Chapter 61

Even dogs can't

He Min came back and even brought a camera with her. The first thing she did when she arrived at the farm was to ask Chen Lina to take a picture of her in the barn.

Well, he is ambitious, vain, and good at taking credit for other people's work. Chen Lina is happy to give him a ride.

After taking pictures in the warehouse, He Min took the Seagull camera from Chen Lina's hand and turned it upside down.

Yes, her photography skills are truly unmatched.

Moreover, she bent down on her knees to take the photo. The wheat plugs filled with wheat looked like small hills, and his figure was photographed to be extremely tall.

"Ms. Chen, how about this? Let's go to the Karez again and take a few photos for me in front of the Karez, okay?" That was also the biggest project on the farm this year that made the leaders most impressed.

"Secretary He, you are my leader and we are also working partners. If you call me Miss again, I will immediately report to the leader of the mining area and say that you have serious capitalist tendencies in your thinking."

"Yes, yes, okay, okay, Director Chen, I'm wrong. Let's go to the karez," said He Min.

When they drove to the newly excavated karez well mouth, He Min, carrying the shovel, posed in a series of postures.

Sandan followed his mother, but he was also bored. He repeatedly promised that he would not go near the puddle and just played with stones by the river.

"Nie Sandan, come on, let's play together." A child who looked seven or eight years old was also by the river and said.

When Sandan saw two older brothers standing by the river, he said, "Okay, but what's your name, brother?"

"My last name is Li, and my name is Mr. Li."

"You're scolding me."

"I'm not scolding you. Come on, come to the water and I'll teach you how to fish."

"My brother said that if you can't swim, you can't go near the water. Brothers, you should also stay away from the water, okay?" Sandan was educated by the educated youth and he really knew how to be polite.

Another child said, "Hey, he's big, he looks hard to comfort, should I go and pull him?"

Sandan was a cunning man. When he heard that the two kids were trying to pull him away, he realized that they were up to no good, so he turned around and ran away.

Chen Lina and He Min were on the cement canal by the river. The two children did not dare to move forward. One of them picked up a stone, weighed it, aimed and threw it over. The stone hit Sandan on the head and he fell to the ground.

However, he stood up quickly and ran back to Chen Lina.

"Mom, someone hit me." said Sandaner.

Chen Lina returned the camera to He Min, carried the child to the riverside, and looked around, but there was no one there.

"Where did I hit you? Does it hurt?" Chen Lina thought they were those wild kids who had run to the river to make trouble.

Seeing his mother's anxiety, Sandan, as a man, of course had to force himself to say, "It doesn't hurt."

Chen Lina didn't pay much attention to it, as she had to accompany her leader He Min around, especially since the bun on the child's head was stuck in her hair.

Back at the farm, surrounded by a group of educated youth, He Min sat in the middle of them and began to show them the photos Chen Lina had taken of him. The members over there were still busy, but he, seeing that there were only five or six rolls of film left, had to take photos of these educated youth.

Little girls all love beauty, so they stand in front of the date trees and poplar trees, showing off their figures to their heart's content.

"Manager, you seem unhappy today." Anna said.

Chen Lina was holding her child and watching the members drying the grain. Seeing that the grain had dried in some places, she stretched out her handle and pushed it to turn out the wet grain.

The sun was high in the sky, and basically all the food would be dried up just by turning it over.

"Anna, do you really want to be vindicated and have your name removed?"

"Director, I think all the evildoers in this farm want to be rehabilitated. This is what we have long desired. Don't you want to take off the big hat on your head?"

"There are many ways to remove a label, and each era has its own imprint. For example, in 1958 and 1959, if facts prove that the line was wrong, the higher authorities will change it. Now so many people are living with labels on their shoulders, so everyone will eventually be vindicated. I think it is the stupidest way to pin your hopes on a leader who is frivolous and full of nonsense to remove the label."

"Secretary He has always been particularly sympathetic to my father. Moreover, he has indeed promised in person that he can help my father redress his wrongdoing. Director, in this frontier, besides you, he is the only person who can understand me."

"Yes, he also talks to you very cordially and cares about your daily life every day. Sometimes when he comes in the morning, he will say, "Hey, Anna, you don't look very good today. Did you not sleep well last night?" Then, in the evening, he will give you two tablets of Analgin. This kind of gentle care makes you feel that he is very approachable and appreciates you very much, right?"

