Chapter 1329: Digging a Cellar

Shen Youjun opened his mouth, but in the end, he just gave a bitter smile and said nothing. But Hou Wenhui didn’t care, "Why don’t we talk to Village Chief Li, and dig a cellar for ourselves? It doesn’t have to be big, at least we have a place for our shared vegetables, sweet potatoes, and pumpkins."

The other educated youths nodded. They actually all had the same thought, just no one dared to say it out loud.

"Then I’ll go ask Village Chief Li now, we’ll also need to borrow tools from the public."

Yang Xiuqin really liked Hou Wenhui. Such a girl is nice, not much to worry about, she could be a friend in the future.

Li Yungui listened to Shen Youjun’s words and nodded with a smile. He had thought about it before but never mentioned it. Now that someone brought it up, it’s definitely a good thing.

"You can go find Captain to get the tools."

Lunch was made by Yang Xiuqin, it was just ordinary, but she was clean and efficient. She was proactive, which made others accept her more.

"Wenhui, I’m going to town in the afternoon to grind flour. We’re going to eat refined flour too, do you want to come? Since we’re digging a cellar, we might not have time to go out later."

The girls all nodded, they’d go out this time and then settle in properly.

"Are you guys going?" Hou Wenhui asked the male educated youths.

"We’ll go too, we start digging the cellar tomorrow."

After lunch, it was still Shen Youjun who mentioned it to Li Yungui. More than ten people set out together.

"Xiuqin, your cotton shoes are great."

"Aren’t they? I spent twenty yuan. But it’s worth it, they’re not wet and they’re warm."

"Twenty is too expensive."

"It is quite pricey. But I don’t want my feet to freeze."

Hou Wenhui also nodded, "Where did you buy them?"

"An old lady in Liu Family Village made them. We just don’t have materials. It’s just leather, if we had some, we could make them ourselves."

"Sigh, the people with leather aren’t around." Hou Wenhui heard that the Wei Family often went hunting in the mountains.

"If not this year, then next year."

"True. I heard Teacher Jiang and the others will return next spring. We can find them then and buy a bunch of leather, so Guo Shuling can make a pair for everyone."

"Yeah, I’ll see how Wang Zhiqing’s shoes are made, I should be able to do it."

The male educated youths took turns pushing the cart. When they reached the town, Guo Shuling stayed at the mill to watch over things, reluctantly spending money, just asking Hou Wenhui to bring some toilet paper.

Others knew her situation, so they agreed.

It was rare to go out on a snowy day. At the supply and marketing cooperative, they all started buying.

For the women, toilet paper was a necessity. They almost bought out all the paper in the cooperative.

Then there were various seasonings. Shen Youjun brought soy sauce and vinegar bottles.

But seeing the pickled tofu, everyone kind of regretted not bringing lunch boxes.

Yang Xiuqin whispered to Hou Wenhui, "Do you think if we asked to buy a whole jar, they’d sell it?"

Buying a whole jar isn’t much, given how many they are.

"I’ll go ask." Hou Wenhui found the salesperson and whispered to inquire.

"Comrade, is it possible for us, this group of a dozen, to buy a whole jar of pickled tofu?"

"Hold on, I remember they stocked a few jars last week, if there’s any left, I’ll sell it to you. But the jar will cost you an extra fifty cents."

Hou Wenhui immediately nodded, thanking them repeatedly.

They really did manage to buy it. Hou Wenhui whispered, "See, open your mouth and ask, and you get it?"

"Yeah, you’re amazing."

"Stop with the flattery." Hou Wenhui laughed too.

They bought ten pounds of salt, one pound per person since there were a lot of them. Finally, Hou Wenhui and Yang Xiuqin each bought two pounds of brown sugar; they pooled their money for it. No one else bought any, only those two could afford it.

The female educated youths each bought some snacks, just to satisfy their cravings when needed.

A few people hurriedly left the cooperative, each carrying something.

At the mill, the white flour was already ground. Almost a half bag of white flour and half a bag of bran.

When they got home, it was already past five. Everyone was quick with their work. No one needed instructions; everyone knew what needed doing.

Shen Youjun took the bran to find Li Yungui and exchanged it for ten pounds of sorghum rice.

"Yang Zhiqing’s rations are much more, we should calculate and pay her, otherwise we’ll feel bad."

Yang Xiuqin shook her head, "No need, just consider it my treat to everyone. We’ll be living together for a long time, no need to nitpick."

Everyone saw her firm attitude and all thanked her.

They started digging the cellar the next day, choosing a spot inside the male educated youths’ house.

At first, digging a meter was really tough. But it got much easier after that.

After breaking ground, they found they didn’t know how to proceed. Hou Wenhui went to find Li Yungui.

Li Yungui came over and explained, "This year, just do it like this. Next spring, you can build stone walls, it’ll be cleaner, and won’t collapse.

Also, we’re slaughtering a pig tomorrow, everyone can eat together."

This made them happy. Eating together meant having meat.

By the point system, the educated youths got twenty-three pounds of meat, but Yang Xiuqin didn’t get any. But Li Yungui decided to sell her three pounds of meat.

This way, the men dug the cellar, the women helped, and they even rendered some lard.

It took them ten days to build a pretty large cellar. Looking at their labor’s result, they all smiled.

"I heard we’ll be getting cabbages soon. Let’s buy three hundred pounds then; this year, we’ll eat more vegetables; last year, I had mouth ulcers."

"Alright, let’s buy more vegetables then. We have a place to store them now."

Since they had soil, Guo Shuling planted some leeks using a wooden box.

"Though we won’t have them by New Year, we’ll eventually have them."

Each villager got two pounds of pork this year, and Li Yungui went and froze over ten pounds of the Wei Family’s meat.

Lu Tiezhu isn’t going anywhere now, staying home to accompany Du Fengying.

The baby is due in two months. Both Doctor Liu and his wife have examined her; they said there’s no problem.

Lu Tiezhu knows both doctors have excellent skills, but he’s still worried since his wife is over thirty nearing forty.

"Don’t be like this, Doctor Xie said I’m healthy."

"Yeah, I’m not worried."

"Honestly, if I hadn’t rested at Little Jiang’s house for those two years, I might not have gotten pregnant at all; Doctor Xie said my youthful deficiencies were severe."

"Little Jiang and Xiao Wei are good people."

"Exactly, living with them was the happiest time of my life."

"Just wonder when they’ll come back?"

"Surely by next spring. Little Jiang wouldn’t take risks, especially with several kids."

"By then, you’ll have also delivered. It’ll be alright. I’ve asked several people already; I know how to care for the postpartum period."