Chapter 120: Feeling Proud
Places in the Workers, Peasants and Soldiers University are extremely rare. There were none in Lujiazui in the past two years, and only this year did such a place become available. Such an important matter naturally requires a meeting and a public vote.
Many people have heard the news, but there are only a few people in the team who are of the right age and can finish elementary school. How can they compete for this spot? Therefore, Wang Jianmao is still very confident.
At the meeting, Lu Minghai gave a general idea and then asked everyone to discuss and nominate.
The proposed positions will be voted on by a show of hands, and the minority will obey the majority.
The person he mentioned was naturally Wang Jianmao.
Lu Dongfu is not old enough, so he cannot compete for this position, so he can only do the favor and make good friends.
Surprisingly, Zhou Mingqing's family actually mentioned Zhu Feng.
Not to mention that Zhu Feng just went to the countryside before the New Year and hasn't even been here for a year, Zhu Feng has been married to Zhou Lanhua for so long, and Zhou Lanhua is already pregnant. What on earth was Zhou Mingqing thinking that he wanted to help Zhu Feng go back to the city to attend university at this time?
He was not afraid that Zhu Feng would abandon her completely once he returned to the city. After all, Zhou Lanhua's household registration could not be moved over.
Giving Zhu Feng a place in the Workers, Peasants and Soldiers University would be like throwing meat buns at a dog, and he would never come back.
Zhou Mingqing is a very smart person. Is he blinded by greed?
The rest, like Lu Mingjiang and Lu Changfa, didn't have any suitable candidates from their own families, so there was no need to argue. Since a vote was required, they naturally followed Lu Minghai. They couldn't go against the production team leader's nomination.
Among the Lu family, only Lu Changgui was confused and was forced by Jian Zhaodi to give his vote to Zhu Feng.
But the impact is not significant.
Wen Wan also went to join in the fun and witnessed the so-called voting meeting.
In the end, the spot fell to Wang Jianmao without a doubt. She went over to Wang Jianmao and said hello: "Congratulations!" After staying here for so long, she could finally go back.
Wang Jianmao was filled with joy at this moment. He smiled and nodded: "Thank you!" He was finally about to leave.
It was a rare occasion for everyone to get together. After the meeting, the team members did not disperse so quickly. They gathered in groups of three or four to gossip about all sorts of things.
Zhang Hongying didn't leave either. She and Gao Xiulan were surrounded by several women who were asking about Lu Dongping and Wen Wan.
The date was set, so there was no need to hide it. Zhang Hongying said directly and openly, "Let's set it for the 30th of next month. You have to come to help on the 29th."
"Of course I have to come. We are close friends. Your new house has been under construction for so long and I haven't even been to see it. When I go back, I have to take a good look at both the new house and the bride."
Zhang Hongying laughed and said, "What's so good about a new house? It's just a roof and four walls. You can look at it anytime you want, even now."
"It's not just a new house, but new furniture too. You said your wife has made such a big fuss that it's hard to find another wife in the surrounding villages. On the day the furniture was delivered, I saw the team was almost at your house, but the other end was still at the wheat field!"
This statement was so exaggerated that no one could respond.
Gao Xiulan laughed out loud, "That's right. When you marry a new bride, you need a place to live. Not only a room, but also a bed. The bed frame at the head and foot of the bed, plus the board, it would take a lot of people to carry it. Even if you are poor, you can't do such a thing as letting your new bride sleep on the floor when she comes home. That would be shameful and bring shame to your ancestors for eight generations."
She was talking and laughing, so she didn't want to make people look bad.
Then someone else took over the conversation: "This is a new house and a new bed. Dongping is really capable. After all, he is an official in the commune. He is so particular about everything he does. If it were us, we wouldn't even dare to think about it."
Zhang Hongying said, "Why wouldn't I be afraid of that? This is the only major event my son will ever accomplish. I can spend whatever he earns, and everything he buys is at home anyway. Besides, it depends on the individual. Wenwan comes from a well-off family and is not bad either. It's hard to find another person like her in the Xihe Brigade or even the entire commune. I have to do my best to ensure that she doesn't suffer any injustice."
Building a house requires people and strength. Wood is everywhere in the mountains. You just need to write a report and take a slip to go cut it. You have to carry the yellow mud yourself. The tiles on top cost a little money. If you can't build a tile house, you can build a thatched house or a stone house?
Everyone complains about being poor, and what's wrong with just shouting about others' support?
After that, she smiled and said to Gao Xiulan, "Tell me, that stubborn guy Dongping has always had big ideas. When he was seventeen or eighteen, he was already worrying about finding a partner. I asked people to find a lot of people in the area. In the early years, his family was in a difficult situation, so no one was interested in him. Later, there was someone who was willing, but he himself was not happy. He kept dragging it on. I thought he would be single for the rest of his life, but who knew that fate would come here."
