Chapter 31

In the afternoon, before Wu Xiaoxiao returned to the orchard, she received a notice from her team that every village needed to send a few people to the county to assist at the agricultural machinery factory.

Wu Xiaoxiao, Gu Zhenghong, and Tian Zhuang were selected from Wu Family Village.

Wu Xiaoxiao was surprised and immediately confirmed, “Why me?”

She was puzzled. She had been working in the orchard, so why was she being sent to the agricultural machinery factory? Moreover, wasn’t this job something that everyone would fight for? How did it end up falling to her?

Aunt Dong quickly pushed her, “Of course it’s you. Hurry up and go. It’s good that you’re back today, so you don’t need another notice for the orchard. Just ask them to send a message for the orchard, then quickly go home, pack some clothes and personal items. You’ll be leaving early tomorrow morning.”

“Wait, Aunt Dong, why is this good thing falling to me?” Wu Xiaoxiao asked.

Aunt Dong laughed, “What do you mean? You think this good thing won’t happen to you? Well, this time it just happened to be you.” She smiled mysteriously and didn’t explain the details. She also heard that the news came in a hurry, and the village had no time to go through formal channels or preparations.

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The requirement was to send literate people who could read blueprints, and it was emphasized that every team should send someone, to avoid embarrassing the village.

So, who else in the village could go? Either the educated youth, or it was just Wu Xiaoxiao, Wu Ningfang, and the other high school students. Wu Ningfang wanted to go, but her father noticed that she had special feelings for Gu Zhenghong, so he definitely wouldn’t let her go.

But the village couldn’t just send the educated youth, it would make the village seem like it had no capable people. So, this job ended up falling to Wu Xiaoxiao.

Aunt Dong thought it was a good opportunity: more work points, free meals, and a chance to go to the county to broaden her horizons. But she also knew there were some downsides. Wu Xiaoxiao was the only young woman from the village going, with two young men. If anything happened, it wouldn’t look good.

But Aunt Dong was confident that Wu Xiaoxiao would be fine, she wasn’t the type to cause trouble. When Wu Ningfang looked at Gu Zhenghong, Aunt Dong would worry if she were Wu Ningfang’s father, too!

Wu Xiaoxiao didn’t understand all the twists and turns behind this. Since the organization assigned her, she decided to go without overthinking it.

This assignment came with extra work points and subsidies, and it was an opportunity to visit the city. The orchard was nearly finished with its tasks, so she wasn’t too worried.

However, she couldn’t just let someone deliver a message for Uncle Changfa and Aunt Changfa, return home to see her mom, and leave without saying goodbye. That wouldn’t be appropriate, so she hurried back to the orchard to explain the situation to her uncle and aunt. They were happy for her and reminded her to do well in the county, maybe even bringing back a prize.

Uncle Changfa laughed and said, “This time, they chose the right person! Xiaoxiao can read well, so you’ll definitely fix those machines in the county. I’ll be waiting for you to come back with a big red flower pinned on you!”

Wu Xiaoxiao smiled, knowing that they would likely be helping out at the county’s agricultural machinery factory. The county had professional machinery factories, so it was probably just a matter of lack of manpower.

Aunt Changfa also gave her 20 yuan, saying, “Don’t refuse. This money isn’t just for you. If you find something good in the county, buy something for Aunt and Xiaohua. By the way, if you see some clam oil, bring me a few cans.”

They had been to the county a few times, usually for holidays or to buy some things for the new year, but this time, Xiaoxiao would stay for a month, and it would be a good chance to shop around.

Uncle Changfa reminded her, “Hey, you can also see what good things they have in the county. Maybe you can think about it and bring some ideas back. I know a few places, though I’m not sure if they’re still the same ones, you can take a look.”

Wu Xiaoxiao then realized, “Oh, right. Thanks for telling me about this.” She ran to her room and took out two jars.

These jars were glass jars that Wu Hua had kept after finishing fruit cans. Now, they were filled with a pale green, sticky ointment.

She handed one to Aunt Changfa, “Aunt, this is a skincare ointment I made from herbs I dug from the mountain, mixed with other ingredients. You can try it, it should work better than clam oil.”

“What’s this?” Aunt Changfa opened the jar and smelled it. “Hey, it really has a nice fragrance. You went through a lot of trouble to make this. Take it back for your mom to try.”

Wu Xiaoxiao waved her hand, “It’s no trouble. I just read in a book that these herbs have these effects, so I thought I’d give it a try. I didn’t make much, only filled these two jars halfway. But it should last a long time.”

She left one jar of her homemade skincare ointment for Aunt Changfa, and took the other jar with her to the county for luck.

This idea came from Wu Ningfang and Zhang Yan. The plant extracts she purified with her powers were far better than any skincare product on the market. But no matter when, the brand and packaging were more important than the ingredients. Otherwise, how could Zhang Yan’s knockoff Lancome cream be sold for thirty yuan just because of the bottle and some sales talk?

She gave Aunt Changfa the jar in a fruit can bottle, saying she made it herself, while she still had to figure out what to do in the county. She just packed the ingredients for now.

After saying goodbye to her uncle and aunt, and promising Wu Hua that she’d bring him something good to eat, Wu Xiaoxiao returned home. That night, when her mom found out she would be gone for over a month, she felt reluctant to let her go. They chatted for a long time before both went to bed.