"Sisters' Mutual Aid Society...Sisters' Mutual Aid Society..."
Qiao Changfu repeated the two sentences, frowned and looked down at the hemp rope in his hand.
Suddenly he raised his head and looked at his daughter-in-law Zhang Xiaoxia, who was sitting on the kang and sewing shoe soles.
"Xiaoxia, when you went to Erya to hand in the soles of your shoes, did you hear anything?"
Zhang Xiaoxia knew everything in her mind and was just waiting for her father-in-law to ask her.
She put down the sole of the shoe in her hand and looked at her father-in-law who was sitting under the kang: "Dad, Baozhu doesn't want others to call her Erya. Have you forgotten?"
Not only did he not get an answer, but he was also scolded by his daughter-in-law, which made Qiao Changfu very uncomfortable.
"Old man, just answer whatever your dad asks you. It doesn't matter whether she's called Erya or Baozhu."
Qiao's mother, who was sitting opposite Zhang Xiaoxia, was unhappy and started scolding her daughter-in-law for being ignorant with a stern face.
"Mom, I'm doing this for the good of our family. Erya and Baozhu, these two names are not the same thing at all. You really don't know how popular my sister-in-law is out there? She calls her Erya all day long. Humph, if she offends someone, she won't even know how she died."
Zhang Xiaoxia spoke with disdain and looked down upon her family members, which made her mother-in-law very angry.
"Old man, what's wrong with you? When is it your turn to scold us? Do you really think that you can be my family just because you earn a few cents by sewing shoe soles?"
Zhang Xiaoxia said nothing and rolled her eyes at her mother-in-law. Although he didn't say anything, the action of rolling his eyes was more irritating than words.
"You're still turning me over?"
Mother Qiao was so angry that she threw the sole of the shoe in her hand away, pointed at her daughter-in-law and scolded her son: "Zhenguo, look at what your daughter-in-law looks like."
Qiao Zhenguo's scalp tightened, he shrank his neck, and said helplessly: "We are talking about business, why are you two arguing again?"
"Xiaoxia, don't stay in this room anymore. Take the child back to bed."
Qiao Zhenguo was afraid that his mother and wife would quarrel again, so he kept winking at his wife.
Qiao Changfu, who was sitting next to him, snorted majestically.
Qiao Zhenguo was so frightened that he shivered and thought to himself that something was wrong.
Zhang Xiaoxia was also frightened by her father-in-law. Qiao Changfu was the most authoritative person in the family, and she regretted having spoken too much just now.
"Dad, I, I don't mean anything else. I just thought that Sister Baozhu is different now, and we can't be the same as before, right?"
Qiao Changfu narrowed his eyes and looked deeply at his eldest daughter-in-law. After a long silence, he asked, "Old man, you are right. Erya is no longer the same as before. People in our family should be careful when they meet her in the future."
Qiao Danfeng looked at Qiao Changfu in disbelief. She didn't expect that even her father had changed.
"What do you mean things are different now? Didn't she just marry a soldier? What's the big deal? Chen Xiao is the battalion commander, and you are the field commander. Are we still afraid of her?"
When Zhang Xiaoxia heard her sister-in-law being so tactless, she shook her head secretly. She couldn't understand how her father-in-law, who was such a smart man, could give birth to two idiots, Qiao Zhenguo and Qiao Danfeng.
If one of these siblings had inherited their father's IQ, the family would have become rich long ago.
"That's right, Old Qiao, who has a higher rank between you and Shen Xiao? Mrs. Li in the backyard asked me, and I didn't know what to say. I was thinking, Shen Xiao is only in his twenties, no matter how powerful he is, he can't be higher than you, right?"
After hearing what his daughter said, Qiao Changfu felt helpless. When I heard what my wife said again, I started to feel depressed.
"I'm just the director of a branch farm, in charge of dozens of people. What kind of official position is that? I've told you so many times not to brag and show off outside, why don't you listen?"
Qiao Changfu's eyes were as big as cow's and he was angry at his old wife.
