Yu Guanghui came to see Lu Wanqing. He had found out some details about the Lin Ye ancestral home and came to inform her.
Lin Ye quickly stepped closer and listened to Yu Guanghui say:
"The commune archives were destroyed in a fire, and all the files from twenty years ago are gone. The old leader in charge of this matter, Wang Zengman, has long since retired and lives in Wangjia Brigade. He can testify, but he has been at odds with the Lin family for twenty years, so he probably won't be willing to come forward now. As for our team's old Party Secretary, he lives in the county town and we haven't seen him for many years. In this vast sea of people, it's really hard to find him!"
After he finished speaking, both of their faces were somewhat somber. However, the thought that they had already met Zhang Changgui made it not entirely hopeless.
Lu Wanqing wrote down Wang Zengman's address and, to express her gratitude, immediately gave Yu Guanghui a pack of cigarettes.
Yu Guanghui touched his cigarette, grinning from ear to ear. The red-packaged Xiangshan cigarettes were said to cost 35 cents a pack, but he usually couldn't afford to smoke them and only bought the cheapest Diehua brand, which cost only 10 cents a pack.
It seems that running errands for Lu Wanqing was well worth it.
After seeing Yu Guanghui off, the two began processing the wild boar meat.
No matter what, life goes on.
Put the ancestral home aside for now; having a good dinner is the most important thing.
While the two were cooking, they were unaware that Secretary Yu had gone to the educated youth settlement shortly afterward.
Several educated youths at the settlement were injured to varying degrees, and as the village secretary, he had a duty to visit and offer condolences.
Su Dazhuang was humming a little tune as he happily sliced up some wild boar meat.
Xu Ying and Li Yulan lay on the bed, shivering and clutching their blankets. They had not yet emerged from the shadow of the cave, which was filled with rats and insects.
"Xu, Li, why are you still lying down? Today is a rare day to eat wild boar meat, it's a good day for the team."
Yu Guanghui stood with his hands behind his back, looking kind and approachable.
Upon hearing this, Xu Ying immediately flew into a rage. Forgetting that he was the Party Secretary, she endured the pain and jumped out of bed.
"Secretary, you've come at the right time. We've gotten ourselves into this mess, how are you going to compensate us? Is this how you treat educated youth?"
Yu Guanghui's face darkened. He had gone to so much trouble to find them, and now they were interrogating him. He immediately said sternly, "You educated youths have caused so much trouble for the brigade. The brigade has spent so much manpower and resources to save you, and now you're turning around and want compensation? Dream on!"
He's been the Party Secretary for so many years, and everyone has treated him with utmost respect. How dare a young girl yell at him like that!
Hearing the commotion, Su Dazhuang rushed forward to mediate: "Secretary, please don't get angry. Xu Zhiqing was just frightened and couldn't hold back her anger."
"She deserved to be frightened. Who told her to be so reckless and run up the mountain? She's such a worry. Just lie down and rest!"
Yu Guanghui was furious. He reached into his pocket and touched the Xiangshan cigarettes in his pocket. His expression softened, and as he walked out, he took out a cigarette and lit one for himself.
Xu Ying lay back down on the bed, unable to suppress her anger!
Li Yulan suddenly sat up, narrowed her eyes, and said, "Have you noticed that the Party Secretary is smoking Xiangshan brand cigarettes?"
Xu Ying retorted irritably, "So what?"
Li Yulan rolled her eyes at her, "Who in the Shengli Brigade has Xiangshan cigarettes? The secretary's cigarettes must have been given to him by Lu Wanqing! Lu Wanqing is so stingy, why would she give the secretary good cigarettes for no reason? She must want something from him!"
"Pah! That bitch Lu Wanqing, I hate her now. We worked so hard during the double harvest, we're all sunburnt like coal, but she's still so fair and smooth, and she goes shopping every day. She's so lucky! She clearly has money, but she's forcing me to pay her back. I had to sell my ancestral jade pendant to scrape together the money..."
