Chapter 65
The production captain of Sunjiazhuang blushed. Sun Hongmei's father didn't dare to argue anymore, but Captain Xia insisted on asking for the amount, so he had to admit that each bride received a different amount of gifts, and the most was 50 yuan for Sun Hongmei.
"Haha, Captain Sun, do you think the betrothal money should be returned to the other party?" Captain Xia twisted his mouth and did not ask the Sun family, but asked Captain Sun, whose face was blushing and almost burning.
Captain Sun could say that he would stop seeing through the Four Olds, but would he still secretly give the betrothal gifts to the rural areas? If he dared to say it, not only would he not be able to become a production captain, but he and his family would not be able to live in Sun's village.
Looking at the members around him who all lowered their heads, Captain Sun spat out two words through his teeth: "It's time to quit."
After getting the 120 yuan betrothal gift that Sun Hongmei's father mentioned, he still had to ask what the 300 yuan was. Sun Hongmei's father, who was being bullied, had to confess that there was indeed 260 yuan given to him by Liu Sizhuang, and the rest was really their own family's dividend money this year - they got a lot of money unexpectedly this year, so he distributed the production team's dividend to his two sons early, so that they could have a good New Year.
Captain Xia stepped hard and stomped Sun Hongmei's father to death: "Comrade Red Team, I dare not lie, this is really the amount of money."
Captain Xia, who came with a purpose, gave him several slaps in a row: "Search the houses of his two sons and daughter as well."
The two sons of the Sun family who were not spared, who were not necessarily grateful to their father when they received the money, now wish their father would die immediately. Is it so fun to confiscate a house? They can dig out anything hidden in a rat hole.
Fortunately, Sun Hongmei's father did favor his sons, but the time had not come for him to divide all his savings among his sons. The money that his two sons stole from their rooms was within the scope of the Red Team's recognition.
However, the Red Team unexpectedly found 60 yuan in Sun Hongmei's house in the firewood room, and handed it directly to Captain Xia: "Captain, this woman is quite rich."
"Where did you steal this money from?" Captain Xia immediately identified Sun Hongmei and took his feet off her father's back, focusing his main attention on Sun Hongmei.
Sun Hongmei hated these Red Squad. She remembered how Xia Juhua dealt with them when she was still at Liu's house. She tried to act calm and said, "I earned it myself."
"You made it yourself?" Captain Xia swung the banknotes and said, "You are quite good at making money. Tell us so that we can make some money too. Or is it that we can't learn your way of making money?"
Many married people present could hear the teasing in Captain Xia's words, and their eyes turned to Sun Hongmei with mixed feelings. Sun Hongmei had never expected that the sixty yuan she had carefully hidden would be discovered by the Red Team, and that they would also say that she had done something dirty.
In anger, she blurted out, "That was the money my man gave me."
"I know it was your man who gave you the money." Captain Xia smiled with a hint of arrogance: "I just don't know which man it was."
"Of course it's Liu Zhishuang."
"Liu Zhishuang?" Captain Xia asked the people around him, "Why does this name sound so familiar to me? I seem to have heard of it somewhere before."
"Captain, it seems that the second son of Xia Juhua from Ping'an Village is called Liu Zhishuang."
When Captain Xia heard someone mention Xia Juhua again, he had a very bad memory. He glared at the person who said it and said, "Didn't he say he was divorced? Why did he give money to this woman? Did he get divorced because of this woman?"
Captain Sun couldn't bear to hear it any more. He didn't care about Sun Hongmei's reputation, but Xia Juhua's name was now well known in the entire Red Star Commune. He hurriedly said to Captain Xia, "Captain Xia, Liu Zhishuang divorced this Sun Hongmei."
"What?" Captain Xia looked at Sun Hongmei curiously, and said with a twisted mouth: "If I were her, I would have to divorce her too. Why would she give you money after she divorced you?"
"This..." Could Sun Hongmei say that the money was not given by Liu Zhishuang, but that she took it back when Liu Zhishuang was not paying attention when she was about to divorce?
