Pingan Village had a big news: the Liu family was going to split up, and they even asked the brigade cadres to help with the split. Xia Juhua looked at Li Changwang's family in front of her and asked in disbelief, "Did the old lady agree?"
"It's no use if she disagrees. Liu Erzhuang is determined this time. I heard that he distributed the food in the warehouse last night. Now he is asking the brigade cadres for help in settling the work points for these years with old Mrs. Liu."
Xia Juhua felt that this account was not clear, and indeed it was not clear. Sun insisted that there were many people in the family, and they had a lot of food and expenses. Not to mention that they had no money saved, they did not borrow money from others because she suffered and supported her son, so that the whole family did not have to go out to beg for food.
What could the brigade officials do to Sun? She acted like a dead pig that was not afraid of boiling water, making sure that the brigade officials would not go into the house to look through it. Sun was not afraid of people looking through it either. One of her words was true, that is, she had little money.
As early as when Liu Sizhuang and his family went to Sun's village, Sun had let Liu Sizhuang take away most of the money. In addition to not wanting Liu Sizhuang to have to please his brother-in-law, it was also because Sun Guizhi had always said how much her brother and sister-in-law loved her. So she asked them to take the money and ask Sun's family to keep it for Liu Sizhuang first, so as to prevent the money from falling into the hands of Liu Erzhuang and Liu Sanzhuang if the family was really divided.
At that time, Sun thought that it would be An Baoling who proposed to divide the family, and she was also prepared to divide Liu Sanzhuang's family - she had her second son, who was a production team leader, to take care of in her old age, and her most beloved fourth son was by her side, so Sun was not sad at all to divide up the stupid third son.
Not wanting to split up the family with Liu Erzhuang, Sun Shi certainly couldn't really let Liu Erzhuang break the lock of the barn, but watched the two families weigh the grain according to the main grain and miscellaneous grain. Sun Shi once suggested that it had been so long since the autumn harvest, and the grain eaten by the two families should be deducted, but Liu Erzhuang shut her up with one sentence: "Mom, have you forgotten whose work points were used to buy these grains?"
All the food was taken away by Liu Erzhuang, the unscrupulous partner, and An Baoling, the unfilial daughter-in-law. Sun secretly felt lucky that she had asked Liu Sizhuang to take the money to his brother-in-law's house. So even though the brigade cadres had said so much, Sun refused to give a penny.
Finally, Liu Erzhuang and his wife discussed with An Baoling and came up with a compromise plan. The dividends from the first four years could be converted into the house the two families currently live in. As long as Sun took out the dividends from the two families this year, they would not care.
What can Sun do? She threw a tantrum and said that she had no money, and she did not agree that Liu Erzhuang and Liu Sanzhuang should continue to live in the east and west rooms. In a word, if they wanted to divide the family property, they should move out of the old Liu's house. From then on, she no longer had these two sons.
That's not right. She still wants these two sons. She wants each of them to give her 100 kilograms of staple food every year for her old age.
Li Changshun, the team leader, couldn't stand it any longer and yelled at Sun: "Old Liu, you don't give your two children any money, and yet you want them to give you 100 kilograms of food per child per year. Aren't you afraid that you will choke to death if you eat them?"
Sun was daring to act like a spoiled child to others, but was a little scared of the captain. Li Changshun was a veteran who had joined the army during the Anti-Japanese War and had a lot of military medals. If he hadn't been unable to cross the river due to a lame leg, he wouldn't be the captain of the Ping An Brigade now.
More importantly, when Li Changshun and Liu Erzhuang's father worked together as porters for the landlord, they wore the same pair of pants. Later, Li Changshun couldn't stand the bullying of the landlord and wanted to run away to join the army. At that time, he asked Liu Erzhuang's father to go with him, but Liu Erzhuang's father was beaten by Sun and stayed behind to continue working, so Li Changshun had to fight the Japanese alone.
When they met again, the man who fought the Japanese was only lame, but the one who was left to carry the goods had already died. In order to protect Sun from falling into the hands of the Japanese, Li Changshun spat at Sun, called her a spendthrift woman, and never spoke to her again.
