Xu Ningyan was very clear-headed and rational.
Serving the Unity Brigade is her job.
But she can't possibly have to pay for it herself, can she?
The worst thing you can do is not to blur the lines between public and private matters.
Especially at the very beginning, if you don't set a tone and are too embarrassed to speak up, it might become a precedent later on, and everyone will take it for granted.
Sure enough, as soon as these words were spoken, the lively scene immediately turned cold.
Everyone seemed surprised by Xu Ningyan's words.
The brigade leader and the party secretary were the first to react and quickly said, "Of course, we can't let you suffer a loss and pay out of pocket! Old Huang, quickly calculate it for us."
Xu Ningyan handed the receipts in her hand to accountant Lao Huang.
Old Huang quickly calculated on his abacus that he should reimburse Xu Ningyan for 25.3 yuan.
He immediately counted out a few bills from the money he had just received and was about to give them to Xu Ningyan.
Someone in the crowd couldn't help but say, "Doesn't Siya get a salary in the city and work points in our brigade? I can accept everything else, but should we include her travel expenses? She has to pay for her own trips to work, and she brings some things to our brigade along the way. How can we have the nerve to charge her?"
"And what about gift-giving? Three packs of cigarettes? Is that really necessary?"
As soon as one person spoke, another chimed in, "That's right! We even gave away five hair ties for free. If we could sell them, they'd be worth seven or eight cents! And we worked so hard to make them!"
Of course, some sensible people immediately retorted: "Don't you have any conscience saying that? Without Siya, who would know how to make hair ties? And where would you sell them? Did the wind blow that 150 yuan into our brigade's hands?"
"Exactly! When you're out in the world, how can you get someone to do something without giving them a little something in return? At least Siya is capable; she gave them a bribe and got it done! If it were you, you probably couldn't get anything done even if you offered mountains of gold and silver!"
The person who had been finding fault immediately backed down and couldn't help but defend himself: "I... I was just thinking that Siya is from our brigade, and we're all from the Xu family. She gets a salary, and her life is much better than ours! It would be too distant to keep such a small matter to ourselves with the brigade."
Xu Ningyan sneered: "Auntie, if you're not going to be distant, why don't you just give up your family's work points this year and distribute them equally among everyone? Anyway, we're all from the Xu family, why be so clear about what's yours and what's mine, right?"
The man immediately became anxious: "That won't do! Those work points are earned by my whole family through hard work in the fields, why should we share them with everyone else?"
Xu Ningyan retorted, "This money is also something I worked hard to earn, why shouldn't I take it?"
Everyone burst into laughter.
Although there are a few people with ulterior motives, most people are aware of it.
Now that we need Xu Ningyan's help, we can't afford to offend her.
If you want to take advantage of someone's age and seniority, you have to see if that person is willing or not!
The man was so embarrassed that he shrank back in the crowd and remained silent.
The brigade leader cleared his throat. "You're not allowed to say things like that again! Everyone must remember, without Siya coming up with ideas for our brigade, where would we get all this income? This is just the beginning. With Siya around, are you afraid we won't have a good life?"
“We don’t understand what’s going on outside! The fact that Siya can accomplish these things proves that she’s capable! She’s leading our brigade to make money, so we should trust her!”
"How dare we ask Siya to pay for our brigade's expenses? Would you be happy to do that? Not only can we not let Siya pay for our expenses, but if we have a high income at the end of the year, we should also give Siya a bonus to be worthy of her!"
"If I hear that again, I'll lose work points! And I'll get less money at the end of the year!"
The deduction of work points and wages immediately hit everyone's weak spot, and no one dared to speak up.
Seeing that everything was cleared up and the money had been reimbursed, Xu Ningyan was too lazy to stay there any longer. Carrying her Dragon Boat Festival bonus, she dragged Gu Zhiyuan home.
After walking a few steps, Gu Zhiyuan took all the items.
As the two walked away, someone in the group muttered, "Those two look quite well-matched! Siya married a man who's considerate of her!"
They only sighed a couple of times before turning their attention back to the brigade headquarters.
The brigade leader and the party secretary are assigning tasks to make hand-woven ribbons, which are all worth work points, and everyone wants to take some tasks home.
After the Dragon Boat Festival, we can make another batch and sell it in the county town.
The members all have their own accounts in mind.
The last batch sold for over a hundred, and although this batch is half the price, it should still be at least seventy or eighty, right?
If they keep going at this rate, won't their brigade be rich by the end of the 1980s?
Therefore, everyone in the Unity Brigade was all smiles this Dragon Boat Festival, making it more lively than in previous years.
On the Dragon Boat Festival, Xu Ningyan got up early and dragged Gu Zhiyuan along. Before the dew dried, they took their lackeys up the mountain and cut a basket of mugwort for each of them at a mugwort field they had chosen beforehand.
According to the elders, the mugwort cut on the morning of the Dragon Boat Festival while still wet with dew is the best, and it can ward off evil spirits when placed on the lintel.
Moreover, after being dried in the wind for a long time, this dried mugwort becomes a valuable product.
When harvesting rice in autumn, if your clothes get covered in rice awns and feel itchy, you can boil dried mugwort in water and take a bath. The itching will stop after you wash.
New mothers in their postpartum period should also use water boiled with aged dried mugwort to bathe on the day they finish their confinement period, so that they will not be exposed to wind or catch a cold.
If you catch a cold in winter, you can boil this in water and drink the water to dispel the cold.
Also, when the weather gets hot, it's useful for fumigating the mosquitoes in the house.
Dried mugwort is a treasure trove of benefits; it's best to store as much as possible.
When Xu Siya lived with the Xu family, she would cut several baskets of fruit every year and bring them back to the Xu family to dry in the shade for later use.
The older the mugwort, the better. It's a pity she didn't think of that when she left, so now I have to start drying it again myself.
During the Dragon Boat Festival, it's natural to eat zongzi (sticky rice dumplings).
Since there were only two of them, Xu Ningyan and Gu Zhiyuan, the perks she brought back were quite good.
In addition, Gu Zhiyuan had cut a piece of meat early in the morning, so the two of them had an even better meal.
They had just finished lunch and were about to rest when Tie Zhu, the leader of Xu Ningyan's paparazzi team, came to tell them some news.
It was said that Xu Zhenzhu had returned, alone. Lu Kai did not come back with her, saying that he was too busy working overtime at the factory and couldn't get away.
However, Xu Zhenzhu did bring back some gifts, which broadened everyone's horizons.
None of that is the most important thing. The most important thing is that Xu Zhenzhu wore a hair tie when she came back this time.
Everyone assumed that Xu Zhenzhu had bought it in the county town, but when they asked, they found out that someone had actually bought it from the county town, which had attracted the attention of the women in the commune.
Unfortunately, I couldn't buy it.
Some people are very skillful; they can figure out how to make a hair tie after just a couple of glances at it.
I bought some rubber bands and sewed them together with strips of cloth, and that's how I made it.
Although it's not as nice as the ones you buy in the county town, it's still pretty good.
In the commune, wearing a hair tie is now a source of pride. If a woman goes out without one, she'll be called a country bumpkin or a mud-legged bumpkin.
Xu Zhenzhu made this herself using fabric and had someone else make it; she specially brought it back to show people.
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