Chapter 91: Director Niu and the Horse Tail

In the capital city, outside the supply and marketing cooperative in the western district, Director Niu straightened her crooked hat and stepped out, looking quite unhappy.

She still hadn’t managed to buy anything!

With the New Year approaching, she still hadn’t prepared all the gifts needed for the occasion. This year was a critical time for Old Gao’s promotion, and there were many important favors to be exchanged. Nothing could be done carelessly.

Unfortunately, this year the city’s supplies were becoming tight again. Everyone was rushing to the supply and marketing cooperative. On normal days, people barely spent any money, but during the New Year, everyone was clutching stacks of cash, desperately trying to grab whatever they could.

This was her third trip, and still, she hadn’t found anything satisfactory.

Furrowing her brows, Director Niu returned to the compound. Before she could enter, someone called out to her.

She looked up to see Xiao Yang, a postal worker.

“Director Niu, there’s a letter for your family. I was just about to deliver it to you!”

Taking the letter, Director Niu saw that it was from Hei Province.

As she walked home, she wondered. They didn’t have any relatives or friends in Hei Province, did they?

When she got home, she opened the letter and saw the name “Ming Dai” at the end of the page. After thinking for a moment, she remembered who it was.

The letter wasn’t long. It started with simple greetings, expressing gratitude to her family, and then described life in Liujiawan.

Director Niu wasn’t particularly interested in Ming Dai’s rural life, but she was intrigued by the descriptions in the letter—endless supply of red dates, chestnuts waiting to be peeled, hazelnuts to crack open, and walnuts to smash.

What’s more, every household had a surplus of dried goods—wood ear mushrooms, mushrooms, and other similar items.

In the end, the letter mentioned the grass market, describing how meat jerky was sold in burlap sacks, and rows of hanging dried chickens and rabbits. Everything was cheap, but the problem was that the villagers had no money, so they couldn’t sell much.

The letter concluded by noting that while the villagers had enough food and were well-fed, daily necessities were in short supply. For something as basic as soap, people had to rush to the supply and marketing cooperative. Things like gloves, enamel basins, and pillow covers were even harder to come by.

The more Director Niu read, the more excited she became. She could get those things!

Her family came from a textile factory, and every year they received so many goods that they could never use them all. They could spare quite a few things for her. Just the gloves alone were delivered in boxes, and things like pillow covers and pillowcases were never in short supply at their home.

As for soap and such, she remembered that Old Gao had a good friend who worked at a soap factory!

Looking at the contents of the letter, the more Director Niu thought about it, the more excited she became. When Director Gao came home from work, he was shocked by his wife’s enthusiasm, and his waist couldn’t help but ache.

Director Niu saw him holding his back and rolled her eyes. “What are you thinking about! I don’t need you today! Look at this!”

Crisis averted, Director Gao straightened up immediately and took the letter, reading it carefully.

After finishing, he let out a long sip of hot tea. “The young comrade is doing well in the countryside, she’s quite clever.”

Director Niu snorted. “Didn’t you notice anything else?”

Director Gao thought for a moment, then his eyes lit up. “You mean…”

Director Niu nodded. “Let’s gather some daily necessities and trade them with Ming Dai for some local specialties from the village. She’s quite close with the village head’s family, so it should be fine!”

Director Gao thought about his competition at the hospital and nodded. “If we really manage to get these things, my promotion to senior director will basically be settled.”

Director Niu snorted again. “If it weren’t for your nonsense, do you think I’d be so desperate, running to the supply and marketing cooperative again and again?”

Director Gao stood up, walked over, and wrapped his arms around his wife’s slightly plump waist. “What can I say? I’m lucky, marrying a peony like you.”

With just a few words, he managed to make Director Niu smile brightly.

The two of them first sent Ming Dai a letter and a package, expressing their desire to correspond with her long-term, as if they were distant relatives.

They also subtly suggested exchanging some of their unused daily necessities for some of her surplus local specialties and food.

Included in the package was a bag of White Rabbit milk candy and a trendy red scarf, which Director Niu had originally bought for their daughter but reluctantly gave up to win Ming Dai over.

It was a week later before Ming Dai received the letter.

At that moment, she was in the space, harvesting some leeks.

Outside the space, the vegetables were growing well. Though the chives and yellow chives were still delicate and thin, they were already edible.

The oyster mushrooms had mostly entered their fruiting stage and were ready for harvesting.

The baby bok choy and spinach, however, needed another half a month to mature; for now, they were still just tender seedlings.

Ming Dai planned to find time to go to the county town with Liu Dazhu. She wanted to see if she could supply vegetables to the county government compound. More importantly, she needed to investigate why Zhou Sinian’s records were being held up—this was her best chance to push forward.

Carrying a small bag of mushrooms, Ming Dai called for Zhou Sinian, and the two of them headed toward the village leader’s house.

