Chapter 30.2

“I boast because I have meat to eat,” Lin’s mother said proudly. “Do you have any?”

“You…”                                       

“Stop arguing, the manager is here.”

It’s unclear who said this, but suddenly the warehouse manager Lin Zhenzhong arrived.

He was the second cousin of the brigade leader’s family and had graduated from elementary school.

He worked as a scorekeeper and warehouse manager in the brigade.

His wife, Chen Na, was also sent to the countryside as an educated youth in the same group as the original host.

When Chen Na and Lin Zhenzhong got married, the original host had already married Lin Guodong, so she had attended their wedding.

Everyone hurried to Lin Zhenzhong’s side to collect their tools and went to the fields. When it was Ning Shu’s turn, she said, “I want a sickle.”

Lin Zhenzhong was surprised to see Ning Shu collecting tools. He asked uncertainly, “A sickle? Are you going to cut rice?” Could his sister-in-law use a sickle?

“Nn,” Ning Shu replied.

Lin Zhenzhong didn’t say much either. He gave Ning Shu the sickle and added, “Then you go to cut…”

He arranged the work for her so she could leave.

Ning Shu didn’t say much either. She took Yi Bao and Er Bao with her and left.

Generally, when a family goes to work, they go together, even if they’re going to separate areas.

However, because Ning Shu came unexpectedly today, she didn’t go to work with the people from the old house.

The place where Ning Shu went to work was between the educated youth and the villagers, where the fields hadn’t been allocated yet.

When she arrived, many people were already there.

“Why is she here to cut rice?”

“Rare, she came to work today.”

“Can she cut rice?”

Ning Shu paid no attention to the whispers of the crowd. She carried her three children to the edge of the field, laid out a grass mat, and let the three children sit on it.

Then she said to Yi Bao and Er Bao, “When one of you goes to pick rice ears, the other should stay with San Bao. Both of you can’t go pick rice ears at the same time, understand? If one gets tired, the other will take over. If both get tired, rest here. And there’s food in the basket; if you get hungry, eat.”

“We understand, Mom.”

“Mom, I want to go pick rice ears first,” Er Bao said eagerly.

He preferred to go pick rice ears than to stay with his younger brother.

“Tell your brother,” Ning Shu instructed, then she went to the field.

Er Bao looked at Yi Bao. “Brother…”

“Rock, paper, scissors.” Yi Bao used to be a good older brother who always yielded to his younger brother because he thought that’s what older brothers should do. However, ever since his mother praised him for using “rock, paper, scissors” to arrange the queue for the children, he realized the usefulness of the game and started using it for everything.

“Ning Zhiqing, why did you come to work today?” Old educated youth Ren Ling saw Ning Shu in the field as she arrived.

She was right beside her and greeted her with a smile.

Ning Shu and Ren Ling were sent to the countryside in the same group.

They were 18 years old when they went to the countryside as the first batch of educated youth, and now, five years later, at 23, Ren Ling still hadn’t married. Actually, now she was feeling a bit lost, unsure if her persistence was still necessary.

Especially seeing all the educated youth getting married, she became increasingly uncertain about what to do.

“Sister Ren,” Ning Shu didn’t say why she came, just greeted her.

Ren Ling didn’t mind her attitude. In fact, they used to get along well when Ning Shu first came to the countryside.

At that time, Ning Shu was enthusiastic about working and was a good worker. It was only after she married Lin Guodong that she stopped interacting with the educated youth.

As Ning Shu was about to step into the rice field, she suddenly stopped. What did she see?

Snails.

Oh my god, she had been so focused on the wild vegetables she could sell that she forgot about the snails.

Stir-fried snails, spicy snails, and a glass of beer. What a perfect combination.

Ning Shu looked towards the riverbank and saw Yi Bao with San Bao Bao, while Er Bao was nowhere to be seen, presumably off picking rice ears.

The rice here had just started to be harvested, so there weren’t any rice ears to pick yet.

When it comes to picking rice ears, there are two places to do it.

First, after the rice is harvested and the stalks are taken away, there are broken rice ears left in the open field that can be picked.

Second, after the rice straw is thrown aside following threshing, there are grains left on the straw that can also be picked.

This is because the threshing machines used at this time are very rough and can’t completely remove the grains.

