On the fourth day, Liu Chuchang led the patrol team from the imperial capital into the yard and began to lead the team members to visit each family and inquire about some situations. The family members no longer often gathered together to talk.
Liu Chuchang didn't question Su Jin, and An's wife was even more proud of spreading rumors in the courtyard. She secretly felt fortunate that the Lu family had completely fallen into decline. Without the Lu family's support, Su Jin could no longer be a teacher.
Mrs. An has been jealous of Su Jin since Su Jin entered the family compound. When she was at her mother's house, Mrs. An's sister had always liked Lu Shiyi. Lu Bairen would bring the children back to the village to celebrate the New Year every year. Lu Shiyi's temperament disturbed the hearts of many girls.
Lian An's youngest sister was one of them. After Lu Shiyi turned 16, he no longer followed Lu Bairen back to his hometown to celebrate the New Year. Lu Bairen and his wife even rejected all the matchmakers in the village on the grounds that Lu Shiyi was going to join the army.
When the girls reached a certain age, they all obeyed their families and got married. There were two girls who were proud that they were worthy of Lu Shiyi and waited for him to return to the village.
Mrs. An's younger sister got married when she was nearly 22, but she married a reckless man and now lives a tight life. Mrs. An saw that he doted on Su Jin, compared Su Jin with her sister, and looked at Su Jin's lavish spending. She felt that Su Jin was not someone who knew how to live.
Before Su Jin became pregnant, Mrs. An even thought that after Lu Shiyi got divorced, she could let her younger sister marry into the Lu family.
It was not until March that the news of Su Jin's pregnancy spread throughout the family compound. Mrs. An became more and more jealous of her. Not only did she have Lu Shiyi's care, but she also got admitted to a junior high school to become a teacher.
Mrs. An believed that the junior high school principal recruited Su Jin as a teacher for Lu Shiyi's sake. In the kindergarten in the staff housing complex, family members only needed to recognize a few words to be teachers in the kindergarten.
In the morning, Su Jin went to the vegetable garden to pick vegetables as usual. He walked out of the yard with a bamboo basket in his right hand. Yun Feng was waiting at the entrance of the hillside not far away. The two walked towards the vegetable garden together.
Several family members also went over and greeted the two of them warmly when they saw them. Su Jin had a faint smile on his face and greeted them in a calm tone.
After waiting for the family members to leave, Su Jin and Yun Feng walked towards their own vegetable garden at the back. She curiously asked about these unfamiliar sisters-in-law.
"Xiao Jin, they are all sisters-in-law who live in the camp's housing. They often take on some manual labor to supplement their family income. The camp's allowance is very small, and they have to support their families back home, so their lives are very tight." Yun Feng thought about finding some work for the sisters-in-law. "Their character varies. Some are down-to-earth and hardworking, while others are just trying to take advantage of the situation."
Yunfeng introduced the situation of the military wives as they walked. Liu Yunshan once received a batch of handicrafts from the supply and marketing cooperative. They were to make New Year flowers for the Spring Festival. The processing fee for every two sets of New Year flowers was 1 cent. She brought back tens of thousands of them, and each sister-in-law who received the handicrafts signed her name.
When the people from the supply and marketing cooperative were personally collecting New Year flowers at the basketball court in the family compound, several sisters-in-law not only had a few flowers missing from each set of New Year flowers, but some were also poorly made, and became defective products picked up by the supply and marketing cooperative.
After the staff of the supply and marketing cooperative checked, they immediately deducted the money for the defective products. Several sisters-in-law angrily started yelling at the staff, and it took Wu Bu and Lin Zitao to step in to calm the farce.
"Does the supply and marketing cooperative process New Year flowers every year?" Su Jin turned to ask Yun Feng, leaning slightly towards her, "Why don't we take some before the New Year?"
"We have them every year. Last year, we privately bought a batch of New Year flowers. The staff from the supply and marketing cooperative also came to collect them. Each family earned more than 10 yuan." Yunfeng smiled and said, "All children can make these. My family's two little boys basically do it."
Su Jin laughed out loud: "I just want to find a job to do, it's better than sitting idle at home."
The two of them were chatting and laughing while picking vegetables. The family members did not distance themselves from Su Jin. Instead, they defended Su Jin in front of the investigators. They believed that Su Jin could take good care of the children in the family compound at school. Several children attended Su Jin's class, and not only did their math scores improve, but they also previewed the next semester's lessons during the holidays.
These children developed good study habits in just one semester, and their parents were grateful to Su Jin from the bottom of their hearts.
Su Jin picked a basket of green vegetables and three heads of garlic. There was some stew meat at home, frozen in the freezer. She planned to thaw a piece of stew meat and then cook the stew.
"Xiao Jin, I see you've been making stews recently. Is the refrigerator useful?" Yun Feng always heard Lin Lei and Lin Yan say that Su Jin's family had popsicles. After calculating the expenses, she felt that buying a refrigerator would be more cost-effective.
"It's quite cost-effective. We can have cold drinks in the summer and buy more meat at home. Meat is the cheapest during the Spring Festival." Su Jin began to calculate the expenses and food money for Yunfeng.
"When my family saves some more money, I'll ask Old Lu to help buy a refrigerator." Lin Zitao and Yunfeng have saved some money in the past few years. In the past few years since Yunfeng resigned, the family has been relying on the savings to make ends meet.
Lin Zitao may have to save all his allowance to prepare for a large expense at home.
"Sure, or you can buy a second-hand one first. As long as the refrigerator is in good condition, it will be much cheaper." Su Jin remembered that there were second-hand refrigerators for sale on the black market. Last time, she found that the refrigerators for sale were almost unused, and the price was one-third cheaper than a new refrigerator.
Yun Feng's eyes lit up instantly. If it was much cheaper, his family could buy it now.
"Sister-in-law, are you talking about where to buy it in the market?" Yun Feng saw Su Jin's hesitant expression and knew that the refrigerator was not easy to sell in the market. "I asked last time and the price was right. I was thinking of buying it during the summer vacation. After the black market was banned, I couldn't find anyone."
Su Jin's heart was relieved. She heard from the doorman who collected money at the black market that the black market would reopen in July when the rumors died down.
"The last time I went to buy pork elbows, I heard from the doorman and the villagers selling things that the market will reopen in July when the situation eases." Su Jin whispered to Yun Feng, "Don't rush to buy new ones yet. If the market reopens in July, you can save a lot of money. I will prepare popsicles for the children for the summer vacation."
Yun Feng looked at her embarrassedly: "These popsicles are for two brats, and I can see you took the trouble to make them."
"Sister-in-law, Lin Lei and Lin Yan are helping me collect firewood. They don't want my pocket money, so I should at least prepare some delicious food for them, right?" Su Jin comforted Yun Feng. The two children deserved the reward. "Besides, the temperature outside is so high now. It's too hot to carry two children back from the back mountain."
Yun Feng shook her head helplessly: "Just spoil them. Even Old Lin said he's waiting for your son to be born. Old Lu will definitely be jealous."
Su Jin smiled embarrassedly: "Sister-in-law, Lao Lu keeps talking about his daughter."
Phew!
Yun Feng laughed out loud: "The team members would rather have daughters, but they are not destined to have daughters. Look at how many people in the hospital have daughters?"
Su Jin sighed helplessly: "Ayi will be disappointed."
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