Stepmother Reborn: Dad, my mom hasn't hit me for three days

After Zhang Xiuhua had planted all the radishes, Uncle Wang and Aunt Wang rode a tractor to plow their fields.

Li Jianguo took Uncle Wang a long time to teach him.

After finishing planting all the land at home, Li Jianguo went back to work.

Before leaving, he told Zhang Xiuhua to see if anyone was selling fruit trees, and if so, to borrow some money to transplant them.

Zhang Xiuhua agreed. She had sold her courtyard house with all her private savings. She still had 2,000 yuan left in the commune for living. She didn't have enough money to buy more fruit trees, so she had to borrow from the members.

While other families were busy planting, Zhang Xiuhua went into the mountains to mark the trees. If any tree was planted too densely or not straight enough, she would cut it down.

She originally planned to plant half blueberries and half gala apples, but due to insufficient funds, she could only plant 5,000 gala apple seedlings in the first year. The rest were still poplar trees.

She worked in the woods from morning till night and did not return home until dark.

That afternoon, when she returned home, Aunt Wang brought a package from her home to her. "The postman delivered it this afternoon. It's so heavy that I could hardly carry it by myself."

Zhang Xiuhua took it and it was true! She couldn't lift it at all. It was Aunt Wang who helped her lift it and finally carried it into the yard.

When she opened the package, she was shocked. The outside was made of wood, and inside was a lump of iron, weighing about five or six pounds.

The sender on the package is Jidong.

Aunt Wang didn't understand for a long time, "What is this?"

Zhang Xiuhua had answered Jidong's call earlier and said with a smile, "This is a chainsaw specially used for felling trees. Jidong bought it for me."

Aunt Wang was shocked. "Why is the saw so heavy?"

She looked left and right, but couldn't figure out how to cut wood.

Zhang Xiuhua picked it up and used it on her own fruit tree to cut off the useless branches. With two sharp sounds, the branches broke.

Aunt Wang looked good, but she really didn't have that much time to watch the fun, so she hurried down to the fields after feeding the chickens.

Zhang Xiuhua quickly got the blade and carried the chainsaw up the mountain to cut down trees.

This is imported from abroad and is not cheap. There is not much oil in it and it will run out of oil after about an hour of chopping.

She used the chainsaw to knock down all the trees she wanted to cut down, then stopped to rest. After resting, she poured the diesel in the oil barrel into the tree and continued cutting down trees.

After felling the wood for four or five hours, her arms were sore and tired that she started to go back to the village and pull the wood back home on a cart.

Back in the yard, she used a chainsaw to cut it into pieces and stacked them neatly in a shed used to store firewood.

She was busy chopping trees and stacking firewood on the mountain. In mid-April, the villagers finally finished plowing all the land and sowing seeds on the ground.

The able-bodied laborers from each family left their homes one after another and went south to work.

Except for newlyweds and unmarried girls, in most families the able-bodied laborers go out, while the women stay at home to farm, take care of children and the elderly.

Last year there were a total of fifty or sixty strong laborers, which has doubled this year. The number of women has also increased from three or five to more than forty, most of whom are unmarried girls.

Wu Ya and Liu Ya of the Zhang family both went south to work and follow their sister.

With so many people leaving the village, Lijiatun suddenly became deserted.

Since Xu Chunying didn't go out to sell vegetables, Zhang Xiuhua called her to the field to help carry firewood. Of course, she didn't let her help for nothing, because she could take the firewood she chopped back home to burn.

Xu Chunying murmured to Zhang Xiuhua, "You have taken over all the forest land in our village. It will not be as easy to get firewood in the future. Every household has to plant trees in the fields. Otherwise, in winter, we won't even be able to heat the kang."

Every household lived frugally. There were only a few families like Zhang Xiuhua who bought two or three tons of coal at a time. Most families bought several hundred kilograms. Firewood was the only way to keep warm.

The land already belongs to Zhang Xiuhua, and it would be inappropriate for them to come in and cut down trees.

Zhang Xiuhua smiled and said, "They are planting in the fields, you don't have to. I still have a lot of trees that haven't been cut down. You can take them home."

Xu Chunying nodded, "Did you know that Xiangxiang's family built a greenhouse on the land?"

Zhang Xiuhua really didn't know. "I'm in the forest every day, but I didn't see anything. Do they want to grow off-season vegetables?"

Xu Chunying shook her head, "Probably not. The temperature now is suitable for growing vegetables. You can grow radishes and cabbages. Why do we need to build a greenhouse? I don't understand."

Zhang Xiuhua didn't answer, "Do you know where they got the greenhouse?"

Xu Chunying really knew. "I think it's very troublesome to transport the materials from the south. They are all made of iron, one by one. I think so much iron and the greenhouse will cost at least five or six thousand yuan."

"How many acres?"

