Chapter 56 : Selling Fruit and Submitting Manuscripts

When she got home, Su Mo first washed the shepherd’s purse she had dug, transferred the hazel mushrooms that had been drying on the bamboo sieve the previous day into a bamboo basket, and hung the shepherd’s purse back on the bamboo sieve to dry.

The weather was dry here, and the hazel mushrooms from yesterday were almost fully dried by now. She estimated they would need another afternoon to finish drying before she could store them that evening.

The shepherd’s purse wasn’t fresh at this point, and Su Mo didn’t plan to keep it for dumplings, so she simply dried it with the intention of eating it in the winter.

After finishing all this, Su Mo steamed a large pot of rice, cut some ham, bacon, and sausage, and cooked three or four dishes. She made a larger batch to avoid cooking meat too often and drawing attention.

Although every household had a private plot of land near or behind their house, and the houses were quite far apart, people back then had very sensitive noses, especially to the smell of meat. They could detect even the faintest scent.

Su Mo served herself a portion for lunch and stored the rest in her space for later. Eating buns every day had become quite greasy.

After lunch, Su Mo took a nap on the wooden bench in the living room. In the afternoon, she went back up the mountain again to search for wild ginseng.

Each plant has its own unique energy, which ordinary people can’t perceive, but for wood-type mutants like Su Mo, this energy is very clear, much like how ordinary people can immediately recognize colors unless they are colorblind.

Su Mo spent two days wandering the mountain. After searching the nearby areas, she ventured deeper into the mountains. Despite her efforts, she didn’t find any wild ginseng, but she did gather plenty of mountain products such as hazel mushrooms, chestnuts, and walnuts. She also managed to catch two pheasants and collect a few pheasant eggs.

Su Mo also found a shorter route to the Lijiaao cowshed, which was about an hour’s drive up the mountain.

In the past two days, Su Mo had absorbed a lot of wood energy, and her supernatural powers showed signs of progressing to the middle stage of the first level. Since the plants at this time had not yet mutated, the wood energy was very pure, and supernatural abilities at the first level are generally easier to upgrade.

On the 8th, after coming down from the mountain at noon, Su Mo decided not to go back up in the afternoon. According to the calendar, Su Tingqian and his wife should be at the cowshed in the next couple of days, so she needed to go to the county to buy more coarse cloth to make cotton clothes for them. Also, her four manuscripts were ready, and she planned to send them out today.

After lunch, Su Mo wrote a letter to the editor she was familiar with, telling him she had gone to the Northeast as an educated youth. She asked him to try his best to pay her royalties and, if possible, to provide national tickets instead of local ones, since the latter wouldn’t be useful to her.

After a short rest, Su Mo pushed her bicycle out and met Li Cuihua on the way.

Su Mo wasn’t aware of the tension between Li Cuihua and Li Yue’e. Seeing that it was the aunt who had greeted her warmly at the brigade headquarters when Lu Changzheng had driven her back, she called out, “Aunt.”

When Li Cuihua saw Su Mo, she snorted and turned away.

Su Mo was confused. Had she unknowingly offended this aunt?

Li Cuihua had been feeling upset lately. She had thought Lu Changzheng married an educated youth with no future, but to her surprise, this educated youth was actually a relative of Secretary Geng of the commune.

On the day of the banquet, Secretary Geng had accepted the gift on behalf of the bride’s family elders, indicating a close relationship between the two families.

Since the Su family had a relative who was a secretary, they must be a prominent family, which had given Li Yue’e a good deal.

Li Cuihua regretted her earlier judgment, feeling foolish for thinking Su Zhiqing wasn’t a good person and trying to pair them together. She saw it as a case of losing everything while trying to gain something trivial.

Now, she could only hope that Su Zhiqing would turn out to be a useless parasite, so her daughter-in-law could still hold the upper hand.

Su Mo had no idea about Li Cuihua’s struggles. Seeing Li Cuihua turn and leave, she quickly pedaled away on her bicycle.

Still in a remote area on the road to the county town, Su Mo took out a bamboo basket of apples and a bamboo basket of pears that had been prepared in advance and hung one basket on each side of the back seat of her bicycle.

The other bamboo basket had been prepared by Li Yue’e, and there were two of them. Now with one basket on each side, the bicycle was balanced and much easier to ride than last time.

Su Mo headed straight for the door of the county supply and marketing cooperative. She peeked inside, and when Sister Liu looked over, she quickly waved at her.

When Sister Liu saw Su Mo, she quickly started preparing the items the customer wanted. After settling the payment, she made an excuse that she had something to do and left.

“Oh, sister, it’s been a long time since I came here,” Su Mo said as she greeted Sister Liu. There were quite a few people outside the supply and marketing cooperative, and Sister Liu greeted them with a smile.

“I’ve been busy going up the mountain to harvest crops recently. I happened to pick up some mountain products, so I thought I’d bring you some to try,” Su Mo explained, making up an excuse.

In Qingxi County, many rural relatives send mountain products to their urban relatives, and no one thinks much of it.

“Oh, that’s too much. Come on, come inside and have a seat,” Sister Liu smiled and led Su Mo into her home.

After entering the small courtyard and closing the door, Sister Liu said, “Sister, why are your apples so good these days? My relatives ask about them every day.”

“I was delayed by something at home. I came as soon as I had the time,” Su Mo replied.

“Are these two baskets full of apples?” Sister Liu asked, about to lift the coarse cloth covering the baskets.

“One basket of apples and one basket of pears. Do you want any pears?” Su Mo answered.

“Oh, why are there so few apples?” Sister Liu felt a bit regretful. These apples were very popular, selling at 70 cents per pound, and they were all gone by the end of the day.

“Apples are especially good this year, and everyone is reluctant to trade them, so they’re keeping them for themselves,” Su Mo lied. “Pears are also good this year, so I swapped for a basket of them. Would you like them?”

Although Su Mo had many fruits in her space, the quantities of each variety were not large. It was better to sell them together, otherwise, one variety might sell out, leaving nothing when she needed it.

Sister Liu lifted the cloth from the other basket and saw that the white pears were also large and yellow, with a sweet fragrance, and their appearance was just as good as the apples. She immediately decided, “I’ll take these pears as well. But they’re a bit cheaper than apples. The supply and marketing cooperative sells them for 40 cents a pound. I’ll give you 45 cents.”

“Okay,” Su Mo had no objections. Since it was wholesale, the price was fair.

“My sister bought a big scale a few days ago. Let’s weigh it this time so we don’t take advantage of you.” The basket from a few days ago had been two or three pounds heavier.

The scale back then was not the type of stand scale from later generations but a long pole with a weight hung on it, the kind that needed to be carried to weigh things.

Su Mo and Sister Liu weighed the two baskets of fruit. After subtracting the weight of the bamboo baskets, there were 56 catties of apples and 53 catties of pears. Apples were 50 cents per catty, earning 28 yuan; pears were 45 cents per catty, earning 23.85 yuan.

In total, Su Mo earned 51.85 yuan from selling the fruits today.

After selling the fruits, Su Mo and Sister Liu went back to the supply and marketing cooperative. Su Mo bought a new piece of coarse cloth and two kilograms of kerosene. She had heard from Li Yue’e two days ago that the kerosene was almost finished, so she brought her a kilogram today.

A piece of coarse cloth cost 15 yuan, and kerosene was 4.2 yuan per pound, so two pounds cost 0.84 yuan, including the ticket.

Su Mo wasn’t planning to go to the black market today. She needed to hurry back to make cotton clothes. After mailing the manuscript at the county post office, Su Mo rode her bike directly back home.