Chapter 61 : Ma Xiaojuan Visits

Su Mo strolled around the mountain again, picking some hazel mushrooms and digging up wild vegetables.

Compared to the previous days, she met many more people, mostly middle-aged women or young wives. It seemed that the autumn harvest in each brigade had been completed, and the adults had started going up the mountain to gather.

With more people on the mountain, many things became inconvenient. Plus, there were a lot of mountain products to collect, so Su Mo decided not to wander the mountain any longer. She still had a lot of things to do, and it was just right that while everyone was heading up the mountain during this time, she could go off and take care of other matters.

Around noon, Su Mo went down the mountain carrying half a basket of wild grass and hazel mushrooms.

After returning home, Su Mo took out the rice she had cooked a few days ago from the space. She estimated there was only enough for one meal left, so she ate it all and planned to cook new rice that evening.

After eating, Su Mo went to the well to fetch water, washed the freshly picked hazel mushrooms and wild grass, and hung them up to dry.

Just as Su Mo was busy, she suddenly heard someone calling her from outside the yard: “Su Mo, are you home?”

Su Mo leaned over and saw it was Ma Xiaojuan and Chen Lan. She thought to herself how coincidental it was. She was just about to go look for Ma Xiaojuan, and now they were showing up.

Su Mo quickly stood up, “I’m here, Xiaojuan, Chenlan. The gate is not closed, just push it open and come in.”

Ma Xiaojuan was very happy to see Su Mo at home. She quickly pushed open the gate and went in. She was a little surprised to see the lush vegetable field.

“Su Mo, did you grow these vegetables? They’re growing really well.”

“Yes.” Su Mo smiled. “Maybe I’m just suited for growing vegetables.” As she spoke, she put the washed hazel mushrooms into the bamboo sieve.

“Come on, sit inside.” After putting the hazel mushrooms in the pot, Su Mo welcomed them into the living room.

It was the first time both of them had been here. After entering, Chen Lan’s eyes were full of amazement and envy, while Ma Xiaojuan was more direct.

“Su Mo, your house is really nice. Compared to this, the Youth League camp looks so shabby. I used to think our Youth League camp was pretty good.”

Su Mo pursed her lips and smiled, jokingly saying, “Yes, thanks to my husband, I’m able to live in such a good house.”

Ma Xiaojuan smiled. “It’s true that people change after getting married. You’re much livelier now. You didn’t talk much before.”

Su Mo led the two of them to sit down in the living room, took two clean cups, and poured two glasses of boiled water for them.

“Was that hazel mushroom you washed just now?” Ma Xiaojuan asked.

“Yes, I picked them this morning on the mountain.”

“Where did you pick them? We went up the mountain this morning and only found some pine nuts and dug up a few wild vegetables. We didn’t see anything else.”

“I picked them further inside the mountain. I’ve been wandering around there for several days,” Su Mo said.

“No wonder we haven’t seen you working these days. Turns out you’ve been up the mountain harvesting corn. You’re smart,” Ma Xiaojuan said. She had also been picking corn recently, earning 6 work points a day, and her hands were nearly blistered.

But they had to do it because the job was easy, and many people in the team wanted to take it. The team leader, considering that these new educated youth didn’t have many work points, specially assigned them this task.

The other young men in the brigade were all sent to winnow wheat. That wasn’t an easy job. After a day’s work, not only were their arms sore, but they were also covered in dust.

Ma Jianmin and Zhao Guoping, the educated youth, went to thresh wheat and came back every day covered in dust.

“So, what did you pick up?” Ma Xiaojuan asked curiously.

“Just chestnuts, walnuts, and pine nuts. I also picked some hazel mushrooms and dug up some wild vegetables,” Su Mo replied.

“A lot?”

“It’s okay. When you head back later, you can take some for the educated youth to eat.”

“No, no, no.” Ma Xiaojuan waved her hands repeatedly. “I was just asking, I didn’t mean to ask for anything.”

