With the experience of her previous life, Xia Juhua knew that it was better to rely on herself than on anyone else. She also knew that as long as she could keep Sun Hongmei under control, she would not only not dare to act like a demon again, but also have to curry favor with her mother-in-law.
Just like this morning, Sun Hongmei, who was clamoring to go back to her parents' home last night, got up obediently and made breakfast for the whole family?!
"Go, go, go back to your room."
Why Liu Zhishuang had to marry Sun Hongmei, they both knew it in their hearts, and Xia Juhua also knew it in her previous life - it was Sun Guizhi who made Liu Zhishuang think that he had taken advantage of Sun Hongmei. After agreeing to get along with her, he was deceived by Sun Hongmei's appearance and thought she was a good person, so he got together. People at that time were not so frivolous. If men and women who had affairs were exposed, not only would the women be pointed out by others, but it would also be difficult for the men to marry a good woman.
Xia Juhua had figured out the situation long ago, so she gave the right to choose to Liu Zhishuang. Her son was still young, so it depended on whether he could figure it out. Xia Juhua watched Liu Zhishuang walking ahead with a strong attitude, and did not ignore Sun Hongmei's eyes that kept rolling.
A good night's sleep. Xia Juhua woke up when she heard some noise in the yard. She listened carefully and knew who was in the yard. She shook her head on the pillow and closed her eyes again.
Wang Caifeng didn't sleep well. She also heard the noise in the yard and pushed Liu Zhiquan: "Get up, have breakfast and go and ask others to leave together. Don't be like yesterday, when people were already at the door and you were still not ready."
Liu Zhiquan turned over and suddenly sat up, which started led Wang Caifeng. She was so angry that she also sat up: "You scared the child again."
"Is the second brother going to send Sun Hongmei back to her parents' home?" Liu Zhiquan's voice was not loud, and he was a little hoarse having just woken up, so Wang Caifeng had difficulty hearing what he was asking.
There was clearly only one person's footsteps in the yard, so Wang Caifeng spoke with disdain: "It shouldn't be that person. It seems that only Sun Hongmei was making noises."
Liu Zhiquan lay down again with peace of mind: "It's okay if we just send her back to her parents' home."
Wang Caifeng was unhappy: "She has caused so much trouble, and you are still not happy for the second brother to send her back to her parents' home?"
"If we send her back to her parents' home, can we get the betrothal gift back?" Liu Zhiquan muttered a question that Wang Caifeng had never thought about before, which stunned her.
Wang Caifeng has been annoyed by Sun Hongmei these past two days. She thinks her sister-in-law is a troublesome person. Even though she kindly reminds her, she refuses to change her clever temper. If such a person is sent back to her parents' home as soon as possible, life at home will be peaceful in the future. She has never thought about whether the betrothal gift can be returned.
When Liu Zhiquan asked this, Wang Caifeng couldn't help but think of the treatment Liu Zhishuang and Sun Hongmei received when they returned to their parents' home. She felt that it was unrealistic to want to get the betrothal gift back because of the old Sun family's tradition of asking for money. But if the betrothal gift was not returned, what would Liu Zhishuang do when he got married next time?
If Sun Hongmei was really sent back to her parents' home, Liu Zhishuang would not be able to remain single for the rest of his life and would have to marry again. By then, he would be getting married for the second time and if he wanted to marry a girl who was similar to him, the bride price could only be more than the first time, not less.
How could I have forgotten this? Wang Caifeng patted the quilt in frustration, and suddenly realized that Liu Zhiquan, whom she had always thought was stable, was more thoughtful than she thought. She looked at her husband with his head covered in the quilt with some ambiguous expression, and suddenly asked a question: "Have you ever thought about sending me back to my parents' home?"
Liu Zhiquan seemed not to hear, and turned over to cover his head more tightly. Wang Caifeng pouted at the bulging quilt, put on her clothes and was about to go out. When she reached the door, she remembered and said, "I have to sweep the yard. When Baoguo wakes up, you can dress him."
