Chapter 52
For an entire afternoon, Yang Qiujin and her three dogs ran around the grassland looking for prey. They eventually borrowed twelve hares, six grouse, and several pikas.
The pika was too small, so Yang Qiujin didn't want it. She just let the three dogs eat it if they caught it.
During the trip, they also encountered wild animals such as caracals, foxes, and wolverines. Finally, they saw a few gray wolves running over from the distant grassland.
Lightning's fur stood up, his sharp fangs were bared, and a low roar came from his throat, as if he was ready to attack the wolves at any time.
The black panther and the black tiger also sensed the danger. Their fur stood on end, their teeth were bared, and they growled. The three dogs surrounded Yang Qiujin, protecting her in the middle, ready to fight the wolves at any time.
With them and rifles and guns in hand, Yang Qiujin was very calm when she saw the wolves. She raised her gun without any panic and fired a shot in the direction of the wolves.
The loud gunshot scared the wolves away, but they gathered again after a while and walked slowly towards her.
Yang Qiujin estimated that these wolves were attracted by the smell of blood when the Lightnings were tearing their prey. She did not dare to stay any longer. She tied all the prey's legs with ropes, hung them on the saddle, mounted her horse, and called the Lightnings to go back.
Perhaps her shot frightened the wolves, or perhaps it was because Lightning was behind them and in an attacking posture, the wolves had been following them stealthily without attacking.
When Yang Qiujin rode to the desolate Gobi Beach, they seemed to have lost interest in her. They stood in the weeds of the Gobi Beach and watched her for a long time. Only when she walked farther and farther away did they leave without following her.
After the shock, Yang Qiujin returned to the farm. The sun was already setting.
Yu Qiaoyun was chopping grass for feeding the pigs next to the pig pen when she saw her riding back on a horse with a string of prey hanging from its back. She could not help but walk over and exclaimed, "My God, Director Yang, you are so amazing! You caught so many rabbits."
When the others heard her voice, they came out to see Yang Qiujin.
Mao Xiumin helped Yang Qiujin get the prey off the horse and exclaimed: "Oh my God, these rabbits and pheasants are fatter than one another, and half of them are alive. Now Director Yang is very satisfied."
"I asked Shan Dian to keep the rabbit alive. I plan to raise rabbits to try." Yang Qiujin handed the living rabbit to Fan Hui and said, "Put it in the chicken coop first. I will go to the group and ask Secretary Zhai for some cement to build a few red brick rabbit houses. When they are finished, I will put the rabbits in to raise."
Rabbits have a strong reproductive capacity and an even stronger ability to dig holes. If the ground is not covered with cement, the rabbits can dig holes all over the farm, and then the entire farm will be destroyed.
Fan Hui said nothing and put the six living rabbits into two chicken cages.
Hou Pingqing, who was more thoughtful, asked with a smile: "Director Yang, how are you going to eat so many rabbits and pheasants?"
Yang Qiujin glanced at her and said meaningfully, "I have always been generous. You are my employees. As long as you work hard, I will not let you down. You can each have a rabbit. It is up to you to take it home and eat it. I will take the pheasant. I will give half to them as a reward and eat the other half myself."
The rabbits Yang Qiujin hunted weighed at least five or six kilograms. If she took them home and braised them with some vegetables, the whole family would have a full meal.
Hou Pingqing was slow to respond, but she understood what Yang Qiujin meant by scolding her. She pretended not to hear anything, took the fattest rabbit from her hand and said, "Thank you, Director Yang. You are so kind to us. I will definitely work hard and strive to develop our farm."
After Yang Qiujin distributed the rabbits to the employees, she gave another rabbit to Yang Qiuyue in the office, "You are also an employee of the farm, so you have a share of the rabbits too."
Yang Qiuyue was nominally the accountant of the farm, but in reality she was also responsible for guarding the farm at night. She ate and lived in the farm, and her food was not provided by the farm canteen. She usually bought her own food and cooked her own meals.
Seeing such a big rabbit, Yang Qiuyue said, "This rabbit is too fat. I am afraid I can't finish it by myself. It's too hot. If I can't finish it, it will go bad and be wasted. Sister, you can take it back and give it to Tianyou to eat."
