Chapter 25 Scorer's Work
A week has passed since the village announced that Meng Wanqiu was elected as the scorekeeper, but the aftermath of the farce is still fermenting, but it does not affect the lives of the Meng family.
When the other applicants heard that the winner was Meng Wanqiu, they all questioned Meng Wanqiu's ability. Some even suspected that Accountant Wu had accepted bribes from Secretary Meng to allow Meng Wanqiu to win the scorekeeper job.
Accountant Wu did not tolerate those who made random guesses about him. He singled them out and asked the registered people to come up with their own questions and compete with Meng Wanqiu again. The loser not only had to apologize, but also had to help the village collect manure for the fields.
The result was naturally not surprising. Those who refused to accept the result had their faces smashed. Not only were they scolded by Accountant Wu, but they were also forced to pick up manure from the smelliest and dirtiest public toilet in the village.
However, there were three people who were fine. One was Xu Cheng who was sitting next to Meng Wanqiu, one was Ding Heng who didn't want to meddle in other people's business, and the other was Gao Xianmei who said that Jiang Xiuxiu had left.
However, Zhang Xiuqing, who instigated others to suspect Accountant Wu, became the target of public criticism. Everyone else hated Zhang Xiuqing. If Zhang Xiuqing had not said that Accountant Wu might be in cahoots with Secretary Meng, they would not have rashly broken into Accountant Wu's house, and ended up carrying manure.
Meng Wanqiu had heard about the fate of these people. To her, these were unimportant people and there was no need to waste energy on them.
After becoming a scorer, Accountant Wu has been with Meng Wanqiu for the past few days. The scorer does not have the right to assign work points to the working members. Instead, the scoring standards are uniformly set by the brigade under the commune. The scorer's duty is only to "record" and implement.
Work points are generally based on a base of ten, and fluctuate depending on the intensity of the work and the length of the working hours. Typically, two points are awarded in the morning, and four points each in the morning and afternoon.
These requirements were not complicated and were no big deal for Meng Wanqiu. The only thing that bothered her a little was that she could not sleep in every morning and had to get up at the same time as Pei Xingzhi and the others.
At the same time, Accountant Wu also told Meng Wanqiu three sentences, "Memorize the dead points mechanically", "Memorize the dead points living points", and "Memorize the living points living points living points".
The people in charge of livestock in the production team, such as the breeders who raised pigs and cattle, were people like Mrs. Zhou. They were older and less physically fit, but they were good at feeding livestock. They worked all year round, regardless of the weather, so the work points for this type of people were fixed.
The production team's team leader, deputy team leader, and accountant, including Meng Aiguo, received subsidies of three to four hundred yuan every year. Now, Meng Wanqiu, like them, also received subsidies at the end of the year.
This type of situation is called "rote memorization".
The "fixed score and live record" is completely opposite to the former. The time of this kind of work is unstable, and the working hours and intensity are also not fixed. Just like the last time Pei Xingzhi, Meng Aiguo and others went outside to dig ditches, they needed to move stones, carry cement and so on, which were all relatively heavy work. This requires "live record". You can't just record 10 points as usual, you need to be able to adapt to circumstances.
"Live points and live records" are similar to the above, and their main purpose is to mobilize the enthusiasm of members.
These are not difficult, but Accountant Wu told Meng Wanqiu that the difficult part is not how to keep score, but the people.
Why does Accountant Wu always have a cold and serious face when he goes out? He has no choice.
In rural areas, work points were life, and every household counted on earning them for a good New Year. This meant everyone was desperate to earn more, but work points were sometimes fixed, and rain or other bad weather meant work had to be stopped, resulting in even fewer points earned.
So in order to earn more work points, the members of Qinghe Village resorted to all kinds of tricks, throwing tantrums, crying poor and sick, and some even threatened to hang themselves.
Hearing this, Meng Wanqiu opened her eyes wide and looked at Accountant Wu's increasingly deeper wrinkles. She felt a little sympathetic. It seemed that Accountant Wu had suffered a lot of mental torture over the years.