"Got it." Liu Zhiquan responded impatiently, and Wang Caifeng pouted even more: "I knew you were pretending to sleep."
When she went out, she saw Xia Juhua pushing the door open. Wang Caifeng greeted her hurriedly. Xia Juhua hummed, looked at the kitchen and didn't move, and went to the backyard toilet. Wang Caifeng thought about what Liu Zhiquan said and followed her to the backyard.
Xia Juhua asked in surprise: "You also need to go to the toilet, then you go first."
I don't want to go to the toilet. Wang Caifeng asked weakly: "Mom, do you really want Zhishuang to send Sun Hongmei back to her parents' home?"
It turned out that she was being asked this question. Xia Juhua didn't want to take the blame. She shook her head and said, "It's not like I'm living with her. Zhishuang can do whatever he wants."
Wang Caifeng was anxious: "How can we follow Zhishuang's temper? At first, you didn't agree with their marriage, and Zhishuang was acting up, but you finally followed Zhishuang's wishes. If Zhishuang is determined to send Sun Hongmei back to her parents' home, she will be married for the second time. Who would be willing to marry a second-married man if people know about it?"
Xia Juhua was in no hurry to go to the toilet. She looked at Wang Caifeng with a serious look in her eyes: "Do you think so?"
Wang Caifeng nodded vigorously: "Zhishuang is also my brother. He can't figure it out for the time being. As his brother and sister-in-law, we must think more about him."
I hope you really want Liu Zhishuang's best interests. Xia Juhua asked noncommittally, "So you are not angry with Sun Hongmei anymore?"
Wang Caifeng lowered her head: "How can family members hold grudges overnight? I am the sister-in-law, how can I really be on the same level as my brother's wife?"
"Okay, in the future you sisters-in-law will spend more time together than with me, your mother-in-law. As long as you feel good about it." Xia Juhua really went to the restroom this time, leaving Wang Caifeng alone outside to ponder her mother-in-law's words.
From the moment Xia Juhua in the bathroom heard Sun Hongmei go to the kitchen to cook, she knew that Liu Zhishuang would not send Sun Hongmei back to Sunjiazhuang. There was no need to ask the reason. The newly married couple went back to the room alone to discuss things, and any result was possible.
If Sun Hongmei didn't even have this little ability, Liu Zhishuang wouldn't have been forced to marry her.
I had said before that no matter what the couple came up with, she would not care. Xia Juhua certainly would not pull Liu Zhishuang aside to ask him why he changed his mind after just one night.
The whole family finished their meal as if nothing had happened. Xia Juhua stood up and took out the food for Wang Caifeng's lunch. She ignored Liu Zhishuang who was looking at her and seemed to be hesitant to say something, and went out to work.
She breathed a sigh of relief as she walked out of the house. But before she could finish her breath, Chen Dongsheng's wife, Sun Zhaodi, came out from next door, and Xia Juhua had to swallow her anger back - Sun Zhaodi was also from Sunjiazhuang, and it seemed like she and Sun Hongmei had the same ancestor, but they were five generations apart.
However, Sun Zhaodi is different from Sun Guizhi and Sun Hongmei in that she is a gentle person and usually smiles at everyone she sees. She rarely gets with anyone. When Xia Juhua applied for a homestead from the brigade, she did so because Sun Zhaodi was less troublesome and Chen Dongsheng was honest. It was a relief to have such a person as a angry neighbor.
"You're going to work too." Sun Zhaodi also saw Xia Juhua and took the initiative to greet her, which was no different from how she had seen Xia Juhua before.
Xia Juhua nodded: "Well, you've eaten. Are you going to work today?"
Sun Zhaodi didn't expect Xia Juhua to answer her. She was stunned for a moment before she said, "I've eaten. But I have to go to work. If I don't go to work, there's nothing to do at home."
