much?"

"Let's buy five tons of high-priced coal," Jing Yan said, estimating the size of the warehouse.

"Okay, that's sixty-six pieces in total."

Jing Yan quickly took out her money, and the person in charge counted the money and handed her a receipt: "Our coal trucks are large, with a maximum load capacity of ten tons. Because we have a supply certificate, the price coal is exempt from transportation and loading/unloading fees. If you buy more coal than you need in the future, and then buy more expensive coal separately, it will be charged as one truckload if it does not exceed ten tons. The Hongqi Community will charge one yuan. Since you are within one truckload this time, we will not charge you for transportation."

Jing Yan was stunned for a moment, then thanked him repeatedly. She reached into her pocket and found some candy. She quickly pulled out two White Rabbit candies, placed them on the person in charge's desk with a slightly embarrassed smile.

The person in charge was taken aback by her action, but after glancing at the candy, he opened his mouth but ultimately didn't tell her to take it back. Sister Gao led Jingyan away to collect coal, and only after they were far away did the person pick up the candy and put it in his pocket, intending to take it home for his child to sweeten their mouth.

As Gao Jie led Jing Yan along, she said, "You know how to handle people. This man is notoriously stubborn and never accepts gifts. These two pieces of candy aren't heavy, but they touched his heart. He has two children at home. Although his family is well-off, candy coupons are too rare, so he can't get too many."

Jingyan was a little embarrassed: "After he explained it to me clearly, I wouldn't waste the transportation fee. I thought I'd express my gratitude, and I only had these two pieces of candy on me, so I just gave them to him without thinking too much about it."

"It's best not to think too much about it. If you're the kind of person who's always looking out for something, he might not even be interested. It was a lucky break," Sister Gao said with a smile.

The two arrived at a separate bungalow warehouse. Sister Gao handed the receipts in her hand through a separate window by the door. A moment later, a large truck drove out, and a head popped out of the window, pointing at the truck and saying, "This truck carries seven tons of coal. Get on and show us the way."

Jingyan thanked her repeatedly, then ran to the side of the vehicle and peeked inside. There was only one empty seat, so she said to Sister Gao, "Sister Gao, you know the way to my house well. You can sit in the front and help me give directions. I'll sit in the back of the truck."

Sister Gao glanced into the car and smiled, "Okay, then I'll trouble Xiao Zhang to stand in the back." After saying that, she opened the car door and got in. Jing Yan went to the back of the truck bed, grabbed the edge of the bed with both hands, and tried her best to climb in. But she couldn't jump in because she wasn't strong enough.

The truck quickly stopped, and Jingyan leaned out of the truck bed and saw the entrance to the house. She quickly jumped out, shook her ankles (they were a little shaky), took a few quick steps to the front of the truck, looked at Sister Gao, and said with a smile, "Sister Gao, I'll go open the window over at the storeroom, you see..."

“Go ahead, I’ll lead the way and have the driver stop the carriage near the warehouse window so it’ll be easier to shovel coal in later.” Gao Mei understood what she meant and readily agreed.

Jingyan didn't say anything more and hurried home. When she entered the house, she saw her fourth sister and brother-in-law sorting out the mountain goods they had brought back from Jiamusi in the yard. She casually said, "Fourth sister, help me pack some mountain goods so that Sister Gao can take them later." Then she hurriedly went to the storeroom in the backyard.

Jinghuan looked outside with some doubt, making sure she didn't see Gao Mei, but she always listened to Jingyan, so she found a small bamboo basket nearby. It wasn't big, but it was exquisitely made; it was the one the seller had used to store things when they went shopping before.

Jinghuan picked out some dried hawthorn, dried black fungus, and dried mushrooms and put them into a small basket. It looked quite full, but there wasn't much in total, only about three or four pounds. Jinghuan nodded in satisfaction and put the other sorted dried goods into two bags. She handed one bag to Peng Chunhai: "Put this in the kitchen cabinet for Jingyan, and we'll take the other bag with us."

Peng Chunhai took the bag and went inside. Jing Yan had already opened the small window of the warehouse. Sister Gao helped watch the truck. The driver was quite skilled at reversing, and soon the truck bed was aligned with the window. The driver parked the truck, jumped into the truck bed, and together with the workers inside, shoveled the coal into the warehouse. Jing Yan came out and went inside, saying to Jing Huan:

"Fourth Sister, I bought seven tons of coal, and it's being unloaded now. Later, I'll go with Sister Gao to see if we can buy some firewood. Once everything is settled, we'll be all set for this winter. Zhijun will go to the logistics department today to inquire, and once he buys the train tickets, he'll send them back to us when he has time. Don't worry."