Gao Xiulan praised her again, "That's right. That's why this person's marriage is destined. Wen Wan is a beautiful girl with a good temperament. It's just that her family has been well-off since she was a child, so she can't do farm work. But now she's a substitute teacher, and how long can she spend in the fields year-round? Not to mention her needlework skills. I've never seen anyone better than her! I saw the clothes she made for Dongping. They're more fashionable and beautiful than the ones sold in the county department store."
"I'm a naive person. I've never seen the clothes sold in department stores, but the clothes Wen Wan made for Dong Ping really look very stylish. I can't make them with my skills, and I don't have the brains to do it."
Someone nearby started to complain: "Wow, she hasn't even gotten married yet, and she's already wearing clothes?"
Zhang Hongying said, "This has nothing to do with whether they're married or not. This is all about kindness in return. Dongping treats her like the apple of his eye, so naturally she'll treat him well. Not only has she been great to Dongping, but to our whole family, young and old. She went to the county town to buy cotton and cloth, and then came back to buy us Liberation Shoes, one pair for each of us. I haven't even had the blessing of a son in this life, but I've already had the blessing of a daughter-in-law."
The people around were all shocked: "Is this true? This girl Wen Wan is really generous. It seems that her family is really well-off to be so generous."
"That girl is a simple-minded person. She told me when I got home that I shouldn't spend the money I have on me like this. We still have a long life ahead of us! Then people said she was going to get married, and we were busy preparing this and that. Her family lives far away, and she doesn't have much dowry. This is her little token of her love."
He showed off a lot, which made the jealous women in the production team very angry, but he also felt very proud.
Lu Dongping liked to run around since he was a child, and he always stayed with that weird widower hunter. On the surface, these people in the team were talking and laughing in a friendly manner, but they were gossiping behind his back.
Later, as Lu Dongping grew older, he would go to the fields to work except when the two were particularly busy. Otherwise, he would wander around in the woods or on the riverbank. The people on the team became even more disgusted with him, and many of them made sarcastic remarks right in front of the couple. The words between the lines were the same: "Spoil a son and he will become unfilial, and spoil a dog and he will be fed up with it." The couple had no idea how to teach their son. It was as if they had never seen him before, and they raised him like an ancestor.
Only their own family members knew that Lu Dongping would bring back some food to supplement the family's income every now and then when he went up the mountains and down the rivers. Today he would bring a pheasant, tomorrow he would bring a rabbit, or sometimes he would bring back some small fish.
He knew more wild animals in the mountains than anyone else, and he would take home anything edible. This was a skill he learned from an old hunter.
Reputation is important, but those two years were difficult. Reputation could not fill our stomachs or keep our family alive.
But they knew something others didn't, and they couldn't let anyone else know. The land and woods on this team were collectively owned, and while everyone tacitly took things home to fill the gaps, there was always the possibility of someone getting mad. If they reported it, they would be criticized, perhaps even sent to jail, and their lives would be ruined.
Later, when Lu Dongping was almost old enough, she asked people to arrange a marriage for him, but no matter who she asked, it was unsuccessful because he had a bad reputation and no one was willing to marry their daughter to him, for fear that they would not be able to take advantage of him and suffer losses.
Later, Lu Dongping got in touch with the commune and started running errands for them. Finally, he got a job as an officer. Suddenly, he had a salary and subsidies. The public opinion changed immediately. He started praising everyone and some people even asked matchmakers to inquire about him.
Zhang Hongying knew what it meant. She simply saw Lu Dongping working as an official in the commune, getting a salary, and having a promising future.
At that moment, she felt relieved all of a sudden, and her back was straighter than before when she walked.
I thought I should choose carefully, and if I find one that looks good, I will be able to live my life well.
But after picking and choosing, Lu Dongping started to act strangely again. He didn't like this one and he didn't like that one either.
She felt that what her sister-in-law Gao Xiulan said was right, this was fate.
Although Lujiazui is backward, the gossips of the aunts, uncles, and uncles gathered together can spread to all directions in no time.
A voting meeting was held. Before the news that the educated youth Wang Jianmao had obtained the quota for workers, peasants and soldiers spread, the news that Lu Mingjiang's family had found a daughter-in-law with particularly good conditions spread everywhere in an instant.
She already had clothes and shoes before she even got married. Lu Mingjiang and his wife must have burned incense as thick as a mallet in their previous life. How could they be so lucky?
Wen Wan didn't know that because Zhang Hongying and Gao Xiulan, the sisters-in-law, had become famous in the production team, their fame had spread to other production teams.
She started to get busy.
After finishing their work in the fields, Zhang Hongying and Lu Chun'e didn't have to go to work. The mother and daughter found some old clothes at home that could no longer be mended, took them apart, and used the newspapers that Wen Wan brought back and cornmeal to make a paste to start pasting jackets.
After pasting it, put it directly under the sun to dry when the sun is good, then cut it according to the size of the shoe pattern, paste it together layer by layer, and sew it together with thousands of stitches to make a thousand-layer cloth shoe sole.
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