A Huge Package

This program was produced by Tomato Listening. Episode 40: A Huge Package!

After the captain of Team Three came over and heard the whole story, he said to Li Daxiang and the little old man, "What kind of mess is your family making? You said you were going home to cook before the work was done, then after cooking, neither of you could be found. You only came to work in the middle of the night. Aren't you just making yourselves suffer?"

The Production Team Leader understood as soon as he heard that they had been played. It was the height of the busy farming season, yet someone was still pulling this kind of pointless stunt. Furious, he said, "Why aren't you working? You brought this sickness upon yourselves. You never work properly. Five work points will be deducted for today's leave."

As soon as Li Daxiang heard that, he knew it meant he had worked half the day for nothing. He wanted to say something, but Aunt Li had suppressed him for so long that he had long become a tight-lipped gourd. He could not get a word out.

Everyone working in this section of the field was looking over. The Production Team Leader felt too embarrassed to watch and said, "Enough. Get back to work. What are you all staring at? Go tell your spouse that if she is still too sick to get up tomorrow, another five work points will be deducted."

Li Daxiang, the little old man, frowned so hard that his face was covered in wrinkles.

Lin Yuzhu shot him a dark look and went back to work.

Lin Yuzhu did not expect much from Song Zhigao. As long as he did not work worse than she did, that would be enough.

Yet she never expected that a young man could work even worse than a girl. After she finished gathering the wheat, she still had to wait for him to slowly cut it. She was starting to find him a little irritating.

The sun gradually grew hotter. Lin Yuzhu wiped the sweat from her sunbaked face and kept shaking her head at Song Zhigao's back.

Song Zhigao might have felt embarrassed too. He turned back and said apologetically, "Sister Lin, don't worry. Once I get more familiar with it, my speed will pick up right away."

Lin Yuzhu's mind was filled with the words "Sister Lin."

How depressing. She had finally gone back to being sixteen, yet someone was still calling her sister. "Take your time. Don't cut your feet."

Lin Yuzhu said weakly.

This was no joke. Zhang Yanqiu had cut her foot yesterday, and she had not seen anyone give her a tetanus shot or anything. Better not rush him. Safety came first.

Hearing Lin Yuzhu's words, Song Zhigao secretly breathed a sigh of relief. He had been extremely nervous just now. Seeing that Lin Yuzhu did not seem inclined to hold it against him, he thought, Sister Lin doesn't seem like Zhao Xianglan said she was.

That was why people needed patience.

After Lin Yuzhu followed behind the young Song for an hour or two, he finally started looking the part. His wheat-cutting speed picked up, while Lin Yuzhu followed behind gathering the stalks into piles before tying them up. That part required a bit of skill.

Wheat straw had limited flexibility. If she did not tie it properly, the bundle would come apart and have to be tied again.

It was only after tying several bundles that Lin Yuzhu got the hang of it.

After all that back and forth, she was covered in wheat awns, and her clothes were filthy with wheat dust. The sun was scorching, sweat streamed down her body, and the awns stuck to her skin. Lin Yuzhu could only endure it and did not dare wipe herself carelessly.

The more she wiped, the more wheat dust covered her body. She truly did not want to suffer through this hardship a second time.

By the time work ended that morning, Lin Yuzhu was covered from head to toe in wheat stalks and awns, with several stalks stuck in her hair.

Lin Yuzhu had thought Lin Jia had forgotten about her. Then, at the entrance to the Educated Youth Dormitory on her way back, she heard someone call her name. The voice sounded somewhat familiar, but she could not remember who it was.

Looking in that direction, she saw a man riding over on a bicycle with a large package strapped behind him.

When he stopped at the entrance of the Educated Youth Dormitory, Lin Yuzhu froze. It was an acquaintance. Had this guy quit his job as a clerk at the grain station to become a postman? Had the old postman honorably retired?

"Lin Yuzhu?"

Shen Bojun asked after seeing her stare at him.

Lin Yuzhu nodded.

Shen Bojun stared at Lin Yuzhu thoughtfully for a moment, but quickly returned to normal.

"Lin Yuzhu, this package is yours."

After saying that, he unloaded it and handed it to her, then called into the Educated Youth Dormitory, "Zhou Nan."

Looking at the enormous package, Lin Yuzhu wanted to gasp. Had Lin Mother sent her entire household over?

Zhou Nan had been washing up in the courtyard. Hearing someone call him, he came out, and even Shen Bojun, also a man, was startled by his looks.

"Zhou Nan? Comrade Zhou Nan," Shen Bojun said, nodding.

After Shen Bojun handed him a letter, he watched Lin Yuzhu lift the package. Her entire body disappeared behind it, and he nearly laughed.

Zhou Nan looked at the envelope in his hand. It was from home, but he was in no hurry to open it. Turning, he saw Lin Yuzhu struggling to hold the package and paused. In a cool voice, he asked, "Do you need help?"

"Yes. I have no idea what Lin Mother put in here. It's so heavy and big that it's really hard to carry."

Hearing the female Educated Youth's voice, Shen Bojun frowned. It sounded pleasant, yet he could not recall where he had heard it before. He did not leave immediately, instead standing there and watching Zhou Nan take the other side of the package.

The two carried the package into the courtyard together. The female Educated Youth's back also looked inexplicably familiar. Then Shen Bojun heard the male Educated Youth say, "I've sorted out those newspapers. Come get them when you have time."

"If you hadn't mentioned it, I would've forgotten. Thanks!"

That voice. Shen Bojun stared at Lin Yuzhu and pondered for a long time. He had definitely heard it before.