Jinghuan shook her head: "I'm not in a hurry. Our letter of introduction still has more than a week to go, so there's plenty of time. Don't rush Zhijun. He's asking for a favor too."

Jingyan nodded: "I understand, don't worry. By the way, have you packed up the dried goods for Sister Gao? Sister Gao is a nice person, and we'll need to ask her for help sometime in the future, so we should give her a gift in return."

"It's all packed. The three items weigh about three or four pounds, which should be about right."

Jingyan smiled and thanked her, saying, "My fourth sister is the most reliable." Back in the living room, she rummaged through the cabinet on the dressing table and found two candy boxes. One box was full of fruit candies of various colors, while the other was half empty and contained White Rabbit milk candies.

She took a piece of kraft paper, laid it out, grabbed a handful of fruit candies and put them on the paper, then grabbed seven or eight White Rabbit candies and put them on as well, then grabbed about ten more fruit candies and put them in her pocket. She closed the candy box and put it back in the cupboard, folded the kraft paper wrapping and put it into the bamboo basket that Jinghuan had prepared earlier, then turned to her fourth sister and said, "If you and your brother-in-law want candy or pastries, just take them from here. Don't be stingy with your own food."

Jinghuan smiled and said, "Go ahead and do your thing, don't worry about me."

Jingyan placed the basket on the ground at the entrance of the living room and handed the warehouse key to Jinghuan: "After unloading, the driver will leave on his own. Fourth Sister, just help lock the warehouse window. I'll go find Sister Gao and see if I can buy firewood first."

Jing Huan took the keys and agreed. Jing Yan went out of the house and first found the unloading workers. The two of them had almost finished, and only some scraps were left to be pushed into the warehouse. When Jing Yan saw that they had finished their work, she went up to them, took out some fruit candies from her pocket, and handed five or six to each of them: "Thank you for your hard work, comrades. There's not much good stuff at home. Take these candies back and give them to the children to sweeten their mouths. It's just a small token of my appreciation."

The two workers exchanged a glance, smiled, and accepted the candy: "Thank you, comrade. We've finished our work, we'll be going now."

Jingyan and Gaomei watched the coal truck leave. Jingyan watched as Jinghuan closed and locked the window from the inside, and said to Gaomei, "I don't want to trouble you two. Sister Gao, could you take me to buy some firewood?"

Gao Mei agreed: "Okay, I'll take you to the carpenter's house first. His family gets a lot of wood blocks and sawdust every year. Grandpa Liu's house is next to the carpenter's. His son is the village head in a nearby village. Every year, he gets a lot of soybean stalks and wheat straw to sell to the neighbors for firewood. But we can't talk about these things. People won't trust us unless we're introduced by someone we know. Let's go to both houses together. If we can buy everything we need, we'll have them deliver it to you by cart after dark."

The two continued walking. The Hongqi community wasn't actually that big; you could walk around the entire community twice in an hour. Moreover, they were taking shortcuts, so they arrived at their destination in just fifteen minutes. Gao Mei, who knew the place well, knocked on the carpenter's door first: "This is Xiao Zhang, who just moved to our community at the beginning of the month. She lives in Aunt Chen's house. She came to see if you have any firewood that can be spared to start a fire."

The carpenter was a man in his forties, with a straight back and a somewhat stern air. He nodded to Jing Yan, stepped aside, and Gao Mei walked directly into the courtyard. Jing Yan quickly followed.

The yard was quite large, with half of it covered by rain shelters and the other half open to the elements. Under the shelters, there were neatly arranged urea bags, stacks of planks, and piles of wood chips. The carpenter pointed to the urea bags and said, "These are all sawdust I've collected. They're 50 cents a bag. Keep the empty urea bags and bring them back next autumn to exchange for them. If you bring your own urea bags, they'll be 45 cents a bag. You can also use urea bags to pack those wood chips. They're 1 yuan a bag. Pack them yourself."

Sister Gao looked at Jing Yan, who stepped forward and checked, "I need five bags of sawdust and five bags of these wood blocks. Could you deliver them to me?"

The carpenter thought for a moment and said, "I can deliver it for you, but I have to wait until it gets dark. Speculation and profiteering can easily get you caught, so I have to be careful. Do you have any men at home at night? I won't deliver it if there aren't any men, to avoid suspicion."

Jing Yan nodded repeatedly: "If there are men in the house, then we'll arrange for delivery tonight?"

"Pay first!" the carpenter said succinctly.

