Chapter 227: 227 tired
Yuanyuan smiled, she too felt lonely, spending a month without going out, just having the animals at home to talk with.
Sometimes she found the house eerily quiet. She used to be alone too, but never felt this way.
Yuanyuan knew it was because of the habits formed from living with Tan Shaoting for those few years.
After the two finished eating, they rested on the warm kang. Now Yuanyuan’s cleanliness habit didn’t bother her anymore. She could tolerate lying on the kang with her clothes on.
"Yuanyuan. I really admire you."
"Me? What’s there to admire about? I’m doing the same as you, not even doing as much as you."
"But if you left it to me alone, I definitely couldn’t do it."
"Haha. I got used to it long ago."
"Yuanyuan, I miss home."
"You’ve earned money this year; why not go back and visit? We have several months; our farm isn’t strict about this. Plenty of time in winter."
"But, I’m afraid." Only with Yuanyuan could she talk about it. Saying such things to family or siblings was difficult.
"Xiao Li. What are you afraid of? It’s your home."
"I don’t know, this year my older brother definitely can’t go back; the child is too young, it can’t be helped.
And my older sister, several families have come for marriage proposals, she probably won’t go back either.
My second brother hasn’t said anything, but it looks like he doesn’t plan to go back either.
Yuanyuan, are you going back? Shall we go together?"
Yuanyuan shook her head, "I’m not going back. I want to see Tan Shaoting." Using the visit as an excuse was the best.
"Sigh, then I won’t go back either."
Yuanyuan didn’t know how to persuade her.
After the two took a nap, "Yuanyuan, let me help you dig up the cotton stalks. I’m afraid you won’t have time. I’ll do it with you."
Yuanyuan shook her head, "Xiao Li, you finally have some time to rest. No need for you. We can dig after returning from ginning cotton; there’s no rush."
"It’s okay. Better to do a little." In fact, Zhao Yanli felt for Yuanyuan.
Finally, the two girls went to dig up the cotton stalks.
Having someone to chat with while working felt really good. The two managed to get half the work done in an afternoon.
"Yuanyuan, if you want to go out, just go. I’ll help you dig here."
"Thanks a lot then." Although Yuanyuan said this, she wouldn’t really do that, after all, others have been working hard all year. She still had some tricks up her sleeve, while they were doing the real work.
They stayed to have dinner with Zhao Xiaoli, and the two made noodles with meat soup that was really delicious, plus leftover pancakes from lunch, leaving them both very full.
Yuanyuan drove Zhao Yanli back home.
The next day, she filled a cart with corn, being the first to arrive at the office, as no one else had shown up yet.
A cart is 2,400 pounds. One more and it’s enough.
"Accountant Zhang, I want to go into the city to gin cotton in a few days. But I know ginning is available in the city; I just don’t know where exactly."
"We have someone who can gin cotton right here at the farm. Why go to the city?"
"Really? That saves me a lot of trouble. Just not sure if they’ll do it."
"If you pay them, of course they will."
"Who is it? I’ll go and ask them."
"It’s from Mr. Chen’s group, I hear they have cotton ginning machines."
Yuanyuan got the address but didn’t rush home; instead, she went to find people. The second group had also helped during harvest, so she freed up twenty pounds of wheat on her cart, plus two large winter melons. It wasn’t too much but certainly not too little.
She found the household, stubbornly giving them the things despite their refusal. She also found out from them who gins cotton.
Yuanyuan really had good luck. They didn’t refuse, and the processing fee was much lower than in the city.
"They start accepting public grain tomorrow; it will take at least three days."
Yuanyuan found Zhao Xiaoli and told her about this situation.
"Alright then, I was thinking of going to the city anyway."
"No worries, once I leave, you can drive me. This year you still have to take care of the livestock."
"No problem, an easy task."
Since it was settled, Yuanyuan felt relieved. Honestly, she dreaded going to the city; it was just too far. Before, having someone accompany didn’t make it daunting, but now she didn’t want to go by herself.
The next day, Yuanyuan took another cart of corn, completing this year’s quota.
Back home, there were still bits and pieces to do; it was honestly quite busy, always something to tend to.
After the cotton stalks were dug up, the next day, she hauled 30 bags of seed cotton to the Zhang Family.
They had already prepared the machines, and Yuanyuan helped out from the side.
"Xiao Su, your cotton is really good, high lint yield, it’ll turn out great."
"Hehe, really? I used quite a bit of fertilizer."
"Even with fertilizer, it’s worth it. Xiao Su, are you selling any of your cotton? I’d like to buy ten pounds."
"Sure. No problem. I still have three carts of seed cotton to gin."
So of course they were willing. More cotton meant more earnings.
The 30 bags of cotton yielded a total of 180 pounds of ginned cotton.
Looking at the snow-white cotton, Yuanyuan smiled with satisfaction.
This is great, cotton is actually in short supply here.
The yield isn’t very high, but the price is, making up for it.
The cotton seeds were also brought back, which can be used for oil extraction, but need to go to the city for processing.
In three consecutive days, Yuanyuan gathered a total of 540 pounds of ginned cotton.
The following two days were for the Zhao family’s cotton.
Their yield was only about 90 pounds, due to insufficient fertilizer.
Still, it wasn’t bad; from three acres, they still got over 200 pounds. Enough for new cotton clothes for the family.
Yuanyuan made a round of the house, feeling everything was tidied up, and then sought out Feng Baoshan for a pass.
"Xiao Su, sell me twenty pounds of your cotton. My nephew’s getting married, and we can’t find any cotton at all, so he came to me. Luckily you have some this year."
Yuanyuan nodded, "Of course, for Director Feng, it’s two yuan per pound as well."
Feng Baoshan readily agreed, having wanted to buy some himself but was too shy to ask earlier.
"Director Feng, I can sell you another twenty pounds."
Feng Baoshan smiled, reassured by how considerate this girl was.
"Thank you, Xiao Su. I’ll come to your place to fetch it today."
"Alright, I’m here to request a pass from Director Feng today; I’m planning to head out."
"Sure, no problem. Are you coming back after the New Year?"
"Yes. Most of the time is spent on the train."
Feng Baoshan, having traveled himself, knew how slow the train could be.
"Xiao Su, do you know where Xiao Tan is?"
"I know." Lying felt awkward, but this excuse worked best. No choice but to use it.