Xu Ying began to ramble on and on about Lu Wanqing.
Li Yulan shook her head as she listened. Could she grasp the key points when talking about cigarettes?
“I considered her a friend, but I never expected her to completely disregard me. If she needs help, she doesn’t come to me but goes to the Party Secretary instead.” Li Yulan said dejectedly.
Xu Ying then realized that Lu Wanqing also had times when she needed help, and she deliberately made things difficult for her!
“Actually, if that dog had alerted us sooner, we wouldn’t have been trapped in the cave for so long…” Li Yulan continued to guide them.
Xu Ying slapped her thigh and immediately decided to go out and find out what had happened to Lu Wanqing, so she could lend a helping hand.
Seeing her walk out, Li Yulan followed behind her, giving her instructions:
"Don't do anything foolish. Zhou Ling went against Lu Wanqing and didn't end up well."
Xu Ying gritted her teeth, her heart filled with resentment: "Yes, I'll find Zhou Ling."
......
When Zhou Ling saw Xu Ying visiting her at the Zhou family home, she felt a mix of emotions. She never expected that the first person to visit her after her miscarriage would be Xu Ying, the educated youth.
Zhou Ling had to go to the hospital for a D&C because her abortion in the morning hadn't been completely completed. She was pale and extremely weak.
When they spoke behind closed doors, Xu Ying's hatred for Lu Wanqing ignited Zhou Ling's anger, and the two chatted amiably.
She had heard that Lin Ye wanted to return to his ancestral home, and naturally she didn't want him to have his way. She even threatened Zhou Changsheng with suicide, saying that she couldn't help them.
Unexpectedly, they went to see the Party Secretary.
“Xu Zhiqing, let’s join forces!” Zhou Ling’s lips curled into a smirk, her eyes gleaming with venom.
The two whispered to each other for a long time in the room. When it was time for dinner, Guo Hongxia made an excuse to send her away.
We received three catties of wild boar meat from our family, and stewed a small portion of it. It wasn't even enough for us to eat, so we couldn't invite anyone else to stay for a meal.
......
Lin Ye stir-fried wild boar with garlic sprouts for dinner, adding a little chili pepper. It was especially delicious with rice, and Lu Wanqing ate it with a smile.
Seeing that she was enjoying her meal, Lin Ye picked up a piece of food for her and then for his mother, while he ate another dish, braised eggplant.
Seeing that he was reluctant to leave any food, Lu Wanqing quickly put two more pieces on his plate, saying, "Don't leave any food!"
Lin Ye felt a warm glow in his heart. His wife was so good to him. He took a bite of wild boar meat, and the fragrance lingered in his mouth, fully satisfying his taste buds.
While we were eating, a heated argument broke out next door.
"Mom, where are my books?" Lin Xiaocui shouted in disbelief.
All the books she had kept under her bed were gone; they were all her textbooks from junior high and high school.
“What’s all the fuss about? If you’re not going to school anymore, what’s the point of having books? I’ve already thrown them into the straw pile by the stove to burn as firewood. That’s making the most of them!” Wang Xiuqin shouted back.
Lin Xiaocui was on the verge of a breakdown. She had been cooking and hadn't even noticed that her mother was burning her own books.
She suddenly remembered to turn to a textbook and realized that all the books were gone.
She rushed to the haystack and painstakingly retrieved the books, tears streaming down her face, unable to hold back her emotions any longer.
In the end, she was still missing three books: Chinese, Mathematics, and Physics from her first year of high school.
These three subjects are all core subjects, and we would definitely need them for the graduation exam. I never imagined they would be burned to ashes.
She didn't even bother to eat the delicious wild boar meat; she went back to the woodshed, lay on the bed, and started crying.
"You brat, you're so temperamental. It's fine if you don't eat. I won't leave you any food!" Wang Xiuqin watched Lin Xiaocui enter the house crying, but instead of comforting her, she filled her bowl with wild boar meat.
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