Chapter 125 Envy is Everywhere
The cowshed was low and dark.
This courtyard, enclosed by wooden stakes, is surrounded on three sides by cliffs covered with thorny thickets, completely isolated from the educated youth settlement to the west.
The back door of the cowshed is the only entrance, and now Qiao Xingyue has been going up the mountain from dawn to dusk to cut wood and thatch, turning the cowshed into a small, airtight house. The small courtyard behind the cowshed is their only private space.
It offers excellent privacy!
Once things had settled down, Qiao Xingyue taught An'an, Ningning, Zhiyuan, Mingyuan, Chengyuan, and Boyuan to sow various seeds in the courtyard.
The seeds were brought by Chen Jiahui from Jincheng. At that time, Chen Jiahui was the only one who was not searched when she went to the countryside, so she brought a lot of supplies with her.
We have now planted green peppers, eggplants, Chinese cabbage, tomatoes, cabbage, bok choy, carrots, garlic sprouts, scallions, cilantro, mustard greens, potatoes, kale, sweet potatoes and other vegetables suitable for autumn sowing, as well as watermelons and cantaloupes.
Some vegetables have already sprouted and started to grow.
Zhiyuan buried the rabbit he had hunted back in an empty spot at the very edge.
Hearing that Qiao Xingyue said she would cook rabbit meat for them when she got back from work that night, the kids' mouths watered.
It's been half a month now, and every meal at home consists of flour dumpling soup, clear rice porridge, and some pickled vegetables. Even if there are vegetables, they are cooked with a small amount of lard. There's no meat, not even a speck of oil.
Zhiyuan couldn't help but swallow, and Mingyuan, Chengyuan, and Boyuan next to him also couldn't help but swallow.
Qiao Xingyue felt sorry for the children and patted each of their heads, saying, "Don't worry, we'll be able to eat rabbit meat tonight."
"I'm not greedy," Zhiyuan said very sensibly. "Fourth Aunt, let An'an and Ningning eat the rabbit meat. They are growing."
An'an couldn't help but lick her little lips, staring at the place where the rabbit meat was buried, as if she could see a plate of fragrant meat there. She swallowed hard and said, "Mom, I'm not greedy. Great-Grandma, Grandma, and Grandma Wang are too old. Let's give the rabbit meat to them."
"Don't worry, there are several pounds of rabbit, so everyone will have enough to eat." Seeing how sensible her children were, Shen Liping couldn't help but choke up a little.
Huang Guilan stood to the side, listening to the children's words, tears welling up in her cloudy eyes. She smiled and nodded, "The children of our Xie family are all sensible. Great-Grandma eats, and we all eat together."
Although the past two weeks in the countryside have been tough, with us living in a cowshed and eating coarse grains, the family's hearts are closely connected, and we still feel hopeful, finding sweetness even in hardship.
Ningning raised her little head and looked at Qiao Xingyue, "Mom, will the rabbit meat really not be taken away by the weasel? Should my sister and I stay here and guard it?"
"You've placed so many stones on top, how could that weasel possibly have the strength to move all the stones, dig a hole, and steal our rabbit meat? Don't worry, the rabbit meat won't be taken. You don't need to stay here all the time either. The sun will be up soon, and it will be scorching hot. Don't get heatstroke."
Seeing that it was getting late, Sun Xiuxiu knew that if she went to the fields any later, she would be late and lose work points. So she reminded everyone, "Xingyue, sister-in-law, Jiahui, it's almost dawn. We should go to the fields and get to work. Let's go."
Just then, Chen Suying, the old woman in the cowshed, finished cooking the porridge. She ladled out several bowls of porridge and placed them in front of the stone stove. She shouted at the top of her lungs, "Xingyue, Liping, Xiuxiu, Jiahui, come and have a bowl of porridge before you go to the fields."
"Okay!"
For the past two weeks, although the old lady Chen Suying has difficulty walking and is too old to work in the fields, she has been able to stay in the cowshed with An Anning and help with starting the fire and cooking.
In the two weeks since she came to the countryside, the old lady has had something to do, and she's actually become much more energetic.
After just half a month without seeing any oil, the old lady had clearly lost a lot of weight.
Qiao Xingyue walked to the low stove, bent down and scooped out the rice grains from the porridge, handing them to the old lady, "Grandma, you've lost weight, you should eat the dry stuff."
The old lady pushed the enamel bowl in front of Qiao Xingyue, saying, "I'm an old woman and I don't need to work in the fields. You guys do all the physical labor, and you're just eating dry food."
Huang Guilan also chimed in, "Xingyue, you're eating dry food, and you're pregnant."
After they went to the countryside, everyone learned that Qiao Xingyue was pregnant again, so everyone was careful to feed her.
