Chapter 6

Early the next morning, before the rooster had even crowed, Wu Xiaoxiao woke up. After a restful sleep, she felt particularly refreshed.

The sky was just beginning to lighten, and she listened closely—there was no sound from the neighbors yet, so her mother was probably still asleep. She quietly went about washing up before stepping outside.

Wu Xiaoxiao headed straight to the small plot of land in front of their house.

At this time, all the families were working in the commune’s fields together, but each household still had a small piece of land in front of their house where they could plant vegetables.

Zhang Fang was a diligent person. Even though there was plenty of work to do in the commune every day, she made sure to tend to their little plot of land meticulously.

The plot was small but neatly planted with eggplants, long beans, loofah, soybeans, chives, and even a bit of peanuts. There was a cucumber vine trailing along as well.

It was early summer, the perfect time for vegetables to grow, and the eggplant flowers had already wilted. Now, little eggplants could be seen poking their heads out from under the lush green leaves, and in a little while, they would plump up nicely.

The loofah was swaying on its vine, and next to it, a small yellow flower bloomed on a cucumber vine, with the cucumbers hanging in rows. They looked delightful.

Wu Xiaoxiao had the wood-type ability, which made her instinctively feel a connection to plants. Seeing all these vegetables in the garden made her feel even more pleased.

She approached the cucumber vine, and the small cucumber flower seemed to respond, gently swaying.

Wu Xiaoxiao activated her ability and lightly waved her hand at the cucumbers. Before her eyes, the cucumbers, which had been about the size of a palm, visibly began to grow larger. In just a short while, they had grown to the length of her forearm. They looked fresher and more vibrant, and even the little flower seemed to perk up.

She applied her ability to a few other small cucumbers, and soon enough, she had harvested more than ten beautiful cucumbers.

Her ability could cause mutated plants within a radius of several hundred meters to grow explosively. However, using it on just a few cucumbers had already made her feel a bit drained. Still, having this power was an unexpected blessing, and she wasn’t greedy.

—-

After harvesting the cucumbers, she also picked some mature eggplants and a handful of beans before heading back inside.

By the time she returned, Zhang Fang had already woken up. Seeing Wu Xiaoxiao come back from outside, she quickly walked over to take the vegetables from her. “Xiaoxiao, why are you up so early? You should have slept a little longer. How do you feel? Are you dizzy?”

“I’m fine, Mom. I slept really well last night, no problem at all, don’t worry. Have you washed up yet?”

“Not yet.”

“Then hurry up and wash up. I’ll make breakfast. I went to check the garden, and the cucumbers and eggplants are ready. There are still a lot of cucumbers. I’ll also take some notes to the young intellectuals later and bring some to others,” Wu Xiaoxiao said.

—-

In the summer, vegetables grew quickly, and Zhang Fang didn’t think anything was strange. She nodded, “I saw the cucumbers just a little bit yesterday, and now they’ve grown so big? That’s really fast. These are the seedlings from your uncle’s place, and they said they were specially brought in from the county grain research station. They really are growing well.”

Wu Xiaoxiao nodded. “It’s probably because the weather has been sunny lately, so they’re growing especially fast. The cucumbers are so fresh right after picking them. I’ll make a salad and some corn cakes later. Mom, you need to eat enough, or you’ll get hungry when you’re working.”

Zhang Fang didn’t say much in response. She could eat a little less at dinner, but when going to work in the morning, she needed to work for at least five hours before resting. Even if she had to save, she couldn’t skip meals.

Oil was very precious at this time, and the only seasonings in the house were sugar, salt, soy sauce, and vinegar.

—-

The meal was delicious. Not only was the rice tender, but it also had a slight fragrance. Paired with freshly baked corn cakes and porridge made with sweet potato slices, Zhang Fang ate until her stomach was full.

Usually, Xiaoxiao would cook, but today it seemed particularly tasty. After finishing her meal, Zhang Fang was about to head to work when she saw Wu Xiaoxiao putting a few cucumbers into a basket and wrapping a notebook in a new cloth bag. Thinking of what happened last night, Zhang Fang hesitated and asked, “Xiaoxiao, what’s going on between you and that Gu Zhenghong?”

Wu Xiaoxiao was momentarily stunned. “What’s going on? There’s nothing going on. He just has more books, so I borrow the ones I don’t have to read.”

Her answer was firm. From the memories, the original owner didn’t have any special feelings for this Gu Zhenghong.

“That’s good. Xiaoxiao, your mom knows that Gu Zhenghong is handsome, but he’s not from here. I’ve heard people in the village say that he’s from the capital. Even though he’s working with us in the village now, he definitely won’t stay here forever.”

Zhang Fang was worried that her daughter might have feelings for the young man, but she didn’t know what else to say.

This Gu Zhenghong usually kept himself neat and tidy, was gentle and polite, and never slacked off while working at the commune. He didn’t act superior because he was from the city, so many people were quite fond of him.

Everyone in the village knew that, although these young people had come down to the countryside for re-education by the poor and lower-middle peasants, they would definitely return to the city eventually. City folks and country folks were from different worlds.

She had never heard of any male intellectual youths marrying here. Instead, she had heard that in a neighboring village, a male intellectual youth had tricked a girl into pregnancy and refused to marry her, which caused the girl to jump into a river.

Zhang Fang believed that Xiaoxiao wouldn’t cause such a scandal, but whenever she thought about how much Xiaoxiao cared for Gu Zhenghong’s notebook yesterday, her heart would flutter anxiously.

With a worried heart, she asked again, “Xiaoxiao, you really don’t have any feelings for that Gu Zhenghong?”

Wu Xiaoxiao immediately understood her concern. “Mom don’t worry. I really don’t have any feelings for Gu Zhenghong I just borrowed a notebook from him. I already returned it today.”

She explained, “I’ve finished reading all the books they have, and there’s nothing left to look at. I can’t find those books anywhere outside, so I sent them some fruits and vegetables as a way to thank them for lending me their books all this time.”