CTF 0019

After Xu Yin went back from her grandmother’s home, she went to her school to collect her reports.

Her school bag was bulging, full with clothes that her sister-in-law had made over the past few days.

In addition to Teacher Qu’s daughter’s dress, there was also two dresses that her English teacher had ordered, as well as two wrinkle-free, fitted, round-collared, and short-sleeved white shirts that a couple of girls from the neighbouring class wanted.

Over the past month, Xu Yin’s sister-in-law’s skills had increased exponentially.

In the past, everyone bought Xu Yin’s clothes because they thought the styles were unique and cool. However, now that the stitches of the garments were finer and the details were handled much better, they bought Xu Yin’s clothes because the tailoring wasn’t inferior to the experienced tailors in town, who’d opened their own clothing shops.

Upon hearing this feedback, Xu Yin rubbed her chin. She contemplated whether she should persuade her parents to buy a storefront in the city and allow her sister-in-law to start a legitimate business there.

After Xu Yin thought about it for a while, she decided against it. Her sister-in-law was expecting, and Xu Yin should help her maintain a stable pregnancy. Besides, in the future, her sister-in-law might follow her brother to where he lived, which was in his military-provided residence. Xu Yin didn’t want to be the wicked person who’d cause the separation between the two lovebirds.

“Xu Yin, did you fail anything?”

Tong Guihua glanced at her own reports. Unable to bear looking at it, she turned away and quietly asked Xu Yin about her grades.

Xu Yin shook her head.

Her Russian grade just barely passed the minimum passing grade. However, she did well in everything else.

Tong Guihua glanced at Xu Yin’s grades and sighed. “Your Maths and English grades have improved so much! You used to perform worse than me in Maths, but now you’ve scored full marks… How did you do it? Teach me.”

“…”

What was Xu Yin supposed to teach her? Should Xu Yin suggest to her getting someone else’s soul to replace hers?

Xu Yin thought about it for a bit, then said, “You should do more practice questions. Practise makes perfect, you know?”

Tong Guihua flopped onto the table in annoyance. “Urgh, practice questions? Spare me!”

After collecting her reports, Xu Yin carried her school bag to the teachers’ office to deliver the custom-made clothes that her teachers had ordered.

Teacher Qu’s daughter also happened to be there. When she saw the dress and the cute headpiece, she couldn’t help smiling and giggling in delight.

Xu Yin felt quite satisfied inwardly. It was far easier to please a child than an adult.

Teacher Qu saw that his daughter liked the dress and readily paid for the remaining amount of money that hadn’t been paid. He also ordered two more sets of autumn clothes right there and then. He didn’t know which fabric to choose, so he just gave Xu Yin the money and told her to decide. 

Teacher Qu wasn’t the only one who ordered autumn clothes from Xu Yin. Most of the other teachers did the same, and some even had brought some thick fabrics with them beforehand.

By the time that the half-day term closing ceremony concluded, while other students had only received their end-of-term reports and award certificates, Xu Yin received a pile of clothing orders, fabrics, as well as the remaining payments for the previous batch of orders on top of those.

One could say that she returned with a full trove of treasure today.

Just as she left the county town, she encountered a line of tractors leaving the town.

She pulled over to the side of the road to let the other vehicles pass.

Unexpectedly, the leading tractor came to a stop when it reached her side.

“Hey! Kid, it’s you, isn’t it?”

In the driver’s seat was none other than the instructor that had taught her how to drive a tractor during labour class that one day. 

Xu Yin recognised him. She smiled as she waved at him.

“Hello, Instructor Yu! How are you?”

“I’m fine. Are you going home for the end-of-term holiday? Where do you live? Come on, hop in. I’ll give you a ride.”

Instructor Yu was very enthusiastic. He jumped down the tractor to help her carry her bicycle onto the tractor.

“Thank you, Instructor Yu.”

Xu Yin sat in the passenger seat. She took out a pear, which Tong Guihua had given for her to eat, from her school bag and gave it to Instructor Yu. 

“Thanks.”

The convoy of tractors resumed its journey. From Instructor Yu, Xu Yin learned that they were going to the countryside to earn some extra income.

“Some villages don’t have enough tractors,” Instructor Yu explained with a smile on his face, “so they come to our farm to borrow them. Not for free, of course; they have to pay two yuan for every mu¹Roughly equal to 1/15th of a hectare or about 667 square metres.that we ploughed.”

“We, on the other hand, earn fifty cents for each mu, which isn’t that bad. Some households lack strong labourers and want to ensure that they’d get to harvest in time. That’s why they pay us to plough their land. Plus, the numbers add up quickly.”

