Chapter 243 243
These proposals were all made by Jiang Xi. Otherwise, with Jiang Guoding and Jiang Guotai's male thinking, how could they think of fighting for the interests of the girls in the village? After all, for hundreds of years, even thousands of years, men have dominated this land. They have formed an inertial thinking that it is right to allocate homesteads to boys, and there is no tradition of allocating homesteads to girls.
However, after Jiang Xi made such an opinion, Jiang Guoding and Jiang Guotai agreed and strongly supported Jiang Xi's decision without any hesitation, just for one thing, to keep Jiang Xi for Jiangjia Village.
When they were 17 or 18 years old, they were also full of ambition, and they dared to think, work and fight. From their backgrounds without any background, one of them became the mayor of one of the three most important towns under Wucheng County, and the other was the richest man in the neighboring city in the future. It can be seen that when they were young, they were also extremely outstanding young people.
But they asked themselves, none of them could achieve the level of Jiang Qi when they were 16 or 17 years old. She was not just making herself rich, but leading a town or a county, and even had a higher ability to lead the people in a piece of land out of poverty and into wealth.
What kind of ability is this?
Not to mention that she was admitted to the top domestic university, Peking University. During her time at school, she was able to meet the well-connected ministerial-level CCTV to cooperate and persuade CCTV to film and promote their Jiangjia Village and even the entire Wucheng.
In ancient times, if a village had a Jinshi, this Jinshi would directly become an official in Beijing, and his future achievements would be limitless. If Jiang Guotai and Jiang Guoding didn't know how to hold on to such a thigh, they would not be worthy of their future achievements. As for girls,
what about girls? What era is it now? Family planning has been in place for nearly 20 years. It doesn't matter whether you have a boy or a girl. It's an era of gender equality. Jiang Guoding's family only has Jiang Yanyan as a precious daughter. Jiang Xi's approach to fighting for the rights of girls in the village is also in line with Jiang Guoding's interests.
Jiang Guoding, Jiang Guotai and Jiang's father Jiang Guoping were all high school students who took the college entrance examination in 1977. Jiang Guoding narrowly passed the college entrance examination, while Jiang Guotai and Jiang Guoping failed. From then on, their fates were divided.
But because they were people of that era, they had witnessed great social changes, men and women worked and earned work points, and their era had produced countless brilliant female predecessors. Their thoughts were much more open-minded than those of their peers who had not received education.
So in their thoughts, there was no gender, only Jiang Gui, an extremely outstanding younger generation.
There was a heated discussion in the audience. Many girls, who were eighteen or nineteen years old, had little education, and did the same job over and over again in the factory day after day. Some of them had reacted and started to discuss the truth of this matter loudly with people around them. Some were still confused, and some had not reacted.
What does it mean that if you don't want to get married, you can stay in the village and find a son-in-law? What does it mean that if a married daughter doesn't live well and divorces and returns to the village, the village will give her a homestead? What does it mean that after the age of eighteen, the income from the tea fields on the mountain belongs to them, instead of being managed by their parents? What does it mean that the land they were allocated in the village belongs to them, instead of being given to their parents and brothers by default?
Some smart girls were already crying with excitement.
Suddenly, a fierce wailing broke out in the crowd, the sound drowned out everyone, and everyone's eyes were all looking at the crying woman.
In the right corner, the crying woman suddenly cried out: "Mom! I also have a homestead! I have a homestead!"
She suddenly rushed forward, ran to the stage where the movie was shown, and kowtowed three times to Jiang Guoding, Jiang Guotai and others.
The stage itself was made of wood, and her kowtow was particularly loud, and the people below who were originally looking in her direction all heard the dongdongdong sound.
After that, an extremely old woman walked up to the stage and kowtowed to Jiang Guoding, Jiang Guotai and Jiang Luo. Jiang Guoding and Jiang Guotai were so scared that they quickly pulled away the table in front of them, half-armed and helped the old woman up, shouting, "Auntie, auntie, you can't do this, aren't you going to shorten our lives?" They shouted to the people below, "Guoqi! Guohui! Why don't you come up and pull Auntie down? And Jiang Guoge, what are you doing? Why don't you come up and pull Auntie down?"
Jiang Guoge wiped away her tears and couldn't help but hugged her mother and cried and laughed loudly, "Mom! Mom! I have a homestead now!"
She had been divorced for three years. During these three years, she only lived in her parents' home for half a year in the first year of her divorce. During that half year, she was looked down upon by her sisters-in-law at her parents' home.
