Transmigration: Flirted with My Childhood Sweetheart
Chapter 361 - 360 Preparations for Winter

Chapter 361: Chapter 360 Preparations for Winter

Even if Li Dahe had ten thousand doubts, Wong Xiaokou still allocated ten tons of coal to the village school, no delivery necessary.

Li Dahe pondered over the allocation slip for a long time, and suddenly turned to Lin Nianhe: "Girl, did Wong Xiaokou force you to watch a murder or something?"

Lin Nianhe: "..."

She pressed her temples and pointed at the allocation slip: "Uncle Team Leader, even if Principal Wu is disregarded, the village school still has five classrooms. How would ten tons of coal be enough?"

Ten tons of coal would not be enough even for three months.

Li Dahe carefully put away the allocation slip and said, "What conditions! Do we even dare to burn coal exclusively? The students need to bring firewood."

Li Dahe felt that having some was better than none. Based on his understanding of Wong Xiaokou, those ten tons of coal would already make him distressed for three months.

It was due to Lin Nianhe’s significant influence—the request would have resulted in others being kicked two miles away.

Li Dahe, clutching the allocation slip hidden in his chest, said: "We’ll go claim the coal after they’ve turned in all the grain; otherwise, it’d take explaining eight hundred times along the way."

Ten Miles Team was among the first batch to submit their grain, and there were several other teams yet to do so. Therefore, the road to the town would be blocked for a few more days.

Lin Nianhe had no objections to this, she stood there with a burlap sack, waiting for instructions.

Li Dahe: "What are you standing around for? Give me the sack. Don’t you want your grain?"

Lin Nianhe had long been accustomed to being scolded no matter what she did, and handed the two burlap sacks to the team leader.

Accountant Zhao happily calculated the points and then said: "One hundred seventy jin." After speaking, he pushed the scorebook towards Lin Nianhe, signalling her to sign.

Lin Nianhe, who had only started in May, received such an allocation mainly because she earned ten points a day as a teacher, otherwise...

The team leader handed the two brimming sacks directly to Su Yuncheng waiting nearby, completely ignoring Lin Nianhe.

Su Yuncheng effortlessly carried one in each hand and said to Lin Nianhe, "Let’s go."

Lin Nianhe waved goodbye cheerfully to everyone and followed Su Yuncheng out.

She walked with her hands behind her back, smiling and said: "All these grains were earned through my labor. I’ll treat you with some ground cornmeal."

Su Yuncheng smiled and nodded: "Alright."

"Also, take some back for my parents to taste."

"Alright."

"And let my brother taste some too."

"Then what will you eat?"

"Uh..."

One hundred seventy jin of corn would yield less than a hundred and fifty jin of cornmeal, it was impossible to last until next year’s autumn harvest.

Lin Nianhe giggled and replied: "I’m treating you all to cornmeal, won’t you repay me with something?"

Su Yuncheng laughed and said: "Whoever you want to share with is fine. Once you’ve shared it all, I’ll take care of you."

"Eh? That would be somewhat embarrassing," Lin Nianhe blinked, "Also, I’m not easy to maintain."

"My salary is pretty good, I can afford to."

"Really?"

"Really."

"Then I’d better cultivate a good relationship with you. Let’s go, I’ll treat you to shabu-shabu tonight."

The joy of distributing grain was enough to soothe the pains of autumn harvesting. Especially since this year, Ten Miles Team had a bumper harvest, making the points even more valuable. Everyone received a little more grain than last year.

Each household made a good meal and then happily got a good night’s sleep.

By the time the sun rose again, a new round of tasks had begun.

After the harvest season, the village school didn’t immediately resume classes, as the teachers were too exhausted from the harvest and needed a break. Principal Wu had decided to give them a two-day holiday.

On the first day of the break, the villagers divided the grain; on the second day, they preserved sauerkraut.

Lin Nianhe sat on a small stool, breaking apart cabbage leaves while lamenting, "Why don’t I feel like it’s a holiday at all? The work has never stopped."

