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Chapter 186: Yang Limin's Marriage

Yang Liming stood under the persimmon tree in the Xie family's yard, holding on to the wooden ladder on the tree with both hands. At his feet was a wicker basket containing a dozen unripe persimmons.

Xie Hushan stood at the top of the ladder, holding the tree branch with one hand and picking the half-ripe persimmons with yellow skin on the branches with the other hand and throwing them into the basket.

Taozi was washing apples, pears and other fruits that she would use to "pick persimmons" at a low table not far away.

"Lan persimmons" is a way of processing persimmons in the rural areas of Bingyang. Xie Hushan is not sure which word "lan" it is, whether it is "lan" or "lan".

The so-called picking persimmons means picking the unripe persimmons on the tree and ripening them.

Under normal circumstances, unripe persimmons are very astringent and almost inedible. Although they look green and heavy, like unripe green apples, and remind people of their sour taste, when you really pick one and take a bite, your tongue will be so numb that you can't speak. The taste is completely different from the sourness of a green apple.

However, this is not a problem for the vast majority of Chinese farmers who depend on food for their daily life. It is said that our ancestors invented the method of picking persimmons thousands of years ago. Xie Hushan is very curious about which greedy ancestor could come up with this method, and how greedy he must be that he could not wait even half a month or a month.

In fact, it is just to mix the picked unripe persimmons with ripe fruits such as apples, pears, hawthorns, etc. in a sealed container and keep it for three to five days. When you open it on the day, you will find that the astringency of the persimmons is completely gone. It tastes sweet and delicious, with the fruity aroma of other fruits, and still retains the crisp taste of green persimmons.

There are basically two kinds of trees in front of and behind the houses of people in Zhongping. The front yard is usually planted with persimmon trees and grape vines, while the back yard is planted with toon trees. This shows that in rural areas, edible trees are given priority when planting trees.

However, people generally do not pick persimmons, because they are waste fruits and cannot be sold at much price at the market. Most people wait until the persimmons are ripe, pick them and make persimmon cakes, and sell the persimmon cakes at the market in winter to make a few dollars. There are not many fresh fruits in winter, and people in rural areas who want to satisfy their children's cravings will just buy a few persimmon cakes.

"Why don't you come down and rest for a while, and I'll go up to pick them?" Yang Liming held the shaky ladder with both hands and asked Xie Hushan who was picking persimmons with his head tilted up.

Xie Hushan picked a persimmon and threw it accurately into the basket, saying:
"Don't be so hypocritical with me. If you really want to tire me out, you should have told your wife to give up the idea when she said she wanted to eat persimmons. Let the organization investigate whether your wife is a spy. She writes down everything in our house in a notebook. She even remembers when persimmons can be eaten. How scary! Did Chiang Kai-shek send her to lurk around you to covet our family property?"

Yang Limin listened to Xie Hushan's rambling complaints about Lu Yuan and smiled happily:

"Well, it wasn't Lu Yuan who asked to eat them. It was Taozi who wrote to her, saying that the persimmons at home were about to ripen, and she would leave some for her when she picked them. Then Lu Yuan remembered to eat the persimmons."

Taozi, who was wiping the fruit nearby, also admitted to Xie Hushan: "Secretary Yang is right. It was me who wrote to Sister Lu Yuan saying that our persimmons are about to ripen."

Xie Hushan ignored Taozi's defense of Lu Yuan's behavior, and while reaching for the persimmon, he said:
"Taozi, don't speak well of them. They are a respectable cadre family, right? Look at what they do. They come to our homes to ask for food when they want it, and when we refuse, they even prepare to do it themselves. Aren't they bandits?"

Yang Liming is on vacation today, so he ran to Xie's house early in the morning and asked Grandma and Taozi if he could pick some green persimmons because his girlfriend wanted to eat them.

What was grandma's attitude towards Old Yang like? She was just short of asking him to cut down all the persimmon trees with a saw and let Yang Liming take every tree away.

Yang Liming couldn't pick the peaches by himself because his grandmother was afraid he would fall. He also couldn't ask his grandma to climb a tree to help pick the peaches because his grandmother was afraid his grandson's wife would fall. Then she went to the west room to call Xie Hushan and asked him to pick the peaches. The reason was that Xie Hushan had been climbing walls and trees since he was a child and he had practiced it. He was not afraid even if he fell, as he had been falling for so many years and was now tough.

Originally, Xie Hushan thought that his grandma or peach wanted to eat, so he resisted the urge to sleep and got up, but he saw the pretty boy Yang Liming standing in the yard. After asking, he found out that it was his wife Lu Yuan who wanted to eat persimmons.

He was just about to vent his grumpiness on Yang Liming, but Taozi took the responsibility on herself and said that Lu Yuan wanted to eat persimmons because she wrote a letter to Lu Yuan.

The main reason is that she knows her own temper. She is most afraid of being disturbed when sleeping, and she will easily lose her temper if woken up.