So, since Er Bao wasn’t here, he must have gone to pick rice ears in another rice field.

Ning Shu felt a bit regretful. If Er Bao hadn’t left, she would have asked him to help pick snails.

Therefore, Ning Shu had to do it herself. She quickly picked up the snails and then started cutting the rice.

It had been more than ten years since Ning Shu last cut rice, or rather, she hadn’t worked in the fields since high school.

She studied in the city during high school and rarely returned to the village.

By that time, her grandmother was already old, and they didn’t grow rice in the fields anymore.

When she was about ten years old, she often helped her grandmother cut rice in the fields, so she was quite skilled at it.

When the head of the brigade heard that Ning Shu had come to work, he couldn’t believe it and came to see for himself.

He saw her cutting rice with skill and precision. Although her speed couldn’t match that of the man, it was much better than the average person.

The head of the brigade nodded in satisfaction.

He remembered Ning Shu’s dedication when she first arrived in the countryside.

Now that she had come to work, she should gradually improve.

Ning Shu was unaware of what the head of the brigade was thinking.

She continued picking snails and cutting rice. There were indeed many snails in the rice fields.

The reason these snails hadn’t been picked yet was because the brigade prohibited people from entering the fields before the rice harvest.

If one person entered to pick snails, others would follow, potentially damaging the rice.

Therefore, before the rice harvest, people from all over the area watched over the fields to prevent villagers from entering.

After cutting for a while, Ning Shu’s hands started to hurt, and she noticed that her palms were red, with signs of blistering.

Not only were her hands sore, but her back was also aching terribly.

She had originally come to work just to earn some work points and pass the time, but now she couldn’t bear it anymore.

Ning Shu decided not to come in the afternoon. She didn’t want to suffer for just a few work points.

She didn’t know that the captain’s opinion of her was changing.

If she didn’t come in the afternoon, she would be in trouble again.

After harvesting rice for a while, Ning Shu’s two pants pockets and two outer pockets of clothes were filled with snails before she went ashore.

“Mom…” Yi Bao was feeding San Bao with a small piece of pear when he saw Mom coming ashore.

He quickly put away the pear, opened the military water bottle, and said, “Mom, are you thirsty? Drink some water.”

“Thank you, Yi Bao.” Ning Shu was indeed a little thirsty.

She took a few sips of water, handed the military water bottle to Yi Bao, and then picked up his little basket, taking out all the snails from the pockets.

“Wow, Mom, did you also pick snails?” Yi Bao’s eyes widened like brass bells.

“Mom, can we eat snails for lunch?”

Ning Shu said, “We won’t eat them for lunch. We’ll pick more today and keep them in the water to let the snails spit out the dirt threads. We’ll eat them tonight.”

“Then when I go to pick rice later, I’ll pick more snails.” Yi Bao actually forgot the taste of snails.

But kids are like that, they want to eat when they see something.

“Mom…” Er Bao ran over with his small basket.

Although Er Bao wasn’t picking rice here, when he looked at Mom going to find his brother and San Bao, he also came ashore. “Mom, I picked rice and snails.”

Kids who go to pick rice will also pick snails.

“Er Bao is amazing, look.” Ning Shu showed him the snails she picked, looking quite proud.

Er Bao looked at his small basket, then at Mom’s basket, and exclaimed, “Mom, you picked so many snails.”

Ning Shu smiled, “You don’t need to pick rice later, just pick snails in the rice field next to me.”

“Okay.” Er Bao was willing to follow Mom, of course.

“Er Bao, take a rest for a while, I’ll go pick snails.” Yi Bao also wanted to go and called his younger brother.

“I’m not tired.” Er Bao looked innocent, “I’m not tired, I want to pick snails.” He didn’t want to rest, he thought it would be fun to pick snails with Mom and San Bao.

Yi Bao was annoyed, “You’re tired.”

“I’m not tired.” Er Bao felt his brother was strange today. He really wasn’t tired, why did he say he was tired?

Ning Shu smiled and shook her head. “Then Er Bao will go with me to pick snails. When he gets tired, he can switch with Yi Bao.”

“Going to pick snails!” Er Bao happily followed along.

Yi Bao watched Er Bao trailing behind them, thinking to himself that when Er Bao got tired and it was his turn to switch, he would also have to pick snails for a long time.