Having said this, the two of them walked together naturally, and gradually met several women who were also going to work. No matter who saw Sun Zhaodi and Xia Juhua walking together, they would be stunned for a moment, and then join the team going to work together.
Not has the virtue of not gossiping like Sun Zhaodi. After Li Changwang's family walked for a while, he told Xia Juhua why Sun Shi had been making trouble yesterday: "What's wrong with your young daughter-in-law? I don't know who is far away and who everyone is close. If it's her, I don't think you can keep her."
Xia Juhua looked at Li Changwang's family, sighed and said nothing, and slowed down her pace, as if she wanted to stay away from Li Changwang's family.
"A son grows up and is no longer under the control of his mother." Xia Juhua seemed to have no choice but to say something after being asked by Li Changwang's family.
The women who were walking together were all of similar age, and several of them were also mothers-in-law. Xia Juhua's words reminded them of their own little beasts who openly or secretly took their daughters-in-law's words as imperial decrees, and they all sighed.
Hearing their sighs, Xia Juhua knew that she had achieved her goal today: women in their early forties are the main force of gossip in the village. Women of this age are both the daughter-in-law of the mother-in-law and the mother-in-law of the daughter-in-law. No matter whether the daughter-in-law is making trouble or the mother-in-law is looking for trouble, they can find common language.
Whoever arouses their sympathy first will occupy the high ground of public opinion. If Sun Hongmei wants to spread the news of her "evil deeds", less than half of the people will believe her.
"Hey, why are you still following us?" Li Changwang's family was trying to get Xia Juhua to talk. When they arrived at the production team yard, they found that Xia Juhua was standing with a group of women waiting for work. They asked in confusion, "Aren't you assigned to work with those men?"
Xia Juhua shook her head. From the moment she knew she had lived a new life, she had made up her mind that she would make money, but she would not work so hard as she did in her last life, and would not care about her health for the sake of making money. She knew that the policies would get better and better in the future, and there would be many ways to make money. Now that she had a healthy body, she could make money happily in the future.
Since no one can be relied upon when one is old, one must take good care of one's body, lest one get sick early and become even more annoying - there will be no filial son by the bedside of a long-term patient. In her previous life, she had seen old people paralyzed in bed, being pointed at and scolded by their children for not dying quickly. Such old people really wanted to die but could not.
Li Changwang's family was not satisfied with Xia Juhua's answer of just shaking her head, and gently pushed her: "I'm asking you. Why are you still so sullen? When I heard you talking to Mrs. Liu yesterday, I thought you had changed your personality."
This time Xia Juhua finally spoke up: "I will work with you today, and I will do the same as you when I go to the fields in the future."
"What?" The women who heard Xia Juhua's decision all felt that the sun had risen from the west. Who was Xia Juhua? She was the well-known Xia girl in Pingan Village and even in the surrounding villages. How could she not do the same job as the men and return to the ranks of the vast majority of women? !
Xia Juhua smiled bitterly: "I've come to terms with it. I won't work so hard for work points anymore. Anyway, my two sons have grown up and they've found wives. They have to live their lives on their own. Can I still work so hard for them?"
"That's right." Li Changwang's family can really respond to any question: "If the daughter-in-law is good, it won't be in vain if you help them save more money. But your little daughter-in-law..."
Xia Juhua quickly waved her hand at her: "As long as the children are doing well, that's all."
Since she said so, others didn't have to scold Sun Hongmei in front of Xia Juhua, but everyone had a scale in their hearts, and several mothers-in-law had already thought about how to scold their daughters-in-law when they got home at noon.
An Baoling also came to work. Seeing Xia Juhua staying with the other women, she came over to talk to her and said, "I went back to my parents' home yesterday. Otherwise, I would have stopped the old lady from bothering you."
Xia Juhua was wondering yesterday why An Baoling hadn't shown up. When she heard her say that she had gone back to her parents' home, she couldn't help asking, "Why don't you go back to your parents' home during the holidays?" Although there was not much work on the production team, they could still earn six or seven work points a day. Zi Baoling, who knew how to live, would generally not leave any work points unearned back to her parents' home.