But Xie Hushan's advantage is that even if his family members quarreled with him, he would never get angry with them. He would only vent his anger on outsiders. In Daxiu's words, when he was a child, he often woke up his brother, and then his brother would scold him with a gloomy face, and then go out to find an opportunity to beat up Ma Saner, Chen Daxixi or anyone else who was unlucky enough to run into him to vent his anger.

And it was indeed Taozi who wrote the letter to make Lu Yuan greedy, which caused Lu Yuan to want to eat persimmons. In the final analysis, if Taozi is really to be blamed, then Xie Hushan himself can be blamed in the end.

It was because he encouraged Taozi to read more books and write more letters to practice calligraphy when she had nothing to do that Taozi began to develop the habit of writing letters.

Before, Taozi only had a few playmates of the same age in Xishan. Not to mention whether those playmates could read or not, even if they could, they were now busy getting married and had no time to be pen pals with her. The only girl worth writing letters to was Lv Yuan, with whom Taozi had a good relationship, but they didn't meet very often. Lv Yuan also always encouraged Taozi to write to her, so Taozi basically wrote to Lv Yuan every time. The two of them wrote to each other once a week, which was considered a great contribution to the postal service.

Talking about Taozi's letter writing, Xie Hushan couldn't help laughing. Taozi took letter writing very seriously. When she wrote a letter to Lu Yuan, her attitude was just like taking a bath, burning incense, changing clothes and washing hands.

Every time she wrote a letter, she would make a draft. She would first write what she wanted to write in pencil on the draft, then use an eraser to make revisions at any time, and check the dictionary for fear of typos.

After confirming it again and again, she carefully copied the contents onto formal letter paper with the pen Xie Hushan gave her, put it in an envelope, affixed a stamp and sent it to Lu Yuan, who was more than 40 miles away.

It was so formal, could it be that there was something important written in it? No, Xie Hushan had accidentally read Taozi's draft and Lu Yuan's reply, and he felt that these two women had some problems with their brains.

When Lv Yuan wrote to Taozi, she would often write three or four pages of letters, and the beginning would usually be "Dear Taozi, I haven't seen you for two weeks, how are you? I have received your letter, etc."

Then there was no serious business at all in the whole letter. She just talked about what delicious food she had eaten this week, what gossip she heard, and what interesting things she saw. Then she started to complain about Yang Liming, saying that as her fiancé, he had not called her or written to her for a long time. Finally, she made a wish for Taozi like a Bodhisattva, telling Taozi that she wanted to eat this and that from the countryside.

Taozi is very formal when writing letters. After writing the recipient's name on the envelope, she will also write "Sincerely" in a proper manner.

It starts with "Dear Comrade Lv Yuan", then he first gives Lv Yuan some scientific knowledge about rural cuisine, and then gives her a political lesson, saying that she is a cadre's family member and should understand that Yang Limin, as a state cadre, has no time to take care of his family. Finally, he appears in spirit and promises to make delicious food for Lv Yuan when she comes to Zhongping.

The letters between them are like a running diary. No good person would write such a thing.

The reason why Lv Yuan wanted to eat persimmons was that Taozi wrote to the other party saying that the persimmons were about to ripen, and then Lv Yuan slapped her head and wanted to eat persimmons. Yang Liming was just planning to take a leave during the slack season to go back and arrange the wedding, so before leaving he wanted to bring some persimmons back to Lv Yuan.

Taozi and Grandma immediately prepared some fruits, so that Yang Limin didn't need to take them back to pick. They picked the fruits here and asked Xie Hushan to deliver them to Yang Limin's home. "Almost done. We've picked two baskets. Lv Yuan can't eat so much." Yang Limin looked at the baskets beside him that were gradually filling up and said to Xie Hushan.

Xie Hushan said, "You think I picked so much and gave it all to your wife, and my wife and I don't deserve to eat it, right? Otherwise, it's not unfair to say that you are a corrupt official. The farmers would like to move all the things they have to your house."

Yang Limin watched Xie Hushan climb up another step and asked:

"I can understand why Secretary Han is watching us all repair the road every day. Our brigade's road should indeed be repaired, but Minister Zhang and Station Chief Pang of the commune's agricultural machinery station are on a long trip with Captain Ge, Uncle Wu and others. They have been gone for more than a week. Does this matter have anything to do with you?"

Yang Liming was entangled in the preliminary affairs of the offset printing factory during this period. After finally waiting for the factory building to be leveled, the second-hand offset printing machines from Hong Kong Island were also negotiated for delivery under the contact of Cao Tianbao. He also managed to pry three workers who were familiar with offset and color printing from the county printing factory.

After finally catching his breath, his parents urged him to get married quickly during the slack season at the grassroots level. As a result, he had to go back to his home in the county town or to Yaoshan to discuss the details of the wedding with both parents and Lu Yuan whenever he had some free time. He was exhausted, so he really didn't know much about the other affairs of the brigade and the commune during this period.

