Chapter 1146 Stepfather 57
Yuanchun and Shen Yi worked together to pick dried fruits. Yuanchun brought a lot of sacks up the mountain. When there were a full sack of dried fruits, Shen Yi would carry it to the secret base.
Hazelnuts, chestnuts, walnuts...
Piles and piles of them. Lots and lots of them.
There was also a small bunch of wild grapes.
Yuanchun specially bought two kilograms of sugar and brewed wild grapes into wine.
A month later, the cave could no longer hold the fruits, so Shen Yi found a truck from another place that was specialized in collecting mountain products. He sold all the dried fruits in the cave at a price five cents per pound higher than that of the supply and marketing cooperative.
The total sales amounted to three hundred and seventy-eight dollars and nine cents.
The driver who collected the mountain products rounded it up to an even number and gave three hundred and eighty yuan, and Yuanchun and Shen Yi each got one hundred and ninety yuan.
After getting the money, Shen Yi went to the black market and bought a new cotton-padded jacket for everyone in the Shen family. However, in order not to attract attention, Grandma Shen and Mother Shen put several patches on the new cotton-padded jackets.
They also sewed their summer clothes inside their old clothes to hide them from people.
Soon, it was the New Year's Eve in the twelfth lunar month, and the village began to slaughter pigs and distribute food. Yuanchun did not earn as many work points this year as in previous years, but he still received 390 kilograms of food and 30 yuan.
The captain only gave her ten dollars and used the rest to pay off her debts.
Some people became jealous when they saw that Yuanchun, a little girl, was given nearly 400 kilograms of food.
An old lady said, "Yuanchun girl, you can't eat so much food by yourself, right? My family has many people and many children, and the little food we are given is not enough. Can you lend me 100 kilograms of food? I will pay you back when I have more."
Yuanchun timidly protected her own food and summoned up the courage to ask, "Grandma Sandan, you just distributed the food and you're borrowing it from me. When can you pay it back? What does it mean to pay it back when you have the food? You have food now, why are you still borrowing from me?"
"You little girl, I'm going to lend you some food, why are you still talking so much? It's not like I won't pay it back. I have many children at home, and there's not enough food. Look at how hungry they are, how pale and skinny they are. Yuanchun, you have a good heart, you're kind and generous, you won't refuse to lend it to me, right?"
Yuanchun looked at the greed on Sandan's grandmother's face and smiled, "If you don't lend it to me, this little food is only enough for me to eat. If I lend it to you, I will starve."
"Four hundred kilograms of food, how can you eat it all by yourself? You are not raising pigs."
"Three eggs and milk, one pound of food a day, how can I not finish it? I have a big appetite, I can eat three bowls of rice in one meal. If I eat this amount of food sparingly, it can last me a year. If I don't save it, this amount of food can only last me eight or nine months."
"Three bowls of rice for a meal. Oh my, my, my, my, I can't even have half a bowl of rice for a meal. Can't you have pity on me and lend me some food so that I can have a full meal?"
"No." Yuanchun shook her head. "If I borrow, I will go hungry."
"You are a pig, you are such a eater." San Dannai knew that her attempt to take advantage of her would fail, so she immediately turned against her and said, "Fortunately you are not married, otherwise your husband's family would be bankrupted by you."
"I can eat and work. I earn more work points than your son. I can support myself and don't need my husband's family to support me. Besides, I only want to marry a son-in-law, not a woman."
San Dan Nai angrily cursed, "Bah, you are such a big eater and you still want to marry into my family. Who dares to go to your house?"
"There will always be a man with good conditions who is willing." Yuanchun said stubbornly, "I will wait patiently."