Chapter 100 Chapter 100 Part 2

Autumn of 1976.

It was the autumn harvest season, and the farmland of Yangliu Brigade was bustling with activity. Shen Moer was riding her bicycle past the rice fields and was spotted by the sharp-eyed Chen Yu. Maomao, who had grown into a young boy, immediately stood up and waved his sickle, "Sister Moer, Sister Moer!"

Shen Moer twisted the brakes and untied a net bag from the handlebars of the bicycle: "Come and get the oranges."

Chen Yu cheered and rushed out of the field like a little deer.

Zhou Zhaodi, who was busy cutting rice in another rice field, heard the sound. She looked up and saw Shen Moer on the village road. She immediately jumped out like a rabbit, "Ahhh, Master, you're back!"

Zhou Zhaodi has also grown a lot taller, her skin is slightly darker, but her facial features have matured, and she has a heroic beauty, and looks like a graceful young girl.

Jiangbei County still has a school system of five years for primary school, two years for junior high school, and two years for high school. Starting this fall, Zhou Zhaodi and Chen Yu are both freshmen at Qianjin Middle School.

After spending several years with the cheerful and outgoing Chen Yu, Zhou Zhaodi's personality has become much more lively.

Two years ago, when she was just in middle school, this girl mustered up the courage to ask Shen Moer if she was willing to accept her as a formal apprentice, like Zhou Pingan, who had offered tea and formally worshipped the master.

Shen Moer looked at the little girl's clear and bright eyes, which revealed a hint of insecurity and uneasiness. After a few seconds of silence, she touched her head and nodded in agreement.

From then on, Zhou Zhaodi always kept the word "Master".

Chen Moer smiled as she looked at Shou Zhaodi and Chen Yu, whose faces were red from the sun, and said, "Okay, share the oranges with everyone, and come to my house for dinner later. I bought some meat to nourish you."

The two of them cheered again.

Chen Yu reminded very tactfully: "Sister Moer, Fu Zhiqing has a piece of land at the foot of the back mountain. It is said that the seeds there are well selected, and the harvest is better than the land below! You came to the village right after returning from a business trip, you must want to stew meat for Fu Zhiqing, right?!" As he said this, he winked and winked.

Before Shen Moer could speak, Zhou Zhaodi slapped Chen Yu on the back: "Why do you care about my master's affairs? Eating oranges can't stop you from talking. You really can meddle in other people's business."

The little girl looked at Shen Moer with admiration: "Master, did you sign a lot of orders at this Canton Fair?"

Shen Moer laughed: "Well, a little more than last year."

Zhou Zhaodi immediately raised her fist and said, "Okay, I'll harvest more rice, too. Master, see you later!"

Chen Yu also rushed back to the rice field: "Sister Moer, see you later!"

Shen Moer looked at the backs of the two energetic boys and girls, couldn't help laughing and shaking her head, stepped on the pedal and went to her own yard.

Zhou Zhaodi and Chen Yu returned to the rice field, and Chen Yu called out, "Grandma, I'm going to Sister Mo'er's house for lunch."

Aunt Chen, who was tidying up the straw stack not far away, said speechlessly: "You kid, how can you be so shameless and ask to go to Director Shen's house for dinner?"

Chen Yu didn't care: "What's wrong with the factory director? The factory director is also my sister Moer. She bought some meat and said she wanted to give us some nourishment."

Aunt Chen was even more speechless: "Is that for you? It's obviously for Fu Zhiqing. Fu Zhiqing has been so busy lately that he has lost a lot of weight. Your sister Moer has come back from Guangzhou, and he has no time to go back."

Chen Yu chuckled: "Sister Mo'er bought quite a lot. Fu Zhiqing definitely can't eat that much. At most, I can ask my mom to sell some meat and cook another meal for Fu Zhiqing."

Aunt Chen shook her head: "Child, let your parents settle the score with you later."

As the grandparents and grandchildren were talking, Cao Mei glared at her two grandsons, Shen Xiaowei and Shen Xiaojie, on the other side of the field, and muttered, "You two are about the same age as Maomao, but you can get close to him even though he is not related to you. You are his nephews, but you don't know how to get close to him."

Shen Xiaowei is already fourteen years old, at the age of being unruly. Hearing this, he immediately said, "Who should we blame? It's you. You robbed Aunt Mo'er's food and almost made her faint in the field. How can she pay attention to us? Come on, grandma, don't think about these things. Anyway, Aunt Mo'er said that as long as the education and ability are sufficient, everyone has the opportunity to enter the embroidery factory. Just don't do anything to hinder us."

