Chapter 53: Farm System in the Sixties (19)

Just a moment ago, Zhao Wanqing had indeed entertained the thought of "wanting to take the youth into the Farm Space," but at the same time, she was somewhat hesitant.

On one hand, she feared he was severely ill; even if she took him into the Farm Space, he wouldn't be able to do any work, and she might even have to pay out of her own pocket to buy him medicine.

Secondly, she feared he was a local, and his family would report him missing as soon as they discovered he was gone.

If someone were to report that she had been in this alleyway, wouldn't that be very dangerous?

Just as she was struggling with this, the youth's sister rushed over and took him away.

This left Zhao Wanqing feeling a faint sense of regret while simultaneously feeling relieved.

That was fine too; she didn't need to struggle with it anymore.

On that side, Xie Yang took the youth to the hospital.

The doctor who treated him said with relief: "It's fortunate he was sent here in time; otherwise, with this level of high fever, he would have either died or been burned into a fool."

Xie Yang let out a sigh of relief: "It's good that he's fine."

She had the unconscious youth take fever-reducing medicine, then sent him to a ward for an IV drip.

Xie Yang paid his medical expenses in full and also tucked an apple and a handful of White Rabbit Creamy Candy into his coat pocket; if he had nothing to eat when he woke up, he could use these to pad his stomach first.

After finishing these tasks, Xie Yang left the hospital without waiting for him to wake up.

If she didn't leave now, she would miss the ox cart.

On the way back, she asked the Main System: "Are you sure Zhao Wanqing's first time taking someone into the Farm Space was April 6th? Not today?"

【System will not make a statistical error; it was indeed April 6th. But according to System's scan, the youth you saved is the very same homeless child that Zhao Wanqing was originally going to take into the Farm Space on April 6th.】

Xie Yang frowned: "Didn't you say the homeless child had been wandering for years and had forgotten where his home was? That youth just now..."

Although he was dressed thinly, underneath his single-layered garment was a blue and white striped sailor shirt, which was quite hard to buy nowadays.

This didn't look like someone who had been wandering homeless for years.

Wait!

There is another possibility!

Zhao Wanqing indeed did not take the youth into the Farm Space today, but she also didn't send him to the hospital; although the persistent high fever didn't burn the youth into a fool, it caused him to lose his memory, forgetting his identity and where his home was, becoming a true homeless child from then on.

On April 6th, he was taken into the Farm Space by Zhao Wanqing when they met again.

This deduction actually makes sense.

When they were almost at the meeting point, Xie Yang removed her raincoat, changed back into her bamboo hat, and put the raincoat into the System Backpack.

Afterwards, she had the Main System exchange one jin of Rice, one jin of White Flour, and half a jin of pork belly for her, pretending it was her harvest from the time she was separated from the others.

Getting on the ox cart, Xie Yang looked around and found that the Educated Youth and commune members who came in the morning were all there, and Zhao Wanqing had also returned.

That was true; with such heavy rain just now, there was no one left at the black market, and even if she wanted to continue selling Bok Choy, no one would be interested.

Following her arrival, the people who were chatting cast their gazes upon her.

Immediately after, seeing the items in her hands, everyone present had eyes shining with intensity:

"Educated Youth Xie, you managed to buy meat?"

"No wonder you came back so late; did you go to buy meat? This must be at least half a jin, right?"

Xie Yang smiled and said: "Exactly half a jin. It's rare to come to the Supply and Marketing Cooperative, so I used up all the coupons my family gave me! They would have expired soon anyway if I didn't use them."

"Are this Rice and White Flour also bought with coupons?"

"Yes."

"City people really have it good! You get Grain Coupons and Meat Coupons issued every month, and I heard there are even Sugar Coupons..."

"Educated Youth Xie, if you have any extra Sugar Coupons, could you exchange some with me? My eldest daughter is due to give birth next month; I heard Brown Sugar helps with lactation, but I haven't been able to find out whose family has Sugar Coupons."

Hearing this, Xie Yang looked over; it was a very kind-looking older woman whose husband's surname was Miao, and everyone called her Miao Shenzi.

