On July 15th, the day of the Ghost Festival, the gathering bell rang again in the threshing ground at the foot of the mountain, and Lu Boyuan asked everyone in the village to gather.
Su Jin was carrying Hanhan to find Wang Dahong when she heard the gathering bell and went out with Wang Dahong.
She pushed Hanhan, and many young wives in the village looked at her. With a child of the same age, Su Jin could push the child easily, while they could only carry him.
"I wonder where Teacher Su got her stroller made." A young wife whose husband's family is well-off is thinking about making one for her child if the stroller is not expensive.
"Lu Hu's family, your son is the only grandson of the Lu Hu family. Go back and ask Lu Hu's mother to agree to make this car." The villagers complimented him happily.
Lu Hu's father was an employee at a grain station. The old couple favored boys over girls, so they had daughters among their several sons. After welcoming seven granddaughters, they finally had their only grandson.
Su Jin pushed the cart into the group of educated youth. Lu Shan and Zhang Ying looked at Hanhan coming over and squatted on the ground to look at Hanhan at eye level.
"Hanhan, I'm Aunt Ying." Zhang Ying teased Hanhan cheerfully and took out two White Rabbit candies from her pocket. "I bought these in the county town. My family gave me two kilograms of candy coupons. I remember you like them."
"Keep some for yourself. This winter will be colder than in previous years." Su Jin whispered to the three of them, "While the weather is still not too cold, hurry into the mountains to pick more mountain products and dry them in the sun. Then, store firewood. The more the better."
"Xiao Jin, who helped you build the firewood shed in your backyard? The three of us want to build two more firewood sheds in the backyard." The three of them collected firewood, and the three of them went into the mountains to collect firewood together.
"Zong Li and Wang Yuan worked together to build it." Su Jin looked at the three of them suspiciously. "I'll have them come down tomorrow to help build two firewood sheds. They'll be finished in an afternoon."
"Xiao Jin, we'll prepare lunch tomorrow. You can come down from the mountain to eat lunch." Wang Dahong suggested, "We can't let you work hard and then not treat you."
"No, you don't have much food, so don't treat us." Su Jin waved his hands repeatedly, "I'll treat you to a meal when your life gets better."
"Xiao Jin, this is the village rule. You don't want the three of us to build a shed, do you?" Wang Dahong spread her hands. "We can still gather some food and steam some buns."
Su Jin nodded. She had originally wanted to get some meat sauce from the kitchen for the two of them. Wang Dahong and the others were having a hard time.
"It's settled. We'll steam the buns tonight. Don't forget to ask someone to come over tomorrow. The wood you left in the backyard is still there. It should be enough to build a shed, right?" Wang Dahong thought of the wood in the backyard. Several people would rather go to the foot of the mountain to pick up dead branches than chop the wood.
Su Jin nodded: "We originally wanted to build two more sheds, but we left in a hurry and never finished them."
"It's already very good. Who in the village doesn't envy our yard? Several new female educated youth wanted to live in our house, but we rejected them." Lu Shan had a bad impression of the new educated youth, who often strolled outside the yard.
Su Jin followed Lu Shan's gaze and saw five teenage girls looking at them and whispering.
"They came in May and have been working in the fields ever since. They heard there wasn't much food in the city, so they went to the countryside to get enough to eat. They saw with their own eyes that all the food in the fields was gone, and they even started crying the other day," Lu Shan muttered softly. "They've been going to the brigade headquarters these days, asking the brigade leader to give them some food."
Just as Su Jin was about to speak, Lu Boyuan accompanied several members of the Pigeon Committee to the stage. Peng Sanjin read the document in his hand. In the corner of the stage, the captured villagers stood aside.
There were people caught visiting graves in every village, but because the watch was only for two hours, not many were caught.
"The higher-ups have issued a document, repeatedly forbidding people from burning paper at graves. These people are defying the order!" Peng Sanjin said after he had taken control of the group.
The villagers avoided each other's gazes and no one dared to help the person on the stage. They began to feel anxious.
Lu Shiyi pulled Su Jin and said, "Wife, if someone sneaks out from the crowd, we'll see if the people above will tell them."
Su Jin was ready to stay away from here. If Lu Shiyi hadn't mentioned that everyone in the village must go and see, the couple would not have come.
Wang Dahong and others slowly came out of the crowd to meet the young couple. They would rather prepare more food in the yard. Before and after the Ghost Festival, every household wanted to secretly offer sacrifices to their ancestors so that they could have something to eat.
When a few people were about to leave, they heard someone on the stage shouting that the village chief was unfair and that the director of the pigeon committee was protecting them.
"Everyone, stand in the threshing ground. Don't go home yet!" Lu Boyuan shouted. "Listen to Director Peng's instructions. We can't have any more problems in the Fourth Battalion."
Lu Shiyi took her hand and said, "Wife, do as the village chief says!"
Wang Dahong reached out and tugged at Su Jin: "Xiao Jin, look at the people on the stage. Two of them are the most talkative people in the village. Moreover, they are both the eldest daughters-in-law in their families. According to the village rules, the eldest daughters-in-law should perform the sacrifices."
"The sisters-in-law thought this job was lucrative and wanted to take it over from the old lady," Su Jin explained. "When I married Ayi, the village chief's wife took me to our ancestral grave and discussed the sacrifices with me privately."
Wang Dahong only moved the village's affairs. As soon as the seventh month of the lunar calendar began, many people began to secretly prepare sacrificial items, and some even brought noodles made of miscellaneous grains.
"Xiao Jin, you said that these eldest daughters-in-law were excluded by their sisters-in-law at home. What happened yesterday!" Peng Sanjin stayed in the mountains yesterday. It was intriguing that he suddenly arrested these people.
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