It's not daybreak yet.
The people in the cowshed by the river have woken up.
Old Mrs. Lu was making wild vegetable dumplings. She used the wild vegetables that no one wanted by the river, and some snails and clam meat from the river. She made them into dumplings and dipped them in salt water. That was their breakfast.
I didn't dare to light a fire during the day, but only at this moment I dared to burn wood and make a fire, prepare food for the whole day, and then start hard work.
They worked for more than an hour, even the pregnant woman did what she could. When it was daybreak, they packed up and rushed to the brigade headquarters.
Old Man Li was very nervous and asked, "What exactly does Teacher Jiang want us to do?"
The Wang family couple also looked worried: "Falling into this situation, we are just fish on the chopping board."
"What are you thinking about?" Elder Lu said calmly, "Deputy Secretary Jiang is a good person. If she hadn't brought me the antipyretic medicine, Jingjing would have died of fever."
"But..." Old Lady Li sighed, "The fishery that Deputy Secretary Jiang is in charge of has just started and is still in debt. If our grain relationship is transferred to them, I'm afraid we won't even get 100 kilograms of grain a year."
"If we can't get any, then we can't get any. If we only relied on that 100 kilograms of food, we would have starved to death here." Lu Chengyuan looked into the distance, "It's time to go to work. There are people everywhere. Stop talking."
The brigade arranged people to go to the fields to weed and apply fertilizers, and the roads were full of people.
The villagers seldom saw reformed elements walking on the street so openly, and they couldn't help but cast curious glances at them.
The three families lowered their heads, hunched their backs, and walked slowly like rats crossing the street, fearing that they would be harassed...
Fortunately, in broad daylight and when a crowd gathered, no one deliberately made humiliating remarks.
I finally arrived at the brigade headquarters and met Jiang Wanyue as soon as I got to the door.
"You're here." She turned sideways and said, "This is our temporary office area for the fishery. Come in."
The eleven people walked in anxiously.
Jiang Wanyue smiled and said, "The fishery has just opened, everything is very simple, there are no chairs, everyone stands to talk, pregnant women, please sit down."
Duan Jing didn't dare to allow herself to be treated specially, so she hurriedly said, "The three leaders please sit down. I'm fine standing."
Jiang Wanyue did not force her and continued, "I applied to the branch secretary and the team leader and got their support. From today on, the eleven of you are employees of our fishery. You used to work for the team, but now you work for the fishery. You don't get work points when you work for the team, and of course you don't get wages at the fishery. I hope you understand this."
The eleven people have been reformed and demoted for so many years, so they naturally know this and have no objection.
"The brigade will give you 100 kilograms of food per person per year... To be frank, we don't know if our fishery can last for a year, so we can't give you food on an annual basis."
As soon as Jiang Wanyue said this, the five members of the Li family and the Wang couple felt their hearts sink.
They were worried about this on the way here, but unexpectedly, they guessed it right... The fishery really couldn't provide food!
Jiang Wanyue paused and continued, "The fishery is not well-off, and the treatment we give each of you is not good. After the meeting, we decided that the fishery will provide lunch and dinner for all of you from now on."
Mrs. Li was horrified: "Include, include meals?"
She felt even more depressed. In other words, whatever the fishery gave them to eat might be harder to swallow than wild vegetable dumplings soaked in salt water. Was this a new way of torturing them?
But she didn't dare to question it, because she was a reformed element, and she had to eat the pig manure given by the brigade, let alone other things...
"Yes, it includes meals." Zhao Xiangbei smiled. "Our fishery doesn't have a formal office yet, so we can temporarily cook at my house. We'll eat together at noon and night every day. By the way, I can't cook, and Sister Jiang and Sister Lin are very busy every day, so only one of you can come out to cook, is that okay?"
The Wang family couple looked up in disbelief: "We're eating together?"
"I may not eat with you." Jiang Wanyue said, "I have three children at home, I have to go back and take care of them."
She felt a little guilty about saying this. The three children either had to take care of themselves, or Song Lao San and her mother-in-law, and she, as a mother, was always absent...
She coughed and continued, "Xiangbei, give me a few dollars so I can buy some whole grains and sweet potatoes. We can make do with them for now, and when the fishery makes some money, we can eat rice and flour."
She had so many black sweet potatoes at home that she couldn't finish them all. Since she didn't eat them at all, she could sell them to the fishery. She gave the lowest price and the fishery helped her digest them.
Zhao Xiangbei nodded: "You don't have to buy vegetables. My mother planted a lot for me. I can't eat them all by myself."
Lin Jin also said: "I was allocated a small piece of land at the educated youth camp, and I can also pick some vegetables here."
"The fishery can't take a single needle or thread from the people for free." Jiang Wanyue said seriously, "The price of vegetables is calculated according to the normal price. Xiangbei, you keep a good account."
The three of them had already started discussing what food to buy and what vegetables to eat, and only then did the eleven people in the cowshed slowly come back to their senses.
Originally, they thought that the fishery could not provide them with food and would use other things to fool them.
They were even prepared to go hungry.
I never dreamed that the fishery would provide meals, and that I could dine with the three leaders in front of me.
If there were eleven of them eating alone, they might have worried that the fishery had deliberately given them moldy and rotten food that even dogs wouldn't eat.
If you eat together, you don't have to worry about this problem at all.
"Deputy Secretary Jiang, from now on we are the people of the fishery." Old Lu's eyes were slightly red, and he spoke word by word, "From now on I will be a brick in the fishery. I will go wherever I am needed!"
Deputy Party Secretary Jiang is such a good man. Not only did he save his granddaughter-in-law, he also provided them with food, so he no longer has to worry about his granddaughter-in-law going hungry.
His old bones will be dedicated to the fishery in the future. He is willing to burn like a candle...
"Then let me arrange your work first." Jiang Wanyue flipped through the booklet. "Lu Chengyuan, Li Gaoshan, Li Yiliang, Wang Ting, the four of you are stronger, so you will be the ones cutting fish and grass from now on. At least 3,800 kilograms a day. Can you do it?"
During normal hours, the brigade members could cut fish grass and harvest five to six hundred kilograms a day, and the reformed elements generally worked three or four hours more than the members, so it was naturally not a big problem for one person to harvest nine hundred kilograms a day.
Although the fish grass is wild, it also needs maintenance. People have to be arranged to irrigate the fish grass from time to time to ensure that there is fodder in the winter.
Then arrange people to feed the fish and do the fishing work.
And two people patrol separately during the day and at night...
Jiang Wanyue arranged everything, no matter how big or small.
Considering that Duan Jing was a pregnant woman, she was asked to stay at the brigade headquarters to be in charge of guarding and purchasing wheat bran and rice bran. If anyone came to visit, she would receive them and make a record. At noon and at night, Duan Jing was also responsible for cooking for more than a dozen people.
These things are indeed a bit too much for a pregnant woman, but in this era, even if they are not reform elements, pregnant women have to go to the fields. For Duan Jing, such an arrangement is already quite caring for her.
Her eyes were red, she touched her belly, and kept this kindness in her heart.
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