sinovels Chapter 14 Going to the Market and Becoming a Brother-in-Law
Chapter 14 Going to the Market and Becoming a Brother-in-Law
Xu Chunsheng had no idea that his family had made such a decision for his marriage.
These past few days, he's been busy harvesting Ophiopogon japonicus in several nearby production brigades. He leaves home before dawn and doesn't get back until nine or ten at night. The harvested Ophiopogon japonicus is temporarily stored at home until his family helps him sort it out the next day.
All in all, Xu Chunsheng collected about seventy catties of Ophiopogon japonicus.
Homegrown dried Ophiopogon japonicus: 68.7 jin, totaling 103 yuan
Wild dried Ophiopogon japonicus: 3.4 jin, 10.3 yuan
Wild fresh Ophiopogon japonicus: 5.2 jin, totaling 9.4 yuan.
Total: 122.7 yuan
To harvest these Ophiopogon japonicus plants, Xu Chunsheng incurred considerable debts, including twenty yuan from his eldest sister, fifty yuan from his father, and fifty yuan borrowed by his father from his uncle's family.
On the 25th day of the lunar calendar, Xu Chunsheng also got up early, but he didn't go to harvest the Ophiopogon japonicus today because he had other things to do.
"Jingyang Brigade, who are you looking for? What message do you want?" came the operator's voice from the other end of the phone.
Telephones were not common at that time; basically, only two telephones were available in a brigade.
One phone is for office use and cannot be used by ordinary people; the other is for villagers to make phone calls.
However, phone calls are expensive, costing one yuan per minute, so few people make them.
"Find Li Da, the one who collects medicinal herbs, and have him..." Xu Chunsheng was interrupted before he could finish speaking.
"Mr. Li, wait a moment, I'll let him answer it himself." After saying that, the operator called out, "Mr. Li, Mr. Li, don't rush off, you have a call."
People like Li Da, who collected medicinal herbs from all over the place, would give the brigade's hotline operator some benefits, such as a pack of cigarettes or a pack of candy.
He asked the operator to record all the calls to him, and Li Da would come every two days to see if there was any news about him.
It was quite a coincidence that Li Da happened to be checking messages this morning, which gave Xu Chunsheng the opportunity to answer the phone.
"Hello, who is this?"
"Boss Li, I have seventy or eighty catties of Ophiopogon japonicus in Tuanjie Town. Could you please help me bring over three mu of Ophiopogon japonicus seedlings? Let's meet at the county station at noon on the 27th."
"Three mu of land? Okay! You don't need to come to the county. I was planning to go to the township to collect medicinal herbs anyway, so coming a few days early won't make a difference. I'll deliver it to the town on the 27th. Wait for me at the station."
The two wanted to say a few more words, but seeing the constantly ticking time, they tacitly timed it to hang up two minutes later.
Over the next two days, Xu Chunsheng was busy furrowing another acre of land at home.
The Xu family owns a total of more than three acres of land. Apart from the one acre around the house, which is used to grow vegetables, peanuts, sweet potatoes, and the like, Xu Chunsheng plans to clear the rest of the land to grow Ophiopogon japonicus.
Uncle Xu came to the Xu family midway through the trip. Seeing their scale of activity, he originally wanted to persuade them to plant less, but Xu Chunsheng convinced him. Back home, under pressure from his family, he dug up the ditch in their three-tenths plot of land to the size of an acre.
Before you know it, it's the 27th of the lunar calendar – the day for market days.
Early in the morning, the eldest sister woke up Xu Yaomei in her arms, "Yaomei, Yaomei, we have to go to the market today, get up quickly."
"Um, big sister, what time is it?"
"It's getting late. If you don't get up now, your second brother won't take you to town later." The eldest sister carried Xu Yaomei out of the room.
"I want to go, I want to go!" The youngest sister nestled on her eldest sister's shoulder, rubbing her eyes. "Is brother awake yet?"
Xu Chunsheng reached out and took Xu Yaomei from his eldest sister's arms, lifted her up a couple of times, and placed her on his neck. "Tell me, is your brother awake yet? You little sleepyhead."
Xu Yaomei laughed heartily, and gently touched Xu Chunsheng's head with her hand, "No, Yaomei is very diligent."
As the sisters chatted and laughed, the sky gradually brightened. Xu Chunsheng placed the packed Ophiopogon japonicus into the basket on his back, and then put a large, bulging bag of "herbal medicines" on top of it, securing it with a rope threaded through the basket.
In Xu Chunsheng's hometown, "sisters" is usually a collective term for all the brothers and sisters in the family. For example, three children means "three sisters".
As dawn broke, villagers gradually headed to the market, and you could still hear voices calling out to each other and exchanging greetings. However, the most important thing for them today was to wait for Li Da to deliver the goods at the station; there was no need to rush to town.
So the sisters fed the chickens and pigs at home, ate breakfast, and didn't go out until it was fully light. They walked and stopped along the way, but didn't see many people.
Walking along the dirt road towards the street, before even reaching the end, a noisy commotion entered my ears; I could vaguely hear...
"I'll buy two more pounds, and save some money."
"Ye'erba, Ye'erba".
"Let's make sickles, kitchen knives, and hoes!"
……
The roadside was lined with stalls, with bamboo baskets and snakeskin bags piled up everywhere. Xu Chunsheng asked his older sister to lead his younger sister to go shopping, while he carried a basket on his back and walked through the crowded streets and the bustling farmers' market toward the station.
