Chapter 5: The First Mission 5

Wang Juan yawned and picked up her cup to take a sip of water. "Sure, that’s fine."

"The space in the courtyard is already being used by others. If you want to grow vegetables, you’ll have to look for empty patches around the house and plant them there."

"Oh, right. If you want to raise chickens, you can keep a hen. Regardless of its size, you can only have one."

Liu Wen had originally intended to ask about raising chickens after asking about the vegetables, but she hadn't expected her to bring it up directly. "That works."

Although the eggs laid could be sold for money, Liu Wen felt that with this frail body, it was more important to focus on recovering her health first.

"I'll take you around to look at the surroundings." Wang Juan wasn't a particularly warm person, but seeing Liu Wen’s thin, small frame couldn't help but remind her of herself when she first arrived.

Everyone had it tough; if she could help out a little, she would. "By the way, do you know how to farm?"

Liu Wen shook her head repeatedly. "No."

"But I can learn." Since she had come to the countryside to work the land, it didn't matter if she didn't know how at first; as long as she studied diligently, it would be fine.

"Learning more is a good thing." Regardless of how well she would actually do, Wang Juan was quite satisfied with Liu Wen's attitude.

Liu Wen hadn't paid much attention before, but as she followed Wang Juan around, she discovered that there were vegetables planted in many places around the house. "Is there no one in charge of this?"

Liu Wen remembered there being regulations about how much private land a household could have. It was very strange that no one seemed to be managing it here.

"In theory, yes, but the situation in our village is different."

"The village chief is an old revolutionary, and everyone in this village shares the same surname, so they are very united. The Revolutionary Committee came by in the past, but they didn't get any good results. After suffering a few losses, they just gave up."

"In short, as long as you don't do anything outrageous here, nothing will happen."

"Besides, we are close to the farm, and we have a lot of contact with them."

"So it’s very quiet. When we grow too many vegetables, we can dry them and mail them back home." Wang Juan had reclaimed a lot of wasteland and dried many vegetables to mail back, which helped her family improve their diet during the winter.

Mailing dried vegetables back? Liu Wen smiled. She had no such intention. If she mailed things like that back, the Liu family wouldn't appreciate it; they wouldn't think of her kindness at all.

They might even be thinking that she should mail them more, or send them something else entirely. Liu Wen didn't want to spoil them.

Right, she should write a letter home to say she was safe. Even if no one cared, she at least needed to report her safety so she wouldn't have to maintain much contact in the future.

"Oh, Sister Wang, I need to mail a letter home to say I'm safe. Is anyone from the village going to the farm in the next few days?" Liu Wen felt a pang of reluctance at the thought of having to pay for another stamp.

But there was no choice; the money had to be spent.

"If anyone from the village is going to the farm, the village will notify us." Wang Juan didn't know if anyone was going tomorrow, but whenever someone needed to borrow the ox cart to go to the farm, they would let everyone know.

I see. Liu Wen breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing that there would be a notification; it seemed the village was quite considerate.

After walking around, with Wang Juan's help, Liu Wen quickly marked out her own private plot. Looking at the scattered patches of land, no matter how she calculated it, it felt like she was well over the limit.

"Is there really no one who will notice?" Liu Wen confirmed once more.

Seeing the timid Liu Wen, Wang Juan laughed. "Don't worry, be a little bolder."

"Once you've stayed here longer, you'll know that only us educated youths come around here. Unless it's necessary, the villagers won't come to this area." After all, it wasn't on the main road.

"And the land would just be lying fallow anyway." Wang Juan felt that it was a good thing for the educated youths to come and reclaim the wasteland. "Otherwise, the land would just go to waste."

Checking the time, Wang Juan suddenly asked, "Do you know how to catch fish?"

Catch fish? What did that mean? Did she mean going to the nearby stream to catch fish? Unfortunately, Liu Wen didn't know how.

"I don't know how to catch fish, but I can cook." The original owner had been cooking since she was a child. Even though the Liu family wasn't large, they were incredibly picky, with all sorts of demands.

But the ingredients were limited, the seasonings were limited, and most importantly, the oil was limited. The original owner had only been able to improve her culinary skills under such conditions.

"I'll grill fish for you today." Saying she was a good cook probably wouldn't be very convincing, but that was fine; she could prove it with her skills.

She could cook? Wang Juan was delighted. Even those who couldn't cook would learn after a few years as an educated youth, though the quality varied.

However, looking at Liu Wen's age, she wasn't too surprised that she could cook; it was just a matter of whether it tasted good. Since the little girl couldn't catch fish, it was fine that she could cook.

Liu Wen stayed on the bank, watching Wang Juan catch several fish. "Wow, that's amazing."

She had thought it would take a long time to catch fish, but she hadn't expected her to catch several large ones so quickly.

"Actually, small fish are quite tasty too," Liu Wen remarked.

"I... I don't dare eat small fish. They have too many bones." Wang Juan hadn't wanted to say it, but living in the same room, people would eventually find out, and it wasn't a bad thing anyway.

I see. Liu Wen understood, but she thought of a fish soup recipe. "I can make fish soup; there won't be any fish bones."

The only pity was the lack of oil. Wait—in the city, oil was rationed, but in the countryside, if one could be self-sufficient, one could grow soybeans and rapeseed.

"Right, Sister Juan, can I grow rapeseed and soybeans to press soybean oil and rapeseed oil?" Liu Wen knew she should be able to grow them, but she didn't know where to go to press the oil.

"You can. The farm can process it for a small fee."

"You can also pay with soybeans or rapeseed." That was impressive. Wang Juan gave Liu Wen a thumbs up. When she first arrived and learned about the private plots, she only thought about growing vegetables. She hadn't even considered rapeseed or soybeans; she only found out it was possible in her second year.

And Liu Wen, having just arrived, had already thought of this. She was truly remarkable.

"You just can't grow rice or wheat. Sweet potatoes are fine," Wang Juan said, listing what couldn't be grown on private plots.

I see. Liu Wen smiled happily. Since arriving, she had to measure every drop of oil when cooking, comparing it to the oil intake of someone on a diet.

But in this era, there were very few fat people. Liu Wen felt that no matter how much rice she ate, she still felt hungry; that was the result of a lack of oil.

Although she could eat more rice, eating more rice wasn't as good as eating more oil.

"Alright, where can I buy soybeans?" Money that needed to be spent had to be spent. Liu Wen had counted her money at home earlier; she had about fifty yuan.

That included her lucky money. After working as child labor for so many years, including her lucky money, she had saved fifty yuan. It was truly pitiful.

But it was better than having nothing. Liu Wen had made up her mind: she would use the oil to trade for things. The black market wasn't safe, and she didn't know where it was, so she would trade with the people at the farm.

The farm employees received monthly wages. Although not everyone was generous, there were always some who were.

The truth was, there were too many things she needed to trade for—a quilt, clothes, a thermos—and she only had so much money. She couldn't count on the village dividends.

Therefore, the only way to make money was through other means, and using the private plot was the best way.