After she returned to her parents' home, her life was not easy. Her parents said they would find another family for her, but the ones they introduced were either old bachelors in their forties or widowers with several children whose wives had died. None of them could compare to Liu Zhishuang. Even the lives of those people were full of leaks, nothing compared to the Liu family.
This made Sun Hongmei think of the days she spent with Liu Zhishuang from time to time. She had dreamed of returning to Ping'an Manor and living with Liu Zhishuang. She thought that since she had brought back all the money, Liu Zhishuang would come to Sun's Manor to find her, so that she could find a way to get Liu Zhishuang to agree to take her back to Ping'an Manor. But except for the time when she was going through the divorce procedure, Liu Zhishuang seemed to not care about the 60 yuan and never came to see her once.
Sun Hongmei couldn't bring herself to go find Liu Zhishuang on her own initiative - her parents were too cruel during the divorce, and she had said too harsh words. If she showed up in Ping'anzhuang again, she would probably not be able to enter the Liu family easily.
This time is different from before marriage, when she had her aunt Sun Guizhi to help her plan, and even if she couldn't get close to Liu Zhishuang for the time being, she could still live in Sun Guizhi's house and wait for an opportunity. Now Sun Guizhi herself is still in the Red Team's study class, and she can't get close to Liu Zhishuang if she goes to Ping'an Village, so where should she live?
And judging from the attitude of the Red Team today, they clearly knew that her uncle had given the money to her parents. Do I need to ask how they knew that? Her aunt must have hated her parents for pushing her cousins to the Red Team, so she reported it. Even if her aunt left the class and returned to Ping An Manor, she would probably not care about her and Liu Zhishuang anymore.
Sun Hongmei couldn't answer, so Captain Xia had plenty of patience to get the answer. He sent someone to Ping'an Village to find Liu Zhishuang and let him confront Sun Hongmei. While waiting for someone, the Red Team felt that they had nothing to do, so they asked Sun Hongmei's mother and sister-in-law to cook for them. The reason was that because of the old Sun family's affairs, they ran from the commune to Sunjia Village early in the morning and didn't even have time to eat. Don't the old Sun family think that they are too hard and should be comforted?
Liu Zhishuang did not come to Sunjiazhuang alone, he came with Liu Liqun. Captain Xia led the Red Team members and had just finished eating the fine food at Sunjiazhuang. He was in a good mood and took the initiative to say hello to Liu Liqun.
While Liu Liqun was chatting with Captain Xia, Liu Zhishuang looked around the courtyard of his grandson's house. He had been to this courtyard several times before, and although it was not cleaned very well at that time, he still knew where to put things.
Now, bedding and clothes were scattered all over the floor, food bags were toppled here and there, and there was a pile of fresh chicken feathers on the side. All the people in the old Sun family were watched by the two Red Teams, squatting in the corner of the east wall, and the production team leader of Sunjiazhuang stood not far from them. He had nothing to say to the Red Team, and he had nothing to say to the old Sun family either.
Liu Zhishuang didn't have much to say to the Sun family. Even though Sun Hongmei kept looking at him with pleading eyes, he pretended not to see it - Xia Juhua's warnings over the past few days were not in vain, and Liu Zhishuang had long understood that he and Sun Hongmei were not the same kind of people.
Sun Hongmei took away all his money, and broke the remaining affection between the two. You have to know how much time and effort Liu Zhishuang spent in order to cover up the fact that his money was taken away.
But in the end, her mother gently poked through the window paper, which made the proud Liu Zhishuang hate Sun Hongmei to death. Seeing her current fate, Liu Zhishuang refrained from mocking her, which was already very kind.
"Liu Zhishuang, is your mother doing well?" Captain Xia saw Liu Zhishuang looking at the mess in the yard and took the initiative to greet Xia Juhua. Liu Zhishuang was shocked and said, "Thank you, Captain Xia. My mother leads us in making mats every day. She is doing well."