Even yesterday when Sun went to the brigade to complain, Li Changshun just listened to her crying with a gloomy face, waved his hand and drove her away directly, without saying a word from beginning to end. Sun came back and said that the brigade no longer allowed Liu Erzhuang to be the production team leader, but it was just a scare tactic.
Now Li Changshun finally spoke to Sun, but Sun didn't dare to say anything. She just kept saying "no money". Li Changshun slapped the edge of the kang and said, "No money means no money. Erzhuang, listen to your uncle. Just treat this money as feeding the dog. You and Sanzhuang are both good people, and the children have grown up. Whatever you earn next year will be yours."
An Baoling's eyes were red with anger: "Captain, Sanzhuang is still lying on the kang and can't get up. I don't know if he needs to see a doctor again. If he does, he'll have to pay. I borrowed the money from my sister-in-law to see the doctor."
Li Changshun glared at Sun and said helplessly to An Baoling, "Third daughter-in-law, don't think your uncle is trying to smooth things over. If you had separated from this spendthrift woman earlier, you could have lived two more days. Otherwise, she would have been pissed off to death earlier, and what would have happened to your two children?"
An Baoling gritted her teeth and said nothing. Sun wanted to speak, but she was afraid that Li Changshun would force her to pay the money if she opened her mouth, so she had to remain silent. Finally, under the witness of the brigade cadres, the parties signed a separation agreement:
Liu Erzhuang, Liu Sanzhuang separated from Sun and Liu Sizhuang. The houses they now live in belong to each family, and their current belongings also belong to each family. From now on, Liu Erzhuang and Liu Sanzhuang will each give Sun 30 kilograms of staple food every year for her old age.
Xia Juhua was stunned when she heard An Baoling's story about the division of the family. Even though she had a reputation as a bad mother-in-law in her previous life, if she were really compared to Sun, people would still rank Sun first.
Even with all the chaos, Sun Shi can still get old-age food from Liu Erzhuang and Liu Sanzhuang every year. It turns out that her claim of being the best is fake. Not only will she not suffer any loss from the real best, but she will also make others so disgusted that they can't eat.
However, Xia Juhua was not in the mood to care about the troubles in the old house now. She was worried about Liu Zhishuang who went to the commune early in the morning. She wondered whether Sun Hongmei would really go to the commune to get a divorce today, or whether Liu Zhishuang would want to live with Sun Hongmei again after seeing her.
If Liu Zhishuang dared to bring Sun Hongmei back, then they would just split up the family, and it would be up to them to decide whether it was good or bad. Xia Juhua was furious, and she didn't care about Li Changwang's family.
Li Changwang's family was a chatterbox, but you could tell she had a good look on her face. She noticed that Xia Juhua's silence was different from her usual silence, so she left after not staying for long - she had already reported the letter to her, and Xia Juhua should know her feelings, which was enough.
Unexpectedly, not long after Li Changwang's family left, the angry An Baoling came to complain to Xia Juhua again - what's the use of just dividing the food, the New Year is coming soon, and it's the first New Year after the separation, everyone in the family must buy a new piece of clothing, and make dumplings on the night of the 30th?
An Baoling knew that the villagers sympathized with them and Liu Erzhuang's family at the moment, but if Sun and Liu Sizhuang could no longer get along, the old lady would definitely go to their two families to beg for food. Dare not give? Those who sympathized with them now would become those who attacked them!
What could Xia Juhua say? She was not a talkative person to begin with, and after thinking for a long time, she finally said something to comfort An Baoling: "No matter what, both of your families don't have to support Liu Sizhuang's family anymore, and you can live a normal life in a few years."
"I know this is the truth, but I just feel so aggrieved. Why did Liu Sizhuang beat people up and take all the money?" She and Li Daya discussed it quietly, and both thought that Sun might not have much money, so why ask where the money went?
Xia Juhua shook her head meaningfully. She felt that Liu Sizhuang's money might not still be his money. If Liu Sizhuang really had money, the Red Team would have found it long ago. The Red Team was never polite when they searched homes and arrested people. It was normal to beat and search people. any move until now, which meant that the money was no longer in Liu Sizhuang's hands.
