The day before Auntie Ayun married her daughter, Qin Qingman was asked to help. She was not asked to help cook or wash dishes, but to help fold the quilt on the wedding bed.
Qin Qingman married well. Wei Ling was not only good-looking, but also good at work, with a high position, able to make money, and caring for his wife. He had long been famous in their Kaoshan Village. So the day before Auntie Ayun's daughter left home, Auntie Ayun invited Qin Qingman to help fold the quilt on the wedding bed.
The implication is that he hopes that the man his daughter marries will be as considerate and loving to her as Wei Ling is.
I hope my daughter can be as happy as Qin Qingman.
Qin Qingman was invited by Auntie Ayun to help, and Chuchu was not left behind. Although Chuchu was only six years younger than her, she was still able to serve as a bed-pressing boy.
Weddings in the 1970s were lively, but they did not involve grand banquets like those in later generations.
Due to the shortage of materials, no one could afford to invite such guests, nor could they hold a proper banquet. The host family could only prepare a table of wine and food for the wedding party and eat with them.
People like Qin Qingman who are helping are just helping out and cannot stay for dinner.
Even if the host politely invites, no one will stay, just one word.
Poor!
Can't afford it, can't pay it back.
Qin Qingman went to help Auntie Ayun that day and was dressed festively, with a red cotton jacket. Chuchu was also dressed in red with two red eggs painted on her face, just like the boy in the New Year pictures.
If I couldn't run and jump, I would definitely be rubbed to pieces by everyone.
There were quite a few people at Auntie Ayun's family, and they were all very polite and happy to see Qin Qingman and her brother and sister. They were all from the same village, and they chatted while working. On such a festive day, everyone said happy and auspicious words, and no one was looking for trouble.
There are quite a few people helping out, and if each person takes charge of a little bit, it will be done quickly.
After everything was done, the adults sat in the living room, warming themselves by the fire and chatting. Auntie Yun was not stingy with the pine nuts and melon seeds at home today, and she brought out a lot of them for everyone to enjoy, which also served to increase popularity.
If this happened in ancient times, one or two banquets would have to be prepared to entertain everyone.
Although people were poor in ancient times, as long as farmers were diligent in raising pigs and growing vegetables, they could always hold a banquet on such festive occasions.
It is different now. Private transactions are not allowed. People cannot raise pigs or cattle, and individuals cannot develop their own economy. All economic activities are collective and planned, and materials are purchased with money and tickets.
So although people's lives are better than in ancient times, they can't afford to hold banquets.
Qin Qingman was a young daughter-in-law. She didn't talk much with everyone, so she spoke less and listened more. When she was asked a question, she only answered a few words.
As for Chuchu, she was sleeping on the kang with a quilt folded up.
When the man gets married, the boy who presses the bed will sleep on the bridal bed for one night. Auntie Ayun is marrying a daughter of a noble family, so she doesn't need to sleep for one night. She can just take a nap as a token of her respect. The boy who presses the bed will not really use the bridal quilt, he just wants it to be auspicious.
Chuchu and another girl on the bed were sleeping on the kang. Qin Qingman certainly couldn't leave immediately after finishing her work here.
I just sat with everyone, cracking sunflower seeds and listening to their idle chat.
This time, since we were not working in the bedroom and were not touching the things that the master needed for marriage, the topics were much more diverse. We talked about most of the topics, including everything in the village and outside the village. In short, we talked about whatever we thought of.
As everyone was talking, their eyes shifted to Qin Qingman.
"Qingman, I heard that you are going to participate in the commune election?" Someone who was well-informed asked this in front of Qin Qingman.
As soon as these words came out, all the sounds disappeared.
Auntie Ayun did not invite Zheng Guihua today. Zheng Guihua is the women's director of the commune and also from their Kaoshantun. She is just too protective of her mother's family and not very good at handling things. As a result, she was abandoned by Zheng Anguo and Qian Xiangyang in this election of commune cadres.
Ever since it was revealed that Qin Qingman would participate in the commune election this year, Zheng Guihua has rarely come to Kaoshantun.
Zheng Guihua has a son who works in the town. For the convenience of work, she has always lived in her son's house. She is rarely in the village and only comes back during festivals or when there are big events in the village.
Auntie Ayun originally wanted to invite Zheng Guihua to help with her daughter's wedding, but she failed to get her help after several attempts.
