Su Qinghe had just arrived at the Yellow River production team. Dabao and Erbao, who were playing at the entrance of the village, spotted Su Qinghe all at once, and then yelled in the direction of the house, "She's back—"
Their voices were loud and clear, echoing slightly.
Then came the voices of a few girls, "Auntie is back—"
Finally, Gao Xiulan’s surprised voice shouted, "Is our Qingmiao back?"
Su Qinghe got out of the car, feeling a bit embarrassed as she listened to these voices one after another. She saw Su Dabao and Su Erbao playing at the entrance of the village and asked, "Dabao, what are you doing?"
Dabao looked at the bicycle with excitement. "Auntie, you haven't come back for a long time. I was worried that you might arrive and no one would be home, so we were told to wait at the village entrance. The big sisters and the others are digging for earthworms nearby. They’ll help spread the word when they return. We heard grandma at home shouting too."
Hearing Su Dabao’s words, Su Qinghe felt both amused and touched. Her mother always made a big fuss, acting like the emperor returning to court—if no one was around, she’d send people ahead to announce the arrival.
Before they reached the yard, Gao Xiulan had already come out to greet them. Several young girls also came over with their tools, looking at Su Qinghe eagerly.
Su Qinghe hadn’t returned for half a month. Her family had really missed her.
After entering the house, Su Qinghe put things on the table and said, “Mom, don’t do this in the future. The village is small. When I come back, I’ll be able to find you. You can just go about your day, no need to wait around or guard the entrance for me. I had something to do last week, so I couldn’t come back. If I get busier in the future, I might not have much time to come home.”
The children nearby were drooling while looking at the things on the table. They hunched their shoulders and lowered their heads.
“What were you busy with? Are you tired?” Gao Xiulan asked while pouring brown sugar water. She looked at her daughter with heartache. “Your face looks thinner.”
Hearing her mother’s words, Su Qinghe touched her chin and smiled happily. “I’m not too tired. Didn’t Dad Chang’an worry about the seeds a while ago? I wanted to help.”
Gao Xiulan sighed. “What can you do to help? It’s useless. These seeds were already late, and the year isn’t going well. I saw the seeds when they arrived. They didn’t look good. If you ask me, it’s better to cook and eat them. Throwing them into the ground is just a waste.”
“Mom, these can’t be eaten. They represent hope. So many people on the team are depending on them. Besides, Dad Chang’an worked so hard trying to improve the seed production. I saw how worried he was, so I tried to help him look for a solution. And guess what—I really did find something good. Dad Chang’an said it might work.”
“Really?” Gao Xiulan looked surprised. “What did you find?”
“I don’t know if it’ll work yet. Our area has always been dry, right? Someone did research on this and wrote it in an old book. I’ve been buying books everywhere to study, and that’s when I found this one.”
Gao Xiulan said excitedly, “I knew it, it’s because of my daughter’s good luck. My daughter must have found the solution. Once you marry into the old Gu family, no one will dare bully you again!”
Su Qinghe thought for a moment, then took out a few pieces of dried sweet potatoes from her pocket and gave them to the children, telling them to go outside and play. The children quickly grabbed the food and ran out.
She pulled Gao Xiulan aside and said, “Mom, maybe Dad is helping me from above. Otherwise, how could I be this lucky? Even that big mouse last time… I still think it had something to do with Dad.”
Gao Xiulan hadn’t thought of it like that, but when she heard it, it seemed to make sense. It was possible Dagen was blessing their daughter. “Girl, if that’s true, then maybe this method really is useful.”
Su Qinghe nodded seriously. “Yes, Mom. Right now, Dad Chang’an wants to test this method in a few areas. I think if it really works, we should use it earlier to increase production. I want to ask Captain Guo for a test field. What do you think?”
If it were before, Gao Xiulan definitely wouldn’t agree. If it failed, her daughter might be blamed. But if it was really Dagen’s guidance, then maybe it would work. This was a good thing, and of course their family should take the lead. “Girl, you say your dad helped you… but your dad wasn’t literate before. He only knew three more numbers than I did—four, five, and six. What if he made a mistake?”
“…Mom, we have literacy classes in the countryside now, and there are night schools in the city. My dad was a cadre before he came down. Of course, he can read.”
“That’s true. How can a cadre not be literate? Your dad must have learned.” Gao Xiulan thought to herself that she should learn to read too. What if Dagen looked down on her in the afterlife? He left when he was still young, and now at her age, not being literate might be embarrassing.
After Su Qinghe explained things clearly, Gao Xiulan became convinced the method would work and insisted on helping Guo Changsheng approve it. Together, they went to find him.
Guo Changsheng was working in the field. When he heard Gao Xiulan yelling, he shivered and quickly washed his feet, put on his shoes, and headed to the threshing floor.