There was no need to ask who had the money. Xia Juhua felt that since the Sun family would grab a handful of dirt if they fell to the ground, when Liu Sizhuang's family was released from the commune in the future, the Sun family would not be able to return the money to Liu Sizhuang readily.
As they were talking, someone suddenly asked at the gate of the courtyard, "Is this Xia Juhua's home?" Before Xia Juhua could respond, four or five people came in, each wearing a red armband, puckered their eyebrows and stared at Xia Juhua and An Baoling who came out to greet them.
"I'm Xia Juhua." Xia Juhua answered, trembling in her heart. Why did the people from the Red Team come to her house just when she thought of them? Could it be that they knew what bad things she said about them in her heart?
"Are you Xia Juhua? Someone reported you for speculation. Come with us." The leader of the Red Team looked at Xia Juhua, an ordinary rural woman who seemed to work in the fields all year round. Her face was tanned, but her clothes were neat and clean. She looked more energetic than other rural women.
An Baoling recognized the leader of the Red Team, the one who had led the team to arrest Liu Sizhuang yesterday. She quickly stepped forward with a smile and said, "Captain, is there any misunderstanding? My sister-in-law is roasting peanuts for the supply and marketing cooperative, not speculating."
The leader of the Red Team glanced at An Baoling as if he didn't know her, and then continued to stare at Xia Juhua: "Do you want to go with us by yourself, or do you want us to tie you up and leave?"
"Pa--" The leading red team was suddenly hit on the neck from behind. The person who hit him angrily asked, "Where are you going? You rascal, why are you bullying people here?"
Xia Juhua was trying hard to think of what to say to gain the trust of the Red Team. The beaten Red Team leader and the Red Team members he brought were all stunned by the person who fell from the sky.
Xia Juhua murmured, "Brother Xia, why are you here so early?"
The boss of the supply and marketing cooperative nodded at Xia Juhua embarrassedly: "Thank goodness I came early, otherwise this naughty kid would have bullied others again."
"Uncle San, I'm doing revolutionary work." The leader of the Red Team said angrily, "If you disturb my work again, I will be rude to you."
"You are not polite. Have you ever been polite?" The boss of the car seemed to be quite resentful of his nephew. He pointed at his nose and asked, "You didn't ask before you came. Comrade Xia roasted peanuts for the supply and marketing cooperative. For this, our supply and marketing cooperative was praised by the county supply and marketing cooperative. You want to arrest Comrade Xia, which will only undermine the mission of our supply and marketing cooperative."
The leader of the Red Team obviously hadn't thought of this and said unconvincedly: "You said she was fired for the supply and marketing cooperative, so she was fired for the supply and marketing cooperative?"
"Comrade Xia not only roasts peanuts for our supply and marketing cooperative, but now he roasts peanuts brought from the county supply and marketing cooperative. Those peanuts are the ones I brought from the county!" The car owner was also convinced by this bad nephew. He was so old but didn't want to do a proper job. Every day he took people to catch this or fight that. Everyone in the commune was offended by him.
The leader of the Red Team was still unconvinced: "The informant said that Xia Juhua charged the supply and marketing cooperative a processing fee, which was speculation."
Xia Juhua was shocked and asked in a panic, "Who reported me?"
The boss of the car saw that Xia Juhua was frightened, and hurriedly persuaded her, "Comrade Xia, don't worry. The supply and marketing cooperative asked you to fry peanuts, so you can't work in the fields to earn work points. Of course, the supply and marketing cooperative must compensate you. This is a new society, and the supply and marketing cooperative cannot deprive you of the fruits of your labor."
The leader of the Red Team choked, realizing that once his uncle said that, it was natural for Xia Juhua to get paid for frying peanuts. If he continued to use this as an excuse, wouldn't it be like he was exploiting Xia Juhua's labor?
The leader of the Red Team, who usually claimed to be the one who listened to the old man, did not dare to let his behavior be the same as the exploiting class that the old man believed should be eliminated. He ignored the car owner and looked fiercely at Xia Juhua, who was in a panic: the person in front of him behaved like an ordinary rural woman when encountering something, but why did he feel that something was wrong?