Cao Mei was speechless after being rebuked by her eldest grandson.

Neither she nor Shen Hongbing were shrewd people, and the same was true for their only son Shen Jianhui. However, this eldest grandson was different from everyone else in the family. No one could tell anything when he was young, but after he entered junior high school in the past two years, he suddenly became much smarter and more stable.

In her early years, Cao Mei was always fooled by Tian Fang. She was most afraid that her descendants would also be fooled by those people in her second son's family. Fortunately, there was a smart person in the family, and he almost obeyed her eldest grandson's words.

After hearing what her eldest grandson said, she thought about it and finally nodded: "Okay, grandma will listen to you. In fact, I have seen over the years that your aunt Moer is a broad-minded person. I stole her food, and she probably won't forgive me, but she won't take her anger out on you. If you have the ability to pass the exam to enter the factory, she will definitely not put obstacles in your way."

Many workers have emerged from their village over the years. Seeing other people's children working as workers and earning wages while her own family is still working in the fields, Cao Mei can't say that she doesn't regret it.

Why had she been so blinded by greed that she bullied Shen Laoqi and his daughter?

But there is no use regretting. The father and daughter of Lao Qi will probably not forgive her for what she has done. Cao Mei now hopes that her grandson can pass the recruitment exam and become a worker.

Coincidentally, in another corner of the rice field, Shen Yongjun, the second oldest son of the Shen family, were also talking about Shen Moli.

The eldest son's wife, Ma Dongxiang, pouted and muttered, "Why are you so proud? He is just a factory director. If you don't know him, you would think he is a county magistrate. He always looks so noble."

The second son's wife, Li Ping, didn't even raise her head and remained silent.

Ma Dongxiang’s eldest son, Shen Minbing, had stolen bricks from Shen Moli’s house and was sent to the police station. Later, because he had a history of theft, he failed the political review and was expelled from the ninth workshop at that time.

After Shen Minbing was imprisoned for the second time, he didn't even want to farm the land when he was released. He spent all day with a gangster from Songshu Brigade. The two of them were always stealing and doing no good. Therefore, although Shen Minbing was in his twenties, he still hadn't found a partner.

Come to think of it, which good girl would be willing to marry a scoundrel?

But Ma Dongxiang didn't think that there was anything wrong with her son. Instead, she put all the blame on Shen Moer and secretly hated Shen Moer to death.

But Li Ping couldn't empathize with Ma Dongxiang at all.

Her husband Shen Jianshe has been working as a warehouse keeper in the embroidery factory. His length of service has increased in the past two years and his salary has increased a little. According to her husband, Shen Moli only cares about her job in the factory and never cares about anything else. She treats everyone equally regardless of whether they have a good private relationship or not.

Shen Jianshe works diligently, so he will not be deprived of any benefits in the factory.

Because Shen Jianshe has a salary, although he has to give some of it to his family, the bulk of it goes to their small family, so their family has lived a really good life in the past few years.

If Li Ping really said that, she didn't even have time to thank Shen Moer, so how could she possibly talk behind Shen Moer's back?

Moreover, probably because she has money in her hands, Li Ping has seen things more and more clearly in the past few years. Although her mother-in-law speaks nicely, she is actually a bad person with a bad heart, and her actions are becoming more and more unrestrained. Although her father-in-law does not take the lead, he is actually in the same boat with her mother-in-law. Neither of the old couple is a good person. Li Ping now only wants to separate from the family and live alone.

Seeing that Li Ping didn't say anything, Ma Dongxiang cursed in her heart, "Whoever gives you milk is your mother." She moved her butt, turned to Tian Fang and repeated what she said.

Tian Fang led a little boy of about five or six years old to sort out the straw stack. From time to time, she would stop the boy who wanted to go somewhere else and say, "Pengpeng, don't run. Just sit here."

The little boy's facial features are about 60% similar to Zhang Junliang's, but the most similar thing is the expression of looking down on everyone. He pouted and said, "I'm not a country boy, I don't want to do farm work!"

