Father Liu said, "The village cadres have discussed your two issues over the past few days. Regarding the educated youth subsidies, the higher authorities have instructed us to pay them monthly. Now that you have a special situation, the village can give you the rest of the money, but you must write a letter of guarantee, sign it, and leave it with the village."
As for your rooms, we decided to build them for you before you came here as educated youth, and after you return to the city, they will become the property of the village."
"Village chief, this house was built with my educated youth subsidy, so why should it belong to your village? If your village wants to take my house back, you have to return the money for building the house to me. If you don't, I will go to the Revolutionary Committee and complain, saying that your Liujia Village has embezzled the educated youth's property." Wu Lian interrupted before Liu's father finished speaking.
Upon hearing this, Father Liu angrily slammed his hand on the table. He stood up from his chair angrily and said, "You little educated youth, you're already shouting and yelling before things have been explained clearly. If you want to go to the Revolutionary Committee, go now. They're just going to teach you a lesson."
Seeing this, Liu's mother immediately said, "Wu Zhiqing, you came from a big city, how come your ideological awareness is not as good as us rural people? Aren't the houses you Zhiqing live in our village's land? Our village didn't confiscate your money and directly gave you the land to build houses, and also divided up your private plots.
To be honest, after you educated youth arrived, the food rations for the rest of the village were reduced. We villagers used our own food rations to subsidize you. Not only do you not care about the kindness of our fellow villagers, but you also constantly complain about our village to the Revolutionary Committee. This really chills our hearts. Furthermore, I, the head of the village, haven't even finished speaking when you're going to the Revolutionary Committee to complain. Even if you're sentencing someone, you should wait until they've finished speaking and the facts are clarified before you act. Besides, if you're not satisfied later, we can discuss it again. Don't be so impatient!
Wu Lian looked at Father Liu, who stood there with a sullen face, and realized that she had been too impatient and had said something wrong. She quickly apologized, "Village Chief, I'm young and naive. Please be magnanimous and don't hold it against me."
Father Liu looked at Wu Lian, then at Mother Liu's eyes, and then continued, "We in the village are not unreasonable people. Although the commune told us before you came that the houses where the educated youth lived before they left belonged to our village, we don't have to pay anything.
But our village cadres thought that since you're a young woman who married here alone and your parents aren't around, our village will be like your family, so we'll give you some money to live on. We plan to give you a 30 yuan subsidy. You'll also have to include this subsidy in your letter of guarantee."
"Wait a minute, Wu Zhiqing, do you want to take the furniture in your room? The village only gave you thirty yuan after including the things in the room." Liu's mother remembered Wu Lian's taking advantage look and asked quickly.
"Of course I will take them. These are my things, and I will use them as my dowry." Wu Lian replied.
Father Liu listened, thought for a moment, then took out the account book from the room and handed it to Wu Liancai, saying, "Wu Zhiqing, this is the cost of the furniture in your room at the time, a total of 16.5 yuan. We understand that you are using this as a dowry. In the village, girls also have to make furniture as a dowry when they get married.
But the village subsidy you receive will be reduced by ten yuan. In our rural area, a twenty-yuan dowry and this much furniture is already a very good dowry. I will be very kind to you tomorrow, I hope you understand.
In her heart, Wu Lian was actually reluctant to reduce the ten yuan, but Father Liu had just discovered that he was angry and his face was still dark. She did not dare to offend Father Liu again, so she did not say anything.
Seeing that Wu Lian didn't say anything, Liu's father assumed she had agreed and continued, "There's one more thing, which is the issue of your work points. If you want to settle your work points in the next two days, we will pay you according to last year's wages for one work point. If you want money, we will give it to you. If you want to exchange it for grain, we will exchange it for grain. If you don't want to settle it now, you can wait until the end of the year when the grain and money are distributed and then come to Liujia Village to get the money or grain."
Wu Lian thought for a moment and said, "Village Chief, I'm going to ask my partner tomorrow."
After Wu Lian left, Liu's father and mother looked at each other helplessly. They now only hoped that Wu Lian's wedding day would come sooner.
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