"If you can't finish it, don't cook. Just eat the meat. You can finish it in two meals." Yang Qiujin put the rabbit in the basket on the ground. "I know you love Tianyou and remember him for all the good things, but you should also be good to yourself. I have rabbits and grouse in my hands. You can get the rabbit yourself. I'll use your stove. Get some grouse for Shandian first."
Yang Qiuyue heard her say this and did not insist, "Use it."
Yang Qiuyue's stove was an iron stove for burning coal briquettes, which was placed at the door of the staff dormitory where she lived. Yang Qiujin burned the coal briquettes, put an aluminum pot on it, boiled a pot of half-boiled water, and steamed and defeathered six grouse one by one. She also steamed and defeathered Yang Qiuyue and the two rabbits she had.
After cleaning the chickens and rabbits, Yang Qiujin replaced the pot with clean water and put four plump grouse into the pot to stew. No seasoning was needed because these were for Lightning, Black Panther, and Black Tiger to eat. Eating too much salty food would be bad for their bodies.
Soon the grouse were cooked, and the air was filled with the rich aroma of chicken. Yang Qiujin picked up the chicken and let it cool down a little, then called Lightning, Black Panther and Black Tiger.
Lightning is an adult dog, big in size, and is just enough to be full if fed two chickens, while Black Panther and Black Tiger are only fed one.
Three dogs were lying outside the staff dormitory, gnawing on chicken with great relish.
Hou Pingqing, who had herded chickens, ducks and geese from the grass nearby into the shed to spend the night, saw this and smelled the aroma of chicken in the air and said, "Director Yang is wasting such good meat by feeding it to dogs. I wonder if she is as good to these animals as she is to her own parents."
"Xiao Hou, I'm going to criticize you for this." Fan Hui, who was in the same group as her, closed the door of the chicken coop and frowned, saying, "Lightning, Black Panther and Black Tiger are the guard dogs of our farm. Without them, we would not be safe at all when we are on duty at night. They are also considered employees of the farm, and the prey that the director hunted today was taken with them. Without them, how could you get the rabbits that the director gave you? Not to mention that they eat chicken, even the director today would have eaten the chicken meat." Even if you don't share any rabbits with us and give them to Lightning, I won't be jealous. We as employees should behave like employees. Don't think about this and that all the time, always trying to get benefits from the farm to subsidize your family. If everyone is as selfish as you, how can this farm be opened? If you don't want to work, just tell the farm manager directly, and the farm manager will immediately find someone to replace you. The farm manager is so good to us, why can't you be down-to-earth and do your job honestly? "
Fan Hui is from Northeast China and is outspoken. She has long disliked Hou Pingqing, who is used to being sneaky and cunning. For example, when the two of them were divided into a group and had to clean the pens together, Hou Pingqing always chose to clean the clean pens and asked her to clean the dirty pens.
For example, when two people were on duty at night and there was any movement outside, they would take turns to check the movement in the first and second half of the night according to their agreement. If there was any movement, Hou Pingqing would pretend not to hear anything and lie on the bed without moving. She really couldn't stand it anymore, fearing that a wolf or a fox would climb over the wall to eat the chickens and ducklings, so she had to get up to check. Hou Pingqing, on the other hand, would sleep until dawn every day.
Fan Hui often talked to Yang Qiujin about Hou Pingqing's problems. Yang Qiujin only said that Hou Pingqing's family conditions were not very good. She was widowed at a young age. Now she was married to her husband for the second time and there were a lot of children to raise at home. She had to help Hou Pingqing and just talk about her.
Fan Hui had no choice but to hold her breath. She had not gotten used to Hou Pingqing these days and let her do the work that was hers to do. She would not help again anyway.
Now, after hearing Hou Pingqing's offending words, she really couldn't stand it anymore and couldn't help criticizing her.
Hou Pingqing's face turned pale and blue, and she gritted her teeth and said, "I just said something casually, and you kept talking about it. What qualifications do you have to criticize me? How I work is none of your business! Director Yang didn't say anything, why are you so anxious! You really think you are an insignificant person!"
"What did you say?!" Fan Hui rolled her eyes, "Say it again if you dare!"
"What? You still want to hit me?" Hou Pingqing stiffened his neck and pointed at her face, "Just try and touch me!"
"I'll hit you if you want! Don't think I don't dare." Fan Hui got angry and was about to hit her with his fists.
