Chapter 4

Wei Xingde led a group of members to the mountains to arrest people. It was infuriating to see them steal the collective property of the brigade, not to mention that the property was the property that the brigade was going to use to buy phosphate fertilizer in the spring of next year.

Crops were the lifeblood of the brigade. Without grain, what would everyone eat? Especially after several years of famine, everyone was terrified of hunger. Naturally, everyone was against such things that affected farming and harvest.

Jian Hualin was dumbfounded. He was always an active participant in group activities, but this was the first time he did not rush to catch the man. That was the son-in-law he had chosen, so how could he turn into a thief overnight?

His dream of having a son was shattered before it even began!

Jian Lu took her third sister home first. The matter had been settled. What remained was for the team to arrest the person and report him. These days, affecting the collective was a serious crime. Even if the police station did not care, the members would still give him a couple of pots of wine.

Jian Lu, who had accomplished an important thing, was happy all the way, with a faint smile on her face, and she felt that the day didn't seem so cold.

"Lulu, you are so happy today?" It was the first time for Jian Xin to see a girl express her emotions so openly. In the past, the girl was timid and didn't like to laugh or cry, as if there was nothing worth making her happy or sad.

"Of course!" Jian Lu took her third sister's arm and went home happily. "We're sharing the meat today, what a great thing!"

That’s why!

But Jian Xin reminded the girl, "Even if you divide it, you still can't eat it."

"Ah?" Jian Lu stopped and looked at her third sister with a puzzled look in her eyes, "Why?"

"Did you forget? Mom must be preparing to marinate the meat and eat it later. It's still a month away from the Chinese New Year. Wait, you can eat meat on New Year's Eve."

Jian Lu:!!!

She missed meat so much. She hadn't eaten meat in the ten days since she traveled through time. Every day she ate cabbage, sweet potatoes, and potatoes, basically the same thing.

This life is really unbearable.

As Jian Xin expected, Jian Hualin and Zhang Cuixia did not prepare any meat when they returned home. Three pounds of meat was already precious enough, so Zhang Cuixia planned to salt the meat and make it into bacon.

Bacon can be stored for a long time and eaten slowly. Cut a piece during festivals and it can be eaten for a year.

Jian Lu couldn't help swallowing her saliva as she watched Zhang Cuixia turning over and over the three pounds of elastic pork, smearing salt on it and marinating it. She had at least been able to enjoy pork freedom before, but now, she felt so frustrated.

Fortunately, Zhang Cuixia was also greedy, so she used some leftover pork and mixed it with cabbage and stir-fried it into a pot. Even the thumb-sized pork scraps were fried to give off a full meaty aroma.

That night, Jian Lu felt that the cabbage tasted even better.

"He's caught, he's caught." The voices of the members could be heard from time to time at the gate. Aunt Liu was holding a porcelain bowl with half a bowl of boiled cabbage in it without a drop of oil. She passed by the Jian family's house and hurried to announce, "Go and have a look! Hong Qiang has been caught."

Since such a bad element had emerged in the Xingmin Production Brigade, no one cared about anything else and went to the brigade headquarters with their bowls in hand.

Jian Lu finished her dish in a few bites and joined the crowd to watch the lively crowd.

Hong Qiang originally wanted to steal the brigade's money without anyone noticing while everyone was watching the pig being slaughtered, but he didn't expect the brigade commander to suddenly come back and kill him.

He was young and had good skills, so he immediately climbed out the window and escaped directly into the mountains.

But it was winter now, and the mountain was especially cold. In addition, there were many members searching the mountain, making a lot of noise. Hong Qiang was caught after escaping for more than two hours and was frozen to death.

"We must resolutely crack down on this kind of behavior that seriously undermines collective unity and steals public property!" Wei Xingde rarely put away his usual amiable appearance, frowned and shouted fiercely. Usually everyone fought together, but now that the bottom line has been touched, they must not be let off lightly.

"Captain! Uncle Wei!" Hong Qiang was surrounded and begged for mercy, "I know I was wrong. Please forgive me because this is my first time doing this!"

He was still clear that if he was really dragged away for criticism or sent to the police station, he would be in trouble!

