It's no wonder Shuzhen was startled. Anyone would be scared out of their wits seeing a tiny cucumber growing visibly in broad daylight, suddenly over a foot long. If it were someone older with deeply ingrained superstitions, they might have knelt down then and there, fervently reciting mantras for ancestral blessings or pleading for a Buddha's appearance, believing they had encountered a divine miracle.
Of course, Shuzhen was shocked out of her wits too, but having been reincarnated, she had at least listened to her novel-loving son read plenty of novels about time travel and reincarnation. After only a few seconds of daze, Shuzhen began to pick the over-a-foot-long, flower-topped, prickly cucumber that had grown in an instant. She wiped it meticulously before taking a hearty bite, savoring the fresh cucumber aroma filling her mouth, and began pondering why the cucumber had grown so quickly.
It seemed that, perhaps, when she touched the tiny cucumber, expressing her dissatisfaction with its size and thinking it needed watering and fertilizing to grow faster, it really did grow bigger?
But the watering and fertilizing were just thoughts; she hadn't even begun to act on them!
Or could it be that the fleeting thought was what made it work?
Feeling suspicious, Shuzhen decided to test it again. Didn't our great Leader say that practice is the sole criterion for testing truth?
She reached out and held another small cucumber nub, silently chanting in her heart for it to grow big, to become a large cucumber. Seconds later, Shuzhen witnessed another miracle. Like a fast-forward scene on TV, the small cucumber visibly thickened and lengthened, turning from a tiny furry flower-tipped gourd to a foot-long cucumber in no time. Two of them would make a perfect dish of smashed cucumber.
Shuzhen was ecstatic, recalling familiar buzzwords like supernatural powers, golden fingers, and benefits from reincarnation novels that Yanzi often muttered.
So, it turns out those online novels aren't all nonsense; they not only transcend life but are also deeply rooted in it?
After all, her son was so smart and filial; how could he possibly be like his brothers and sisters said, only reading useless idle books?
When she thought of her thoughtful son, she automatically entered the silly mom mode, just acting like 'my son is the best in the world, my son can do no wrong, even if he does, it's the world forcing him.' Right or wrong aside, it helped her quickly accept the unbelievable events before her and even feel overwhelming joy rather than fear.
She felt that in her past life, she had been too tragic and muddled, so the heavens couldn't bear it and not only granted her reincarnation but also two powerful and useful golden fingers. Overflowing with joy, Shuzhen was utterly determined to live well and knew she could live well. After all, wasn't she now heaven's favored child, as described in the books?
Nurturing plants and such is definitely an invaluable asset in these times of scarcity and hunger!
No need to flaunt in the free market, just selling to the supply and marketing cooperative would fetch a lot of money, along with various ration coupons that are hard to come by.
Thinking that her kids would never have to go hungry and emaciated ever again, Shuzhen couldn't help but feel delighted.
Taking advantage of the moment when no one was around, she touched, or rather experimented with ripening, all the cucumbers, tomatoes, beans, and potatoes in the garden. It wasn't until her head started to feel a little dizzy, like the exhaustion from embroidering for a day, that Shuzhen hurriedly stopped. She carried a wicker basket filled with eggplants, peppers, cucumbers, beans, potatoes, and a few tomatoes back into the yard.
Meanwhile, having just filled a whole jar with water, brought in an armful of corn stalks, and was now cooking millet porridge in the pot, at the exact moment Su Hongying, who was worried about Shuzhen handling it alone, bumped into her.
"Oh my god, dear auntie, how could you pick so many vegetables without saying a word? Carrying it all back by yourself, what if you hurt yourself?" Seeing her sister-in-law carrying that overflowing wicker basket, Su Hongying was terrified, fearing that her sister-in-law didn't know her limits and might exhaust herself just from picking some vegetables, which could end up being harmful. The household was already in chaos; it couldn't withstand another blow.
"It's nothing, sister-in-law. It's just a basket of vegetables. Haven't you seen Shusheng's wife still going to earn work points with the production team even though she's due soon? I may not match up to her, but I'm not that far off either." Shuzhen smiled nonchalantly, not bothering to explain her lack of intention to give birth to the child in her belly. The fewer people who knew, the fewer obstacles there would be. Although she was now divorced, the practical and straightforward choice for many would be to abort the child and find another reliable partner while still young. But she had always been in poor health and had been pregnant for over two months, nearly three. Considering her own life and health, her elder brothers would absolutely oppose it.
Especially when it seemed there had recently been a case similar to hers. After one woman was divorced due to mistreatment, her family found a village doctor to provide abortion medicine for the sake of her future marriage. The medicine was too potent, and at four months pregnant, the dose ended up claiming both mother and child. With such a precedent, it would be impossible for her brothers to let her abort the child!
Assuming that her sister-in-law had come to her senses after the divorce, understanding she needed to walk her path independently, it didn't take long for Su Hongying to decide to talk to her husband later. Even though their parents were no longer around, she still had two brothers, didn't she?
No matter the past or future, she wasn't utterly alone, so there was no need to overburden herself. She's pregnant; thinking too much or doing too much is no good for herself or the child. As the saying goes, "A camel dying of hunger is still bigger than a horse." The Liu family might not be as prosperous as it once was, but taking care of a sister-in-law and a nephew wasn't too much trouble. At worst, doesn't the sister-in-law still have the over five hundred yuan and ration tickets taken from that plague-ridden and malicious Wu Xia?
Knowing her sister-in-law didn't have a great impression of her and not being good at giving advice, Su Hongying kept her thoughts to herself. She planned to tell her husband later, asking him to persuade this sister-in-law who, when she had opinions, lacked any plan whatsoever; and when she seemingly had no opinions, would get stuck in a dead-end for days.
In the meantime, she'd quickly finish cooking, letting her sister-in-law eat first, then take a nap after the meal, considering her upper and lower eyelids seemed to be greeting constantly, indicating she must be exhausted. Being pregnant meant she shouldn't be wronged. She had to go back to arrange things, seeing if her sister-in-law would prefer coming to stay with her for a couple of days, or if she'd rather have their elder brother come to stay at their place so she could move over and keep her company. Given the recent major upheaval and suicidal tendencies, Su Hongying couldn't be at ease letting her sister-in-law sleep alone at night.