Chapter 62: Ox Cart Hauling Grain

However, eating only fine grains would be even more problematic and too eye-catching, so it is better to stick to a ratio of seventy percent coarse grains and thirty percent fine grains; being able to distribute a meat bun every three days can also be considered a very good treatment, all things considered.

An Yinan placed the burlap sack and the two half-filled white cloth bags into the woods, then covered them with some dried grass before going to find Uncle Niu by the Shi Zhu Zi.

"Uncle Niu, hitch up the ox cart and come with me to a place."

Uncle Niu didn't say a word; he just jumped onto the side of the ox cart and gently patted the ox's rump, and the old yellow ox began to walk with a sway.

Upon reaching the woods, An Yinan saw that the spot she had arranged had not been disturbed, so she lifted the rice and white flour with both hands and tossed them onto the ox cart.

Afterward, she went back into the woods and walked out carrying a burlap sack. Uncle Niu had also heard the situation from the Captain, so he naturally knew these were precious grains; he quickly scanned his surroundings and then tapped his old Tobacco Pouch.

"That's all of it. Uncle Niu, can you manage on the road by yourself?" The meat buns over there hadn't been taken out of the steamer yet, but the helpers still needed to eat at noon, so she couldn't delay Aunt Li from cooking.

"Sure, why wouldn't I be able to?" After Uncle Niu finished speaking, he jumped directly onto the ox cart.

Don't look at Uncle Niu's advanced age; his legs and feet were quite good. He hopped onto the high ox cart in a single bound.

An Yinan had gone to the Waste Recycling Station yesterday, so she didn't go there today; after thinking it over, she went to the Xinhua Bookstore instead.

"Uncle Chen, I'll borrow your space for a bit to translate some materials," An Yinan said.

"Use it as you please." Chen Shao didn't even lift his head, continuing to organize the books on the shelf.

An Yinan sat behind the table, took out the fountain pen she used often, and picked up the thinnest book. Even though it was the thinnest, it was still a centimeter thick. The white paper An Yinan had originally taken was already used up; she had now written over ten pages.

She lifted her head to rub her wrists and happened to see Chen Shao behind her.

"Take a break. No wonder you translate so fast; when you translate, you don't even know what's happening around you." Chen Shao took the ceramic jar in front of An Yinan, poured out half the water, refilled it with hot water, and then handed it to her.

"I just poured you some boiled water and called for you to drink it a while ago, but you simply couldn't hear me." Chen Shao felt some admiration, but also some worry.

An Yinan rubbed her brow; this was her habit. As long as she was in a place she deemed safe, she would involuntarily become immersed in what she was doing. She had practiced this specifically in the past just to focus on drawing design blueprints; she hadn't expected to bring this habit with her after transmigrating. She used to translate in her space and hadn't paid much attention to it, but this was the first time she had translated out in the open.

"I'll be careful in the future." What else could An Yinan say? She'd be careful next time...

She raised her hand to check the time; this translation session had taken over an hour. She had translated half the book. She took a look—hmm, over fifty pages.

"Uncle Chen, give me some white paper." An Yinan had no choice; she couldn't just take it directly from her space, could she? She really was out of white paper, and the white paper in her space was too white and smooth, which still had some discrepancies. She was also used to buying paper at the Supply and Marketing Cooperative.

"Take it and use it." Chen Shao handed over a stack of white paper that looked to be at least two hundred sheets.

An Yinan looked at the bundle of white paper by Chen Shao's side. "Does the Xinhua Bookstore sell white paper too?"

Chen Shao gave a cold snort. "Otherwise? Paper, pens, and ink—which one don't we sell?"

An Yinan was stunned. She had thought the Xinhua Bookstore only had books, so she had gone to the Supply and Marketing Cooperative for all her stationery.

"Can I have this bundle of white paper? And ten bottles of ink, any color is fine, preferably ink-blue." An Yinan smiled ingratiatingly.

"A bundle?" Chen Shao was startled, but thinking of this girl's paper consumption, a bundle probably wouldn't last too long.

A bundle was five thousand sheets. Current white paper was very thin, and the packaging wasn't that particular; it was wrapped directly in newspaper on the outside to prevent the white paper from getting dirty.

"Alright, I've put it on the table for you." Chen Shao hurried to move a bundle of white paper and took ten bottles of ink-blue fountain pen ink from under the cabinet.

An Yinan rushed to pay. The main thing was that she really wasn't short on money now; she hadn't touched the money her parents left in the space or her father's compensation, and she had already earned two thousand yuan herself.

She translated until three in the afternoon. An Yinan rubbed her neck, tidied up the translated manuscripts, and placed them on the table. Each stack of manuscripts corresponded to a book; in this half-day, she had translated two books in total.

Chen Shao had gone home to eat at noon. Looking at the self-forgetful An Yinan, he had only brought two meat buns, which he had specifically run to the State-run Restaurant to buy. He didn't know what was going on today; the State-run Restaurant only had buns and simple vegetable dishes, with not a single meat dish to be found.

However, by the time An Yinan emerged from her state of self-forgetfulness, the meat buns were already ice-cold.

"You translated this much in half a day?" Chen Shao was beyond shocked. If he hadn't watched An Yinan flip the pages one by one, he would have thought this girl was slacking off.

An Yinan thought about it; she would mainly focus on translation in the future and didn't want to hide her speed too much. "It's not easy to enter that state I was just in, but once you're in it, your translation speed increases a lot."

"Uncle Chen, could you please help me mail these two magazines and the manuscripts? I won't carry them; they're too heavy."

An Yinan picked up the buns, put the white paper and ink she bought into her large basket, then waved her hand and left the Xinhua Bookstore, leaving only a stunned Chen Shao behind.

The little girl didn't think much of it, but he couldn't help but think a lot. After thinking it over and over, he still only took one book and its translation to mail out; he prepared to mail the other book and its translation three days later.

An Yinan went to the State-run Restaurant. By three-something, there were no customers left. When Liu Mei saw An Yinan, she quickly handed her the cloth bags; there were actually two full, large cloth bags.

"Here, these are all yours. To thank you for the tea leaves, Ershu even specially made his signature Four Joy Meatballs. I put them in your lunchbox." Liu Mei chuckled and handed the lunchbox to An Yinan.

"Thank you, Liu Meijie, thank you everyone." Without everyone's hard work, these buns would probably be a burden.

The State-run Restaurant—what does "state-run" mean? It means it has nothing to do with performance; they get the same wages whether they cook for one person or a thousand people.

Her coming to order buns was purely adding a burden to them.

"With the towels you provided, everyone is very motivated," Liu Mei whispered. The two sisters-in-spirit shared a knowing smile; everything was understood without words.

Having already let Uncle Niu go back early, An Yinan carried her large basket on her back and leisurely returned to the village.

She only kept one cloth bag in her large basket; all other items had been put into the space.

This time, having received word from Zhang Qian, she ducked into the mountains as soon as she left the County.