"Oh," An Baoling sighed, "It's because my niece-in-law from my mother's family is angry with my sister-in-law. Even my mother is so angry that she is sick. She sent someone to tell me to go back."
Every family has its own problems. An Baoling's niece-in-law is not an easy person to deal with. Xia Juhua doesn't care why the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law are angry. She just asks: "Is your aunt okay?"
An Baoling shook her head and said, "The family is in a mess. How can it be cured if she has to watch over it every day? If the family is not divided, it will be difficult to get better."
The conflict had even reached the point of splitting up the family. It seemed that the conflict between the mother-in-law and the daughter-in-law was difficult to reconcile. Xia Juhua was not good at persuading others, so she could only say in a general way: "Then you should persuade your aunt to think more positively."
Li Changwang's family had been listening, and seeing that Xia Juhua was still trying to persuade others, he smiled and said, "It's easy to persuade others, but it's hard to persuade yourself. If you weren't disappointed with your daughter-in-law, why did you insist on working with us today?" In the past, young man Xia would never do a job that could earn ten work points, rather than eight.
An Baoling looked at Xia Juhua with some worry. Xia Juhua shook her head at her as if nothing had happened. In the eyes of others, it seemed that she was forcing a smile. An Baoling could only sigh.
Li Changwang wanted to say a few more words, but Liu Erzhuang had already started to assign today's tasks. Everyone wanted to know if there was any new tasks today, so the idle chatter stopped there. Xia Juhua breathed a sigh of relief silently, although An Baoling herself had a lot on her mind, and seeing her shoulders relax, she wanted to smile.
His elder sister-in-law was still as unwilling to interact with people as before. How uncomfortable she must be with these gossiping women. Even though she was so uncomfortable, she still wanted to work with such fast-talking women. It was obvious that she was really hurt by Sun Hongmei.
There was no time to think about it, the tasks had already been assigned, and the women's main task now was to weave reed mats.
This is a traditional sideline of the production teams along the river, which takes advantage of the geographical location: a tributary of the Xihe River passes through the Red Star Commune, and both banks are covered with reeds every year. After the autumn harvest, the production teams along the river will cut the reeds, organize the women to weave reed mats together, and then sell them to the supply and marketing cooperatives. The income can account for one-third of the annual income.
Ping'an Village also benefited from this. At the end of the year, one work point was only worth 1.2 cents. Those production teams not along the river only earned 7 or 8 cents per work point, and that was in a good year.
Xia Juhua and An Baoling were sitting together weaving mats. Li Changwang's family sat not far from them. After they sat down, they laughed and teased Xia Juhua from across the room: "You usually follow the men to cut reeds. Do you know how to weave mats?"
An Baoling was not used to her teasing others, and she knew that her sister-in-law was not the type to talk back, so she spoke up for Xia Juhua: "I don't know whether my sister-in-law can do it, but everyone knows that she is very efficient. Even if she is learning, it won't take her four or five days to weave a mat."
Li Changwang's family suddenly shut up - the one who took An Baoling four or five days to weave a mat was her. In fact, women were not very fast at weaving. If they were weaving for their own family, they could weave a mat in a day and a half. But if they were weaving for the production team, it would take at least two and a half days to weave a mat. And it was common for Li Changwang's family to weave a mat for more than four days.
If Li Changwang's wife was good at work, she could have refuted An Baoling. Who made her work slowly?
Li Changwang's wife said nothing, but she was thinking bitterly in her heart that no one was happy when weaving the mats, and it was Xia Juhua's first time weaving, so it was unclear whether she would start and finish. She was just waiting to see if An Baoling would put down her work and help Xia Juhua when she got stuck.
Everyone knows how to do it, but An Baoling really disregarded her own work points to help Xia Juhua, and only then did she accept it.