Miao Shenzi's daughter was married in the neighboring brigade; she had come to the Commune today partly to exchange eggs for some needles and thread, and partly to try her luck to see if she could encounter Brown Sugar that didn't require coupons, but unfortunately, she didn't have that luck.

After saying this, Miao Shenzi felt a bit embarrassed: "If you don't have any, forget it; I was just asking casually, please don't take it to heart, Educated Youth Xie."

Xie Yang could see that she genuinely wanted to exchange for some Brown Sugar to nourish her daughter's body. In this era, there were plenty of parents who favored sons over daughters, and people like Miao Shenzi were truly rare, so she said: "I really don't have any Sugar Coupons, but when I came to the countryside, my family packed a bag of Brown Sugar for me, and I can share half of it with you."

Upon hearing this, Miao Shenzi said happily: "Good, good, good, I'll exchange eggs with you."

Returning to the brigade, Xie Yang unloaded her basket, untied the small bundle at the end of her bed, and took out a bag of Brown Sugar. In front of everyone, she portioned half the bag into a small glass bottle to keep for when she had her period, and gave the remaining half to Miao Shenzi who had come with her.

"Thank you so much, Educated Youth Xie!" The other party was extremely grateful, "Don't worry, I'll go home right now to get the eggs."

She had sold all her own eggs to the Supply and Marketing Cooperative today, but her neighbors definitely had some that hadn't been sold.

To show her sincerity, she didn't even stop to rest when she got home and started exchanging for eggs with her neighbors.

Based on the pricing of Brown Sugar at the Supply and Marketing Cooperative plus the cost of the Sugar Coupons, she ran to several houses and exchanged for a full four jin of eggs, rushing to deliver them to the Youth Hostel before dinner.

Xie Yang looked at the basket full of eggs and fell silent: Can half a jin of Brown Sugar exchange for this many eggs?

【Host, don't complain that the eggs in the System Mall are expensive; those are Gugu Bird eggs, and their nutritional value is much higher than the eggs on this plane.】

The Main System was terrified that she would initiate a return and refund all the Gugu Bird eggs that cost 50 points each, as that would be a loss of its own private points.

Xie Yang didn't think as much as it did.

It was just that there were too many eggs, and as the weather got hotter, how could she preserve them so they wouldn't spoil?

"Pickle them into salted eggs!" Lai Zhaodi offered her an idea, "It's nothing more than spending a bit of Salt; if you pickle them salty enough, you can eat them until the summer harvest!"

Xie Yang felt that made sense.

So she took a pack of Economic Cigarettes, found a nearby villager to exchange for an idle ceramic jar large enough to hold four jin of eggs, and took five eggs as payment, asking Lai Zhaodi to help her pickle them together.

Lai Zhaodi was flattered: "Why use so many! Two... no! One is enough!"

It was just a matter of spending some time, and it wasn't tiring. Besides, there was no need to work on rainy days; if there was nothing else, there was plenty of time.

"That's fine, I'll give you two first, and when the salted eggs are ready to eat, I'll give you three more."

"... Thank you."

Lai Zhaodi's eyes were a little red.

The other Educated Youth looked on with extreme envy.

So many eggs! If they were made into salted eggs and eaten sparingly, they would definitely last until the summer harvest!

The summer harvest is the time when the weather is hottest and the farm work is most grueling.

Especially for the veteran Educated Youth; when they arrived last year, they happened to encounter the summer harvest, and the food they brought was quickly eaten up, and they had no skill in catching rabbits or wild chickens in the mountains like the commune members, so they ate wild vegetables, thin porridge, and steamed sweet potatoes at every meal, until their faces turned sallow from the diet.

If they had a salted egg to go with their rice, just thinking about it was satisfying.

Should they also find some commune members to trade for some eggs to pickle?

But once they thought about how Xie Yang's eggs were traded for Brown Sugar, they felt it wasn't worth it.

Compared to eggs, that Brown Sugar, which even required coupons, was more valuable.

Thinking about it this way, they weren't quite as envious anymore.