Anna didn't say anything, but He Min did it.

"Besides, he kept a proper distance from you. No, I should say that even when he was with the educated youth and teaching you to dance, even when it was a social dance, his hands were just around your back. He was completely different from someone like Wang Fusheng, right?"

"Yes, he is very sensible."

"Even if some female educated youth joked a little too much, he would suddenly hug her, then let go, and say, 'Comrade, please don't test my loyalty to the organization.' It was as if he was struggling internally, wanting to resist the charm of women and be a qualified gentleman. This behavior would make a woman feel particularly attractive."

Anna blushed. "I did see him suddenly hug a young intellectual, but he quickly pushed the person away."

Therefore, a leader who was humorous, witty, approachable, kind to the educated youth but did not cross the line at all, wove a big net in this way, preparing for these educated youth to fall into the trap.

Compared with him, Wang Fusheng and Liu Jiefang's levels are really too low.

"Everyone understands the truth, so I won't say more. Xiao Chen, the son of a car factory director, can repair trucks at the base and accompany you, Anna. It doesn't matter whether you take off the hat early or late. If you can really work with peace of mind, sooner or later, I can help you take it off. But I hope you can see clearly who is the one who really wants to do business."

Anna heard this and felt something was not right. Jing'er took two more steps and ran into He Min. He held up his camera and said, "Come on, Comrade Anna. This is the last roll of film. I want to take a picture of Katyusha, the most beautiful girl in our border, to preserve her beautiful image."

Anna took the camera and looked at it. Well, the harvest has come, the grain has been stored in the warehouse, and the director is still busy drying the wheat, but the secretary has taken so many staged photos of himself. If these photos are taken to the mining area, won't the leaders of the mining area attribute all the credit to him?

It is just as Chen Lina said, he looks elegant but is actually very hypocritical.

"Secretary He, I'll keep this camera for you. Your foot injury hasn't healed yet, so go to the office and have a rest."

Anna said this and took the camera solemnly. When He Min entered the office, she directly took the film out of the camera and exposed it to the sun.

The Kodak film roll with 32 photos was imported, and He Min only had this one roll. When the film came into contact with the sun, it was instantly overexposed, and the photos were completely ruined.

Sandan fell asleep particularly early today. It was not even noon yet and the child fell asleep.

Chen Lina was unable to move and had to go home to cook lunch. She carried Sandaner to the bike and just as she reached the gate of the site, she saw He Min riding a 228 bicycle parked at the gate.

This big gate has always been inhabited by members of the production team. To be honest, ever since the Sun family was uprooted, they have been squeezed out and are sparsely populated, with most of them standing in front of the gate.

"Manager, more than a dozen large squash were lost in the fields of our production team. What should we do?" Wang Guanghai, the leader of the production team, stepped forward and said.

"Are there any witnesses who saw the person stealing the melons?"

"No, there were more than ten of them. They were bred by experts. One of them weighed at least 20 to 30 kilograms and was to be sent to Uru for an exhibition and selection. But in just one morning, they were all gone."

"Have the security team search every house, and then search every poplar grove and meadow, and ask the children to see if any of them have moved away by mischief."

"It's not just the big pumpkins, Manager. Our grape fields have also been badly damaged. Several high-quality grape trees that only bore fruit this year have all been picked," Wang Guanghai added.

"I smell the scent of grapes in Manager Chen's car." Suddenly a child in the crowd shouted.

Chen Lina had instructed Wang Hongbing to keep some of the things hidden away, but those things were all grown privately by the old professors.

Moreover, there is a special warehouse for storage, and Chen Lina herself has never taken a single grape from the farm privately.

She understood that only when her body is straight can her shadow be straight.

These cruel people in Sunjiazhai were so badly oppressed that they still cannot raise their heads. If you were to ask who in the entire mining area hates Chen Lina the most, it would probably be these people in Sunjiazhai.

He Min didn't say anything, but watched with great interest.

Chen Lina understood that this was probably a prelude to his seizure of power.