At that moment, a bicycle with a ringing bell entered the village.

Upon hearing the bicycle bell, many people turned their heads to see the mailman. The mailman always rang his bicycle bell when he arrived, signaling the arrival of good news.

However, Ning Shu’s rice field was not by the roadside, so she didn’t hear the bell.

The mailman knew Ning Shu well.

After all, he had been delivering mail or parcels to her every month for five years.

So, while ringing his bell, he rode towards Ning Shu’s house.

At this point, a young person working by the roadside called out to the mailman, “Comrade, do you have any mail for Qin Ya?”

It turned out to be the female youth, Qin Ya.

The mailman stopped. “Qin Ya, there’s a letter for you.”

He naturally remembered who had mail when he came this way.

As the mailman handed Qin Ya her letter, someone else asked, “Comrade, is there any mail for Ning Shu? She’s not at home, she’s working. If you have her mail, don’t bother going to her house; it’s a wasted trip.”

Ning Shu had been seen at the main playground in the morning, so everyone knew she was working today.

And since everyone knew she received mail every month, this person was kindly reminding the mailman.

The mailman listened and said, “There really is mail for Comrade Ning Shu, but I don’t know which field she’s working in. Comrade, could you do me a favor and go call her?”

Qin Ya said, “Let me go ask, please wait a moment.”

“Ah, thank you so much, Comrade Qin,” the mailman replied gratefully.

Before checking her own mail, Qin Ya went to inquire about Ning Shu’s whereabouts and then went to call her.

Ning Shu had suddenly come to work today, and her location was a bit out of the way.

Qin Ya walked for quite a while before reaching her. She saw Ning Shu beside Ren Ling and called out loudly, “Comrade Ning Shu… Comrade Ning Shu…”

Upon hearing someone calling her name, Ning Shu and the two brothers boys looked towards the shore.

Even the others working nearby turned to look.

Ning Shu: “Comrade, is there something you need?” She didn’t know this person.

“It’s me, Qin Zhiqing,” said Er Bao, who was picking snails by her side.

“Qin Zhiqing exchanged sugar for us, and we helped her gather firewood.” So, in Er Bao’s heart, Qin Zhiqing was a good person.

“Comrade Ning Shu, the mailman is here with your letters,” Qin Ya said.

Upon hearing that she had mail, Ning Shu’s first thought was of Lin Guodong.

She hurried ashore, unsure if there was a train ticket.

Er Bao was used to his father’s letters, so he didn’t care much and continued picking snails.

“Guodong must be sending money. He sends letters around this time every month, and Ning Zhiqing goes to town or the county the next day,” Qin Ya said.

“Yeah, I bet Ning Zhiqing won’t come to work tomorrow.”

“Then I bet she won’t come the day after tomorrow.”

“I bet she won’t come the day after the day after tomorrow.”

“I bet…”

If Ning Shu knew, she’d have to say, “You guys really underestimate me. I won’t come this afternoon.”

Following Qin Ya, Ning Shu saw the mailman passing by. “Comrade…”

“Ning Comrade, here are your letters, two of them.” The mailman handed her the letters and left after she signed.

Ning Shu knew why there were two letters. One was a letter from Lin Guodong, which would contain receipts.

The other was a remittance notice in the form of a letter.

In this era, due to the lack of internet, communication between rural areas and the outside world relied on postal services. Remittance notices in letter form required the sender to fill out the form, along with the remittance, to the remittance office. The remittance office would then fill out the remittance slip, hand the receipt to the sender, and send the remittance notice to the cashing office.

Once the cashing office received the remittance notice, they dispatched mail carriers to deliver them to the recipients, who could then collect the remittance at the post office.

So Ning Shu needed the remittance notice to withdraw the money from the post office.

However, when Ning Shu opened the remittance notice, she was stunned.

Then she widened her eyes. Unlike the usual 30 yuan remittance, this time Lin Guodong had sent 250 yuan.

This… this… is it because I opened the remittance notice differently? Is that why there’s so much this time?

Ning Shu immediately opened the letter, expecting an explanation.

Could it be that there’s money to be passed on to Lin’s father and mother? Ning Shu was careful as she opened the letter, knowing there would be tickets inside.

Sure enough… Ning Shu didn’t immediately look at the ticket. She put the ticket back into the envelope and continued reading the letter.