Chapter 1: The Unwanted Treasure
Nie Laosan's wife no longer wants Fubao, which is a hot topic of gossip in the Pingxi Production Brigade.
When it was time to eat, the old men and women in the village all went to the well in front of the production team, holding an old porcelain bowl, sipped a mouthful of porridge, and said a few words.
Some people felt sorry for him: "What a pity for Fubao, he is so handsome, why doesn't Nie Lao San's wife want him?"
Others said: "Why didn't you say you didn't want it earlier? We would have adopted it and raised it until now, and it's become familiar to us!"
Some people also shook their heads repeatedly: "Fubao, this child, although he is called Fubao, he actually has a miserable life. He chops wood and cooks for Nie Laosan's family, and his life is not good. He eats the same food as pigs every day."
Nie Laosan's wife has been making a fuss these days. She went to the production team leader Chen Youfu and tried to commit suicide. She said that if this problem was not solved, she would have to eat, drink, defecate and urinate in the production team. So there is no way now, and she really doesn't want it anymore.
Fubao was not originally a child of the Nie family.
Pingxi Production Brigade is close to Dagunzi Mountain, where there is a nunnery. Before liberation, all the young girls and wives in the production brigade would go to the mountain to burn incense and worship Buddha, donate some incense money, pray for peace, and some shyly pray for marriage.
After liberation, the nunnery became deserted. Some of the nuns left, and some stayed to live a poor life.
Until a few years ago, the commune said it wanted to carry out reforms and break feudal superstitions. Naturally, the nunnery was one of the four olds that had to be broken down, so it was demolished.
But if the nunnery is destroyed, what will happen to the nuns inside?
The people in the commune sent people to talk to the nuns, asking them to clear them out. Those who were willing to go home could return to their homes and become secular. Those who were unwilling to return and had nowhere to go would have the government find a home for them.
To provide them with a home actually means to marry them off.
There are so many old bachelors without wives in the production team below. Wouldn’t it be perfect to marry the nun to them?
Originally, this was a good thing. The nuns were shy, some wanted to go home, while others had no home to return to, so they were assigned to marry by the commune. But as luck would have it, there were not only nuns in the temple, but also a little girl, whom everyone in the nunnery called Fubao.
No one can tell where Fubao came from. Some say he was born from an affair between a nun and a man, while others say he was picked up in the mountains.
The little baby Fubao is not even one year old yet. He is fair and clean, and looks very cute at first glance. He is chubby and adorable.
The nuns loved the child very much and said that they would not leave or marry until Fubao was settled.
The government officials discussed privately that it would not look good if the nun married with the child, so they had to find someone else to adopt the child. So they spread the word that whoever adopted the child would get an extra 100 work points this year.
The people in Pingxi Production Brigade became jealous and rushed to adopt the little baby.
In the last round of grabbing, Nie Laosan, who had been married for several years without having children, won. Not only did he get 100 work points for his family, but he also got a chubby little baby.
What no one could have expected was that not long after the little baby came to the Nie family, Nie Laosan's wife became pregnant. Her belly was pregnant with a big baby. After ten months of pregnancy, she gave birth to a pair of twins, a boy and a girl. Nie Laosan was so happy that his eyes narrowed into slits.
However, since the twins were born, life has been tight for Nie Laosan's family. Nie Laosan's wife doesn't have enough milk, so she needs to supplement it, and the two children also need to be fed with white rice and white flour, which adds up to a lot of expenses.
But Fubao was a voracious eater. It was said that such a small child could eat a large bowl of porridge by herself, more than her brothers and sisters combined. So, with three children, two adults, and a voracious Fubao, how could Nie Laosan's work points alone be enough to support the family? As time went by, life became extremely tight, and they could barely afford to eat.
Nie Laosan thought to himself, raising his own child is a normal thing, but raising a child born by a nun is not right? Nie Laosan's wife also disliked the child and often scolded Fubao, saying, "What kind of Fubao are you? You are a bastard born by a nun, how can you be called that? You can eat so much, don't you think he is the reincarnation of a starving ghost?"
She asked Fubao to work, feed the chickens, chop vegetables and collect firewood, and let Fubao do all the housework.
Speaking of it, Fubao is also a good-tempered person. She doesn't get angry even though Nie Laosan's wife orders her around like that. The child is only five years old, but she gets up as soon as the rooster crows every day, and uses her little hands to hold a one-foot-long kitchen knife to chop vegetables to feed the pigs. After feeding the pigs, she has to go to the mountain to find firewood.
When Fubao came back in the evening, there were only leftovers at home. Nie Laosan's wife simply poured a bucket of cold water on the food, stirred it, and gave it to Fubao to eat.
Fubao doesn't know what's good for him. This little kid is a big eater. As soon as he sees something, he will just hold the bowl and start eating, smiling sweetly while eating. When the neighbors see this, they all shake their heads and sigh.
One hundred work points, one hundred! Are you going to ruin someone else's child like this?
But even so, Nie Laosan's family no longer wanted this child.