“I know.” Su Mo smiled. “Anyway, you haven’t tried anything I picked from the mountain, so I’ll give you some to taste.”

Ma Xiaojuan felt a little embarrassed.

“By the way, Xiaojuan, you said you wanted to make a quilt. Have you done it?” Su Mo changed the subject.

Ma Xiaojuan’s eyes lit up, “I did.”

“How many beds have you made?”

Ma Xiaojuan held up three fingers, “Three beds.”

“Then what did Director Qi say?”

“When he asked, I told him that my family heard about this benefit and wanted to see if I could do it. If I could, I would send it back. Director Qi didn’t say anything. He just filled out a form and asked me to pay,” Ma Xiaojuan said, laughing.

She called back, and her brother and sister were so happy to hear that she could make cotton quilts and send them back. Finally, they wouldn’t have to sleep with the cotton-loose quilts made by their mother. The cotton used to make the quilts could be used for new cotton-padded jackets.

“What? You also want to make one and send it back?” Ma Xiaojuan asked.

“Yes, a relative called me a few days ago and asked if I could make a bed and send it back. I was busy with the autumn harvest these days, so I was delayed. I was planning to go ask him this afternoon.”

“Why don’t you call him the commune secretary… Oh, you’re not nice enough. The commune secretary is your uncle, but you never mention him.”

“Yes, I haven’t heard you mention it,” Chen Lan finally seized the opportunity to interject.

She has to serve Su Mo now. Her husband is an officer, her father-in-law is the brigade party secretary, and the commune secretary is her uncle. If she can build a good relationship with them, her life in the brigade should be much easier.

She regretted not attending the wedding when Ma Xiaojuan invited her.

“I only found out about it on the day of the banquet. My family never told me that he was the secretary here. As a leader, you have to be careful about the impact. It’s not easy to make cotton quilts for relatives because people might accuse you of favoritism. So I have to go,” Su Mo explained.

“That’s true. Officials always want to protect their reputation,” said Ma Xiaojuan.

The same thing happened to her uncle. When the street office mobilized people to go to the countryside, her uncle immediately responded and sent her cousin and cousin to the countryside. Her aunt was so angry she nearly divorced her uncle.

Noticing that Ma Xiaojuan had stopped talking, Su Mo asked, “Xiaojuan, you came here to see me today. Is there something going on?”

“Hehe…” Ma Xiaojuan laughed awkwardly, “Well, my family sent me some money, and I want to go to the county town to buy a bicycle. I want you to accompany me.”

Since Hongqi Commune is closer to the county town than other communes, it hasn’t yet been allocated a shuttle bus to the county.

To get to the county, people had to walk, ride a bicycle, or take a donkey or ox cart. But now that the autumn harvest had just ended, the oxen and donkeys in the brigade were exhausted, and no one was going to the county town.

It takes an hour to ride a bicycle from Lujia Village Brigade to the county town, and at least three hours to walk.

Ma Xiaojuan didn’t want to walk, but knowing that Su Mo had a bicycle, she came over to ask.

“Sure, I’ll go with you tomorrow,” Su Mo readily agreed. It just so happened that she also wanted to go to the county town to buy some things.

“Good sister.” Ma Xiaojuan clapped her hands and smiled, “Tomorrow I’ll treat you to a delicious meal at the state-owned restaurant.”

“Okay, then I’ll save my appetite and have a good meal tomorrow,” Su Mo smiled back.

After chatting for a while, Ma Xiaojuan and the other person prepared to head back. They wanted to go up the mountain again in the afternoon to see if there were any other mountain products to pick up.

Su Mo took a straw basket and filled it halfway with chestnuts and walnuts for Ma Xiaojuan to take back. It wasn’t much, probably only two or three pounds.

After the two left, Su Mo washed the remaining wild vegetables, took a short nap, and then pushed her bicycle out.