Chapter 9 Change

Stewing sparrows takes time, so I can’t eat them at noon. I can only clean them up, marinate them with salt, and stew them again when I come back in the evening.

During the autumn harvest, every household would try to improve their lives. The wealthier families would cut a piece of pork to take home and stew it, those who were a little less well-off would eat a few eggs, and those who were even poorer would eat more dry food than usual. It was not unusual for the Xie family's stewed sparrows to smell a little bit of meat.

Moreover, as orphans and widows, their family usually kept their doors closed and rarely welcomed visitors. Aside from Xie Shen, who would wander around the village and hang out with a few friends, Zhang Ruifeng and Xie Yun rarely visited other families. They kept a distance from everyone, offering only a few polite words to everyone. They had no close friends, but also no enemies.

In the afternoon, Xie Yun carried countless baskets of corn. His shoulders were almost numb from the wear and tear, and his back was so sweaty that water could be wrung out of it. Only then did he get the 10 work points for the day.

The work points of each person in Liushutun Brigade are evaluated by all members based on their performance. If everyone thinks that this person is capable and willing to work, they will give her a relatively high base score.

The base score is evaluated once a month.

The early unequal pay for men and women for equal work was related to this "people's rating system." It was assumed that men were more capable than women, so men were rated two points higher overall than women.

Later, the women's director expressed a different opinion. The Constitution stipulates that men and women should receive equal pay for equal work, but the Liushutun Brigade dared to violate the Constitution!

This statement startled the brigade committee. They then organized a competition between men and women, and everyone realized that the most capable people in the village weren't men, but women. A male laborer earning 10 work points worked alongside a female laborer earning 8 work points. With the same hours, the same content, and the same intensity, the women surprisingly did more, faster, and better work.

Such labor competitions have been organized several times, and women have never lost, or at least they have always ended in a tie.

Since then, Liushutun Brigade has achieved equal pay for equal work for men and women.

It cannot be denied that many men are stronger than women, but farm work is not only a test of strength, but also of endurance and the spirit of hard work. Female comrades have performed very well in endurance and hard work.

When Xie Yun first started working, her fellow commune members gave her a base score of 5. Because she had previously worked in the team, collecting grass for pigs and doing odd jobs, and everyone knew her well, they gave her a relatively high score. Some people only received a base score of 3 when they first started.

After a month of work, Xie Yun's baseline score rose to 8 points. The actual score fluctuated by one or two points.

Xie Yun was strong-willed and his score always went up by two points, never down.

The same is true for Zhang Ruifeng. Her base score is 7, but she can actually get 8, and sometimes even 9 or 10.

For example, today, the scorekeeper gave her 10 points and praised her, "Aunt Xie, you've really worked hard these past two days. Your son Binbin only missed one day of work, and you're working so hard to make up for that day's work points. You're amazing."

She also praised Xie Yun: "Binbin is also very good. He just recovered from an illness yesterday, and he went to shell corn at night. Today he earned 10 work points. We should all learn from you."

Zhang Ruifeng wiped the sweat off her face with the cloth around her neck and said with a smile, "There's nothing I can do. I'm poor. If I don't work harder, I don't know when I'll be able to pay back the work points I owe the brigade."

The scorekeeper smiled and said, "With the way you guys are doing it, you'll definitely pay it off soon. Before, you were the only one doing it, earning money while three of us spent it. Now, don't you have Binbin these past two years? Victory is just around the corner, keep going!"

Xie Yun smiled and said, "It's not just for ourselves, but also for the collective. Now everyone is rushing to harvest. If we work harder and faster, and finish early, the commune's tractors will come and plow the land for us first, so we won't be delayed."

The scorekeeper gave her a thumbs-up: "You're aware."

Xie Yun had a smile on his face and wiped the sweat off his face with the cloth wrapped around his head without saying anything else.

Her cloth was soaked through, and sweat got into her eyes, making them sizzling and uncomfortable, and her face was stung and itchy.

After a busy day, Xie Yun truly realized the difficulties of the working people. Now, if anyone wastes food in front of her, she might really hit that person.

It was so difficult that my sweat dropped to the ground and shattered into pieces.

Go off work at dusk.

The first thing I did when I got home was to stew the sparrows in a small stove, and then light a fire to cook a salty soup.

Xie Yun asked Zhang Ruifeng for a penny and asked Xie Shen to go to his neighbor's house to exchange for a few tomatoes.

Xie Shen took the money, grabbed a bamboo basket, and ran out. A few minutes later, he returned with a few tomatoes. Many families grew vegetables at home, so he didn't have to go far to exchange them.

"Sister, look, I changed several."

He first ran to Xie Yun, helping her to put the tomatoes she had picked up at noon into the basket, and then he took them to Zhang Ruifeng to show off, "Second Grandma's tomatoes are plentiful, and she can't finish them all, so she gave me quite a few."

Zhang Ruifeng smiled and said, "Wash two and eat them raw with your sister. We'll plant a few at home next year. We'll leave the middle plot of land alone and plant something there, leaving just enough space for walking."

Zhang Ruifeng loves cleanliness. She planted sweet potatoes along the edge of the front yard, but left an open space in the middle to make the yard look less crowded.

"Why."

Xie Shen agreed. He washed three tomatoes and gave each of them one. He then removed the seeds from the tomatoes and prepared to plant them next spring.

Stewing the sparrows takes some time, so Xie Shen watched the pot while Xie Yun and Zhang Ruifeng went to the backyard to work and dug up the remaining soil.

Zhang Ruifeng said as she worked, "We'll plant half potatoes and half cabbage. We'll also plant some radishes in the front yard, and we'll have enough vegetables for the whole winter. In two years, we'll have paid off the overspending."

Xie Yun said to her, "Mom, I had a fever yesterday morning, and my thoughts are a little different from before."

"Why is it different?"

"I used to think about living frugally and paying off the overspending quickly, as if I were debt-free. But now, I'm thinking, we can't be too frugal. We still have to improve our lives when it's time, so that we can have good health and live a long life. This won't affect our ability to pay off the overspending. At most, we'll have to pay it off for two more years, and we'll be able to pay it off. Don't you think so? If we're too frugal, eat less and work more, and exhaust ourselves, then our lives will be too hard, won't they? Besides, Mumu is only 9 years old. If the two of us collapse, he'll be left alone. Mom, we three can't do without any of us."