The work in the fields has been basically completed, and the family's private plot has also been cleaned up.
Men, women, young and old in the village all gathered in the drying yard to peel corn cobs. This was a big job. The peeled corn was dried to be used to pay the public grain tax. It was necessary to choose large and good corn cobs and clean them thoroughly to avoid being picked on.
When distributing food to the villagers, they would just give them whole corn cobs, and they would take them home to clean up.
Paying public grain is different. If each brigade pays corn cobs, the commune’s granary will be full and it will be inconvenient to manage and calculate. Therefore, the public grain must be threshed high-quality corn.
There are work points for peeling corn, but they are not too many, but better than nothing. Many families, men, women, young and old, join in the work. The more corn they peel, the more work points they get, and they can get more money and food.
Gu Tingzhou and Li Qingyun also came to peel corn. Earning a few work points didn't matter to them. Li Qingyun just wanted to watch the fun. How could she be absent from such an occasion for chatting about gossip? Gu Tingzhou had no choice but to accompany them.
However, she did not let Qinghuan come over, leaving her at home to take care of Erbao and cook.
In such occasions, there would inevitably be people who would say something unpleasant and gossip about her. Afraid that she would be upset, Li Qingyun simply didn't let her come. It happened that she was tired recently and wanted to rest at home.
Dabao was not interested in peeling corn, so he went with Maotou and several other children from the village to shoot sparrows with slingshots.
Gu Tingzhou found a long bench, laid it down, and tied a pair of his broken Liberation shoes on each of its legs.
The cleaned Liberation shoes, with the soles facing up, have a bumpy design all over the soles, making them perfect for rubbing corn cobs.
You just need to use a small tool to cut a path in the corn cob, then put it on the sole of your shoe and rub it. You can rub a whole corn cob in three or five strokes. It is fast, clean and does not require much effort on your hands. Peeling by hand is too slow and hurts your hands. You can't peel more than a few without getting blisters on your hands.
In later generations, no one wore Liberation shoes anymore, only the army still had similar ones. But now Liberation shoes are very popular. Unless there are soldiers in the family, no one can wear Liberation shoes, let alone use them to rub corn cobs.
Only a few families in the village have old Liberation shoes. They wash them clean after use every year and keep them for the next year and the year after, until they are too rotten to be used anymore, and then they are willing to throw them away.
There are a few pairs of old Liberation shoes that Gu Tingzhou had discarded in the old house. Today, even Da Ni and Er Ni came to rub corn. Under the envious gaze of the villagers, they each held a shoe sole and rubbed it until a pile of corn kernels soon piled up at their feet.
The work points for peeling corn are calculated based on the amount of corn peeled. The more corn you peel, the more work points you get.
Li Qingyun and Gu Tingzhou also quickly got down to work. After a few attempts, Li Qingyun mastered some tricks and quickly got the hang of it, doing a pretty good job.
As expected, where there are many people, there are many gossips. Soon the drying yard became very lively, with all kinds of gossip emerging one after another. Li Qingyun looked calm, listening with his ears perked up, and working leisurely with his hands.
At the end of the day, her head was buzzing with the sound of quarreling ducks. Fortunately, today she made a great comeback with the help of Gu Tingzhou's old shoes. She earned full work points, eight work points, which was not easy to come by.
After completing eight work points, she couldn't hold on any longer and went home. They probably wouldn't come again tomorrow. Gu Tingzhou had come with her today, but he didn't like this kind of occasion because it was too noisy.
Before leaving, she gave one of her old shoes to Erniu and the other to Widow Wang's two children who were quietly peeling corn in the corner.
"Auntie, thank you." Erniu thanked her foolishly.
Widow Wang's son looked up at her warily, looking at a loss.
The little girl was quite considerate. She held the sole of the shoe like a treasure and thanked it with a smile: "Thank you so much, Auntie. We will definitely wash it and return it to you after we use it."
"It's not easy for you two, so I'll lend it to you for a few days. Please don't break it." Li Qingyun said in an awkward tone.
"Of course not. We promise it won't be damaged. We will cherish it very much." The little girl looked very cute when she smiled.
After Li Qingyun left, people in the drying yard began to have a heated discussion about Li Qingyun's recent actions.
"Li Zhaodi isn't coming tomorrow? She's lent out all her shoe soles."
"Can you compare with them? What kind of family do they have? What kind of family do you have?"
"But she really does look much better now."
"Yes. Erniu and Widow Wang's family are the most difficult ones in the village right now. She is kind-hearted enough to think of helping them. We really should stop being prejudiced against them in the future."
"Who says it's not true? It's so pitiful for these half-grown children to make a living on their own. We are all very poor. Fortunately, the branch secretary and the team leader can still give them a way to survive.
Zhaodi isn't bad either. Not only does she help the weak, I've seen her bring food and drink to her parents-in-law several times. She's a very filial daughter-in-law. In the village, which daughter-in-law, after splitting up, sends food and drink to her parents-in-law every day? I'm just afraid her parents-in-law won't have enough for her family." Aunt Li, who has a good relationship with Gu's mother, also spoke up.
"That's right. The village party secretary knows how to educate his children. His children are all excellent. The second son's wife has also become a good person now."
"By the way, I heard Zhaodi changed her name to Qingyun now, so let's not call her by the wrong name.
I heard that the sisters had severed ties with their family. The second sister who lived with them was almost sold to a mentally ill man in the mountains by her parents for 150 yuan, but Qingyun saved her. As a result, they severed ties.
"These sisters are too cruel. Their parents carried them for ten months and raised them. How can they just break up with them like that?"
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