My Beloved Super Fierce Wife
Chapter 474 Skilled to the point of heartache

Chapter 474: 474 Skilled to the point of heartache

-

After preparing the insect repellent, Lin Tang headed towards Small Blue Mountain with the medicine.

At that time, several youths in charge of the herbal medicine on Small Blue Mountain were talking.

Chen Ziqiang swatted a flying insect he had never seen before to death with a fan, flicking the carcass to the side, a movement that was skilled enough to be heartbreaking.

The talkative youth scratched the large red welts on his neck, his eyes eagerly fixed on the mountain path.

"Ziqiang, do you think Tangtang will come today? She wouldn’t have forgotten about us, would she?"

The others viewed Chen Ziqiang as their pillar of support, also looking at him with faces full of anticipation.

They were truly driven mad by the insects on the mountain!

Having no hope was one thing, but Tangtang had given them hope, and they were anxious.

Chen Ziqiang didn’t know either; who knew whether the young girl might be delayed by something.

He took a sip of water and said, "We’re fine without the pesticide usually, aren’t we? Tangtang said she would come, so she definitely will. If she doesn’t show up, she must be held up by something. Let’s just wait patiently."

The talkative youth kept his eyes glued to the distant mountain path, and upon barely making out a figure appearing, he quickly stood up.

"Here she comes, it must be Tangtang."

Before his words had fallen silent, he dashed towards that direction like the wind.

He ran hastily and stopped abruptly, startling Lin Tang.

"Brother Aimin, what’s the rush?"

Guo Aimin, seeing that he had scared Miss Lin Tang, touched his head apologetically.

"Sorry, Tangtang, I didn’t mean to scare you. I saw you coming and just wanted to meet you..."

As he spoke, he remembered the important matter at hand and hurriedly took the paper package from Lin Tang’s hands, saying, "This is the pesticide, let me carry it, so you won’t tire yourself out."

Lin Tang had a puzzled look on her face.

Are you okay?

Even a child wouldn’t get tired carrying this medicine package.

Guo Aimin, not showing a hint of embarrassment, urged her towards their camp.

"Don’t just stand here, hurry up. Ziqiang and the others are waiting."

"To thank you, we’ve picked a lot of wild fruits. We’ll take them down the mountain for you later..."

"You’re going back to the factory tomorrow, right? We’ll bring them all for you as a snack. If you like them, let us know..."

He kept on babbling, and Lin Tang felt her ears beginning to buzz.

Now she understood why her elder brother told her to stay away from Brother Aimin.

Too noisy!

Lin Tang slightly sidestepped, avoiding Guo Aimin’s loud voice, giving her ears a chance to recover.

From afar, Chen Ziqiang saw Guo Aimin chattering away and pulled him aside.

"What are you doing? Move over. Didn’t your mother tell you to talk less? If you really have nothing to do, go down the mountain and pick corn."

Guo Aimin stretched his hand to cover his mouth, his expression aggrieved. "...Alright, I’ll stop."

Chen Ziqiang waved his hand, signaling him to go to the side.

He watched as Lin Tang’s expression softened.

"Tangtang, thank you for the trouble," he said gratefully.

Lin Tang shook her head, "No trouble at all, it’s all for the brigade’s sake, no need for courtesy."

She then explained to Chen Ziqiang how to use the insecticide, "It’s not complicated to use this medicine. Just sprinkle it around the shed before going to sleep at night; it’s not toxic to humans."

So it’s fine even if it gets on your hands.

Chen Ziqiang nodded, "Alright."

Lin Tang had just been there yesterday to check and didn’t plan to look again, so she said:

"Alright, I’ve delivered the medicine, so I’ll head back. Make sure to sprinkle the medicine and be careful with everything."

Guo Aimin, who had been all ears nearby, quickly stuffed the medicine package into Chen Ziqiang’s hands and picked up the wild fruits they had gathered in the mountains.

He briskly caught up with Lin Tang.