Something was lost at the farm, and the people from Sunjiazhai started to investigate. He Min got involved, thinking that when she came to the farm, she would always bring some vegetables or fruits back home to cook.

Don't underestimate the small things. If you, as the manager, take the lead in putting things home, you are opening the way for people to steal or put things away secretly.

Pulling the handbrake, getting out of the car, and opening the trunk, Chen Lina turned around and asked, "Why didn't anyone come to see?"

"Well, Director Chen, no one said that you stole anything, right? Besides, it was just a child shouting, why are you so angry?" He Min said.

"No. Secretary He, you should be honest. It's just that the child shouted that if I didn't open the trunk today, I would have stolen the grapes. The primary school at Base No. 1 is free, and it's a problem to not let children of this age go to school and let them wander around the farm all day. At this time, every household should cook, but you didn't go home to cook and gathered here, isn't it just to look at my trunk? Let me ask you, are you satisfied with what you see?"

Several members of Sunjiazhai hurriedly said, "Director Chen is dedicated to the public good. We all saw it. Whose child is the one who is yelling and drinking? Hurry up and give him a good beating. He really deserves to be punished."

Some people also said, "Don't be angry, Director Chen. You are the most approachable director. Some people are born with bad intentions or they just can't stand everyone having a good life. People like this deserve to be punished."

After closing the trunk door, Chen Lina got into the car and just as she was leaving the farm, He Min, who was riding a 28-inch bicycle, came up behind her and said, "Director Chen, I'm going home too. Can you give me a ride?"

"What about your bike?" Chen Lina slowed down her bike and asked.

He Min quickly said, "I'll release them back to the farm and Sunjiazhai. Let's go to work together in the afternoon. How about that?"

Do you want to seize her power and take advantage of her?

"Secretary He, if you want to check whether there are grapes in the car, you are welcome to check. If you want to take a ride, then I have to tell you that my husband is very jealous. If I drive alone, he will never allow me to pick up other men."

"I'm not an outsider."

"Even male dogs can't do it." She stepped on the accelerator and sped away in a cloud of dust.

In her two lifetimes, she had never taken a liking to a man like He Min, who would take advantage of every opportunity to show his courtesy and display his masculine charm to every woman he met.

"Mom, what are we having for dinner today?" Erdan has lost a lot of weight and become more listless since he started school. He was scolded by his teacher and has lost all confidence recently. Only the meals cooked by his mother every day can make him happy.

"Let's see what we have in our vegetable garden. It's still so hot. How about some noodles with starch? Mom has some pickled cabbage."

"No, I want to eat meat, big pork elbow."

Ever since he had eaten pork elbow, Erdan couldn't forget pork. Unfortunately, there was only mutton in the mining area, no pork.

"Erdan, if you really want to eat pork elbow, mommy will find a way to make it for you. Actually, there are many ways to cook pork, such as braised pork, twice-cooked pork, steamed pork with preserved vegetables, and steamed pork with fermented bean curd.

Especially the pork belly with preserved vegetables, cut the pork belly into thin slices, coat it with seasoning, steam it in a bowl, and put it in a steamed bun, it is so delicious. In a while, mom will find a way to buy some for us, and we will go to the farm to make it, but if you really want me to make it, mom has a request. "

"Mom, you say." In order to eat the delicious pork, Erdan felt that he could agree to anything.

Chen Lina knelt down, pointed at his nose and said seriously, "During class, just look at the teacher's mouth and listen to what she says. Then, when you get home from school, tell your mother what she said. Keep doing this until the weekend, and that'll be all."

"So what are we going to eat today?" Nie Weimin asked.

"Let's have mutton. Mom has pickled a can of mutton sauce. Let's have vegetable soup today. Mom will make mutton vegetable soup for you."

Nie Weimin didn't care. Erdan took the lead and ran to the small vegetable garden to pick vegetables.

A foot long string beans, a round little pumpkin, and a handful of tender Chinese cabbage, all fried with mutton sauce, a pot of vegetable soup was cooked, and paired with large steamed buns made with 85 flour. The rich blend covered up the earthy taste of the 85 flour. In the pot of hot mutton and vegetable soup, the pumpkin was as soft as egg yolk, the soup was fragrant and the buns were puffy. Erdan ate two large bowls by himself.