Just as they were thinking about how to scare Xia Juhua to see if she was really honest or just pretending, Wang Caixia came in in a hurry. As salespeople from the supply and marketing cooperative, they naturally knew the leader of the commune's Red Team: "Hey, Captain Xia, why are you here? Are you here to investigate the peanut roasting issue?"
Seeing Wang Caixia made her point clear as soon as she entered the courtyard, Xia Juhua felt relieved and nodded at her. Wang Caixia did not wait for the Red Team Leader to reply and started to speak:
"Our director was afraid that some people didn't understand why Comrade Xia had to be asked to fry peanuts, so he asked me and Lao Xia to go there. Firstly, the county supply and marketing cooperative was in a hurry, and secondly, Comrade Xia helped the supply and marketing cooperative so much that she also solved the production problems of the whole commune next year. We can't scare her into not being able to help in the future."
"Can she solve the production problems of the entire commune?" The leader of the Red Team didn't believe it.
Wang Caixia didn't care about his doubts at all, and explained to him with a smile: "The peanuts our supply and marketing cooperative received from the county supply and marketing cooperative were the largest in all the communes. The county supply and marketing cooperative said it wanted to support the regional supply and marketing cooperative, so it asked Comrade Xia to fry another 2,000 kilograms of peanuts. In order to let Comrade Xia fry peanuts with peace of mind and without any psychological burden, the county supply and marketing cooperative has agreed to give priority to our commune with the first batch of fertilizers in the spring of next year. Do you think this means that Comrade Xia has solved the production problems of the entire commune?
Fertilizers were in great demand at that time, and everyone knew that using fertilizers could increase production. At the beginning of spring, everyone from the county to the production team would try to steal fertilizers for themselves. If the county supply and marketing cooperative really agreed to give priority to the Red Star Commune in the beginning of spring, it would not be an exaggeration to say that Xia Juhua had solved the production problem.
"After hearing about it, the director of our Revolutionary Committee personally praised Comrade Xia and said that comrades like her should play their roles well and asked our director to reward Comrade Xia if conditions permit." Wang Caixia added at the end and looked at the leader of the Red Team with a smile.
The director of the Revolutionary Committee actually knew all this? The leader of the Red Team looked at Wang Caixia suspiciously, not wanting to believe it. He had dealt with Wang Caixia before and knew that she was also a person with a lot of credibility.
Seeing that Wang Caixia had said so much, but her nephew still stood there and refused to leave, the boss of the car said angrily, "What? You Red Team members don't even listen to the Revolutionary Committee?"
Xia Juhua pulled the coachman's sleeve helplessly. She just wanted to send the Red Team away quickly, fearing that the coachman's words would make the Red Team leader angry and embarrassed.
The captain's face was indeed very ugly. The Red Team was no longer as glorious as it was at the beginning of the movement. Not to mention attacking the Revolutionary Committee, the funds were all in the hands of the Revolutionary Committee. If he, the captain, did not follow the instructions of the Revolutionary Committee and the news spread to the commune, it would be the end of him.
Is this what your uncle said? The leader of the Red Team glared at his uncle, nodded at Xia Juhua, and left with his men without saying a word.
An Baoling let out a long breath, saying she was scared to death. Boss Che snorted coldly, and Xia Juhua asked with some fear: "Comrade Xia, I think the leader of the Red Team seems to be a little afraid of you." They were all bad guys, and they would not recognize their relatives when they were in trouble. Xia Juhua always felt that it was unreal to hear his cold words several times just because Boss Che was her uncle.
Boss Che sighed and shook his head, and Wang Caixia explained the situation for him. It turned out that the father of the leader of the Red Team was the eldest of his brothers. He didn't raise the second brother, and there were two older sisters in between before Boss Che grew up. Therefore, Boss Che's mother loved this youngest son very much.
Because he felt sorry for his younger son, he specifically asked the cadres of the production team and the brigade to let the cart owner learn to drive a cart. When the supply and marketing cooperative was recruiting people, the cart owner also joined the supply and marketing cooperative. The production team gave him ten work points every day, and the supply and marketing cooperative provided him with three meals.
