Chapter 41: Six-Zero Farm System (7)

The afterglow of the setting sun, accompanied by crimson evening clouds, left a final, brilliant streak of color on the horizon.

Above the staff quarters of the Cotton Textile Factory, wisps of cooking smoke rose one after another.

Weary birds returned to the woods, and those who had been out were also heading home.

The streets and alleys were filled with bustling pedestrians; those getting off work were heading home, and those finishing school were doing the same.

Xie Zhaohua and Yu Huizhu, the couple, were also walking hurriedly among them.

In truth, Xie Zhaohua had wanted to return early to see his eldest daughter off, but he had been called away at the last minute by the Workshop Director to repair a spinning machine, and by the time he finished, it was already this late.

"Lao Xie, Yang Yang has likely boarded the train by now. It's all my fault; no matter how busy I was, I should have come back to make her some food for the train. But the workshop was especially busy today, and I truly couldn't spare the time..."

"Sigh, there was nothing to be done about that," Xie Zhaohua sighed. "Work is important, after all. Yang Yang will understand."

"Yes, yes, she is much more sensible than before," Yu Huizhu squeezed out through her teeth.

Sensible my foot!

She opened her mouth and demanded three hundred yuan right away.

Just thinking about the money and coupons that had been bled away, the three jin of new cotton originally saved for the twins' winter coats at the end of the year, and the piece of blue printed cloth she had intended to use for new curtains in her son's room, made her heart ache uncontrollably.

Her heart ached so much that she hadn't closed her eyes all night.

She had been distracted at work all day and nearly caused an accident because of it; and now he wanted her to make food for that little hussy? Dream on!

"Dad! Mom! This is bad!"

As soon as they entered the door, they heard their second daughter's shrill voice.

Yu Huizhu couldn't help but glare at her irritably: "What are you screeching about! How old are you, still acting so rowdy."

"It's not that, Mom, Eldest Sister took all the food!"

"!!!"

Seeing the note Xie Yang had left on the table in a flourish of calligraphy, then looking up to see the cupboard and food cabinet as empty as if they had been ransacked, Yu Huizhu felt her entire being fall apart.

"She, she, how could she dare!"

"Sigh, in the end, we still wronged her," Father Xie sighed gloomily. "We couldn't even come back to see her off before her long journey, and she had to pack her own luggage and prepare her own food. It is we, as her parents, who are in the wrong."

Seeing that half a tin of tea leaves remained, Father Xie said with relief: "This child doesn't say it, but she still has me, her father, in her heart."

Yu Huizhu widened her eyes: "... Lao Xie! What are you saying! Your daughter picked the lock and stole things from the house, and we're just going to let it go like this?" Was this old man senile?

Father Xie frowned: "Keep your voice down! How is this stealing? She is also a child of our Xie Family. By rights, we should have helped her pack these things. She must have spent a lot of effort getting all this together by herself. I don't even know if she made it to the train on time, or if she managed to grab a seat. Chuan Nan is so far away, the journey must take four or five days. What will she do if she didn't get a seat..."

"..."

Xie Yang, of course, had grabbed a seat; it was her burly aunt and cousin who had helped her secure it, and it was the best spot—far from the toilet and by the window on the side.

After eating a meal of dumplings at her aunt's house and being forced to take a nap, she woke up to find an extra parcel, which was supplies her aunt's family had gathered for her at the last minute:

There was a pair of cloth shoes and two pairs of insoles hand-stitched by her aunt's mother-in-law;

There were National Grain Coupons, Cloth Coupons, Sugar Coupons, and Kerosene Coupons that her aunt and uncle had entrusted others to exchange for her, along with several bags of ready-to-eat food and long-lasting salted fish and cured meat;

There was a kerosene lamp that her cousin had managed to get through a classmate with better connections;

Even her two younger cousins, upon returning home at noon and learning she was going to the countryside in Chuan Nan, had taken half a day off to climb trees and raid bird nests everywhere, managing to stuff a pocketful of bird eggs for her before she left, which they boiled for her to eat on the train.