She just felt that it was rare for Xia Juhua to work with other women, and that she was the type who would just listen to whatever she said and wouldn't get angry with her, so she made a joke out of her, but who knew that An Baoling would appear.
With this mentality, Li Changwang was weaving a reed mat in his hand while staring at Xia Juhua's movements. After a while, he was stunned: Xia Juhua's movements were too skillful. The thin reed stalks in her hands seemed to have life, and she manipulated them one by one in an orderly manner.
Xia Juhua also used the reed knife very skillfully. With a slight push and pull, a reed stalk was split in the middle. After a few moves, several reed pieces of the same thickness appeared around Xia Juhua.
This trick not only impressed Li Changwang's family, but also the women who also wanted to see Xia Juhua's jokes - weaving reed mats is a technical job, and apart from the beginning and finishing the edges, the most troublesome thing is the broken reed pieces.
It's okay for those who are used to it, but for those who are doing it for the first time, not only can't break the reed slices into uniform pieces, but they can also cut their hands several times and bleed a lot, and they can't even break a reed stalk completely.
When An Baoling spoke for Xia Juhua, it was entirely out of protection for her sister-in-law. Seeing that Xia Juhua actually did it quickly and well, she laughed loudly: "Sister-in-law, have you practiced at home? How come you are so good at it?"
Others nodded one after another. Xia Juhua looked up and said, "I used to weave all the mats in our house myself."
Everyone who heard it was speechless. Even Li Changwang's family members recalled how they had just gotten married. They watched Xia Juhua carrying a large bag, followed by two half-grown children, and the three of them moved step by step to the production team's shed.
They only carried their bags and had no kang mat.
How did the three of us sleep in the shed of the production team during those years? When did Xia Juhua weave a kang mat and spread it on the bed board made of wooden boards in the shed? Li Changwang's family didn't know. She only knew that the winter in Ping'an Village was very cold. If there was no fire in the kang, it would not be warm even if the kang mat was spread on the board.
"It has been really hard for you these years." Li Changwang's family sincerely felt that Xia Juhua had a hard time - it was not easy for both sons to get married, but the younger daughter-in-law happened to be Sun Guizhi's niece. Now it seems that her behavior is no different from Sun Guizhi. Xia Juhua's life in the future will not be much easier.
"Let's take it one day at a time." Xia Juhua's voice was flat and her hands did not stop moving. It was as if she was talking about someone else's business, which made people feel particularly sad.
"Well, I just..." Li Changwang felt that he shouldn't have teased Xia Juhua just now, which was like rubbing salt into Xia Juhua's wound. An Baoling couldn't believe her ears. She actually heard that Li Changwang meant to apologize to his sister-in-law. The sun really rose from the west.
Will the eldest sister-in-law forgive Li Changwang's family? An Baoling looked at Xia Juhua, who was still breaking the reeds, and found that her movements were still so calm and she did not respond to Li Changwang's family's intentions.
Li Changwang's family didn't feel ignored at all, and was still trying to find topics to talk about. Sometimes, when Xia Juhua was interested or felt that there was nothing to be said, she would respond with a few words, which was enough to support Li Changwang's family to continue talking.
This is really a case of one willing to fight and the other willing to be beaten. An Baoling felt amused, but her hands were not slow to move, continuing to weave the weeds that she had started yesterday.
"Sister-in-law, someone from the supply and marketing cooperative is looking for you." Liu Erzhuang suddenly appeared in the yard where the women were weaving reed mats, and his words made the women weaving reed mats raise their heads.
Xia Juhua was stunned for a moment before she remembered what the director said at the supply and marketing cooperative yesterday. She didn't expect someone would come to see her today. So many things happened yesterday that Xia Juhua herself had forgotten what the director said.
Her expression was the reaction of someone who suddenly heard incredible news, so the women lost interest in asking her. What question? How could Xia Juhua know the answer? She was a person of few words, so there was nothing to be gained from the question. It was better to save her energy and weave the mat.
