The Siheyuan of the Young Educated Youth

Before dark, we finally returned to the collective household.

Everyone was in a panic.

Qi Feifei went up the mountain without eating breakfast early in the morning. Seeing that she hadn't returned by dark, everyone was worried that something had happened to her. Logically, we should go to look for her, but where can we find her in such a vast mountain?

We were discussing going to see the captain.

Qi Feifei was seen leaning on a stick, bent over, carrying a full basket of mushrooms on his back, and the basket he was carrying was also full of mushrooms.

Everyone was surprised and happy.

Baisha strode forward and slapped her on the arm: "Why did you come back just now? You scared us to death. If you don't come back soon, everyone will go up the mountain to look for you."

Then he took the mushroom basket.

Zhu Li also stepped forward to help take down the mushroom basket: "I'm glad you're back. Is everything ok? Pick less and come back earlier. Aren't you hungry so late?"

Zhu Li's nose felt a little sour as she spoke. People said she worked hard, but not like Qi Feifei.

In order to pick mushrooms, I got up early and worked late, and I didn't even have time to eat. I got up in the morning and took a big pancake and left. It was all because of poverty.

"Okay, come inside and have some rest and eat."

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

Both male and female educated youth actively participated in picking mushrooms.

Pan Xiaowen happily poured water for washing her face: "Sister, sister, you wash first."

Pan Xiaowen is so servile that if you don't know her, you would think she is his real sister.

Qi Feifei was not polite either: "I am really exhausted today, so I won't be polite with you. The next job depends on you all. There are a lot of mushrooms today, let's dry the mushrooms in the backpack and save them for stewing chicken in winter. Hazel mushrooms are better for stewing chicken."

Julie: "Leave enough to stir-fry two dishes tomorrow, and dry the rest. It would be a pity not to stew chicken with such good hazel mushrooms. We still have a few chicks. When winter comes, they will be perfect for stewing."

Qi Feifei: "Well, hazel mushrooms can't be kept for a long time. If you don't eat them right away, hang them out to dry, one by one. Don't put them on top of each other. If you have nothing to do tomorrow, turn them over. If it rains, bring them into the house in time. They need to be dried for three or four days, and then put away when they are completely dry."

No one had any objections, so they asked the sweet-talking Pan Xiaowen to borrow a curtain from the neighbor's house. There were so many mushrooms, and they only had a basket that Qi Feifei had just woven to dry them.

Pan Xiaowen went there immediately.

Because they used a curtain to dry the mushrooms, the next day the whole village knew that the educated youth Xiao Qi had picked so many mushrooms that they couldn't eat them all.

Qi Feifei was really tired, so he went back to the inner room, wiped himself, changed his clothes, ate a big pancake, drank a bowl of tomato soup with no tomatoes in it, and then fell asleep.

Everyone in the outer room was working so hard that she could not hear any of their laughter.

I got up early the next morning, washed the clothes I had taken off yesterday, and hung them up to dry. I said something to Zhu Ping who had gotten up to cook, and went up the mountain again with the pancakes.

The time for picking mushrooms is limited. If you miss it, it will be gone.

Today's road is easier to walk on than yesterday. She used her sickle to cut the difficult places yesterday, so that the road was smoother.

Sit on the top of the mountain to rest again.

Looking at the foggy forest below, she recalled the illusion she had yesterday. What happened? Would she enter an illusion again if she went there today? If there were no people or ghosts, could she eat a peach? She was drooling at the thought.

I really want to eat the peaches in the courtyard!

Suddenly the peach tree appeared in front of her. She was sitting on the blue brick floor in the backyard.

She was so frightened that her heart was pounding.

This, this, are you trying to steal someone else's peaches? Steal? Or steal?

My throat is so hoarse that I really want to reach out and pick the peach.

She pressed her hands tightly on the floor tiles, hoping that someone would come out and talk to her, give her one, or stop her from stealing.

"Is anyone there?" This time she shouted louder than yesterday, thinking that even if he was asleep, he should wake up by now.

Come out quickly, she can’t stand the temptation!

"anyone there?"

No one responded even after I shouted several times.

