Li Xiufen couldn't wait to pull her daughter-in-law into the room.
"Miaomiao, come quickly, Mom saved something good for you."
These past few days, Li Xiufen was busy cooking for the workers helping build the house during the day. In the evenings, when she had free time, she and Li Xiulan secretly made a brand new set of bedding and sheets for Gu Chunmiao.
Fortunately, Gu Chunmiao had given Li Xiufen over ten cloth coupons a while ago; otherwise, with just the cloth coupons she had saved herself, she wouldn't have been able to gather enough for such a complete set of bedding.
The room where Gu Chunmiao and He Zhanjun were currently living was the largest room, located near the bathroom.
Li Xiufen, thinking her daughter-in-law was an educated person, had specifically asked He Baoguo to build this room with an inner and outer section.
Upon entering was the "outer room," with a desk that included a bookshelf built against the wall. On the desk sat a brand-new kerosene lamp.
Next to the desk were two chairs and a small square table made of poplar wood. In winter, placing a brazier under the table would make it not cold at all to read or eat on it.
The inner room had a bed against the wall, with a mosquito net hanging from the bedposts. The bed was covered with a bright red bedsheet featuring a peony flower pattern. The quilt had a silk cover with a "Mandarin Ducks Playing in Water" design, and the two pillows placed side-by-side were both embroidered with "Magpies Greeting Plum Blossoms."
Gu Chunmiao looked at the brand-new floral quilt and floral bedsheet on the bed, then at her mother-in-law's old clothes, patched up over and over. Her eyes immediately turned red, and she turned to throw herself into Li Xiufen's arms.
A single "Mom~" made Li Xiufen's heart melt.
"Mom, wait a moment, I have something for you too."
Gu Chunmiao shyly wiped away her tears and walked to the north-facing wall in the inner room.
Here, Li Xiufen had hired someone to build a large wardrobe for her, with a mirror inlaid in the middle. Two wooden boxes were placed against the wall, and inside these boxes were items Gu Chunmiao had brought back from the "city."
Gu Chunmiao opened one of the red-painted boxes, bent down, and rummaged inside. When she emerged, she held a large piece of dark blue "Labor Cloth," a piece of black "Plain Cloth," and a large piece of floral cotton cloth.
"Mom, I saw that you used the cloth coupons I gave you on me. It's not right for your daughter-in-law to look pretty every day while you, the mother-in-law, look ragged every day!"
"Look at your old clothes, patched up over and over. How many years have you been wearing them?"
Li Xiufen waved her hand dismissively, "Tsk": "We country folk are either working in the fields or busy at home. Everyone wears patched clothes; we don't feel bad if they get torn. Who wears new clothes every day? Are we not living?"
Gu Chunmiao didn't care and just kept stuffing the fabric into her mother-in-law's arms.
"It's not like I'm asking you to wear them every day! Make yourself some new clothes too, to wear when you go out."
Li Xiufen looked at the fabric in her hands and didn't stand on ceremony with her daughter-in-law.
"Okay! I see there's quite a lot of this fabric. I'll make a couple of pieces for myself, and the rest can be used to make a few changes of clothes for you."
Li Xiufen took the fabric back to her own room and hid it in the camphor wood chest. She then returned to continue touring the new house with Gu Chunmiao.
It had been too chaotic during the move yesterday, so they hadn't had a chance to look around properly.
Gu Chunmiao, having grown up in a military compound, didn't quite understand the functions of a rural old house. Li Xiufen took the opportunity to show her around.
"This is the kitchen. Our cooking utensils are usually kept in the cupboard. The pickled vegetable jars are under the cutting board. Behind the window is our firewood pile. When we come back from the fields, we can conveniently bring some firewood and place it behind the window, so we don't have to go out and collect firewood when we cook."
"This used to be our cowshed where we raised cattle. We're not allowed to raise cattle anymore, so Mom keeps chickens and ducks in here. When our chicks, ducklings, and goslings hatch, they'll all be kept here. Some of our farming tools are also stored here."
"At the base of the courtyard wall, I've had people pile up the soil from the demolished house over there. We can plant some scallions, garlic, cilantro, and Chinese selfheal later. We won't have to go to our private plot to pick them for cooking and noodles."
"It's just that faucet and running water you mentioned. He Baoguo said he can't figure it out. Miaomiao, you can think about it again. If it really can't be done, Mom will buy a large water tank and put it in the bathroom. We can make do with it for washing our faces and hands."
Gu Chunmiao then remembered that the design she had drawn at the time was completely based on the design standards of the military compound.
But this was not a military compound, and there was no unified city water supply. For ordinary people to save money, they didn't even have wells; everyone usually fetched water from the large well at the village entrance.
Washing clothes was done in the river ditch below Jiudao Slope.
Looking at the empty courtyard, Gu Chunmiao wondered if she should spend some money to dig a well for the house.
She should dig one... Otherwise, having to wash herself in a bathtub all year round would be the death of her.
After making up her mind, Gu Chunmiao thought of another problem:
When she first came to the countryside, she had told her mother-in-law that she had left the Gu family with nothing and hadn't brought much money with her.
She didn't know how much it would cost to dig a well in the countryside. This money needed a "legal source."
Thinking of the private plot allocated to her by the production team, Gu Chunmiao suddenly had an idea.
"Mom, can we grow grain on the production team's private plot?"
"In principle, no. When the private plots were allocated, they were specifically for each household to grow some melons and vegetables for daily use."
"Wait! Miaomiao, you're different. You're a technician at the commune's Agricultural Technology Station. I'll tell the team leader right away that this private plot is for you to use as an experimental field to see if it works... I'll go now!"
Li Xiufen had a very action-oriented personality; she had to do what she thought of immediately.
Gritting her teeth, she painfully cut two feet of floral fabric from the material her daughter-in-law had just given her, rolled it up, hid it in a basket, and hurried to the production team leader's house.
He Jianqiang now had a psychological shadow from Li Xiufen; seeing her reminded him of a noose.
"Auntie Xiu Fen, it's so late at night, is there something urgent?"
He Jianqiang asked cautiously.
He was afraid that if he said the wrong thing, in the next second, Li Xiufen would pull out a coil of rope for hanging herself from behind him, which would be the death of him!
Li Xiufen casually handed the floral fabric to He Jianqiang's wife, "This is floral fabric that our Miaomiao brought back from Beijing City. Take it for your wife to make a couple of headscarves. Oh, right, I actually need your help with something."
Saying this, Li Xiufen explained Gu Chunmiao's idea of setting up an experimental field on the private plot to He Jianqiang, word for word.
He Jianqiang hesitated, "I'll have to ask the commune for instructions on this matter..."
So, there was a chance?
Li Xiufen was overjoyed, "Alright then, you go ask for instructions quickly. I'll have Miaomiao soak her seeds first."
"Wait! Auntie, don't do anything with the seeds yet. What if the commune doesn't approve it?"
Li Xiufen was fearless, "If the commune doesn't approve, at worst, we'll just plant those melons and vegetables in our yard."
No matter what, if her daughter-in-law wanted to farm, she had to let her!
He Jianqiang was speechless for a moment.
He knew it!
He had never won against Li Xiufen.
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