"What are you two doing?" Yu Qiaoyun and Mao Xiumin heard the noise and hurried over to separate them. "Can't you just talk it out? What's the point of quarreling?"
"What's going on?" Yang Qiujin, who also heard the voice, walked over and asked.
"Director Yang, you have to make the decision for me!" When Hou Pingqing saw Yang Qiujin coming, she immediately complained: "I was working well here, but Fan came up and scolded me and even wanted to hit me. Who did I offend?"
"Stop talking nonsense!" Fan Hui was furious when she heard this. She tried to stop Hou Pingqing from getting in the way of Yu Qiaoyun and the other person who were holding her back. "It was you who said that the director wasted chicken by letting Shan Dian and the others eat it, and that he treated her parents worse than animals. I just couldn't stand it, so I said that to you."
"I didn't say that. It's obvious that you don't like me, so you're probably talking nonsense to me." Hou Pingqing said cunningly.
Fan Hui was slandered by her and was so angry that her lungs exploded. "You bastard, you dare to splash dirty water on me, I will beat you to death!"
Hou Pingqing shouted, "Director Yang, look, Sister Fan is swearing and hitting people when she disagrees with them. People with such a bad temper should not work in our farm. Keeping her here will only affect the harmony among our colleagues and our work."
"Yes, indeed, you are right." Yang Qiujin echoed.
"Director Yang?" Fan Hui was stunned and stared at Yang Qiujin in disbelief, unable to believe that she was such an indiscriminate person.
However, when she was chilled for only a second, she heard Yang Qiujin's voice, "As Comrade Hou Pingqing said, if an employee with a bad temper and bad intentions stays in our farm, it will only affect the relationship between colleagues and the work of the farm. Keeping him is indeed a disaster. So I have decided to fire Comrade Hou Pingqing from today. You should hand over your work to other comrades, then report to the accountant and collect your salary for this month. From now on, you are no longer an employee of my farm."
Hou Pingqing was confused, wondering if she had heard it wrongly. "Director Yang, you are right, aren't you going to fire Fan Hui?"
"Why should I fire Fan Hui?" Yang Qiujin sneered, "She is as lazy as you, eating at home and taking advantage of others. Comrade Hou, I thought to myself that you know a few words, your family conditions are not good, your first husband is a soldier, and you are considered a martyr's family member, so I took extra care of you and recruited you. I am usually nice to you, and I always want to share any good things with you, but how do you treat me?
At first you were able to act like a good person at the farm, doing all the work, but after a while you started to cheat and push all the work onto Sister Fan. Sister Fan didn't want to argue, but you kept going too far. That's fine, the fruits and vegetables grown in our farm are used to feed pigs and poultry, and are state-owned property. But you sneakily pick some vegetables today and steal a melon tomorrow. Are you treating our farm as your private vegetable market?
Do you think I don't know what you're doing? I'm giving you another chance. I've always criticized you, but you always pretended to be deaf and dumb. Today, you actually said that behind my back. Do you think I have a good temper and can be manipulated by others? You didn't even go to my hometown to find out what kind of person I, Yang Qiujin, am. Comrade Hou, you have different ideas and concepts from our farm. From today on, you are no longer an employee of our farm. You can take care of yourself. "
She finished her words without even looking at Hou Pingqing's expression, and said to the other three people, "You guys should continue to work as you should. As long as you work hard, I won't treat you unfairly."
Then he turned to Fan Hui and said, "Sister Fan, I will find a worker to replace Hou Pingqing's job as soon as possible. I'll help you a little these two days."
Fan Hui liked her straightforward temperament and immediately felt that she had made the right choice. She smiled and said, "It's not hard, it's not hard. Manager, go ahead and do your work."
"Director Yang, I'm sorry. I was too greedy and didn't work hard. Can you give me another chance and let me continue working?" Hou Pingqing realized that she was really fired. She burst into tears of regret and knelt down in front of Yang Qiujin. "I have five children at home. If I lose this job, my family will be in trouble and my husband will beat me to death!"
"I have given you many opportunities. Have you ever corrected yourself?" Yang Qiujin said coldly, avoiding her kneeling. "You were once a military family member and a martyr. Show some backbone. If you lose this job, you can find another one. The most important thing for you is to change your sneaky and slippery character. Otherwise, no one will want you no matter where you go."