She knocked on every door, but no one answered.

Come to think of it, she put all her only 40 cents under the jade cup, as if she was buying peaches for herself.

She had never bought fruit in that era, let alone fresh peaches, so she didn't know how much they were worth, but 40 cents was all she had, or so she thought.

After putting the money down, she went to the backyard with a clear conscience, climbed up the tree and picked two big peaches. She was afraid that the peach juice would dirty other people's floor, so she ran to the kitchen to wash it. After eating, she wiped off all the water stains.

Satisfied, she thought, go back to the top of the mountain. As expected, she returned to the place where she had sat before.

This made her very happy. Does this mean that she can always go and borrow a glass of water when she is thirsty in the mountains?

She happily went down the mountain to pick mushrooms, touching the peach pits in her pocket from time to time on the way.

Yes, she put the peach pits in her pocket and took them out. Firstly, she didn't want to create garbage for others, and secondly, she thought that if she could grow her own peach tree, she wouldn't have to buy from others.

I feel so happy thinking that one day I will have a tree full of peaches.

We returned to the oak forest where we were yesterday and continued picking mushrooms.

This oak forest is really big. No one has been here for a long time, so there are large patches of mushrooms and the baskets are soon filled with them.

If you don't pick mushrooms in time when they are big enough, they will age, get infested with insects, and rot. What a pity.

Qi Feifei thought that yesterday the mushroom followed her into the illusion and was brought out, and today the peach core was also brought out.

She could enter and exit the fantasy world in the oak forest, and also on the top of the mountain.

If she puts the mushrooms in now, can she take them out after going down the mountain? How about giving it a try?

She did what she said. She brought the mushrooms into the courtyard, but did not go inside. Instead, she went to the back room outside the hanging flower gate to take a look.

In the previous life, TV shows said that servants lived in the back house, so the servants’ tools should also be here, right?

I actually found a room full of work tools, including various hoes, axes, pickaxes, medicine hoes, shovels, winnowing baskets, baskets... and even hunting bows and arrows and traps.

Qi Feifei couldn't help but sigh, what a family they are!

She took a large basket, placed it in the southwest corner of the yard, poured the mushrooms carefully into the basket, spread them out, not daring to dirty the ground at all.

After finishing, I went out to pick mushrooms.

When a basket is full, it is brought in, poured into a basket, and spread out to dry.

We picked five or six baskets each time, and basically all that could be picked in this area was picked.

She carried the last basket herself, for fear that she might not be able to get the mushrooms from the courtyard when she got down the mountain, so she wanted to have something to take back to the collective household.

Today she had less stuff to carry, so walking was not that difficult, and it would be dark by the time she got home. She didn't even bother to try to enter the courtyard.

Because I came back late yesterday, everyone is not as worried today as yesterday.

After dinner, they waited for her to come back inside and outside the yard.

Seeing that she didn't pick as many as yesterday, they all said, "It doesn't matter if it's hard to pick, just pick as much as you can, don't go too far, and don't come back too late."

Qi Feifei felt warm inside and was very grateful for everyone's concern.

She wanted to share the peaches with everyone, but she had no money to exchange.

In fact, it is difficult for her to explain why, because peaches are not produced in Northeast China.

She was still wondering whether she could enter the courtyard at the foot of the mountain, so after dinner she said she would go to the stream to wash herself thoroughly, as it was too dirty to go into the mountains every day.

Seeing that it was getting dark, Julie took a flashlight, soap, and a towel and followed her, saying that she would also wash herself so that the two of them could keep each other company.

Zhu Li meant well, and Qi Feifei couldn't refuse, so she went with her. When the little dog Doubao saw her leaving, he followed her happily.

Zhu Li generously used her own soap to wash Qi Feifei's hair thoroughly.

Both of them were washing themselves with water, but they didn't dare go into the water, for fear that a snake might swim over in the dark.

Qi Feifei washed the clothes she had taken off, but she didn't use Julie's soap. She felt embarrassed to do so as it was too wasteful to wash clothes.

After washing, Qi Feifei returned to the collective household. He was unable to try to enter the courtyard and was extremely anxious.