Starting a new chapter in life

He Zhijun: "My grandfather came from a poor peasant family and joined the army during the War of Resistance Against Japan. Later, he met my grandmother while on a mission. My grandmother came from a good family and was the daughter of an entrepreneur in Shanghai. My grandfather met my grandmother by chance because of his mission..."

"A love story of a rich girl falling for a poor boy?" Jing Yan joked with a smile.

He Zhijun shook his head: "How should I put it, my grandmother was elegant and classy, ​​but she liked pretty things. My grandfather's appearance was rather effeminate back then. Although he came from a farming family, he had fair and clean skin, and my grandmother took a liking to him at first sight."

She sought ways to get acquainted with her grandfather, and it was through his guidance, with her grandmother acting as a bridge, that her grandmother's family began to financially support the Communist Party, making them essentially "red capitalists." Therefore, while her grandmother's family was affected during the political movements, they weren't severely damaged; they simply kept a low profile.

"Your house wasn't affected?"

"Yes, but apart from those in the military and medical fields, no one in my family is involved in politics. The good karma left by my grandmother's family back then still had some protective power during the movement, so it didn't have much impact. At least I didn't feel anything." He Zhijun shrugged.

Jing Yan understood. "Then, how are your grandparents doing now? We usually call them grandpa and grandma here."

He Zhijun shook his head: "Grandfather's health was severely damaged when he was young, and he passed away in 1970. Grandmother is still alive and living in Shanghai. In a couple of years, after we return to Yangzhou, I will take you to see my grandmother. She has been particular all her life and is very picky, but her pickiness is only directed at herself. She is quite tolerant of others, so you don't need to worry about that. I am the youngest child in the family, and she dotes on me the most. She will definitely like you too."

Jing Yan smiled and nodded, but she didn't feel anything was wrong. After all, she came from an ordinary family and had no intention of squeezing into a social class that didn't belong to her. She just wanted to live a simple and happy life. If she felt out of place, she would visit less often. If she felt comfortable with the place, she would visit more often to fulfill her filial duties. She would just do as she pleased.

Not wanting to dwell on this topic, Jingyan changed the subject: "After Battalion Commander Gao's family arrives, should we have a get-together? After all, he's been quite supportive of you at work."

"I'll ask around later. Should we let them settle in first? If we're going to officially meet, then we can have them stay at our place. It'll be convenient for us to cook, and it'll be more private. You don't know about the dorms, though. If someone's cooking at home, the whole building will know, and at least the neighbors won't be able to keep it a secret."

Although no one said anything, everyone tacitly tried to keep a low profile. His sister-in-law and her family had just arrived, so it was best to keep a low profile. "But thank you for your hard work. We'll buy the main dishes from the state-run restaurant, and we'll cook the vegetables ourselves." He Zhijun actually didn't like apartment buildings either; there were too many people, and he felt uncomfortable.

Jing Yan said proudly, "That's right. If you speak loudly in an apartment building, others can hear you. Besides, there's not even a vegetable garden. You have to buy whatever you want to eat. But look at our family. We save money on vegetables, and we don't spend much on eggs. Your grain ration is enough. We only need to buy some meat, seasonings, and oil. It's more cost-effective no matter how you look at it."

Looking at her smiling face, He Zhijun couldn't help but reach out and gently flick her nose: "Yes, my wife is a good homemaker."

Vegetables and fruits ripen in the garden every day, though not in large quantities, but the couple enjoys them quite a bit. Recently, the weather has gotten hot, and the mushrooms drying in the backyard are almost done. Since they don't have any extra clean bags at home, He Zhijun went to the supply and marketing cooperative and bought five new flour sacks.

The couple packed up all the dried mushrooms they had dried in the two batches. Jingyan put the hazel mushrooms directly into a flour sack, while the other types were put into a basket and stored in the warehouse. It would be convenient to just grab a handful whenever they wanted to eat them. Since there is little rain here, drying them like this would prevent them from getting damp or moldy.

That day, the couple was picking some green beans in the yard when there was a knock on the door. When they opened it, they saw He Chunni pushing a cart outside. Jing Yan quickly opened the door and helped her push the cart in: "Sister He, did you bring me mushrooms?"

He Chunni nodded with a smile: "After you told me you wanted hazel mushrooms, I went back and told my mother-in-law. She found some experienced mushroom pickers in the village and mentioned it. They were all very willing to sell a batch. Anyway, we live on the mountain, and many families still have some left over from last year's harvest, so fresh ones aren't that expensive."

