Chapter 50: Transporting
Tan Guangzong turned back to the ox cart to get the scale, Tan Dafeng circled around the area once and then thought of something unknown, his eyes deep and inscrutable.
But after glancing at her once, he cast all those thoughts aside and quickly returned to normal.
He began intentionally and unintentionally creating some man-made traces around, and even during weighing, he directed his good nephew to move back and forth irregularly.
He didn’t know exactly what Su Ning was hiding, or who she was trading these things with and how, as long as it didn’t harm the country and the people, what was the problem with him, as her relative, cleaning up for her?
The vast expanse of fiery clouds hanging obliquely in the sky bathed the entire Fengzhu Ridge in brilliant sunset glow.
Gusts of mountain breeze were slightly cool, rustling the bamboo leaves.
Drops of sweat rolled down without time to be wiped, soaking the front and back of the busy people’s clothes.
Tan Dafeng and the other two were indeed good at work, cooperating with perfect tacit understanding: one weighed, one rebagged, and the remaining one transported.
Su Ning, who had “injuries” and was ordered to sit aside watching Daidai, felt restless, clenching her palms full of helplessness in her eyes.
She did have a faster, more effective, and less tiring method, but she couldn’t use it openly.
“Ning Ning, what’s wrong? Got nails under your butt?”
Catching her with his peripheral vision, Tan Dafeng stood up and wiped his face, chuckling as he made a joke.
“Rest assured, this little work will be done in no time, you just sit tight, it won’t delay the handover!”
Uncle, she wasn’t worried about whether it would be in time or not.
She returned a wry look and waved her hand, “Uncle Tan, I’m not worried!”
“Hahahaha, not worried is right!”
She had already decided that besides the quantity on the task list and what she promised to Jiaming, the extra remaining would be hidden benefits for Uncle Tan and the other two for their help this time.
She estimated the grain was at most just under two or three hundred jin, and the fruit might be even less, but these were perfect for doing favors.
“Xi xi~ ka zhi~”
Hm?
There seemed to be strange noises from the back of the hillside. Seeing Uncle Tan and the others busy as bees, Su Ning stood up and slowly walked up the slope.
She saw a child about five or six years old, barefoot, using a sharpened bamboo slip to scrape something at the base of the bamboo, then carefully putting it into a section of bamboo tube with a wooden stopper nearby.
Hearing the noise, the child turned her head in fright, and only after seeing it was a pretty big sister did she let out a big sigh of relief.
At this time, Su Ning also saw clearly that what was in the bamboo slip in her hand were actually brown insects.
So the two didn’t speak, one tilting her head in confusion watching, the other huffing and puffing continuing to catch them with head down.
“You… also, want to eat?”
Like being stared at unwaveringly, the little one finally felt uncomfortable and spoke first.
Her voice lacked the crisp brightness unique to children, instead hoarse and raspy like an old woman, and the sentence was stumbling as if she didn’t speak often, making it very labored.
But… what did she say, eat?
Catching them not for making medicine, but to eat?
“I… share a little… with you?”
“Thank you, but no need.”
——Since not for bamboo insects, then why still here?
Understanding the obvious meaning in those big eyes, Su Ning smiled, her dimple faintly visible at the corner of her mouth.
Fengzhu Ridge had almost no households, so a child suddenly appearing, saying she was catching insects to eat, indeed sparked her curiosity.
But since the little one wasn’t very welcoming and seemed quite afraid of being disturbed, she didn’t ask more and turned to leave.
The instant she left, the image of that previous ‘helpful’ big aunt who gave directions suddenly flashed in her mind.
Her steps paused, she turned her head for another look, and Su Ning went down the slope with a somewhat odd expression.
“What’s wrong?”
“Uncle Tan, do you eat insects here?”
“You mean the bamboo weevils on the bamboo? That stuff roasted or fried makes great drinking snacks~”
Tan Dafeng glanced far behind her, but of course saw nothing due to the slope height, “Ran into someone catching bamboo insects to eat?”
“Ning Wa, if you want to try, tomorrow I’ll have Gou Wa and them catch a basinful, your auntie’s fried bamboo insects are top-notch!”
Tan Dacang laughed as he spoke, freeing one hand to give a thumbs up.
“No no, I just saw a kid saying catching insects to eat and got curious!”
“Hahahaha~”
“Hehehe!”
Seeing her waving hands and shaking head in full resistance, extremely nervous that Tan Dacang might really give her insects to eat, Tan Dafeng and the other two were amused to no end.
People who haven’t eaten them, seeing the black crispy fried insects, would indeed feel disgusted and scared.
