Chapter 14

Xu Di, besides going to school, spent most of her time tending to her vegetable garden in the space.

After several experiments, Xu Di had figured out the time flow rate in the space and the maturity of the crops, and she had arranged everything neatly.

She had brought back several fruit saplings from the countryside, including apple trees, pear trees, persimmon trees, jujube trees, pomegranate trees, grapevines, and other common fruit trees in the north, and she had already planted them in the space.

Xu Di had cut a lot of willow branches from the mountains in the countryside, and she used them to enclose the saplings, creating a small independent space for raising chickens.

The twenty hatching eggs she had bought had hatched seventeen chicks, fluffy little chicks, yellow and cute.

The first batch of vegetables and corn had already matured, and Xu Di had harvested them.

For the second batch, Xu Di didn’t plant eggplant, green beans, or other vegetables. It was already late autumn, if she planted them, she wouldn’t be able to sell them, it would be too obvious.

Xu Di had decided to plant more corn, raise more chickens, and plant more chives, to sell during the New Year period.

In the north, many families would plant chives indoors during the winter, although not much, but they would have some.

Xu Di was a coward, she didn’t want to be noticed. In the middle of winter, taking out cucumbers, tomatoes, and green beans to sell would be like asking for trouble.

Even the fruit trees she planted were common in the north, she couldn’t get saplings from the south.

Because she had food in the space, she couldn’t sell the tomatoes and cucumbers, she could eat them secretly, and she could even roast a couple of corn cobs occasionally.

So, even though Xu Di worked all the time, she didn’t lose weight, she was full of energy, and she felt like she had grown a little taller.

“Xu Di, find your sweater, you can hang it out to dry today, it’s getting cold, you should wear it.”

In the morning, before going to work, Xu Di’s mother told her to hang out her autumn clothes, they had been put away for the whole summer.

“Okay, Mom, I’ll hang them out when the temperature goes up.”

It was late October, the temperature had dropped significantly, and even wearing autumn clothes, she felt her legs were cold.

It was the weekend today, but no one in the Xu family was resting, except for the two who didn’t work, everyone was at work.

“Second Sister, I’m going to pick up coal with the Red Guards downstairs, I’ll be back for lunch.”

“Okay, be careful, watch out for cars.”

Xu Di knew that Xu Jun couldn’t stay still, he wouldn’t be able to stay at home quietly. He said he was going to pick up coal, but he was actually going to play.

Xu Jun agreed and ran downstairs, he was in a hurry.

Xu Di looked at the empty house, it was great, she was alone again.

After tidying up the house, she found the sweater and trousers her mother had asked for and took them downstairs to hang out to dry.

The sweater and trousers were so vintage, really, especially the trousers, there were at least four or five different colors on one leg.

A section of black, a section of red, a section of blue… like a rainbow circle.

Wool also required coupons, and they were limited.

Often, you would buy wool, knit a sweater first, wear it for two years, when it got worn out, you would unravel it and use the old wool to knit trousers.

The adults would unravel theirs and give them to the children, if there wasn’t enough, they would add different threads. They wouldn’t care about the color.

The Xu family’s conditions were good, everyone had a set of sweaters and trousers.

Xu Di’s mother was good at cooking, but she only knew one simple knitting technique, and she only knew one pattern, so their sweaters and trousers were all the same, except for the size and color.

Xu Di hung up the sweater and trousers, greeted Grandma Wang downstairs who was sunbathing, asking her to keep an eye on them, and then went upstairs.

The family housing compound was still very safe at this time, there were basically no thieves. They were all from the same factory, if they were caught, they would lose face, their reputation would be ruined, and it would affect their family members finding partners.

Xu Di entered the space, the second batch of crops had grown quite tall, she had already harvested the chives several times. The fruit trees had also grown noticeably taller, and the chicks had lost their downy feathers.

She had bought a small stone mill from the scrap recycling station, and Xu Di could grind the corn into fine particles to feed the chicks.

Now, the chickens had grown their adult feathers, they could eat whole corn kernels, it was much easier.

In another month, the chickens would start laying eggs, and the chives in the space could also be sold. The only problem was that she hadn’t found a good place yet, she didn’t dare to go to the black market.

Xu Di surveyed the space, she could stop planting corn for now, she had enough to eat for a while.

