Chapter 58: New Year Greetings
On the afternoon of the second day of the Chinese New Year, Party Secretary Song visited every household again and made sure that every family must send 20 kilograms of vegetables and deliver them to the brigade headquarters before six o'clock the next morning.
The vegetables are already big now. They are all grown in our own fields. I would rather have more than less.
Early in the morning on the third day of the New Year, the quantity that had been agreed upon by the two previous villages was delivered to the purchasing station.
Secretary Song would not lose money either. For example, his village harvested 895 kilograms of vegetables, with each family getting 20 kilograms. However, there were only 42 households in the village, so he made an extra profit of more than 50 kilograms of vegetables.
Together with those from the other two villages, there were a total of 162 kilograms of vegetables, which cost one cent per kilogram.
The previous two times we exchanged things, we ended up with a few extra pounds of biscuits.
This time he was getting money, so he was a little nervous. He secretly discussed with Chu Hong: "Should I pay this money into the public account?"
"No need." Seeing his uneasy look, Chu Hong reminded him, "When the weather gets hot, the purchasing department will be less likely to buy our vegetables. There are plenty of them shipped in from farms outside."
"Besides, you have to account for the travel expenses for running back and forth, right?"
Even if the money is paid into the public account now, they can keep all the extra biscuits and matches.
Isn’t this a ready-made handle?
Fortunately, I am an accountant, otherwise it would be really troublesome.
That's not right. Why is she so stupid? Wouldn't it be better to just give the money directly?
Chu Hong didn't want to let this matter get out, so she discussed with Party Secretary Song: "Wait until it's dark, and then let everyone come to share the money, and by the way, tell them about the dangers of duds."
In the village, marriages are held between people from neighboring villages, so now when people visit relatives, they usually don’t stay overnight.
Even if there are people who stay overnight, they are real relatives and the money they give is only two cents, so they probably won't be jealous and won't go around saying anything.
What's more, what we did did not violate any discipline or law.
Now they have to go to their second grandfather's house to pay New Year's greetings and have dinner.
Even though each family can only get two cents, it’s like picking up the money for free.
After dinner, everyone gathered together to brag, tell stories, and play cards. When they heard Secretary Song shouting with a loudspeaker, "Bring some change to the brigade headquarters to distribute the money for vegetables collected today," they all happily went to wait in front of the brigade headquarters.
Secretary Song took the roll call and called the roll first. After making sure everyone was there, he spoke, "Today, each family has 20 kilograms of vegetables. The bill has been settled. I originally wanted to keep it in the public account and distribute it together at the end of the year."
"But since this is our first income this year, I thought it would be a good omen, so I gave it to everyone first."
"Before you give me the money, let me tell you about Shuanzi."
"I specifically asked the doctor and the leader, whether it's a small firecracker or a two-shot firecracker, they all have ## ingredients and are very dangerous."
"Everyone, keep an eye on your children. Don't let them play with the squibs."
"It's better to be safe than sorry. I'd rather buy some firecrackers for my children."
"Shuanzi was lucky. His eyes were saved, but he still had to stay in the hospital for a few more days. It cost more than twenty dollars. Isn't it heartbreaking?"
These words really touched everyone's heart. We have all experienced a special period, and the three years of food shortage have made everyone develop good habits of thrift and hoarding food.
After Song finished speaking, he said loudly, "Let the team leader call the roll now. Those whose names are called will go to the accountant to collect their money."
The captain was not here on New Year's Day because his mother-in-law passed away. He went to Yue's family to help and only came back today.
Since the team leader was back, Secretary Song gave up the job.
Otherwise, it would seem as if the entire village is controlled by these father and daughter, and that would be bad if it got out.
Chu Hong had already exchanged small change from several stores. Now when someone came to collect the money, she would ask if they had 80 cents in change.
If you don’t have it, give them two cents.
I took 80 cents if there was change, and then gave the person one dollar.
Nowadays people love to save money, and they don’t have the habit of depositing money in banks. They hide it at home.
Therefore, most people brought change, and in the end when all the money was distributed, Chu Hong still had a handful of change left.
Captain Song smiled when he saw it and said, "Xiaohong, keep all the change. You won't have to worry about not having change next time you divide the money."
Someone nearby shook his head and said, "The vegetables in the private plots are almost gone. We have to save them for ourselves. If there are no more vegetables, we will send them to the purchasing department."
In the past, when people ate vegetable rice, in order to save some rice, they put most of the vegetables in it.
There are not many vegetables and radishes now, so many families have started eating pickles, dried plums, and pickled radishes.
Someone else asked, "Secretary, after May, there will be more vegetables in the fields. Can we still have such a good thing?"
Secretary Song didn't dare to promise: "I'll go and ask when the time comes. It's getting late and cold outside. Everyone should go home and have a good New Year's Eve."
He said loudly, "By the way, the construction of the reservoir will start on the ninth day of the first lunar month. Everyone should go to work and earn work points. When the reservoir is dug, we will also benefit."
Otherwise, when spring comes, there will be more work to do in the fields and we won’t have time to dig the reservoir.
Therefore, the commune leaders urged them to start work quickly so as not to delay the spring plowing.
The villagers all agreed.
Nowadays, most people are hardworking and are not afraid of hardship or fatigue. They are just afraid that they will not get enough distribution and will get less food.
On the fourth day of the Lunar New Year, Chu Tong's family also came to pay New Year's greetings.
Although married daughters have to return to their parents' home on the second day of the New Year, almost every household has a daughter now.
The Su family also had an aunt on the second day of the Chinese New Year, and the eldest sister-in-law had to go back to her parents' home, so Chu Tong naturally had to stay at her husband's house to cook and entertain the guests and had no time to come back.
Besides, Chu Tong also knew that her father would go to town on the third day of the New Year, so she might as well go back to her mother's house on the fourth day.
Sisters Chu Hong and Chu Dan were dragged out of bed by their mother at around seven in the morning. Their mother said that they were good cooks and that she had to cook something delicious for their eldest sister.
Another thing is, the eldest son-in-law has come to the house, and if he finds out that the two younger sisters-in-law haven't gotten up yet, he's afraid that he'll get a reputation as being lazy.
Therefore, as soon as Chu Tong and the other two entered the door, Chu Hong served them three bowls of brown sugar, red dates and egg soup.
This is also the highest standard for entertaining guests nowadays. First, boil six dried dates thoroughly, then crack an egg into it, and it will soon become a poached egg. Finally, add some brown sugar and it is ready to be served.
Chu Hong deliberately asked Xiao Yuer: "Is the red date soup cooked by Auntie delicious?"
"It's delicious." Xiao Yuer nodded honestly: "It smells really good."
Chu Dan then asked, "Xiao Yu'er, tell me, which one is better, your mother's or your second aunt's?"
Xiao Yuer smiled and said cunningly, "They are all delicious."
Chu Hong couldn't help but touch her head: "You are so smart. Why don't you stay at grandma's house for a few more days? We all miss you so much."
At the beginning, Chu Hong was only considerate of her adoptive parents and became even more distant from Xiao Yuer.
But when people get along with each other for a long time, they will naturally develop feelings for each other.
Chu Hong has now truly become Song Chu Hong, and she truly treats them as her own family.
But it is also because of this that I hate my eldest brother-in-law even more. If he really does something wrong, Xiaoyuer will be left without a father.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
