CHAPTER 205: 205 COLLECTION

Because there was no place to stay, the twelve of them had to return in the afternoon.

Everyone was in a good mood because of the bountiful harvest, so even though they were tired, no one complained, and they got home after ten at night.

Jiang Xinyu was so tired she couldn’t lift her head, but she still managed to take a shower and collapsed onto the bed to sleep.

She didn’t wake up until eight the next morning. She tidied up a bit and hung the dried shrimp and meat to air-dry on the roof of the side room.

Seeing the big sun outside, she really didn’t want to go out. But remembering that she could still buy peaches, she had no choice and set out at nine in the morning.

When she arrived at the peach garden, it was already ten, and it was really too hot.

She found the person in charge and explained her purpose for coming.

"Comrade, these are freshly picked peaches. How many do you want?"

"Comrade, could you fill these two baskets for me?"

"Haha, you can’t ride back with all those."

"Don’t worry, I can manage. I love peaches, and this is finally my chance."

"Alright, fill them up yourself. I’ll weigh them for you later."

This villager saw Jiang Xinyu picking the hard, less attractive ones and thought she was a good girl.

"Girl, pick the nicer ones, it’s alright."

"Uncle, I can’t eat all these by myself. I have sugar and canning jars at home. I plan to make them into preserves when I get back."

"That’s great. If you want more, come again next Saturday. We have plenty for making preserves here. It’s just that sugar has been hard to come by in recent years; otherwise, we would be making preserves too."

"Thank you, Uncle. I’ll come again on Saturday."

Jiang Xinyu felt very satisfied, but wasn’t sure if she had enough jars. If not, she would make them and put them in the space so she could have peach preserves every day.

She really couldn’t ride back; wobbling with the weight, she turned into a grove she saw, stashed everything into her space, and then headed home.

She felt like the sun had peeled her skin; doing anything wasn’t easy.

She didn’t even eat. The water in the courtyard had warmed up, and there was hot water in the thermos as well. After a bath, she went to sleep.

When she woke up, it was already three in the afternoon, and she wasn’t hungry. She decided to peel the peaches instead.

These more than two hundred pounds of peaches were peeled. She saved the good-looking ones for eating daily.

The process of pitting them took the most time. However, with practice, she got much faster at it.

She filled three large wooden tubs completely, then boiled water in a big pot and made sugar syrup. One pot didn’t seem enough, so she lit another stove.

This was when she washed the canning jars. It was already dark outside, so she had to light a candle, which was better than no light at all.

The peaches were already stored in her space to prevent oxidation and darkening.

The jars were left outside to dry, and the water in the pot was boiling. She took out five large basins, added sugar and rock candy, then ladled boiling water into them and brought them to the courtyard to cool for bottling later.

Then she filled them with peaches and sugar syrup. She used three tiers of steamer baskets, which filled over eighty jars. She placed lids on them and started the fire.

How’s she going to sleep on this bed tonight?

By eleven, the eighty jars were on the cupboard in the west room.

They weren’t put into her space yet because they needed to stay outside for half a month to see if the syrup became cloudy, which would mean they couldn’t be stored.

She laid out a sponge mat to sleep in the west room tonight. She thought to herself she should have just lit a fire in the west room, silly!

The next day, she tidied up the house and washed twenty peaches to take to Wang Ailing to eat.

Today was the day she got engaged, though there wasn’t much ceremony involved, just having a meal at the groom’s house.

Both parties had informed each other, and the time was set for the evening.

"Sis, congratulations."

"Hehe, you should come tonight for a meal. It’s not that far; his hometown is in the suburbs."

Jiang Xinyu shook her head, "Sis, I really don’t want to go. I’m too tired and haven’t rested enough yet. These peaches are for you to eat."

"Just give me a couple."

"All of them are for you. Where is my uncle staying tonight, if not at my house?"

"They’ll stay at my place. I’ve got everything ready. Don’t worry, my dad’s bringing firewood today, and tomorrow we’ll move the furniture."

"Alright, if you don’t have food at home, can I bring you some tonight?"

"No need; we’re eating at his place tonight, and tomorrow we’ll eat out for lunch."

Since Wang Ailing had everything arranged, Jiang Xinyu didn’t say anything more. She went home and gave Song Qingqing and Pan Xiulan four peaches each and kept two for herself.

After the meal, eating a big peach really felt quite good.

After work, she saw Chen Guoliang come to pick up Wang Ailing, and the three of them walked together for a while. Jiang Xinyu went with them to his house. Tonight, only the two elders came, and the firewood had been unloaded. Sun Ermei had cleaned up the house again.

Jiang Xinyu said her goodbyes and declined the invitation to join them for a meal, then went home.

Wang Ailing’s fate had completely changed, as had the protagonist’s fortune.

Back home, she cooked herself some noodles, changed the water several times until it was cool, added some vinegar, a spoonful of Lao Gan Ma, and soy sauce. She then sliced five or six pieces of beef—standards! Beef!

The next day, she took out ten large steamed buns from the space and delivered them to Wang Ailing’s house.

"Xinyu, I brought grain, and I don’t need to help with the furniture. I’ll stay home and cook."

"Auntie, take these; it’ll save you some trouble."

Wang Ailing and her partner had already tidied up the house, painted the walls white, and cemented the floor. It looked much better.

"Auntie, I’m going to work now."

"Take care."

Soon after she sat down, Song Qingqing came over, "Director Jiang, Mr. Qian wants you and him to go to the city for a meeting."

There wasn’t much to arrange, so she went straight to find Qian Jun.

She saw that Qian Jun’s eyes were bloodshot, "Mr. Qian, let me drive."

"Sure, we’re going to the city because of the fraud case last year. The two counties lost twenty thousand yuan, and it’s completely unrecoverable. The culprits have been caught, but they have no idea where the money went."

"So we’re going there for...?"

"Criticism where due, but no praises."

"A critique meeting?"

"That’s pretty much it."

"We won’t be implicated, will we?"

"No, County Magistrate Tao won’t get any applause this time either, but he surely won’t be criticized."

No need to rush; the meeting starts at ten, and if we arrive early, we’ll just listen to their complaints. I’m really fed up."

"Got it, I’ll drive slowly until you get some sleep, Mr. Qian."

Jiang Xinyu arrived at the city government by 9:40. Just as she parked, Qian Jun woke up.

"We’re here, twenty minutes before ten."

"Alright, let’s go in. Ignore those with red eyes. Things are much better than last year. While we can’t say bumper crops, they won’t be bad either. They’re envious and want you to go to Russia to buy grain again."

"I’d rather quit my job than go again. I’m afraid I wouldn’t make it back alive."