In the afternoon, some people went out of their way to the river at the bottom of the slope to wash their things, and kept casting curious glances at Xu Ningyan's small courtyard on the slope.
"Do you think Siya and her husband know the news too, which is why they're hiding inside and not coming out?"
"I think so! He lost his job, but Xu Zhenzhu got one. Anyone would be happy in that situation, right?"
"Whose fault is it? Blame her own lack of self-control! Of all the men she could have married, she had to marry a member of the 'Five Black Categories'! Now she's probably crying her eyes out in the house, isn't she?"
"How can you blame her for saying that? If it weren't for those rumors about the Xu family that drove people to their deaths, would she have married that man? Even if you want to curry favor with the Xu family and Xu Zhenzhu, hoping to buy some scarce items from her in the future, you can't say such things against your conscience, can you?"
Some people couldn't stand it anymore and spoke out of conscience.
...
The women were silent for a moment.
"That's just her own bad luck! I even said before that she'd had better luck after severing ties with the Xu family! Now it seems her bad days are yet to come!"
"If you put it that way, Xu Zhenzhu is truly blessed!"
"That's right, did you see that young man next to her that day? He's really handsome, you can tell he's from the city, so refined! Compared to him, all the others in our brigade look like burnt sticks."
"The Xu family's good days are yet to come! Their in-laws are city leaders who can arrange jobs for Pearl, and they might be able to arrange jobs for the entire Xu family in the future! Who knows, the whole family might become city dwellers!"
Everyone was incredibly envious.
After resting for a while, someone mentioned that when Xu Zhenzhu starts working in the future, she must grit her teeth and buy one of those hair clips, face cream, and bright red silk scarves that she can't usually buy, so that she can show them off during holidays.
After talking for so long, there was still no movement from Xu Ningyan's courtyard. These women couldn't stay by the river forever, so they had to slowly disperse.
After everyone had left, Xu Ningyan and Gu Zhiyuan smiled wryly, finally able to have some peace and quiet.
Although they didn't care about what these people said, they were very loud, and those words were deliberately said to them, almost shouted out loud.
They chattered away for ages, and even if you stayed inside and closed the door, you couldn't stop them.
After finally getting rid of everyone, we made lunch and ate it. We were discussing going down the slope to clear out the plots of land that had been allocated to them.
This piece of land is next to the mountains and water, and is overgrown with wild grass and shrubs.
Xu Ningyan and Gu Zhiyuan had already taken advantage of their free time to gradually pull away all the weeds and cut down all the shrubs, digging up the roots and spreading them out to dry so they could take them home to use as firewood.
As for the wood ash from the burning, it's all saved up. Once the land is cleared, the wood ash is sprinkled on top, which also serves as fertilizer.
The field was mostly covered with pebbles, so we had to clear them out as we went.
Otherwise, nothing can be grown on this land.
At this time of year, most of the fertilizer in rural areas is farmyard manure, which is not even enough to cover the land itself.
Every day, the cow dung and leftover hay scraps swept out of the cowshed are all sent to the brigade's composting pit. This is fertilizer for public use and private individuals are not allowed to use it.
The plot of land they were allocated wasn't great, but the two of them had no choice. They just thought that if they worked hard to maintain it for two years, it should be fine.
The stones that were picked up were not thrown away haphazardly, but neatly piled up to the side.
Xu Ningyan had already planned that when she had free time, she would pave all these stones into a path, starting from the eaves of her house, passing through the yard, and all the way to the riverbank.
Otherwise, when it rains, my feet and trouser legs will be covered in mud, which is very inconvenient.
The two of them had only been digging for a short while when they unearthed a lot of stones. However, the soil that came up with the stones was soft and dark brown, not as barren as Xu Ningyan had imagined.
Then we heard the loudspeaker from the brigade headquarters blaring again, announcing that everyone should go and distribute the wheat.
This was a great thing that everyone had been looking forward to, and many people dropped what they were doing and rushed to the brigade headquarters.
Xu Ningyan and Gu Zhiyuan tidied up and walked leisurely towards the brigade headquarters. Since one of them had a bad class background and the other had separated from his family, they probably wouldn't get much grain from their previous work points, so there was no need to rush.
Sure enough, by the time they arrived, almost everyone in the group had already gathered.
The brigade headquarters was next to the warehouse, and the distribution of grain took place right at the warehouse entrance.
The strongest men in the team were responsible for carrying the wheat out to be weighed, while the brigade accountant, Huang Er, checked the work points and quantities using the ledger.
The brigade leader and the party secretary stood by and watched, to prevent anyone from causing trouble.
The team members were all lined up at the front, some carrying cloth bags, others carrying basins and buckets, all for storing grain.
The educated youth were very self-aware and did not compete with the brigade members. Instead, they lagged behind, seemingly planning to wait until the brigade members had finished distributing their goods before going forward.
Seeing Xu Ningyan and Gu Zhiyuan slowly walking over, he stood behind them.
They pushed each other, exchanging glances.
"Why are they standing behind us? What does that mean?"
"Is it because of the ingredients?"
"Didn't he marry Siya from that brigade? She's practically half a brigade member now, why is he still acting like this?"
"Have you forgotten? The Xu family that Siya broke off her engagement with—Siya's aunt, Xu Zhenzhu, is dating someone from the city. He's arranged a job for her family—a sales clerk at the supply and marketing cooperative! And I heard the man's family is powerful and wealthy; they're the deputy director of a machinery factory and can even get a tractor for the Tuanjie Brigade! Siya's job fell through because of that Gu guy. How can they possibly have the confidence to move forward?"
"Tsk tsk, what bad luck! I knew it! You can't afford to get involved with those 'five black categories'! Getting involved with them will leave you badly bruised! We need to be more careful from now on! Stay far away from them!"
As they spoke, the educated youth consciously or unconsciously moved several steps to the side, as if afraid of getting involved with Gu Zhiyuan and Xu Ningyan.
The two female educated youths who had spoken to Gu Zhiyuan that day also changed their expressions, feeling fear, regret, and even more disgust and anger.
She couldn't help but glare at Gu Zhiyuan, then walked to the side and muttered, "What bad luck!"
"That's right, we should stay away from each other from now on! We don't want to get dragged into this!"
...
Gu Zhiyuan and Xu Ningyan both have good hearing, and neither of them lowered their voices at all.
Not only the two of them, but several other educated youths around them heard it.
The educated youth who heard this glanced at the two female educated youths, then at Gu Zhiyuan, whose expression remained unchanged, and Xu Ningyan, whose face was grim. They all took a few steps back in unison.
I've seen people court death, but I've never seen anyone court death like this!
When you were talking about Comrade Gu, did you forget that his partner was standing next to him?
Comrade Gu couldn't say anything, but his girlfriend, Siya, was from the Unity Brigade.
No matter what, the people in this united brigade will definitely favor their own people, not the educated youth from outside, okay?
Xu Ningyan's temper flared up immediately.
What kind of monsters and demons have suddenly appeared?
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