Chapter 128: Quarrel
Wen Wan slept until noon.
Zhang Hongying had returned with a basket of pig grass and was talking to Lu Mingjiang in the yard when she finally woke up. She was only slightly awake for a moment, turned over, and tried to sleep again. She was tired, and her whole body ached. It felt like she was back to her first day at work in Lujiazui. Her legs felt like they were giving out.
The sun shone into the house, making the whole room bright. She didn't know when it was, but the room was no longer so cool. Wen Wan didn't dare to sleep anymore. She got up and got down to the ground. Her legs were shaking so much that she almost couldn't stand.
She wore khaki leggings and a large round-necked lace Dacron shirt. There was water in the house, which saved her the embarrassment of going out to fetch water, looking disheveled.
After washing, she began to apply hair oil and comb her hair. Married, she was an adult, and braiding her hair twice was no longer appropriate. Her hair had always been well-cared for, thick, dense, and long, and she braided it from the crown of her head to the tips.
After she finished, she got up and went outside. Zhang Hongying was already in the kitchen.
"Mom!" she called out, a little afraid to look up: "I got up late."
Zhang Hongying smiled. "What's the big deal about getting up late? Isn't that normal?" Just look at that bastard Lu Dongping, how he loves people. This marriage is going to be a lot of trouble. She just took a look and saw that he couldn't walk smoothly. We've all been through this together since we were young, so what's there to understand? She figured it wouldn't be long before the family would have another member.
Normal? Normal what?
Wen Wan realized it belatedly and her face suddenly felt hot. She felt that this might be the hottest day of the year.
"I, I'll light the fire."
Zhang Hongying waved her hands repeatedly: "No, no, you just go and take care of your own business. If you are hungry, I can make you an egg to fill your stomach." We collected a lot of eggs from the banquet yesterday.
"No, no, dinner will be ready soon. Mom, I'll go back to the house and clean up first."
Zhang Hongying smiled happily when she heard the word "Mom": "Go ahead, go ahead." It's just some porridge, not a feast, so one person can do it.
Wen Wan returned to her room and rolled around on the bed, hugging the quilt. It took a long time for the embarrassment on her face to dissipate. She stood up and straightened the quilt she had messed up, then took a rag and wiped the room. Speaking of cleaning up, there wasn't much to clean up. All her clothes had been washed by Lu Dongping, even the clothes underneath. It was really—
Thinking that tomorrow was September 1st and school would start, she sorted out the things she would need.
As they were cleaning up, the voices of Lu Chun'e and Lu Donglin were heard outside, as if they were arguing. Lu Chun'e's voice sounded unusually sharp.
Wen Wan put the notebook into the drawer and left the room, then called out, "Chun'e, what's wrong with you?"
Before Lu Chun'e could open her mouth, Lu Donglin reached out and covered her mouth: "Don't tell your sister-in-law nonsense, otherwise you will really lose me as your brother."
Lu Chun'e was furious. She really didn't want such a disobedient brother. She reached out and pried his hands apart: "Stay away from me. I get angry when I see you. Your hands are covered with stinky dog shit. Where can I hide them?"
Lu Donglin rarely said anything back. He withdrew his hand, glanced at the backpack placed at the foot of the wall, and went straight into the kitchen without pouring out the pig feed inside.
Lu Mingjiang was stoking a fire behind the stove, and he heard the siblings' clamoring. As soon as Lu Donglin entered, he asked, "What's going on with you two? Why are you arguing all the way back? Are you tired of pulling pig grass, or is the grass on your back too heavy? Is your backpack too small? I'll get you a bigger one later."
Lu Donglin sat down dejectedly beside the fire pit not far away and said, "No, we didn't quarrel. We just had a disagreement. She thought I was wrong, but I thought I was right and she was a little stupid."
The word "stupid" had barely fallen from his lips when Lu Chun'e came in from outside: "Who are you calling stupid? Do you think you're justified in doing bad things?"
"What bad thing did I do? I just picked two melons from the field. They grow in clusters, so what's wrong with picking two? Who in the team hasn't done this? Is this the first time you've seen it?" In those days, every family was struggling, and any edible things they found in the mountains would be taken back to make up for the shortfall. Everything in the fields belonged to the collective, and aside from cutting some grass for the pigs, nothing else could be touched. If caught, not only would you be criticized, but you'd also be labeled a traitor, and you'd be humiliated for the rest of your life.
It's not that I'm not brave enough. I occasionally steal something. I don't dare to break off the corn cobs, after all, there are only one or two ears on a stalk. But if there are pumpkins, cucumbers, etc. planted there, anyone who goes in to cut grass will take some back.
Lu Chun'e was honest and naturally never dared to do that. Lu Donglin was a bold man and thought that if others could do it, he could do it too. In the early years, he was small and weak, and a basket of pig grass on his back would make his legs tremble. In the past two years, he has grown older and stronger, and he always brings some back whenever he gets the chance.
