Li Min didn't let her work, but with outsiders present, Tian Jing couldn't just lean against the wall and bask in the sun being lazy. She decided to watch Li Zhengguo build the cart frame and even tried the wooden wheel.
"The wheel's bearings haven't been oiled yet," Li Zhengguo explained with a smile when Tian Jing couldn't push it.
"Oil? This should be machine oil or vegetable oil, right? We only have lard." She'd have to add vegetable oil to tomorrow's shopping list.
"I'll get some lard and exchange it at someone's house later."
"But Li Min mixed the oil together. It's used oil. It wouldn't be appropriate to exchange it with others," Tian Jing felt the oil had been used, and exchanging it would be frowned upon.
"You borrow some, and we'll buy new oil to return tomorrow. Also, borrow two wicker baskets. I need to buy a lot of things. Get bottles ready for soy sauce, vinegar, and oil. And those oil, grain, and cloth coupons – they can be exchanged on the black market, right?"
"Okay, I'll borrow them and return them tomorrow. The three coupons you mentioned are common and should be exchangeable. It's just the shoe coupon that might be difficult?"
Li Zhengguo looked at Tian Jing's shoes. Judging by the big toe poking out, they were probably from before last year.
Tian Jing also looked down at her own feet, wiggled her big toes, which looked like little turtle heads. It was rather amusing.
"It's fine. Let's exchange what we can first. Whatever coupons we get, we can try to get friendly with the shop assistants at the supply and marketing cooperative. They'll definitely have spare coupons."
"Don't you have acquaintances at the supply and marketing cooperative? If all else fails, we can buy cloth and cotton to make them. Li Min is idle, and your mother's health has improved. Instead of having her make shoe soles, let her sew the uppers."
"Mm," Li Zhengguo replied softly. "I'll listen to you."
As the two whispered by the roadside, Li Min and Guo Hong, facing each other, also spoke in hushed tones.
Li mother and Sister-in-law Wang exchanged glances and smiled knowingly.
Guo Hong helped until noon. Sister-in-law Wang had already left with her grandson. Li Min insisted on giving Guo Hong two pumpkin cakes to take back.
"Heat them up slowly by the pot when you get home. They're fried in lard. Xiao Dongzi is young and can't eat cold food."
Guo Hong couldn't refuse Li Min's warmth, nor could her son's picky palate. She took the bowl and headed home.
At noon, the Li family still ate pumpkin cakes. Tian Jing gritted her teeth, "Once I buy groceries tomorrow, if you dare to serve me only one type of food for three meals a day, I won't let you eat."
"Heh heh," Li Min chuckled. "We'll see when you actually buy them. A clever cook can't cook without ingredients, right?"
"Mm." Tian Jing absently agreed as she ate the greasy pumpkin cakes.
In the afternoon, the starch from the day before was almost dry. Seeing Li Min anxious to go dig for kudzu roots with Guo Hong, Tian Jing decided not to make sweet potato noodles anymore.
She spent the afternoon casually and leisurely by the sun, flipping the starch to dry.
Li Zhengguo's wheelbarrow was finished. After borrowing half a bowl of vegetable oil from someone to lubricate the wheel bearings, he began organizing things inside the house.
Tian Jing urged him to go to the foot of the mountain to check on Li Min, who was taking a long time to return, and Guo Hong hadn't come back either. Were these two planning to move the entire mountain?
Li Zhengguo washed his hands and was about to go out when Wang Hongwei ran back. "Uncle Zhengguo, Cousin Li Min and Zhang Fangcao's sister-in-law are fighting."
Tian Jing's hands, which were sifting starch, stopped. She patted her hands and asked, "Is it Zhang Fangcao's husband's sister-in-law or her own sister-in-law?"
"It's her husband's sister-in-law. She's saying the mountain belongs to the state and digging kudzu roots is taking advantage of the collective. Cousin Li Min has a quick temper, and it escalated into a fight after a few words."