"Hey, Tangtang, wait for me. I’ll walk you down. Didn’t we agree you’d take the wild fruits with you? Why are you leaving so quickly?"

Lin Tang gave Guo Aimin, who was talking to himself, a sidelong glance and thought: You’ve said it all, and I didn’t agree to a single word.

Chen Ziqiang had intended to walk Lin Tang out, but seeing Guo Aimin bustling about, he paused.

He squeezed the herbal medicine bag in his hand and went off to sprinkle the pesticide.

Lin Tang had wanted to stroll around Big Blue Mountain, but she hadn’t expected Guo Aimin to be so conscientious and dedicated that he only stopped talking and walking when they reached the village entrance.

He handed over the basket filled with wild fruits.

"I’ll send you off only up to here, then you should head back. I need to return to the mountains," he said.

After speaking, he waved his hand and turned to leave.

Lin Tang was so thoroughly directed like a tool.

Watching the young man’s departing figure, she wanted to shout after him: Bye-bye, please don’t bother next time.

-

For several days in a row, the members of the Shuangshan Brigade had been harvesting the corn in the fields, and now the threshing ground was covered in heaps of golden hills.

After harvesting the corn, threshing it became a top priority for the brigade.

Many brigade members, with flathead screwdrivers in hand and sitting on low stools, made their way to the brigade’s threshing ground to manually strip the kernels from the cobs.

Some found the threshing ground too noisy, so they transported the corn back to their own courtyards to husk it there.

The Lin Family belonged to the latter group.

Sometime, the courtyard was piled high with mountains of corn.

Everyone in the Lin Family was busy husking the corn, sitting on small stools.

Both young and old were present.

Lin Lu brought out his treasured radio, turned the volume up to the maximum. Uplifting and happy revolutionary songs began to play, soon replaced by storytelling, that brought a bit of fun to the monotonous labor.

Lin Tang was also busy at work.

With an awl in one hand and a corn cob in the other, she pried open a gap and stripped the kernels off with her hands.

It wasn’t long before her palms started to feel hot and itchy.

Her skin was too delicate; her palms hadn’t even formed calluses, and they reacted like this to a bit of labor.

Wearing gloves would have been better, but Lin Tang had given hers to Little Feifei and could only work with bare hands.

Lin Lu glanced at his daughter and said to Li Xiuli at his side, "Wife, do we have any gloves at home? Find a pair for Tangtang, so she doesn’t rub her hands raw.

Upon hearing this, Lin Tang smiled and said, "No need, I’m not so delicate, I don’t need to wear gloves."

Worrying about this and that while working, might as well not work at all.

Li Xiuli never wanted her daughter to do farm work; seeing her insist on it, she found it hard to refuse.

"There are no gloves left at home."

After answering Lin Lu, she looked worriedly towards Lin Tang.

"Tangtang, if your hands feel uncomfortable, just stop."

"You’re not like us, accustomed to labor, with calluses on the palms. Our family doesn’t lack your labor points, so don’t force yourself. We must not let the minor overshadow the major."

Tangtang’s hands ought to hold pens, not get injured.

Lin Tang: "..."

After a moment of silence, she asked, "Mother, where is our brigade’s little corn-kernel removing machine?

It seemed to me that there used to be a little antique gadget, but I haven’t seen even a trace of it this year.

Thinking of the unique hand-cranked corn kerneler, which was taken away during the steel-making campaign, Lin Lu’s face showed distress.

"It’s been gone for a long time now... It was melted down for steel in the past.

Iron is hard to come by now, and no one dares to think about getting another one, we just have to rely on manual husking.

Fortunately, with so many people in the brigade, it takes extra time, but we can manage. It’s just how things are."

When the time came to surrender that gadget, everyone was reluctant, but there was no alternative.

The commune made demands, and aside from complying, what else could one do?!

Li Xiuli also sighed and said, "That thing really was convenient; even though it needed human power, it was much faster than stripping by hand."

If only we could get another one.

However, she also knew it wasn’t likely. After all, even finding iron pots was difficult, let alone such machinery.