As usual, Chen Jiahui made Qiao Xingyue a bowl of sweet soup and brought it to her. "Xingyue, drink some sweet soup. It will help you regain your strength. I was planning to go to the county town with the brigade's tractor today to get meat coupons and buy two pounds of fatty meat, but I didn't expect to come back with rabbits this morning. In a couple of days, the brigade's tractor will go to the county town again, and I'll go buy some more meat to help you recover."
Qiao Xingyue took the bowl of sweet soup, feeling warm inside. "I'm being treated so well. Before, when I was pregnant with An and Ningning, I was exposed to the elements and had no one to take care of me. Now everyone treats me like a national treasure. I'm so happy."
Huang Guilan recalled how Qiao Xingyue was pregnant with An An and Ning Ning alone, and was kicked out by Zeng Xiuzhu, wandering outside all by herself. She couldn't help but burst into tears and hugged Qiao Xingyue. "Xingyue, our family will never be separated again. This time, I will take care of you during your postpartum period."
If the Xie family hadn't been sent to the countryside for reform, Xingyue wouldn't have suffered so much while pregnant with this child.
Little did anyone know that as soon as Xingyue became pregnant, the entire Xie family was sent down to the countryside to participate in labor reform.
Qiao Xingyue wiped away Huang Guilan's tears, "Mom, don't think that our family is going through a hard time right now. It won't be hard for many more years. Look how happy the kids are now."
Huang Guilan nodded, and Wang Shufen handed her a handkerchief, gesturing for her to wipe her tears. "Yes, Guilan, we are all together, sharing happiness and hardship. No other family is as united and lively as ours."
Qiao Xingyue urged, "Alright, Mom, hurry up and drink your porridge. If you go to work in the fields any later, you'll lose work points."
During the two weeks we spent in the countryside, everyone worked together as one, finding joy even in hardship.
Everything is good.
The only bad thing is that Qiao Xingyue still doesn't know what happened to Xie Jiang and his sons Xie Zhongming, or Uncle Chen and the others.
Is he still being interrogated in the detention room, or has he been sentenced?
Logically speaking, the Xie family did not actually commit treason; they were merely reported. Even in this politically sensitive era, they should not have been sentenced. At most, the whole family would have been sent to the countryside for labor reform.
But half a month has passed, and Xiao Songhua from Jincheng and Yang Jiangbei from Jiangbei have not yet sent a telegram to inform Xie Zhongming and the others of their situation. Qiao Xingyue felt uneasy, as if a stone was stuck in her heart.
However, Qiao Xingyue did not reveal these concerns.
She was afraid that her worries would affect everyone else.
Qiao Xingyue and the others hurriedly drank the porridge and quickly put down their bowls and chopsticks.
The farm tools used for working in the fields were placed in the corner of the cowshed.
When they first arrived, the corners of the walls were covered in cobwebs. After they cleaned them, the walls, which were made of a mixture of wheat straw and other materials, became incredibly bright despite the cracks.
The group quickly grabbed their farm tools and headed to the fields before it was fully light.
Qiao Xingyue slung a hoe over her shoulder and instructed the two children, "An'an and Ningning, be careful when you're starting the fire and cooking, don't set the shed on fire. Don't let Great-Grandma do too much work, you two can wash the dishes together in a bit."
"Okay!" An'an's crisp voice was as cheerful as a bell in the wind. "Don't worry, Mom, I promise I won't tire Great-Grandma out."
Apart from the elderly Chen Suying and An'an Ningning, everyone else went to work in the fields.
Chen Jiahui's main job in the countryside was cultural propaganda, helping the production brigade organize cultural activities, teaching members to sing revolutionary songs, rehearsing programs, and organizing cultural performances and open-air movie screenings during the off-season. However, such activities only took place two or three times a month at most. In her spare time, she also had to work in the fields, but even then, she only needed to work half a day, essentially in a semi-full-time state. She would work in the fields in the morning and prepare for cultural propaganda work in the afternoon. The number of days she worked was recorded as work points for the full day. She continued to receive her military salary, and the local government would provide some material subsidies.
This is why Xiao Songhua went to the Chen family overnight, hoping that she would register their marriage.
In this way, she wouldn't have to worry about the class background issue of being sent down for reform, and she could still enjoy her previous work benefits and some material subsidies from the Unity Brigade.
As soon as the group stepped out of the cowshed, Zhiyuan, who was already carrying a hoe on his shoulder, quickly grabbed the hoe from Qiao Xingyue's shoulder and said, "Fourth Aunt, let me help you carry it."
"It's alright, Fourth Aunt can carry it." Qiao Xingyue held onto the hoe tightly.
Ke Zhiyuan was strong and easily shoved the hoe in front of him. "It's alright, Fourth Aunt, I'm all grown up now and I'm strong. I won't get tired."