Wang Shumei was boiling water and replied with a lack of empathy, "I should remind you, we haven’t gathered wild goods from the mountains yet, hazelnuts, walnuts, fungus... we need to collect a lot, enough to last us a long while."

Lin Nianhe’s hands paused in the midst of breaking cabbage leaves.

Wen Lan, carrying cabbages that had had their old leaves removed, said carelessly, "After classes, we’ll just head to the mountain, it’s not a big deal."

Lin Nianhe: "..."

She didn’t even particularly crave these things.

Just as she was wallowing in her sadness, Aunt Li arrived.

"Ah, you’ve all started, I see." Aunt Li came wearing an apron, and without wasting words, rolled up her sleeves to help.

She said with a smile, "I thought you girls wouldn’t know how to preserve sauerkraut, but Shumei is doing quite a decent job."

"I’ve always been the one to do this at home," replied Wang Shumei with a smile. "Aunt Li, your presence makes me feel assured; please keep an eye on us."

"Sure, let’s do it together."

Aunt Li and Wang Shumei took positions at separate stoves. Each holding two chopsticks to pierce through the cabbages, they would blanch the stalks first, then flip and blanch the leaves before setting them aside to cool.

They didn’t have much cabbage, so Lin Nianhe quickly ran out of leaves to break off. She gathered the leftover stalks and asked, "What should we do with these?"

"We don’t raise chickens here, just send them to the cowshed." Aunt Li answered, "Just leave them there; I’ll take them with me when I go back."

Lin Nianhe, looking at the skilled work being performed, felt unable to contribute and said, "I’ll take them there to save you the trip."

After speaking, she hoisted the basket full of cabbage leaves on her back and left the backyard.

The village was shrouded in smoke, as everyone was busy preserving sauerkraut. The scene was similar in the front yard, where the educated youth women were at work and the seven Mu Tou brothers had gone to the mountain with the village men to collect firewood.

Lin Nianhe leisurely made her way to the cowshed, and before she even entered, she could hear Bai Xiaojun’s laughter.

Peeking in, she saw Niuwa was also there.

Bai Xiaojun was covered in mud from head to toe, while Niuwa was spotless.

"Sister Hehe," Niuwa beamed at the sight of Lin Nianhe, jogging around to her back to help lift the basket with his little hands.

Bai Xiaojun also smiled and wanted to help, but seeing his dirty little paws, he put his hands down again.

Lin Nianhe set down the basket and, noticing that only the two boys were in the cowshed, asked, "Where’s Uncle?"

"Uncle went to haul firewood," Niuwa replied. "Brother Zhuangshi also went to chop wood in the mountain."

Besides making sauerkraut, preparing enough firewood for the winter was also an urgent matter. If not prepared now, obtaining firewood would be difficult once heavy snow sealed the mountains. Without firewood in the winter, it could be deadly cold.

Over at Ten Miles Team, the collective went to chop firewood together – in addition to the men, strong women comrades would also participate. Once the household chores were completed, virtually everyone would go to the mountain to gather wood.

Lin Nianhe dumped the cabbage leaves from her basket into an empty trough, telling the boys, "These days, you can feed the chickens with cabbage leaves, just toss them in."

"Okay." Bai Xiaojun was very interested in feeding the chickens, quickly picking up two cabbage leaves and throwing them in, then leaning on the fence to watch the chicks eat, occasionally letting out an excited gasp.

After watching him for a while, Lin Nianhe turned back with a light laugh and asked Niuwa, "Where’s Shanshan?"

"Sister Shanshan is at Aunt Wang’s house; we went to see her before coming here." Niuwa was like a little steward, clear on every matter.

Lin Nianhe ruffled his hair and reached out to Bai Xiaojun, "Xiao Jun, let’s go back first. They will show a movie tonight; I’ll prepare some snacks for you when we get back."

The cowshed was far from the village and with few people around, she really couldn’t leave them alone.

Upon hearing of the forthcoming snacks, Bai Xiaojun immediately abandoned the chicks and leaped into Lin Nianhe’s arms.