"Oh, did Li Min lose out?" Tian Jing asked without haste.
"Someone helped to break it up." Tian Jing's lack of urgency displeased Wang Hongwei, who urged Li Zhengguo, "Let's go, Uncle Zhengguo."
"Li Zhengguo, I'll go first. You help Grandma inside and then pack up this starch. Put the wet stuff in the kitchen and find bags for the dry stuff," Tian Jing instructed before running off quickly.
Wang Hongwei only blinked, and Tian Jing was gone. He looked at Li Zhengguo. "Uncle Zhengguo?"
"You go ahead. I'll come after I'm done organizing."
Li Zhengguo replied to Wang Hongwei and began tidying up. He trusted Tian Tian. Someone who could hunt a wild boar alone, how could she possibly suffer a loss?
Seeing her daughter-in-law run off and her son not in a hurry, Li mother felt anxious but helpless. Her body could manage walking and getting on and off the kang, but she couldn't get into a brawl.
Wang Hongwei could only turn and leave the Li household, heading towards the foot of the mountain.
He rounded the Li family's kitchen and looked towards the foot of the mountain, but saw no one along the way. Where had that auntie gone?
Where had Tian Jing gone? After rounding the back of the Li family's house, she used her special ability and ran quickly to the foot of the mountain.
When she arrived, the two groups were glaring at each other, tension high. One group was protecting Li Min, and the other was protecting Zhang Fangcao's sister-in-law, Huang Sulian, Li Jianguo's wife.
Tian Jing walked with a stern face into the middle of the two groups. Despite her small stature, her serious expression and a hint of her special ability's pressure made everyone as tense as if they were facing a commune cadre.
Tian Jing first glanced at Li Min, seeing her hair disheveled and three blood marks on her face, clearly scratched by fingernails.
Good! Very good. They dared to bully her people. Li family was now under her charge, and she had just taken her sister-in-law under her wing, and this happened. Very good.
As her aura gradually intensified, everyone felt a mountain pressing down on them.
She reined in her outward aura and turned to face the group opposite Li Min. "Who hit Li Min? Step forward."
The opposing group looked at each other, then slowly parted, revealing Huang Sulian, whom they had been protecting.
Huang Sulian was around twenty-four or twenty-five years old, with dull, rough skin. Her hair was neat and tidy, and there were no marks on her face.
Seeing Tian Jing sizing her up, she puffed out her chest and looked at Tian Jing's chest with disdain.
"You hit her?" Tian Jing pointed at Li Min and asked Huang Sulian.
"I did," Huang Sulian held her head even higher. "She was leading commune members in taking advantage of the collective. She deserved to be hit."
"Oh? Taking advantage of the collective?" Tian Jing countered, "Show me the evidence. If the evidence is solid, we'll admit it. If you're making baseless accusations, hehe..."
Tian Jing only chuckled lightly, not elaborating further.
Huang Sulian assumed she was bluffing and carelessly pointed at the scattered kudzu roots on the ground. "These are it."
"These are what? Please explain."
Tian Jing knew very well that this was about the kudzu roots, but she wanted the other party to say it explicitly.
"These are kudzu roots, which can be made into food. This belongs to the collective and should be handed over to the production team for everyone to share," Huang Sulian stated righteously.
"Fine," Tian Jing nodded. "Hand it over. Li Min, hand over all that you've dug."
"Sister-in-law." Li Min protested. She had dug a large pile.
"It's alright," Tian Jing waved her hand. "Aren't these just pig feed? If others tell you to hand it over, then hand it over. It can be counted as fodder for work points."
"However, starting tomorrow, you don't have to do any more housework. You'll patrol the foot of this mountain every day. If anyone digs wild vegetables or chops firewood and doesn't hand it over, hehe, you'll also blow it out of proportion and label them as taking advantage of the collective. If others make the first move, you make the last."