Chapter 108 Provocation
When the educated youth at the settlement received this news, everyone was extremely excited.
"We're hiring! We're hiring!"
When state-owned factories came to the village to recruit workers, the most promising candidates were the educated youth who had been sent down to the countryside. Several leaders from the machinery factory, the textile factory, and the commune came and set up a recruitment table in the spacious courtyard of the brigade leader's house.
The commune held the power to recommend workers for factory recruitment, and the brigade leader was the most influential person in the village.
He was responsible for all the labor allocation in the village.
But the brigade leader's family was the fairest and most just. In the past, when they came to recruit workers, some people would secretly ask their connections in the city to buy nice things for the brigade leader, but the brigade leader would not accept anything.
Before 1976, every year new educated youth would come to the village. If they wanted to improve their lives, they would send things to the brigade leader's family. Over time, only the older educated youth knew about this.
The older educated youth have learned their lesson and won't tell the new ones about these things. As long as a new educated youth slacks off, the older ones will have a greater chance of being recruited back to the city.
In the past two years, no more educated youth have been sent to the countryside. However, the only way for educated youth to leave the village is through recruitment and the college entrance examination. Those who are still in the village now are the ones who failed the college entrance examination.
This year, the educated youth are all working hard so that the brigade leader will see them and recommend them for jobs.
The machinery factory and textile factory only had a limited number of openings, a total of only ten, while the educated youth settlement had more than twenty people.
The competitive pressure is considerable.
But Zhou Anze is a smart man.
The commune's women's director also lived in Dahe Village. He had already established a relationship with the village's women's director long ago and was just waiting for this day.
When state-owned factories came to recruit, the union interviewed these educated youth one by one, then stayed in the village for two days to observe their work conditions, and finally the village cadres made recommendations.
The first day of interviews passed quickly.
late at night.
In the still of the night, a cold wind blew fiercely, rustling the branches. Only a pale moon hung in the sky, casting a silvery glow.
The villagers, who live by working from sunrise to sunset, have long since turned off their lights and gone to sleep. Only at this time is it suitable to do some shady things.
A dark figure, wrapped in a large cotton coat, tiptoed away from the educated youth settlement and arrived at a doorway lit by a dim yellow light.
He knocked lightly on the door, and soon, with a creak, the door opened, and Zhou Anze was pulled inside.
Soon, sounds of lovemaking could be heard coming from inside.
In just half an hour, Zhou Anze was so exhausted that he leaned against the headboard with the woman in his arms to rest.
Seeing that he had stopped, the woman in his arms immediately became unhappy, "Continue."
Zhou Anze lowered his head and kissed the woman. "Rest for a while, then continue, be good."
The woman seemed to have been coaxed by him, and leaned tenderly against Zhou Anze.
The woman was Zhang, the village's women's director, who was only forty years old and more than ten years older than Zhou Anze. At first, when she had this idea, Zhou Anze was not very happy.
In order to leave Dahe Village, he endured humiliation and tried to please Widow Zhang. Now that the state-owned factory was finally recruiting workers, he was finally going to be free.
Just thinking about it makes me happy.
Widow Zhang saw the smile on his lips and lifted her head from Zhou Anze's chest. "You seem very happy today. Is it because you're finally leaving the village? Or is it because you're leaving me?"
Zhou Anze immediately sensed the dissatisfaction in her tone, lowered his head and kissed her lips. "How could I bear to leave you? Once I get the job quota to return to the city and my job is stable, I'll come and marry you. Then the factory will allocate housing, and you can come and live with me in the city."
His eyes were full of warmth as he spoke.
His greatest skill is his ability to make lies sound incredibly convincing.
In Dahe Village, the villagers were all rough men. After Zhang's husband died, she couldn't find anyone she liked. But then Zhou Anze appeared, and she took a liking to this fair-skinned educated youth at first sight.
He was nothing like the rough men in the village.
But she wasn't stupid; she always knew why the other person had approached her.
If she hadn't spoiled Zhou Anze these past two years, he would have suffered so much, and he wouldn't have had the time or inclination to flirt with young girls.
However, considering how much effort Zhou Anze had put into her, she turned a blind eye to his little schemes.
But over time, Widow Zhang had gradually developed feelings for him. Hearing his sweet words, she was delighted and wrapped her arm around Zhou Anze's neck, saying, "I'm waiting for you to marry me. If you don't, hmph—"
Zhou Anze recognized the threat in the hum at the end. He was good at coaxing people, so he said, "How could I? If I don't marry you, may I be struck by lightning."
Widow Zhang was overjoyed, and Zhou Anze seized the opportunity to say, "What about the recruitment quota—"
"That's all you're thinking about," Widow Zhang said, tapping his head with a finger. "I know the person in charge of recruiting at the machine factory, so this is guaranteed to be a sure thing, but..."
Widow Zhang paused for a moment, then said, "I see the competition in your educated youth settlement is quite fierce. It might be inappropriate for me, the women's director, to suddenly recommend a man like you—"
Seeing Zhou Anze's increasingly nervous gaze, Widow Zhang smiled and said, "I can invite Yuan Qiang, the person in charge of the machinery factory, to our house. Although he is married, he likes to pick wildflowers outside. If you can get him a distinctive wildflower, your job at the machinery factory will be absolutely secure."
......
—
Jiang Ning has been living a pretty comfortable life lately. If it weren't for the Zhou Anze fans at the educated youth settlement, she would have been even more comfortable.
Zhou Anze twisted his own ankle and blamed it on her, while these educated youths, after hearing Zhou Anze's words, were full of malice towards her.
That day, Jiang Ning saw clumps of wild garlic sprouts in a field by the roadside.
These wild garlic sprouts are perfect for stir-frying with meat; and the garlic cloves underneath are incredibly delicious when pickled in a jar.
Jiang Ning also found it strange. She had a good appetite when she was in the family compound, but her appetite had been getting worse and worse since she came here.
Enjoying delicious food is clearly the happiest thing.
Jiang Ning squatted down by the roadside and reached out to pull garlic sprouts. When she had a poor appetite, she would try to make herself more appetizing food. She preferred food to medicine.
Jiang Ning was squatting by the roadside, happily pulling up garlic sprouts, when suddenly something hit her.
Jiang Ning looked down and saw a lump of mud.
Her clothes were also stained with mud.
She looked up and squinted at the three female educated youths not far away.
Seeing that Jiang Ning looked at the other person, who showed no remorse whatsoever, but instead said with a grin, "Ah, sorry, we didn't mean it, you shouldn't be angry, right?"
Jiang Ning glanced at the people walking behind them, put down the garlic sprouts in her hand, got up and walked over.
When the other party saw Jiang Ning approaching, their expression changed, but considering that there were three of them and Jiang Ning was alone, they couldn't do anything to them, so they became bolder and stood still, waiting for Jiang Ning to come over.
Jiang Ning said calmly, "I'm not angry."
The tone was exceptionally generous, showing no sign of anger whatsoever.
Then she suddenly reached for the manure ladle, and without saying a word, scooped up a spoonful of undigested food fiber and splashed it on the three female educated youths—
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