A wedding banquet was completely cleared out, with only a little soup left at the bottom of the plate.
As the host, He Daoniu was so happy that he couldn't open his eyes. He had gained both face and money. In the past, no family in Dafeng Village had ever had such a lively wedding.
There were more than twenty dishes on the table, but because there were too many people, Wang Shuning only ate until he was 70% full.
Zhang Meili was still reluctant to leave on the way back. "Who knew there were so many people? We couldn't even eat enough at the wedding banquet. I won't come to the wedding banquet next time."
Wang Shuning smiled and said, "It's not a loss to eat two pieces of meat for one cent."
In the evening, when Guo Jingyi came in, there was joy in her eyes. She put her hands in her pockets and couldn't help rubbing the money in her pockets.
Today's wedding banquet was extremely successful. Everyone in the village knows that she has good cooking skills and will definitely come to her again in the future.
Zhang Meili, who was soaking her feet, heard footsteps and looked up at the door, only to see Guo Jingyi with empty hands. "Didn't you bring back any food?"
Guo Jingyi turned around and closed the door. "I didn't bring any. We ate all the dishes, not even a scallion was left. So He Daoniu gave me an extra fifty cents as compensation."
Zhang Meili leaned back in frustration. "There were too many guests at the wedding today. I didn't even have enough to eat."
Guo Jingyi asked: "Have you had dinner?"
Zhang Meili nodded, "I ate two burritos left over from the morning."
"Okay, I'll have dinner at He Daoniu's house, so I don't have to cook." Guo Jingyi was tired after a busy day. There were so many guests, so He Daoniu had to pick more vegetables from the vegetable garden and worked harder than before.
The next morning, Wang Shuning was awakened by the familiar sound of a gong. She opened her eyes, looking sleepy. "Didn't we say we wouldn't go to work today? Why is there someone ringing the gong?"
She put on her clothes and opened the door. He Zhuzhu was sorting sacks in the yard with Mingming and Goudan.
"Aunt Zhu, are you going to work today?" Wang Shuning asked.
He Zhuzhu turned around and said with a smile, "No need. He Xianfeng just came to inform us that food will be distributed today. He asked everyone to bring their food to the village square to line up."
Wang Shuning couldn't help yawning. It turned out to be a grain distribution. Was there a need to go so early? The work points were there and they wouldn't run away. It didn't matter if he went later.
She returned to her room, locked the door and took a nap. When she opened her eyes, the sunlight was shining through the gap in the curtains onto the wall.
"Shuning, why did you come just now?" Zhang Meili and Guo Jingyi were standing in the middle of the line.
“We finally have a holiday, so we might as well sleep a little longer. Anyway, we’ll get the food sooner or later, and the villagers won’t cheat us.” Wang Shuning walked to the end of the line, not knowing how long he would have to wait.
The five educated youth had just arrived in October, and as they were unskilled, they did not earn many work points.
When it was Wang Shuning's turn, He Mingliang pointed to the work points recorded in the notebook and said, "Take a look. If there is no problem, sign and put your fingerprint in the box at the back."
Wang Shuning took a quick look and saw that they were all negative signs, which were the work points that were deducted. In the first few days, they were all 33, 44, and it was a little better later, with only 5 or 6 work points. The highest time was when it rained heavily and the rice was harvested, when the highest work points he could get was 8.
Wang Shuning glanced at the food piled up behind the table. There were four kinds of food: rice, sweet potatoes, corn, and sorghum flour. "Uncle Mingliang, can I exchange all of them for rice?"
He Haiming, who was standing nearby and watching, frowned and reminded him, "You don't have many work points to begin with. If you convert them all into rice, you'll have even less."
The grain distributed in the village is basically half coarse grains and half fine grains. In fact, after the villagers get the rice, they seldom eat it themselves. They usually take it to the town to sell.
Most of them will be sold to regular grain stations run by the government. Although the price is lower than that of supply and marketing cooperatives, at least there is no risk.
After all, not everyone is willing to risk being caught or having their goods confiscated by trading on the black market.
Wang Shuning said: "When I came here, the corn and sweet potatoes distributed by the village were not finished yet. I prefer to eat white rice."
He Haiming wanted to persuade her, but thinking of the actual situation of the educated youth, he turned his head and said to He Huiliang: "Change all her crops into rice."
She has been in Dafeng Village for a month. Among the three female educated youth, Wang Shuning looks the best, so she probably has no shortage of money.
Wang Shuning left carrying half a bag of rice, which contained only 48 kilograms of rice, and even less after removing the husks.
There were still two months before the Chinese New Year, and after distributing grain, Dafeng Village began to notify people to go to work.
Due to seasonal reasons, grass had not yet begun to grow in the burned fields, so they needed to plant wheat before the New Year, which was their main harvest in the first half of the second year.
After the seeds are sown, the villagers of Dafeng Village will rest for a while. Before the New Year, the village will slaughter pigs and distribute the pork so that everyone can have a good year with meat.
The desolate rice fields were burned to the point that only rice roots were left. Wang Shuning held the hoe and dug hard, putting his right foot on the hoe for leverage. His arms were almost broken after a whole day of digging.
Zhang Meili looked at He Chunxi standing on the iron plow and being dragged by the buffalo, "If only we could do Uncle Chunxi's work, he would work for three days in one morning."
Aunt Ronghua passed by and happened to hear Zhang Meili daydreaming. She taunted her, "What are you thinking about? The two oxen in the village are treasures. They only need to work half a day every day. You can't even use a hoe properly, and you still want to use oxen. When the time comes, you will directly overturn the ridges and dams."
The corner of Wang Shuning's eye twitched, and Aunt Ronghua and Aunt Dajiao's mouths were similar.
Zhang Meili was not convinced. "I can't plow. I can't learn. I have good grades in school. It's just plowing. What's so difficult about it? Besides, the embankment is so high and wide. It's not easy to turn it over."
The dam near the creek is used to prevent floods. Aunt Ronghua's words were indeed a bit exaggerated.
After turning the fields for three consecutive days, Wang Shuning felt like his arms no longer belonged to him. They were so sore every night that he didn't even want to cook. Fortunately, he had finished his work. The village had officially notified him that he would have a half-month holiday. After that, he would spend a few days applying fertilizer, and then it would be time to slaughter pigs for the New Year.
Wang Shuning was carrying the bath water out to pour it out when he bumped into He Zhuzhu who was walking towards his room.
"Ning Zhiqing, will you be at home tomorrow because we have a day off?"
Wang Shuning nodded and asked, "What's the matter?"
She had half a month's vacation, and she was not in a hurry to go to the county right away. Her hands and feet were sore, so she wanted to rest for a day first.
He Zhuzhu said, "It's like this. The village distributed rice, and many families in the village want to transport it to the county to sell it. Several families have borrowed carts to leave tomorrow. I have to go out with them tomorrow morning, and I may not be back until midnight. If you don't go out, can you help me look after the children? It's okay during the day, but I'm worried that if I come back late at night, the two children will be scared."
Wang Shuning asked in confusion: "Isn't there a grain station in town? Why do we have to go to the county?"
He Zhuzhu explained: "The price of rice per kilogram at the county grain station is one cent higher than in the town."
"So that's how it is. Okay, go ahead and don't worry tomorrow. I'll help you look after the child."
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