Chapter 6 Yue Ning's Situation
Suddenly, strangers came to the small mountain village, and the barking of dogs attracted the brigade members over.
Just as the villagers were about to approach, the brigade secretary Yang Fugen strode over and said, "Why are you joining in the fun? Go back."
"Secretary Fugen? You investigated Yue Ning a few days ago. Are you here to arrest her?" someone asked.
Yang Fugen saw the comrades from the county waving at him, and without having time to answer, he turned and walked to the leader.
The villagers could not get close and could only stand eight feet away to discuss. Someone started the conversation and the others followed suit: "Yuening is just a little girl. What did she do? Why do we have to arrest her?"
"Big Dog, you don't understand this. The key is not what she did, but her identity. She is not a poor and lower-middle peasant like us. Don't forget, where did her mother go? It's reasonable for people like her to be arrested and put in prison for a few years." Tian Zaohua smiled crookedly, "She has been here for more than ten years, and she has not been able to integrate into the poor and lower-middle peasants. There is something wrong with her thinking, a big problem."
"Tian Zaohua, why hasn't Yue Ning integrated into the poor and lower-middle peasants? Is she not good at herding sheep, or is she slow at doing her farm work? Just because that girl refuses to marry your stupid son, you mean she hasn't integrated into the poor and lower-middle peasants?" Lu Chunmei retorted.
"Lu Chunmei, you are a soft-hearted person who has benefited from others. You have been helping Yue Ning because you have received favors from Yue Zhirong." Tian Zaohua said loudly.
When the Yue family father and daughter were sent down to the countryside, Yue Ning was only five years old. At that time, Lu Chunmei's mother-in-law was already over seventy years old and stopped working. She stayed at home to look after the child. Yue Zhirong had to go out to work, so he entrusted Yue Ning to Lu Chunmei's mother-in-law. Yue Ning was two years older than Lu Chunmei's daughter Xiuxiu, and the two children played together.
Yue Zhirong would always share the food he bought with Lu Chunmei's children when he received food and cloth coupons sent from Guangdong City. He would also always buy a few extra feet of cloth and ask Lu Chunmei to help make clothes, one for Yue Ning and one for Xiuxiu in their family.
Lu Chunmei is also a down-to-earth person. After Yue Zhirong passed away and Yuecheng no longer sent things to her, she still took care of Yue Ning to the best of her ability.
In addition, Lu Chunmei dated Accountant Xu when she was young, so Xu's mother thought that the Lu family had many brothers and sisters, while the Tian family had only one girl, so she insisted that Xu Dagui marry Tian Zaohua. Later, Lu Chunmei married into Xiaoyangjiagou, but the man she married was not as capable as Xu Dagui.
Tian Zaohua likes to gossip and talk behind people's backs all day long.
Previously, Lu Chunmei heard Tian Zaohua say that Yue Ning was unlucky in marriage, so she spoke up for Yue Ning. Tian Zaohua couldn't argue with her, so she attacked Lu Chunmei, boasting that her husband was the accountant of the brigade, and said that Lu Chunmei was a person without blessings and should not marry into a blessed family.
How could Lu Chunmei bear the revelation of such an old story? She started to curse at Tian Zaohua on the spot, asking where her good fortune came from? Was it the blessing of giving birth to a fool? This irritated Tian Zaohua, and the two of them fought in the field, and the hatred deepened.
How big of a accusation is "taking bribes"? Lu Chunmei got angry and pulled Tian Zaohua and said, "Come on! Follow me to the comrades in the county and explain clearly how I took bribes. I want to tell the comrades in the county that you spread feudal superstition and framed Yue Ning..."
At this time, Accountant Xu grabbed Tian Zaohua and looked at Lu Chunmei: "Chunmei, stop making trouble!"
He doesn't care about his wife, and he says she's making trouble? It's true that people who sleep in the same bed are different. Lu Chunmei let go of Tian Zaohua and ran to the leader: "Comrade leader, Yue Ning is a good girl, she is hardworking and willing to work. Don't listen to Tian Zaohua's nonsense."
Seeing that Lu Chunmei had gone crazy, Xu Dagui shouted to Lu Chunmei's husband, "Zhongyi, go and hold your wife back, don't make things worse."
Lu Chunmei's husband ran over, grabbed his woman, and covered her mouth: "Go home."
The county leader was explaining things to Yang Fugen. When the two of them looked over here, the county leader almost couldn't breathe.
Good God! What kind of occasion is this?
A man from Beijing accompanied the grandson and friends of a big boss in Hong Kong to come here to look for relatives. The big boss is now in Shanghai to discuss buying a ship from a shipyard! The superiors asked to receive him well. The leader said that they had arranged a guesthouse in the county and wanted the Hong Kong businessman to stay for one night and come tomorrow. Who would have thought that the old man couldn't wait a moment and had to come immediately. The leaders could only accompany him here.
It takes four hours to drive from Xiaoyangjiagou to the county seat, and it is already dark now. The mountain road is difficult to travel on. Their Beilv van breaks down from time to time. What if it breaks down halfway?
Now that he had arrived at the place, he was arranging food and lodging with the brigade secretary. It was such a small mountain village, and at this time of year, what could he provide for the guests? He was already overwhelmed with bedding for so many people, and the two women were quarreling? How would the superiors view this?
"Go and tell them to stop quarreling."
The leader gave the order, and Yang Fugen trotted over to Lu Chunmei and her husband and said, "Take your wife home."
Lu Chunmei's man is a brother of Yang Fugen: "Third brother, I know."