An Baoling stood up as well. She remembered that Xia Juhua had been at home making quilts for the supply and marketing cooperative for the past two days. She thought something must have gone wrong and wanted to go with Xia Juhua to meet the people from the supply and marketing cooperative. If that person had any trouble with Xia Juhua, she could at least say a few words to help.
When Liu Erzhuang saw his brother's wife stand up, he shook his head at her and said, "They are only looking for a sister-in-law, so don't go with them." The people from the supply and marketing cooperative brought over a lot of things, and the fewer people who saw it, the better.
Xia Juhua patted An Baoling's arm soothingly: "It's okay, it must be Caifeng's cousin. It's all thanks to her that I was able to take the quilt-making job at the supply and marketing cooperative a few days ago." Wang Caifeng had performed well in the past two days, and Xia Juhua deliberately distinguished her from Sun Hongmei in front of others.
When An Baoling heard that she was Wang Caifeng's cousin, she really gave Wang Caifeng a higher evaluation and told the woman who asked her, "She is Zhiquan's wife's elder sister, and she is here to visit my sister-in-law."
Some people believed what An Baoling said, while others thought she was not telling the truth. Everyone was waiting for the team leader to give an explanation - she was working well, but suddenly passed away halfway, so how would the team leader record the work points for his sister-in-law?
When Liu Erzhuang returned to the mat-weaving yard, everyone realized that An Baoling's information was not entirely accurate. The person who came was indeed Wang Caifeng's cousin, and she did come to see Xia Juhua, but she did not just come to see Xia Juhua.
Xia Juhua was given a job to help the supply and marketing cooperative roast peanuts. So Xia Juhua had already asked the team leader for leave, and the production team did not need to record her work points for the work she did today.
If Xia Juhua had gone to work with the men today, Liu Erzhuang would not have come to the yard to explain who had made Xia Juhua work with the women the day before and encounter such a thing.
If he didn't come to explain and wait until the afternoon when work started, rumors would spread that Xia Juhua didn't get along with women, or that she couldn't do women's work and had to work with men, and everyone in Ping'an Village would know.
As the production team leader, Liu Erzhuang was very familiar with women's ability to spread gossip. Xia Juhua had finally found a way to make money, and he couldn't let these women's gossip ruin it.
The Liu family had already treated Xia Juhua badly yesterday. Even though Liu Erzhuang knew that Xia Juhua would not blame him and Li Daya for Sun's son's mistake, he still felt that it was because he failed to persuade his mother and failed to calm Liu Sizhuang and Sun Guizhi, which gave them the opportunity to cause trouble for Xia Juhua.
Why are you causing trouble for Xia Juhua? The three of them live their own lives, do not ask for help from the people in the old home, and have not eaten a bite of food from the old home since the separation. How can they still have the nerve to say that they are unfilial.
Liu Erzhuang couldn't understand it, and Li Daya couldn't understand it even more, so yesterday not only did she not follow Sun Shi and the others to find trouble for Xia Juhua, but she also said some unpleasant things to them after Sun Shi and Sun Guizhi returned home in shame.
Liu Erzhuang knew that Sun had always disliked Li Daya, but he thought what Li Daya said was right, so he let her continue. Unexpectedly, Sun was so angry that Liu Erzhuang watched Li Daya's nonsense against him. He did not dare to curse his second son who was counting on him for his old age. Instead, Sun ordered Sun Guizhi to beat Li Daya.
Sun Guizhi actually dared to attack Li Daya! Li Daya would definitely not let her hit her, so it couldn't be said that both sides suffered losses. Anyway, Li Daya refused to go to work today.
She said to Liu Erzhuang: The old lady only has one son and daughter-in-law in her eyes. She tolerated it before when she didn't hit him. But now Sun Guizhi, the brother's wife, wants to beat her sister-in-law, and she can't tolerate it.