When he saw Su Qinghe was with her, he relaxed. If Qinghe was there, Gao Xiulan probably wouldn’t cause trouble.
“Comrade Gao Xiulan, what’s going on?” he asked.
“It’s a good thing!” Gao Xiulan shouted, then waved him toward the office to talk.
Guo Changsheng reluctantly followed her into the office.
Inside, Gao Xiulan pushed Su Qinghe forward. “Qingmiao’er, hurry and tell him the good news.”
Guo Changsheng didn’t expect Su Qinghe to be the one looking for him, so he asked, “Qinghe, what’s the good news? Why so mysterious?”
Su Qinghe smiled. “Old Captain, it’s about the seeds.”
The moment he heard that, Guo Changsheng frowned. “Oh, don’t even mention it…”
“Don’t worry, just listen to me.” Su Qinghe immediately shared the formula for the farmyard fertilizer and explained how the test sample had already been made.
“That sounds good, but what if it fails?” Guo Changsheng frowned.
Su Qinghe said seriously, “It doesn’t matter if it fails. Like you said, the seeds aren’t good and probably won’t grow. But if our experiment works, then Captain Guo, you’ll be the hero!”
Guo Changsheng was instantly excited, but then hesitated. “What if it fails…”
“Don’t be afraid of failure. It’s an experiment for the city. If it works, this relief food will go to our Yellow River production team first.”
“That’s right! My daughter understands the importance of this. Don’t tell me you, the captain, don’t understand? I think you just don’t want to do anything. I’ll go out and tell the whole team. Let’s see what everyone thinks!” Gao Xiulan said loudly, clearly annoyed.
Guo Changsheng had a headache hearing her, but he also felt that Su Qinghe made a lot of sense. If nothing will grow anyway, why not give it a try? And if it works, their team would benefit from the city's relief food.
“So what should I do next?” he asked.
Su Qinghe said quickly, “Go apply. Talk to the commune, then the county. Old Captain, this is inside information. Once other teams find out, they’ll rush to try it. You’d better act fast.”
Guo Changsheng thought for a moment, then stood up and headed outside. “I’m going to the commune right now to talk about this.”
Seeing how enthusiastic he was, Su Qinghe felt relieved. The Yellow River production team’s harvest had to be better than other places in the county. If they could test the fertilizer early, they could say that it was thanks to the early use of fertilizer.
At noon, they had stewed Chinese cabbage with meat at home. The Chinese cabbage was brought back from the county by Su Qinghe, and the meat was from Gao Xiulan’s secret stash. She said it was sent by Comrade Su Dagen a few days ago. She hadn’t wanted to eat it yet, and had rubbed it with salt and stored it in her room. Now that Su Qinghe was back, she claimed it was brought back by her. There was also a bowl of pickled fish, which Gao Xiulan had saved for tomorrow.
Looking at the food and drink, the family felt deeply satisfied. There was less and less food in the village now. Many people were down to eating just one meal a day. But their family still had two meals and could still enjoy meat once or twice a month. That was a luxury.
All thanks to their older sister.
After eating a few bites, Su Aidang suddenly put down his bowl and chopsticks, eyes red. “Mom, I want to join the militia.”
Everyone went silent.
What did the militia do? They helped maintain public order. And Su Aidang, of all people, wanted to join?
Gao Xiulan gave him a side-eye. “What for? You’ve got such a temper—you’ll only cause trouble.”
“Mom, I have to go. Who knows when this year will get better? If I join the militia, I’ll get a meal and work points. That’s one less mouth to feed at home.”
Su Qinghe said, “Brother, being a militia is really hard. You have to work day and night.”
“I’m strong. Besides, farm work is also hard—it’s all the same. I just want to be useful. But farming isn’t productive!”
Su Aiguo and Su Aihua, who did farm work: “…”
Su Qinghe was a bit worried. These days, many people were hungry and didn’t care about anything anymore. The militia had to deal with troublemakers.
“Brother, can we talk about this later?”
“Sister, don’t worry about me. I know you and mom care about me…”
Gao Xiulan: “…” We’re just worried about losing another laborer!
Su Aidang was moved. “You’re both so good to me. I’m already grown up. I can’t keep relying on my big sister. I have to make something of myself. Maybe I’ll become a cadre in the future. Don’t worry. I saw Murata Erhu from the Tian family last time. He’s a big guy working as a militia, and he’s from a poor peasant family for three generations. Our family background is good too. I’ll be fine… Don’t worry…”
Su Qinghe looked at her brother crying and felt like she couldn’t stop his dream.
This was a man with ambition.
“Alright, go ahead, brother.”
Su Aidang was still wiping his tears when he froze after hearing that.
Gao Xiulan waved him away impatiently. “Go, go. Why cry like that?”
Su Aidang: “...”