Chapter 34

The dust has settled on the supply and marketing cooperative theft case. Although we don’t know how many years Zhang Guangyi and Meng Jinming will be sentenced to, we can foresee that Meng Jinming will definitely be sentenced to a heavier sentence.

Although Zhang Guangyi was also involved, he admitted his guilt with a good attitude and voluntarily handed over the stolen property. He was also an accomplice, so his sentence would be lighter.

As for the relationship between the two families, it would definitely not be good in the future. When Tang Qingqing went to the Public Security Bureau, she heard the old lady cursing Zhang Guangyi and Meng Danniu.

They felt that they were the ones who harmed Meng Jinming and were completely unaware of their own mistakes.

Qin Sa snorted coldly: "With such elders' habit, just wait and see, Meng Jinming will probably get into trouble again after he is released from prison."

Although Meng Jinming confessed everything and cried bitterly, he is still very unconvinced.

He cried and regretted only because he had not done things carefully, not because he felt he had done anything wrong.

Tang Qingqing had completed her work, so there was no need for her to stay in the commune any longer and she wanted to go home as soon as possible.

Today is New Year's Eve, and the Public Security Bureau did not keep her. Before she left, they asked the logistics department to give her and Zhai Hongyi the Public Security Bureau's year-end benefits.

Because I came late, the rewards I received were somewhat different from those of the previous people, but they were also very rich.

Each person was given five cans of oranges, twenty kilograms of rice, a large bag of sugar and a barrel of oil.

Rice is not grown locally, so if you want to eat rice you have to buy it from the supply and marketing cooperatives, and you also need food coupons.

Tang Qingqing had never eaten rice in her life, so she was very happy to get the rice.

I can give all this rice to my master later. He is old and his teeth and stomach are not in good condition. Cooking rice into porridge should be suitable for him.

This time Tang Qingqing planned to take some of the things back to the Tang family. After all, she still lived at home, and if she wanted to live a good life, she had to give some benefits. When the time came, she would keep an eye on it and let her uncle's family enjoy it too.

Otherwise, every time there was something good, she could only secretly share it with Tang Qiaoqiao, and neither her uncle nor her aunt would get any.

I had it figured out in my mind, and my smile was upturned all the way home.

"Are you so happy to be home?" Zhai Hongyi said.

Tang Qingqing smiled and said, "Of course I'm happy to get so many things. Aren't you happy?"

Otherwise, everyone wants to eat public food, which not only provides monthly salary, but also various benefits during the New Year and other festivals. Life is much better than that of farmers.

The book mentioned that Tang Jianguo's factory had good performance, and the year-end benefits were even more eye-catching.

There were all kinds of fruits, candies, milk, etc., and there were also benefits during holidays. Some of these things were particularly rare for country people, but she was almost tired of them in the book.

Now all these benefits are enjoyed by Tang Zhenzhen. Logically, Tang Qingqing should be sad, after all, who doesn't want to live a good life.

But for some reason, Tang Qingqing didn't feel much.

She would only marvel that life could be like this, and urge herself to work hard to live such a life in the future.

When the time comes, she will bring Master along so that Master can also experience this kind of happy life and enjoy his old age.

Tang Qingqing felt that, compared to the unexpected benefits she received when looking for her relatives, at least for now, she was more pleased that she had earned so many good things through her own abilities.

No, just thinking about it, the corners of Tang Qingqing's mouth curled up higher.

She felt that the candy in her mouth was sweeter than before, and this was earned by her own ability.

Zhai Hongyi was originally feeling a little disappointed. After all, it was New Year's Eve. At this time last year, he was still at home, living a completely different life.

But now I am in this shabby little place, running around outside in the middle of winter, freezing to death.

In fact, during the Chinese New Year, you can go home if you apply to the brigade.

Many educated youths did not go back because the vacation was too short and there was not enough time for them to travel back and forth.

Or maybe they feel the round-trip fare is too expensive and tickets are hard to buy, so they dare not leave.

Zhai Hongyi simply didn't want to go home and didn't want to face certain things.

I thought I could keep a calm mind, but at the end of the year, I still had those thoughts in my mind.

But when I saw Tang Qingqing's cheerful look, I inexplicably became in a good mood as well.

Zhai Hongyi put all those messy thoughts behind him and said with a smile: "Yeah, I'm happy."