Li Xiangbei, who had just returned from the Summer Palace and was about to enter the courtyard, casually glanced at the postman. He had already taken a step forward, yet abruptly stopped. Turning back, he looked Shen Bojun over twice and asked, "Why are you here?"

Shen Bojun gave a slight nod without saying much.

Li Xiangbei seemed to understand something and forcibly changed the subject. "Comrade, are there any letters for me?"

"At the Educated Youth Dormitory, only two comrades had letters and packages. They have both already collected them."

"Oh, all right. Comrade, have a safe journey."

Shen Bojun nodded, mounted his bicycle, and left.

Wang Yang, who returned two steps behind him, also saw the postman. He hurriedly turned around but caught only a glimpse of Shen Bojun's back. He said to Li Xiangbei, "Old Shen became a postman again?"

Li Xiangbei's gaze stretched into the distance.

Only then did Wang Yang realize something. Looking around and seeing no one nearby, he relaxed and muttered quietly, "Old Shen really has it good. He's collecting two paychecks."

"Wait, that's not right. He can even make money at the Black Market."

He muttered as he spoke, filled with envy.

"Keep your mouth shut. Don't let anything slip."

Li Xiangbei warned him.

"Come on, like I wouldn't know that. There's nobody around, so I'm just saying a couple of things!"

"Sigh, what do you think Shen Family's younger uncle was thinking, throwing him into a place like this?"

"We became Educated Youth because we had no choice. But the Shen Family saw the situation coming and could have arranged a way out for their younger generation beforehand. I just don't know how they ended up arranging for Old Shen to come to this remote little place."

Li Xiangbei was silent for a long while. The Wang Family was showing signs of decline after all, and there was already a lot of information they could no longer obtain. Wang Yang was not particularly perceptive either. "Let me think. A few hundred kilometers from here is the border. Maybe, like us, they're hiding far away so they won't get caught up in it."

Wang Yang instantly drooped. "Sigh, but they're still much better off than us. Who knows when we'll be able to go back?"

Li Xiangbei stared at the country road where Shen Bojun had already vanished, unable to stop the melancholy in his heart. He was only two years younger, yet their lives had diverged so drastically.

After Zhou Nan helped Lin Yuzhu place the package at the entrance to her room, he nodded to her and turned to leave.

Lin Yuzhu hurriedly thanked him. She noticed Zhao Xianglan carrying a basin to the backyard to pick vegetables, her eyes fixed intently in this direction. Lin Yuzhu clicked her tongue. "Peach Blossom Stockade, oh, Peach Blossom Stockade."

Seeing the huge package, Wang Xiaomei's curiosity burned. She hurried over in two or three steps and asked excitedly, "What's in your package?"

Lin Yuzhu pushed her away. "Oh, go cook your food. Stop hanging around here and getting in the way."

With such a huge package, it would not seem excessive for her to take out a few things later, though she had no idea what to take out. Once she had washed all the wheat chaff from her body, she felt much fresher.

Before she had time to unpack the package, she first lit the stove, cooked some porridge, and warmed two steamed buns. Only after finishing that did she unpack it.

When she opened the package, she found a letter. Lin Yuzhu unfolded it first. It was still written by the eldest daughter of the Lin Family. She said that Lin Mother had specially added more stuffing to a thick quilt for her and made her a padded jacket and trousers. There was some cotton left, so she had also made padded gloves. She could not make padded shoes, so Lin Yuzhu was told to buy a ready-made pair in town and not be stingy. A girl's feet could not get cold.

There were cloth coupons in the envelope. She was to be careful not to lose them.

The eldest sister from next door had also bought some yarn and specially knitted her a pair of woolen trousers. There was not much yarn, but once her workplace got more, she would try to get some and knit Lin Yuzhu a sweater.

Besides those things, there were also some clothes she had worn through past autumns and winters, all sent over at once.

Lin Mother had specifically reminded her to carefully check through the package and make sure nothing was missing.

Seeing this, Lin Yuzhu wanted to say that even if something was missing, there would be no way to get it back. She thought this silently.

Lin Mother had specially saved up brown sugar coupons and bought her two bags of brown sugar. Winter was cold, so she was to make ginger tea with brown sugar whenever she had the chance to ward off the cold. She was not to refuse just because she did not like drinking it.

Lin Yuzhu was speechless. It seemed that the original owner, like her, did not enjoy brown sugar water.

The rest of the letter described the situation at home. Everything was normal, with one minor setback: the eldest brother next door had failed another blind date. This time, it was not that he disliked the other party. Rather, she thought he was too old and believed that a man his age who still had not married must have some unspeakable secret.

Lin Yuzhu laughed. What goes around comes around.

But then again, if she disliked his age, why agree to meet him in the first place? Wouldn't it have been better to refuse from the beginning?

The things in the package were basically the same as what the letter described. Aside from the bedding and padded jacket and trousers, the old autumn and winter clothes had arrived at just the right time. If Lin Mother had not sent them, Lin Yuzhu had planned to buy some in town.

In the countryside, clothes were just clothes. As long as she had something to wear, that was enough. This was not the time to dress up. Saving some money made her feel delighted.

After taking everything out and arranging it properly, she simply bought a bottle of mixed vegetable relish from her space and ate it with porridge and steamed buns. Mm, it was not bad. She had made do with lunch and was even thinking of taking a rest.

Just as she expected, Wang Xiaomei came over to have a look.

Lin Yuzhu held her forehead. Was a single package really that tempting?

Wang Xiaomei came in, looked around the neat room, curled her lips, and asked excitedly, "Your family sent you a package?"