The grass in the early morning was covered with silver dewdrops. Several pairs of feet walked through it, wetting their trouser legs and bringing a chill. However, it was only early autumn, so it was bearable.
"Are you sure you don't need me to accompany you?"
Pei Xingzhi turned his head to look at Meng Wanqiu and asked in a low voice, with a hint of worry in his eyes.
Meng Wanqiu swallowed the last piece of corn cake and replied, "No need. Accountant Wu has been taking care of me for a few days. Don't worry, I can handle it."
Starting today, Meng Wanqiu will take on the job of scorekeeper alone. After hearing the weird things that Accountant Wu said, Pei Xingzhi is worried that Meng Wanqiu will be bullied.
Meng Wanqiu was a new official and was also young, so it was not difficult to imagine that he would be given difficulties.
He wanted to stay with Meng Wanqiu, although they all knew it was useless. But in front of outsiders, his height of over 1.8 meters could at least intimidate some people.
However, Meng Wanqiu felt that Pei Xingzhi was too cautious. She was a newcomer, but her father was Meng Aiguo, the Party Secretary of Qinghe Village. Anyone with a little common sense would not do anything stupid to make things difficult for her.
Except for fools, of course.
For example, Mrs. Zhou who raises pigs.
"Is it Xiaowan from Secretary Meng's family?"
When Meng Wanqiu arrived at the pig shed in the village, she could smell the stench from a distance. The ground outside the shed was full of potholes and filled with black and smelly dirty water. Mrs. Zhou was sitting on a long bench by the wall outside the pigpen, holding a wooden stick with a suspicious object on the end, poking at the smelly puddle.
"Yes, it's me, Grandma Zhou. Accountant Wu said the pigpen needs to be cleaned, otherwise the pigs will get sick easily."
Meng Wanqiu pressed a certain spot on her arm, and the strong stench in her nose immediately lessened a lot. This is a point that can temporarily block the function of the nose, but Meng Wanqiu cannot practice internal skills, and without internal strength, she cannot reach the level of complete blockage.
Seeing Mrs. Zhou acting as if nothing had happened, I couldn't help but admire her. She could endure the stench for so long without changing her expression. She was indeed one of the recognized ruthless people in the village.
Mrs. Zhou pulled at her dark yellow headscarf, tucked the loose hair around her ears inside, and complained to Meng Wanqiu, "Xiao Wan, it's not that I don't want to do it, but I'm old now. Even if I want to, I don't have the energy."
Meng Wanqiu walked under the shed and looked down at the pigs in the pen. Sure enough, they looked the same as hers. The volume of pig manure was larger than the pigs themselves. It was unknown how many months it had been piled up, and the temperature was high. It felt like it was about to ferment.
Hearing what Mrs. Zhou said, Meng Wanqiu glanced at her, then turned to check on the pigs and said calmly, "Grandma Zhou, if it doesn't work, let someone else do it. Let Captain Jiang give you an easier job."
"Oh, how can that be possible?" When Mrs. Zhou heard that Meng Wanqiu wanted to replace her job of raising pigs, her voice suddenly became sharp, and she no longer looked weak as before.
If she changed to an easier job, she would get less work points. Mrs. Zhou always regarded pig farming as her family's business, so how could she let outsiders get involved?
"Oh, Xiao Wan, you misunderstood what Grandma Zhou meant. I wanted the captain to find someone else to help me. My daughter-in-law has been staying at home lately and has nothing to do. It would be perfect for her to come over."
Mrs. Zhou came over and tried to grab Meng Wanqiu's hand, but Meng Wanqiu dodged it nimbly. Mrs. Zhou didn't catch it and didn't care, thinking it was her own problem.
Meng Wanqiu thought to herself that Jiang He had indeed found someone, and that person was her. However, after she was chosen as the scorekeeper, Jiang He never mentioned the matter again.
In order to squeeze Jiang He, Meng Aiguo suggested that Jiang Xiuxiu should go to raise pigs, which made Jiang He very angry. He said that Jiang Xiuxiu had recently gone to the home of her uncle Jiang Hai in town and had not come back yet, so he would talk to her after Jiang Xiuxiu came back.