Every time I went to her house to invite her, Zheng Guihua would make excuses for various reasons.
When everyone in Auntie Ayun's family got together, they guessed the reason.
Today someone simply asked Qin Qingman directly. Anyway, before the commune election, their village will have to hold an election first, and then only those with the highest number of votes in each village will be recommended to run for the commune election.
It's something that will be announced in a few days, so it wouldn't be against the rules or embarrassing anyone if everyone asked Qin Qingman about it now.
Seeing that everyone was looking at her curiously, Qin Qingman didn't hide anything and nodded and admitted directly: "Secretary An Guo and Director Qian think that I am capable of working in the commune and think that I should participate in the election."
Seeing that Qin Qingman answered confidently and that it was a suggestion made by Zheng Anguo, the deputy secretary of the commune, everyone immediately agreed.
"I think it's better for Qingman to participate in the general election. We need cadres who can serve the people."
"Yes, Qingman is a very good person. If Qingman becomes a commune cadre, it will not only be a good thing for Kaoshantun, but I think it will be a good thing for the entire commune. Qingman's ability and character are obvious to all."
"When the time comes to vote, I will definitely vote for Qingman."
"I also want to vote for Qingman. I trust Qingman's ability and character first."
"Yes, I want to join Qingman girl too."
Everyone spoke in unison about supporting Qin Qingman. This was not just because of Wei Ling, the division chief. When Qin Qingman stepped forward to save Qin Lei's family, everyone was already full of admiration for her.
"Thank you, thank you all the aunts and sisters-in-law for your love."
Qin Qingman thanked everyone for their support and smiled gently and politely.
"Qingman, we all support you to be a commune cadre. Don't mind some people who are jealous and say strange things. We absolutely believe in your character and ability. When the village holds an election in a few days, I will choose you first." Auntie Ayun held Qin Qingman's hand and spoke very sincerely.
Her words were also a reminder to Qin Qingman that some people had been gossiping behind her back about her participation in the commune cadre election.
They said that Qin Qingman was too young and had no work experience, so how could she participate in the commune election right away? Was she doing it for the sake of face of certain people (Wei Ling)?
Auntie An Yun heard this when she went to the supply and marketing cooperative in town to buy things. It seems to have become even more serious in the past few days.
The conversation seemed to come from Zheng Guihua's house.
At least the last time she saw someone saying strange things about Qin Qingman in the town, it was Zheng Guihua's daughter-in-law. She felt uncomfortable when she heard it at first, and she even scolded Zheng Guihua's daughter-in-law. A young daughter-in-law dared to talk nonsense about their Kaoshantun. It was really an insult to their Kaoshantun. There was no one left in Kaoshantun.
Qin Qingman understood what was going on as soon as she heard Auntie Ayun's reminder.
Zheng Anguo had already told her about this last night, and told her to focus on preparing for the commune cadre election, and that he and Qian Xiangyang would handle any strange matters.
"Thank you, Auntie." Qin Qingman was very grateful to see that Auntie Ayun was busy marrying off her daughter and still cared about her.
"Qingman, why are you thanking me? To be honest, I can't help you in any way." Auntie Ayun was relieved to see that Qin Qingman knew what was going on. She then quickly invited everyone to drink water, eat pine nuts, and chat.
"By the way, Qingman, I see that your comrades-in-arms of Wei Ling are all good. Do those guys have partners?" The aunties were really eyeing Du Hongyi and the others. After chatting for a while, they couldn't help but focus their attention on Qin Qingman again.
Qin Qingman knew that the excellence of Du Hongyi and his companions would definitely attract a lot of attention, but she did not intend to act as a matchmaker for them.
I could only decline, "My dear ladies, it's not that I don't want to help, but Ling and his comrades all have their own thoughts and their attention is not on us. Otherwise, I can't let the good things flow into the fields of outsiders."
“That’s a shame.”
Someone expressed regret.
"Qingman, have these guys' families been arranged? Why haven't we seen anyone from their hometown?" Everyone had a good relationship with Qin Qingman, so they dared to say anything directly.
"I haven't asked whether their families have made any arrangements for marriage, but they are all older than my son A Ling." Qin Qingman spoke the truth, and she indeed had not asked whether Du Hongyi and the others' families had any arrangements for marriage.
"Indeed, we can see that they are much older than your Wei Ling. At this age, they may have married and had children. But they are soldiers and usually stay in the barracks. Even if we are close to them, we don't know the situation."