In truth, when Xie Yang came, she only wanted to say goodbye to her aunt's family, as the mountains were high and the waters long, and there would likely be no chance to meet again. She had not expected this family to exhaust everything they had to help her.

Even though she had lived through so many lives and seen all kinds of people, and very few people or things could move her anymore, she was truly touched at this moment.

She did not refuse the kindness of Xie Chunlan's family; there would be plenty of time in the future, and there would always be a chance to repay them.

Xie Chunlan had originally wanted her to take those four hundred yuan to keep on her person, but how could Xie Yang accept that?

Not to mention that her aunt's family wasn't exactly well-off, and over two hundred of that had been borrowed by her and her husband from everywhere.

"Aunt, I have money."

"You having money is your business; this is a little token of my heart. The journey is long and the way is far, and I won't be able to look after you. If you carry more money, I will feel more at ease."

Xie Chunlan was mainly considering that her niece was sixteen; if she were in the city, she would be married within a year or two. Now that she had gone to the countryside, if she happened to find a partner and get married there, and she couldn't get leave to go over, this money could serve as her dowry.

But that was the worst-case scenario; Xie Chunlan still hoped her niece could return to the city.

Xie Chunlan insisted on giving it to her, and Xie Yang was truly helpless.

After some pushing and pulling, she finally accepted fifty yuan.

She could just top it up into the System Mall later and buy something suitable to send back.

The train started moving, and Xie Chunlan's family ran alongside the departing train for a stretch, shouting as they ran:

"Yang Yang, remember! If you are bullied, you must tell your aunt!"

"Yang Yang, write to us often!"

"Cousin, I'll save the bird eggs I find for you to eat when you come back!"

"Cousin, you must remember us!"

"..."

Xie Yang poked her head out of the train window, waved vigorously at them, and responded to each one.

Not until the green-skinned train chugged away from the platform did she sit back in her seat.

The trains at this time were slow, and the stops along the way were long; the journey from Pingcheng to Chuan Nan would take four and a half days.

Sitting in a hard seat for four and a half days was no pleasant experience.

But in this era, there were few train services, and the only few sleeper carriages had been sold out many days ago. Even if there were tickets, Xie Yang couldn't afford them.

A hard seat was, at least, free.

She looked around; the passengers in this carriage were clearly spirited educated youths.

Before this, they had likely never traveled far from home, and their curiosity and excitement about going to the countryside outweighed their sorrow at parting.

Except for a few female comrades who kept wiping away tears, most of the youths quickly composed themselves and began discussing their future lives.

Xie Yang did not participate.

Xie Yang closed her eyes, appearing to be dozing, but she was actually "window shopping" in the vintage-style "Time-Limited Purchase Column" of the System Mall.

She added daily necessities like oil, Salt, soy sauce, vinegar, pots, bowls, and ladles to her shopping cart first.

She would not buy them just yet; she would wait until she arrived at her destination and got settled before finding an opportunity to take them out.

Besides these, she also scouted out a few gifts for her aunt's family, to be sent back to Pingcheng along with a letter once her life stabilized.

After finishing these, she reviewed the current Task.

Zhao Wanqing had already been reborn and bound to the Super Farm System by now.

Once bound, even the Main System could not forcibly unbind it; it could only first prevent Zhao Wanqing from recruiting people into the Farm Space to farm and work for her.

At worst, it would wait until Zhao Wanqing passed away of natural causes, at which point the Sub-system would naturally unbind from her, and it could then be reclaimed and sent back to the factory for repairs.

It was nothing more than stretching out the duration of the Task.

Xie Yang did not mind this; where was she not doing a Task?

At the very least, this was a Modern Plane and within the borders of China; although it was a bit backward, compared to apocalyptic backgrounds or horror scenarios, this could simply be called heaven.

She would not be naive enough to think that all task worlds were this peaceful and tranquil.

Just like those one hundred lifetimes when she was bound to the Saint System, did she not encounter many, many perilous world backgrounds?

Compared to those, the backward sixties and seventies were actually quite good.