Even though she later worked outside and paid money to her family regularly, and didn't live in her parents' home for a long time, every time she came back to see her children, she would rush to do all the work inside and outside the house. But her parents were old, and now she lived with her eldest brother's family, but her parents helped her take care of the two children. Every time she came back, she seemed to be unable to raise her head, and even her two children couldn't raise their heads, because she was living under someone else's fence, and her two children were living under someone else's fence.
If she had a piece of housing land and could live openly in the village, why would she need to separate from her parents and children? Her parents are so old, and she has been spoiled by her parents and brothers since she was a child!
But she didn't even wait for her to get married, and she had no home!
For so many years, she has no home!
Jiang Guoge and her mother cried so sadly that many girls at the scene felt their noses sore and couldn't help crying.
Many of them didn't know Jiang Guoge. When they could remember things, Jiang Guoge had already married. When they grew up and remembered their own family, they followed their parents to work outside. They were only at home during the Chinese New Year. Even when they were at home, they would reunite with their family and would not run around the village. There seemed to be a wall between each room. They would play more with people in their own room and would not visit each other. So when they saw Jiang Guoge, they might not recognize her.
Even if I had seen that girl in her youth, she was very different from the current woman in her early thirties, with short hair, capable and weathered. No one would associate her with the sunny and bright girl in their memory.
But what Jiang Guoge is experiencing today, why not their tomorrow?
They suddenly thought that they could get a homestead, which was not for their parents and brothers, but for themselves. There was also land in the village that was allocated in their name, and if they were willing to live in the village, it could be returned to them after they came of age.
After the crowd calmed down a bit, Jiang Guoding continued, "Regarding the distribution of homesteads, there are some supplementary agreements. You can take a look for yourselves. For married girls, the homesteads will automatically return to the village committee and will not be transferred to your parents. But if one day you want to return to Jiangjia Village with your children and family, you can get two more acres of homesteads!"
This rule made many men dissatisfied, but when they thought about the gloomy land in the deserted mountains that no one wanted, they kept silent. Those who died in vain in the early years were buried in that broken place. If they had relatives or friends, they would build a grave for them and find a place to hold a sacrifice on Qingming Festival and New Year's Eve in the future. But most of the corpses didn't even have a grave mound, and the weeds on the graves had grown over and over again.
Even grown men would not go there in broad daylight, let alone girls who, in traditional concepts, have a yin constitution.
Many girls turned pale when they thought that the residential land they were going to get was a piece of barren mountain that no one dared to go to.
They had heard too many true and false ghost stories about that barren mountain since they were young. Almost all the ghost stories made up by adults were set in two places: one was a barren mountain, and the other was a thousand-year-old tree on the way from Xujia Village to Wujia Village.
This ancient tree is so thick that three people can hug it together. The tree is covered with red cloth strips. There is a shallow tree hole near the root of the tree. A stone statue of Bodhisattva is placed in the tree hole. It is worshipped all year round. Opposite it, there are graves one after another. There is no one within a radius of five miles around it. The eerie atmosphere is also a gathering place for ghost stories all year round.
Now I heard that my homestead is actually in the barren mountain, one of the two gathering places for ghost stories. Many girls don’t want homesteads, they just want to get married. They are still young and full of beautiful yearnings for getting married.
Men naturally disdain that piece of land.
Jiang Xi and Jiang Guotai had thought about this a long time ago. Jiang Guotai took the microphone and said, "I know that the land on the barren mountain is a bit desolate, but apart from that land, there is no other suitable land in the village to be allocated to the girls as a homestead. But you don't have to worry about it being too gloomy and cold. Since this land is reserved for the girls in the village as a homestead, I will naturally find a master to perform a ritual to collect the graves and bones inside and then erect a monument for them. In the future, if people who live in the barren mountain are interested, they can go over to burn incense and paper money for them."
"Besides," he said, "Regarding the allocation of homesteads to you, you all know Jiang Xiao from the third house. She is the Wenqu Star from heaven that has landed in our Jiangjia Village. With her here, what are you afraid of? Just because she is the Wenqu Star, no demons or monsters can stop her, don't you think?"
Jiang Guotai was extremely superstitious, otherwise he wouldn't have named his son Jiang Xin and his daughter Jiang Miao just because the fortune teller said that his son lacked gold and his daughter lacked water.
His words sounded absurd, but he said them sincerely and with great conviction. This conviction was also transmitted to all the girls in the room through his serious attitude. They all looked at Jiang Xiao, as if they wanted to hear her say it in person before they dared to believe it.