Over the past few days, it had snowed heavily several times in a row, leaving thick layers of snow on both sides of the road. At night, no one dared to relax. They constantly checked the time to climb onto their roofs and clear the snow, fearing that the weight might cause a collapse.

Before the snow, it was cold; after the snow, it was even colder. At this moment, the roads were empty, not a single person in sight. Bracing against the biting wind, Ming Dai and Zhou Sinian arrived at the village leader’s house, where the family was busy twisting straw ropes in preparation for the upcoming spring.

The courtyard gate was unlocked, so Ming Dai pushed it open and stepped inside.

Zhou Sinian, intrigued by the village leader’s stable, walked straight toward it. Ming Dai saw Liu Laifu, Liu Laiwang, and Liu Laifa there, greeted them, and then carried her basket into the house.

Inside the stable, the three brothers—who were nailing wooden planks—stared at Zhou Sinian, who was fixated on the horses’ tails. They swallowed nervously and quietly hid their hammers.

Inside the house, Liu Dazhu was sitting on the heated brick bed, using the comic books Ming Dai had given him to teach Tiedan how to read, while Goudan was causing mischief on the side.

On the floor, Aunt Huang and her two daughters-in-law were twisting straw ropes, while Xiao Tao and Xiao Xing helped their mother by handing her straw.

Seeing Ming Dai enter, Aunt Huang quickly stood up and welcomed her to sit on the heated bed.

Ming Dai waved her hand. “Auntie, no need. It’s getting dark soon, and I won’t be staying long. I came to find Uncle Village Leader.”

Hearing this, Liu Dazhu looked over. Ming Dai placed her basket on the brick bed and lifted the cloth covering it.

“Uncle, the mushrooms are ready to eat. I can also gather a basket of chives and yellow chives. Do you have time to take me to the county town?”

Liu Dazhu looked at the two mushrooms in the basket with interest, pushed the small table aside, and moved closer.

“These mushrooms look great! How many pounds can you harvest in a day?”

Ming Dai thought for a moment. “Altogether, I have about 300 mushroom bags. I can harvest at least 30 pounds per day. If the conditions improve, I could get up to 50 pounds daily.”

Liu Dazhu’s eyes lit up with excitement. “That much?!”

Ming Dai smiled and nodded. “There will only be more, not less.”

Liu Dazhu rubbed his tobacco pipe and said excitedly, “Alright! Xiao Ming, this is a great achievement! If the county’s procurement station is willing to take these mushrooms, we can expand large-scale cultivation next year!”

Ming Dai’s eyes gleamed as she spoke. “Uncle, I think delivering them to the county government would be better than sending them to the supply and marketing cooperative.”

Liu Dazhu was puzzled. “Why send them there? The procurement station collects mountain goods; the county government doesn’t.”

Ming Dai looked at Liu Dazhu seriously. “Uncle, our goal is to get the county and the commune to approve large-scale winter vegetable cultivation next year, right? To achieve that, we need to build specialized insulated greenhouses, which require a significant investment. Does our village have the funds for that?”

Liu Dazhu’s face turned awkward. They were still deep in debt to the commune—of course, they had no money.

“If we send the vegetables to the county government, the leaders there will taste fresh winter vegetables. Once they enjoy them, they’ll naturally become curious about where they came from. That would be the perfect time for us to step forward and make our request. But if we simply send them to the procurement station, there’s no guarantee that the county leaders will ever get to eat them.”

Liu Dazhu suddenly understood Ming Dai’s reasoning.

Aunt Huang picked up a bundle of freshly twisted straw rope from the ground and threw it at Liu Dazhu. “Enough! Just do what Xiao Ming says! You’ve been a stubborn fool all these years and still haven’t paid off the village’s debt. Now that Xiao Ming has come up with such a great way for us to make money, why aren’t you moving fast to make it happen?!”

Liu Dazhu slapped the kang mat and declared, “Alright! That’s what we’ll do! I’ll go find Qingmin right now and figure out how to get the vegetables into the county government!”

With that, he climbed down from the heated bed, picked up the basket, and left immediately.

Seeing this, Ming Dai also bid farewell. Aunt Huang stopped her for a moment, handing her a small bag of corn grits before letting her go.

On the way home, she called for Zhou Sinian, only to notice something in his hand halfway through.

“What are you carrying?” she asked.

Zhou Sinian’s eyes sparkled as he proudly showed her his prize.

Ming Dai’s mouth fell open as she stared at the familiar-looking bundle of long black hair.

“Zhou Sinian… did you cut off a horse’s tail?!!”

Zhou Sinian nodded happily. “The hair is long! Long hair is good for knitting sweaters!”

Ming Dai was speechless for a long time and made up her mind—she wasn’t going to the village leader’s house again anytime soon!