Chapter 74: Sixty-Era Farm System (40)

After Zhao Wanqing left, there were no major changes at the Youth Hostel.

Everyone continued to go to work and finish work as usual, occasionally cooking their own small meals.

Yang Qingqing, however, married Fang Yongqiang half a month after Zhao Wanqing left.

Because of this, their dormitory now only housed three people.

At the invitation of Lai Zhaodi, Xie Yang moved over.

It was a large shared sleeping platform anyway, so it didn't matter which spot she slept in.

In any case, she was already scouting for a homestead for herself, planning to find an opportunity to mention it to the Brigade Leader: she wanted to be allocated a plot of land in the Yuewan Brigade to build her own house to live in.

Other Educated Youth would surely sign up, take exams, and return to the city once they received news of the College Entrance Examination being restored in a few years. She had no such plan.

On the contrary, she felt that the Yuewan Brigade was a rare sanctuary for retirement.

It was nestled against the mountains and by the water, with beautiful scenery!

When the tourism industry was developed in the future, this mountain and water wonderland, as beautiful as a fairyland and bursting with negative oxygen ions, would definitely become a place that tourists from all over would flock to.

When she was with the Recycling Sub-system, she had promised to help it upgrade; since she had to stay in this plane for a few more years anyway, why not settle down in the Yuewan Brigade?

When it came to farming, could one find a better place than this?

Song Mingyu knew she was scouting for a homestead and took the initiative to ask: "Isn't the foot of Banyue Mountain good?"

"Why? Do you want me to be your neighbor?" Xie Yang asked with a smile.

The little boy nodded with a shy smile.

Xie Yang didn't tease him and said bluntly: "That place of yours is a bit too close to the Pig Pen, I find it smelly."

"..."

Night had fallen, and the Pig Pen at the foot of Banyue Mountain was still lit by a bamboo-caged wind lamp.

"A-Yu, why are you still in the Pig Pen so late? The food is about to get cold."

Song Shuhe had finished making dinner and waited for quite a while, but he hadn't seen his grandson return.

Instead, he saw the wild Pig Pen they were responsible for glowing with a dim, yellow candlelight, so he followed the light and found his way there.

Walking into the Pig Pen, he felt that something was different.

Taking a closer look, it turned out the Pig Pen was much cleaner!

The pig pens built from old Wood had been wiped until they were gleaming, reflecting light under the hazy glow of the wind lamp.

The nest where the little wild pigs slept had also been cleaned, covered with dry, neat straw.

The five little wild pigs were full and satisfied, lying on the clean straw, snoring away in deep sleep.

And his little grandson Song Mingyu, who wasn't even taller than the pig pen, was still holding a large broom, diligently sweeping the ground outside the pig pen that had originally been covered in caked excrement.

Song Shuhe: "..."

He knew that his little grandson used to be a child with a bit of a cleanliness obsession.

Ever since coming here, although he didn't say it out loud, he had always been very resistant to going inside the Pig Pen.

He would rather step on a large rock and stand in front of a large pot taller than himself to laboriously cook pig feed than take a broom to sweep inside the Pig Pen, let alone climb into the pig pen to change the straw.

What was going on today?

Song Shuhe walked out of the Pig Pen and looked up at the sky, wanting to see if the sun had risen from the west.

Oh! It was night now, there was no sun at all!

Xie Yang did not know that Song Mingyu was still doing a deep clean in the Pig Pen late at night.

She slept until dawn, cooked herself a full meal, and went to work in high spirits.

She was only halfway through her morning work when Gouwa and a few other children ran up to the terraced fields and shouted loudly at her: "Educated Youth Xie! Educated Youth Xie, there is a letter and a parcel slip for you!"

Starting in July, the Commune Post Office launched a "sending warmth" campaign for the several remote brigades below—all letters and parcel slips were to be delivered directly to the brigade.

This way, the Educated Youth didn't have to keep asking for leave to go to the Post Office to ask if there were any parcels or letters for them; they could just go pick them up after receiving the parcel slip.

