Chapter 62 A biased man can be more petty and calculating than a woman! ...

"Father, do you need to borrow the plow frame?"

Li Gangshi, surprised, couldn't help but ask the question again.

Li Ming nodded. "Yes, your fourth sister-in-law needs it."

His tone was as calm and reliable as ever, but the content of his words...

Li Gangshi then looked at Zhong Ying standing next to Li Ming. With her thin arms and legs, she probably couldn't even pull the plow frame. What use could she be?

Seeing that his eldest son hadn't moved for a while, Li Ming urged him again, "Hurry up, your sister-in-law is going back to her parents' house for dinner later."

He thought for a moment, then added, "According to the regulations, it should be recorded as a loan from me."

Most of the farm tools in the production team, such as plows, harrows, waterwheels, hoes, and sickles, belonged to the collective and were subject to a unified management system. Li Gangshi was the custodian in charge of the farm tools. Borrowing and returning them all required registration. The advantage of this system was that if any returned farm tools were damaged, the responsible party could be quickly identified.

Li Ming said that registering the plow frame as something he borrowed was a way of covering for Zhong Ying; even if she couldn't convert the plow frame into a harvester or ruined the farm tools, he would compensate her.

The child has finally shown some ambition, so we should encourage and support him! Li Ming can afford to replace a plow frame.

Besides, Li Ming thought to himself, "Isn't there still my youngest son?"

Li Ming couldn't help but raise his hand and rub his arm, which was covered in goosebumps. If this weren't his son, but some other ghost, he would definitely have secretly inquired about ways to exorcise it.

Seeing that his father insisted, Li Gang had no choice but to take the two of them to the farm tool warehouse next to the threshing ground.

He pulled a rope from his collar, took out the warehouse key hanging around his neck, and unlocked the warehouse door.

After a half-day break for afternoon classes, people would return at noon with their hoes and sickles still covered in fresh mud, hanging on the wall along with picks, plowshares, and other tools. Sickles were kept in a wooden box, blades down and handles up. Hemp ropes, plow harnesses, and animal harnesses were all coiled up and stacked separately. Larger farm tools such as double-wheeled plows, three-pronged harrows, and wooden seed drills were neatly placed on the other side of the house.

The wall also bears a red banner that reads, "Protecting public property is everyone's responsibility."

Li Gangshi walked skillfully to the old table in the room, opened the register on the table, and wrote down the words "Li Ming, borrowed a plow frame, May 22, 1969" with a pencil.

Afterwards, Li Ming lent a hand and together with his son, they dragged the two-wheeled plow out and then pulled it back to Zhong Ying's residence in one go.

Before leaving, Li Ming turned to Zhong Ying and said, "...Yingni'er, Dad believes in you and thanks you. If the farm tools can be improved to be more usable, it will be a great thing for everyone in the production team."

Li Gangshi wiped his sweat, thinking that his father was being too polite. Only Li Ming knew in his heart that he was not only grateful for what Zhong Ying wanted to do, but also for her willingness to do it.

You should know that Zhong Ying was a typical bad-tempered person in the production team who was unwilling to suffer losses or hardships. Spoiled by her parents, she would never earn ten work points if she could only put in six parts of effort. Improving farm tools was a time-consuming and laborious task that did not count towards work points, so it was clear that it was not something she wanted to do herself.

Li Ming suddenly felt that he had discovered the truth. It must have been his youngest son who forced Zhong Ying to do this. How could a father not know his son's ideals and ambitions?

The thought of his devilish son sharpening his knife and forcing the girl to learn how to modify farm tools made Li Ming feel even more sorry for Zhong Ying. "You've really worked hard, my daughter."

Triggered by the keyword, Zhong Ying casually remarked, "Not hard work, just a miserable life."

Li Ming's face showed even more shame.

Zhong Ying: ...I really just said it offhand, I didn't mean to shift the blame.

But the benefit of this incident was that whatever parts Zhong Ying needed, whether it was a shaft, gear, chain, or cutting blade, Li Ming would do his best to find them for her. If they weren't available in the Tonggan production team, he would inquire in other production teams. If they still weren't available, he would have his daughter Li Rou, who had married into the county town, inquire on the black market.