Hou Pingqing wanted to continue crying and begging, but Yang Qiujin didn't want to listen to her at all. She rode her horse to the regiment, found Secretary Zhai, and told him about her plan to raise rabbits and apply to buy cement and red bricks, and asked him to allocate funds.
Secretary Zhai rubbed his brows with a headache and said, "Xiao Yang, your farm has not yet made any profit, why are you thinking of spending money to buy cement and build pens to raise rabbits? Aren't you thinking too much?"
Cement is still a rare consumable item in this era. If you want to buy it, you have to apply to the unit, and after approval, go to the cement factory to buy it in the name of the unit. It is very troublesome.
"Secretary Zhai, I don't have many ideas. Can I get Professor Zheng and Professor Cai to our farm, open a breeding farm, and do the work that no one dares to do?" Yang Qiujin looked calm. "As the saying goes, opportunities are for those who are prepared, and crabs can only be eaten by the first person who dares to eat them. Secretary Zhai, there are not many comrades like me who have ideals and ambitions and dare to act. You must cherish me and support my work. Only then can we achieve a win-win situation."
Secretary Zhai was speechless. Since Professor Zheng and Professor Cai came to the farm, the two professors and several other water conservancy experts have been studying seeds together. At the same time, they have studied the farm's water conservancy environment and proposed a variety of planting plans. So far, the winter wheat they planted has shown initial results. It has sprouted earlier than the wheat planted in previous years and looks much stronger.
In the test fields where experts are developing crops, various crops are also developing in a positive direction, which is undoubtedly a good thing for the farm.
If it weren't for Yang Qiujin, based on the farm's previous development, they would probably not have achieved this year's results in another ten or twenty years.
Thinking of this, Secretary Zhai sighed and said helplessly: "No matter what you say, I will report it for you tomorrow, and then let the transport team in the group bring a truckload of cement to your farm."
"Secretary, don't forget to find a dozen strong militiamen tomorrow to help me build the rabbit house." Yang Qiujin reminded very shrewdly.
The militia was asked to help repair the sheds, and the farm did not have to pay them for their work or provide them with meals. All the expenses were paid by the regiment, and they were taking advantage of it for free.
"You." Secretary Zhai shook his head. "It's a pity that you are not working as an accountant in the group."
She is so calculating. He thinks those people in the Finance Department are not as smart as her.
When Yang Qiujin left the office building of the regiment and was considering whether to publicly recruit employees' families again, she suddenly saw a skinny, sallow-faced woman who looked familiar walking in front of the farm supply and marketing cooperative.
She took a closer look at the young woman, recognized her, and walked over to her and called out, "Song Zhaodi, long time no see. How come you look like this?"
The woman in front of him was wearing dirty patched clothes, her hair was messy, her cheekbones were protruding due to her thin cheeks, her eyes were dull and she looked at people blankly. She was completely different from the young and pretty Song Zhaodi that Yang Qiujin saw when she came to the farm half a year ago.
Song Zhaodi stared at the person in front of her for a long time before she recognized who she was. She called out woodenly, "Comrade Yang, long time no see."
Yang Qiujin saw that she was holding an empty rice bag and was slow to react. She frowned and asked, "Are you here to buy rice? You have to go to the grocery store to buy rice. What are you doing here?"
"Oh." Song Zhaodi responded, and then spoke hesitantly, "Comrade Yang, can you lend me some money to buy food? I have been hungry for several days and have not had a good meal."
Yang Qiujin's brows furrowed even more tightly: "No food to eat? Is there no food to eat in your family?"
"Home?" Song Zhaodi laughed nervously, tears welling up in her eyes. "After Cao Jun was shot, my belly became big. My mother was afraid that others would know my scandal, so she married me to a widower in the farm. The widower found out that I was not a virgin, so he beat me to death every day. He beat me to the point of miscarriage and almost killed me. He left me lying on the ground and didn't give me any food to eat. My father and mother didn't care whether I lived or died, and my sisters all avoided me. I had no home anymore."
Yang Qiujin was silent. She hadn't seen Song Zhaodi for a long time and didn't expect that she would end up in this situation.
This girl had a miserable life. She was born in a family that favored boys over girls. She could barely read and write. She was seduced by a man and lost her virginity when she got carried away. She got pregnant and was beaten until she had a miscarriage.
