Chapter 516: The Melon-Eating Survival System (15)

When the neighbors heard the Xie Family had received packages—and two at once—they held their rice bowls and curiously walked out of their homes, standing on the steps to eat while asking:

"Auntie, do you still have relatives who send you packages?"

"Where are these relatives from? And they sent two at once!"

"What kind of things did they send? Why are both packages so big? The postage must have cost a lot of money, right?"

Xie Yang listened to the noisy inquiries at her ears, glanced at the return address, and immediately guessed who had sent them.

"They were sent by Xiao Shitou's maternal grandparents."

She said this, then carried the packages inside, blocking out all the curious and envious gazes.

Grandma Xie followed her granddaughter into the house and closed the door behind her, just in case any thick-skinned people tried to follow them in.

"Were they really sent by Xiao Shitou's maternal grandparents?"

"One of the packages was."

Xie Yang took a pair of scissors and deftly cut the stitching of the package, revealing the various items inside:

Twenty jin of Rice, five jin of millet, two jin of Gastrodia, a large bag of sun-dried Wild Mushrooms, a bag of wild chestnuts with the thorny shells removed, a bag of Wild Tea stir-fried by the farm family themselves, and two glass jars of Honey.

Grandma Xie stared in astonishment: "This... what are the in-laws doing?"

"Last time I went to pick up Xiao Shitou, his grandfather and grandmother said that once this year's new grain was distributed, they would send some for us to taste."

But she hadn't expected them to send so much.

Not to mention the value of these items, the postage for such a long distance must have cost quite a bit.

Fortunately, the Chen Family mentioned in the letter that Chen Zhikang was working in procurement at the Public Security Bureau canteen, and since a Formal Worker had been transferred to the border to join the army, he had been promoted to a Formal Worker ahead of schedule.

A Formal Worker's income was double that of a Temporary Worker.

Coupled with a good harvest this year, after the autumn harvest, the Chen Family had paid off their debts to the Nongchang, and their lives were now slowly improving.

Now they were just hoping their little grandson's illness could be cured.

Grandma Xie listened to Xie Yang read the letter written by Chen Zhikang, felt genuinely happy for the in-laws, and urged her granddaughter:

"Then when you write back, remember to tell them Xiao Shitou's illness is cured, so they don't worry. Also, see what we can send back as a return gift; they sent such good things, we can't be stingy."

"Don't worry, Grandma, I'll arrange everything."

As she spoke, Xie Yang took the scissors and began to open the other package.

Grandma Xie asked: "Did the Chen Family send this one too?"

Xie Yang shook her head: "Probably not."

The Chen Family, worried about the package going missing, had specifically written in the letter what they had sent.

Everything was in that first large package.

So this package was sent by someone else.

But there was only a package and no letter, so Xie Yang didn't know who had sent it.

Looking at the address on the package, it was also from Dongjiang County; did Xiao Shitou have other relatives in Dongjiang County?

After the package was opened, a letter fell out.

After quickly reading the contents of the letter, Xie Yang couldn't help but smile.

So it was the Qiu Family!

At the time, she hadn't been able to refuse Qiu Yingying's insistence on giving a tractor-load of gifts, so she had slipped a small Ginseng into Qiu Yingying's pants pocket as a return gift.

The other party only discovered it after getting home and taking off her clothes to bathe.

【... This Ginseng saved my great-grandfather's life! My great-grandfather is a hero who killed the enemy and was once very seriously wounded on the battlefield. This time, when the seasons changed, he almost couldn't pull through. The doctor said he needed Ginseng with some age to use as medicine. My family had bought one before, but the medicinal effect wasn't very good. Thanks to the Ginseng you gave, my great-grandfather is now out of danger...】

Because this Ginseng saved her great-grandfather's life, Qiu Yingying wanted to thank Xie Yang again, so she went through the trouble of finding the Chen Family and getting her address in Beijing.