Mother Qiao shrank her neck, her face fell, and she felt aggrieved: "I didn't go out to brag, it was just Mrs. Li in the backyard who asked me..."
"Next time I ask you, just tell me directly. Shen Xiao is the battalion commander and is in charge of hundreds of people. He is much better than me. Do you hear me?!"
Hearing that Shen Xiao's rank was higher than Qiao Changfu's, Qiao Danfeng could no longer sit still.
"What? Chen Xiao is so great? Why doesn't Qiao Xifeng want him? Dad, why don't you give me such a good man? Where can I find someone better than Chen Xiao?"
Qiao Changfu glared at Qiao Danfeng and angrily scolded him with a stern face: "You are only fifteen years old, and you are already thinking about getting married?"
When Qiao's mother saw that her husband was angry, she hurried out to smooth things over.
"Danfeng, why are you so ignorant? Can your father let you down? No matter how high the official position of Shen Xiao is, if he has no problems, can he find a partner in our village?"
It was no secret that Shen Xiao wanted to repay his gratitude and support his comrade's wife and children.
Shen Xiao's second aunt is still in the village. She is arranging a marriage for her nephew in the village. How could everyone not know about it?
Qiao Changfu actually took a fancy to Shen Xiao at the beginning and wanted to marry his daughter to him. Unfortunately, Qiaodan Feng was younger than her two cousins, and it was the time for Mr. Qiao to get married, so there was no time for Qiaodan Feng to wait.
Zhang Xiaoxia shouted helplessly: "Are you going to talk about business or not? If not, I'll take the kids back to bed."
It was just such a small matter, but the whole family was arguing about this and that but couldn't get to the point.
Zhang Xiaoxia felt tired just watching this.
Everyone then realized that they had gone off topic.
"Yeah, what did you say just now?"
Qiao Zhenguo tilted his head, his dark face full of stupidity.
"Okay, old man, stop keeping me in suspense. Just tell me what you want to say."
Qiao Changfu waved his hand, asking everyone to be quiet and just listen to Zhang Xiaoxia speak.
"Dad, I'll tell you then."
Zhang Xiaoxia held up the shoe soles in her hand and said, "When I went to Baozhu to hand in the shoe soles, I heard that Baozhu had other ways to make money. They said she did handicrafts like pasting paper boxes."
"I just listened to it and didn't really believe it."
"Just now Zhenguo said that the field office has started a sisterhood mutual assistance program. It sounded like the rumors outside."
Qiao Zhenguo slapped his thigh and glared at his wife: "Why didn't you say so earlier?"
Zhang Xiaoxia pouted unconvincedly: "Told you earlier? You would have believed me even if I told you earlier? I wanted to make shoe soles with Sister Baozhu, but you were unwilling. You said Erya was a useless person with no brains, and told me not to believe everything I heard..."
As she spoke, Zhang Xiaoxia glanced meaningfully at her mother-in-law next to her. Mother Qiao lowered her head guiltily. She was the one who resisted the idea of making money by sewing shoe soles the most.
If she hadn't seen Mrs. Li in the backyard making money by sewing shoe soles, she wouldn't have believed that Qiao Baozhu had that ability.
Even so, she was still not convinced: "Even if Erya is capable, can she ask the field office to open a shoe sole store for her?"
When everyone heard this, they nodded.
"Yeah, even if she has the ability, can she still let the field office work for her?"
Others couldn't figure it out, but Qiao Changfu tasted something different in it.
"An individual doesn't have that much power, but what if the headquarters and the troops are together? The Sisters Mutual Aid Society not only mobilized the educated youth and village women, but also the military dependents who had no jobs."
"Making shoe soles, pasting paper boxes or whatever, as long as you can work, you can earn money. This is equivalent to solving the employment problem, yes, that's right, it must be like this."
Qiao Changfu stood up excitedly and looked at Qiao Danfeng with shining eyes.
"This is probably a cadre position, just like the Women's Federation. My daughter, you have a chance to work now."
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