Yan Xingmin was full of confidence this time, thinking that the Bai family would feel guilty and dare not refuse his request.
Yan Xingmin, a craftsman of some renown, was accustomed to being respected and taking advantage of others. He thought he could also control the Bai family, but was instead slinked away by Bai Jiaojiao, leaving him resentful.
Yan Xingmin walked two miles, then looked back in the direction of the Bai family, his heart hardening, determined to teach them a lesson no matter what.
Shen Heng went out for an afternoon and brought back a lot of things, including two satin quilt covers. One was bright pink with flowers and the other was orange-yellow with two phoenixes. They were soft, smooth, and reflective, and very beautiful. Bai Jiaojiao liked them very much and immediately wanted to remove the original quilt cover and put them on.
Bai Jiaojiao would take apart her quilt and change her sheets once a month in winter. Shen Heng knew that she came from the city and loved cleanliness, so he let her do as she pleased. After winter came, he didn't let her touch water anymore, and he washed them himself. His big hands had an advantage; one rub from them was equivalent to several rubs from Bai Jiaojiao.
Bai Jiaojiao was sewing a quilt cover on the kang (a heated brick bed): "This afternoon I heard the brigade leader say that our commune is going to build a road to the town, and the road to our village will be built first."
There's no doubt that this year's advanced brigade will be out of the question. One thing after another has happened in Shili Village, and even the village chief was dismissed. If they are still eligible for the advanced award, the other brigades will definitely be dissatisfied.
However, Bai Jiaojiao's efforts in leading Shili Village to raise pigs were remarkably successful, which was indeed a great achievement. Li Shiqing also reported Bai Jiaojiao's initiative in recommending herself to the rope factory. In the report, Li Shiqing highlighted the progress of the women in their village, which pleased the higher-ups.
The commune leaders wanted to develop and expand pig farming, which inevitably required interaction with the outside world. So they gritted their teeth and thought that if they could build roads and raise pigs on a large scale in the villages of their commune, they could directly supply meat processing plants, and the commune would gradually become rich.
The merits of Shili Village as a whole outweigh its faults. Although it cannot be recognized as an advanced village, the leaders have seen this, so when such a good thing happens, Shili Village is the first village that comes to mind.
“Building roads is the right thing to do. There’s a section of road in our village that’s really too narrow, and the ditch next to it is very deep. It’s strange that no one has fallen into the ditch all these years.”
Shen Heng's words sounded somewhat gloating, and Bai Jiaojiao looked at him as if she was hoping something would happen so she could laugh at him: "You can't fill in the ditch when you build a road there. What if you fill in the land on both sides? There will be nowhere for the water to flow when it rains heavily."
"What they do is none of my business; let them worry about it."
"I heard from the brigade leader that the commune will pay for the road repairs, but the labor force from our village will have to do the work."
Everyone is on holiday now because there's no work in the fields and it's the off-season for farming. It has nothing to do with the cold weather. If the roads were to be repaired, they would probably have to go back to work.
Bai Jiaojiao can now avoid being a pig farmer, but she feels sorry for Shen Heng having to work in such cold weather.
Shili Village is located by the sea and receives a lot of rainfall. In winter, it becomes a snowdrift. Every time it snows heavily at night, Shen Heng has to get up in the middle of the night to clear the snow from the ground and roof, otherwise he won't be able to open the door the next day.
In winter, the ground is hard and the snow melts into mud in some places, which can cause a lot of trouble for road repairs.
"Of course, it was the people from our village who did it. Who else would do it?"
"How about I ask you to take a leave of absence and say that your illness hasn't fully recovered?"
Bai Jiaojiao frowned, seemingly seriously considering the feasibility of this matter.
Shen Heng found it amusing. In Bai Jiaojiao's eyes, he had become a precious treasure: "Don't go out and embarrass me. Ask for leave for me. People will laugh at you to death if they find out."
Bai Jiaojiao pouted angrily: "Can't you tell the difference between good and bad? You go do it, you'll freeze to death."
Shen Heng patted Bai Jiaojiao's head and lay down like a grandpa, watching Bai Jiaojiao sew the bedsheets.
When Wang Fushun returned in the evening, he asked for a drink of water and rubbed his face, which was stiff from being outside in the cold: "Brother Heng, how did your brother-in-law get involved with such a person?"
"What's wrong? Is it troublesome?"
Bai Jiaojiao felt somewhat worried after hearing what Wang Fushun said.
"No, no, no, it's not troublesome at all," Wang Fushun waved his hand, "We've been doing this for so many years, do you think we've done it for nothing? We definitely still have connections."
Wang Fushun took out a white envelope from his pocket: "Look at him, he's really efficient. He handed in that whistleblower letter this afternoon, humph."
The town has a special office for speculation and profiteering under the Industry and Commerce Bureau, and the people there are specifically there to crack down on such activities.
Bai Jiaojiao took the envelope, which had already been opened, indicating that someone had seen it: "You know the person in charge inside?"
They can even intercept the whistleblower letters that are submitted.
Wang Fushun smiled smugly: "Knowing people doesn't depend on how high their official rank is, as long as they can get things done."
This matter could have been handled by a gatekeeper; Wang Fushun gave him a pound of meat floss cakes, and that satisfied him completely.
"What if he doesn't do anything after a few days and just goes to the office?"
Wang Fushun said, "He won't live to see that day. Don't worry, sister-in-law. If you don't trust me, don't you trust Brother Heng?"
This wasn't the first time Wang Fushun had dealt with something like this. After all these years of ups and downs, Yan Xingmin was simply the lowest of the low.
Those who really wanted to mess with them reported it quietly, unlike Yan Xingmin, who was incredibly audacious to try and extort money from them.
In the black market, everyone is shrewd, and in Wang Fushun's eyes, someone like Yan Xingmin was so stupid it was shocking.
"Thank you for your trouble. Come over tomorrow and I'll make you something to take with you."
"What's so hard about it? Isn't this all for myself? Sister-in-law, you don't need to be so polite with me."
"I'm not being polite with you. I've come up with something new, but it's troublesome to make and the ingredients are hard to find. It can't be sold like meat floss cakes, but it's enough for our own consumption."
"Alright, if that's how you put it, then I won't stand on ceremony."
Shen Heng got some milk coupons and brought back four small bags of Red Star milk powder. He originally planned to feed Bai Jiaojiao, but when he saw that Bai Jiaojiao had poured it all out in one go.
"You really don't intend to live a normal life."
Milk coupons are hard to come by these days. Shen Heng had only managed to scrape together a few with great difficulty. Bai Jiaojiao's generosity showed that Shen Heng knew she wasn't planning to keep any for herself.
Bai Jiaojiao separated the egg yolks and egg whites, and asked him to beat the egg whites into a foam, then add milk powder and sugar.
While saying, "You really know how to order people around," Shen Heng dutifully stirred the eggs all night.
Without milk, Bai Jiaojiao couldn't make cream, so she had to make do with what she had.
Bai Jiaojiao rolled out glutinous rice dough and wrapped it into round glutinous rice balls, each about the size of her palm, soft and plump.
Bai Jiaojiao made forty dumplings from four bags of milk powder. Ten of them had only sugar added, ten had taro paste mixed in, ten had chocolate mixed in, and ten had steamed red beans added.
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