Chapter 226: 226 tired
Since Director Feng gave instructions, no one made things difficult for Yuanyuan, and there were even people helping to unload the truck here.
She remembered all the help she received. She planned to repay with wheat.
In the afternoon, there was a truckload of potatoes, and another truckload of sweet potatoes.
Actually, she didn’t want to be so high-profile. Initially, she wanted to grind potatoes and sweet potatoes into starch, but she didn’t want to waste time on that during winter, so she decided to just exchange them for money.
She had already put aside half, intending to sell them if the opportunity arose.
Even though there was good rainfall this year and the weather was favorable, it was still a year of disaster, with many people not having enough to eat.
The demand for grain was still particularly high.
The next day, there were another two truckloads of sweet potatoes, so she didn’t plan to submit anymore.
She was given a receipt with the director’s signature, so Su Yuanyuan smoothly received the money.
Others didn’t know, but Accountant Zhang was aware that this young girl, Su Yuanyuan, had taken several thousand yuan from the farm’s office.
Su Yuanyuan didn’t stop at all on the way back home, starting to pick corn immediately.
To save time, she directly shelled the corn, so she wouldn’t have to do it all at once later.
Now Yuanyuan wasn’t as anxious, with only thirty acres left. Although it was already the end of September, there was no rush.
She tossed the shelled corn into the space, saving a lot of work.
The old corn crib was still there. She used it, even if it wasn’t sturdy, it was still usable.
She wasn’t sure how much she could do in a day, but she kept busy, even having her meals in the field.
At night, she would gather the wheat drying in the yard, as there was dew at night. She wanted to dry the wheat quickly for convenience.
After a week, all the corn was brought into the house.
Yuanyuan couldn’t get up at all, lying on the kang for the whole day, she was utterly exhausted, feeling like she couldn’t even lift her arms.
The remaining task was to dig up the corn stalks.
Yuanyuan really couldn’t handle this task, requiring a hoe to be used repeatedly. So she decided to use her superpower instead.
It still took a week, and by this time, it was already mid-October.
The corn stalks were left directly on the ground to dry quickly.
They were mainly for burning as fuel anyway.
For people living in rural areas, these corn stalks were the primary firewood.
She had time to pick the remaining five acres of cotton now. Frankly, picking cotton was the easiest job Yuanyuan had done.
The cotton bolls were already open, saving a lot of effort.
She was dressed very warmly, weaving her way through the cotton stalks.
She knew that generally, cotton was graded, but since she picked it late, there was no way to differentiate the grades.
So she mixed them all together, waiting to process them in the city.
It took another week for these five acres, and now the nights were already below freezing. Even the daytime temperatures were quite low.
The winter melon in the yard was also gathered. She placed these directly into the space, planning to give some away later. The rest would be sold.
Lying in bed, Yuanyuan thought about how since she returned, she only rested during the rains over the past half a year.
She mocked herself with a laugh; even if she loved money, she couldn’t carry on like this anymore. Next year, no matter what, she couldn’t continue like this. If it wasn’t for the farm’s arrangement for people to collect the wheat, she wouldn’t have finished by now.
The cotton stalks were left as they were; she planned to take care of them in a few days. Right now, she was busy threshing corn.
The corn from thirty acres amounted to ten thousand jin.
So she was home threshing corn, bagging them one by one. The corn cobs were placed directly in the wood shed.
For the whole month, she hadn’t stepped out of her home, unaware that the farm office was now collecting grain.
Without stopping, she worked for ten days straight, finally finishing all the corn.
That day, she was tidying up at home, preparing to submit the corn the next day. She had a little over ten thousand jin, planning to submit five thousand jin, and keep the rest.
Over the year, only the cotton was left behind. Plus, five thousand jin of corn. The rest of the wheat was contributed to the public.
"Yuanyuan, you finished everything!"
Hearing Zhao Yanli’s voice, Yuanyuan looked up and smiled. It wasn’t just her who had slimmed down; this girl had also lost a lot of weight.
"Xiao Li, has your family finished gathering the grain?"
"We just finished the cotton yesterday. Yuanyuan, my sister-in-law gave birth—a lovely young girl," Zhao Xiaoli said with a grin.
"Brother Qingxiang isn’t unhappy, right?"
Zhao Yanli shook her head. "No, my brother’s quite happy."
"As long as there’s no preference for boys over girls."
"Yuanyuan, when are we going to the city to process cotton?"
"I’m going to submit the public grain tomorrow. I need at least a couple of days to rest before we go."
"Can we wait for us? We’re also starting to submit grain tomorrow, and it’ll take a few days."
"Sure, I’ll wait for you. How much have you harvested?"
"Thirty bags of cotton. Your family must have harvested a lot more, right?"
"I have fifty bags here. So much, we’ll likely spend several days in the city."
"My brother said my second brother, second sister, and I should go together to process the cotton."
"That works, we can go together then."
"Yuanyuan, you’re even thinner than me now."
"There’s no choice, it’s too tiring. If it weren’t for the farm sending people to collect the wheat, I wouldn’t have finished either."
"Our family’s wheat was also collected by the farm, at one mao and one jin each.
My brother said it’s worth it, the wheat is quite moist, so there’s a noticeable weight difference."
"Same here, my family’s also at one mao and one jin."
Zhao Yanli helped Yuanyuan tidy up the yard’s vegetable seedlings, there wasn’t any time to clean the yard this year.
"Xiao Li, are you staying for dinner today? It’s too lonely by myself."
"Sure, I’m quite hungry."
"We still have sausage, let’s make pancakes. This meal is very satisfying."
Both girls were quick with their hands. After they cleaned the yard, they prepared the meal together.
"Yuanyuan, it smells so good. You wouldn’t know, we just muddled through the autumn,"
"Same here, there wasn’t time to cook. Next year, I won’t plant this much, no matter what I say."
"It’s too tiring. You did the work of the three of us siblings, how could it not be tiring?"
Truth be told, Yuanyuan didn’t do as much as them, their five siblings had two hundred fifty acres, some of their fields were even tended by the farm.
"Things aren’t the same without Tan Shaoting, next year indeed you shouldn’t continue this way."
Suddenly hearing Tan Shaoting’s name, Yuanyuan indeed missed him, wondering how he was doing now.
Outside, it must be dangerous and hard. But that was his own pursuit.
"Yuanyuan, why not go with him? It’s too tiring here. Besides, being alone, if it were just me, I wouldn’t dare to stay alone."