The truck owner is down-to-earth and hardworking. When driving a truck, he can do all the lifting and moving work by himself. The director of the supply and marketing cooperative always takes him on any "processing product" work, so he lives a good life.
His eldest brother's family was not so good. They had several children and a Red Team leader who never went out to work. He also took his two brothers with him to run around. The only one in the family who earned work points was the driver, and it was not enough to exchange for food. The driver would give the eldest brother some subsidies from time to time. As for buying some rare things, he couldn't do without the driver, so even though the Red Team leader was arrogant, he didn't dare to offend his third uncle.
An Baoling thought it was a farce. How could someone be favored by her mother and favor other brothers? She kept saying that the boss was kind and righteous. Xia Juhua knew that she was speaking from her heart, so she smiled and said nothing.
Knowing that something important happened at home, An Baoling left with a tactful look. Before leaving, she told Xia Juhua that Liu Erzhuang had already told Li Changshun that he would not be the production team leader, so she should be mentally prepared.
Naturally, he was preparing for someone else to become the production team leader and not be able to take care of Xia Juhua as before. Fortunately, Xia Juhua has now come to terms with it and no longer wants to force herself to work like she did in her previous life. She has already had some other ideas.
As soon as An Baoling left, Xia Juhua weighed the fried peanuts one by one in front of Wang Caixia and the car owner. Wang Caixia also brought her wages, and Xia Juhua returned the money she had borrowed from Wang Caixia. After everything was done, they sat down and talked quietly.
The boss of the car took a bundle of vermicelli from the car at some point and handed it to Xia Juhua, saying, "This is the vermicelli my wife leaked herself. Don't dislike it."
"You can't accept this." Xia Juhua quickly pushed away the bundle of vermicelli: "I've troubled Brother Xia to transport peanuts for me these few times. I'm making money so easily. I should thank Brother Xia very much."
Wang Caixia took out a box of canned oranges, and while Xia Juhua and Mr. Che were arguing, she quietly put it on top of the counter. Mr. Che pointed at her and said:
"You can't just accept Caixia's gift and not mine because you are related to her. We will have more frequent interactions in the future. I also want you to fry some peanuts for me during the Chinese New Year. If you don't accept it, I won't dare to ask for it."
Wang Caixia said that the can was not for Xia Juhua, but for her nephew Liu Baoguo. As an aunt, she loves her nephew. If Xia Juhua, as a grandmother, refuses it, she will not acknowledge Wang Caifeng's maternal relatives. Xia Juhua could only accept it helplessly, feeling very sorry. She wanted to keep the two of them for dinner before leaving, but they refused and just said they could eat next time.
How could there be a next time? Fried peanuts are not a must for every household. The county supply and marketing cooperative fried so many peanuts at once, and they probably won’t fry them again before the New Year. Next year, everyone will be thinking about how to fill their stomachs, and the supply and marketing cooperative may not care about fried peanuts.
Perhaps the twenty or so yuan in front of her would be the last money Xia Juhua would make from roasting peanuts.
Liu Zhishuang came back with a dejected look on his face. He said hello to Xia Juhua and went back to the west room to lie down. He did not show up until lunch time and put down his chopsticks after taking only two bites of his meal.
Even though he initiated the divorce, Liu Zhishuang did not feel relieved: when he went back to sleep yesterday, he found that his dividends and the money he earned from carrying food bags had all been taken away by Sun Hongmei. Liu Zhishuang wanted to go to Sun's village to ask Sun Hongmei for money, but he finally held back.
His mother had already been worried about him and suffered so much. If she knew that Sun Hongmei had taken all the money away, she would be anxious and angry. So Liu Zhishuang went to the commune to wait for Sun Hongmei, hoping to get the money back without Xia Juhua knowing.
The person did arrive, but Sun Hongmei refused to admit that she had taken the money: "The money was in the cabinet, I don't know where it went. Maybe you didn't want our family to keep the fifty yuan from the betrothal gift, so you hid the money to trick me."
Sun Hongmei looked at Liu Zhishuang viciously and spoke vicious words, just like she was talking to an enemy. She was nothing like the considerate girl before marriage, or the careful and flattering young wife after marriage.
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