Now that she has become like this, she still doesn't know how to fight back and allows others to bully her.
Yang Qiujin sighed and was angry at her for not fighting back. She took out fifty cents from her pocket, handed it to Song Zhaodi and said, "I can only lend you this much. After all, with your current condition, it is uncertain when you can pay me back. Listen to my advice. Your destiny is in your own hands. If you always accept everything and dare not resist, then you deserve the hard life you are living now. But on the contrary, as long as you dare to fight, you will definitely be able to live the good life you want."
Song Zhaodi held the fifty cents she was given, tears streaming down her face. It had been a long time since anyone was willing to lend her money to buy food to fill her stomach.
Everyone laughed at her and spit on her, saying that she had no sense of shame, was willing to sacrifice her life for fame and wealth, and wasted herself, only to end up with nothing.
Yang Qiujin's action was undoubtedly like a ray of sunshine, shining on her in the darkness of the quagmire, making her feel warm.
She choked up and asked, "Can I really live the life I want?"
"Of course I can." Yang Qiujin smiled. "My farm is in need of a worker. If you are willing, you can come to work. However, the workers I recruit are hardworking and down-to-earth, and have no messy family relationships. If you don't handle your family relationships well, I won't hire you. Let me give you two days. If you can handle everything around you, I will hire you."
Before she left, she said to Song Zhaodi: "Since you are not afraid of death, why are you afraid of living? Instead of letting others oppress you and living like neither a human nor a ghost, it is better to abandon the obsession with family ties, be a selfish person, and live for yourself from now on. In life, you must do something you want to do, so that your life will not be in vain."
These words were like a sharp sword, piercing deeply into Song Zhaodi's dry heart. The belief that she should put her parents and her younger brother first and listen to her family collapsed at this moment.
She looked at Yang Qiujin's back as she rode away. As the sun set, her slender figure was coated with a layer of red light in the sunset glow. Yang Qiujin was obviously just an ordinary person, but at this moment, in her heart, Yang Qiujin was like a goddess who came down from heaven to save her from the water.
She held the money tightly in her hand, made up her mind, and walked towards a remote cave in the second company of the field.
The ground nest, also known as the horse rack, is built by using arm-thick birch and poplar trunks arranged horizontally to form walls. The roof and the ground are covered with wet mud, and then a layer of grass is pasted on the outside to prevent wind from blowing in and rain from dripping in. The wall is then dug down about half a meter or one meter, and then people can live in it. Although the space inside is not large, it can at least shelter from wind and rain.
At this moment, in the cave belonging to the Song family, a pear-shaped bulb was hung from the top of the horse rack. The dim light illuminated the entire cave space quite brightly.
Song's mother was cooking in front of the den. The youngest son was lying on the largest wooden bed in the den, and he kept shouting, "Is the meal ready? I'm starving."
Song Dabao, who is almost fifteen years old, is fat and has a bad temper. He is a treasure in Song's mother's eyes. He usually does nothing and just lies in bed waiting for food and drink. When he has nothing to do, he wanders around, stealing things from one house and watching other girls taking a bath. People living nearby hate them so much, but Song's mother still thinks her son is the best in the world.
"It will be ready soon, Dabao, don't worry." When Song's mother heard her precious son's cry, she put the big piece of mutton cooked in the pot into the bowl and pushed Song Zhaodi who was standing at the door away with her butt: "You stupid girl, get out of my way and don't block me from delivering meat to my beloved son."
The strong aroma of mutton filled the nose. Song Zhaodi, who hadn't seen meat for a long time, drooled. She didn't give way, but grabbed Song's mother and said pitifully: "Mom, please give me a bite. I haven't eaten meat for a long time. Hei Laonian is not a human being. Not only does he not give me food, he also beats me and tortures me every day. I'm starving to death."
"Get out of my way!" Song's mother raised her hand and slapped her wrist, which was as thin as a bone, with a look of disgust on her face, "Whether you are hungry or not, what does it have to do with me?! You are incompetent and can't get a rich man to support our eldest son. Who can you blame? Look at your sisters, who doesn't have something to eat and use, but they all stick to your brother first. Only you are incompetent, not to mention your bad reputation, you can't get money, meat, vegetables and food back, and you even go back to your mother's house and want to snatch meat from your brother's mouth. Bah! You don't deserve it!"
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