Shen Liping walked up from behind, carrying a basket on her back, and looked at her eldest son with a smile. Zhiyuan had completely inherited the fine traditions of the Xie family men. He was considerate and caring, knowing that his fourth aunt was pregnant with his fourth uncle's child and couldn't be tired.
This is Shen Liping's pride.
Zhiyuan is only eleven years old now, but he is already growing taller than the women in the group and will soon be a young man.
During the two weeks of rural reform, Zhiyuan, a grown man, had never lived in the countryside before. Even though his hands were blistered from doing farm work, he didn't even flinch.
The other three boys, led by their older brother Zhiyuan, didn't complain at all, even though they were a little tired, and took the initiative to do all the work.
So their family has earned the most work points in the past two weeks.
At this point, more than ten educated youths from the educated youth settlement also came out of the mud houses one after another, following behind Qiao Xingyue and her group, gathering in twos and threes, walking on the ridges of the fields in the countryside.
They walked slowly, whispering in hushed tones, their eyes glancing at Qiao Xingyue every now and then with a hint of hostility.
"That's her. I heard her name is Qiao Xingyue. She just came to our Tuanjie Brigade recently." A bespectacled, well-mannered-looking educated youth, carrying a hoe on his shoulder, nudged the person next to him with his elbow, his voice extremely low. "Look at the people she's with. They're all women, including two old ladies, yet they've earned the most work points, more than many of the older commune members. If this continues, when it comes to distributing grain at the end of the year, won't they take a lot of our share?"
There wasn't enough food to go around.
Now a group of people have come and are trying to steal their work points.
This bespectacled, refined man was originally from the city and was not used to the hard work in the countryside. He usually cheated and shirked his duties, so he earned very few work points. When he saw that some of the female comrades had more work points than him, he felt not only jealous but also resentful.
Nowadays, food resources are distributed based on the work points earned.
There are more families like other families, so naturally there are fewer like his.
“That’s right!” A female educated youth with braids next to her frowned, her tone full of jealousy. “We work ourselves to the bone in the fields every day, and we don’t even get half as many work points as them. Besides, we’ve been here for more than two years. What job can’t we do better than them? Why do they earn more work points than us? They must have used some tricks.”
As soon as she finished speaking, the woman who was squatting on the ground picking wild vegetables in the field got up and came over. "You don't know, do you? This girl named Qiao Xingyue has a very special relationship with the brigade leader. Back when she was a barefoot doctor in the neighboring Shantang Town, she saved the brigade leader's wife. And the points clerk is the brigade leader's eldest son. Otherwise, how could she have been given so many work points as soon as she arrived? She must have pulled some strings."
The woman speaking was none other than Lao Dahong, the buck-toothed woman who had given Qiao Xingyue trouble when she first arrived.
Under the old locust tree at the village entrance, Lao Dahong apologized to Qiao Xingyue and admitted his mistake, but he still harbored resentment in his heart.
Just as he was looking forward to a chance to teach Qiao Xingyue and her gang a lesson, he happened to run into some educated youths gossiping behind his back, so he couldn't help but chime in.
With a blade of grass picked from the field dangling from his mouth, Lao Dahong said with ill intent, "If they hadn't made a scene after they left, how could those few—the old ones, the young ones, and the four youngest all frail women from the city, unable to lift a finger or carry anything heavy—have earned more work points than you old commune members? This matter needs to be brought up. The bigger the commotion, the more the points clerk will reduce their work points and distribute them among everyone else. Whether you have more or less work points is related to how much grain everyone gets at the end of the year. If you don't get any grain when it gets cold, you'll go hungry this winter."
"What? Is that so?" The bespectacled male educated youth's eyes widened, and veins bulged on his forehead. "No wonder! I was wondering how they earned more work points than everyone else. We can't let this go. Why is she using connections to earn work points and stealing our grain? Let's go find the brigade leader."
The other educated youths were also ignited with emotion, and they all picked up their farm tools and chimed in, "That's right, we can't let them take advantage of us. Let's go to the brigade leader and reason with them to get back the extra work points they recorded!"
What started as whispers turned into open clamor. Several educated youths even stopped and stood in front of Qiao Xingyue and the others, glaring at them with hostility.
Qiao Xingyue remained calm and composed, but Huang Guilan had never seen anything like this before. She turned pale with fright and, though somewhat scared, quickly stepped in front of Qiao Xingyue, afraid that these people might accidentally hurt her or the child in her womb. "What, what are you going to do?"
The brothers Zhiyuan, Chengyuan, Mingyuan, and Boyuan, who had already picked up hoes and started hoeing the ground, saw that their grandmother and aunt were surrounded by people. They quickly dropped their hoes and ran over to them, then stood in front of Huang Guilan, saying, "Auntie, Grandma, don't be afraid, we're all here."
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