Jiang Xi took the phone with a smile and said in the Shuibu Town dialect: "Our uncle was joking about the Wenquxing thing, but I will indeed find a piece of land in the barren mountains as my homestead. In the future, I may be neighbors with many sisters in the village. I hope you will take care of me in the future!" She stood up, bowed and said, "Thank you first!"
In the Shuibu Town dialect system, brothers and sisters are called brothers and sisters, and sisters are called sisters.
Her expression is so calm, and her aura makes people believe that she is a person who can suppress all demons and monsters by herself.
This makes many girls who are worried feel a little safe in their hearts.
It is true that women living alone in this era are really dangerous and will encounter bad things. After encountering such things, people will not scold men, but women, and humiliate them in various ways, strangling them from all aspects of society. Innocent girls and women will also be forced by public opinion to become "chickens" in other people's mouths, so that they have more reasons to oppress them and force them to become "chickens" in other people's mouths, so that they can oppress them openly.
This is also the case in many rural families, who obviously love their daughters very much, but will force their daughters to marry. That certificate is not a marriage certificate, but a certificate of good citizenship for rural women.
With this "good citizen certificate", they can avoid public opinion and oppression from all aspects.
It is precisely because Jiang Guoge was born in the lowest social class, in such a remote mountain village, that she understands the difficult situation of these rural women. She also understands why Jiang Guoge suddenly burst into such intense emotions after hearing that she had a homestead, and her mother also cried bitterly while hugging her daughter.
Jiang Guoge, as a rural woman who grew up with the same love as her brothers and was even called "uncle" by her nephews and nieces, has a strong character, which is why she has the courage to divorce in this era. However, she is still forced into a difficult situation by the general environment, not to mention many girls who have been disciplined and brainwashed since childhood and have really weak personalities.
The social environment forced them to marry and rely on men, because they had no homestead. Without homestead and without relying on men, they had no place to live, no place to stay.
But now, Jiang Xi said he wanted to build a house on the barren mountain.
Jiang Guoding and Jiang Guotai soon said that they would also build houses on the barren mountain for their children.
Now the girls felt more at ease.
The guarantee of Jiang Guoding and Jiang Guotai was the guarantee that the girls felt completely safe. Jiang Xi might be thousands of miles away for work and study, but Jiang Guotai and Jiang Guoding were the real bosses in the village. It can be said that within a radius of dozens of miles, as long as these two people said a word, no one would dare to go to the barren mountain to attack them, and their safety would be guaranteed.
Many people were curiously looking at Jiang Xi sitting next to Jiang Guotai.
Including Jiang's mother in the audience.
She watched Jiang Guoge and her daughter rush over to kowtow to Jiang Xi, and that scene had a very strong impact on her.
She sat in the audience, as if she didn't know Jiang Xi, looking at her daughter on the stage who was completely different from her memory. Suddenly, she had a very strange feeling. That was not her daughter.
That was the same person as her on TV, no, she was even more radiant than the person on TV, just like the radiant woman she had seen in some movies and TV shows.
She was so far away from her, so far away that it seemed as if they were not from the same world, as far away as if there was a starry sky between them.
How could she be her daughter? A daughter she could give birth to?
She thought that the child she gave birth to would be like her and many other girls in the village, born, grown up, worked, married, and when she got old and sick, she would come back to take care of her.
Many girls grew up like this, without any difference, just like the sunrise and sunset every day, such an ordinary and natural life.
She was a little dazed holding the girl on the stage, whose face was obviously similar, some small movements and expressions were also the same, but the girl's eyebrows were completely unfamiliar. A doubt flashed through her mind, were the three years that she and her father had been in Shenzhen so long? Her daughter seemed to have completely changed when she grew up.
Until Jiang Guoding gave a stack of contracts to several people in the village committee and asked them to distribute them to the people below. Those who agreed to the terms signed their names and waited for the lottery. Those who disagreed could not sign.
This contract was actually a land contract, because this piece of mountain, to be frank, still belonged to the country. They said it was a tea land, but in fact it was a ten-year contract. The various clauses in the contract were written very clearly and in detail. Among them were clauses that no one could forcibly occupy or transfer other people's tea land, or seize the income from the tea land. It can be said that all ways to seize the daughters and sisters in the family were blocked.
There was another clause: if the son-in-law from outside was willing to marry into the family and the child took the Jiang family's surname, then the son-in-law and the child could also be allocated an acre of tea land. Of course, if they divorced and left Jiangjia Village in the future, the acre of tea land would be taken back and managed by the village committee.