"Here, I've gathered all the fruit I picked these past few days and brought it over to you. Take a look and see how much you want; keep as much as you need. I'll ask Sister Gao about the rest. Since you want some, I think other people in the city can probably buy some too. Bringing it all at once saves us the trouble of doing it twice."

Jing Yan nodded repeatedly: "Okay, then I'll pick first." After saying that, she turned to He Zhijun, who was carrying a basin, and said: "Zhijun, take a few sacks to the backyard. We'll dry them in the backyard. It's not convenient to spread them out here."

He Zhijun handed the basin in his hand to Jing Yan, picked up a burlap sack in each hand, and walked through the house to the backyard. He Chunni also quickly picked up a burlap sack and followed behind. Jing Yan put the basin in her hand into the kitchen and then hurried over.

He Zhijun had swept the cement ground in the backyard today, making it easier for Jingyan to do her work. As He Zhijun opened the burlap sack, she said, "Wait a minute, I'll go find a tarpaulin. We'll lay it on the tarpaulin to dry, so it'll be easier to bring in if the weather changes."

He Zhijun stopped what he was doing and waited for Jing Yan to lay the tarpaulin in the yard. He then untied the burlap sack and poured the contents onto it. The hazel mushrooms were very tender now, with both diced mushrooms and fully opened ones. Even the fully opened ones were tender and smooth. Jing Yan was very happy to see this: "Sister He, you didn't pack the diced mushrooms separately from the regular mushrooms?"

He Chunni said with a smile, "Originally you said that the price of diced mushrooms could be higher, but later when I looked at the ones I picked myself at home, I felt that even the grown hazel mushrooms were not old, so I simply didn't say anything about whether they were diced or not. I bought them all at six cents, but I'll charge you eight cents. I'll make a profit."

Jing Yan smiled and nodded: "It's nothing, this is already very good. How many kilograms is this truckload? My scale is too small, it's a bit troublesome to weigh it."

"I weighed them at home. Each sack contains fifty jin of mushrooms. This way, it's easier for me to keep track of the amounts. If I have a bad memory, I can only count the quantities accurately, haha~" He Chunni said proudly. Ever since she started selling mountain produce and vegetables at the market, she has always packed them in this way. It's easy to count and easy to calculate. Even if someone gives her a wider weight, the final amount won't differ too much.

Jingyan nodded: "That was three bags, 150 jin. We need two sheets of such a big tarpaulin. Luckily, I had planned ahead and prepared a lot more. Zhijun, bring over three more bags."

He Zhijun nodded, and He Chunni helped Jing Yan spread out the mushrooms. "The mushroom roots are cleaned quite well," Jing Yan said casually.

"When I paid to collect them, I made it clear that they had to be clean, without any old roots or dirt. Everyone was very honest, and the ones they sent were all of good quality. Nobody sent the broken or dirty ones." He Chunni was very proud of the character of the people in her company.

He Chunni brought ten sacks, which weighed 500 jin (250 kg) of hazel mushrooms. Jing Yan originally only wanted 300 jin (150 kg), but seeing how good the quality was, she thought she should keep them all. "Zhijun, why don't we keep all of these? If we dry them all, it will be about 50 jin (25 kg) of dried goods. We can mail 40 jin (20 kg) to our parents, and we can use the rest to stew meat in the winter. What do you think?"

He Zhijun agreed without hesitation: "Sure, I also think these mushrooms are cleaned well, so let's keep them all. It'll just be hard on you during this time, as drying them all will be quite a task."

“It’s fine. I’m just staying at home anyway, so it’s good to have something to do.” Jing Yan didn’t seem to care. “Then bring the remaining four sacks over. I’ll go find some tools and put them on the warehouse floor to dry first. Once these are almost dry, we can take the others out to dry. We can’t keep them all in the sacks, or they’ll spoil.”

He Zhijun went to the front yard to pick up mushrooms. She poured a teacup of mung bean soup and handed it to He Chunni, who was sitting on the steps turning the mushrooms over, when she got to the back yard: "Sister He, have some mung bean soup. Don't sell the mushrooms you have today. I'll keep them and dry them."

After she finished speaking, she looked around at the mushrooms covering the ground and sighed, "My backyard is still too small. The remaining four bags can only be poured out to dry today; they can't be sun-dried."

He Chunni thought for a moment: "How about we go to the front yard? Although there's only one passageway, we can spread the remaining four sacks out by laying burlap sacks on the brick path."

Jingyan happened to have ten burlap sacks at home from last year when she was stocking up on winter vegetables, and they were currently empty. "Oh, that makes sense, I'll go find some burlap sacks."