If people who earn work points get beaten every day, then what's the point of earning work points? You might as well just eat well at home and take care of your body like Sun Guizhi, so as to avoid getting hurt the next time there is a fight.
What could Liu Erzhuang say? He couldn't say anything, and even thought in his heart whether his family should also be separated from the old courtyard like his eldest sister-in-law. It was not the first time that he wanted to separate from the old courtyard and live on his own. In the past, he just thought about it and persuaded himself to give up, but this time, he couldn't persuade himself.
How could his mother let Sun Guizhi beat his wife? At that time, Liu Erzhuang felt that his mother wanted to beat him, not his wife. His mother was really cruel.
Liu Erzhuang couldn't help but think of the time when Xia Juhua and her two children didn't even have enough food to move out of the old house. His mother was cruel at that time, and she has never changed over the years. Because of his mother's cruelty, Liu Erzhuang felt even more sorry for Xia Juhua, and didn't want anyone to ruin the job she had worked so hard to get.
Xia Juhua didn't know that Liu Erzhuang was worried about her. She was very satisfied with the two sacks of peanuts in front of her. More peanuts would be better, because more peanuts would make more money. Besides, Wang Caixia had already explained the director's intention to her. As long as she sold 8 taels of cooked peanuts for every pound of raw peanuts, the supply and marketing cooperative would accept it.
Xia Juhua felt that the director of the supply and marketing cooperative was either an expert himself or had asked others about it. Generally speaking, if the cooking time was right, one pound of raw peanuts could yield eight ounces of cooked peanuts.
But he forgot that what he asked Xia Juhua to fry were not ordinary cooked peanuts, but sugar-coated peanuts. They could not be fried as dry as ordinary peanuts. The less water loss, the smaller the weight. Adding the weight of the sugar, the actual yield was 8.25 grams per pound.
However, Xia Juhua did not tell Wang Caixia the truth - others did not know the tricks of roasting nuts, which was Xia Juhua's ability to eat a meal.
"Mom, when will the supply and marketing cooperative need the fried peanuts? You can't handle it by yourself, so let me help you." Wang Caifeng also looked at the two sacks of peanuts with shining eyes, and she was full of admiration for her mother-in-law.
There were people in the village who knew how to fry sugar-coated peanuts, but who could fry them like my grandmother once and get such a lucrative job! One pound of peanuts was 1.5 cents, and frying 100 pounds a day was twice as much as making reed mats.
The two sacks weighed a total of 400 kilograms. My cousin said that if the county supply and marketing cooperative recognized my mother-in-law's skills, they would send more peanuts. So she not only had to help my mother-in-law fry the peanuts in front of her, but also had to learn the skills! If she could learn it, what benefits would there be?
Xia Juhua knew without even looking that Wang Caifeng was planning something again, and she rejected her outright: "You have to take Baoguo with you. You are still pregnant, and you can't stand this kind of tiredness." Do you really think frying peanuts is an easy job? This is not just frying a pound or two of peanuts for your own consumption.
Even though Xia Juhua no longer had any expectations for her grandchildren, she didn't want to force a pregnant woman to do heavy work. Wang Caifeng thought that Xia Juhua didn't want to teach her the craft, and she still begged, "Mom, Baoguo is already so big, other people's children can play by themselves. The one in my belly is almost five months old, and it's stable."
How could someone not understand other people's concern? Xia Juhua looked at Wang Caifeng strangely: "Do you really want to help? If something happens, I won't be able to explain it to Zhiquan."
"What can go wrong?" Wang Caifeng insisted that she could do it: "Besides, Zhiquan told me last night that mom has had a hard time these years, and asked me not to push everything onto mom just because I'm pregnant." At this time, the daughter-in-law's words are useless, and she has to lift her own son, whom the mother-in-law values, to the forefront.
Xia Juhua didn't want to tire pregnant women, but when her grandson's wife got pregnant in her last life, the whole family almost worshipped her, so she subconsciously felt that pregnant women were valuable. Since Wang Caifeng thought she was capable, she couldn't spoil her fun.
