Chapter 49 : Sewing quilts and growing vegetables

After returning home, Su Mo picked up the steamed mushroom-stuffed buns and put them in her space. She also ate two of them herself, and that meant dinner was ready.

She quickly washed the pot and boiled water. While it was still light, she went to the well to fetch a few buckets of water and poured them into the water tank in the kitchen.

Once the water was heated, Su Mo added more water for a bath. After using the bath water, she washed her clothes.

Then she went back to the house, lit the kerosene lamp, closed the wooden window at the back, and took out a thick curtain from somewhere, hanging it on the window next to the kang in the bedroom.

Next, she took out a rechargeable desk lamp, turned it on, and went outside to check for any light coming through. After confirming that there was no light, Su Mo returned to the house, closed the door, took out another desk lamp, turned it on, and in an instant, the room became bright.

Su Mo breathed a sigh of relief. Finally, she didn’t have to live in darkness anymore.

After resting for a while, Su Mo quickly took apart the bedding she had sewn before, took out the quilt inside, replaced it with the quilt she brought from the end of the world, and sewed it again.

The replaced quilt was then pieced together with coarse cloth and sewn into a quilt cover.

Although it looked a bit ugly, it was not noticeable in the cowshed as long as it was warm enough.

The mattress was also made of coarse cloth and sewn together. In this way, the bedding for her parents to use in the cowshed was ready.

She then took out a thinner quilt to replace the mattress.

However, the quilts of later times are still very different from those of today. Su Mo also used the printed bed sheet she bought from the supply and marketing cooperative, mixed it with some coarse cloth, and sewed a cover for the mattress. This way, she didn’t have to worry about anyone noticing that her mattress was different.

She had washed that printed bed sheet when she was at the educated youth center.

After finishing, Su Mo looked at the little bit of coarse cloth left and smiled bitterly.

Lack of experience brings trouble. It seems that I have to buy another piece of coarse cloth, otherwise, it will not be enough to make a cotton-padded jacket for one person.

After putting the sewn bedding and coarse cloth into the space, Su Mo looked at the time and found that it was already past ten o’clock.

She lit the kerosene lamp, turned off the desk lamp, took down the curtains, put the space back in place, then blew out the lights and went to bed.

While Su Mo was sewing the bedding, the first and second wives of the Lu family were also not very peaceful.

After dinner, Liu Yuzhi cut two apples, gave half to each of the three children, and she and Lu Xingjun shared the remaining half.

The three children were so happy with the delicious apples that they almost swallowed the apple cores.

“These apples are so delicious. I don’t know where the third sister-in-law bought them,” Liu Yuzhi said.

It’s not like they haven’t eaten apples from the supply and marketing cooperative before, but the taste is completely different. They used to think the apples sold at the supply and marketing cooperative were delicious, but after eating these, they realized that the supply and marketing cooperative’s apples were just so-so.

“Where else can I buy them? Either the commune supply and marketing cooperative or the county supply and marketing cooperative,” Lu Xingjun replied.

“When have you ever seen a supply and marketing cooperative selling such good things?” Liu Yuzhi didn’t believe it.

“It happens sometimes. Didn’t Xiaolan bring back a lot of good things before?”

“That’s different. I think the third brother might have bought them in that market,” Liu Yuzhi said in a low voice.

Lu Xingjun immediately sat up straight, “Don’t talk nonsense. How could a woman from the third family be so brave?”

Liu Yuzhi curled her lips and said, “Just wait and see. Although the third family member looks delicate and weak, she’s definitely not an ordinary person.”

Lu Xingjun laughed, “How do you know she’s not an ordinary person?”

“If she were an ordinary person, would the third brother, with such high standards, be so anxious to marry her after only knowing her for a few days?”

“That’s true.” Lu Xingjun nodded, then added, “The third brother is very good to our family, so you should not find fault with him.”

Lu Xingjun had gotten the watch today and was very happy.

“Nonsense, why do you need to say that? Do you think I’m the idiot from the second brother’s family?”

Unlike the calmness on the first wife’s side, there seemed to be a bit of tension on the second wife’s side.

Originally, there were two apples, half for each of the four members of the family, which would have been fine, but Lu Guihua wanted to keep one for her parents’ home.

The two boys could have eaten half each, but suddenly it became a quarter, so they naturally refused to eat it.

After all the fuss, the two boys finally got half each. The remaining one was divided into two halves, with Lu Weiguo and Lu Guihua each getting half, and Lu Guihua took the remaining half back to her parents’ home.

Seeing his wife wanting to take half of the apples back to her parents’ home, Lu Weiguo suddenly felt regretful.

Was he really wrong in not listening to his parents’ advice and insisting on marrying Lu Guihua?

It seems that what his mother said is right. If it weren’t for her pressure, Lu Guihua would have moved their house to her mother’s house long ago. Now that the family has been divided, no one is in charge, and even half an apple has to be taken back to her mother’s house.

Lu Weiguo suddenly felt powerless.

But he already has two children. What else can he do? He can only be more careful in the future.

—-

The next day, Su Mo woke up before six o’clock.

After folding the bedding, Su Mo quickly took out the floral cotton cloth, measured and cut it into 4 feet, and put it together with the khaki cloth and 2 kilograms of cotton. When Li Yue’e came over, she would have it ready to use.

After finishing all this, she went out to wash and use the toilet. After cleaning herself up, she took two buns from the space and ate them for breakfast.

After eating, she started to collect vegetable seeds from the space, preparing to plant the land in the yard.

Radishes and cabbages must be planted, so Su Mo found seeds of spinach, lettuce, cabbage, and leeks, preparing to plant them together. These vegetables are relatively resistant to low temperatures, and lettuce grows quickly, so it can be harvested before the snow falls.

Lu Changzheng divided the yard into 8 plots. Su Mo chose 4 larger plots and sprinkled cabbage and radish seeds on them. Her method was rough planting. When the seedlings grew, she would just pull out the extra ones.

For the other four pieces, she sprinkled seeds of spinach, lettuce, leek, and cabbage respectively.

When Li Yue’e came over, she saw Su Mo watering the land, and it seemed that some wood ash had been sprinkled on the ground.

“Third daughter-in-law, what are you doing?”

“Mom, I’m watering the plants. I just sprinkled the vegetable seeds.”

“Oh, what vegetables do you grow?”

“I planted some radishes, cabbages, spinach, lettuce, and so on.”

Li Yue’e looked at the square pieces of land and felt that something was wrong. “How did you grow them?”

“Just scatter the seeds on the ground and sprinkle some wood ash on it,” Su Mo said.

Li Yue’e was shocked. “You grow radishes and cabbages this way, too?”

Su Mo nodded.

“Oh, you can’t plant like this. For radishes and cabbages, you have to dig holes, put a few seeds in each hole, sprinkle a handful of wood ash, and then cover with soil. That’s the only way it will work. If you sprinkle it like this, it may not grow, and even if it does grow, it will be too dense.”

“It’s okay, Mom. It can grow. If it’s too dense, I can just pull out the excess ones.” Others’ hair may not grow, but hers will.

When Li Yue’e heard her say this, it seemed to make some sense, so she stopped talking.

If she has no vegetables to eat at that time, her family will just give her some.