Meng Aiguo didn't insist on it. There was no need for him to target a little girl. He felt sad enough that his own daughter was asked to feed pigs. Naturally, he didn't want to make things difficult for Jiang Xiuxiu. It was just revenge for Jiang He's malicious behavior of teasing her.
"Your daughter-in-law?" Meng Wanqiu looked at Mrs. Zhou.
Mrs. Zhou nodded and praised him with a crackling sound, her saliva flying out. "My daughter-in-law is really good at feeding pigs. She is very hardworking. She will definitely be able to raise our production team's pigs to be white and fat."
Meng Wanqiu took a few steps back and frowned as she said, "I remember your daughter-in-law just gave birth."
After becoming a scorekeeper, Pei Xingzhi took Meng Wanqiu to identify all the women in the village who were pregnant or had just given birth, in order to prevent them from working too hard without taking care of their health, which would affect their health. There were also cases where they gave birth to their children in the fields.
Mrs. Zhou chuckled, touched her mouth, and said nonchalantly, "Rural people don't have so many requirements. Don't worry, she can do it. Xiao Wan, please talk to the captain and let my daughter-in-law come to help me."
Meng Wanqiu frowned. This Mrs. Zhou was so cruel. It had only been a few days since her daughter-in-law gave birth, and she was already busy sending people out to work.
"I will tell you." But I don't know if the candidate is your daughter-in-law, Meng Wanqiu thought.
"By the way, from now on, the environment in the pigpen will be inspected every seven days. If it's still like this, work points will be deducted accordingly."
"What? Deduct work points? How many? No, Xiao Wan, I only have a few points. How can I survive if you deduct them?"
When Mrs. Zhou heard this, she wanted to go forward and catch Meng Wanqiu again, but there was no way she could catch Meng Wanqiu with her hand stained with an unknown object.
Seeing this, Mrs. Zhou sat down on the ground. The ground was wet with a mixture of mud, pig manure and water. Now the dirty stains were on Mrs. Zhou's pants, and Mrs. Zhou was still rubbing the ground with her buttocks. The yellow-green marks became more and more. Meng Wanqiu couldn't bear to look at it.
"This is something the team leader, deputy team leader, and Accountant Wu have all mentioned. Other communes have gotten their pigs sick because of poor hygiene. So the higher-ups have repeatedly stressed the importance of cleaning up the pigpen environment, and I have no other options."
Seeing that Mrs. Zhou was about to lie down and roll around, Meng Wanqiu quickly added.
When Mrs. Zhou heard that it was emphasized in the commune, she no longer resisted. She quickly got up from the ground and wanted to come over to hold Meng Wanqiu's hand again, but this time Meng Wanqiu didn't even try to hide it and directly raised her hand to block in front of herself.
"Well, Xiao Wan, I see you don't have anything to do right now, why don't you stay and help Grandma Zhou? Look at the amount of pig manure in the pigpen, Grandma Zhou can't finish it all by herself in a whole day."
Seeing Meng Wanqiu blocking her body with her hands, Mrs. Zhou finally realized how dirty her body was. She raised her hands and patted her butt twice, then stopped caring.
He licked his face and came close to Meng Wanqiu, smiling, revealing his old yellow-brown teeth. There was old dirt between his teeth, and his trouser legs were dripping with yellow water droplets. Meng Wanqiu covered her eyes and took a few steps back. She couldn't take it anymore. If she looked any more, her eyes would be damaged and she would go blind.
"Sorry, Grandma Zhou, I have something else to do, so I'll leave first. The next checkup will be in three days, so you can clean some of it during the day."
After saying that, Meng Wanqiu left without looking back.
"Hey, Xiao Wan, don't leave yet. I have something to ask you. Please help me get two baskets of pig food from the back mountain, Xiao Wan!"
Meng Wanqiu turned a deaf ear to her. Seeing how Mrs. Zhou was throwing a tantrum just now, she knew she was exhausted. She had more energy than any young person. She wanted to order her around, but it was impossible.
Looking at Meng Wanqiu's departing figure, Mrs. Zhou spat fiercely, "Bah, you ignorant little bitch, you have no manners at all."
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