Chapter 51: Completion
……
Yong County Hongqi Commune First Brigade.
When people get old, they sleep less, and with her mind hanging on the children and grandchildren whose return time she didn’t know, Granny Tan tossed and turned even more, unable to sleep.
Thinking that they had been busy for most of the night and didn’t know what time it was when Eldest Son and the others got home, Granny Tan, who couldn’t lie still any longer, rolled over, got out of bed in the dark, and entered the kitchen.
She lit the fire, set up the large pot, and simmered a large pot of thick sweet potato porridge.
By the time Tan Dafeng and the other two returned to the team, the moon was high in the sky and it was already late at night. Afraid of waking the family, they carefully entered the yard and then noticed the firelight in the kitchen.
“Back?”
Granny Tan, who hurried out quickly upon hearing the sound, felt relieved seeing the three of them safe and sound, and continued in a low voice, “You must be starving. Quick, come into the kitchen and have some porridge to fill your stomachs first.”
When the three arrived in the kitchen, each dragging a snakeskin bag plus two bamboo baskets, Granny Tan saw it by the light of the firewood in the stove.
“What things?”
“Grain and fruit given by Ning Ning.”
Hearing it was grain and fruit, such precious things, Granny Tan’s old face tightened, and the wrinkles on her forehead furrowed into a river character.
Her hands anxiously patted repeatedly, not missing the two ‘big melons’.
“Didn’t Ning Wa give each of you twenty bucks? How could you have the face to take her things!”
“Ouch, Granny, be gentle, my head isn’t ripe yet, don’t smash it!”
“Don’t give me that cheek, Gou Dan is young and doesn’t understand, but you two grown men, have you been feeding your meals into your asses for nothing?!”
Tan Dafeng looked at his youngest brother who, as usual every time, shrank behind him as soon as their old lady got angry. He cursed him softly under his breath as a coward, but stepped forward firmly to block him completely.
Even if he had become a father, no matter how big he got, he was still his younger brother; as long as he could move, he would always protect him.
“Mom, you know what Ning Ning that child is like. We only realized after she left that these things were also hers. Two legs can’t catch up with four wheels, right?”
“Quibbling won’t help!”
Tan Dacang, hiding behind his older brother, heard their old lady’s iron sand palm hammering with banging sounds, and the corners of his mouth inappropriately grinned, revealing a silent smile:
So what if there was no dad? Who could know how happy it was to have such a big brother shielding him from wind and rain?
“Laughing, still laughing, you have the face to laugh! You think hiding behind makes it so I can’t reach you?”
Granny Tan showed none of the kindly gentleness she had in front of Su Ning, her eyes full of fierce light as she hammered straight at the two brothers, who howled in pain.
“Mom, Old Lady, listen to me. I’m thinking after the autumn harvest is done, keep a few hundred catties of the new grain without exchanging it for money and send it to Ning Ning!”
“By then the fruits all over the mountains will also be ripe. Let Gou Dan, Gou Wa, He Hua and the others pick more so she can exchange for some fruits she hasn’t tried to taste fresh, don’t you think?”
Granny Tan stopped her hand and thought carefully; it seemed Eldest Son was right.
“And the yellow boletus and black boletus and such in the mountains, send more to Ning Wa then. She definitely hasn’t tasted things we have here!”
“After the autumn harvest, there are not only many fruits on the mountain, but also many small things. You don’t have a wife to make good use of your strength; exercising every day is wasting that strength, better to get more meat for Ning Wa!”
The two brothers exchanged a tacit glance, then simultaneously turned to her and nodded vigorously: As long as Old Lady doesn’t hit, whatever you say goes!
……
Meanwhile.
Su Ning, unaware that Tan Dafeng still harbored such thoughts, sat in the large truck, rocking and swaying for four to nearly five hours before finally arriving smoothly in Gu City.
Next was doing the task handover together with the factory’s logistics director and Purchasing Department Director Liang, then getting the voucher to collect the remaining payment from finance.
After all that hustle, the tired and sleepy her returned home, took a quick shower, and almost fell asleep the moment she hit the bed.
She slept so deeply without even a dream. When she opened her eyes and was fully awake, the room in front of her was pitch black.
“Oh no, I forgot Little Round Circle!”
Little Round Circle, who hadn’t seen its owner for a day and a night, got over the initial excitement and, left alone in the quiet Peach Blossom Spring Space, gradually started to lose its temper as time passed.
The room doors in the yard were all closed so it couldn’t get in, so it could only slip out the gate and search everywhere on the ground and mountains. After turning everything upside down without finding anyone, its losing temper turned straight into frenzy.
