Chapter 15

The Xu family was living a peaceful life, except for their worries about their eldest daughter who was working as an educated youth in Yunnan Province, everything else was pretty good.

Xu Di changed out of her sweater and trousers and put on a padded jacket and padded trousers. Snowflakes were falling outside the window, signaling the arrival of winter!

“Brrr, it’s so cold!”

“How about it, did you send the things?”

“I sent them, the cotton fabric, liberation shoes, cloth shoes, ointment, and the clothes Xu Di made for her sister, I sent them all. I also brought back something Xu Mei sent back, I don’t know what it is.”

Xu Di’s father put down the package in his hand, his hands were red from the cold.

“Dad, have some hot water.”

Xu Di brought over a teacup of hot water, her father’s nose was red from the cold.

“Will my sister be able to come back for the New Year?”

“I don’t know, she’s been gone for almost two years, she should have some time off. Luckily, your sister is in the production and construction corps, she gets paid, she does office work, otherwise, who knows how tired she would be!”

Xu Di’s mother sighed as she unpacked the package, Xu Mei would be twenty-one years old for the New Year, she was of marriageable age, what would happen if she couldn’t come back for a while?

Their batch of educated youths who went to Yunnan Province couldn’t easily return to the city. She didn’t agree to let Xu Mei take over her job.

Xu Di’s mother sighed, her heart was hanging in the air. And there was Xu Di, she was about to graduate, and she didn’t have a job yet.

“Wow, so much brown sugar, and mushrooms, are these dried fruits?”

Xu Di’s sister-in-law looked at the package her mother-in-law was unpacking, it was full of local products sent back by Xu Mei.

“Mom, there’s a letter, see what my sister wrote.”

Xu Di took the letter, her mother didn’t know many characters.

“Xu Di, hurry up and see, what did your sister say, how is she doing there?”

Everyone in the Xu family was staring at Xu Di, urging her to read the letter quickly.

Xu Di tore open the envelope and took out the letter.

“My sister said that everything is pretty good there, she just misses home a little. Her work isn’t too tiring, it’s just that the climate is humid in the south, but she’s slowly getting used to it.

Mom, my sister said she’s dating someone!”

Xu Di saw the key information and shouted excitedly.

“Dating someone? Where is the guy from, what does he do, is he a local?”

Xu Di’s mother was anxious, if she married a local, there would be even less hope of her coming back.

“No, he’s also an educated youth, from Shanghai.”

Xu Di read the rest of the content and quickly told her mother, she was anxious.

“Shanghai, that’s not close either, why didn’t she find a fellow villager from Beijing?”

Xu Di’s mother was still dissatisfied, they were so far apart, even if she returned to the city, they wouldn’t be close.

The others didn’t say anything, they were over a thousand kilometers apart, they couldn’t stop her.

Xu Mei was always decisive, otherwise, she wouldn’t have gone to the countryside.

Xu Di didn’t know if Xu Mei’s choice was right, she had heard in her previous life that Shanghai locals were very exclusive, she didn’t know what would happen in the future.

The atmosphere in the Xu family was a little down because of Xu Mei’s matter, they all went to bed early.

Xu Di locked the door and entered the space.

It had been over three months, and the space had changed a lot.

The black soil that had been empty before was now full of crops.

The dozen or so fruit trees had grown over a meter tall, they would bloom and bear fruit next year.

One year in the space was equivalent to over three years outside.

Under the trees, flocks of chickens were chirping incessantly.

Xu Di had already made a separation, the laying hens were together, the roosters were together, the newly hatched chicks were together, and the chicks with adult feathers were together. She had used willow branches to make dividing walls, willow branches had a high survival rate, and they were already over a meter tall.

Xu Di used straw ropes to tie the willow branches together, forming tree walls, preventing them from crossing each other.

From the original seventeen chickens, there were thirteen hens and four roosters. After they started laying eggs, Xu Di would collect forty or fifty eggs, put them in the duck feather bag to hatch, and so on, the number of chickens in the space had already reached hundreds.

She had accumulated a lot of corn, enough to feed the chickens for a year.

She would plant corn again next year, and she would need to find some other varieties of fruit trees. She had already divided and planted a large area of chives, she had bundled the harvested chives into half-jin bundles, and she had already accumulated a lot.

Speaking of this steelyard, she had also bought it from the scrap yard, and she had bought it in batches, the weight was found later. In novels, those time-traveling women would find all sorts of treasures in the scrap yard, like gold bars, antiques, calligraphy and paintings, they would find them in piles.

But Xu Di had been there several times, she bought a stone mill, put together a steelyard, and also found some children’s books, and a set of “Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry Self-Study Series” published by Shanghai People’s Publishing House, some new, some old, she finally found all seventeen volumes.

She hadn’t found even a silver coin, let alone gold bars, diamonds, jewelry boxes, or other valuable things.

She didn’t know if she was unlucky or if there were no antiques, calligraphy and paintings, or those kinds of things, but she hadn’t seen any.

Xu Di didn’t know how to use the steelyard, she had specifically learned how to use this old-fashioned steelyard, she had hardly seen this kind of steelyard in her previous life.

Winter break was coming in half a month, Xu Di planned to start her small business as soon as the break started.

She didn’t dare to go to the black market, but she could try the family housing compounds. At the same time, she could also find out some information, inquire about job openings.

Soon, winter break arrived, Xu Di went back to the countryside first, to deliver some food to her grandparents, the brown sugar, dried mushrooms, and dried fruits that her sister had sent, she also sent some of those, and she took Xu Jun with her.

After returning from her grandparents’ house, Xu Di found an excuse, saying that she was going to work a temporary shift for someone.

“Xu Di, is this reliable?”

“Mom, my classmate’s friend introduced me, her sister is pregnant and has a strong reaction, she wants to find someone to work a month-long shift. The salary is mine, it’s only a month, at most I’ll work until the end of the year.”

Xu Di had no choice, she couldn’t go out to sell things every day without an excuse!

Because it was far from home, her mother and the others wouldn’t go to confirm, and Xu Di’s classmates were all from the nearby family housing compound, her mother didn’t suspect anything.

The next day, Xu Di went out after breakfast.

She planned to go to the family housing compound near the so-called factory where she was going to work a shift and take a look around.

The eggs in the grocery store were about five cents each, they were cheaper in the summer. There were also chives, but they weren’t sold in grocery stores, they were sold by individuals who were engaging in speculation and selling things secretly.

Xu Di didn’t know the exact price, she had only seen it once from afar, she hadn’t heard how much they were being sold for.

In the space, besides chives and eggs, she had also ground some cornmeal in her spare time, but she didn’t have anything else to sell.

She had also planted some tomatoes and cucumbers, but those couldn’t be taken out, they were for Xu Di to eat, she couldn’t even share them with her family.

She didn’t plan to tell anyone about her space.

Secrets were only secrets if you were the only one who knew them, if a second person knew, it wasn’t a secret anymore.

Xu Di was already prepared, she found an old dog fur hat that her father had discarded, an old jacket of her brother’s, and sewed a large mask.

She was fully armed, except for her eyes, nothing was exposed. Even if her mother saw her, she might not recognize her daughter.

Everything was ready, Xu Di was ready to start selling.

She had a large basket on her arm, inside were six bundles of chives and dozens of eggs.

Xu Di looked around, there were no armbands, she took a deep breath, and stepped into the family housing compound in front of her.