He Chunni quickly stopped her: "You can just use the burlap sacks that were delivered today. These are all old ones, and I wasn't planning on taking them back. I thought you probably didn't have many bags or anything like that, so I brought them over specifically for you. Don't go rummaging through the storeroom." After saying that, she picked up the six burlap sacks that had already been emptied from the ground and was about to go to the front yard.

“But… Zhijun has already brought the mushrooms over.” Just as Jing Yan finished speaking, He Zhijun appeared in the backyard carrying two sacks.

He Chunni smiled and shook the empty sack in her hand: "Let's go to the front yard again and spread it out on the brick floor of the passageway to dry. There's no room left in the back yard."

He Zhijun nodded, turned around and went back to the front yard. Jing Yan didn't expect that he would just move on without any hesitation or displeasure. She admired his composure. If it were her, she would have complained a bit.

He Chunni, being someone who frequently deals with mountain products, helped spread them out quickly. She looked up at the sky and said, "Judging from the clouds, it should be sunny for at least the next three days. Since you have a large quantity, don't bother moving it back tonight. Just leave it like this, and it will be completely dried in three days at most. Then you can just collect it directly, which will save you trouble."

Jingyan listened to advice. As long as the weather wouldn't change much, she figured she could just leave it like that. Anyway, the courtyard wall was high and the security here was good, so she might as well take it easy. She went back inside, counted out four ten-yuan bills, and handed them to He Chunni: "Sister He, eight cents a pound, five hundred pounds in total, forty yuan, here you go."

He Chunni took the money, checked that the amount was correct, put the money in her pocket, and said readily, "I'll turn it over frequently these next few days. Once the moisture has dried a bit more, it will be easier to dry completely. Yours is almost done too, so I'll head back now."

"Why don't you stop by Sister Gao's place on your way and ask her if she wants it? If she does, you can save up some money and come back to deliver it later," Jing Yan suggested.

He Chunni also thought it was feasible, nodded and prepared to leave. Just as she was about to touch the handle of the cart, she saw a wooden box next to the cart, raised her hand and slapped her forehead, picked up the wooden box with holes and handed it to Jing Yan: "These are the earthworms you said you wanted to collect last time. The kids in the company have been busy going up the mountain to dig them up recently. There are about a hundred here. I'll bring them to you next time I come."

Jing Yan took the lid and opened it. Inside, there were countless earthworms curled up and still wriggling. One or two would have looked alright, but this huge clump was really an eyesore.

Jingyan put the lid on, handed the box to He Zhijun, and then took out three yuan from her pocket and handed it to He Chunni: "Sister He, here's the money for you. If any children come to deliver it to you, you can pay them first. There's no rush. You can bring it with you whenever you come over. If it's hard to carry alive, dried ones are fine too."

He Chunni didn't stand on ceremony with her, took the money, and pushed the cart out the door.

After He Chunni left, He Zhijun opened the box, took out a small clump of earthworms, and casually threw it into the chicken coop. The chicks didn't even need to squawk; they immediately gathered around and started pecking at them. Jing Yan glanced at it, shook herself, and turned to go inside.

He Zhijun took a small shovel and turned over the soil in the wooden basin he had prepared earlier. He opened the wooden box, threw in the remaining earthworms, and then covered the basin with soil again. After thinking for a moment, he carried the wooden basin to the chicken coop so that Jingyan wouldn't have to dig them out to feed the chickens anymore. As for whether the chickens could eat them in the soil, that would depend on their own abilities.

After finishing all that and putting the shovel away, He Zhijun was about to go inside to wash his hands when he heard a knock on the door. He went to open it and was quite surprised to see Chen Xinyue from next door: "Looking for Jingyan? She's inside." Then he turned around and called into the house: "Jingyan, Sister Chen from next door is here."

Jing Yan was lounging leisurely on the sofa when she heard the sound and quickly got up and came out. She saw Chen Xinyue and smiled happily: "Sister Chen is here, come in quickly."

Chen Xinyue entered the room with a smile, her eyes filled with envy as she saw the mushrooms drying in the hallway: "Jingyan, did you go mushroom picking?"

"I actually went a day a few days ago, and I was exhausted. In the end, I had to ask a family in the company to take me back in an oxcart. I don't have the strength for that, and I won't go again." Jingyan thought about how tired she was that day and felt lingering fear.

"You harvested so much in one day?" Chen Xinyue pointed to the piles of fruit drying on the brick path, quite surprised.