Some people can still understand what Qin Qingman said.
"That's what I mean." Someone echoed.
"By the way, Qingman, how is your girl Wanqing doing? I heard that she is an educated youth. Does she want to stay in our Kaoshan Village?" Seeing that Du Hongyi and the others had no hope, everyone couldn't help but ask about Huang Wanqing again.
It wasn't that they had any thoughts about Huang Wanqing, they just asked this question casually while chatting about this.
Everyone is very concerned about the unmarried men and women of marriageable age in the village.
"Wanqing is from the capital, and Aling and I have no say in her marriage." Qin Qingman declined everyone's good intentions and explained, "Wanqing has the right ideas. Aling and I hope she can choose someone she likes to marry."
"Yes, yes, Qingman is right. Nowadays, people don't believe in matchmaking. What matters is free love. Young people should find someone they like. If they like someone, their future life will be easier, better than our time."
There are aunts who agree with Qin Qingman.
"Yes, I also think what Qingman said makes sense. Although in our time, marriages were arranged by matchmakers and the man and woman looked at each other, but who can tell whether a person is good or bad just by looking at each other? You can only know whether a person is good or not after getting to know each other."
"Yeah, even though our generation doesn't like divorces, in fact, not many of the marriages we see are really that suitable. They are just for the sake of having children to make ends meet. If you really want to have room to choose, you should at least look at a few more."
"Sister-in-law Hongmei, do you dare to tell this to your husband Zheng Feng? If he knew that you wanted to see more men, I believe he would make trouble with you." Seeing that Zhang Hongmei spoke so directly, some aunts simply started to tease her as well.
Zhang Hongmei is really not afraid of her man, she said cheerfully: "I didn't say that my Zheng Feng and I are living together, but if I had seen a few more people at the beginning, it would have let my man know that I would have no trouble finding a husband, right?"
"Sister Hongmei, please stop saying that. If the younger generation hears it, it will easily teach them bad things. In our rural area, how can we get married without seeing each other? It is still safer if parents help to take care of the couple."
Seeing everyone laughing and joking, Qin Qingman also interrupted, "If you want to meet someone, you must meet them, but you must first understand both the man and the woman. Once you understand each other clearly, let the children get along on their own. If they can't get along, don't force it. After all, love is a matter between two people, and it's not a good thing for parents to interfere too much."
The reason she said this today was because she knew that she was running for the position of women's director in the commune.
The focus of the women's director's work is not only on women, but may also involve trivial family matters of each family. She is also setting the tone for her work in advance.
Women’s freedom starts with marriage.
Everyone was stunned for a moment after hearing Qin Qingman's speech, then smiled and nodded, saying, "Qingman is right. Parents choose what they like. This is not okay. Only what the children like is what they really like."
"Qingman, when you become a commune cadre, arrange a few more movie shows for our village in the spring. When the movies start, young men and women from all over the country will come to watch the movies. Then, boys and girls of the right age in our village can also take the opportunity to meet each other."
"Yes, yes. Get more movies for our village in the spring. I'll watch them a few more times, and the men and women in our village won't have trouble finding a partner."
"Hahaha--"
Everyone laughed happily.
"Auntie Xiulan, Auntie Guiying, I think you want to watch a movie, so you deliberately brought up the matter of finding partners for the young people in the village." Seeing the aunties laughing happily, several young wives couldn't help but interject and make a few jokes.
"I think the ladies also want to watch a movie."
"Yes, yes, I think so too."
The young wives all looked at their aunts and laughed, and the atmosphere in the hall became even more joyful.
"Who doesn't want to watch a movie? If any village or brigade here shows a movie, people from other brigades will definitely gather here like ants, believe it or not." Aunt Guiying is indeed addicted to movies.
Last year, there was a movie screening in Kaoshantun. She went back to her parents' home the day before and came back very late, so she couldn't get a good seat to watch the movie.
Look, I've been missing you for a whole year.
Qin Qingman also knew the characteristics of this era. She knew that everyone had no entertainment activities and was really looking forward to something as exciting as watching a movie. So she simply promised, "Aunties and sisters-in-law, if there are really movies going to the countryside, the secretary and others must remember to fight for our Kaoshantun."
"Qingman girl should also help speak up." Everyone started to make a fuss, as if Qin Qingman had already become a commune cadre.
