After the base line was drawn, the village party secretary kindly said, "Secretary, Zhentang is a soldier. He has made many contributions since joining the army. Why don't we recruit idle villagers to help him build the road for free?"

"That won't work."

Before Secretary Zhang could speak, Shi Zhentang hurriedly expressed his thoughts.

"I need my uncle to help me hire the village manpower, but it absolutely cannot be free. I will count each day as one working day according to the time it takes to repair the dam. I will send the final amount back to you when I arrive at the army."

"Uncle, as a soldier, I must uphold my principles. Not taking a single needle or thread from the people is our standard as a soldier."

Seeing how stubborn he is, and as a cadre, I can understand.

The village party secretary could only nod. "Okay, don't worry about the manpower. I know who in the village is best at what. I'll notify everyone today and start work tomorrow morning. Workdays will be counted as full days, and meals will not be provided. Let them finish their work and go home to eat. Also, I've been free lately, so I'll take care of the supervision."

"Uncle, thank you."

Shi Zhentang expressed his sincere gratitude.

Secretary Zhang also said: "If you have any difficulties, just come to the commune and find me. We can always find a way to solve it together."

Tian Yuzhu heard all these conversations.

Shi Zhentang said that he would send her his wages when he returned to the army. She thought that he did not have much money.

After finishing their business, Secretary Zhang and the village party secretary discussed on the way to the village office. The Chinese New Year was approaching, and the Shi family was going to build a house tomorrow, so why not get all the young and old in the village together today?

Slaughter the New Year pig that won the grand prize, and distribute the pork according to the number of households, so that everyone can have a peaceful New Year.

After noon, the good news spread throughout the village.

Everybody was extremely curious, and since they had nothing to do, they all went to the commune to join in the fun.

Including Yang Dahua and Shi Xiaoli, mother and daughter, also went to contribute.

This kind of scene of slaughtering the New Year pig is rare.

Who would have thought that as soon as we arrived at the commune, we met the village's third aunt and fourth aunt and several other women.

Everyone immediately surrounded the mother and daughter and started talking at once: "Hey, Dahua, are you really going to expand your house?"

"I heard it was Zhentang who advocated for expansion."

"Then how much money will you, as a mother, pay?"

Yang Dahua rolled her eyes and said, "Who am I to be a mother to? He is a high-ranking soldier. I can't reach him."

Everyone choked: "..."

In the past, Yang Dahua used to show off Shi Zhentang outside.

At that time they were still thinking, you, Yang Dahua, didn't treat Zhentang like this more than ten years ago. Now that you see that he has become successful, you keep calling him my son.

What happened now? Why did you turn against me so easily?

But no matter what I thought, I knew what kind of person Yang Dahua was, so I naturally didn't want to say more to her.

"Come on, let's go watch the fun and don't meddle in other people's business." The experienced ones are still the best. The third auntie called everyone to go straight forward.

Lu Juanjuan walked up to Yang Dahua and the others and asked, "Aunt, is Zhentang expanding his house for a wedding?"

Yang Dahua's eyes rolled. She was waiting for this trouble and immediately added fuel to the fire, "Juan, Zhentang is determined to marry that idiot, but I don't like her at all. I really want you to be my second daughter-in-law, but..."

"Sister Juanjuan, please think of a solution quickly." Shi Xiaoli also helped: "If you don't find a solution, my brother and that idiot will really get married. His purpose of expanding the house is to have a new room."

The word "new house" made Lu Juanjuan turn pale.

Once she really gets married, there will be no room for her to stay.

I couldn't help but wonder: "What can I do?"

Yang Dahua wanted to say something immediately, but she quickly restrained herself and looked at Shi Xiaoli beside her: "Xiaoli, you go and watch the fun first, I'll chat with Juanjuan for a while."

Shi Xiaoli could only leave with a pout.

After she left, Yang Dahua pulled Lu Juanjuan to the side of the road and whispered, "Juan'er, I know you've been in love with Zhentang all these years. Now that you're both of marriageable age, we can't let that fool interfere."

"Auntie thinks this matter is actually easy to handle. As long as you can make it a done deal, given Zhentang's personality, he will definitely not abandon you."

"It's a done deal?" Lu Juanjuan didn't understand.

But the next second her face turned as red as an apple, and she understood what was going on!

"Aunt, Zhentang doesn't even want to talk to me anymore, so how can I have the chance..."

"Don't worry about this. As long as you promise me that you will not separate after you get married and that you will support me and his father, I will get you some medicine." Yang Dahua had to make plans for the rest of her life.

Shi Zhentang is a cash cow, she can't let him go.

Lu Juanjuan said shyly, "Aunt, don't worry. If I really marry Zhentang, then we'll both be earning our salaries. Are you still worried that I won't be able to support you?"

Okay, with these words, Yang Dahua became motivated.

She immediately found the veterinarian, Uncle Tao, among the villagers who were watching the excitement in the commune, and tricked him into going home by saying she wanted to give Shi Weiqiang some herbal medicine.

It was only when she returned to Uncle Tao's house that she told the truth. She wanted some medicine to induce sexual arousal in the livestock.

Uncle Tao was dumbfounded. "Why are you worrying about whether the livestock in the commune need to be fed that kind of medicine? You don't have any livestock at home. Go away, go away."

"To be honest, I still want to have another baby, but Shi De..."

Yang Dahua bit her lip, looking embarrassed to continue: "Uncle, please give me some!"

Hearing this, Uncle Tao almost laughed out loud: "Just the two of you, and you still want to give birth to a pearl?"

"The country encourages having more children. You can't not help us!" Yang Dahua saw that Uncle Tao was unmoved and changed her face and said, "If you don't help me this time, then I may not be able to control my mouth."

"What do you mean? Are you threatening me? Then tell me, what leverage do you have over me?"

Uncle Tao didn't take Yang Dahua's words seriously at all.

But what she said next made her instantly withdrawn.

Yang Dahua sneered, "Master, you haven't forgotten that my mother's family is from the Second Commune, right? More than a decade ago, my father saw you and that damn old woman, Lü Huanying, sneaking in and out of the mountains. Tell me, what were you two doing in the mountains? Are you doing anything shameful? And Uncle Tao, shouldn't I actually call you Grandpa?"

"Shut up, I'll give it to you!"

Uncle Tao's face turned pale instantly, but he remained calm and composed: "Things are not what you think. I can give you the medicine, but I won't recognize you after you leave here. Whatever happens after you take it has nothing to do with me."

"Don't worry!"

Yang Dahua deliberately tried to manipulate him, adding, "I also hope that you can keep your mouth shut. Let's just pretend that what happened today never happened, just like what happened more than ten years ago. If you don't say anything and I don't say anything, no one will know."