Hearing that the Chen Family was also going to send things to Xie Yang, she sent hers out on the same day.

Two hams, two jars of Snow Mountain Pu'er, and one jin of saffron.

That's right!

A whole jin of saffron.

Xie Yang was shocked by the Qiu Family's extravagant way of giving gifts.

Was this really saffron that was usually sold by the gram?

She carefully examined the quality of the saffron.

Well, it wasn't as good as what she had stockpiled herself.

But then again, she had collected her top-grade saffron in the unpolluted ancient Iran.

And what the Qiu Family sent was from the Yunnan-South region; in terms of quality alone, it was a premium grade not easily bought on the market. The key wasn't one or two liang, but a whole jin!

The grandmother and granddaughter hadn't finished their lunch yet, so they would finish lunch first before organizing these things.

Grandma Xie hadn't eaten the newly harvested rice yet; she held the glistening, pearl-like Rice and kept praising how fragrant it was, noting that even the raw rice had a fresh, rice-like scent.

"Grandma, then we'll eat this new rice next. Later, I'll set some aside and grind it with the millet into powder to cook rice paste for Xiao Shitou."

Xie Yang took a cloth bag and filled it with five jin, poured the remaining fifteen jin into the rice jar, and they would eat this new rice from now on.

They couldn't just let it sit there and become old rice because they were reluctant to eat it, right?

Five jin of Rice and five jin of millet were kept to add as supplementary food for her little cousin.

She would first take one jin of each to grind into rice powder to cook rice paste for her little cousin as supplementary food. Once he started eating it, paired with fresh Fish puree and meat puree, these two jin of rice powder would be enough for about two months.

Two months later, her little cousin could say goodbye to rice paste and start eating porridge.

So she would keep three jin of Rice and three jin of millet each for her little cousin to cook porridge.

By the time these were finished, it would be about after the New Year.

Before the new rice was harvested, she could contribute some of the Yanzhimie, Bijingmie, Nanyang Xiangmie, and Daye Gongmie she had stockpiled to make supplementary food for her little cousin.

It was a pity that grain production was still low, and buying grain required Grain Coupons; otherwise, she would find an opportunity to take a trip to the Northeast and stockpile more oily Northeast Rice, and she wouldn't have these worries.

But it doesn't matter; by the time this plane Task ends and before I leave, the era of coupons will surely be over, and by then, I'll stock the gradually emptying Aircraft Cargo Hold with grain, oil, and other supplies.

Anyway, since the Jump Administration has already discovered her behavior of exploiting loopholes, exploiting a few more doesn't matter.

At worst, they'll just deduct some points.

In the last plane, she hoarded so much Gold Ore, jade mines, and countless treasures of heaven and earth, and in the end, they still left her with Wanyi points. In this plane, she'll just hoard some basic daily necessities; even if there is a penalty, it won't be much.

Main System: 【...】

The Host is really throwing caution to the wind!

Grandma Xie looked at the two large hams and worried, "This thing is both expensive and inconvenient to eat; how should we handle it?"

Although they had never bought one at home, she had seen them at the Supply and Marketing Cooperative.

No one ever bought a whole one; the asking price was several dozen yuan, and it required several jin of Meat Coupons.

The Supply and Marketing Cooperative always cut them open and sold them by weight.

If she were to openly carry a large ham out to find someone to help cut it, there was no guarantee that a thief wouldn't break into their home one night.

But if she tried to cut it herself, she worried that the ham wouldn't be opened, but the kitchen knife would break first.

"It's alright, Grandma. I'll find a way to borrow a bone-chopping knife, and we'll open it ourselves," Xie Yang reassured the old lady.

"Grandma, let's keep these two jars of Honey for ourselves to eat. One jar for you and one for me. Scoop a spoonful every morning and mix it with warm water to drink; it's good for your health."

Grandma Xie: "..."

Of course she knew this stuff was good for her health, but the key was that it was expensive.