But in the village, during those years of natural disasters, let alone insects, when starved bad, people ate anything; things like bamboo insects and cicadas were delicacies you couldn’t even dream of then.
“Ning Ning, don’t be afraid. Bamboo insects, especially the larvae and insect pupae, are really delicious!”
Saying that, he slurped some saliva. Brother Guangzong promised cheerfully, “After the autumn harvest is done, brother will go into the bamboo grove to catch some for you!”
Silently speechless, Su Ning, who seemed unable to escape this insect feast: Well, thank you?
“Hahahaha, insect pupae and such, we’ll talk about it next time. Ning Ning, come look at these goods.”
“As you said, grain in hundred-jin bags, fruit in hundred-jin baskets. After subtracting the total you mentioned, there’s still three hundred twenty jin of rice left, and a hundred jin of mixed fruit.”
It was about the same as what she had budgeted in her mind. Su Ning told them to set aside the excess and remember to load it back onto the ox cart later.
Tan Dafeng and the others didn’t think much of it and readily agreed, saying that even if they forgot something, they wouldn’t forget the grain.
“Uncle Tan, you all rest first. The truck will be here in a little while.”
Glancing at her watch, Su Ning brought the military green cloth bag from behind her—used to cover people’s eyes—to the front and reached in to pull out several steamed buns the size of an adult fist.
Before coming, she had hastily eaten a few bites of rice in a rush. After two hours of work, she really felt hungry.
Tan Dafeng and the other two truly treated her like family, so of course they didn’t pretend politeness. They took the steamed buns and squatted on the ground to eat them in big bites.
She had remembered to prepare some food but forgot water. Seeing Brother Guangzong eating so fast that he choked and stuck out his neck straight, she could only feel annoyed.
After all, the bag was only so big. With so many large meat buns stuffed in, how could it possibly hold such a large military green water bottle too?
“No matter how fragrant this large meat bun is, you have to eat slower! Don’t choke to death, you stinky kid!”
Tan Dafeng glared at him irritably and stretched out his reed fan-sized hand to thump his back bang bang bang.
Brother Guangzong, who nearly choked to death but almost got beaten to death by his own uncle: Dear uncle, spare me!
His own dad Tan Dacang chuckled happily, not feeling anything wrong with it. If his hands hadn’t been slow, he would have happily joined in to help.
Perking up his ears at the sound, Tan Dafeng finished the bun in his hand in two or three bites. “Ning Ning, the truck is here!”
“Hm?”
Hearing that, Su Ning stood up and walked to the side of the main road. Sure enough, she saw a large truck slowly pulling up toward them.
“Cadre Su?”
“Master Hao, it’s me!”
Answering loudly, Su Ning turned and nodded to Tan Dafeng beside her as a signal.
The three who understood immediately started loading the goods onto the truck.
……
Until all the things were fully loaded onto the truck, the time had already reached past ten at night.
“Master Hao, please wait a moment.”
“Hey, no big deal. Cadre Su, I’ll get on the truck and wait for you first!”
Once he got on the truck, Su Ning followed behind Tan Dafeng to the front of the pit. “Uncle Tan, Uncle Tan, Brother Guangzong, I have to go back with the truck. Next time I come to Yong County, I’ll visit you all.”
“Be sure to pay attention to safety on the way back. Go slow!”
“The child isn’t big but worries us endlessly.”
Patting her shoulder, Tan Dafeng smiled and nodded in agreement. “Rest assured, your Uncle Tan drives steadily. You should pay more attention yourself and be careful not to reopen the wound on your back. After the autumn harvest is done, if you don’t have time, uncle will go to Gu City to see you instead!”
“Okay.”
After saying a few simple words, Su Ning took out the agreed-upon money and stuffed it into his hand. She also bid farewell to Tan Dacang and his son, then turned and left under their gazes.
……
Hearing the sound of the truck starting up and driving away, Brother Guangzong, who suddenly realized what was off, slapped his forehead hard.
“Uncle, Dad, what do we do with this extra grain and fruit?”
“What do you mean what do we do? Ning Wa didn’t say to load it back onto the ox cart… hey~”
Tan Dacang, who also caught on, suddenly looked at his big brother. “This?”
“This little fox!”
No wonder she ran so fast even though she was injured!
Tan Dafeng shook his head with a smile and followed their gazes to the several bags of grain and baskets of fruit on the ground.
“Let’s go, head back first. After the grain is distributed post-autumn harvest, I’ll exchange these three bags of rice for new grain and bring more for her to taste.”