Of course, Wang Caifeng couldn't do the work of washing peanuts and soaking them in water. Xia Juhua assigned her the task of lighting the fire. Wang Caifeng was already very happy - the fire is the key to stir-frying nuts. The mother-in-law asked her to light the fire right away. It didn't mean she trusted me and wanted to teach me the craft sincerely.
The mother and daughter worked together, and when Sun Hongmei came back from the field, they had already cooked two large pots of meat. Xia Juhua thought it weighed about 100 pounds. Wang Caifeng sat on a bench and made a fire. She was not without anxiety, and her stomach was not without discomfort, but she was happy in her heart. When she saw Sun Hongmei coming back, she took the initiative to greet her: "Hongmei is back."
Sun Hongmei had a hard time this half day. Sunjiazhuang was not near the Xihe River, so she had never learned how to weave reed mats. She could only work with other people who also did not know how to weave mats to remove the corn stalks in the field, which were the roots of corn left in the field after the corn stalks were cut.
Since corn stalks can be used for both burning and feeding livestock, we cut them as close to the ground as possible, leaving the corn cobs very short, with only a short section exposed above the ground. Now the corn cobs have lost all moisture and are lying dry in the ground. The places where the sickles have cut have formed sharp slopes, which can directly penetrate the soles of shoes if you step on them carelessly.
Moreover, it is not enough to just dig the corn cobs out of the ground. The soil around the roots must be knocked off. The harder you knock, the cleaner it will be. The production team evaluates the work points based on the amount of corn cobs dug and how clean they are. Each person is awarded five to eight work points.
Sun Hongmei had only dug three acres of land in half a day, and was still far from the task of digging one acre of land a day. When she came back and saw Xia Juhua and Wang Caifeng talking while working in the kitchen, she felt very unhappy and wanted to say something sarcastic, but she didn't dare to say anything because of her current situation. She was so angry that her face turned green.
Seeing that Wang Caifeng actually greeted her with a smile, Sun Hongmei felt that she was showing off to her: she was covered in dust, but she was sitting in front of the stove warming herself by the fire and still had the nerve to smile at her!
Xia Juhua only took one look at Sun Hongmei and knew most of her thoughts. However, she had already decided not to mix the food with that of her two daughters-in-law. She carefully put the last bit of peanuts into the bowl, not noticing that Sun Hongmei did not respond to Wang Caifeng's call.
"Milk, milk, eat, eat." Liu Baoguo saw that Xia Juhua finally stopped and felt that she could take care of him, so he hurriedly asked her for food with saliva dripping from his mouth - Liu Baoguo was very familiar with the smell in the kitchen, it had been in his rice porridge these days.
Xia Juhua was amused: "Oh, your mother and I were busy for so long that she forgot about you. Look at the dirt you are covered in."
Wang Caifeng didn't mind Sun Hongmei ignoring her. She felt that her sister-in-law looked smart, but in reality she was a little confused. Seeing that her mother-in-law didn't care about her, she didn't know how to step down when she took the initiative to give her a chance. How smart could she be?
So Wang Caifeng followed Xia Juhua's words and picked up her son: "That's right, this is really dirty, I'll go back to the house and clean it up for him."
Xia Juhua nodded, lifted the lid on the other side of the pot and began to scoop out the porridge - there was no need to watch the fire while cooking the porridge, it would be cooked while the peanuts were being fried. While scooping out the porridge, Xia Juhua thought that Wang Caifeng wanted to give Sun Hongmei a warning, but now it saved her the trouble.
Only then did Sun Hongmei realize what a mistake it was for her to ignore Wang Caifeng just now, because her mother-in-law wouldn't even look at her, and it was too uncomfortable to be ignored.
She couldn't go on like this. Sun Hongmei felt that she had to let her mother-in-law see how capable she was, so that she wouldn't instigate Liu Zhishuang to send her back to her parents' home behind her back.
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