This was the fruit of their labor. After inspecting the quality of the medicinal herbs, Su Mi exchanged them with the children for candies.
Of course, that was before. Now, she could use money for the exchange, and it could be recorded as public expenses. However, since they were mostly children, they preferred candies over money.
Whether they received candies or a few coins, the little friends were all very happy.
Even though Su Mi didn’t lack these things, seeing the children’s joyful and satisfied faces made her happy too.
Occasionally, adults would also bring herbs they believed to be of high age from the mountains to exchange for money, and Su Mi would always buy them at the appropriate price.
After sending them away, she piled the herbs to the side, planning to tidy them up after finishing her meal.
“Congratulations, Comrade Su! We were still in the fields today when we heard the news. I knew you would definitely pass the exam!”
Just as Su Mi finished washing the dishes and was about to tidy up the herbs in the yard, Wang Yajuan’s loud voice rang out before she even arrived.
Su Mi looked up and saw Wang Yajuan, He Caiwen, and Li Meixian entering through the courtyard gate.
“Have you eaten? You came at just the right time—you can help me tidy up.”
Free labor! They had delivered themselves right to her doorstep.
Su Mi said with a smile, then turned and went into the kitchen. Soon, she came out with a small bowl of stir-fried peanuts in her left hand and a pot of warm mung bean water sweetened with rock sugar in her right. Hanging from the spout of the pot were several cups stacked together.
“Every time we come, you do this. I’m really defeated by your sugar-coated bullets,” Li Meixian said playfully, though her hands moved swiftly.
She ran over to move the small table under the eaves so Su Mi could set the things down.
“We’ve definitely eaten before coming. We thought you’d be working at the clinic tomorrow, so we came to see if you needed any help,” He Caiwen said as she brought over a small stool and sat down. In front of her was a pile of fresh herbs. She kept talking while her hands remained busy.
Since the herbs were mostly dug up or picked by children in the mountains, they weren’t very clean. Besides weeds, there were also small dry twigs and dead leaves that needed to be sorted out.
“I’ve prepared everything quite thoroughly. It’s just this pile of herbs the village children exchanged today while I was eating. Once I tidy them up, there won’t be much else to do.”
“Seeing how stable your life is now, why don’t you raise a couple of chickens? You could collect eggs to eat, and if there are too many, you could even exchange them for money. I’ve been dreaming of doing that, but unfortunately, the older educated youths in our courtyard won’t allow it unless you live separately like you do,” He Caiwen said somewhat enviously, looking at the neat and tidy farmhouse courtyard.
“Yes, I’ve already spoken to Auntie Tian about it. Her old hen is brooding these days, and in about a month or so, she’ll bring me the chicks,” Su Mi replied.
Naturally, Su Mi planned to raise a couple of chickens. Otherwise, she would have no excuse to eat meat, even if she could go up the mountain every day to catch wild chickens or rabbits.
Occasionally, it might be fine, but if it went on for too long, someone would surely gossip about it, and she might even get reported, which would be troublesome.
After all, Su Mi was someone who couldn’t enjoy a meal without meat or spicy food.
Lately, she had mostly been eating the stored supplies from her Dimensional Space.
But people nowadays had noses as sharp as Erlang Shen’s hound.
Once, she had eaten an egg with porridge and pickles for breakfast and brushed her teeth afterward.
Yet, when she ran into someone later, they still looked at her enviously and remarked that she had arranged a good breakfast with eggs to eat.
The others also wore teasing expressions, and Su Mi only then belatedly realized how sharp people’s noses were these days.
Just eating an egg in the morning could make others envious, let alone braised pork with spicy pig trotters.
That would surely drive people mad with jealousy.
So, if they wanted to eat meat heartily, the village’s livestock farming had to be developed.
Su Mi sometimes felt that she had gone to great lengths just to satisfy her own greedy mouth.
“Actually, you still have to pay rent for living in the collective dormitory at the educated youth compound. Why not find a few like-minded people and build a couple of separate rooms? That way, the cost per house wouldn’t be too high. And even if you manage to return to the city in the future, you could transfer the right to use the house to someone else. That way, you wouldn’t lose out.”
Su Mi came up with an idea.
“The village chief probably wouldn’t agree.”
Wang Yajuan wasn’t optimistic about this idea. After all, the land belonged to the village. It would be fine for them to build houses and live there, but if they left and transferred the right to use the houses to others, it wouldn’t be cost-effective for the village’s finances. The village chief definitely wouldn’t agree.
“Exactly! That village chief is quite cunning. Su Mi, look at your house—ten years’ rent could build three new tile-roofed rooms. Yet, you’ve had to patch it up repeatedly and spent quite a bit of money, haven’t you?”
Li Meixian had already done the math and found it unprofitable.
“Right! If three large tile-roofed rooms cost over 200 yuan, but if you’re building them yourselves, they’d just be mud-brick houses, which would cost less than half. Even if it’s 120 yuan, split among three of you, that’s only 40 yuan each. With one more person, it’d be even cheaper. The collective dormitory costs one yuan per month, 12 yuan a year. Over ten years, that’s 120 yuan—per person. You tell me, which is more cost-effective? And that’s not even considering the hidden benefits. What you three eat or do would be known only to yourselves, without others seeing and gossiping. Even taking an extra chopstickful of pickles could make someone jealous.”
Su Mi was telling the truth, and what she knew came from the information these people had shared with her.
That’s why more people meant more trouble. No wonder in a compound with sixty or seventy people, no one raised chickens, pigs, or ducks.
It wasn’t that they didn’t want to, but after raising them, either eggs would go missing or ducks would leave and never return. Whether they were stolen and eaten by villagers or secretly caught and roasted in the mountains by some within their own group, no one knew.
In short, without unity, nothing could be accomplished.
The two leaders of the educated youth compound were already fed up with settling these trivial disputes every day. How could they think too much about it? Their demands had already been reduced to the bare minimum: as long as everyone didn’t cause trouble or stir up issues, maintained peaceful relations with the villagers, and didn’t suffer too much loss, that was enough.
Moreover, among the educated youth who arrived last year, one female comrade, to avoid hardship, played several men at once. She not only flirted with fellow educated youth but also got entangled with some strong young men from the village.
If one of the young men’s mothers hadn’t discovered the issue and exposed it, no one would have known that this seemingly delicate and gentle girl had such ugly intentions.
Coincidentally—or rather, to the village’s misfortune—on the day the scandal erupted, higher-ups happened to be inspecting the village. As a result, the “Advanced Village Collective” red flag, which the village chief had long coveted, was directly awarded to another village.
It was immediately struck down by the leadership on the spot.
Unable to contain his anger, the village chief stormed into the educated youth office, venting his frustration and pleading his case with great emotion, finally managing to send the few individuals away.
There were indeed those who married locals, and there were also those who married educated youths.