When Zhong Ying received the double-wheeled plow, there were only about ten days left before the start of the wheat harvest season. If she wanted to shine during the "Three Summers" (summer harvest, summer planting, and summer management), she had to modify the harvester within those ten days.

Converting a double-wheeled plow into a harvester isn't theoretically too difficult. Simply remove the plow's depth adjuster, plowshare, two ground wheels, and axle. Turn the plow handle and frame over and reassemble them. Then, attach the furrow wheel and ground wheel to the middle of the plow frame with a through shaft, install the plow drawbar on the left side, and attach the tail wheel to the front as the harvester's guide wheel frame. Finally, add a transmission device consisting of gears and chains, along with the cutting section, and you're done!

"...Where is it not difficult?" Zhong Ying asked through gritted teeth.

Li Lin opened his mouth, about to repeat himself, like this and then that, and finally like this, but fortunately he was getting better at reading people's expressions, and swallowed his words in time, instead saying something like, "I'll do it with you, I'll take care of the difficult parts."

Even with the help of ghosts, Zhong Ying still used all her time and gave it her all.

"Have you ever risked your life for someone else in your entire life?"

Zhong Ying recalled this line that had become a meme, and silently answered in her heart: she had never risked her life for others, but she had truly risked her life to become the new production team leader.

Liu Hongyan took back the chore of washing dishes after the meal. It was clear that the elderly couple had privately discussed letting Zhong Ying come over for dinner and then go back to her own business.

After dinner, Li Gang, like the other members of the production team, would come to the Ganlin River to take a bath.

He stood by the river, looked around, took off his clothes, and swam off in one direction.

Li Rongshi was washing his hair with river water when he looked up and saw a figure in front of him. He was so startled that he almost stumbled and fell into the water. "I—"

After recognizing who it was, Li Rongshi swallowed back the curse that was about to escape his lips. He couldn't curse; they were born of the same parents, and this was the only flaw in them. Cursing others was like cursing himself.

"Why did you suddenly run up to me and scare me?" Li Rongshi said to Li Gangshi in an annoyed tone, "You're not a three-year-old anymore!"

Li Gang was so tolerant that he didn't even call Li Rongshi "Big Brother." If he weren't the only brother he had left, he wouldn't have bothered to talk to Li Rongshi.

Li Gangshi took a deep breath, his usual smiling face returning to normal. "Let's have a chat, you two brothers."

Unexpectedly, Li Rongshi took a step back, his eyes wary, "What did you say? We haven't been on the same page for sixteen or seventeen years."

At that time, Li Gangshi was a half-grown boy who could be considered an adult. As the eldest son in the family, he was dedicated to being another "father" in the family. Li Rongshi was more than five years younger than him and was in the stage of "heaven is the eldest, earth is the second eldest, and I am the third eldest".

It was like a bolt from the blue, but the brothers' relationship had always been just so-so, remaining lukewarm even as they grew up. Even among siblings, there are always degrees of closeness; Li Rongshi didn't like playing with his older brother, preferring to play with his younger sister Li Rou and his younger brother Li Linshi.

We never played together when we were kids, and now we're both in our twenties or thirties, what's with this "let's have a chat, brothers" thing? It's like a weasel offering New Year's greetings to a chicken.

Thinking of this, Li Rongshi cursed inwardly, "The boss may be a weasel, but he's not a chicken; he's a human."

Li Gangshi's smile crumbled. "Can't I even talk to you anymore?"

"Fine, fine," Li Rongshi said helplessly, "I'm listening, little brother."

If his family had five brothers like his uncle's, Li Gangshi wouldn't have bothered with Li Rongshi. "I wanted to tell you, don't you think our parents are a little too good to our fourth brother's wife?"

"First, they gave her my younger brother's room to live in alone. Even if it's next to the house, can a widow like her manage to live alone?"

Li Gangshi's words were practically a direct accusation that Zhong Ying would eventually have an affair.

However, Li Ming and Liu Hongyan never really thought that way. After all, they were among the few who knew the "insider information." Judging from their youngest son's attitude of "I'll kill whoever you marry" and "I'll kill you if you don't marry me," no matter who wanted to climb over the wall, they were tired of living. He was even more ferocious than a watchdog.