After seeing this contract, many girls signed the contract without hesitation, but the men, coveting the income from the tea land of the second and third wives this year, were hesitant and did not want to sign the contract.
Jiang Guoding smiled and said to the audience, "Why? Are there really some old men who want to take away their sisters' tea land?"
He smiled kindly. Jiang Guotai didn't care about it and took the microphone directly, saying, "I asked a lawyer to draft this contract. It is a legally binding contract. If you don't want to sign it, you can get out now! I, Jiang Guotai, spent a lot of effort and money to hire experts and find sales channels for the benefit of the villagers. Everyone with the same surname as me, regardless of gender, and not just for you old masters!" He knocked on the table with a cold face: "Do some people have any shame? A grown man doesn't want to go out to make money and compete with his sisters for food? If such a person goes out, don't say he is a man of Jiangjia Village. I, Jiang Guotai, can't afford to lose that person!"
After hearing this, many parents and brothers of girls who had thought about it were embarrassed and pushed and shoved to sign the contract.
There were also some people who didn't want to sign the contract, but also wanted to divide the tea land. Jiang Guotai, Jiang Guoding and the people of the village committee didn't pay any attention to these greedy people. Even the cadres
of the village committee signed the contract, why didn't they sign it?
After they signed, Jiang Guotai finally smiled and said to the girls in the audience, "Don't worry about not having enough money to build houses after you get the housing plots. We said that after you turn 18, all the profits will belong to you. The money distributed every year from the tea land is enough for you to build a small bungalow, and you can all earn money to buy a big house for your brothers. It doesn't make sense that you won't earn any money when it's your turn to build your own houses, right?"
These words made the girls' eyes light up, and also caused an uproar among the men who took it for granted that the money earned by their sisters was their own. Those who had been hesitant and had not signed just now were even more reluctant to go up and sign the contract.
Now the whole Jiangjia Village is centered around Jiang Guotai, Jiang Guoding, Jiang Xi and others. Basically, no one will object to what they say, especially after the tea this year brought them huge profits. This is the first year, and the tea trees have not yet reached the golden period of growth. This year, they have brought more than 10,000 yuan of income to their families. This is simply a matter of sitting at home and losing money. There will be a steady stream of income every year in the future. Only a fool would not sign.
But there are such fools.
Some people in the eldest house rely on their status as the eldest house and have always been domineering in the village, fighting and making trouble at any time.
They thought that this time would be the same. If they got together and made a fuss, they could force the village committee to distribute the tea land to them without signing the contract. The village committee simply said, "The land belongs to the country. If you don't sign the contract, how can we give you the tea land?"
No matter where this matter goes, the village committee is always right.
Jiang's father and mother did not wait for Jiang Song to come back until the lottery for the land distribution was over. Jiang's father sat on the table in front of the main hall, holding his forehead and sighing heavily, "Such a good thing as the distribution of tea land was missed by this big bastard. You could have just called back!"
Jiang's mother sat aside and cried without saying a word.
Since Jiang Liu really led the whole village to make money, she has become less and less talkative and more and more silent when it comes to Jiang Liu's affairs.
Especially this year, her family and Grandpa Jiang were allocated a total of five acres of tea land. Jiang Liu, Grandpa Jiang, and Jiang Bai all got tea land in very good locations. Jiang Dad and Jiang Mom's tea land was a little worse, but it was also a tea land with more sunlight.
Not to mention the income from Jiang Liu, Jiang Bai, and Grandpa Jiang's tea land this year, Jiang Dad and Jiang Mom alone, the two of them just sit at home and do nothing for a year, and they have received more than 6,000 yuan. In addition, there is the income from their house as a hotel. They and Uncle Jiang's family each got half, and they also got 3,500 yuan. Add it all together, it's almost 10,000 yuan.
This is money they didn't do anything, it's like money falling from the sky, and the money they will lose every year in the future will only increase.
Last year, Jiang's father earned 100,000 yuan, but he didn't use it to build a house for Jiang Bai. Instead, he invested it in Jiang Guotai's sand factory. This year, Jiang Guotai's share of the sand factory alone is 50,000 yuan.
Compared with the income of Jiang Guotai's three large sand factories, 50,000 yuan is just a drop in the bucket, but we also have to look at how much money Jiang Guotai spent this year.
