"Dad, what are you doing?" Xuemei put away her bicycle and saw Father Liu writing non-stop on the table.
"I'm calculating the subsidies for educated youth. Xuemei, please help me figure out how much is left." Father Liu looked up and said.
"Why don't you ask mother for help? Don't you usually ask mother for help?" Xuemei joked.
"The thatched roof of the educated youth home was completed this morning, and several educated youths are planning to move in at four in the afternoon. Your mother brought Ruirui to help after delivering mushrooms to the commune," replied Liu's father.
The educated youth institute was built about ten meters away from Aunt Liu's house, where there was about an acre of rocky land. It was not far from the river, only about a hundred meters away.
"What about Qingya and Feifei?"
"Qingya went to the educated youth center to join in the fun after school, and Feifei was cooking in the kitchen." Father Liu stood up and stretched.
"Okay, Dad, let me take a look. Have you recorded every expense above?" Xuemei asked.
"I've recorded it. If you don't understand something, come and ask me. I'm going to the kitchen to cook, and let Feifei go out and play for a while." said Liu's father.
Xuemei nodded and started looking at the account book.
…
After the family finished dinner, Liu's father said to Xuemei, "Xuemei, come with me to the educated youth center. You'll be the one to do the math, and you can tell them later."
"Okay, Dad, let's go now." Xuemei replied.
"Village head, Comrade Liu Xuemei, why are you here?" Zhou Bing asked while holding his lunch box.
Xuemei nodded to Zhou Bing as a greeting.
"Zhou Zhiqing, you haven't finished moving your things yet?" asked Liu's father.
"No, I just forgot to take my lunch box. I just remembered it after eating." Zhou Bing said embarrassedly.
"Have you had dinner?" asked Liu's father.
"Village chief, I've eaten. I ate it with the bowl in the kitchen. Village chief, do you have something to talk to us about? Come in," Zhou Bing said curiously.
Father Liu nodded, and he and Xuemei followed Zhou Bing into the main hall of the educated youth institute.
"He Wenting, He Jing, Han Chen, Dai Dongfeng, the village chief is here. He wants to talk to us about something. Come out quickly." Zhou Bing shouted loudly after entering the main hall.
"Zhou Bing, what do you mean? Everyone called you, why didn't you call me?" Before Wu Lianren came out, he heard her harsh voice.
Zhou Bing rolled his eyes and said, "I was so loud just now, didn't you hear it?"
"Okay, stop arguing and let the village chief finish his words first." Dai Dongfeng said.
"Okay, now that you're all out, I'll get to the point. Your houses are finished, and we've even built a firewood shed for you. I just checked, and there's only enough firewood for one meal. Now it's not tiring to work every day. If you work quickly, you can finish it in half a day. In the afternoon, you can go up the mountain to collect some firewood and get some mountain products.
You can take it to the purchasing station to exchange for money or send it back to your family to try. Oh, and in the winter, we need a lot of firewood to keep warm and keep water flowing, so you should at least fill the firewood shed," said Father Liu.
"Village chief, thank you for your reminder. We will get some more firewood to prepare. I heard from Aunt Xiu'er that we can divide the land for our own use and raise pigs and chickens." He Wenting stood up and asked.
"Yes, this is what the village has agreed to. You are treated the same as the villagers in our Liujia Village. Your private plot is on the hill behind your house. As a family, you can open up two mu of land.
"After a few days, when there's not much work to do in the village, you can go and reclaim the land and plant more radishes, cabbage, spinach, and other things that will be delicious in winter. If you want to raise chickens, don't raise more than three. As for pigs, think carefully. You can't just raise pigs and do it well. Go ask the pig farmers in the village first. If you decide to raise them, then ask the villagers to help build a pig pen," Liu's father replied.
"Thank you, village chief. We will consider it carefully before making a decision." He Wenting said gratefully.
"Okay, I've reminded you of what you should pay attention to. Now let's talk about business. The house is repaired now, and each of your rooms is equipped with a lock, a wooden bed, a wooden box, a chair, a wooden barrel, and two wooden basins, one large and one small. That should be enough. If you feel that what you have is not enough, go to the village and ask a carpenter to make it for you." Father Liu said.
The educated youth's wooden beds had been made by the village carpenter before they arrived. They were one meter wide and two meters long and placed in the homes they were staying with. Zhou Bing and Han Chen, however, felt the beds were too short and asked the carpenter to lengthen them, which they paid for themselves. Most of the other furniture was made after the autumn harvest.
Father Liu thought for a moment and said, "By the way, the kitchen also built you a stove, bought a large water tank, two wooden barrels, and two wooden basins. These weren't included in the cooking utensils. Now that all the expenses have been calculated, how much money each of you has left should also be calculated. The main reason I came here today is to tell you about this. Xuemei, can you tell them?"
Xuemei nodded, then took out her notebook and began to speak, "It cost a total of seventy-eight yuan to buy lumber to repair the house. This includes the wood for your doors, windows, beams, the ceiling, and the upper half of the floor.
Oh, and the upper floor is used to store grain and dry goods. It's divided into six roughly equal sections. Just divide the grain among you. After you divide the grain, you can all buy a lock to lock the granary. We bought straw from the village for twenty yuan, and it's built into several layers for you.
The repairs took twelve days, and we hired thirty strong men, who paid 15 cents a day, for a total of 54 yuan. The furniture and locks for your room cost 16.5 yuan each, for six people, a total of 99 yuan.
The additional cost for the kitchen was 13.60 yuan. All these expenses added up to 266.60 yuan, which averaged out to 44.10 yuan per person.
Before the autumn harvest, each of you male educated youth had 151.2 yuan left, and each of you female educated youth had 152.4 yuan left. Now, after deducting 44.1 yuan from your salary, each male educated youth has 111 yuan left, and each female educated youth has 112.1 yuan left. The commune and the village have agreed to divide the remaining money equally among you over six months.
Male educated youth receive 18.5 yuan per month, and female educated youth receive 18.68 yuan per month. Come and take a look at this account book; every penny of expenditure is clearly recorded."
Except for Han Chen, all the other educated youth came over to look at the account book and do some calculations. After more than twenty minutes, He Wanting spoke on behalf of the other educated youth and said, "Village head, Xuemei, we've looked and calculated, and it's correct. There are no mistakes."
"Wait a minute, you guys have figured it out, but I haven't yet." Wu Lian said loudly.
Everyone waited for another twenty minutes. It was almost nine o'clock. Father Liu looked at Xuemei. Xuemei looked at everyone, then at Wu Lian. Then he said, "Comrade Wu Lian, do you understand? My father needs to talk about other things later."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
