Chapter 75: Water Shortage

From his observations over the past few days, Liu Yinyin was an excellent teacher. The children listened to her and were serious about learning in school.

Because of this, there was no reason to take her job away from her.

Liu Changquan still had other matters to attend to, so after discussing the teaching arrangements with Liu Yinyin, he left.

Liu Yinyin was quite satisfied with this outcome. From now on, she would have half a day free to take care of other things.

That evening, when she told Gu Cheng about it, her eyes sparkled with excitement. “Now I can go to Brother Li’s place earlier to buy things—I’m sure I’ll be able to find better goods.”

Gu Cheng looked at her bright, excited eyes and felt happy as well. “Want me to take you there tomorrow?”

He left for work every morning at exactly 7:20.

“Not tomorrow,” Liu Yinyin thought for a moment and said, “I need to hand over the work to Jiang Zhiqing in the morning. I can’t just leave everything to him without any explanation. Once that’s done, I’ll go to the county.”

Gu Cheng suggested, “Then I’ll leave the bicycle for you?”

Their household only had one bicycle, which was sometimes inconvenient, but buying two would be too flashy.

“No need to worry about me,” Liu Yinyin said. She had plenty of time, so walking wouldn’t be an issue.

However…

A bicycle was definitely more convenient. With the weather getting hotter, she didn’t want to spend too much time walking under the sun.

After thinking about it, she said, “Tomorrow, I’ll borrow the village chief’s bicycle.”

Giving him a couple of eggs as thanks would be enough.

Around 7:30 a.m., before Liu Yinyin could head to the classroom to hand over the work, Jiang Zhiqing came to find her first.

By then, Gu Cheng had already left for work. When Liu Yinyin opened the door, she saw Jiang Zhiqing wearing a white dress shirt and holding a book in his hands. He was indeed quite fair-skinned, looked refined, and had the demeanor of a scholar.

But to be honest, Liu Yinyin found it rather odd.

After all, he was now in the countryside. It would be better for him to blend in. Wearing a white dress shirt… he really didn’t look like someone who could do farm work.

“Comrade, what can I do for you?” Liu Yinyin asked.

Jiang Zhiqing adjusted his glasses and replied, “Comrade Liu, I’m here to teach the students, so I wanted to learn more about the situation from you.”

Liu Yinyin understood immediately. “Wait a moment, I’ll get you the textbooks.”

The old textbooks had been difficult for Liu Changquan to obtain, so Liu Yinyin was careful with them. After each class, she would take them home to ensure they weren’t lost.

She went into her room to retrieve the Chinese language textbook and then came out carrying Gu Yanyan. Together, she and Jiang Zhiqing headed to the classroom.

There wasn’t much to discuss—she just told him about the children’s progress and explained the current lesson plans.

She also informed the students about the upcoming teaching arrangement. With that, the handover was complete.

“Comrade Jiang, if you have any issues, you can talk to the village chief,” she reminded him.

“Comrade Liu, thank you.” Jiang Zhiqing hadn’t expected Liu Yinyin to be so cooperative.

To be honest, he had mentally prepared himself before coming here. He had thought she would resent him and be hostile.

After all, he was taking over part of her job, even if indirectly.

Liu Yinyin simply smiled, said nothing, and left. She then went to the Liu family’s house to ask Jiang Cuihua to help take care of her child.

She couldn’t help but ask, “Mom, I’m going to buy some grain today. Do you want me to get some for you too?”

To be honest, she was getting anxious. If Jiang Cuihua didn’t buy grain soon, the prices would increase in no time!

Fortunately, Jiang Cuihua didn’t refuse this time. She asked, “How much is the grain selling for over there?”

The family didn’t have much money saved, so they weren’t sure how much grain they could afford.

Liu Yinyin smacked her forehead, feeling a bit annoyed. “Mom, last time I only checked the prices for refined grains—white flour is 32 cents per jin, and rice is 36 cents per jin. I forgot to check coarse grain prices, but they should be cheaper—probably no more than 20 cents per jin.”

Jiang Cuihua thought for a moment and said, “Then go check the prices first. I’ll discuss it with your father, and then your brothers can go buy it.”

With so many people in the household, they couldn’t just buy 10 or 15 jin like Liu Yinyin did. And for sure, they would buy coarse grains.

It would be a large quantity, and Liu Yinyin wouldn’t be able to carry it all by herself.

“That works too.” As long as her mother was willing to buy grain, that was good enough. Liu Yinyin nodded and went off to borrow a bicycle.

When Liu Yinyin arrived at the village chief’s house, she happened to see Li Chunfang washing clothes in the courtyard.

Without beating around the bush, Liu Yinyin said, “Auntie, can I borrow your bicycle for a bit?”

“You’re going to the county to buy things, right?” Li Chunfang wiped her hands and said, “Sure, I’ll go get the bike for you.”

Bicycles were rare and valuable. When they weren’t in use, her family always kept theirs inside the house.

Liu Yinyin helped Li Chunfang push the bicycle out the door, then slipped two eggs into her hands with a bright smile. “Thank you, Auntie. I’ll return the bike before noon.”

“No need to thank me.” Li Chunfang accepted the eggs with a grin, then suddenly thought of something and asked, “Yinyin, does your family want any fish?”

Fish?

Liu Yinyin was surprised. “…Auntie, there’s fish available for sale now?”

Li Chunfang sighed and explained, “It’s because of the drought. More than half of the water in the fish pond has dried up, and there’s not enough to keep all the fish alive. If we don’t catch some now, they’ll just end up drying out in the sun.”

The fish fry had been bought in early spring, and this wasn’t the ideal time to harvest fish. But with no rain for so long, they couldn’t just let them die in the pond.

Selling some fish now would at least prevent a total loss.

Li Chunfang was worried. Her family’s village was in even worse shape than Liu’s. They had little farmland and relied on selling fish every year to buy grain.

But with things like this… she had no idea what they would do in the future.

Liu Yinyin thought for a moment. She did want fish, but this time, she didn’t feel like spending money. She asked, “Auntie, can I trade eggs for fish instead?”

Her family had stocked up on a lot of eggs recently—more than two hundred. Since eggs could spoil over time, she would periodically sell the older ones to the system and then buy fresh eggs back.

It was a loophole in the system—by exchanging items about to expire for fresh ones, she never had to worry about food going bad.

Actually, she had even considered trading eggs for grain before.

Li Chunfang laughed. “Of course! Why not?”

Eggs and grain were both valuable commodities in the countryside, often used for bartering.

Liu Yinyin nodded. “Alright, I’ll trade.”

Her family still had around twenty pounds of cured fish, but since prices hadn’t risen yet, it wouldn’t hurt to stock up on more.

Even if they didn’t finish it all, she could always trade it for grain later.

By the time Liu Yinyin rode the bicycle to Brother Li’s house, it was already past nine o’clock.

It was still Granny Li who answered the door.