In the evening, the brigade leader, Zhang Yougen, announced a village meeting by beating gongs and drums.
Having just finished dinner and with nothing to do, the other three family members, except for Xia Qingqing, all went to join in the fun.
Although the evening sun was no longer hot, the hot air outside still made people feel stuffy, especially when there were so many people crammed together during a large meeting. Xia Qingqing didn't want to suffer like that.
Dog Egg followed his parents to the threshing ground and soon saw Big Ox, who had also come to join the fun.
Da Niu was also very happy to see Gou Dan. He let go of his younger brother's hand and ran towards Gou Dan, saying, "Gou Dan, you're here too!"
"Yeah, I just finished eating and came out for a walk. Da Niu, do you know why the captain suddenly called a meeting?"
Da Niu shook his head blankly: "I don't know, but it must be something very important."
Before Gou Da could say anything more, Zhang Yougen, standing on the platform, banged the gong in his hand forcefully: "Quiet, everyone, please be quiet."
The air was silent for a second, then one of the more impatient people asked, "Captain, what do you want from us? Hurry up and finish, I'm in a hurry to go back and take a dump."
Zhang Yougen's face darkened: "Then you should go back quickly. One more person won't make a difference, and one less person won't make a difference either."
"Well, I think I'll listen to this. It's not that I can't stand it." The man was clearly rebellious. As soon as he heard that the captain wanted him to leave, he immediately became unwilling, afraid that he would miss out on some good thing.
Seeing that the captain's expression was not good, the others did not dare to interrupt and all watched him quietly.
Zhang Yougen cleared his throat and said, "I went to a meeting in the county today. I have some good news to tell you all. According to the instructions from above, our Shihe Brigade will start implementing the household contract responsibility system. I called you all here tonight to tell you this news, and also to discuss how to distribute the land, how to handle the production team's public property, and how to ensure fairness for every household."
"We might not have enough time tonight, so let's discuss how to divide the land first, and we can talk about the rest later."
Before the brigade leader could continue speaking, the people below immediately erupted in chaos. They didn't understand what the "household contract responsibility system" was, but they certainly understood the concept of "land distribution."
The team members excitedly asked all at once:
"Captain, are you serious? You're really going to give us land?"
"What does 'that family thing' mean?"
"Was the land distributed according to the number of people or the number of families? I think it would be fairer to distribute it according to the number of people."
"Pah, you only have about twenty people, so of course you think it's better to distribute it by headcount. In my opinion, it should be distributed by family. After all, the brigade leader said that this policy is called something like 'family-based production,' so it's definitely more reliable to distribute it by family."
"Liu Laizi, what nonsense are you spouting? Your family's lazybones wouldn't know how to farm even if we gave them the land. Don't waste such good land."
Seeing the chaos below and hearing that few people were discussing important matters, Zhang Yougen banged the gong forcefully: "Quiet! Anyone who wants to speak, raise your hand. You can only speak if I tell you to. If you keep making noise, then we won't be talking about the land distribution today."
His threat clearly worked; everyone shut up, and dozens of people raised their hands.
Zhang Yougen's gaze swept across the crowd, and he chose the first person to raise their hand, saying, "Zhang Shengli, you go first."
When Zhang Shengli saw that the brigade leader had chosen him, a smile appeared on his face. He cleared his throat before speaking, "Brigade leader, I would like to ask what exactly this household contract responsibility system is. Could you explain it to us?"
After listening to his question, Zhang Yougen nodded: "This is a new policy issued by the state. To put it simply, the collective system will no longer be implemented. Each household will be allocated land according to the number of people. How well the grain grows depends entirely on everyone. As long as you can pay taxes to the state on time for the harvested grain, the rest is all yours."
Actually, the leaders talked much more during the county meeting. They spoke for over an hour, and he himself was confused and didn't understand much. Later, a few team leaders he knew got together and summarized it.
"Great! It really is land distribution based on population!" Families with many children immediately cheered. They said that since the land was distributed based on population, children were also people, so they should definitely get some too.
Families with fewer children immediately feel they are at a disadvantage and wish they could have more children right away.
Especially for families with newborns, everyone felt that the child had caught a lucky time, as they were able to be allocated land right after birth.
Zhang Yougen shouted to the noisy crowd, "Alright, does anyone else have a question? Whoever raises their hand first, I'll call on them."
The first person to raise their hand was an elderly woman, older than Zhang Yougen. Zhang Yougen's tone immediately softened: "Aunt Wang, what would you like to ask?"
"Captain, you said you'd distribute land based on the number of people, but does that mean the baby in your belly counts?" Wang Da Niang's granddaughter-in-law was seven months pregnant, so she was particularly concerned about this issue.
Wang Da Niang's family wasn't the only one with a pregnant woman in their household; they all stared intently at the brigade leader, waiting for his answer.
Zhang Yougen shook his head: "No, we only count the people on the household registration book. The number of people on the household registration book determines how many plots of land you can be allocated."
Aunt Wang sighed in disappointment, but didn't say much. In the end, this matter was a policy from above, and arguing with the brigade leader would be useless.
Upon hearing this, Da Niu's mother whispered to Zhang Hongyan, "Sister Hongyan, the brigade leader said that land will be distributed according to household registration. Does that mean your family won't get any?"
After all, the Xia family of four no longer have their household registration in the village.
Zhang Hongyan laughed indifferently, "It's nothing, even if we were given land, we wouldn't be able to farm it."
"That's true," Da Niu's mother nodded affirmatively.
After Zhang Yougen resolved everyone's problems, the group started chattering again about how to divide the land.
The main reason is that the fields in the brigade are of varying quality, and everyone wants fertile fields that are close to their homes so that they can walk less distance to the fields every day.
After discussing for a long time without reaching a conclusion, they could only continue with the old method of drawing lots.
"Village cadres, please work hard and hurry up and divide the land. We'll draw lots again tomorrow night. It's all up to fate. No one can complain if they get a bad plot of land. Anyone who causes trouble, get out of Shihe Brigade. Do you all understand?"
"We heard you," everyone replied in unison.
"That's all, everyone go back now. Those who need to take a shower, take a shower; those who need to take a dump, take a dump," Zhang Yougen said with a smile, waving to everyone.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com