Yang Chunqin was both angry and amused, and then she figured it must have been Xu Laosan who instigated it, and then the Xu family started playing the game of chasing and beating each other again.

Those who enjoy watching a spectacle never miss out on a good thing, and Mu Jingshu stood to the side clapping and cheering.

After beating Xu Laosan, Yang Chunqin couldn't stand Mu Jingshu's hair, which looked like it had been gnawed by a rat, so she picked up the scissors and gave it a good trim.

To be honest, Mu Jingshu looks quite dashing after getting a haircut.

Then, Xu Xinning, who wasn't short of money, bought Mu Jingshu a bunch of clothes. She had to buy him a few outfits that suited his hairstyle, right?

Xu Laosan was heartbroken. Why didn't his older sister provide him with a matching set of clothes?

Looking down at his patched trousers, Xu Laosan sighed.

There was nothing they could do; their family favored girls over boys, and it was already a good thing they didn't let him go around with his bare bottom exposed.

Unbeknownst to many, Mu Jingheng, who was secretly envious, was also on a shopping spree. Since he was about to return to Xujia Village, he figured Xu Laosan would definitely like military uniforms, so he asked Aunt Tong to alter one for him. Hearing that Xu Laosan was now obsessed with studying, he also bought him a fountain pen and matching ink.

The food station in Hongxing Commune has been facing a severe meat shortage lately, sometimes not even a single pig can be slaughtered in a day, which has caused panic throughout the entire commune.

Those who slaughter pigs understand this even more deeply.

Grandpa Yang hadn't slaughtered a pig for several days, which made him feel uneasy all over.

When the old man had nothing to do, he would ask the leader what was going on.

The leaders weren't entirely sure either, they just said the farm couldn't supply enough.

Since Grandpa Yang had nothing to do, he went to the farm to find out what was going on.

Logically speaking, the farm's supplies are all planned, but Old Master Yang always felt that something was wrong, otherwise this kind of thing wouldn't have happened.

Not long after liberation, Grandpa Yang went to work as a butcher at the food station, and this was the first time he had ever encountered such a situation.

When Grandpa Yang went to inquire, he learned that the farm's pigs had contracted swine fever, and most of them had died overnight.

The farm is also having a huge headache because of this; the losses this time are enormous.

In those days, there were no rules against eating dead pigs. The farm consumed two pigs that very day, and the people on the farm were overjoyed. They never expected to be able to eat so much meat even though it wasn't a holiday.

However, another accident occurred on the farm on the day they ate the meat, and this time it wasn't the pigs but people who were involved.

One by one, they all started having stomach aches, then vomited incessantly, and some of them even fainted.

The families of the farm's leaders were particularly badly affected; almost the entire family was knocked out.

This incident had a significant impact, as everyone assumed these people had eaten sick pigs, prompting the disease control department to come to their door.

Strangely enough, several days have passed, but the epidemic prevention department has still not come up with a plan.

Grandpa Yang was shocked to hear that things had turned out this way, and felt a chill run down his spine.

If their station also takes this sick pig back to sell, the consequences are unimaginable.

The epidemic prevention department is basically a retirement home. There's not much to do all year round. People say they're there to work, but they're really just there to coast along.

Another interesting thing is that the wives and daughters of the leaders are basically all stuffed into this place.

How many people in such a department are actually capable of getting things done?

So although they symbolically took the samples back, they don't know where they threw them away after they got back, and it's probably impossible for them to get any results in their lifetime.

Comrade Lao Yang was, after all, the top dog in the commune's pig slaughtering circle. He knew quite a few people, and the more he inquired, the more suspicious he felt about this matter.

He's seen sick pigs before.

You said it's somewhat possible to contract the plague from eating a sick pig, but why does this seem so much like poisoning?

Comrade Yang felt increasingly uneasy, so he came to Old Xu's house to find the answer. After all, his son-in-law was the director of the Public Security Bureau, and his granddaughter's medical skills were extraordinary. He felt that they must know what was going on.

After Yang Chunqin married into Xujia Village, her family rarely visited. In those days, no family had enough food, and visiting someone's home often felt like begging for alms.

It was a rare occasion for Old Yang to visit, so Grandpa Xu warmly welcomed him inside and seemed to have endless things to say to him. During the meal, he treated him to the finest food and wine.

But Comrade Lao Yang came with a purpose. After dinner, he pulled Xu Yaozu and Xu Xinning aside to talk about the dead pig.

Upon hearing this, Xu Yaozu, with his police officer's keen sense of awareness, analyzed the situation and concluded that it was no ordinary matter.

Xu Xinning also felt that something was wrong. She was certain that the pigs did not die from the plague.

If it were truly a plague, so many pigs wouldn't have died so suddenly, while the remaining pigs were completely unharmed.

Although no one reported the incident, Xu Yaozu took it very seriously and went to the police station to return to work the next day.

Grandma Xu initially disagreed, but she knew the matter was important, and seeing that Xu Yaozu was recovering well, she didn't say anything.

The next day, Xu Xinning went to the farm with Comrade Lao Yang. Although she was more knowledgeable about human illnesses, she was not so sure about the health of animals. However, she was quite persistent about illnesses, and now that she knew about them, she wanted to find out the truth.

Most of the farm's leaders were not present, and the gatekeeper knew Old Yang, so he made things convenient for him.

There are many people working on the farm, and the planting and breeding areas are both quite large.

The farm was mainly staffed by those who had been sent down to the countryside or were labor reformers who had committed crimes, as well as educated youth who had been sent to the countryside.

Xu Xinning looked around and found that those who had been sent down to the countryside and those who had been sent to labor camps were basically living together, while the accommodation conditions for the educated youth sent to the countryside were much better.

Most poultry farmers are women.

Perhaps because the work was so strenuous, most of the people Xu Xinning saw along the way looked pale and thin.

What's more, Xu Xinning felt that these people were all quite numb.

When Xu Xinning arrived at the farm, she unexpectedly saw Shen Can.

When Shen Can and Xu Yaoyang were involved in the incident, Xu Xinning thought they would be sent to a farm in the Northwest. Unexpectedly, they were in the same county, which means that someone must have taken action.

Although they are all farms, the conditions here are incomparable to those of farms in Northwest China.

Xu Xinning unconsciously looked around. She thought that if Shen Can was here, Xu Yaoyang should be here too. She wondered if Qi Hehua was here as well. If they were all here, wouldn't it be a family reunion for them?

Shen Can has lost a lot of weight compared to before, and she doesn't look very energetic. However, she seems to work quite efficiently, which is completely different from when Xu Xinning first met her.

She seemed to sense someone watching her, and turned around to see Xu Xinning standing not far away.

She felt a moment of disorientation, as if she were hallucinating.