Jing Yan counted the money and handed it to him: "Thank you. Can I also come around October next year to get it done?"

The carpenter nodded: "Okay."

The two went outside, and Jingyan looked at Gao Mei: "Sister Gao, why does this carpenter keep emphasizing that there should be a man in the house? Shouldn't I be the one worried?"

Gao Mei shook her head: "He was frightened. Look at him, although he's not particularly good-looking, isn't his height and demeanor quite different?"

Jing Yan thought for a moment: "His posture is particularly upright?"

“He retired from the army. When he first left, he had a job as a security guard at a middle school. He was even a squad leader. But for some reason, the school was a bit unstable at the time. A female student was restless and wanted to marry him, but he refused. Later, that female student framed him for peeping into the girls' restroom. Although he cleared up the accusations later, his reputation was still affected. He quit his job at the school and went home to become a carpenter, so he is particularly averse to dealing with single women.” Gao Mei’s tone was tinged with regret.

Jing Yan nodded: "An unexpected disaster."

"Forget about this nonsense, let's go to Grandpa Liu's house." Just a few steps to the side, Gao Mei knocked on the door. An old man, his body hunched over, opened it: "Oh, Gao girl, what brings you here?"

Gao Mei pointed at Jing Yan and said, "This is Xiao Zhang, who lives in Aunt Chen's empty house. He just moved in at the beginning of the month. He doesn't need to stock up on things for the winter, so he wants to ask you for some firewood. Is it convenient for you here, sir?"

Upon hearing this, Grandpa Liu became more serious and took two steps forward to ask, "Girl Gao, is this reliable?"

Gao Mei smiled and nodded: "Her husband is from the new military unit that moved here, don't you think?"

Grandpa Liu nodded: "I don't know if it's wheat straw or soybean stalks here, I'll give you whatever you have. It's 3 yuan a cartload, girl, how much do you want?"

Jing Yan hesitated for a moment: "Sir, I don't quite understand how much to keep. Could you help me estimate it?"

“If you only need firewood to start a fire in your house, two truckloads of coal would be enough to keep it burning until this time next year,” said Grandpa Liu.

Jingyan nodded: "Grandpa, could you help me unload it into the corner inside the front yard wall? If you can help me set up the woodpile, I'll need three cartloads."

"I can help you stack the firewood, but there will be a small fee for your trouble. I won't ask for too much, as my old arms and legs can't do much. I'll charge you ten yuan for three truckloads, including the ones I bring over, unload, and stack for you. How about that? You won't have to lift a finger. I'll make sure it's clean and neat. When you need it, just dig at the bottom, and the top will automatically sink down and won't fall apart." Old Liu's old eyes gleamed with shrewdness.

Jingyan looked at the old man and almost laughed. He was quite shrewd; he had figured out that she didn't have the skills to build a fire. She rolled her eyes and said, "Then I mainly need wheat straw, it's easy to burn. Can I use less soybean stalks? I'll come back around this time next year to order another batch from you, okay? Of course, I agree to the one yuan fee for three truckloads this year."

Upon hearing this, Grandpa Liu's face beamed with joy: "Alright, then pay first?"

Jingyan took out five yuan and handed it to him: "Give me half first, and I'll give the other half to the people unloading the firewood tomorrow after I've confirmed that everything is fine. The firewood in each truck should be piled high, and you should give them enough."

Grandpa Liu put the money in his pocket and smiled, "Okay, I'll have my son go with me tomorrow. You're a straightforward girl and I'm not stingy either. It'll be plenty, don't worry. The village is short of everything, but we have plenty of firewood."

After agreeing to the terms, the two turned to leave. Gao Mei said, "Jingyan, I'm going back to the neighborhood office now that I've finished this..."

"Sister Gao, it's almost noon. I won't invite you to lunch, but by the time you get back to the neighborhood office, it'll be almost time for you to get off work. Why don't you go this afternoon and come home with me to get some local produce for you? It's not much, just a little something. I brought it back from my third sister's place."

"This, I'm so sorry," Gao Mei said hesitantly.

Without waiting for a reply, Jingyan took her arm and said, "Sister Gao, don't be so polite with me. I'll be troubling you a lot while I'm staying here. I'm thinking of raising two chicks in the yard in the spring, and I'll have to ask you where to catch them."

When Gao Mei heard that she was going to help her, she stopped struggling and followed her home: "Then go back and find a place, and find someone to build you a chicken coop. It has to be made of red bricks so that it can't be exposed to wind and rain. You can't raise too many chickens, at most four. If you raise too many, it's easy to get caught."