Li Gangshi continued, "Also, we let her go back to her parents' home every few days. What kind of wife does that? It's only because no man cares about her, and our parents don't care either, as if our family owes her something."

The devilish son is forcing his perfectly good daughter to live as a widow for him. Don't Li Ming and Liu Hongyan feel indebted to Zhong Ying?

“Recently! She’s been letting us modify the plow frame again!” Li Gangshi’s tone rose. “Although we said the wheat harvest will be soon and we won’t need the plow frame to till the land, won’t we need to prepare the land after the harvest? She’s broken the plow frame, and now our father has to pay for it!”

The more Li Gang was talked about, the more indignant he became. Why were his parents so good to Zhong Ying? They were even better to him, their eldest son!

Li Gang said indignantly to his second brother, trying to gain some sympathy, "What kind of magical ability does Zhong Ying have? It's one thing for her own parents to spoil her, but how come our parents still spoil her so much after she married into our family? I've never seen anyone have it so easy being someone else's wife!"

He was practically pounding his chest, angrily questioning the heavens, "Why?!" "Why is this happening?"

Hearing his elder brother's rant, Li Rongshi didn't think much of it. "The house was originally built for my younger brother. Even if he's gone, he still got married. It's only right that it be given to his wife. I think you're overthinking it. If she really had any ulterior motives, why would she insist on marrying my younger brother? She could just find a healthy young man to marry. People are loyal and righteous. Don't think the worst of her."

Li Gang felt a lump in his throat. What does that mean? Does it mean he's heartless and looks down on people?

“My sister-in-law’s family is in the same production team. When she goes back for a meal, it saves her a meal’s worth of food. Isn’t that great?” Li Rongshi said nonchalantly. “Besides, who made the rule that married women can’t always go back to their parents’ home? Anyway, I don’t care whether Jin Feng goes back to her parents’ home or not. It’s just that my sister-in-law’s family isn’t in our production team, so it’s inconvenient for her to go back to her parents’ home. Otherwise, we are all born of parents, and there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be close after marriage.”

Li Gangshi's chest heaved as he thought of Li Rongshi's words: "He's good at accounting, he's generous, and he's considerate!"

Finally, Li Rongshi didn't care much about the last point. "If Dad wants to find her a plow frame or a wheelbarrow chain, he can. It's not like my sister-in-law is modifying some kind of harvester. As long as she doesn't ask me for my son, or make my son call her 'Mom' and me 'Second Uncle,' I'm fine with it."

His wife, Nie Jinfeng, is four months pregnant and her pregnancy is just starting to show. Li Rongshi's mind is entirely focused on his own little family, and he thinks his older brother's complaints are just him making trouble for no reason.

Li Gangshi didn't say much more to his second brother. He shouldn't have come to talk to Li Rongshi. He should have realized long ago that people who can't get along when they're young will still not get along when they grow up!

It's just that my indignation is not being recognized by anyone, and it always feels like there's something stuck in my chest, making me feel extremely suffocated!

When his brother proved useless, Li Gang returned home and went to talk to his wife.

Li Gang brought up those same things again, and seeing Tian Mei nod repeatedly, he finally felt relieved.

"After all, my wife and I are still family," Li Gangshi couldn't help but sigh.

Tian Mei returned a smile, then lowered her head to continue mending the child's clothes.

Although she was taciturn, she had a rich inner world. Tian Mei thought to herself, "Men can be more petty than women when they're being mean!"

Li Gang talks so much, but why hasn't he done anything concrete?

If you're so capable, go and modify a combine harvester.

Even if he couldn't modify the harvester like Zhong Ying, Tian Mei looked at the patched clothes in her hand by candlelight, and he never helped her with any work. He would just ignore her and keep talking about his own things.

Tian Mei recalled how Zhong Ying would always praise her generously when she cooked, her eyes bright and sincere as she looked at people. She thought to herself, "Don't blame my parents for being biased; even I like Zhong Ying a little more."

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Author's Note: Zhong Ying: If you don't do any work, you should consciously provide emotional value! Give enough! (To Li Linshi/elder sister-in-law/second sister-in-law/parents, etc.)