"I heard that Nie Laosan's wife said there was something strange about Fubao, saying it was unlucky to be born in a nunnery." Wang Fugui's wife from the village lowered her voice and said mysteriously, "Shengjin from Nie Laosan's family once pushed Fubao. Who knew that Fubao didn't fall down? Instead, he tripped and hit himself on the bricks of the chicken coop, and got a big bump!"
The twin boy and girl in Nie Laosan's family were named Shengjin for the boy and Shengyin for the girl. Those were the good names that Nie Laosan had asked educated people in the commune to give them.
Shengjin and Shengyin are four years old now. Shengjin is spoiled to the point that he can't do any work and just eats. Shengyin is more sensible, well-behaved, lovable, and has a very sweet mouth.
Chen Youliang, an old bachelor, was puzzled when he heard this: "Is this even possible? Is this true? Is it so weird?"
Seeing that everyone was listening intently and with great interest, Wang Fugui's wife became excited. "But there's more to it than that. Don't you know? It's about that Fubao, she's so weird. Last time, she found a melon in the mountains. She was hungry, so she ate half and brought the other half back. Then Nie Laosan's wife beat her up, saying it was a shame for such a small child to eat half by herself. As a result, the whole family ate that half of the melon and had diarrhea that night, but Fubao was the only one who was fine!"
Everyone frowned upon hearing this and looked at Wang Fugui's wife curiously: "We only know that Third Nie's family had diarrhea, but we don't know if it was because of eating melons? Did this Fubao do something bad?"
Wang Fugui's wife: "Who knows? Anyway, this child is weird. Nie Laosan's wife now says she doesn't want to raise this child at all, saying that he is a burden!"
Grandma Hu, who was sewing shoe soles nearby, sneered when she heard this and said, "What nonsense! I think Fubao is a good kid, how come he became so weird? This is just human nature, thinking the worst of others and seeing the bad in them!"
Everyone looked at Grandma Hu and said, "Grandma Hu, what do you know now? You're very knowledgeable, tell us about it!"
Grandma Hu is an experienced old lady in Pingxi Production Brigade. When she was young, she went to the provincial capital to see the big scenes. Later, she returned to the production brigade and married her husband, a retired soldier. She had prestige in the production brigade. Although her husband has lost his family over the years and her life is not as good as before, everyone in the production brigade still respects her.
Seeing everyone looking at her, Grandma Hu put the needle in her hair, bit the thread, and then said slowly, "You said, Nie Laosan's wife has been married to our production brigade for ten years, and there has been no movement in her belly. How come she is suddenly pregnant now? How come she got pregnant as soon as Fubao came?"
Everyone was stunned: "Why?"
Grandma Hu: "This is all brought by Fubao. It is Fubao's blessing. It is the twin boy and girl sent to Nie Laosan's family."
Everyone was shocked: "Like this?"
Come to think of it, it seemed so. When Fubao came, Nie Laosan's family became prosperous for a while. Soon after that, his wife's belly grew bigger like a balloon, and she gave birth to twins, a boy and a girl.
Grandma Hu smiled and said, "In my opinion, Fubao is a child from the nunnery. He is very smart. People gave him the name Fubao, which means he is blessed!"
This seems to make sense, but——
Just at this moment, production team leader Chen Youfu came over.
He saw everyone and said with a smile, "Grandma Hu is here too. I was just saying that I have to hold a meeting later to discuss something with everyone."
Chen Youliang was Chen Youfu's cousin. They were from the same family, but their lives were very different. Hearing Chen Youfu say this, he asked, "What's the matter?"
Chen Youfu was somewhat helpless: "It's all about Nie Laosan's family. Nie Laosan's wife absolutely refuses to let Fubao go. She says Fubao is good for eating and wastes food, so she doesn't want her anymore."
When everyone heard this, they all curled their lips: "He swallowed up a hundred work points, and now he wants nothing?"
Chen Youfu was helpless: "She said that if she was allowed to raise Fubao again, he would have to sleep outside the house. Our production brigade is an advanced production brigade in the commune, and this kind of thing cannot happen. So I was thinking about seeing which family in the production brigade could adopt Fubao and not abandon the child outside."
The key point is that it would be bad if this matter were to be spread out. When the people in the commune find out, they will still curse him as the team leader.
Everyone looked at each other in bewilderment. Wang Fugui's wife teased Chen Youliang, "Since you can't find a wife, why not take a daughter home? Grandma Hu said Fubao is blessed!"
Chen Youliang quickly shook his head and waved his hands: "I can't afford it! What's the use of blessing or bad luck? It's not as real as food!"
He had heard a little about it and knew that Fubao was quite a big eater, otherwise Nie Laosan's wife would not have insisted on throwing out a child who was already working.
Nowadays, every family has food shortage. They earn work points throughout the year, and they have to carefully calculate the food they get to avoid going hungry during the harvest gap. He simply would not raise a child for nothing.
Chen Youfu knew what was going on by looking at everyone's reaction. He sighed and said, "Forget it. Come to my place tonight for a meeting to discuss this matter."
He had to find a way to find a family to adopt Fubao.
Otherwise, there would be no chance of being an advanced candidate this year.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
