NOVEL NEXT Chapter 193: Nuonuo's Change
Fan Jianguo didn't stay long at the farm; people from the farm loaded the truck with timber and sent it to the train station.
This round trip takes four days, and he has to return early to report the result. Otherwise, the director might cause trouble.
Fortunately, his side doesn't have to worry about train car shortage.
Not to mention, their area is a disaster zone; the county specially approved permits, and the train station is fully cooperating.
Chief Wei's brother-in-law played a significant role in this matter.
Fan Jianguo was sent off.
Jiang Xiaoxiao and the other educated youth at their point got busy, but what's the main focus?
Various villages are now sending dry goods like mushrooms, fungi, hazelnuts, and pine nuts to their place. After delivering them, everyone must record and weigh them.
They are just waiting for this batch of items to accumulate in quantity before sending it off by train car directly to Jingbei.
Once Fan Jianguo receives the goods and stores them, he'll transfer the money to them.
Of course, Fan Jianguo told Jiang Xiaoxiao about the money transfer, but Jiang Xiaoxiao conveyed something different to Guo Dongjun, the farm's manager.
The message was that once Fan Jianguo received the goods, he would convert and send over food of equivalent value instead.
That's great news, and everyone's enthusiasm is high now.
Many production teams in the vicinity, upon hearing this good news, quickly organized villagers; after all, they rely on the mountains around here, and there are quite a few mountains.
There's a lot of primary forests in these mountains; hence, mushrooms, fungi, hazelnuts, and pine nuts are abundant.
Which family doesn't have a stash of a hundred or so pounds?
Previously, they didn't consider these items as food since these couldn't replace grains.
But now, these items are precious since they can be exchanged for grains.
Every household is bringing sacks and bags to the forest farm here.
Jiang Xiaoxiao and the others made a thorough record since these items are important supplies lacking in the big cities.
The price is advantageous too.
This train car shipment has a full load with 3000 pounds of fungi, 6000 pounds of mushrooms, plus 10,000 pounds of hazelnuts and 50,000 pounds of pine nuts.
They have collected all the mountain goods from Kenqing Farm and two neighboring farms.
Three days later, they loaded the train car and sent it directly to Jingbei. A few days afterwards, the freight station where Jiang Xiaoxiao is would call asking the forest farm to drive over to collect grains.
In Jiang Xiaoxiao's space, she is harvesting grains day and night, but she only has a few pieces of land: one for peaches, another for ginseng seedlings, and a third for yellow pear trees, which can't be used.
She has little land left for growing grains.
High yield would only be about 3000 pounds per acre, with one-time harvest not exceeding 10,000 pounds.
Even though time passes quickly in her space, it takes at least 12 hours for one successful harvest.
There are at least 5-6 thousand people across these three farms.
Without considering relief grains, at least several hundred thousand pounds of grains are needed.
Even if Jiang Xiaoxiao's space operates at full capacity, at most only about 20,000 pounds can be produced per day; these tens of thousands of pounds require about a month.
Jiang Xiaoxiao has now moved directly to the freight station.
She has no choice but to stay. First, her secret can't be revealed to others; secondly, the manager has ordered her, and her current job is to receive the grain her uncle sends. Another task is to continuously call the farm, asking everyone to come over to haul the grains.
She must also perform registration. After all, these grains are obtained through barter.
Jiang Xiaoxiao has gladly accepted this task; she reviews and completes her duties here.
Although the yard is just her, Guo Dongjun would send educated youth over in turns every few days to visit her.
Jiang Xiaoxiao is quite enjoying herself here, close to her sister, eating at her sister's house three meals a day and watching her niece every day.
Nuonuo looks different each day.
Jiang Yue is very happy; her sister being nearby for care is better than being far away.
Moreover, her sister is doing a great task; you know, grains are crucial.
Spring has begun, and every production team is busy planting grains.
But it's still several months away from harvest.
Especially during her sister's stay, Nuonuo doesn't need to be sent to the nursery.
Jiang Xiaoxiao also can't bear to send her Nuonuo to the nursery. Although everyone sends their children to the nursery since every household has double-income workers.
However, with children this young, nursery teachers can't cover everything.
Besides, every household used to have many children back then. They didn't treat children like precious singletons as they do now.
Nuonuo has long since learned how to crawl.
During the day, before Jiang Yue and her husband go to work, they'll drop Nuonuo off with Jiang Xiaoxiao, and after work, whoever finishes first will come to fetch Nuonuo and Jiang Xiaoxiao. They eat dinner at their place, and then Qin Ming sends Jiang Xiaoxiao back to live in this yard.
Jiang Xiaoxiao insists on staying in this yard, outwardly claiming that without supervision, grains might face danger.
Initially, Jiang Yue wanted Qin Ming to stay here at night to watch over, but Jiang Xiaoxiao's secret wouldn't be revealed to others.
Naturally, she wouldn't let her brother-in-law stay here.
Finding logical reasons and excuses aplenty.
Jiang Yue could only let Jiang Xiaoxiao be, but Qin Ming specially invited Chief Wei, his brother-in-law, and Xiao Feng for a drink, meaning to seek their care for the freight station staff.
A polite word, raising awareness a bit about the yard's condition, perhaps lending a hand in case of any incident.
The freight station has staff on rotating shifts 24 hours.
Jiang Xiaoxiao is teasing their Nuonuo on the kang bed.
Whenever her sister and brother-in-law aren't around, during the day, she would let Nuonuo taste some of her peaches.
Nuonuo is eight months old now and should start eating solid foods. Her sister and brother-in-law have already started feeding some; though not much.
Jiang Xiaoxiao fears Nuonuo might suffer from malnutrition later on. You have to know that Nuonuo used to be short, with dark skin and small stature, which was related to early childhood malnutrition. At that time, her sister faced her mother-in-law's negligence and lost her food supply early, so the child couldn't get milk. Plus, the village faced disaster, and all households couldn't get food.
The children were hungry, and so were adults.
It's clear Nuonuo was delayed because of this, but this time with Jiang Xiaoxiao's involvement, she changed the course of Nuonuo's life.
Now she wants Nuonuo to grow strong and healthy.
To make up for her previous life regrets regarding Nuonuo.
And indeed, ever since Nuonuo intermittently ate a whole peach, she's grown chubby and fair, with eight teeth in her mouth and big round eyes. Compared to the previous life, everyone is fond of Nuonuo now.
Moreover, Nuonuo is evidently very intelligent and understands everything now.
Probably aware that Jiang Xiaoxiao treats her well, every time she sees Jiang Xiaoxiao, she directly clings to her, seeking out her aunt.