NOVEL NEXT Chapter 244 Busy to Death
The two left the post office and headed straight to the department store.
Jiang Xiaoxiao quietly asked, "When you went to deliver the check-up results the other day, did Director Jin just take them without saying anything?"
Song Moting nodded, replying seriously, "Yes, I delivered them, and Director Jin took them without saying a word."
In Jiang Xiaoxiao's mind, it seemed impossible. Could Director Jin just pick things up high and let them down gently?
Even though it seemed unlikely, there wasn't time to pursue it now. Director Jin should have returned to the county by now.
Looks like I'll find a chance to get back at him later. After all, once you go to the city for the first time, you'd definitely have a second, a third time.
If he wants to choke them, that Director Jin will always find a way.
The two entered the department store, knowing they had to buy things, and Jiang Yue and the others had thought about it too.
Old Sir Song and Old Mrs. Song had already thought it through and slipped their grandson 500 bucks when they came over.
The grandson is marrying once in a lifetime; as the elders, they naturally hope to make it lively.
In this era, there's no such thing as extravagance or banquets; at most, tables were pushed together with some melon seeds, peanuts, candies, and performances.
Since Jiang Xiaoxiao and Song Moting have good relationships, it's estimated that quite a few people will come, at least over 100 from the farm and forest combined.
Song Moting bought five cartons of cigarettes, ten pounds of fruit candies, and 100 pounds each of peanuts and melon seeds.
Not to mention some red happy character decorations and such.
He bought everything according to the list grandma had given.
They took the purchases, locked the bike in Jiang Yue's yard, and caught the bus back.
Little did they know that Old Sir Song, Old Mrs. Song, Fan Xiuying, and Jiang Honest were bustling around on this end; getting married wasn't that simple, even though furniture wasn't needed.
But bedding and such still had to be prepared since they're newlyweds.
These past two days, many people came over from the forest to help.
Fan Xiuying and Old Mrs. Song are cheerful and straightforward, naturally getting along well with everyone.
Women from the forest also came over to help.
Old Mrs. Song already had a bunch of stuff sent up from the county, including newly bought cotton for making quilts.
After all, the groom's family prepares, and the bride's family has to as well.
Fan Xiuying originally wanted to venture into town to buy some things, but Old Mrs. Song said, why bother? It's better to just bundle everything together, and people came by car anyway. Fan Xiuying might just fork over the money and leave the rest to the mom.
With Old Mrs. Song speaking this plainly, Fan Xiuying didn't want to come across as petty.
But two people couldn't make that much bedding, given they only had two pairs of hands.
So quite a few of the women from the forest were invited to help, and working together sped things up.
Plus, the two new rooms needed some painting, a cabinet or table here and there.
Jiang Honest didn't idle, given he knows a bit about woodworking.
It's his hobby.
Now's not the time to skimp on his daughter.
His daughter is quite delicate.
Jiang Honest made a large wardrobe and a kang table.
His craftsmanship is superb, making the workers from the forest envious, though they also did woodworking there.
But there's still a gap in skill compared to Jiang Honest, who at baseline hails from the city, and moreover from the capital.
Their craftsmanship is trendy, without even a coat of paint son yet silky smooth to the touch.
Not that he doesn't want to paint; his daughter is terribly sensitive, prone to rashes at the smell of paint, how could he risk letting his delicate daughter catch an allergy?
He also went ahead and fixed the doors and windows, making the whole room looks refreshed, even personally clearing the kang flue and fixing the kang itself.
Two days after lighting the fire, the kang dried out, then they laid bamboo mats on top.
By the time Jiang Xiaoxiao and the others returned, the house had a makeover they hadn't known about.
Primarily because the educated youth were busy working in the fields, harvesting ginseng.
Even Song Moting and Jiang Xiaoxiao took half a day off to get the marriage certificate.
The rest just worked tirelessly in the fields, no one's willing to rest!
After returning, they gave the stuff to Fan Xiuying and Old Mrs. Song.
Actually, everything for the wedding was being organized by the two of them; the youth were occupied with field work.
Even the cooking in the kitchen was left to Fan Xiuying and Old Mrs. Song.
Jiang Xiaoxiao didn't even have time to look at her wedding gifts, mostly because they were busy from dawn till dusk, and couldn't wait to collapse onto the kang and sleep.
Even finding time to eat was a challenge, not to mention idle thoughts.
Fan Xiuying and Old Mrs. Song prepared all kinds of special meals to pamper these kids, but it didn't help, those ten-plus youths just visibly lost weight.
They got their marriage certificate, but Jiang Xiaoxiao and Song Moting decided to wait till the ginseng was fully harvested before celebrating with everyone.
Just the time to celebrate their first earnings; surely there'll be the heart to get married then.
Otherwise, everyone's too exhausted right now, who'd want to get married?
Finally, after more than 20 days, the ginseng was all harvested.
On the last day of harvest, they reckoned half a day's work would finish it, so Song Moting contacted the buyers early, and they agreed to pick it up on the spot and pay cash on delivery.
That didn't happen until they finished harvesting the ginseng.
Gu Dali worried some might be left behind in the field; he even got some educated youth to use a sled to plow through the field again.
Make sure even broken ginseng roots weren't left, and by the end, they picked out a pound or two of missed ginseng.
When the forest collector arrived, everyone bagged up the ginseng stored in the house and carried sack after sack out.
People collecting forest products were amazed, mainly because workers in the forest had been reluctant to plant ginseng these years.
Mostly due to the hard work; nobody has the time.
Forest workers are scarce, and the woodland is scattered; most workers need to go to the mountains for logging, and the farming is handed over to these farm women. After a few wild animal raids, forest workers stopped; they work hard on the mountains.
The families endure some danger, with the farming income barely covering medical costs.
Besides, after last year's blizzard, they hadn't expected any good yield this year. But didn't expect these young ones could grow such nice ginseng; the forest collectors opened a burlap bag to see:
It's just discouraging.
If anyone said, it's just a year's growth of ginseng, they'd spray your face!
Song Moting knew their ginseng was weird.
They privately discussed it, even talked with Old Sir and Madam Song.
It's not unheard of to have wild-grown ginseng older than ten years, but cultivated ginseng needs time, the timing they just couldn't explain.
So they simply didn't explain, let them guess.
Can't always just spill all the secrets.
It's the only way.
Because they couldn't clarify it.
Jiang Xiaoxiao rubbed her nose, she'd have to cautiously use the spring water going forward.
It could cause big trouble.