The two returned to the team and, as before, deliberately took a detour to Old Liu's house.

Zhai Hongyi also gave all the benefits he received to Old Liu. Old Liu had already gotten used to it and didn't even bat an eyelid.

Now Zhai Hongyi and Old Liu are very familiar with each other. Every time Zhai Hongyi receives something good, he puts it here with Old Liu. Later on, he even took his own rice and grain and came here to start cooking.

Because of this, Zhai Hongyi is often criticized for having no collectivist spirit and being too independent in personality.

But he didn't care. He just said that he went to the countryside to integrate with the local people, and Old Liu was that local person.

After hearing this, the educated youth had nothing to say.

Although Zhai Hongyi seemed to be indifferent to everyone, he was the one among the new batch of educated youth who got along best with the local people.

He doesn't talk much, but he works with the locals.

Although the educated youth who went to the countryside were supposed to eat, live and work with the local farmers, they were all city kids who had no idea how to do farm work. They had to learn everything from scratch and were all clumsy.

The educated youth who went to the countryside earlier were fine. They had ideas and ambitions. Even though they didn’t do their job well, they had a good attitude.

Most of the educated youth who came later were forced to go to the countryside. Many of them wanted to slack off, and they had a bad attitude. When the members of the commune saw them working, they were so angry that they were flying to the sky.

When giving them work points, we must also give them some leniency, otherwise if we are too strict, they may not even be able to support themselves.

But Zhai Hongyi is different. He was not very good at work at the beginning, but he was willing to learn and work hard. Now he is not much different from the local people of the same age. He is even stronger. Although he cannot compare with those experienced old farmers, he is still qualified compared with his peers.

"Girl, take some things home. After all, you grew up in that family and were not abandoned like other girls. It's okay for normal times. There's no need to worry too much about it during the New Year." Old Liu took the initiative to suggest.

"This is not about giving in to them or showing goodwill, but about not caring about those people and things."

Old Liu was worried that Tang Qingqing wouldn't understand, so he said a few more words, fearing that she would misunderstand what he meant.

Tang Qingqing laughed: "Master, I know."

Old Liu nodded and said nothing more.

Tang Qingqing did not go home either. After sorting out the things she was going to take back, she began to prepare the New Year's Eve dinner.

They came back from the commune today and brought back two kilograms of meat.

One pound of front leg meat and one pound of pork belly. Meat is hard to buy during the Chinese New Year, and the supply and marketing cooperatives sold out the meat early.

Zhai Hongyi was able to snatch it thanks to the people he knew from his previous business dealings, otherwise they would not have had a chance to get it.

Tang Qingqing planned to use the front leg meat to mince stuffing and make it with lotus leaves to make dumplings. She had to eat dumplings during the Chinese New Year to make it complete.

The other pound of meat was not spared and was all used for cooking.

Half a pound of it is used to stir-fry pork belly with garlic sprouts. The garlic sprouts are grown with the heat from the kang. It is not easy to eat green leafy vegetables in the middle of winter.

The other half pound was made into braised pork and stewed potatoes. The gravy made the potatoes as delicious as the meat. They were soft and fluffy in the mouth and especially flavorful.

The rice that I just brought back was also steamed in a pot and eaten with the soup. It was so delicious.

Old Liu ate a lot more. Although he was from the north, he loved rice very much.

"I haven't eaten rice for a long time." Old Liu sighed, "I never thought I would be able to eat such good rice in my lifetime."

The rice is all clean white rice, not the brown rice that Old Liu used to eat. It tastes much better and has a hint of sweetness.

Tang Qingqing smiled as she gave Old Liu some braised pork belly. "Master, just wait. Not only will I let you eat white rice every day, I will also let you live in a small western-style building."

According to the book, life will get better and better. Everything she said seems out of reach now, but it will be the norm in the near future.

Because they eat too well, many people suffer from "diseases of affluence" at a young age.

"well."

Old Liu was very happy and took out all the wine he had collected for many years.

He didn't drink much, just a small cup.

Who would have thought that even at his old age, he would still have such a smart apprentice. Although his son was gone, he could still enjoy the blessing of his granddaughter.

He used to think that it was enough for him to live to this age. As early as when his family was broken up and his relatives died, he actually felt that he had lived enough.

But he was unwilling in his heart, and was worried that after he passed away, no one would spend money to clean the grave for his wife and children, so he did not go with his family.