Her husband didn't ask any questions and just dragged her away. Lu Chunmei struggled and bit the man's hand. The man let go in pain and she ran forward desperately. She saw just now that the man with glasses was talking to Secretary Fugen. Secretary Fugen was submissive and must be a high-ranking official.
She ran to the comrade with glasses and said without taking a breath, "Comrade, Yue Ning has been reformed very well here. She is a very honest girl. Don't listen to the rumors that Tian Zaohua forced Yue Ning to marry her stupid son. She hates Yue Ning and spreads rumors about her."
"Who spread the rumor?" Tian Zaohua also broke free from the man and rushed over, "Don't accuse a good person. I didn't say a word when you came to investigate that day."
"Who would believe that? Your mouth is like one with hemorrhoids, you just talk crap all day long..." Lu Chunmei was so angry that she blurted out some harsh words.
Two women were arguing loudly. The comrade wearing glasses was considered a leader in the county, but wasn’t there another comrade from Beijing?
The comrade advised: "Sister-in-law, you ..."
Hearing the noise outside, Yue Ning knew that Tian Zaohua was getting excited again. Aunt Chunmei was worried about her, so she ran out and saw the noisy group. She shouted, "Aunt Chunmei, I'm fine."
When Lu Chunmei saw Yue Ning, she walked over quickly and asked, "Are you really okay?"
"It's okay. The leader brought my grandfather to see me." After Yue Ning finished speaking to Lu Chunmei, he turned and looked towards the door.
Yue Baohua walked out of the door. He had been in Gangcheng for so many years and ran Baohua Building. His wealth was certainly not comparable to that of the wealthy Qiao family, but he was still a boss of some size, and he had an aura of his own standing there.
The most senior leader Lu Chunmei had ever seen was the commune secretary. Seeing this gray-haired old man who looked even more impressive than their commune secretary, she asked, "Is this your grandfather?"
"Grandpa, no one arrested me." Yue Ning held her hand, "Nothing happened."
Lu Chunmei looked at the old man carefully and found that he looked quite similar to Yue Ning. She laughed, rolled her eyes at Tian Zaohua, and said proudly, "Who said that the higher-ups came to arrest you, Yue Ning?"
Seeing Grandpa coming out, Yue Ning didn't know what Grandpa was doing in Gangcheng now. Today's posture seemed very big. She never cared about Tian Zaohua before, and she didn't have the ability to care about it. At most, she would make a fuss and let her shut up, but today Tian Zaohua bumped into her, so don't blame her.
Yue Ning also walked towards Tian Zaohua and said in standard Mandarin: "Aunt Zaohua, can't you leave a way out for me? Is it a thunderbolt that I refuse to marry your idiot? Is it worth it for you to embarrass me like this?"
Everyone present, including the comrades who accompanied Yue Baohua, heard these words clearly.
Tian Zaohua just realized that her second child had buttoned his clothes incorrectly, and walked towards her innocently: "Mom..."
Everyone heard what I just said. This fool with a wide gap between his eyebrows wants to marry the granddaughter of a Hong Kong businessman? Saying that a toad wants to eat swan meat is an insult to the toad.
Xu Dagui ran over, grabbed Tian Zaohua and his son and said, "Come on, come on, follow me back!"
Yue Baohua stared blankly at the fool being dragged away by his father. He turned around and looked inside. He was shocked to see his granddaughter was dark, thin, and ragged. He was even more sad to see the bare walls of the house. He didn't expect there was something even more terrible. Was his granddaughter forced to marry a fool? How did the child survive all these years?
The leading comrade who accompanied us from Beijing found that so many things had happened in just a short time. There were so many people in the village and they were gossipy. Who knows what kind of troubles might happen. He consulted with the local comrades and they decided that each production brigade would have its own office, which could be closed so that they would not have to get together with these fussy people.
He came over and said to Yue Baohua, "Mr. Yue, I'm relieved to see your granddaughter. You've been traveling all the way here today, and your granddaughter's place is small. Why don't you go to the brigade office, sit down and have a drink of water, and reminisce about the years of separation?"
Secretary Fugen also received instructions and went to Yue Ning and said, "Ningning, please ask your grandfather to go to the brigade office with you."
Yue Ning knew Secretary Fugen’s difficulties. The villagers rarely saw him and liked to watch. Now there were leaders above them. If something else happened, wouldn’t it make Secretary Fugen embarrassed?
When they first came to the northwest, my father suffered a lot. Later, Secretary Fugen retired from the army and came back to be the brigade secretary. He had made contributions and had strong ideas. The members loved to listen to what he said. Secretary Fugen always emphasized that labor reform is for the purpose of reform, not to torment people. As long as the reform is thorough and they are completely integrated into the broad masses of working people, that is the meaning of labor reform. He also revised my father's ideological report, and my father's life became much better.
Yue Ning also said: "Grandpa, shall we go to the brigade office together?"
Yue Baohua came to his senses and realized that it was inappropriate for him to ask everyone to accompany him on the journey in order to see his granddaughter earlier. He said, "Okay."
We couldn't leave the Luo family mother and son behind, so Yue Ning turned around and said, "Aunt and Brother Guoqiang, let's go together."
The mother and son followed. Yue Ning closed the window and pulled the door shut. She said, "Grandpa, I'll tell Uncle Zhongyi to help look after the sheepfold."
Generally, nothing will happen. Occasionally, wild animals will come to catch the sheep. If you hear the dogs barking, just take a look.
"Don't worry about the sheep pen. I'll go find someone," said Secretary Fugen.
"Oh." Yue Ning nodded.
Yue Baohua stood by waiting for his granddaughter. Yue Ning came over and the two of them walked forward together.
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