Just building a cement road from the neighboring city to Wugong Mountain cost 2 million yuan. In addition, the two shortest hills of Wugong Mountain were all planted with tea by experts and tea farmers. A holiday villa was built on the hill above Shanjian in Shijian Township, a pier was built on the embankment of Jiangjia Village, and a holiday island integrating leisure and entertainment was built on the riverside island.
This does not include the money he spent on arranging things in the neighboring city and Wujiang City.
Jiang Guotai seems to have made a lot of money, but he has spent even more.
The 50,000 yuan is a share of the profits he has determined based on the average income level of people today and Jiang's father's current annual income.
In the future, when he has built everything in his hometown, Wugong Mountain and the hometown's tourism projects and tea mountains have also started to make money, then of course he will give Jiang's father more. Now he has only given Jiang's father so much, and he doesn't know where the money will be used.
Jiang's father is worthy of being a good brother who grew up with Jiang Guotai. When Jiang Guotai gave him money, his first reaction was not how much money Jiang Guotai's sand factory made and why he only gave him such a small share. Instead, he pushed it back and said: "You don't know how much money you have spent this year. Now the funds are very tight. Why are you still giving me money? Wait until you have money in the future. You should take care of everything first. I'm not in a hurry here!"
Jiang Guotai stuffed a stack of money into Jiang's father's arms: "Just take it. You don't need this little money!"
Seeing Jiang Guotai's serious and strong face, Jiang's father knew that he really had nothing to worry about, so he took it with a smile.
The couple earned more than 100,000 yuan in Shenzhen this year. With the money Jiang Guotai gave him and the money they earned from the tea plantation and the hotel in their hometown, their income this year alone is nearly 200,000 yuan.
Jiang's mother didn't say a word to Jiang's father before, and gave all the money they earned from working hard the year before to Jiang Guotai. Jiang's mother felt like the sky had fallen. She was so angry that she felt dizzy and lay in bed for several days. She couldn't get up and couldn't do anything.
It was as if all her energy and spirit had been drained away. She worked hard to get up early and sell lunch boxes, and she only earned a few cents for a lunch box. She saved a year's money bit by bit, and Jiang's father took it all away without even a receipt. He gave it all to Jiang Guotai.
She felt a throbbing pain in her head.
The stainless steel bowls that she used to cook lunches in were dented.
She knew she had no education and little experience, but she didn't want to make a fortune. She just wanted to make solid money, which would make her feel safe. She knew
that Jiang's father was ambitious and always wanted to make a lot of money, but she was afraid. She was really afraid.
Even now, when Jiang's father proudly and boastfully presented her with 60,000 yuan in cash and a bankbook with more than 100,000 yuan in it, he said to her, "You were so anxious last year, and I told you that you wouldn't lose money if you invested in Guotai's sand factory. You are in Shenzhen yourself, and the amount of river sand that Shenzhen needs every year is an astronomical figure. Those sand factories are gold mines! If it weren't for my good relationship with Guotai, he wouldn't have accepted the 100,000 yuan! You are still worried that he will embezzle your 100,000 yuan, but you don't even look at the money he has spent on repairing the city walls in his hometown. This cement road cost several million!"
Jiang's mother took the money with a cold face and said, "I don't want to get rich!"
Jiang's father actually knew Jiang's mother's fear, so he smiled and comforted her, saying, "Don't think that it's only 50,000 this year. Even if it will always be 50,000 in the future, this 50,000 yuan is all our free money. And this tea mountain, the tea leaves will grow every year. Just with these two acres of tea land, we won't have to ask our sons for money in the future for our retirement."
This sentence is the key to smoothing out Jiang's mother's thorns.
All these years of anxiety and wandering seemed to be brought to a practical realization by the income from these two acres of tea land. But she still didn't dare to believe it and said coldly: "Who can tell what will happen in the future? I just want to earn my own money and not spend it!"
She also heard how much money Jiang Guotai made from his three big sand fields. She knew that Jiang Guotai had proposed these three sand fields to him. Last year, Jiang's father wanted to contract them, but she stopped him.
Because she didn't understand, she didn't want to take risks.
But she saw the earth-shaking changes in the village.
She really couldn't believe that her daughter, who had always been considered a money loser who only knew how to spend money but not earn it and who studied for other people's families, had actually developed Jiangjia Village to what it is today in just two years together with Jiang Guotai.
Just tonight, she also fought for the homesteads that belonged to all the girls in the village and the women who had bad marriages or divorced. From then on, they were no longer money losers or other people's families in the eyes of others.
They had their own homes.