These things are all in every family's private plot, but no one pays attention to them.
It just so happened that the brother and sister went to pick pig grass together today. They didn't walk together at first, but bumped into each other while picking. Lu Donglin's little trick was seen by Lu Chun'e. Lu Chun'e was really frightened by his behavior and opened her mouth with a tone of accusation: "Lu Donglin, what are you doing? How can you steal the collective things?"
Lu Donglin wanted to plug her mouth: "Keep your voice down, are you afraid that others can't hear you so loudly?"
"Are you afraid of others hearing you, but not seeing you? What kind of behavior is this? You're a thief, damaging the collective interests. You're going to be criticized, don't you know?" Lu Chun'e said as she walked towards Lu Donglin's backpack. Lu Donglin stopped her directly: "What are you doing? I've already picked it. Can it grow back now?"
"Lu Donglin, do you know what your behavior is? You can't touch anything that's not ours. If you do, you'll be considered a thief and people will criticize you. Do you understand?"
Lu Donglin was not convinced: "Are you my sister? Why are you talking so harshly? What do you mean by stealing? Who in the team hasn't done this? I brought it back and you didn't eat it or didn't eat enough?
——”
The brother and sister quarreled about this matter all the way, and the quarrel died down when Wen Wan interrupted them when they got home. Now the quarrel started again.
Lu Chun'e told Lu Mingjiang everything: "Dad, you and Mom have always said to us since we were young that what you have is yours, and no matter how much someone else has, it's still theirs. I've always remembered that! What belongs to the collective is the collective. We get as much as we work and earn as many work points as we can. Why would we take advantage of such petty gains? If you walk too much at night, you'll run into ghosts sooner or later. It's okay if someone doesn't stop you once or twice, but after a while, someone will find out. It's so unpleasant to hear people talk about it. My uncle is the production team leader. Do you want others to stab him in the back or arrange for him to frame his own nephew and criticize him?"
Lu Donglin said, "Don't use a needle like a hammer all day long. Everyone in this team has done this before, and you act like you don't know what's going on. It sounds nice, but if you don't take a needle from the collective, who's rich enough to have everything? What are you pretending to be tough for? I haven't seen you skip a single meal."
"What does it have to do with you whether I eat more or less? Are you earning work points to support me? I'm talking about you picking things from the fields. What are you talking about?"
Zhang Hongying took an iron spoon and knocked it hard on the stove twice: "Stop making noise, you're full and energetic after eating all day, right?" She didn't say who was right or wrong, she just roared.
Lu Chun'e pursed her lips, turned around and walked out.
Before he even stepped out of the door, Lu Mingjiang called out, "Where are you going? Come here, I want to talk to you two."
Lu Chun'e was holding her breath and was almost unable to hold it back. She stood there for a long time before turning around.
Lu Mingjiang has already started to talk to Lu Donglin: "Don't be unconvinced, your sister said you should say it. Our family is poor, but we are poor in spirit. Do less of those petty things in the future, because those who try to take advantage of others will suffer great losses. Apart from other things, your sister said something that is most correct. Your uncle is the production team leader. We can't help him much, but we can't do anything that hinders him. Our family is poor, and we need everyone to work together to take everything home, but we should take care of what we should take care of, and resolutely don't touch what we can't take care of. Things that have no owner in the mountains are owned by each person on their own ability, and don't touch the collective property in the future."
Lu Donglin was still not convinced, and he rubbed the ground with his straw sandals against a stick.
Lu Mingjiang suddenly raised his voice: "I'm talking to you, can you hear me?"
"I heard it!" His voice became louder, and Lu Donglin's voice was also loud, obviously with emotion, and his whole body was filled with unwillingness to accept it.
He still didn't understand why others could do it but he couldn't. He'd heard yesterday that the family was running out of food and was going to ask his uncle for a loan. If the family had run out of food, they had to find a way to make ends meet. Otherwise, with so much time until the end of the year, how would they get by? If you borrowed money, you had to pay it back.
Why are all of you so obsessed with face and suffering in this way?
He picked a few cucumbers here, two pumpkins there. Lujiazui is such a big place, with so much land, how many pumpkins can there be? How can he be called a thief? How can he be a thief? Why is he holding his uncle back?
Zhang Hongying said, "It's time to eat. Go call your sister-in-law."
Only then did Lu Chun'e go outside.
Corn grits porridge with pumpkin and cucumber mixed with green peppers were quite refreshing on a hot day. After dinner, Lu Chun'e washed the dishes while Lu Donglin fed the pigs. There was basically no more work for Wen Wan at home.
Lu Mingjiang and his wife cleared some land in their private plot. The chopped corn stalks had been bundled up in the morning and carried out to a pile at the edge of the yard to dry in the sun. Then they had to clear the grass in the field and turn it over while there was time.
Taking advantage of the fact that their children were not around, and it was just the two of them, Zhang Hongying asked, "Tell me, Chun'e, has studying made you stupid? Has she become a blockhead?"
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