Rebirth in the 60s: A Path to Counterattack-Chapter 95 - 0. ’Picking’ food

Seeing Saozi go to such lengths, spending her own money and supplies just to find Lian Yue some work and ease her mind, Lian Yue was moved to tears, but she also felt a pang of heartache for Saozi.

Even though Saozi’s dowry was substantial, plus there was income from selling deer, mushrooms, and black fungus to rely on.

But money has always been hard to earn and easy to spend; with just a little slip, it could easily bring the family back under the basic needs line. ƒreeωebnovel.ƈom

When they got married, they spent quite a lot on buying fabric and sandals for the kids. Now it was a set of sweaters for each little one, and including herself.

Adding it all up, it wouldn’t be enough without six jin of yarn, and at two yuan per jin, these four sweaters for their little family needed at least twelve yuan.

And if she spent on nephews and nieces from her in-law’s side, it wouldn’t be right to neglect her own nephews and nieces.

Oh dear, just calculating like this, Saozi spent at least twenty yuan just to find some safe work to occupy her hands?

That amount could buy at least two hundred jin of rice or thirty jin of meat.

Lian Yue felt a sting for her brother and his wife, wanting to lessen their loss. Yet Saozi firmly refused to take any money, insisting it was her loving gift as an aunt to her nieces and nephews, and arguing over money would just devalue that love.

"It’s just a mere ten or twenty yuan," she said. "We have plenty of income and not that much to spend on. We can handle it."

With this said, Lian Yue no longer insisted.

She simply made up her mind that she would repay Saozi’s kindness doubly when the child in her belly was born.

Born into the Lian family, raised by the Lian family, recognizing her older brother as dad, and coming out of Saozi’s belly, they would be her true nephew or niece!

Fearing Saozi would spend money to find her work again if she disagreed, Lian Yue no longer mentioned feeling frustrated staying idle.

Instead, she took up the knitting needles her husband had sharpened for her overnight, and earnestly learned to knit from Shuzhen.

Planning to finish this task beautifully, so if anyone asked later, Saozi would feel proud.

Although it cost over twenty yuan, it calmed her sister-in-law’s anxious heart and garnered a wealth of gratitude. More importantly, her sister-in-law now had work to keep her hands busy, and she no longer hovered around like clockwork, present in the morning, leaving at noon, and returning in the afternoon, like she was working at a job.

This way, Saozi finally had the time and space to attend to things she’d always wanted to do!

That day, when Lianshan returned home for lunch, he was surprised to see his wife fiddling with a bunch of bright red sorghums at the bottom of a basket.

"Hey, where did this sorghum come from?" Lianshan asked with curiosity.

"Picked them up. Haven’t they been busy harvesting sorghum at the production team these days? I just happened to see a sorghum head by the roadside near our house, probably dropped off the cart on its way to the drying ground!

I felt it would be a shame to leave it, so I picked it up. Who would have thought that once I started, I couldn’t stop!

Saw some more sorghum heads here and there, scattered every thirty fifty meters by the roadside in the grass. I thought it was a shame to miss out on this free food, right? Just like picking mushrooms, didn’t brother always say if heaven gives, one must not reject it!" Shuzhen replied without meeting Lianshan’s eyes, pretending to focus on sorting the sorghum, her tone as light as possible.

"No, it can’t be. The sorghum carts should have side panels. Besides the cart driver, there’s usually someone else on the cart! If you could casually pick them like this, wouldn’t the sorghums be gone by the time they reached the ground?" Lianshan chuckled, not doubting his wife but finding the likelihood of such an occurrence amusingly low.

Since she thought of this reason, Shuzhen wouldn’t allow any flaws in her story.

Despite some ethical discomfort with deceiving her trusting husband, she didn’t skimp on preparations.

Seeing he didn’t believe her, Shuzhen didn’t try to argue.

She simply urged him to hurry up and eat, as the cart carrying sorghum heads had just passed by ten or twenty minutes ago. After he ate, she’d show him, so he could see for himself.

"Alright, you’ve piqued my curiosity. How can I focus on eating now? Show me first, we’ll talk about eating later!" Lianshan laughed, amused by his wife’s playful pose, and he couldn’t resist pinching her tender cheeks.

Beaming, Shuzhen gave him a sideways glance and said, "Seeing is believing, as if I could fool you!"

"Here, take this!" she huffed softly, thrusting a small vegetable-picking basket, woven by Lianshan, into his arms.

"Do we really need this?" Just a stroll around the house, they shouldn’t need household tools. It was two li to the nearest field, and Lianshan thought finding a couple of sorghum heads would be a stroke of luck.

Yet after walking the two li circuit, seeing the basket half-filled with sorghum heads and five large stalks of soybean covered in pods, Lianshan fell in love with this grain-picking task.

Seeing his wife so eager, ready to carry it on through the whole season.

Looking at their ample haul, Lianshan found the words to refuse stuck in his throat.

After all, they had spent a lifetime together, and with his reaction as clear as day, how could Shuzhen not understand?

Quickly observing that no one was around, she shyly took his hand and led him back home.

Inside the doorway, she raised her hand as if to take an oath: "Brother Lianshan, Brother Lianshan, my children’s father~

Please don’t stop me, let me pick some grains!

I’ll just stick to the road by our house, I promise not to go far.

I won’t go into the field and compete with a group of kids for their chores, inviting gossip for nothing.

I’ll just stay close to home, no far-reaching, no tiring, no danger, and I’ll keep it a secret. Would you grant me this, to let me contribute to our little family?"

Her softly sweetened tone, intended to charm, and her sugary sweet little voice, calling him "Brother Lianshan," "my children’s father," nearly turned Lianshan into putty in her hands.

As long as she looked at him with those affectionate eyes, calling him "my children’s father," Lianshan would even give his life, not to mention this modest request.

After holding her tight for a while, Lianshan, his voice husky and gratification not fully expressed, seriously instructed her: "Wanting to pick grain is fine, but you have to be safe. Don’t travel far for it, exhaust yourself and our daughter or son. Don’t compete with others for some grain and risk yourself or the child in danger.

If there’s excess food, that’s fine, if not, that’s fine too. The most important thing is that you and the child must not have any mishaps, understand, mother of my child?"

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