The pigs in the pigsty mainly eat pig feed, which is cut by the village's older children.
Bai Jiaojiao said, "These pigs can't just eat pig feed."
“There’s also wheat bran, isn’t this the wheat that was just harvested this year?” Old Xu pointed to a large stack of bags on the side.
Bai Jiaojiao looked at the pigs, which were so thin they didn't even look like adults: "Uncle Xu, this pen is too dirty."
When Old Xu heard that Bai Jiaojiao was not afraid of him like the other girls in the village, but instead called him "Uncle Xu," he took a deep breath and deliberately lowered his voice: "You little girl, how clean can the pigsty be?"
"If the pigsty is clean, the pigs will have strong immunity and grow up strong. Today, the team leader even said that he wants the sows to have more piglets. If there are too many pigs and the pigsty is dirty, they are more likely to get sick."
"My God, I can barely keep up with these few, and now there are a few more. Where are we going to feed these gaping beasts? The captain really has a wild idea."
Old Xu said that, but judging from his smiling face, he didn't seem angry; it was more like he was teasing Bai Jiaojiao.
Bai Jiaojiao said, "If you can't handle it all by yourself, find someone to help you clean up. There are plenty of useless people in our village. We'll have the brigade leader send them over. Uncle Xu, you keep an eye on them. If they don't do a good job, give them a good whack."
Bai Jiaojiao was very satisfied with the atmosphere of the pigsty, and it was perfect for Yu Wenli to come and clear the land.
Old Xu laughed heartily: "You're even more ruthless than Li Lide."
Because of Lao Xu's past experiences, the village took good care of him in terms of living conditions. Letting him feed the pigs was just to give him something to do. After all, the policy was in place, and the production brigade didn't support idle people.
He was only responsible for feeding the pigs, watering them, and shoveling their manure, but he never did any work of carrying manure. Every month, one or two people would come over after making a mistake, just like on a schedule.
If things go as Bai Jiaojiao suggested, and the village can find someone to do the pigsty cleaning as well, Lao Xu would certainly be willing.
On her way back, Bai Jiaojiao couldn't contain her excitement: "The more pigs we raise, the better. When the time comes, we'll have Yu Wenli come and sweep up the pig manure. He'll probably feel like he wants to die."
"Yu Wenli?"
Seeing Bai Jiaojiao's expression of intense hatred for Yu Wenli, Shen Heng felt uneasy.
He didn't want Bai Jiaojiao to hate Yu Wenli; he just wanted her to forget Yu Wenli completely, to throw him far away, to not hate him at all, to not even think about him, and to have only Chen Heng in her heart.
Shen Heng only knew that Bai Jiaojiao had an emotional entanglement with Yu Wenli, but he had no idea how much Bai Jiaojiao had been deceived by this couple in her previous life. He was jealous but didn't show it, and Bai Jiaojiao had no idea at all.
Even if Bai Jiaojiao racked her brains, she couldn't understand how Shen Heng could still feel good about what she had done to Wenli.
Bai Jiaojiao was good at judging people. She knew that although Zheng Xu was usually serious, he was wholeheartedly for the collective, unlike Li Lide, who only wanted the airs of an official and to reap the credit without doing any work and just muddling through in the village every day.
Two days later, Zheng Xu sent a message to Bai Jiaojiao, saying that he had found out that Huangjiazhuang had breeding pigs, and that the piglets in the vicinity were all taken from their village.
"Huangjiazhuang? Is Sister Meijuan's family home in Huangjiazhuang?"
Zheng Xu thought for a moment and said, "You mean Jiancheng's wife? Yes, her family is from Huangjiazhuang, which isn't close to here."
Here, married young women are generally called "sister-in-law," "so-and-so's wife," or "so-and-so's mother." Only Bai Jiaojiao calls Meijuan "sister," and Zheng Xu didn't immediately realize it.
"I'll go ask Sister Meijuan if she needs me to send a message to her family!"
Bai Jiaojiao thought that Huang Meijuan was feeling depressed at home. If she could hear from her family, she might feel a little comforted.
Moreover, she remembered that Li Shiqing was currently looking after his eldest daughter's grandson. Although it was a small number, it was still a matter of the maternal grandparents taking care of the child. Now that Chen Meijuan's mother-in-law was unwilling to take care of the child, she wondered if her family would be willing to help.
Zheng Xu thought Bai Jiaojiao was thoughtful: "Her family home is indeed far away, and it's not easy for her to go back even once a year. Go and ask her, we'll go and take a look tomorrow."
Bai Jiaojiao went to work in the afternoon and saw Huang Meijuan emerging from the grass by the field. She must have been breastfeeding her child, which is why she went in to find a place to hide.
Huang Meijuan had a big red welt on her face from a mosquito bite, with finger marks on it: "Jiaojiao, you're here to work."
"Sister Meijuan, the brigade leader said he's going to Huangjiazhuang to check on the breeding pigs tomorrow. Do you have any news to bring back?"
Bai Jiaojiao looked at Huang Meijuan's increasingly pale face and was afraid that she would collapse to the ground at any moment.
Huang Meijuan's face lit up with joy upon hearing this: "The brigade leader is going to Huangjiazhuang?" But then she thought for a moment, her face full of worry, "Sigh, what could I possibly need to bring?"
Although her mother-in-law isn't home right now, her husband's father, who's like a chicken, is still watching over the things in the house.
It was absolutely impossible for her to take some things back to her parents' home.
"Sister Meijuan, is it convenient for your family to take care of your child?" Nowadays, most families have three or four generations living together. Maybe Huang Meijuan has an elderly lady in her family who doesn't go out to work and can help out?
Huang Meijuan shook her head without even thinking: "If I take this child to my parents' home, those Chens will eat me alive."
Her grandmother is still alive, but she can't work. She can take care of the child, but her husband's family would never agree to that.
Hearing this, Bai Jiaojiao could only nod: "Okay, I just find it tiring to watch you all by yourself."
"Thank you, sister, for thinking of me," Huang Meijuan said with great envy for Bai Jiaojiao's good marriage. "That's how it is when you're a wife, especially for those of us who marry far away. If life isn't going well, that's all we can do."
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