"One mu of land. The greenhouses stretch from beginning to end, in a long row. You can't see them from here, but you can see them at the east end of the village." Xu Chunying sighed, "How many off-season vegetables do they have to plant to make so much money?"

Zhang Xiuhua saw that she was worried, "Didn't you ask them what they want to grow?"

"Need I ask? It must be growing vegetables." Xu Chunying said as a matter of course.

Zhang Xiuhua was defeated by her. She chopped for a while, got tired, and sat down to rest. Xu Chunying took over the chainsaw from her and continued chopping wood.

"Aren't you going to wholesale vegetables anymore?" Zhang Xiuhua asked.

Xu Chunying shook her head. "I don't want to think about it anymore. It's too scary!"

Zhang Xiuhua opened her mouth, thought for a long time and finally told her, "I saw the village head's daughter-in-law driving a hand tractor passing by my house this morning."

Now there is no production team, the team leader has become the village head, and the team accountant is the village accountant.

Xu Chunying didn't understand the hidden meaning in her words at first. It was not until she finished felling a tree that she realized what was going on and turned to look at her. "Are you saying that she took my place?"

Zhang Xiuhua nodded, "I guess so. She delivers goods with you, so she must know how much money you can make. If you don't go, she wants to take over your business, so..."

She spread her hands and said that if her sister-in-law didn't go, the business would be gone.

Xu Chunying put down the chainsaw, her face flushed with anger. "How could she do this? That's my business, how could she take it away?"

"If you don't go, she will think you have given up." Zhang Xiuhua felt that the other party was quite honest and did not directly snatch it. At least she waited until Xu Chunying gave up before giving up.

Xu Chunying sat down and thought for a long time, "Even though I don't want it, I still can't accept it."

Zhang Xiuhua thought for a moment and said, "The crackdown is still going on, so it may not be smooth sailing for her to deliver the food."

Xu Chunying was still worried, "No! I have to go ask!"

She stood up and looked at the firewood on the ground. "I'll go ask first and come back soon."

Zhang Xiuhua didn't take it seriously, "You go ahead. I can do it by myself!"

She was busy in the woods. When she was busy alone, she felt a little lonely, especially when there was no one around. The sound of birds in the woods was somewhat scary.

Just when she was busy, she heard footsteps behind her. She thought it was her sister-in-law, but when she turned around, she saw it was Li Jianguo.

"How did you come?"

Li Jianguo laughed, "Today is the day I come back."

He stepped forward and took the chainsaw. "Did Jidong buy this? Is it good to use?"

Zhang Xiuhua nodded. "It works very well. But it consumes a lot of fuel."

Li Jianguo tried it and found it was much better than an ordinary saw.

"When I came here, I saw you cutting down all those bushes." Li Jianguo didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "Aren't you tired?"

"Growing so many shrubs under the trees will affect the production of the trees," Zhang Xiuhua said confidently.

The best way was to uproot the bushes, but her strength was limited. She could only cut one or two acres of land a day.

With Li Jianguo's help, things went much faster.

"We don't have much space to store firewood at home, so why not tell the villagers that whoever wants firewood can come into the mountains to get it!" Li Jianguo suggested.

Zhang Xiuhua thought about it carefully and said, "Okay!"

It saved her from transporting it back again and again, which was very tiring. Actually, she could also use the space, but she was afraid of being exposed. So she always restrained herself from using the space.

They had been cutting wood for three hours when Zhang Xiuhua heard his stomach growling and suggested they go home.

Li Jianguo nodded and put the chopped wood at the foot of the mountain.

Because Zhang Xiuhua had cut all the roads she was going to use a chainsaw, it was now easier to walk on than before!

After filling the cart, Li Jianguo met villagers on the way home and told them that he would go into the woods with them to transport firewood in the afternoon.

No villager complained about having too much firewood, especially since they were worried that the forest belonged to Zhang Xiuhua's family and they would have no firewood to burn next year. Now that they knew they could continue to transport firewood, the villagers naturally agreed happily.

When Zhang Xiuhua got home, she cooked noodles with Li Jianguo.

While we were eating, Xu Chunying came back, sweating profusely from running.

"Sister-in-law!" She ran into the house and saw Li Jianguo coming back. She greeted him and moved a stool to sit down. "You are right. The village chief's daughter-in-law did deliver goods to the county town. But the shops there are all closed now."

Zhang Xiuhua was surprised, "Closed?"

"Yes! I guess they were afraid of the crackdown and didn't dare to come out to sell vegetables." Xu Chunying patted her chest, "Luckily I didn't sell them, otherwise I would have been really worried about something going wrong."

Zhang Xiuhua was not happy at all, because it meant that the way for private vegetable sales was gone, and the city dwellers could only go to the supply and marketing cooperatives to buy vegetables. Then she could only sell her radishes to the supply and marketing cooperatives.