After hearing Fang Xiulian's evaluation, the other woman took a deep sip of tea. It was indeed sweet at first, with a sweet aftertaste on the tip of her tongue, and the tea fragrance was faint and elegant.
"Oh, you're still here. Did you put this tea here to whet our appetite? Come on, where did you get the tea?"
Fang Xiulian didn't want to mention that the tea leaves were obtained from Su Ye, so she kept silent, "Isn't this enough to shut you up?"
However, one of the military wives put down her teacup and said, "Isn't this a gift from Master Yao? My wife and I were guests at Master Yao's house a few days ago, and Master's wife made us this kind of tea. Xiulian is being so secretive, why don't I go ask Master Yao instead?"
Su Ye gave Master Yao a few ounces of tea in front of many people. Even if Fang Xiulian didn't want to mention it, she still confessed it honestly:
"This is a gift from Su Ye. Su Ye, does my sister-in-law recognize it? The one from Brother Xiang Qian's family."
"Recognize it, Xiang Qian's wife, it's so simple, how can we not understand it?" Fang Xiu Lian's friends all laughed.
Fang Xiulian's cousin, Ms. Fang, worked in a government agency and did not live in a staff compound, so naturally she had never seen Su Ye.
Other friends had never heard of Su Ye, but many of them understood when they mentioned Gu Xiangqian's wife. It turned out that Su Ye was the wife that Gu Xiangqian brought back from the countryside years ago.
Ms. Fang asked Fang Xiulian: "I heard that your sister-in-law got a job as a primary school teacher a few years ago? She is quite an educated person now."
Another sister took over the conversation and said, "Has this happened? I remember that before Su Ye came to the military compound years ago, she and I had read about her childhood.
How did she find a job? Did you use connections to help her? I have a relative who married a girl from the countryside. She has been in the city for almost half a year and still hasn’t found a job. There is always chaos and no peace in the family.”
She seemed to be imitating the fierceness of the country daughter-in-law, and her words were full of disgust.
Fang Xiulian glared at her.
She just revealed that Su Ye was her sister-in-law, and the next moment she started to slander her, and even made up a story that she got the job through the backdoor. How could Fang Xiulian tolerate this
"What connections do we have to give her? Su Ye is not a primary school teacher, she is a junior high school teacher. She found a job because of her own hard work. It has nothing to do with whether she is from the countryside or not."
Fang Xiulian recalled the conversation she heard between Zhou Honghan and Su Ye during the last meal. "They are about to get their high school diplomas."
"Would you like to drink tea? If not, I will send you away."
Ms. Fang said with a smile: "Everyone, please stop teasing Xiulian."
She took out a big black ten from her bosom and said, "Please ask my sister-in-law if her fellow villagers still have this kind of tea. Give me some."
Ever since Ms. Fang found a bargain and bought 50 kilograms of white rice on the black market, she no longer had to go to great lengths to find fine grains. She had a lot more money on hand and was not stingy about buying anything she liked. If she saw something she liked, she would buy some to take home. If she drank a cup of tea she liked, she would also want to buy some to try.
Fang Xiulian agreed immediately. When Su Ye was filling her tea leaves, she clearly saw that there was still some tea left. This cousin had been kind to her since she was a child, so even if she had to be thick-skinned and ask Su Ye to share some tea leaves, it would be a piece of cake.
Ms. Fang left the family compound after drinking tea at her cousin's house.
Su Ye, who had just returned from the camp, passed by Ms. Fang who had just walked out of the gate of the military compound. Su Ye's eyelids twitched, and she resisted the urge to look back. Wasn't this lady her old customer in the black market
Today, Ms. Fang is still dressed naked, wearing a Dacron top, paired with a pair of black cotton and linen trousers, cool leather sandals on her feet, a watch on her wrist, and her face looks like an intellectual.
The world is so small. If Su Ye had known that she was from the military compound, he would not have sold food to her.
