Chen Chunhua heard that the fish balls were selling well and was very happy, but she wanted to increase the portion...
"You think too highly of me. Those four fish are enough to prepare. How many more do you want to make? Unless you stop working and make fish balls at home every day." She rolled her eyes at him.
In fact, Lin Guoqing earned more than two yuan that night, which was considered a lot of money. Except for the salt added to the fish balls, which could be considered the cost, the rest was a zero-cost business. Every penny was profit, which was even more than what he earned from buying and selling vegetables before.
Chen Chunhua thought about it for a while and said to Lin Guoqing,
"Once Qi Fa Gen has vegetables, we still have to go get some. Guan Qian Xiang only has a few people buying vegetables every day, and they can't eat fish balls every day. We've been doing this for a while now, so if you sell fish balls every day, people will probably get tired of them in a few days."
Lin Guoqing thought about it and it made sense, but he still felt a little sorry for the profits brought by the fish balls.
"Oh, it would be great if we could sell it to a state-owned restaurant..."
Chen Chunhua rolled her eyes at him. "Do you think those chefs are all vegetarians? They even have to buy fish balls from outside? Even Lao Jia from our village cafeteria makes better fish balls than me!"
There is not a single chef here who doesn't know how to make fish balls, so what Lin Guoqing said was a bit naive.
***
Chen Chunhua had an uncontrollable sleepiness on her face when she went to work these two days. Fortunately, Ma Fengjuan was no longer the team leader, otherwise, with Chen Chunhua in her current condition, all her work points would have been deducted under her leadership.
"Chunhua, I noticed you've been yawning a lot lately. Are you pregnant again?"
It was time to plant the early rice seedlings, and the women were all working in the fields. Wang Jingui was planting the rice seedlings while chatting idly.
"If you're really pregnant, don't hide it. I'll help you with this. You can't squat down all the time when you're pregnant. Xiuying... isn't that the case?"
Chen Chunhua sweated and quickly waved her hand to say that she was not pregnant. "I might just be feeling sleepy. It's nothing. I can do it. You don't have to worry."
Wang Jingui looked at the new team leader, Cai Yinling, who was not far ahead. Seeing that she was busy planting rice and not looking at them, she moved closer to Shen Chunhua.
"Hey, Chunhua, do you know?"
"What?"
"Xiuying is pregnant again! She's just three months old!"
Li Xiuying, who was also in their team, was younger than the others. She had just married into Sihe Village in the autumn of the previous year and had just gotten pregnant last spring. She had originally wondered if she could do some lighter work, at least not plant rice for the time being.
Ma Fengjuan disagreed, "We are all women. Don't think I don't know what you are up to! Who would lie at home when they are pregnant? If everyone were like you, everyone would get pregnant. Who would do the farm work?"
Can planting rice seedlings cost you your life? If you want to rest, go home and rest completely, and don’t come to work anymore..."
The young wife was shy and went home crying the same day she was scolded, but she still had to endure the grievance and come to plant rice the next day. Seeing that she didn't give up, Ma Fengjuan became even more motivated. She kept saying that this and that part of the rice planting area was wrong, and even asked her to replant it.
The other women in the team couldn't bear to watch, but knowing that Ma Fengjuan was difficult to communicate with, they could only secretly help Li Xiuying plant the rice seedlings. Li Xiuying was very grateful to them, but perhaps because of her weak constitution, she had her period before she had even finished planting the early rice seedlings.
The child wasn't even formed yet, and the young couple, who were preparing to become parents for the first time, burst into tears.
Li Xiuying's mother-in-law even went to Lin Fuqiang's house to make a scene, saying that it was Ma Fengjuan who caused her daughter-in-law to have a miscarriage and that she was a murderer.
As it happened, Lin Fuqiang was away at a meeting in the county during those days, so he wasn't in the village. Ma Fengjuan, like a monkey claiming to be king, stood at the gate of her house, hands on her hips, and unleashed a barrage of abuse.
"You married a useless wife and you still blame me? Even if I'm a murderer, I can't be blamed. Your family must be quite capable! They can let Li Xiuying enjoy a good life at home!
It’s just a little blood! You’re so desperate! Next month when I get my period, I’ll go to your house and make a scene! I’ll say you scared me, okay?..."
When Lin Fuqiang came back, Li Xiuying was already holding a hemp rope and going to the village entrance to hang herself. People were pulling her back, and Ma Fengjuan was still aggressively making sarcastic remarks beside her.
"Why don't you just die in front of me? You're just pretending to be nice, crying a few times to make other men feel sorry for you..."
Not only did the villagers who were trying to pull Li Xiuying to stop her from hanging herself not stand it anymore, but Lin Fuqiang, who had just walked to the village entrance, couldn't stand it anymore either and stepped forward and slapped her.
"Can you fucking speak human language?"
The incident was temporarily resolved with Lin Fuqiang's slap, his subsequent apology, and Li Xiuying's transfer to another team, but Ma Fengjuan still served as the team leader of her own team.
It was not known whether Lin Fuqiang had ever disciplined her at home. Anyway, Chen Chunhua saw Ma Fengjuan still showing off as usual, and did not think that Captain Lin had been cruel in educating his young wife at that time.
Li Xiuying didn't get pregnant again for a whole year, and her mother-in-law told everyone that it was Ma Fengjuan who had brought her down. Now that Ma Fengjuan was no longer the team leader and Li Xiuying was pregnant, she became even more convinced of her idea.
"...She's not even on our team anymore, so how could she still be controlled by Ma Fengjuan? Besides, didn't you say she was already three months old? That was before the New Year, when Ma Fengjuan was still the team leader."
Chen Chunhua listened to the gossip Wang Jingui told her in silence, saying that it was not scientific at all.
"Who says it's not?" Wang Jingui curled her lips.
"But now Ma Fengjuan doesn't come to work anymore, she's at home looking after the kids all day. This person, used to being so arrogant, suddenly becomes a housewife. I guess she's having a hard time, she barely even leaves the house.
And I haven't seen her take care of the child. Every day, it's Captain Lin's mother who takes Erniu out for a walk."
At this point, Wang Jingui lowered his voice again and whispered in Shen Chunhua's ear,
"I heard that Captain Lin asked Ma Fengjuan to give him another child!"
Chen Chunhua: "He's already fifty, right? Not much younger than my mother-in-law. How can he still have children?"
Wang Jingui burst out laughing. The team leader in front, Cai Yinling, turned her head and looked at her. She quickly fell silent and lowered her head to work.
Cai Yinling didn't say anything, turned around and continued to plant rice. Wang Jingui raised her head and saw that the limelight had passed, then began whispering with Chen Chunhua again.
"Who knows how she'll give birth? I think Captain Lin is in good health. How else could Ma Fengjuan be so energetic every day? Maybe she can still give birth at 60..."
…
(The following are some dirty jokes between rural women, which are not suitable for display. Please use your imagination.)
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