So when Su Ning entered the Peach Blossom Spring Space and saw the scene in front of her, she was so angry her chest felt stuffy and she almost suffocated.
“Don’t come over.”
With a serious face rejecting its coquettish plea for a hug, she bent down, pinched the back of a certain one’s neck with two fingers, and brought it to the field it had wrecked.
“Little Round Circle, did you do this?”
“Woof woof, woof woof~”
“Looks like I need to teach you properly what it means that every grain comes from hardship.”
Not sure if it was because of the Peach Blossom Spring Space, but the already clever Little Round Circle seemed even more intelligent after staying here, able to understand many of her simple commands.
So Su Ning wasn’t afraid it wouldn’t understand and directly tossed it into the vegetable patch that was all askew.
“Dig the soil and replant it properly, or not only today and tomorrow, but from now on no meat for you!”
It whimpered aggrievedly. Little Round Circle glanced at the vegetable patch it had messed up, then obediently raised its paws and started digging the soil bit by bit.
“Forgetting you in the space was my fault; I bear half the responsibility, so I’ll accompany you.”
She squatted down, took the white radish that was mostly exposed above ground and stuffed it back into the pit it had dug, patiently admonishing it.
“No more wasting things in the fields and mountains from now on, especially grain and vegetables, got it?”
“Woof woof~”
It licked her hand fawningly. Knowing its mistake, Little Round Circle turned around, used its little head to nudge the radish like its owner, first rolling the white radish into the pit it had dug, then kicking soil with its hind legs to cover it.
“Admitting and correcting mistakes makes a good doggy. Finish tidying the vegetable patch, and I’ll reward you with a big piece of meat.”
“Woof!”
“Want to eat? Then work faster~”
……
After tidying the vegetable patch, the starving person and dog couldn’t wait to go to the kitchen, picked their favorite meals, and had a hearty feast.
After a short rest, under Little Round Circle’s amazed gaze, Su Ning finally took it out of the space.
Suddenly switching from daytime to night, the terrified doggy couldn’t stop barking wildly.
“Don’t be afraid, Little Round Circle.”
In the dark, she found the light cord at the main hall door, soothing it with words while pulling the cord to turn on the overhead light bulb.
The yellowish-white light dispersed the darkness and also made the little thing stop barking.
“This is also our home. You can look around, but don’t destroy things in the yard, and don’t pee outside the rooms, got it?”
“Woof~”
She put it on the ground and then turned to see the bulging bag she had casually placed on the sofa when she returned.
Ignoring the guy who was tentatively sniffing here and there in the yard, she sat on the sofa, put the bag on her lap, opened it, and pulled the zipper.
A bag full of big black tens!
She took out the wooden box where she stored money from the space bedroom; it contained the previous deposit, plus the balance now in the bag.
A total of thirty-nine thousand seven hundred bucks.
Her eyes shone amazingly under the light; this was the first money she had earned herself—how could she not be happy and excited?
Compared to the things left by her maternal grandfather and mom, over thirty thousand bucks was not eye-catching at all.
But if not compared upward, but downward?
Then it wasn’t just surplus, but surpassing most people.
However, doing this kind of left-right hand transfer thing once or twice was enough. After all, she wasn’t counting on the things in the space to get rich, so naturally she would avoid the risk of big batches of supplies moving out causing mistakes if possible.
In the future, unless some unexpected special situation, for any work purchasing tasks she wouldn’t take such shortcuts again.
Without experiencing things, how could she grow properly?
While thinking this in her heart, she finished counting the money in her hands.
Thirty-nine thousand seven hundred, plus four thousand in her piggy bank, two thousand Grandpa Fu insisted on giving her… just making up exactly forty-five thousand round number.
She put the extra few hundred bucks together with the previous pocket money used as change; added up it’s nearly a thousand bucks, enough to use for a long time. Not to mention she hadn’t counted the salary she would get every month from now on.
She bundled the round number money neatly, put it into the wooden box, closed it, and stored it back in the space bedroom.
She got up and left the main hall with cheerful little steps; not back for two or three days, she needed to water the flowers and plants and fruit trees in the yard!
“Little Round Circle, don’t bite the cattail mat. If it’s ruined later, I can’t weave a new one!”
“Woof~”
Just after being taught a lesson, it was the time to be obedient. Little Round Circle obediently dropped the mat from its mouth and turned to play with the jingling door curtain.
……
The next day, Su Ning, who had canceled her leave, prepared food early for Little Round Circle, told it to guard the house, and rode her bike to the textile factory.
Sure enough, only after finishing serious matters could she relax and play happily—cover face, slip away, while there’s still time…