After saving food for several months, Su Ye had some surplus rice and flour. The idea of selling food had just come to his mind, but when he saw Ms. Fang, Su Ye became alert all over.
Su Ye confirmed that he had covered his face with a hat and scarf when he first went to sell grain, so he felt relieved. The current Su Ye is completely different from the Su Ye of years ago. When he first came, "Su Ye" looked like a refugee, with a pale face, bulging cheekbones, and a thin body that would fall down if blown.
Now Su Ye has rice and flour every day. Although she can't eat meat every meal, she can always eat a little every now and then. Her face has become white and rosy, and the flesh on her face has grown back.
In fact, Ms. Fang did not recognize Su Ye. She was feeling guilty when she bought noodles at the black market a few years ago. The noodle seller was probably also feeling guilty. Even her mother could not recognize her because her face was covered. She just took the noodles and left.
Since she had the 50 kilograms of rice, she couldn't help but look at the old lady selling rice when she passed by the alley on her way home from get off work, hoping to see her. The refined grains were so delicious, they didn't scratch her throat or choke her, and they tasted soft, smooth and fragrant, and she felt energetic when she walked.
People work so hard just to eat. Thinking that half of the rice at home has been eaten, Ms. Fang prays every day to meet the old lady selling rice soon.
…
On the other side, Su Ye had just returned home when he found Fang Xiu Lian coming to his door.
She finished a glass of water, explained the purpose of her visit to Fang Xiulian, and leisurely weighed out three kilograms of tea.
very good.
Comrade Fang Xiulian is quite efficient. She has only come to ask about tea in just two days.
Fang Xiulian opened her eyes wide, pointed at the three kilograms of tea leaves in shock and asked, "Isn't it rare? Why is there so much?"
Her dissatisfaction could be vaguely seen from her pouting lips.
Su Ye smiled, straightened his collar, cleared his throat and said seriously: "Isn't it that people now like to drink this kind of tea very much? In addition, Master Yao also asked me about it, so I shamelessly wrote a letter to the township to ask for more."
"We are one family, so what's wrong with giving more? If you want, I will give you more. One cent for every two taels, we are all friends. My fellow villagers don't want to make money from me, they just want to save some money for fertilizer for the tea trees next year."
Fang Xiulian felt relieved when she heard this. In Su Ye's heart, she ranked before Master Yao!
After she asked about the price of Su Ye, she rounded up the amount to seven kilograms and handed a big black ten to Su Ye.
Fang Xiulian was very kind to Su Ye, so she told him in return: "Do you want to buy Fuqiang flour? It's 4 yuan a pound. Rice is 4.5 yuan a pound. They're available at the black market at 3 o'clock tonight."
Su Ye had a face full of both laughter and tears, and gave Fang Xiulian a sweet smile.
Going to the black market at three in the morning? Before he even got to the black market, he would probably be caught by the soldiers guarding the gate of the family compound. Besides, Fang Xiulian probably didn't know that Su Ye standing in front of her was a "big grain farmer".
It's very conscientious of her not to sell grain.
Fang Xiulian looked at her sister-in-law's "upright" expression and said, "Forget it. We'll see if we run out of food in the future."
After hearing the grain prices revealed by Fang Xiulian, Su Ye was indeed eager to sell grain. In just a few months, the high grain prices during the Spring Festival not only did not drop, but actually increased by 50 cents, which really forced people to "eat dirt due to poverty".
However, Su Ye recently listened to a radio broadcast and learned that there was a severe drought across the country this year, and the output of early rice was even lower than last year. It was visibly seen that even the teachers' share of food coupons had been reduced.
Now, two kilograms of dried sweet potatoes are mixed into three kilograms of fine grain, which is equivalent to only one kilogram of dried sweet potatoes last year. With grain in hand, there is no need to worry. Before saving enough food for the next year, Su Ye does not plan to sell grain for the time being.
In a short period of time, no matter how diligently Ms. Fang ran, it would be impossible for her to find the "rice selling grandma" in the alley.
The next day, Su Ye continued to keep the naughty kids from Class 3 to do their homework.
