Chapter 105 Zheng Guoqiang Returns to the Army Early
On the first day of the first lunar month, Zhang Ruifeng went to the grain store to be on duty. Xie Yun and Xie Shen had nothing to do, so they accompanied her to prevent her from feeling bored alone.
The grain store was completely empty. Not buying anything on New Year's Day is a custom, one that's still upheld even in this day and age. Because buying things requires money, and paying money means losing money, everyone prepares what they need before the New Year to maintain their fortune.
So, the so-called duty means sitting in the store and opening the door to prove that this grain store is still serving the people on New Year's Day, and that's all.
Zhang Ruifeng was making shoe soles in the shop. The thousand-layer soles weren't very durable and broke quickly, so she made a few pairs to keep as a backup. Xie Shen's feet were still growing, so she had to get him a size larger.
Xie Yun was reading and copying books in the shop. She had a stockpile of copies of the Yellow Emperor's Classic of Internal Medicine in her space. A few days ago, she had compared them and found significant differences in the content. This copy had much more content than the later, popular edition.
The copy Yu Ziqin gave her was the "Plum Blossom Edition" published by the People's Medical Publishing House in 1963. It is now publicly available, but it is not available at the Xinhua Bookstore in Taoyuan Commune.
She plans to go to the Xinhua Bookstore in the county and buy all the medical-related books.
But even if she could buy it, she would still like to copy it by hand. Copying a book is also a learning process.
Moreover, since she had decided to study medicine well, she spent some time in the past two days organizing the books on traditional medicine she had stockpiled as auxiliary materials for her studies.
Xie Shen was reviewing his lessons and completing the homework Xie Yun had assigned him. He had already finished the homework assigned by the teacher, so the homework he was doing now was just extra.
At noon, a family of three was eating in the restaurant. Cabbage was stewed in a clay pot on a small stove with a little chicken soup in it.
The two chickens left by the Xie family were chopped into small pieces and stewed in a large pot. Adding a little salt, they were stewed until about 80% done. Once cooked, they were stored in a jar. Add two spoonfuls of this to the stew every day, so that they could be eaten until the tenth day of the new year.
I ate it in the store today and deliberately didn’t put any meat in it, only using a little chicken broth jelly.
At this moment, the chicken and cabbage soup was bubbling with steam, warming up the whole room.
Three people sat around the stove, each holding a white flour bun in their hands, and their foreheads were slightly sweaty from eating.
That afternoon, Station Master Xu came to inspect the work. Seeing the family of three, he said nothing. Who wouldn't want a day off? The employees coordinating their own shifts ensured continued service during the Spring Festival while allowing everyone to rest appropriately. It was a good thing, too.
After finishing the first grade class, I can rest in the second and third grades.
On the second day of the Lunar New Year, something else happened in Liushutun. Zheng Guoqiang, who had returned to visit his family, left home early in the morning, carrying his luggage.
When someone saw him, they asked, "Why are you going home so early?"
Zheng Guoqiang said: "There are no holidays for the Spring Festival now, and the family leave has been cancelled. I was able to come back because I wanted to get married. My boss approved 20 days of marriage leave. But who knew that I didn't get married!
Normally, I should have gone home the day after the breakup, but my family members were sick or in confinement, so I couldn't just leave them alone, so I stayed to take care of them for a few days. Now that the New Year is over and my parents are much better, it would be unreasonable for me not to leave."
He said this in a very high-sounding manner, and the listeners nodded repeatedly, thinking that he was a good son, a good brother, and a good soldier.
But in reality, it's all nonsense.
Although there are no holidays during the Spring Festival, soldiers can still visit their families. They only need to apply to their superiors and obtain approval from leaders at the regimental level or above. Since the leave has already been approved, there is no need to cancel the leave in advance unless there are special circumstances and the superiors urgently call them back.
The man asked him, "Don't you have a bicycle at home? Why don't you ask your brothers to take you to the county?"
Zheng Guoqiang said: "My brother has just recovered a little, so I won't bother them anymore. Let them rest at home. It's okay for me to go to the county alone. The military training is much more tiring than this."
After Zheng Guoqiang left, the witness shared his words with others, lamenting, "Although the rest of the Zheng family isn't very kind, Guoqiang is still a decent kid. He was also implicated by his mother and sister. They're all his relatives, so what else can he do? Isn't this how family matters are? It's always the daughter-in-law who suffers. Isn't this how our ancestors have lived through this?"
As luck would have it, the person who made him sigh with emotion was Yan Yuying.
Yan Yuying and her mother-in-law were grinding cornmeal together when they were met by this man and they chatted for a while.
Yan Yuying, who is already married, said: "Bah! Why should the daughter-in-law be wronged? Are daughters-in-law inferior to others? Do daughters-in-law deserve to be bullied and tortured?
They're all his relatives, what can he do? He can do whatever he wants! This is his business, why should he let an innocent girl clean up his mess? He can't control his own relatives, so why not get married? Don't ruin this good girl. Why should she marry into his family and suffer injustice? Is he shameless?
Everything must be done with reason. If you have reason, you can go anywhere. If you don't, you can't go anywhere. Is the Zheng family's reason to let the third daughter-in-law suffer injustice? "
That person: “…”
After being interrupted, this guy turned his gaze to Yan Yuying's mother-in-law and asked, "Your daughter-in-law speaks like this, and as a mother-in-law, you don't do anything about it?"
Yan Yuying's mother-in-law, Mrs. Yang, glanced at him lightly, then lowered her head again to sweep the crushed cornmeal into the middle, saying, "Yuying is right, that's the truth. Let's not talk about whether Zheng Laosan is a good person or not. Let's just assume that what you said is true. He is a good person, so what? Even if he is a good person, it can't change the fact that the Zheng family is a hellhole, and it can't change the fact that if you marry into the family, you will have to suffer and be a punching bag.
"Zheng Laosan, this 'good guy', is useless. He's a good guy, but his mother and sister are teasing the five beauties. What role does he play? If a good guy watches the bad guys do evil and doesn't stop them, then he can't be considered a good guy. He's a... what's that, Yuying, how does the word go?"
Yan Yuying laughed and said, "He's an accomplice! What a villain and hypocrite."
"Yes, yes, yes." Mrs. Yang echoed, and then said to the man, "What's the matter? Are you attracted to Zheng Laosan? Do you want to marry your daughter to him? Well, after all, he has a high allowance and earns a lot. Are you thinking of marrying your daughter to him in exchange for a higher betrothal gift? I didn't expect you to be such a person!"
Mrs. Yang made a "tsk tsk" sound, and was full of sarcasm.
The man waved his hands repeatedly, "No, I didn't do that. Don't talk nonsense. How could I possibly marry my daughter to his family? Absolutely not!"
Mrs. Yang said, "Then why are you speaking well of Zheng Laosan?"
"I didn't say anything good for him. I just listened to what he said and expressed my feelings to you guys. It was just a casual remark."
"You'd better not say that so casually. If some girl listens to your words and gets fooled and marries Zheng Laosan, then if she suffers in the future, it will all be your fault!"
“Why?”
"Just with your broken mouth!"
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