The chickens also needed time to reproduce, and it was too tiring to harvest the land. Xu Di had decided, she would raise more chickens and plant more fruit trees in the space, it was easier.

The most amazing thing was that the chicken manure was automatically absorbed, otherwise, she wouldn’t be able to handle cleaning up chicken droppings every day.

Corn was more troublesome, she had to break off the corn cobs, and then the remaining corn stalks would disappear as a whole. If you saw a corn stalk standing alone, it meant that there was corn that hadn’t been broken off.

Xu Di had once complained in her heart, this space was too unique, couldn’t it be fully automatic, why did it have to be semi-automatic and torture her.

Feeling that it was about time, Xu Di came out of the space, went downstairs, turned over the sweater and trousers on the clothesline, and chatted with Grandma Wang downstairs for a while.

“Xu Di, you’ll be eighteen next year, right?”

“Grandma Wang has a great memory, you still remember how old I am.”

“Your Grandma Wang has a good memory, I remember everything from decades ago.”

Grandma Wang was over sixty years old, she could hear and see clearly, she was amazing.

“You’re amazing, you’re in great shape!”

“I’m telling you, child, after you graduate, don’t follow those people and get carried away, don’t go to the countryside. Your little body, what can you do if you go there, you’ll just cause trouble.”

Grandma Wang whispered to Xu Di, nowadays, you couldn’t speak your mind, she didn’t want to cause trouble for her son.

But she liked this girl, Xu Di. She was always cheerful and considerate, she could always lend a hand to anyone who needed help.

“Grandma Wang, I know. Look at my sister, she’s been gone for so long, she hasn’t come back once. Every time she writes a letter, she only tells us good things, but the others who went with her, they write back saying how hard it is, my parents are worried. But we can’t decide this matter. If we don’t find a job after graduation, there’s no other way.”

Xu Di had made the worst-case scenario, if it really didn’t work out, she would try to go to the countryside with her grandmother.

“Sigh, yeah, it’s too hard to find a job now.”

Grandma Wang sighed, her grandson had also gone to the countryside, hadn’t he? If he didn’t go, his granddaughter would have to go, she was worried about her granddaughter.

The old woman and the young girl, basking in the sun, chatting casually, the atmosphere was very harmonious.

At noon, Xu Di steamed some steamed cake.

In the morning, she had ground some very fine cornmeal in the space, her arms were sore.

To avoid being discovered, she had also scooped out some of the cornmeal from home and put it in the space.

The fermented cornmeal was thinner, it couldn’t be shaped like steamed buns, it could only be spread on the steamer cloth.

Xu Di also found some red dates, soaked them, pitted them, chopped them up, and sprinkled them on top.

When the steamed cake was done, Xu Jun walked in, covered in dirt.

“Second Sister, is there anything to eat? I’m hungry.”

“Go wash your hands and face quickly, you’re a mess, you’re not a child anymore.”

“Hehe…”

Xu Jun quickly went to wash his hands and face, he could smell the fragrance.

Xu Di cut a piece of steamed cake and brought it downstairs to Grandma Wang.

“Oh, you steamed this yourself, it looks delicious!”

“It’s my first time steaming it, I secretly added a little sugar.”

Xu Di winked, Grandma Wang smiled and brought Xu Di a bowl of her own pickled vegetables.

Grandma Wang’s husband had been from Sichuan, and she knew how to make authentic Sichuan pickled vegetables.

“I love eating Grandma Wang’s pickled vegetables, I don’t need to stir-fry anything for lunch.”

Xu Di carried the bowl upstairs, Xu Jun had already cleaned himself up and was waiting for her to eat together.

“Second Sister, your steamed cake is delicious, it’s sweet and has red dates, it’s like a pastry.”

“I added some sugar, how could it not be sweet?”

Xu Jun glanced at it, his second sister was brave, his mother’s sugar jar, no one dared to touch it.

“Second Sister, I picked up coal this morning and traded it for two dimes, I’ll give you half later.”

“I don’t want it, you keep it. Don’t go this afternoon, stay home and read.”

Xu Jun didn’t dare to object, he just ate in silence.

In the afternoon, Xu Di collected the sweater and trousers, and she also read in her room, mainly reciting quotations.

Xu Jun didn’t go out, he sat there doing his homework, his butt was like he had a nail stuck in it, he couldn’t stay still.

The afternoon sun shone through the window, filling the room with golden light, it felt so good!