Tan Lan stayed behind to do her homework seriously. She was a beautiful girl, and her washed work clothes looked very white. Su Ye was very pleased with her and even showed a little more kindness when explaining the questions to the naughty kids.
After she finished explaining the problem, she threw the half-broken chalk accurately into the chalk box.
The hooligans asked with tears in their eyes: "Teacher Su, will you stay tomorrow?"
Su Ye was happy and said, "I was not happy when others asked me to tutor them, but you guys are just being rude for the sake of getting a bargain."
She pointed to her head and said, "Study hard. This is our most precious weapon. When you encounter problems in the future, you must find ways to solve them with wisdom instead of using your hands and feet."
"Have you seen our school's 'green factory'? I built it. Have you seen the financial statements posted by the school? They make a profit of several thousand yuan a quarter. How long will it take for them to collect the protection fee?"
Surprise flashed in the eyes of the naughty kids. Although they usually didn't care about what was happening at school, they opened their own factory and made refurbished watches, doing things in a hurry.
So it was made by Teacher Su
The gangsters finally looked Su Ye in the face, and even their sloppy backs straightened a little.
…
Military hospital.
It’s almost been two months since Yao Chunyu was transferred to work in the hospital, and Gu Xiangqian’s injury is almost healed. He will not come to the hospital again after getting the medicine again.
Early in the morning, Yao Chunyu saw Gu Xiangqian coming to get medicine, and greeted him with a smile, "Good morning, Brother Xiangqian. Haven't you returned to the team yet?"
Ning Xingdou, who was standing next to Gu Xiangqian, said, "It's almost done. It takes a hundred days to heal a broken bone. The leader has approved three months of leave for us."
Ning Xingdou had never rested for so long in his life, revealing a mouthful of white teeth: "Our muscles and bones are almost rusted from resting. If we don't return to the team, I'm afraid the soldiers won't recognize us anymore."
Yao Chunyu was also happy for the two of them, but thinking that it would not be so easy to contact Gu Xiangqian in the future, his smile faded a little.
After Yao Chunyu left, Ning Xingdou said to Gu Xiangqian: "Sister Xiaoyu is so nice."
Ning Xingdou was still in the stage of recovering his body. It was fine when he was at the front line, at least he had never been hungry. After returning, he was dumbfounded. He didn't have enough food to eat. He was tall and had a big appetite. Others were full after one meal, but he had to eat two meals.
At the end of last month, the cash-strapped man used all his food coupons to buy some shiny black steamed bread. When Yao Chunyu showed up, she borrowed 10 kilograms of food coupons from him without saying a word. Ning Xingdou and Gu Xiangqian mentioned this and said with emotion:
"Hey, you, the children of cadres' families, don't you have to worry about food? Brother Xiang Qian, how many kilograms of food coupons do you have every month?"
Gu Xiangqian frowned and said, "Not much, the same as mine. Why are you asking this?"
Ning Xingdou looked at Gu Xiangqian and honestly confessed to him that Yao Chunyu had lent him food coupons. She not only supported him with ten kilograms of food coupons, but also supported another soldier with ten kilograms of food coupons.
After listening to what Gu Xiangqian said, he took out ten kilograms of food coupons from his pocket and handed them to Ning Xingdou, "Go, give it to them. Don't lend food coupons to female comrades casually next time."
Did Yao Chunyu have a hobby of lending other people's food coupons? He would lend food coupons to others at any time.
Gu Xiangqian's family was inexplicably lucky and picked up two wild boars, so they didn't have to worry about food during this period. What's the situation with Yao Chunyu? Gu Xiangqian frowned.
Ning Xingdou certainly couldn't take Gu Xiangqian's food coupons, so he took out this month's new food coupons and shook them, "Don't worry, Brother Xiangqian, I've already paid it back."
Instead, he handed two kilograms of food coupons to Gu Xiangqian, clenched his fist and coughed softly: "I miss the braised pork made by my sister-in-law."