Many people think that once a daughter-in-law has endured a thousand years of hardship to become a mother-in-law, she should certainly put the new daughter-in-law through a good ordeal. They believe that the suffering they themselves endured should be made to be experienced by the new daughter-in-law as well.
Not to mention this era, even in later generations, this kind of thinking is deeply rooted and difficult to eradicate.
Liu Weimin clearly understood his villagers, especially after pointing out a few families.
"I've already told you all this: if it's really because of your family's petty affairs, and someone gets hold of something against you, don't blame me for being ruthless."
We in Liujiatun are poor, but we still have to save face.
"If you really do that, don't say Liujiatun won't tolerate you."
"Don't think that things are the same as before, that once you're in your own home, you can decide your own life and death."
Let me tell you the truth, let alone whether or not you can hit or scold your wife, it's the same with the children in the family. You can educate them, but like so-and-so's family, beating their children to death is a crime.
Also, I won't say whose family it is, but don't think I don't know just because I didn't ask. Where did all the children that the third son's wife gave birth to go?
Two men below lowered their heads guiltily, and Liu Weimin's gaze swept over them.
"Don't say those nice things, like how it's for the sake of the children so they don't suffer and can live a good life. Ask yourself if you believe that."
If I find out again that they've thrown it away, sold it, or given it away, I'm telling you, that's a crime too.
These all need to be crouched under the fence.
Some people below were quite frightened, while others scoffed, but Liu Weimin remained unperturbed.
Words alone are not enough; they always think he's just bluffing. They need to see it with their own eyes before they'll be afraid.
"I've already said what I wanted to say. If these shameful things happen again, I will report them to the police immediately."
Many villagers didn't believe it, after all, they had lived together for so many years and had developed feelings for each other, not to mention that they were all quite close.
Not enough. Looking at Uncle Liu and several other elderly people in the village standing to the side, they all had stern faces, but not a single word of objection was uttered, and the whispers had all disappeared.
These elderly people in the village are all highly respected. Compared to them, Liu Weimin's prestige is not as high. Liu Weimin invited them over to keep an eye on things.
When the villagers saw that even the most stubborn old man, who was least receptive to new ideas, hadn't said anything, they immediately fell silent as well.
Most of the villagers tensed up. Liu Weimin had mentioned this kind of thing more than once, but never in such a stern tone. The atmosphere itself made everyone unconsciously serious.
Of course, some listened, while others said, "I won't listen. If you tell me not to do something, I'll do it anyway." Several old women below curled their lips, clearly showing their disdain.
Liu Weimin knew them very well. To say they were really brave was an understatement; they were mostly just tough at home. In front of someone truly powerful, they wouldn't even dare to show their faces and couldn't even finish their sentences.
He didn't want to say much; you have to scare this kind of person to make it effective.
Not wanting to dwell on them, I quickly returned to the main topic.
"The winter is over, so you all need to pay attention. How much grain we get this year and what kind of New Year we can celebrate depends on how well you work."
"good!"
The area below immediately became lively.
"Village chief, I promise I'll do a good job."
"Me too, I'm counting on getting a few more pounds of grain during the New Year."
"What's wrong? Don't you want to eat meat?"
"Tch, ask around, is there anyone in the whole village who doesn't want to eat meat? Of course they can eat it, right?"
"The meat from last year and the year before was all thanks to that young educated youth, Jian."
"Yes, village chief, are we raising pigs this year?"
Immediately, Liu Weimin became the focus of attention again, and everyone else turned their attention to him. Putting everything else aside, everyone understands that raising pigs is the only way to have hope of eating meat.
"cough!"
Liu Weimin coughed a few times.
"Before, our village, no, I should say our commune, all raised pigs. After we handed over half of our pigs for the quota, we could all have some meat to eat."
For the past two years, there hasn't been any rain, it's been so dry that our commune hasn't been able to meet its pig-raising quota for two consecutive years.
"At the meeting a few days ago, Secretary Lin said that the commune had already contacted the pig farm and arranged for piglets, and they're just waiting for us to finish planting so they can go and bring them back."
A burst of cheers erupted from below.
The old ladies, young wives, big children, and big men all had beaming smiles on their faces, some even with tears of joy in their eyes.
That's meat.
Putting everything else aside, the benefits of raising pigs are the most obvious and attractive, after all, it's pure, unadulterated meat. If you raise two pigs, you can exchange one for another and still have one left over.
"Great, great! Oh, finally we can get some meat again!"
"For the people, what else is there to say? Just for this meat, we have to work hard!"
"Haha, you bet! Who wouldn't crave this meat?"
"Village chief, how many head of cattle will our village receive today?"
This topic is more concerned with women, aunts and grandmas, feeding pigs and chickens. These are not considered chores, but rather things that are done casually. Although it is a serious matter in the village, it is basically assigned to women.
"Yes, village chief, how many can we get?"
"We had a few a few years ago, maybe four?"
"Yes, we raised four two years ago. They were raised by my third grandmother. We got several kilograms of meat that year. Do you remember?"
If the year comes next year, wouldn't that be an unlucky year?
It was the year before last, wasn't it? The drought was so bad, there wasn't even enough water for people to drink, and nothing was growing in the fields, so what could we raise?
"That's right. If it weren't for Jian Zhiqing bringing food and hiring us to repair the house, you wouldn't know that when I took the snacks I was given back, my old man would have been lying on the kang waiting to die."
The topic kept changing, and Liu Weimin didn't know how many heads he would get this year, but everyone's enthusiasm was certainly high.
The educated youth listened to the excitement in the crowd. They had never experienced pig farming in Liujiatun. To be more precise, they all grew up in the city and had no common sense about this. Many of them had never been to the countryside, and some had never even seen a live pig.
Jian Dan led the child to huddle together with Mingzhu and the others. Mingzhu whispered some instructions.
"Don't go deep into the mountains this year. You're not short of meat. Just thinking about wild boar makes my scalp tingle."
Don't take any risks.
She wasn't going into the mountains specifically for the meat, but she still smiled and agreed. After having this child, her enthusiasm for going into the mountains had diminished considerably. She always felt like she was being held back by a thread, and she didn't even dare to venture into the deep mountains, for fear of wasting time and not being able to come back, and scaring the child.
Seeing this expression, Mingzhu knew she wasn't taking it to heart, and couldn't help but tease her. Jian Dan quickly smiled apologetically.
"Don't worry, don't worry, I know, I'll remember, I'll definitely be careful and go up the mountain less often in the future."
With these pigs hanging there, the villagers' enthusiasm soared to unprecedented heights, at least in the eyes of the educated youth.
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