“I know my third son's personality best. If I were you, I certainly wouldn't want to marry my good child off to such a scoundrel.”

Zhao Youcai paused for a moment, then said earnestly:

"But Brother Li, you can't condemn someone outright, can you? I didn't raise the third son well before, but he's been trying to change lately. Otherwise, your daughter wouldn't have a single good word to say about him, right?"

"People always change. Why don't you give your third son some time to prove his abilities and changes before deciding whether the two children's marriage can go through? After all, you must also hope that your daughters marry someone they like. If your third son can really change for the better, what can't the two of them do?"

Upon hearing Zhao Youcai's words, even Old Man Li was speechless.

Zhao Youcai said both good and bad things, and they actually wanted to respect their daughter's wishes and let her marry someone she liked.

If the third son of the Zhao family can really change for the better as Zhao Youcai said, then it's not impossible to reconsider this kid.

It must be said that Zhao Youcai's move of retreating to advance was a clever maneuver that allowed him to control the Li family.

He's already said all that; it wouldn't be right for the Li family to keep clinging to their guns.

In the end, the elderly couple sighed and said nothing more.

Zhao Youcai's eyes lit up when he saw this.

Whether they were just fooling around or genuinely considering it, the fact that they didn't stick to their stance was a good thing for Zhao Laosan.

Zhao Youcai understood the saying "haste makes waste," and Zhao Laosan understood it as well.

"It's getting late, so I won't disturb you any longer. You should all get some rest."

Once the matter was resolved, Zhao Youcai called out and headed out. The Li family hurriedly caught up and returned the cloth and the basket containing the vegetables to Zhao Youcai.

Zhao Youcai waved his hand and declined, "Brother Li and sister-in-law, don't worry. No matter what the final result is, this is just a small token of our family's appreciation. If our children don't end up together, consider these gifts as a way to calm your daughter's nerves."

It must be said that Zhao Youcai's actions did earn him some goodwill from the Li family.

However, this is a major event concerning their daughter's entire life, so they won't immediately change their stance.

Everything depends on whether Zhao Laosan can change for the better.

On the way back, Zhao Laosan kept grinning foolishly, while Zhao Youcai rolled his eyes at him.

Let's leave this troublesome matter for now; there's a huge mess at home waiting for him to clean up.

...

Zhao Youcai was surprised to find that when he returned home, he did not see his second son and his wife, but instead saw the brigade leader sitting in his room.

"Captain, what's going on here?" Zhao Youcai was a little confused, wondering what the other party's intentions were in coming to his house.

"Youcai, you're finally back! I would have been home by now if you'd been any later!" the captain said with a hint of resentment.

Zhao Youcai smiled, went into the house, waved to his third son to leave, and sat down opposite the brigade leader, feeling somewhat puzzled.

Could it be that the second daughter-in-law failed to get help from her father-in-law, and then, not satisfied with the humiliation, went to the brigade leader instead?

Fortunately, the captain spoke up at this moment and explained his purpose.

"Wow, we've got some money coming in! Another quota has been allocated!"

Upon hearing this, Zhao Youcai immediately understood why the other party had come.

Indicators are a term specific to this era.

This refers to the grain requisition policy issued by the state to certain regions during special periods.

It was the 1960s, and the nationwide drought was so severe that there wasn't enough food. This year is better, but many supplies are still scarce.

So what the brigade leader just said probably means that the production team will soon have a new grain delivery task.

Zhao Youcai listened attentively without interrupting the captain.

"As you know, people in the city have to eat government-supplied grain. In addition to growing crops to hand over to the town, our village has also been given extra quotas this year."

"This year, every household must raise one old sow and ten chickens, ten ducks, and ten geese. Starting in July, they must hand over fifteen chicken eggs, fifteen duck eggs, and fifteen goose eggs every month. In winter, they must also hand over 300 jin of pork and eight chickens, eight ducks, and eight geese as meat..."

Upon hearing this, Zhao Youcai's lips twitched.

Good grief, this captain thinks he's some kind of turtle in a wishing well!

"Captain, do you think the targets set by the higher-ups are reasonable?" Zhao Youcai sneered.

Upon hearing Zhao Youcai's words, the captain's eyelids twitched. This old guy really dared to speak his mind. In this day and age, who would dare to question the policies of those above?

He coughed lightly and said earnestly, "You're rich, this is a decision from above, we ordinary people just need to abide by it."

"Besides, compared to the rest of the country, our area doesn't suffer from as many natural disasters, so it's only right that we take on more responsibility..."

The brigade leader patiently explained the situation for a while, appealing to both emotion and reason, before changing the subject and continuing, "Moreover, when this task is completed, the extra eggs and meat will be the rations for each family. There's no need to hand them over or distribute them to the village."

Upon hearing this reason, Zhao Youcai couldn't help but sigh. Although he understood the difficulties faced by those in power, as an ordinary citizen, how could he not know how ordinary people lived?

Although everyone isn't suffering as much as they were a few years ago, we're still dirt poor. How could we possibly have enough food to feed those who have mouths to feed? We're afraid that by the time we hand in the task, there won't even be an eggshell left.

Zhao Youcai sighed and didn't say much, but he was actually quite happy about the news.

Now that I have a task assigned from above, I can naturally start raising livestock.

I was just wondering how to explain the eggs in his ranch, but then this unexpected thing came to me.

After thinking for a moment, Zhao Youcai suppressed his excitement and asked the question anyway.

"Are these the only kinds of animals you can raise? Can you raise more?"

The brigade leader rolled his eyes at him. "Dream on! Do you have that much bran to feed them? Or that much time to go up the mountain to cut pig feed? If you raise too many and they get sick, they'll cause the others to die too. How are you going to compensate them?"

Zhao Youcai wanted to say he wasn't worried about these things, after all, he had a ranch, and the chickens laid several rounds of eggs every day, which he would then slaughter. He couldn't possibly kill them all, he simply couldn't.

But obviously, this was something he couldn't tell anyone else, so he could only pretend to be deep in thought with a frown, appearing quite troubled.

"There's one more thing..."

While Zhao Youcai was secretly pondering how to take advantage of this opportunity to bring out more chickens and ducks to exchange for goods in the black market and the village,

The captain's next words were like a bolt from the blue, instantly making his mind buzz.