Chapter 60 Secretary Yang

Zhang Ruifeng smiled and said, "Of course we are fine. After all, we are your mother and brother, right, Mumu?"

Xie Shen chuckled and imitated Zhang Ruifeng's speech: "After all, you are my mother and sister!"

Xie Yun held his mother with one hand and his younger brother with the other, and the shadows of the three of them were very long in the moonlight.

The weather is cold, but my heart is warm.

———☆———

The next day at noon, after finishing the morning work and going home for lunch, everyone came to the soil field selected by Yan Guixiang, including Wang Huaqing and Zhou Dani.

According to rural custom, whoever you work for gets paid for their meals. But the sisters Qingli and Qinghong clearly didn't have that luxury, so no one mentioned it and everyone went home to eat before coming over.

When Xie Yun arrived, someone had already gone to fetch water. Before making the clay, the soil had to be moistened with water first, the cooked soil on top had to be dug out, and the plain soil underneath was used to make the clay. The plain soil had a high viscosity and the clay bricks were not easy to crack.

In addition to the female comrades who attended the meeting last night, team leader Zhang Guangzong and security director Zhao Fuguo were also here, as well as the old branch secretary Yang Jingxiu.

The standard leadership team of a brigade includes at least a branch secretary, a brigade leader, a security director, a women's director, and a warehouse manager.

Many brigades also include deputy branch secretaries, deputy brigade commanders, militia company commanders, league branch secretaries, and so on.

The leadership team of the Liushutun Brigade was minimalist: the branch secretary also served as the Youth League branch secretary, the brigade leader also served as the deputy branch secretary, and the director of public security also served as the militia company commander.

Yang Jingxiu, the Party Secretary of Liushu Village, was also a veteran. He wasn't really old; he was about the same age as Zhang Guangzong and Wang Huaqing. He had fought against the Japanese, the civil war, and American imperialism, losing a leg in the war. He looked very old, so everyone called him the Old Party Secretary.

This is also one of the reasons why Zhao Fuguo did not regret not going to Goryeo to make achievements. Yang Jingxiu went there, made achievements, was injured, and was mentally stimulated, and sometimes his emotions were not stable.

Yang Jingxiu was very aware of his situation, so he was just a figurehead and did not really take charge of the affairs. All the specific work was left to Zhang Guangzong.

Zhang Guangzong also knew his situation and usually didn't bother him with things. He would only ask him to come out when he needed to make a decision.

After leaving the army, Yang Jingxiu felt that he was not in a good condition to marry and have children, so he remained alone. However, his allowance was quite high, and the brigade was very caring towards him.

He seldom goes out. As far as the original owner can remember, he didn't meet him many times. After Xie Yun came, he had never met him even once. So when he heard yesterday that he was playing with Xie Shen and the others, he was a little surprised.

At this moment, he was standing with Zhang Guangzong on crutches, watching the female comrades busying themselves. Some went to fetch water, while Xie Yun and others took shovels and started shoveling the soil, first shoveling the surface soil aside.

Yan Guixiang borrowed six sets of molds and pestles from the brigade's tool room.

The older sister who said yesterday that she could make blanks called out to Xie Yun: "Binbin, come here, let's demonstrate it to everyone first."

Xie Yun: "Sister, don't be anxious, let's build the platform first."

The eldest sister slapped her forehead and said, "I took a risk."

Zhou Dani laughed as she dug the soil. "You're not being reckless. You're just anxious to show off your skills."

Everyone started laughing. The eldest sister didn't get annoyed, but laughed too. "What's the matter? I'm really good. You all have to learn from me today."

Wang Huaqing smiled and said, "Okay, okay, I'll learn from you. Master, do you want me to kowtow to you?"

The entire dirt field was filled with laughter. Everyone was talking and chatting loudly as they worked.

Zhao Hongxia said to Xie Yun while shoveling dirt, "Sister Binbin, you know what? I used to think your name was Xie Binbin, but later I found out your full name is Xie Yun. Your name is so rare."

Xie Yun was also panting from exhaustion. He smiled and said, "It's rare, so it has a nickname."

In her former world, the director's mother looked up this name in the dictionary and nicknamed her "Binbin." While the character "Yun" is beautiful, it doesn't sound particularly pleasant. Yunyun and Ahyun both sound like they're making you dizzy. According to the common practice of pronouncing uncommon characters, when encountering an unfamiliar character, only half of it is pronounced, and there's a high probability that the character will be pronounced as "Bin." Taking all these factors into consideration, the director's mother nicknamed her "Binbin."

When she first came to this world, she also thought this was the reason. Later, when she carefully read the original owner's memory, she found that it was not the case. This name was the result of her father's careful consideration.

Xie Tan didn't think "Yunyun" sounded bad; it was quite cute, but he was afraid people would misunderstand it as "Yunyun," which would waste his precious "Yun." So, he wanted to give his daughter a nickname that couldn't be without the character "Yun."

In the end, Xie Tan chose Binbin between Binbin and Beibei.

Beibei was certainly a good name, and the child was the treasure of him and his wife. However, judging by the meanings of Bin and Bei, he believed that acquired civil and military skills were more reliable than mere money, so he ultimately chose Binbin as her nickname.

After Xie Shen was born, the original owner specifically asked her father about this question. Why was her brother named Mumu and she wasn't named Beibei? Xie Tan explained.

As for why Xie Shen was called Mumu, it was because her father felt that Yanyan was too hot-tempered. The young man was too angry and might have a bad temper, so it was better to call him Mumu to calm his temper.

The soil has been dug almost thoroughly, and we are starting to lay the foundation.

Before making the clay, a one-square-meter platform must be made with clay, compacted and leveled with a stone pestle. All subsequent clay making work will be carried out on this platform.

Yang Jingxiu asked Zhang Guangzong, "Are you just going to watch them work? Are you going to let them do it themselves?"

Zhang Guangzong said, "This is their women's mutual aid, not the team's job. You know, if I arrange for the men in the team to make the bricks, I have to give them work points. These bricks are not free. Anyone who wants to use them must exchange them for work points. Given the situation of the Qingli sisters, it's better to save as much as possible. I won't interfere in matters that can be solved by women's mutual aid."

Yang Jingxiu curled his lips, "You're so stubborn! Can't you think of a solution?"

"What can I do? I just need to build two rooms with adobe bricks, and at most build a courtyard wall. It won't take much. With so many people like them, they can finish it in a month or two."

After saying this, Zhang Guangzong glanced at Yang Jingxiu. Seeing his angry expression, he smiled inwardly and continued, "How about you think of a solution? What can you do? This is really not an easy job. We have four major tiring jobs in the countryside. Look at Hua Qing, how hard he works."

Shoveling soil is a strenuous job in itself, and it is even more strenuous in winter. Sometimes, when you shovel soil, it is not deep enough in the soil, so you need to step on it to push the shovel deeper. However, Wang Huaqing is an old lady with bound feet, and it is not easy for her to do this job with her feet. She simply uses the strength of her arms to press down, which is more strenuous than others.

But she wasn't slow at all.