"No, no! He is so evil that he even stole the money our brigade used to buy phosphate fertilizer. If he hadn't been discovered today, what would happen to the harvest next year? What would happen to our food?"

Speaking of food, everyone's eyes turned red. Food is our lifeblood, and whoever has a problem with food will starve us to death!

Wei Xingde was so cruel that he said, "Your behavior is too bad! We must report it to the Revolutionary Committee and bring you in for criticism and struggle!"

Hong Qiang was taken away amidst the bustling crowd, leaving behind only a noisy scene. A few old men and women took a few bites from their bowls and started chatting again.

"Hong Qiang is a bad boy who has no parents!"

"It's what he deserves! He even stole the money for the phosphate fertilizer! He deserves to be criticized!"

"Luckily there's no one left in their family, otherwise they would all be implicated by him. Oh, and he has a relative who is five generations younger than him..."

Hong Liang from the production team next door, who had also come over to watch the excitement, got anxious when he heard this, "We are not related! Can we still call each other relatives when we are five generations apart? Whatever this person does, don't get involved with our family. We are poor peasants with a good family background!"

Seeing Hong Liang hurriedly distance himself from the matter, everyone understood that once you get involved with bad elements, you will be in trouble. However...some people still remember the matter between Hong Qiang and the Jian family.

"Boss Jian, your family and Hong Qiang..."

Jian Hualin was also anxious when he heard this. How could he dare to have any relationship with this thief who was dragged to be criticized? "Xu Wu, don't talk nonsense. How could our family be related to Hong Qiang!"

Xu Wu knew that he didn't recognize him anymore, so he asked cheerfully, "Don't you want Hong Qiang to be your son-in-law? Now you don't recognize him as your son-in-law?"

"Bullshit!" Jian Hualin glared at Xu Wu and explained in front of everyone in the group, "Our Lulu is so pretty, why did we promise her to Hong Qiang? Don't spread rumors! You're ruining our family's reputation!"

Jian Lu almost got goosebumps listening to this, but it didn't matter. Jian Hualin wanted to distance himself from Hong Qiang more than anyone else. This stubborn male supporting character in the original book finally had nothing to do with her.

=

After dealing with Hong Qiang, Jian Lu felt relaxed. It was a rare occasion that she woke up naturally. She was called to sweep the floor and make breakfast. Then she went back to the room to chat with her third sister by the fire. Jian Hualin had not yet recovered from the shock of losing her live-in son-in-law and kept annoyed the family. Zhang Cuixia was busy marinating bacon and just shouted at the two girls not to be lazy.

"Xinxin and Lulu, come out quickly, it's almost noon and you don't have any sense. Xinxin, go and light the fire, Lulu, check the chicken coop to see if they've laid eggs? They haven't laid eggs for two days. I wonder if it's too cold." Zhang Cuixia turned over the bacon that was drying, and said to the inside of the house.

The two sisters stopped talking immediately after hearing Zhang Cuixia's roar.

"Let's go." Jian Xin pulled her sister out of the house and asked her to see if there were any eggs, while she went to the kitchen to prepare lunch.

There are three old hens in the Jian family's chicken coop. These three hens are the lifeblood of the Jian family. Now is the period of collective labor, and everything is public. Even working in the fields can only earn work points and wait for the distribution of grain at the end of the year.

Therefore, the only three old hens that each family was allowed to raise became extremely precious. They laid an egg every two or three days, and this egg was good stuff!

Whether it's asking someone to do something for you, doing favors, or even exchanging something privately, eggs are hard currency.

Jian Lu looked at the yellow-shelled egg lying in the chicken nest, and her eyes suddenly lit up.

"Lulu, do you have any eggs?" Jian Hualin took an old pipe, took a puff, spit out a cloud of smoke, and looked in the direction of the chicken coop. "There are four eggs at home. If there are any in the chicken coop, take one and bring it to your grandma tonight."

Hearing this, Jian Lu looked at the figure in front of her and curled her lips.