Tian Fang patiently coaxed him for a long time before he calmed down. Only then did she have time to deal with her eldest daughter-in-law. She curled her lips and said, "What's so great about being a factory director? If a woman can't even give birth to a child, it's useless for her to be a county magistrate. You see, the educated youths are returning to the city one after another, and Fu Mingze is still from the capital. How can he stay here and want a woman who can't give birth to a child? Sooner or later, he will abandon her."

Ma Dongxiang agreed with this deeply. Thinking about the scene where Shen Moli was ruthlessly abandoned, she couldn't help but burst into laughter.

Zhou Zhaodi and Chen Yu looked at each other across a ridge. Zhou Zhaodi touched her arm and said, "Oh my god, I have goose bumps. Aunt Dongxiang's smile is so creepy."

Chen Yu nodded: "Like an old witch."

Aunt Chen commented: "It's definitely not something good to say."

Shen Moer rode her bicycle back to her own yard.

Two years ago, the courtyard was renovated again. The roof of the room where Shen Shaoyuan slept had several leaks, so they simply tore it down and rebuilt it into a blue brick and tile house. Now the whole courtyard looks neater.

Chen Moli put the meat, fish and tofu she brought in the kitchen, washed her hands, and went out to the room vacated by the brigade next door to check on the production situation of the "non-staff workshop".

The policies have been relaxed in the past two years, and the lives of these so-called landlords, rich peasants, counter-revolutionaries and bad elements have become much better.

For example, Old Wangtou in the cowshed on the right side of their house, after enduring one cold winter after another, was finally rehabilitated and returned to the capital before the arrival of last winter.

On the other hand, the small landlord and his son no longer have to do the dirtiest and most tiring work in the brigade. The small landlord Lin Kaicheng now does farm work with other ordinary members, while Lu Dongyun has become the backbone of the "extra-staff workshop".

Everyone was busy, and I don’t know who was the first to see Shen Moer and shouted, “Director Shen.”

All of a sudden, everyone looked towards the door, and soon, everyone stood up and greeted Shen Moer happily.

"Is this the latest embroidery pattern? How is it? Is there any problem?"

Lu Dongyun smiled and said, "No problem. We have been taught carefully before. How can there be any problem? Director Shen, you are back from Guangzhou, right? How is our factory's performance this year?"

Although they are not on the staff of the embroidery factory, Lu Dongyun has long considered herself a part of the factory after doing embroidery work for so many years. They have work to do only when the factory performs well, and they are also proud of the good performance of the factory.

Shen Moer said easily: “Of course it’s as good as always!”

She stayed here and chatted with Lu Dongyun and the others for a while, then went to her own private plot to pick some vegetables and went home to cook.

After the meat was cut into pieces and stir-fried, white radish and mushrooms were added to make a stew. Because there was already a stew, the fish was braised, and the tofu was fried on low heat until golden brown to make a homemade tofu, and two vegetables were stir-fried, and that was it.

While cooking, Shen Moer suddenly heard hurried footsteps outside, and then her husband Fu Zhiqing appeared at the kitchen door with sweat all over his forehead.

"Why did you come to the village?"

Fu Mingze looked at his wife carefully. He hadn't seen her for more than half a month. With such a high intensity of work, she should have lost weight. However, after looking at her, he felt that she seemed to have gained a little weight.

It seems that Guangzhou cuisine is indeed to his wife's taste.

Shen Moer put the dishes on the plate neatly, saying as she did so: "You are very busy here, I heard from Dad that you have lost a lot of weight, so I quickly bought some meat to reward our hard-working Fu Zhiqing!"

In the past few years, Fu Mingze led the members of the Yangliu Brigade to build experimental fields, optimized the water and fertilizer plan, and screened out a number of high-yield and disease-resistant varieties. In short, the results are remarkable. The Yangliu Brigade has now built a municipal-level experimental field of more than 100 acres.

Shen Moer turned her head to look at Fu Mingze and drove him out: "Go wash up quickly, you are sweating all over. Come here when you are clean. I have something important to tell you."

Fu Mingze was walking in, but when he heard this, he stopped and turned to walk out: "Okay, I'll wash first."

We haven't seen each other for more than half a month. I can't let my wife smell his stinky sweat as soon as we meet, right?

While Fu Mingze was wondering if he could squeeze out a day or two to go home and spend time with his wife, he took a quick shower.

Coming out all wet, Shen Moer had already prepared the dishes and was bringing them out, Fu Mingze helped take them over and asked as he walked, “What important thing did you want to tell me?”

Shen Moer laughed and said, "Guess?"