"Okay, I'll try my best." Qin Qingman agreed with a smile.
As everyone was laughing and chatting, it gradually got darker. Chuchu on the kang and another little girl on the bed woke up. After the children woke up, Qin Qingman took Chuchu home.
Everyone who helped out at Auntie Ayun's house today received two red eggs from Auntie Ayun.
Even though there were only two people, there were quite a few people who went to Auntie Ayun's house to help.
Auntie Ayun must have given away at least one or two hundred eggs.
"Sister, the red eggs are delicious. Save them for my brother-in-law." Chuchu went home with Qin Qingman. On the way, she couldn't help but take out the red eggs from her pocket and looked at them again and again, happily announcing the owner of the red eggs.
Wei Ling has been away from home for more than a week and there is no news at all.
Du Hongyi and others have been busy at the division headquarters these days and did not come to see Chuchu. Although they did not come in person, the gift did arrive.
Someone gave Qin Qingman ten kilograms of wheat flour, the very white kind.
Qin Qingman also missed Wei Ling. Knowing the situation, she missed Wei Ling more than Chu Chu. When she heard the child say this, Wei Ling's figure flashed through her mind for an instant, and it took her a while to come back to her senses.
When she came to her senses, she saw the wolf cub coming to greet them.
Dudu is a wolf. Qin Qingman was worried that Aunt Ayun's family had some taboos about marrying off their daughter, so she did not take the wolf cub with her. Instead, she left the wolf cub at home. When the wolf cub heard the noise, it ran out of the house to greet them.
Chu Chu was already squatting on the ground rubbing the wolf cub's head.
"Sister, there are exactly four red eggs, one for each person in our family." Chu Chu still remembered that she had to share the red eggs with Wei Ling.
"Okay, we'll have one each." Qin Qingman saw that the child's smile was so bright, so she didn't disappoint him. Instead, she followed the child's wishes. However, she didn't know whether the red egg could be kept until Wei Ling came back.
The temperature outside their house is low and there is snow everywhere on the ground, but the temperature inside the house is high. At such a high temperature, even if the red eggs are cooked, they can only be kept for one day at most. If kept for too long, they will go bad.
"sister in law--"
Before Qin Qingman and Chuchu entered the house, they heard joyful shouts behind them. When they turned around, they saw Huang Wanqing running towards them happily.
"Why did you come back so early today?" Qin Qingman took over Huang Wanqing and asked in surprise.
"I don't know. Anyway, the whole farm was closed early, so I came back with everyone else. Secretary and the others have also come back." Huang Wanqing replied to Qin Qingman and turned to look behind her.
She was young and walked fast, and she and Zheng Anguo and the others had different routes, so they were not together this time.
When Qin Qingman heard that the commune also left work early, she remembered what Zheng Anguo had said to her yesterday.
The commune is going to hold an election for cadres this year, and each village and town has to report their candidates in advance. Maybe because they are busy with the polls, they simply leave work early.
"Let's go home." Qin Qingman guessed the reason but did not explain it to Huang Wanqing. Instead, she took people home. After sitting on the sled for an hour, her body was probably frozen.
"Sister-in-law, I'm not cold, not at all. The leather jacket you made for me is very warm." Huang Wanqing looked at Qin Qingman with a happy smile on her face. In order to reassure Qin Qingman, she even lifted up her clothes and let Qin Qingman put her hand in to test the temperature.
"Okay, I know you're not cold. If you're not cold, let's go home and have dinner."
Qin Qingman smiled only when she saw that Huang Wanqing was really not cold.
"Sister Wanqing, my sister and I got red eggs. We're going to eat red eggs tonight." Chuchu immediately showed off to Huang Wanqing.
"Wow, our Chuchu is so amazing that he can even win red eggs."
Huang Wanqing teases Chuchu.
Chuchu heard it immediately and went home with Huang Wanqing after a quarrel.
A few days later, voting began in the villages. Each village had to select candidates with outstanding abilities and character and report them to the commune. The commune leaders then voted to select candidates for vacant positions.
There is only one candidate from Kaoshantun, and that is Qin Qingman.
Qin Qingman was nominated to the commune by all 386 people in Kaoshan Village with the votes. Such a high number of votes is unique in any village.
In this way, Qin Qingman became one of the candidates for commune cadres.
Just waiting for the final selection.
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