"I'll take as many as you have," Wang Fushun said, his nose filled with the aroma of the glutinous rice strips. He reached out and covered the strips with a cloth. "I have connections. Just bring them to me, and I'll pay whatever price you say."

"Okay, wait for my letter."

Wang Fushun took out three yuan from his pocket and gave it to Shen Heng. They were all small bills. Shen Heng watched Wang Fushun count them, then stuffed them into his pocket: "I'll go in and take a look."

Shen Heng listened to Bai Jiaojiao's words and went inside to find the cloth seller.

Cloth on the black market generally comes from two sources: employees of supply and marketing cooperatives and factory workers. The price is not cheaper than that of supply and marketing cooperatives, but cloth coupons are not required.

Shen Heng casually bought himself five feet of navy blue cloth, then picked and chose, finally finding a piece of white polyester for Bai Jiaojiao.

He didn't dare to delay and quickly headed back.

All the way there, I thought to myself that this money was really easy to earn. Selling ten catties a day could earn me seven or eight yuan, which would amount to two hundred yuan a month, enough for ten factory workers' wages.

Shen Heng rushed back to Shili Village. Before he even entered the village, he heard a loudspeaker announcing that all villagers should go to the front of the stage for a meeting.

Shen Heng quickened his pace to get home and saw Bai Jiaojiao peeking in from the doorway.

"What are you doing?" Shen Heng asked with a smile.

"Heng-ge, you're finally back!" Bai Jiaojiao was afraid that Shen Heng wouldn't be able to make it back in time, and that being late for the meeting would mean being criticized again.

"Go inside, go inside first."

Shen Heng rode his bicycle into the house, fetched some water, and casually wiped his face: "I made a total of three yuan. I have connections, so I can sell them."

Shen Heng voluntarily handed over the money, and Bai Jiaojiao felt pleased with herself as she looked at the money she had earned, so she put it directly into her pocket.

"How much can you sell in a day? Can you sell twenty kilograms?"

"Twenty catties," Shen Heng pinched Bai Jiaojiao's cheek, "Why so much?"

"You think you're making too much money? You can make 75 cents a pound!"

"Forget it, you're so skinny, don't tire yourself out."

Deep-fried glutinous rice strips are so oily and smoky, Chen Heng can't bear to do that.

“What’s so tiring about this? Whether it’s one pound of flour or ten pounds, it’s all the same. Our pot is big enough to fry one pound in one go.”

Bai Jiaojiao was thinking that Shen Heng couldn't just rush out in the middle of the night every day and then come back to work. It wouldn't be meaningful to go out every few days and only earn ten or eight yuan. She wanted to earn more at once.

"Alright, go to the meeting first."

Shen Heng smoothed Bai Jiaojiao's braid, and after being glared at by his wife, he laughed even harder.

When the two of them got ready and arrived at the stage, the whole village had already gathered.

The group leader was taking attendance, and Li Hong was just about to write Bai Jiaojiao's name down when she saw Shen Heng arrive with Bai Jiaojiao.

Shen Heng's eyes seemed to say, "Dare to remember her?"

"Oh, Jiaojiao, you're the only one missing. Luckily, the squad leader hasn't arrived yet, or I'd be so sorry."

Li Hong was a completely different person to Bai Jiaojiao than usual, which Bai Jiaojiao found extremely amusing. She said to Shen Heng, "You should go over there quickly."

"I'm right here."

Shen Heng put down the small stool, and Li Hong didn't dare to say anything.

"come over."

Shen Heng patted the stool next to him, and Bai Jiaojiao reluctantly sat down.

When Bai Jiaojiao saw Liu Ying with her head down, looking like she was about to burst into tears, she knew what this conference was about.

Liu Ying still had injuries on her lips and cheekbones, which showed that Yu Wenli did not try to hide it or give Liu Ying any face when he hit her.

Last time Bai Shiqing came to our house, she said that Liu Ying and Yu Wenli would be punished. Judging from Liu Ying's appearance today, there should be a summary meeting soon.

Bai Jiaojiao couldn't help but glance at Chen Heng.

Criticism is always accompanied by praise. This time, Shen Heng and Bai Shihai did the most work in the village. However, Li Lide has a strong prejudice against Shen Heng, so he may not necessarily receive any praise.

"During this harvest, the members of Shili Village Brigade, with their spirit of not being afraid of hardship or fatigue, tenaciously overcame difficulties and rushed to harvest in the rain, bringing all two tons of wheat in the village back to the warehouse. They became the only brigade in Hushan Commune to successfully complete the autumn harvest. We hope everyone will continue their efforts!"

When Li Lide spoke, the members began to applaud enthusiastically, and everyone felt a great sense of accomplishment about this honor.

“However, there are also a few members who have dragged everyone down, causing everyone to work in the rain. The main representatives are Yu Wenli and Liu Ying from the educated youth team. They are slow and lazy in their work and have a strong sense of individualism. I would like to criticize them here.” Li Lide coughed and said, “You two, come up on stage and give a deep self-criticism to everyone.”

Liu Ying clenched the hem of her clothes, sweating profusely despite it being the coolest morning.

Bai Jiaojiao somehow made eye contact with Liu Ying and found that Liu Ying was looking at her with an extremely vicious gaze. Her eyes were bloodshot, her hair was messy, and her face was extremely pale, making her look mentally weak.

She looked away, knowing that Liu Ying was like a mad dog, biting anyone she could get her hands on, and she didn't want to risk getting into trouble.

If someone makes a self-criticism in front of the whole village, it will inevitably be recorded in their personnel file.

They don't know if there's still the college entrance exam, so a stain on their records means they're one step further away from returning to the city.

Liu Ying realized that Bai Jiaojiao was the one who caused her to end up like this.

When they were dating, Yu Wenli would say sweet words to coax her, even though he wasn't very warm or cold towards her.

After they got married, they stayed at the educated youth center during the harvest season. Yu Wenli didn't say a word to her. Later, when they moved to a house allocated to them in the village, Liu Ying did all the work by herself, and Yu Wenli never gave her a kind look.

When Bai Jiaojiao was harvesting, she did less work than others, but she didn't get criticized. Why?

Because Bai Jiaojiao has a capable man and an elder brother who covers for her and cleans up her messes, taking care of all her burdens.

Yu Wenli not only couldn't help her, but he was also a half-baked worker. The two of them became role models in the commune, and he even pushed all the responsibility onto himself, calling her a jinx and beating her with the sole of his shoe.

Liu Ying had suffered so much, but she had never been beaten. When Yu Wenli beat her, she felt like her world had collapsed.

She hadn't slept for several days, fearing that Yu Wenli would pick her up and beat her again while she was sleeping.

Liu Ying recalled that it was Bai Jiaojiao's idea for her to marry Yu Wenli.

Shen Heng also noticed the way Liu Ying looked at Bai Jiaojiao.

He stretched out his long arm and put his arm around Bai Jiaojiao's shoulder, staring at Liu Ying.

Shen Heng's gaze was extremely aggressive and hard to ignore. Liu Ying was already on edge, and when she sensed the aggressive intent in Shen Heng's eyes, she shuddered, turned her face away, and walked away quickly.

"Is she sick? Stay away from her. I've heard that people who get bitten by dogs are like that. Don't go looking for her to bite you."

Shen Heng whispered to Bai Jiaojiao.

He was afraid that Bai Jiaojiao, who came from the city, wouldn't know about rabies.