Xie Hushan jumped down from the ladder and squatted beside Taozi. Taozi handed him a ripe wild apple. Xie Hushan bit the apple and said to Yang Limin:

"It must have something to do with me. My trip to Yanjing couldn't be in vain, and I couldn't listen to so many reports in vain. I made some friends by passing cigarettes and lights and drinking and eating. Anyway, I got to know some cadres from major state-owned factories who came to the conference. I ate and drank with them and got along well with them. After I came back, I called them to keep in touch. It sounded like these big brothers had a good impression of me, a little brother. After listening to me talk about the difficulties of our Zhongping Production Brigade having some money but not being able to meet the quota, they were all willing to help a little. They just wrote a note. As long as they took the money, they could go to the factory to pick up the machines and find them."

"Can we help the commune buy a batch of agricultural machinery?" Yang Liming's eyes lit up.

Xie Hushan is a kid who always thinks about maximizing his benefits wherever he goes. Others treat meetings as a chore, but this kid treats the meeting venue as a place to meet new friends.

"The brigade, not the commune. Secretary Yin wanted to say that farm machinery belonged to the commune that day. He then expressed his intention to mobilize the entire commune to build the road, so Han Laogou and Ma Laowu were kicked out."

"How much stuff did you get?"

"The most valuable items are two track-type Dongfanghong tractors, 54 horsepower, with a factory price of 31,000 yuan. We sold them to Zhongping for 33,100 yuan each. The advantage is that you don't need a quota or queue. You can just show up at the factory and take the tractor away with a slip." Xie Hushan said to Yang Limin while chewing an apple:

"The remaining items are not very valuable. There are five Yellow River brand four-wheel tractors, two Changzheng brand threshers made in Jiamusi, and a bunch of miscellaneous rotary tillers, seed drills, small harvesters, etc. that can be attached to the back of the tractors."

Yang Limin couldn't help but curl his lips when he heard this: "If all these equipment belonged to Zhongping Brigade, Zhongping Brigade could set up its own agricultural machinery station. The commune agricultural machinery station only has four crawler tractors and ten four-wheel tractors. You are giving the brigade the profit from the steel mill in advance, so the brigade has the capital to buy so many agricultural machinery."

"The steel rolling mill, pipe manufacturing plant, offset printing plant, and agricultural machinery station are almost done. The good days for the two thousand people in Zhongping have finally come." Xie Hushan ate the apple in a few bites until only the core was left, and threw it to Dahei, who was standing at the door and didn't dare to enter the yard.

Erxi gave birth to five ugly puppies that looked like cows. No one knew how they were combined, but the five puppies perfectly inherited all the shortcomings of their parents. They were so ugly.

Erxi's skeleton, big black head, big black ears, and Erxi's eyes.

After raising them for a month, not a single villager has come forward to apply to adopt them. You can see how ugly these five dogs are.

Daxiu didn't even mention taking one away to raise, and Xie Hushan offered to give her one, but she refused.

Now, only Dahei would run to the gate of the yard and look inside when Erxi was taken out by Taozi or Daxiu every day. It seemed that he was showing his fatherly love, but in fact he wanted to snatch food from his five children while Erxi was away.

Hearing Xie Hushan's sigh, Yang Limin was relieved at first, but then he looked at Xie Hushan:

"Why do I feel like you've helped the team with so many side projects this year? And coupled with what you just said, it seems like you're going to run away on your own?"

Xie Hushan looked at Yang Limin with a puzzled look on his face. "What are you thinking about all day long? Why am I running away? Good days are coming soon, why am I running away? Let's talk business. How are you and Lu Yuan planning to get married?"

"My parents think that Lv Yuan comes from a cadre family and we come from a worker's family, so marrying Lv Yuan would be considered marrying up, so they wanted to make it more formal. But my parents-in-law didn't think it necessary to have a big celebration, so they just wanted to keep it simple and have a meal with relatives and friends of both sides." Yang Liming moved the basket full of persimmons next to the peaches, then sat down and began to put the persimmons on the table.

Xie Hushan said, "That's great. There's no disagreement. Anyway, your family will hold a wedding banquet, and Lu Yuan's family will also have to hold one on the day of her return. It's fine for your family to hold a more formal one. Lu Yuan's parents like to keep things simple, so they can just keep it simple."

Weddings in Bingyang usually have two wedding banquets. The man hosts a banquet for his relatives and friends on the wedding day, and the woman hosts a banquet for her relatives and friends when she returns to her parents’ home.

"My mother's uncle is my nephew, how about I help you make some arrangements and give you some property?"

Yang Limin poured the persimmons out of the basket and rubbed his shoulders. "Forget it. I picked a few persimmons from you and you kept nagging me. If I accept a little gift from you, won't you hate me for the rest of your life?"

"The last time Cao Tianbao came, I asked him to prepare a copy for you. It should arrive in the next two days." Xie Hushan said to Yang Limin:

"That's what the brigade wants. I've talked to Secretary Han and the others about it. They also think that if you hadn't dealt with Li Xingyuan, there would be no pipe factory. The brigade will pay for this."

"What did you buy?" Yang Liming asked puzzledly.

Before Xie Hushan could say anything, Dahei, who was chewing an apple core at the gate, turned and ran away. Then Daxiu, holding Erxi's hand, appeared in the distance:

"Brother, the supply and marketing cooperative is calling you over! They said there's something from the offset printing factory! It's written with your name!"

(End of this chapter)