"If I were your mother, I would definitely not be in a good mood." Captain Xia took out a handful of banknotes from his pocket and said, "How can I be in a good mood when my son gives money to his divorced daughter-in-law without my knowledge?"
Liu Zhishuang looked at the money in Captain Xia's hand and was sure that it was his annual dividend and the money he earned from carrying the food bag: "Captain Xia, this money was not given by me to Sun Hongmei. She took it secretly from me when we were getting divorced, while her parents came to our house to make trouble."
"When we went to the commune to get a divorce, I asked her where the money went, but she insisted that she didn't know and said she didn't take it. Many people in the commune saw it at the time, and you can find out if you ask everyone. Captain Sun of the Sunjiazhuang Production Team advised me that getting a divorce is better than anything else, so I endured it at the time."
Captain Xia tutted his mouth and said, "Your mother can't bear anything. Why don't you report to the Red Team and let them go to Sun's house to ask for money on your behalf?"
Liu Zhishuang finally lowered his head: "I was thinking about how I, a big boss, was actually schemed against by a woman. How could I have the nerve to trouble the comrades in the Red Team?"
Several members of the Red Team burst into laughter. Not only Liu Zhishuang, but even the captain of the Sunjiazhuang production team was shocked. At that time, the captain of the Sunjiazhuang production team only wanted to finish the Sun family's affairs as soon as possible and stay away from this family, so he advised Liu Zhishuang to take a step back.
Unexpectedly, Liu Zhishuang withdrew, but the old Sun family was not at peace and called the Red Team, so he still couldn't escape.
Liu Liqun stepped forward and confronted Liu Zhishuang: "You little bastard, why didn't you tell the team about such a big thing? How much money do we farmers earn in a year? You didn't feel any pain when someone took away so much money. It must be that your mother loves her son and wants you to have some money. Such a large sum of money was taken away by someone, and she couldn't even tell him. How upset she must be!"
Liu Zhishuang's eyes turned red: "Captain Liu, I was too embarrassed to tell my mother at first, and later on I didn't know how to tell her."
"How can you open your mouth? She's your own mother, how can she laugh at you?" Liu Liqun couldn't understand why a young man who looked quite smart could be so messed up! But he still had to get the money first. When he turned to face Captain Xia, the anger on his face subsided a lot:
"Thanks to Captain Xia, the truth came to light. Otherwise, this brat would have to fool his mother for the rest of his life."
Hearing that Xia Juhua might have been feeling depressed these days, Captain Xia felt satisfied: "Captain Liu is right. If you don't come back, you can report to the team. If the team can't solve the problem, we have our Red Team. If you encounter problems in the future, you must trust the organization." As he said that, he handed the banknotes in his hand to Liu Zhishuang.
Liu Zhishuang couldn't believe that the money could be returned so easily, and looked at Liu Liqun, hoping that he could give him some advice. Liu Liqun had already taken the money and said, "Captain Xia, please give it to me first. I will give it to Captain Xia directly when I return, so that this bastard won't be cheated again."
Captain Xia, still in a cheerful mood, pulled out five ten-yuan notes from his pocket like a magician: "I heard that your Captain Xia paid a gift when he married his daughter-in-law? That is a feudal poison and should be severely criticized."
"Alas," Liu Liqun sighed at Captain Xia, "Captain Xia, you have always been doing grassroots work, how can you not understand the situation of us old farmers? Two years ago, Captain Xia was not a production captain. A woman raising two children to make a living, if she wants to marry a daughter-in-law, she can't agree to any conditions raised by the girl's family. Who makes it so difficult to marry a daughter-in-law in the countryside now?"
Sun Hongmei really wanted to jump up and say that Liu Liqun was lying. The fifty yuan betrothal gift was clearly given to her parents by Xia Juhua herself according to the standards of the eldest daughter-in-law. How did it end up being her parents' initiative?
But she didn't dare to stand up, because Captain Sun just stared at her and hadn't looked away since Liu Zhishuang came. Sun Hongmei remembered that when she got divorced, her parents did ask to keep her betrothal gift, and they really did leave the money.
