Bai Jiaojiao went to the brigade leader's house with an umbrella. At that moment, Li Lide was at the brigade leader's house.
Captain Zheng Xuzheng complained that Li Lide should have listened to him and made more tools.
Li Lide, however, said smugly, "It's already a great achievement that we've harvested 80% of the wheat this year. Just now, someone from Xiangyang Village next door came over and told me that their village has only harvested less than 60%."
Zheng Xu is seven years younger than Li Lide. They usually eat together and Zheng Xu is very tolerant of Li Lide.
"Captain!"
Bai Jiaojiao knocked on the door from outside. When Zheng Xu's wife saw it was her, she was stunned for a moment, and then said, "It's raining so hard, hurry up and come inside."
Zheng Xu and Li Lide turned their heads and saw Bai Jiaojiao in the yard, and both of them frowned at the same time.
"Why is she here?" Li Lide felt a headache coming on whenever he saw Bai Jiaojiao.
It's probably because of Squad Leader Li Hongtao!
Li Lide's expression darkened as he racked his brains for a solution, trying to figure out how to help his good-for-nothing cousin get away with it.
"Bai Jiaojiao, it's raining heavily, what are you doing at my house?"
Zheng Xu wasn't prejudiced against Bai Jiaojiao; as the team leader, he simply disliked everyone who didn't work hard.
"Captain, did the weather forecast say how long this rain will last? If the wheat is left in the field, will it still be able to be harvested?"
In my past life, this torrential rain poured down for two days and two nights without stopping, as if it were free. On the morning of the third day, the sun finally came out, and the brigade was organizing the harvest of the remaining wheat. But then at noon, it started to drizzle again, followed by a week of overcast skies, and we never saw the sun.
The village of Shili is right next to the sea, and the summer winds all come from the sea, so there's no such thing as drying things out.
The wheat that was rained on sprouted thumb-sized malts within a week, making it impossible to grind into flour and turning it all into pig feed.
Zheng Xu frowned, rubbed his thigh with his palm, and still answered seriously, "This rain will last for another week, so the crops in the fields can't be harvested."
"Captain, let's go out and harvest the wheat while the rain is still light!" Bai Jiaojiao suggested.
Before Zheng Xu could say anything, Li Lide slammed his hand on the table: "Bai Jiaojiao, do you think you've done something right and come here to boss us around? Whether the wheat should be harvested or not, and when it should be harvested, do you think a city girl like you knows more than us farmers who have farmed all our lives?"
Zheng Xu also agreed with Li Lide's view: "Even if you harvest it in the rain, wet wheat cannot be ground into flour. It will still sprout or rot. There is no need to make the commune members do such a meaningless and harmful thing."
Zheng Xu was one of the youngest brigade leaders among the various brigades, but he was highly respected among the villagers of Shili Village. The main reason was that he was honest and considerate of the villagers.
"Captain, if we can harvest the wheat, even if it rains heavily, we'll dry it out by roasting it..."
Li Lide interrupted Bai Jiaojiao, scoffing, "Pshaw, what nonsense! Wheat is cooked by roasting, isn't it? How can you cook wheat by grinding it? Do you really think you know everything just because you've had a little education?"
"Roasted wheat and ground into flour, it can't be used to make steamed buns, but it's still edible!"
Bai Jiaojiao said that, but neither Zheng Xu nor Li Lide had ever eaten it.
Fried wheat, who knows what it tastes like?
However, Zheng Xu took these words to heart.
No matter what it tastes like, at least it won't be a waste. They've all been hungry before; whether the food is good or bad is secondary, filling their stomachs is the most important thing.
"You should go back now, let's discuss this matter again."
The villagers might not be willing to go to work in the rain.
Having said all that, Bai Jiaojiao knew that Zheng Xu had reached his limit.
She said, "Captain, you must think it over carefully."
Without saying anything more, he turned and went back to the Bai family home.
Deng Min was busy in the kitchen. Now that the harvest was over, she was thinking about making up for the meal Bai Jiaojiao had to eat when she returned home.
This was Shen Heng's first visit after getting married. The attitude of the bride's family could determine the attitude of the husband's family towards his wife, so Bai Shihai specially went to the dock to buy a lot of good fish and shrimp.
Bai Shiqing knew that Bai Zhiman's temper was very strange these days, so she repeatedly told him on the kang (a heated brick bed) not to have a conflict with Shen Heng for Bai Jiaojiao's sake.
"I have to serve him? Who's whose father-in-law?" Bai Zhiman snorted.
Bai Shiqing said, "Dad, you can lose your temper with us all you want. You're our dad, and we deserve it. But Shen Heng isn't your son. If he gets angry, someone like you won't even be able to run away."
"Bai Shiqing, how dare you speak to me like that?"
Bai Zhiman is almost driven crazy by his eldest daughter all the time.
“I’m telling the truth. If you embarrass Shen Heng, how can I face him?”
"Your little sister isn't my daughter, what does it have to do with me?" Bai Zhiman thought of Ding Shifang. "I wonder how Shifang is doing. She's just a village girl, can she live well in a big city? What if people look down on her?"
Before Ding Shifang left, she was the one who took care of Bai Zhiman. She was much gentler than Bai Shiqing, and Bai Zhiman must have been living a more comfortable life than he is now.
Bai Shiqing's deep affection for Ding Shifang is one thing, but her resentment towards her is another: "Stop thinking about her. She's living a good life now and has long forgotten about you!"
Two years ago, Ding Shifang suddenly came to tell them that she was actually the child who was switched at birth, because she did not look like her father or her older brother and sister.
The whole family initially thought it was Ding Shifang's nonsense, but no one expected her to actually do it. She went to the village committee and made a scene to get an identity certificate, saying she was going to the next city to find her biological parents.
Bai Shiqing has a quick temper. When she saw Ding Shifang being willful, she had a big argument with her, but she still couldn't stop Ding Shifang.
To everyone's surprise, she actually found it!
After Ding Shifang received a letter from her family saying that she wanted to live with her biological parents, she never contacted the Bai family again, which made Bai Shiqing furious.
Even if you adopt a dog, you should still remember its former owner, right?
After Bai's mother died, if Bai Zhiman hadn't had to raise four children on his own, he wouldn't have needed to go up the mountain to push stones, and he wouldn't have had his leg broken by a stone and become paralyzed on the kang (a heated brick bed).
No matter what, Bai Zhiman had been incredibly kind to his siblings. Bai Shiqing felt angry just thinking about Ding Shifang's ungrateful behavior.
"Dad, let me tell you, he's not Bai Shifang anymore. From now on, our family will only have Bai Shijiao, not Bai Shifang!"
Bai Shiqing had already incorporated Bai Jiaojiao into their generational hierarchy, clearly telling Bai Zhiman.
Bai Zhiman was speechless after Bai Shiqing's words. After all, what Bai Shiqing said was the truth. After Ding Shijiao left, it was as if she had forgotten about them, which was indeed disheartening.
Bai Shihai stepped in to ease the situation: "Dad, I've noticed these past few days that Jiaojiao actually has a good personality. She was just spoiled before. She's become more sensible after getting married and is quite respectable."
Bai Zhiman scoffed: "You two are beholden to her because you ate her food. You only ate her steamed buns for two days, and you're already taking her side like this."
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