"Dandan, why are you so depressed today? Why haven't you gotten up yet?" Seeing Sandan lying on the kang after finishing his meal, Nie Weimin ran over to tease him.

"It hurts, brother, I have a headache." said Sandaner.

Nie Weimin touched his brother's head and found a huge bump on it.

Nie Weimin was so angry that he went crazy after pulling his hair apart. He blew air at his brother's hair with his pouty mouth and rubbed it. The bumps became redder and bigger.

"Who hit you?"

"The bad boy on the farm said his name was Master Li." Sandan remembered it clearly. The two bad boys even wanted to coax him to the river.

"Tell mom that she is the manager and ask her to help us beat the guy up." Erdan was the most straightforward.

"No, then mom won't take me to the farm anymore." This is what Sandan was worried about.

Nie Weimin also felt that it was not good. "Dandan, do you still remember what those two kids looked like?"

"Remember, you'll know it when you see it."

"No one dares to bully my brother in the base. Let's go to the farm tomorrow and beat him up."

Well, the next day was Saturday, and Nie Weimin started sweeping the yard with a broom in the morning. Erdan was even more diligent, and started doing his homework as soon as he got up.

"Oh my, the sun is rising from the west. Our Erdan has started doing his homework so early?" Chen Lina said jokingly.

Erdan's expression was just like the ferocious one in the photo from his previous life. He held the pencil in his chubby little hand and glared at it, as if the small homework book was his enemy, and he was fighting alone against the pencil.

Nie Weimin drew a few buckets of water from the tap, watered the vegetables along the ditch, and asked, "Mom, can we go to the farm to pick wheat ears today?"

"The wheat ears have been picked long ago, and the wheat fields have been plowed. Now the last crop of cabbages are being planted to catch up with the autumn frost. Son, the only work left on the farm is picking cotton, which is not suitable for you," said Chen Lina.

"But we can also catch insects in the vegetable garden. I remember there were a lot of vegetable bugs on the big squash. Let's help mom get rid of the four pests, okay?" Erdan finally finished his homework and showed his mother his fairly neat handwriting.

"Okay, you can go, but you are not allowed to fight with the farm kids."

"Don't worry, we will never fight with anyone." Nie Weimin assured quickly.

"Erdan, you haven't told mom yet what the teacher said yesterday afternoon. Tell mom." The request was not yet completed.

After all, Erdan was a young child. During class, the talking and walking sounds outside the classroom and the small movements of other students would attract him, so he could never concentrate on the class.

The chubby little guy with a fat butt immediately started talking about what the Chinese teacher said and what the math teacher said. The production team had three big pumpkins, one big pumpkin was given to the commune, and there were two big pumpkins left.

Well, it's ok. This kid doesn't pay attention in class. However, even though he doesn't like to listen, his mother wants to listen. In the spirit of teaching his mother, this kid actually listens to the class seriously.

Well, what the little guy said sounds quite like that.

Chen Lina is not her own child. Although she emphasizes education, she does not have the ambition of other parents to see their children become successful. Relatively speaking, she is more relaxed about her children's studies.

Nie Weimin taught himself entirely by relying on his sharp observation skills and very good memory. Due to different talents, Erdan was able to listen carefully, which was a huge improvement.

"Then let's go. We'll have lunch at Auntie's house on the farm at noon today."

When I went out, I saw fully armed laborers wearing white gloves, working hard on the roadside.

"Dad is fixing the car again."

"Well, your mother probably hasn't exceeded the speed limit recently, so she deserves praise," said Nie Bozhao.

"Your father has x-ray eyes, so tell me, how many yards do I usually run?"

Nie Bozhao threw a nail into an iron box with a clang. "The maximum speed should be 60 yards. Otherwise, your tire would have burst long ago. There's a nail stuck in your tire."

This rigorous engineer would check his wife's car every day after get off work. If there was any problem with the tires, he would use a jack to jack the car up, remove the tires, change the tires and repair the tires all in one. He was also very good at maintenance and was the one who changed the engine oil.

"Okay, we have to go to the desert for training again today. Wild rabbits are fat in autumn. I will kill two fat wild rabbits for us to eat in the evening. You guys should hurry up and go too."

The family left the family area and the sun was rising. It was another beautiful day.