It's hard to explain. Sun Hongmei only had this thought in her mind. Maybe her parents had the same idea as her. They all regretted why they insisted on keeping the fifty yuan. Now they had added a crime to themselves.
Captain Xia finally gave the betrothal money to Liu Liqun, but asked Liu Liqun to educate Xia Juhua after returning to Ping'an Village and let her write a profound self-examination. This request made Liu Liqun look embarrassed: "Captain Xia, Xia Juhua can't read."
"How could she weave a mat with words on it if she can't read?" Captain Xia didn't believe it.
Liu Liqun smiled bitterly: "When the country was first liberated, didn't every village hold a literacy class? That's when she learned a few Chinese characters. She forgot all the other characters, except for a few auspicious Chinese characters, which she memorized after reading them many times before."
Captain Xia had nothing to say. He waved his hand and told Liu Liqun to take Liu Zhishuang away quickly. He then led the Red Team, taking Sun Hongmei's parents and Sun Hongmei, who were tied up with ropes, back to the commune where they were being held in the study class.
The two Sun brothers who were not taken away with the others left. While cursing the Red Team in a low voice, they also wondered why the Red Team suddenly came to their house to cause trouble.
The two of them were more complaining that their parents had not divided the money among them earlier, so that they might have found a better place to hide it, instead of having more than 400 yuan returned to the Liu family while being confiscated by the Red Team.
It was just over 400 yuan. At that time, even if you worked in the fields for four years, you couldn't save 400 yuan. It was taken away right in front of your eyes. It makes you sad just thinking about it.
"And that damn girl Hongmei, she has money but she still eats and drinks for free at home." Sun Hongmei's sister-in-law finally found a way to vent her dissatisfaction with her sister-in-law.
Her second sister-in-law curled her lips and rolled her eyes: "At first, people said she married well, with both betrothal gifts and food. Now, the food has been taken away, and the betrothal gifts have been returned by the Red Team. The Red Team also suspected that the money was not clean. I dare not have such a shameful sister-in-law in the future!"
"Yes, if she wants to eat out again, she has to pay for it herself." Sun Hongmei's sister-in-law made the final decision.
No one thought about why the Red Team, who had always been kind to the family, returned all the Liu family's money to its original owner so readily.
Even Liu Zhishuang was confused all the way back: "Captain Liu, why did the Red Team suddenly come to Sunjiazhuang to ask for money for me? I didn't report it to them."
Liu Liqun looked at him deeply and spat on the ground: "Zhishuang, uncle is going to say a few words to you today. How could you hide everything from your mother? If your mother had known about this earlier, would she have asked for the money back a long time ago? Don't you trust your mother so much?" He has made a production team so prosperous that it makes others jealous, but he can't solve such a small problem at home?
Liu Zhishuang blushed and said, "Captain Liu, it's not that I don't trust my mother, I'm just afraid that she will worry."
"She is not worried because she heard it from others?" Liu Liqun angrily slapped Liu Zhishuang on the back again: "Which one is more embarrassing for your mother, hearing it from you or hearing it from others? If her own son doesn't trust her, how can the members of the production team trust her? How can she assign work to others and speak in front of others in the future?"
Liu Zhishuang was speechless and followed Liu Liqun in silence all the way back to Ping'an Village.
Ever since the two of them were called to Sun's village, Xia Juhua had been feeling uneasy - deep down, she didn't want to have anything to do with anyone from the old Sun family anymore, and she didn't know whether Liu Zhishuang's visit was a blessing or a curse.
No matter how troublesome or annoying a son is, he is still his own flesh and blood. How can a parent just say they don't care about him?
Xia Juhua didn't feel relieved until she saw Liu Liqun and Liu Zhishuang. Because her family was busy frying peanuts and making flour, Xia Juhua didn't dare to invite Liu Liqun home, so she invited him to the production team directly.
