"Sis~ter~ come here!" Li Xiulan's voice was sneaky.
"What are you doing?"
Li Xiulan leaned over the wall, acting like a thief as she told Li Xiufen, "My Baoguo was digging for loaches by the riverbank yesterday and saw a patch of wild shepherd's purse growing there. It's the second crop, and it's so tender!"
Li Xiufen's eyes lit up, and she slapped her thigh: "That little bit of vegetables in my private plot was just ruined by that kid Zhanjun. Tomorrow morning, you take me to pull up that patch of wild shepherd's purse. I'll dig it up by the roots and bring it back. If we put it by the wall base and sprinkle some water, it can last a few more days."
This kind of second-crop shepherd's purse was rare, but it tasted especially fresh. Li Xiufen was already salivating just hearing about it.
Gu Chunmiao also poked her head out from the bathroom: "Mom, can I go with you tomorrow morning?"
She had never dug shepherd's purse before, and it sounded like fun... Cough! She happened to have quite a lot of open space in her dimension. Later, while digging shepherd's purse, she could transplant some seedlings into it. If it tasted good, with her dimension, they could eat fresh shepherd's purse all year round.
"Yes! All of you go! Let's dig up some loaches too, and I'll make you loach stew with tofu when we get back."
It was almost autumn harvest, and the water in the ditches had receded, revealing a stretch of riverbank.
In previous years, as soon as winter arrived, the production team would organize strong men to dig river mud from the riverbank.
Dried river mud was very fertile and was the main fertilizer for the production team's wheat planting each year. Actually, they preferred ammonia water, but that required an approval slip. The commune only had a small quota each year, and by the time it was distributed to each production team, there wasn't much left.
With insufficient fertilizer, the production team had to find their own solutions, mobilizing team members to collect sheep and cow dung, dig river mud, and raise pigs to ferment fertilizer...
The production team hadn't started organizing the river mud digging yet, and not many people went to the riverbank, so it was no wonder no one had discovered the second crop of shepherd's purse growing there.
Fearing that delays might cause problems, early the next morning, the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, and the two sisters, didn't even have time to eat breakfast before heading out with their baskets.
Gu Chunmiao took out a pack of "Wannianqing" biscuits from her dimension, pretended to take it from her bag, opened it, and gave a few pieces to her mother-in-law and Second Great Aunt.
Li Xiulan was still reluctant to eat them and took out a handkerchief to wrap one up: "These biscuits smell so good! I'll save this for my Jianjun to eat at school..."
Gu Chunmiao directly took a biscuit from the packaging and suddenly put it into Li Xiulan's mouth.
"Second Great Aunt, you just eat. When Jianjun gets back, I'll give him two packs to take to school."
After speaking, she winked at Li Xiulan: "Don't worry, I have connections, I can get biscuits that don't require coupons and are cheaper than the supply and marketing cooperative."
Li Xiulan's eyes immediately lit up: "Miaomiao, you don't have any acquaintances at the food factory, do you?"
Seeing that no one was around, Gu Chunmiao, acting like a thief, took out a simple plastic bag from her crossbody yellow schoolbag. It contained several kinds of biscuits with different flavors, and these biscuits were all small pieces, not a single one was whole.
"Mom, Second Great Aunt, I have a classmate whose older brother drives a big truck to deliver goods to the food factory. They often get some broken biscuits, noodles, and things like that."
"I wanted to set up an experimental field on my private plot, so later I'll ask him to help me bring some experimental equipment over, and also get some broken biscuits and broken noodles from the factory that don't require coupons."
"Mom, Second Great Aunt, you can ask around and see if any of our relatives and friends want any. Let me know, and I'll tally it up to see how many our production team needs. I'll have my friend bring it all at once to save him from making multiple trips."
Li Xiufen picked up the plastic bag containing the biscuits from Gu Chunmiao's hand and carefully looked at the biscuits inside, her eyes shining.
"Ask who? No need to ask! Is your friend reliable?"
"If he's reliable, tell him to bring me two to three hundred jin every month. I'll quietly sell them, and we mother and daughter can earn some private savings."
Now it was Gu Chunmiao's turn to be dumbfounded: "Mom, how many people are there in our production team? Two to three hundred jin a month, can it all be sold?"
Before Li Xiufen could speak, Li Xiulan had already started praising her cousin:
"Two to three hundred jin is nothing! It's just that the current policy restricts us from selling openly and legitimately. Otherwise, with your mother's ability, let alone two to three hundred jin, even two to three thousand jin, she could sell it all."
"Mom, are you that amazing?" Gu Chunmiao looked at Li Xiufen with sparkling eyes.
Li Xiufen coughed with a hint of reserve: "Don't listen to your Second Great Aunt's nonsense. Mom just accidentally became a production model worker during the Great Production campaign back then. I followed the commune leaders to promote it in the lower production teams for half a year, and incidentally got to know people, haha~"
Gu Chunmiao didn't expect her mother-in-law to have this skill and quickly pulled her mother-in-law to a stop.
"Mom, if you can sell biscuits and noodles, then... if I can get apples, bananas, brown sugar, milk powder, soybean oil, and rapeseed oil, can those be sold too?"
Li Xiufen's voice trembled as she spoke: "These... you can get all of them?"
Gu Chunmiao nodded heavily: "Yes~"
Li Xiufen smacked her fist into her palm: "If you can get them, I can sell them! Alright, Miaomiao, tell your friend to first help us get a small amount. Get about a hundred jin of apples, forty to fifty jin of bananas, and tens of jin of brown sugar. We also need two hundred jin of soybean oil. Milk powder... don't get that for now. It won't sell in the countryside. I'll go inquire at the black market first. If anyone wants it, we'll get some back later and earn some money for the errand."
Gu Chunmiao nodded quickly: "Okay! My friend is driving out in a few days anyway. I'll go to the commune this afternoon to call him and have him bring the goods for me."
Talking on the way, time passed quickly. In a short while, they ambled near the riverbank downhill.
This was a bend in the river. The water had receded, leaving a stretch of mudflats along the bank. It was early in the morning, and there wasn't a soul on the riverbank.
Following the path her spouse had shown her, Li Xiulan crossed the riverbank and walked behind a crooked willow tree downstream. Sure enough, she found a patch of lush wild shepherd's purse!
"Dig quickly!"
Li Xiufen handed her daughter-in-law a small shovel. Over there, Li Xiulan had already squatted down and was digging with her small shovel, *ka ka*.
Fearing she wouldn't know how to dig, Li Xiufen even taught her hand-in-hand.
"Miaomiao, look, dig it up like this, with the roots and a bit of soil. Put them in the basket layer by layer, don't mess them up."
"If you dig them up like this, with the roots, and you can't finish them, you can plant them by the wall base in our yard later. Shepherd's purse, as long as it has roots, will live. If you take good care of it, it can grow bigger."
"Later, Mom will make you dumplings with shepherd's purse and pork filling, as well as shepherd's purse pockets, shepherd's purse baked flatbread, and shepherd's purse soup..."
"Mom, don't say anymore. I'm about to drool."
✦✦✦