"Educated Youth Xie, where was the parcel sent from? Could it be the seafood sent from Mingdao City?"

A commune member in the neighboring Task field craned their neck to ask.

Xie Yang shook her head: "The address isn't written on the parcel slip."

It only said she had four parcels waiting to be picked up.

The commune member was even more enthusiastic than her and asked eagerly: "Then do you need to ask for leave to go to the Post Office?"

"What leave! Comrade Xiao Xie is helping us out; the work points for the time spent going to the Post Office will still be counted as full work points. Comrade Xiao Xie, you just go! We'll help you finish your work!"

"Yes, yes! Educated Youth Xie, go and come back quickly! We can finish this little bit of work with a casual hand!"

Just like that, Xie Yang was urged down from the terraced fields by the enthusiastic commune members, got on her bicycle, and made a trip to the Commune Post Office.

She picked up four parcels at once, two of which were larger than she was.

Xie Yang looked at the sender information sewn onto each parcel one by one, and immediately understood:

The two smaller parcels were from her aunt and Lin Xi;

The two extra-large parcels were from Mingdao City and the Northwest respectively.

She stacked the two extra-large parcels on the back seat of her bicycle and tied them securely with hemp rope. Then she stuffed the two smaller ones into a back basket and carried it on her chest.

Like performing acrobatics, she rode out of the Commune with the parcels that were taller than her, attracting high attention, and hurried back to the brigade.

After arriving at the brigade, she put the other three parcels back in the dormitory and opened the parcel sent by Xu Shengnan in front of everyone.

This time, Xu Shengnan sent two full large bags containing about ten jin of Dried Laver and Shrimp Skin, ten jin of Salted Kelp, and some other small seafood very common by the seaside, such as Dried Clam and Dried Razor Clam.

The letter said that this type of seafood was abundant and cheap, and the Yuewan Brigade could trade for it however they liked.

The brigade members were overjoyed when they heard this: "That's great! We have no shortage of wild vegetables and mushrooms here; we'll just take those to trade with them. We don't have to spend money and still get to taste these good seafood items. It's perfect!"

The Brigade Leader reminded them: "Trading is fine, but don't forget that the parcel postage isn't cheap; don't make Xiao Xie bear the cost every time."

"Rest assured, Brigade Leader! We have all discussed it; the postage will be shared equally among the families involved in the exchange, and we certainly won't let Comrade Xiao Xie suffer any losses."

Thus, the Yuewan Brigade of Chuan Nan and the Hongqi Brigade of Mingdao City formed a barter partnership.

The Yuewan Brigade dried the wild vegetables and mushrooms that covered the mountains and plains to send to Mingdao City, and the Hongqi Brigade sent over the dried seafood most common in their area, which could be considered a small-scale realization of resource sharing.

This time, Xie Yang did not keep a single portion of the dried seafood sent by Xu Shengnan, handing it all over to the Brigade Leader for him to oversee the distribution.

Although it was a barter, it still required distribution.

After all, there were over two hundred households in the Yuewan Brigade; the amount that could be sent in a single package was nowhere near enough for every household to receive a share, so it could only be done in batches.

Whether it was rock-paper-scissors or drawing lots, Xie Yang did not interfere in the slightest with the methods used to determine the order.

Compared to this bustle, she was more interested in knowing whether the package sent by Song Shuhe's friend contained the supplies she needed.

As it happened, seeing that she had ridden back and forth to the Commune, the Brigade Leader did not make her return to the terraced fields to work, but instead gave her a short break, letting her return to the dormitory early to rest.

She sat in the empty dormitory and began to unpack the parcel.

It must be said, this package from the northwestern frontier was surprisingly rich in supplies, truly exceeding her expectations:

Powdered milk, milk tablets, milk cakes, yak jerky, goat milk biscuits, Canned Food of mutton, beef jerky, wool felt, balls of cashmere yarn...

It could be said that as long as it was available there, two copies of everything had been sent over.

That's right, two of everything!

Needless to say, nine times out of ten, one of the sets was entrusted to her to pass on to Song Shuhe and his grandchild.