Xu Yin felt a spark of interest as she heard this. She said, “Instructor, I can help you plough. I don’t need a commission. In return, could you please just lend me a tractor after we’ve finished ploughing? Just for half a day, and I’ll pay for the diesel myself.”

They wanted to start planting their next batch right after the harvest.
In the past, people usually either drew lots or waited for the oxens sent by the government to plough. If they couldn’t wait, the strong labourers within their family would harness themselves to the plough and get it done.

While there was a tractor in the commune, the single tractor could only do so much. There were numerous households in the village, and even the commune itself needed to use the tractor. Even if they joined the queue to use it, there was no guarantee that they would end up being able to finish their second planting before the beginning of autumn.

Xu Yin’s family were about to harvest their first batch of rice crops.  

As the old saying went, if you planted rice after the beginning of autumn, you wouldn’t be able to harvest it in time; you’d have to cut it and use it as feed for cattle. This showed how important it was for farmers to plant their rice at the right time.

Instructor Yu had seen Xu Yin’s ploughing skills. He knew that not even he could keep up with her skills. It was fine if she wanted to help plough, but…

He hesitated for a moment. 

“You really don’t want any commission?”

“Really, I don’t.”

“Do you think you can finish all the ploughing before we’re supposed to go back?”

“Yes, I’m sure of it.”

“Alright, you can use my tractor to plough the farm field. After that, I’ll let you use the tractor for half a day. If it works well, I reckon others might be willing to have you help too.” 

Well, why wouldn’t they? If they agreed, they would get free help. It’d be much better for them than if they ploughed by themselves.

“Thank you, Instructor!”

Xu Yin got off the vehicle at her village’s entrance. They agreed to meet tomorrow at Xiangfu Village, which was in the neighbouring township. Xiangfu would be the first one to start the double harvest, so the tractors would go there first to plough their fields.

After Xu Yin returned home, she explained to her mother that she would be going out tomorrow. Her mother thought that she was going to visit her classmates in the city and didn’t inquire further.

Their family only had a little farming work to do now, so they didn’t need Xu Yin to come help.

“Here, take some extra money,” Mother Xu said. “Buy some soft chiffon fabric and have your sister-in-law make a beautiful dress for you.”

Xu Yin declined the offer by saying, “I have enough money, Mom.”

However, Mother Xu insisted on giving her the money. She told Xu Yin to buy some meat with it if she happened to come across some meat that could be bought without using the meat tickets while she was out. 

“Use it to treat your dad and uncle. They’re going to be working so hard in the next few days that their skin might fall off their bones.”

Xu Yin: “…”

She wasn’t actually going shopping. Where would she find meat?

Well, she should be able to get some from the system inventory or marketplace.

“Meat? We have it at our farm!”

When Xu Yin went to Xiangfu the next day, she asked him about the matter and he answered her that way, grinning from ear to ear.

“You asked the right person. I haven’t used the meat tickets for the second half of the year. I can give you two catties²One catty is equal to 0.6 kg, so 2*0.6 = 1.2 kg. as payback for your help.”

Instructor Yu had felt embarrassed about asking a little girl to help him plough for nothing white he sat in the shade of a tree, smoking and chatting.

With this, though, it became not a big deal. Anyhow, his family had many people to work on their fields, and they didn’t need to worry about not having pork to eat during the New Year. In addition to his own meat coupons, his son and his daughter-in-law had five catties³One catty is equal to 0.6 kg, so 5*0.6 = 3 kg.-worth of coupons each. 

Usually, they would end up giving the extra pork meat away as gifts, anyway. There was no reason why he shouldn’t give a couple of catties to this young girl.

“Really?” Xu Yin’s knitted eyebrows relaxed when she heard this. “Thank you so much!”

“No problem. Just plough the fields nicely, alright?”

“Of course!”

Xu Yin turned on the Scene Simulation function and divided the field that she was meant to plough into tasks. She made each row an individual task.

The tractor had gotten its bucket replaced with a plough. Soon, Xu Yin started ploughing at full power.

The Scene Simulation feature also showed her the estimated completion time, allowing her to focus without distractions.

For every half a mu that Xu Yin ploughed, she would receive 50 energy points. If she achieved Intermediate or Advanced Tractor-Driving Skills, they would also come with extra rewards, which would give her a great sense of accomplishment.

The more accomplished she felt, the more efficiently she could plough.

By the time that the experienced tractor drivers, who had started at the same time as her, finished ploughing three fen ⁴One fen is roughly 61.44 square metre; 61.44*3 = 184.32 square metre.of land, Xu Yin had already finished ploughing one mu⁵Roughly 667 square metres. of land. 

The onlookers: “…”