When Xu Chunsheng arrived at the station, he saw two familiar figures guarding their stalls at the entrance of the farmers' market. There were two bags on the stalls, one containing homemade pickled vegetables and the other containing plump, round soybeans.
"Xiaowei's mom, Xiaowei."
Xu Chunsheng, carrying a basket on his back, walked up to them. "You're up so early?"
When Xiaowei's mother saw that Xu Chunsheng was carrying a lot of things, she quickly helped him put the basket on the ground.
"Oh, it's not early, it's not early."
Xiao Wei's mother hesitated for a moment, "Young boss, I dug ditches on about half an acre of land at home, could you please lend me some seedlings on credit? Also, there's something else..."
Seeing that Xiaowei's mother had been stammering for a while without saying anything more, Xu Chunsheng asked, "What is it?"
"Boss, could you please sign your name for us?"
Xiao Wei, who was standing nearby, mustered up his courage and said, "You have to promise to harvest our Ophiopogon japonicus next year."
Xiao Wei and his mother were both worried. They were afraid that Xu Chunsheng would be angry, and they were also worried that if they couldn't sell the Ophiopogon japonicus they had spent so much time planting this year, what would they do next year?
Hearing this request, Xu Chunsheng wasn't angry, because he knew that the price of Ophiopogon japonicus would definitely rise, and even if he didn't buy it, there would be plenty of people scrambling to buy it later.
"It's a small problem, I'll write it down for you in a bit," Xu Chunsheng readily agreed.
Before long, the eldest sister brought Xu Yaomei to Xu Chunsheng. "Hey, your brother is here. You stay here with him while I go buy something."
"Yes!" Xu Yaomei nodded emphatically.
"Why aren't you going to the market with your older sister?" Xu Chunsheng asked, picking up Xu Yaomei.
"Because I've already been to another event," Xu Yaomei said proudly, pointing to the pink hair accessory in her hair. "I bought it with my own money! Now it's my second brother's turn to go to another event, and I'm here to watch the things!"
"Really? Then I'll definitely go!" Xu Chunsheng asked.
"Really, really, going to the fair is so much fun! Second brother, you should go!"
Xu Yaomei pushed her brother away, thinking she was being very sensible.
"Okay, I'll be right there for a bit. You stay here and don't move."
Xu Chunsheng asked Xiaowei's mother, who was standing next to him, to look after Xu Yaomei, and then went to buy paper and pens.
It wasn't that he bought the paper and pen specifically for writing receipts, but rather that Xu Chunsheng felt he should have a dedicated notebook for keeping accounts. The ophiopogon japonicus he had collected these past few days had been written on the wall with charcoal, which was inconvenient at all.
"Hey, isn't this Xu Yaomei? What are you doing here?"
Qian Junwei grabbed Xu Yaomei's braid and said, "Call me brother-in-law."
At this time, Qian Junwei was unaware that Xu's father wanted to see his family to discuss Xu Chunhua's consideration of marrying him.
He is playing tricks on Xu Yaomei now only to make others think that Xu Chunhua will marry him, thus creating a fait accompli that makes it impossible for Xu Chunhua to deny it.
In his view, at least this would make it harder for other eligible young men to get close to Xu Chunhua.
"What brother-in-law? Let me go!"
Xu Yaomei pulled her braid back.
"When your sister becomes my wife, I'll be your brother-in-law. Call her over here now!"
Qian Junwei loosened Xu Yaomei's hair and flicked her forehead.
Xu Yaomei's eyes instantly turned red with pain, and she grabbed Qian Junwei's hand and bit down on it!
"what!"
Qian Junwei screamed and shoved Xu Yaomei away, "You little brat, I'll teach you a lesson!"
As Qian Junwei spoke, he made a move to hit Xu Yaomei, who had been pushed to the ground. Xu Yaomei was so frightened by the raised hand of Qian Junwei that she covered her head with both hands.
After a while, when the pain subsided, Xu Yaomei quietly looked up and saw Qian Junwei rubbing his back as he got up from the ground, wincing in pain.
It turned out that Xiao Wei saw Xu Yaomei being bullied, so he quietly rushed over from behind and headbutted Qian Junwei hard in the lower back, causing him to fall to the ground.
"You little brat, how dare you hit me!"
Qian Junwei raised his foot to kick, but the child in front of him nimbly dodged it.
"He's stealing the baby! This guy's trying to steal the baby!" Xiao Wei shouted as he ran.
The sound silenced the noisy street for two seconds, and the next moment, the crowd gathered around.
Qian Junwei was startled by this scene and hurriedly explained, "No, I didn't steal the child."
Then, Qian Junwei pointed at Xu Yaomei on the ground and said, "Xu Yaomei, do you recognize me?"
"I don't recognize him!"
At that moment, someone in the crowd said, "Who cares if he recognizes them or not? We'll know once he's taken to the police station."
After he finished speaking, several kind-hearted men stepped out from the crowd, and despite Qian Junwei's struggles, they twisted his arms and headed towards the police station.
Seeing that everything was alright, the crowd gradually dispersed.
"Wei'er! Little sister!"
This gave Xiaowei's mother a chance to squeeze in from the back of the crowd.
When Xu Chunsheng returned, he saw Xiaowei's mother, who was holding two children and comforting them.
"Brother, your little sister doesn't want Qian Junwei to be her brother-in-law!"
Xu Yaomei shouted loudly, her eyes red.