Jian Hualin had longed for a son all his life, but there were only four daughters in his family, which became a source of worry for him. Therefore, he treated his nephews better than his daughters. Whenever there were any leftover eggs at home, he would send them to his mother and fourth brother's home so that his nephews could raise them, just so that they would remember him in the future.

"No, it still hasn't laid any eggs." Jian Lu blocked Jian Hualin's sight with her body, and her voice drifted back, "I guess it's because the weather is too cold."

"None of these old hens are motivated. It's hard for them to lay eggs." Jian Hualin said this disparagingly. Zhang Cuixia, who was busy in the kitchen, was startled when she heard it. She felt that the man was scolding her.

Jian Lu outside did not delay at all. She picked up the precious egg gently, put it in her pocket, and left as if nothing had happened.

Fortunately, the original body was well-behaved. Jian Hualin could never have imagined that the weak and fragile fourth daughter would lie and hide eggs.

Today's dinner was the same as usual, with cabbage, potatoes and sweet potatoes. After half a month of traveling through time, Jian Lu had eaten so much that she felt like vomiting, but there was nothing she could do. Living conditions were difficult now, and there was really nothing else at home.

The only two meaty things were bacon and eggs. Bacon could only be eaten during festivals, and as for eggs, Jian Hualin would never let his family eat them. They would either give them to someone else to do something for them, or give them to his nephew.

Therefore, the escaped egg in Jian Lu's pocket has become an outlaw.

It gets dark early in winter, and kerosene lamps are expensive, so when the sky gets a little dark, the members of the Xingmin Production Brigade of the Red Star Commune go to bed.

Only in the dark kitchen of Jian's house could there be movement.

Watching the precious egg cook into a boiled egg, Jian Lu turned off the fire, poured water, restored everything to its original state, tiptoed out of the kitchen and returned to the house.

Jian Xin watched the girl take out a boiled egg like a magic trick, her almond-shaped eyes widened slightly.

"You lied to Dad and said you had no eggs?"

"Hmph." Jian Lu peeled off the shell, revealing a white and tender boiled egg. She fed each of them half and put them in the mouth of the third sister, "Eat it quickly!"

Jian Xin hadn't had any meat for two months. This egg smelled really good! While chewing the egg, she muttered, "You're really brave. You even dared to lie to Dad."

The two sisters crossed their legs and lay on the kang, feeling the warmth. "Who told him to only give the eggs to his cousin and not care about his own daughter? It's a bargain for outsiders."

"Oh, that's just how Dad is." Jian Xin was also upset, but she couldn't say too much, "The eggs are so delicious, so fragrant."

She held her sister's hand and said word by word, "Don't worry, if Dad finds out, I'll say I stole it. I'm getting married soon, so he won't do anything to me."

Jian Lu knew that Jian Hualin was not a good-tempered person. It would be fine if she didn't provoke him, but if she did, he would beat her with a rolling pin.

"Third sister, what should I do if you get married and leave?" Jian Lu had few relatives in her previous life and had never enjoyed any warmth of family love. Now, after traveling through time for half a month, she only felt warmth from Jian Xin. The original third sister was kind and gentle, unlike Jian Hualin and Zhang Cuixia.

"You've changed a lot recently. You're not the taciturn person you used to be." Jian Xin noticed the changes in her sister and thought that she was reluctant to get married because she was about to get married. Instead, she felt even happier in her heart.

That night, the two sisters fell asleep on the kang. The warm kang made them feel comfortable and their hearts were warm as well.

——

The next day, Jian Lu went to the chicken coop early again and found that another old hen that had not laid an egg for two days had also laid an egg. She put the egg into her pocket as if she was familiar with it, and still lied to her parents about the egg.

"Eating eggs again tonight?" Jian Xin became bolder after being encouraged by her fourth sister. After all, no one can resist the smell of eggs.

But this time, Jian Lu shook her head and prepared to go out.

"Next time, we'll eat it next time. We can't eat this today."

Jian Xin asked in a low voice, "What's wrong? Where are you going?"

Jian Lu was fully armed and ready. She put on a woolen hat and woolen gloves, held the egg in her palm, and then whispered to her third sister, "I'll go find matchmaker He."

"Why are you looking for a matchmaker?"

"Looking for a partner!"