Buses are mostly chosen by people who live far away.
Xu Xinning has been back in Xujiacun Brigade for two years and has only ridden the bus once. At that time, the bus started moving before she could even squeeze to the door. She shouted for the driver to stop, but the driver ignored her.
That day, Xu Xinning missed her stop and stayed on the bus until the very last stop. She then had to walk slowly home, walking until dark before she finally arrived. Her family was frantic and searched for her all the way. By the time they found her, her shoes were worn out.
It's all painful to think about. Since that incident, Xu Xinning has never taken a bus again.
As Xu Xinning approached the oxcart's parking spot, an old man suddenly darted out of the alley and crashed straight into her. He was so fast that even Xu Xinning, who was skilled in martial arts, couldn't dodge him in time. It was clear that the old man was also quite skilled. If it weren't for his anxious expression, Xu Xinning would have suspected that he was trying to scam her.
"You little brat, why don't you watch where you're going? If you bump into an old man like me and hurt him, how are you going to compensate me?" the old man said preemptively.
Although the old man was old, he looked radiant and had more energy than some young people. He seemed to have lived a very fulfilling life. His little eyes were quite cute, and his unreasonable manner wasn't so unlikable. This inexplicably reminded Xu Xinning of the delicious ghost doctor from her previous life.
Seeing Xu Xinning staring at him without saying a word, the old man waved his hand and pretended to be generous, saying, "This old man has some very important things to do right now, so I won't hold it against you today. But I still want to warn you, young lady, be careful when you walk. If you hadn't bumped into me today, there would probably have been some trouble."
Xu Xinning laughed. She wondered whose family this old man belonged to; he had so many funny little expressions.
After the old man finished speaking, he ran off again without paying any attention to Xu Xinning. He was so fast that it seemed like a dog was chasing him.
Xu Xinning stood there watching the old man run away, then turned and walked on her own way.
The old man rushed to the state-run restaurant in a panic, and seeing that it was still early, he finally felt relieved.
Today, the state-run restaurant served braised pork with preserved mustard greens, a dish the elderly had been waiting for for a long time.
He had actually eaten this dish in other places, but none of them tasted as good as the one made by the chef at this state-run restaurant. He had heard that the dried plum vegetables were made by the chef himself, and that the taste was something that outsiders could not imitate.
When Xu Xinning arrived home, she saw Mu Jingheng waiting at the front door with a cane, looking like he had been waiting for a long time.
Since the two confirmed their relationship, Mu Jingheng waiting at the gate has become a common sight in Xujia Village. Sometimes, some older women would even take a basket and a stool to sit next to him and keep him company while they waited, chatting with him about all sorts of things.
Mu Jingheng was naturally good at chatting, and after a few times, he knew all the gossip in the entire brigade. When he was with Xu Xinning, he started telling her about what was going on in the brigade: whose sow had given birth to piglets, but the male owner got impatient and started cursing his wife. He cursed so fiercely that the sow couldn't take it and gave birth to eight piglets in one go; whose husband was a scoundrel who went to the next village to steal a widow; whose child was born with six toes...
Over time, the front gate of Old Xu's house replaced the corner of the brigade headquarters as the gathering place for gossip in the brigade.
The happiest person when this distribution center was established was none other than Old Mrs. Chen. She would sit there early every day, and Yao Dahai would serve her diligently and without complaint, with a military water bottle in her left hand and sunflower seeds, peanuts and roasted soybeans in her right.
A few days after the typhoon, the brigade started planting rice seedlings again.
Because the previous crop used new rice seeds, the brigade had a bumper rice harvest. This news spread to the surrounding brigades, and those brigades came to check on the rice when it ripened. Later, the brigade delivered its quota of grain and still had so much left over, which made the other brigades restless.
The commune had already received requests from the production brigades below, hoping that the commune could intervene and allow the Xujiacun production brigade to exchange grain seeds with them.
Yang Chunqin was reluctant. Although it was supposed to be an exchange of grain seeds, she still felt that their brigade was at a disadvantage.
It was definitely impossible not to change the crops. Their brigade had planted new grain seeds and had a lot more surplus grain. They couldn't just watch the surrounding brigades go hungry; otherwise, their brigade would certainly not be at peace.
From a broader perspective, this is also not conducive to development.
But Yang Chunqin wasn't one to suffer losses. Since the grain seeds were definitely going to be replaced, why not try to squeeze some money out of the commune? The commune had to give them some compensation; otherwise, it wouldn't be so easy to get something out of them just by talking.
Yang Chunqin then put her expertise to use, chasing after the leaders and crying poverty, complaining about how difficult things were for the brigade after the typhoon, how much damage the landslide caused, and how, if it weren't for the brigade's righteousness, they wouldn't have kept the seeds for others instead of expanding rice cultivation. She cried that it was fortunate that the brigade had the foresight, otherwise, the entire brigade would have starved to death after such a severe disaster as the landslide.
Yang Chunqin is famous for her dramatic displays of poverty and hardship, and she has come up with a variety of tricks to achieve this.
The commune leaders had no choice but to hold a meeting after Yang Chunqin had been eating and drinking at the commune for a few days. They decided to have the grain station allocate 500 jin of soybean seeds, 200 jin of sesame seeds, and 100 jin of sunflower seeds to Xujia Village Brigade, along with several hundred jin of fertilizer and the right to use the commune's public latrine.
Yang Chunqin's outburst has yielded many benefits.
Xu Qiang's face broke into wrinkles from smiling.
Once the seeds and fertilizer arrived, Yang Chunqin directed the planting while simultaneously overseeing the clearing of the landslide-affected areas.
Although the members of the brigade were very tired from working, everyone's face was full of smiles, and even the educated youth were infected by their enthusiasm for working.
As soon as Jiang Juecheng returned, he was entangled with Lu Chunping. Jiang Juecheng couldn't take it anymore, so he started to avoid her, and when he couldn't avoid her, he would give her the cold shoulder.
Love is a truly mysterious thing; it's not something that works just because you put in more effort. Luckily, Lu Chunping has a strong will, otherwise she would have given up long ago.
Lu Chunping's outburst made everyone in the brigade aware of it.
Mu Jingheng leaned closer to Jiang Juecheng and said, "Why don't you calm down and think about it carefully? Maybe you'll get the idea."
Jiang Juecheng looked at Mu Jingheng with great curiosity, feeling that this person's temperament had changed a lot after spending so much time with the aunties and older women in the brigade.
In Jiang Juecheng's heart, Mu Jingheng was arrogant and unruly, but now he was a bit nagging and like the aunties in the brigade, trying to force a marriage between them.
Seeing that Jiang Juecheng remained silent, Mu Jingheng continued, "Actually, the one who is loved in a marriage is the happiest."
Jiang Juecheng rolled his eyes at Mu Jingheng and said, "I will talk to Xu Xinning about this. Zhao Ming is actually not bad either. You can tell how much he cares about Xu Xinning just by looking at his eyes."
Upon hearing Jiang Juecheng's words, Mu Jingheng became anxious. He had already said not to meddle in other people's business.
"Don't advise others to be kind if you haven't experienced their suffering." How could a soul that has lived for decades forget such a simple truth?
Forget about sharing the same fate; when it comes to personal interests, the truth is to sacrifice a friend rather than oneself.
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