Things are different now. Looking at the childish face of Tang Qingqing, he secretly said something to his wife and son in his heart.

You guys wait a little longer. When your granddaughter grows up and can take care of herself and isn’t bullied anymore, she will come to see you.

Tang Qingqing did not go home at night, but stayed at the old man's place to celebrate the New Year with Zhai Hongyi.

Old Liu was old and tired, so he fell asleep. The two of them gathered around the stove, eating and keeping watch all night.

"This Chinese New Year is the happiest I've ever experienced!"

Tang Qingqing felt a sweet feeling in her heart as she ate the canned fruit.

In the past, Tang Qingqing would never have dared to think about this.

It was not uncommon for the family to have this experience. Tang Jianguo would send it back from time to time, and they had also brought it back when they went home earlier.

But Tang Qingqing didn't get anything, at most she could drink some sugar water.

It was only after her aunt came that she was able to get some benefits.

Zhai Hongyi said nothing.

"Don't you miss home?" Tang Qingqing asked bravely.

Zhai Hongyi seldom mentioned his family, except that he had a mother who was a lady from a capitalist family.

Although Tang Qingqing and Wang Heizi occasionally whispered a few words, they did not ask him.

“I have no home.”

"ah?"

Zhai Hongyi focused his eyes on the flame of the stove. "It's the same whether it's there or not, so it's just not there."

"Oh." Tang Qingqing responded blankly, but still couldn't help asking: "Don't your family often send you things?"

“They were all sent by my grandma.”

"Then she is very good to you."

"Um."

Tang Qingqing felt that she had set a bad precedent. How could the conversation continue like this? It was really too awkward.

She quickly changed the subject and mentioned the interesting things that happened when Zhai Hongyi took Wang Heizi to the mountains to catch rabbits and sparrows.

The next day, Tang Qingqing went home with two cans of fruit, a bag of sugar and a can of oil.

When Zhao Dahua saw her, he was about to curse, but Tang Qingqing quickly made a gesture to stop him.

"Today is the first day of the Chinese New Year. You can't scold children, or you will have bad luck for the whole year."

Zhao Dahua swallowed the curse and finally managed to say something after a long while:

"You still remember to come back. I don't know where you go all day. You do nothing. Even if you have something good, you..."

Tang Qingqing placed the thing in her hand in front of Zhao Dahua. Zhao Dahua immediately fell silent, his eyes shining.

"Where are you from?"

"It's issued by the Public Security Bureau. If you don't want it, I'll take it away."

Zhao Dahua rushed forward to grab them, but Tang Qingqing had been prepared and put one of them behind her and let Zhao Dahua take the other.

"Why are you hiding it? Give me the can. It's just a small amount, not even enough to fill the gaps between your teeth. Why are you still hiding it?"

Zhao Dahua was happy when she got the things, but she also felt a little disgusted.

"How can the Public Security Bureau be so stingy? They are far worse than your uncle's family."

"If you think it's too little, you don't have to."

Zhao Dahua refused to do so and even wanted to grab another one.

"This can of food and candy is for Qiaoqiao. If you take them all, uncle and the others will have nothing to eat."

"What's a little girl supposed to eat? We can't even take care of our own family, why are you pretending to be so generous?" Zhao Dahua wanted to stick the word "stupid" on Tang Qingqing's forehead.

Tang Qingqing looked at the three Tang Xingwang brothers who were drooling over the cans and said, "Of course, because our little girl is more useful."

"So what? The continuation of the family line still depends on boys."

Tang Qingqing spread her hands: "If he hadn't lost himself."

Zhao Dahua was furious, but she couldn't even beat her child during the New Year.

Tang Qingqing was too lazy to bother with her, so she ran to another room to find her aunt and the others.

Zhao Dahua tapped Tang Xingwang's forehead with her finger and said, "Can't you just stand up for yourself?"

Tang Xingwang looked unhappy, but it did not stop him from snatching the canned fruit from Zhao Dahua's hand, and then he ran away.

Tang Xingqiang was stunned at first, then he burst into tears and chased after him.

"Brother, please leave some for me!"

Tang Xingsheng looked at Zhao Dahua, whose face was ashen, and hurriedly ran out. Zhao Dahua was so angry that he stomped his feet.

"Come back quickly, you bastard! The can is still useful!"