"Captain Liu, please follow me one more time and come to our production team tomorrow to eat the slaughtered pigs." Xia Juhua respected Liu Liqun, the retired veteran, from the bottom of her heart.
Liu Liqun thought Xia Juhua didn't know the truth yet. As a father and mother, he felt sorry for Xia Juhua from the bottom of his heart - he didn't miss the relief on Xia Juhua's face when she saw the two of them.
"Stop busying yourself. I have things to do back at the team. Zhishuang is young and has a good attitude. You just need to scold him and let him know where he is wrong. He will correct it in the future." Liu Liqun felt sympathy for Xia Juhua and thought that she had the right to scold Liu Zhishuang.
Xia Juhua didn't know what was going on yet, and Liu Liqun asked her to scold Liu Zhishuang, so naturally she turned her attention to her youngest son. Well, except that he looked a little wilted, his clothes were clean, and he didn't look like he had been in a fight. Could it be?
"Liu Zhishuang, have you agreed to remarry that Sun Hongmei? I tell you, I don't mind you remarrying her, but let's divide the family first." Thinking of this possibility, Xia Juhua felt short of breath and her voice was trembling.
Neither Liu Liqun nor his friend expected Xia Juhua to react so violently. Liu Zhishuang was frightened and quickly said, "Mom, I won't remarry her. Don't worry, I will never remarry her." After saying that, he looked at Liu Liqun pleadingly.
Liu Liqun realized that he had not made his words clear and Xia Juhua had misunderstood him. Feeling somewhat guilty, he took out some money from his pocket and handed it to her: "Today we went to Sun's Village. The Red Squad asked us about the situation of the old Sun family collecting betrothal gifts. Also, Sun Hongmei took away Zhishuang's money, which was also found by the comrades of the Red Squad and all was returned."
When did the Red Team become so generous? Xia Juhua looked at the money in Liu Liqun's hand and didn't take it. Liu Liqun handed the money to Xia Juhua again: "You are too indulgent to your children. How can you let them take so much money when you haven't even separated the family?"
Xia Juhua smiled bitterly: "At that time, I thought that they were all married, and maybe they felt sorry for their wives and children, so they just wanted to buy some things. How could a grown man like me feel comfortable asking me for money? So I let them each take half of the money they earned. Who would have thought..."
Liu Liqun, the militia captain of the brigade, didn't want to interfere too much in other people's family affairs. He looked at Liu Zhishuang and got up and left. Xia Juhua took a while to come to her senses. She pushed the money that Liu Liqun had put on the table in front of Liu Zhishuang and said, "Take it yourself."
"Mom," Liu Zhishuang heard Xia Juhua's determination to separate from him, and said anxiously, "Mom, I won't keep anything from you anymore, please don't be angry with me, okay? You take this money, and you will be in charge of all the money I earn in the future."
Xia Juhua still shook her head and insisted that Liu Zhishuang take the money himself. Liu Zhishuang had no choice but to take the 60 yuan that Sun Hongmei took away and refused to take the remaining 50 yuan.
This was the production team, not their own home, and someone might come in at any time. Xia Juhua had no choice but to put it in her pocket first, and the mother and daughter had nothing to say.
After a while, Liu Zhishuang finally found a topic: "Mom, why did the Red Team suddenly go to Sunjiazhuang?"
Xia Juhua had no idea why the Red Team wanted to do this, so she could only shake her head. The mother and daughter were speechless again.
Liu Zhishuang couldn't remember when he and his mother had a rift. He could only remember the day when he took vermicelli to the black market and his mother told him over and over again. He missed his mother's care for him at that time and hoped to receive the same care in the future.
"Mom, I'm going back to help my brother with his meal." Liu Zhishuang felt that his mother would care about him more when he was doing his work, so he went back to help with his meal without caring about the twenty-plus miles he had walked.
"You should go home and rest for a while. You've walked such a long way." Xia Juhua said this naturally, which made Liu Zhishuang's heart blossom with joy. He jumped out of the production team like a child. I don't know if he heard what Xia Juhua said next: There are many days of work ahead.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
