Qiuxiang's parents-in-law had four sons, and the elderly couple, now in their sixties, relied on their sons for support. After Zhou Qi's family was in trouble, the other brothers exempted their family from providing food and money for the elderly. As for other matters, they were not well off themselves and could not help.
In the past two years, Qiuxiang's family has been relying on borrowing food from the team to survive.
When the grain distribution bill was calculated at the end of the year, Qiuxiang's family not only did not get any grain or money, but also owed the team 300 kilograms of grain and more than ten yuan.
The time of distributing grain was equivalent to the time when the team settled its accounts. At the end of the year, no matter how poor your family was, if you owed the team money and grain, you had to pay it back.
Team leader Zhou Qimin is Zhou Qijia's cousin. Seeing that his cousin's family is having a hard time and Zhou Qijia was also injured while working, he tries his best to take care of them.
The same is true this year.
Zhou Qimin and Zhou Zhigang were sitting behind a desk together, holding a list in their hands, preparing to call out names and distribute food.
Before distributing the food, Zhou Qimin and Zhou Zhigang discussed it and settled the ten yuan debt owed by Qiuxiang's family and more than three hundred kilograms of food, and then distributed the rest to the team members.
The first team consisted of more than 40 households, and the number of workers was over 100. This meant that these 100 people shared the debt of Qiuxiang's family.
Many team members thought that Qiuxiang had a hard time. The 300 kilograms of rice and 10 yuan owed by Qiuxiang's family were only 2 kilograms of rice and a few cents per person, so there was no objection.
Besides, over time, who can guarantee that their family will always be smooth sailing without any trouble? Team leader Zhou Qimin is a kind man. With the precedent of Qiuxiang in the team, if his family is in trouble, the team will definitely lend a hand.
A few short-sighted team members were unwilling to do so. Why should they help to share Qiuxiang's debt?
Zhou Chunping's wife, Wu Jinfeng, danced the loudest.
Wu Jinfeng is a stingy person. She is reluctant to spend her money on her daughters-in-law, so how could she be willing to take on part of the debt for an outsider like Qiuxiang?
Wu Jinfeng rarely worked year-round. Except during the busy farming season, when the team mandated that all members work, Wu Jinfeng would go to the threshing ground to dry the grain. At home, she complained of backaches and waist pain, even refusing to do housework. As a result, Wu Jinfeng earned less than 300 cents per year.
Wu Jinfeng is not short of money. Old man Zhou Chunping receives a salary every month and is also supplied with commercial grain. Her son Zhou Zhixin's money is also taken by Wu Jinfeng. That's why Wu Jinfeng is not interested in doing the farm work in the team.
The harvest for the first team in Zhoujia Village was quite good this year. Each able-bodied worker received 800 kilograms of millet, 200 kilograms of sweet potatoes, and 50 kilograms of potatoes. Even more exciting, every cent earned this year was worth 2 cents.
Strong laborers refer to men who were paid ten centimeters a day in the production team. These men could do farm work quickly and well, whether it was transplanting rice, harvesting rice, carrying loads, killing insects, or applying fertilizers.
In those days, rural areas had their own set of standards for assessing strength. Only women who could carry loads of 100 kilograms alongside men, and who could replace a man during busy farming season, could be rated as having an eight-point workmanship.
Because of these rigid regulations, a woman who could earn seven centimeters a day was considered quite capable. Besides Zhao Yunxiang, only five or six other women in the first team earned eight centimeters. These women were renowned as capable workers by the villagers of Zhoujia Village.
With Wu Jinfeng's small share of land, she was lucky enough to get 70 kilograms of food. As for the money, it was only about five yuan at most.
There was not much food or money, but Wu Jinfeng had to give some of it to help Qiuxiang pay off the team's debt. She felt extremely angry.
In Zhoujia Village, Wu Jinfeng has never been taken advantage of by anyone. Even her daughters-in-law are obedient in front of her. She will not go against her will if she says east.
Zhou Qimin had the entire team help Qiuxiang's family pay off their debts, which naturally hurt Wu Jinfeng's interests. Seeing that both food and money were about to be reduced, Wu Jinfeng felt a pang of pain in her heart.
No! Absolutely not!
"Nephew, isn't it right for you to do this? Zhou Qi's family is your relative, but not ours. How can you ask us to subsidize his family?" Wu Jinfeng spoke offensive words as soon as she opened her mouth. She implied that Zhou Qimin was abusing public power for personal gain and using public funds to subsidize his own cousin.
"Yes! Why should we share other people's debts?" Seeing Wu Jinfeng step forward, Zhou Daniu, an old bachelor in the team, also jumped out.
Zhou Qijia has been paralyzed in bed for two years. Zhou Daniu has long had his eyes on the somewhat pretty Qiuxiang, but unfortunately Qiuxiang is not someone to be trifled with, and she refuses to let Zhou Daniu take advantage of her at all.
Zhou Daniu has been dissatisfied with Qiuxiang for a long time. Taking this opportunity, Zhou Daniu plans to make things difficult for Qiuxiang.
It would be best if that little bitch and her family had no food to eat and came to beg me in the middle of the night! Zhou Daniu thought dirty.
"Yes, yes, their family is poor, but we're not well off either!" Seeing someone taking the lead, several women also chimed in. These days, no one would complain about having too much food; every family is not well off!
"This..." Zhou Qimin didn't expect so many people to oppose it. He couldn't think of anything to appease everyone and was stuck.
"Aunts, please, my family can't make ends meet anymore." Qiuxiang wiped her tears and stood up. In two years, a fairly pretty young woman in her thirties had turned into a peasant woman with a dark, sallow complexion, looking ten years older.
Qiuxiang knew Zhou Qimin's good intentions. Qiuxiang was also a person who cared about her dignity. If she hadn't really been unable to make ends meet, she wouldn't have been so shameless as to beg everyone. For the past two years, Qiuxiang had worked tirelessly in the production team without a break, but it was still not enough to feed six mouths at home.
According to Zhoujia Village's rules, when grain was distributed at the end of the year, every household had to pay back any outstanding debts. Only members who had no outstanding debts could borrow grain from the team again the next year. Members who had not settled their debts at the end of the year were ineligible to continue borrowing.
Ten dollars is not a lot of money, but Qiuxiang's family can't even afford one dollar!
"Everyone, stop talking. Qijia was injured by the team's cow. It can be considered an injury in the line of duty. He is paralyzed. The team can't just ignore it!" Aunt Qiuju couldn't bear it and came out to speak a fair word.
"Yes, yes, that young man from the Qi family was a skilled worker before he got hurt." Aunt Li also spoke up for Qiuxiang. These days, it's not easy for anyone. If you can help a little, you might be able to save a few lives.
"Qiuju, you nagging bitch, you're always responsible for everything. You're so rich, why didn't you pay my wife for the work she did for making you clothes the other day?" Wu Jinfeng glared at Aunt Qiuju. Aunt Li had four burly sons, so Wu Jinfeng didn't dare confront her directly and simply passed by.
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