The villagers are all straightforward and like to get straight to the point. Liu Erhong's forbearance and strength only made them feel sorry for her.
Who cares whether Wei Qiang's face is red or black?
After receiving the money, Liu Erhong visibly relaxed, clenching her fist tightly for a moment. Soon, before Liu Weimin could continue distributing the grain, she cautiously asked…
"Village chief, I... I definitely won't get any work points this year. Can I exchange this money for grain?"
The village would usually do this after distributing the grain. If you didn't have enough work points, you were allowed to exchange them for grain separately. However, there was a generally accepted limit to this.
After all, once the grain has been distributed, what remains is the village's grain reserves.
Every year, there are families facing food shortages and running out of food. At this time, they all have to go to the village office to borrow food, which is considered an advance payment. The village office has to keep a portion of this budget.
After the grain was distributed, each household head had a clear idea of how long their grain would last. In a year like this, with a fairly good harvest, they were even allowed to exchange their grain now.
Not to mention, in recent years, so many educated youth have come who don't earn many work points and have to exchange them for grain.
You can buy grain outside, but you need grain coupons. Grain outside is sold at retail price, so it's much cheaper in the village. Without a doubt, the village is the first choice.
The villagers are used to this, and it's one of the few legitimate ways to "buy" things these days, so Liu Weimin isn't surprised.
With a wave of his hand,
"Okay, then you go find yourselves. Hey you, go have some fun. Come back when you're done dividing up the loot."
Liu Weimin was also confused by what Liu Erhong had said. Anyway, Liu Erhong understood and nodded, then stepped aside and remained silent.
In the team, several educated youths looked at Liu Erhong with admiration.
"So that's why you were keeping quiet. You were planning something big, huh?"
Su Hong was also eager to try.
"If it were me, I would make Wei Qiang compensate me for the losses I've suffered over such a long period of time."
She was still too soft-hearted.
Wei Shujuan shook her head.
"She's probably doing this on purpose, and if I'm not mistaken, she'll likely convert most of the money into food, or she might just build a house and move out."
"Um?"
Su Hong and Jian Dan couldn't keep up with her speed for a moment, and exchanged a glance, their eyes full of confusion.
Why?
Several people followed the group and moved forward.
"She's endured it for so long, why isn't she enduring it now?"
"Why? Didn't she say she didn't have money to buy food?"
They just don't think things through and say whatever comes to mind.
Su Hong's eyes darted over Liu Erhong, then looked at Wei Qiang and Chu Rou not far away. They kept glancing at each other, their eyes seemingly locked in a longing gaze.
Wei Qiang's attitude towards Chu Rou and Liu Erhong was completely different. Anyone could see that his gaze towards Chu Rou was full of boundless tolerance.
Su Hong suddenly realized,
"Ah, that's true. Being around two people like that must be disgusting enough for a while. If I had the chance, I wouldn't want to see them every day either. It's already too upsetting. If it were me, I would want to stay far away from them."
"Tch, Liu Zhiqing was really wise to get involved with someone like that, tsk!"
After a brief pause, the subtle differences between the two became apparent, but after a couple of glances, one could only shake their head in disbelief.
"What kind of taste do you have?"
Who are you talking about?
Su Hong curiously leaned closer and asked, her words carrying a double meaning.
"It's all the same. If even one of them were normal, it wouldn't have been several months, forcing Liu, the educated youth, to come out and complain in public."
Although they could tell that Liu Erhong's actions were not accidental, but rather a calculated move, perhaps even something she had planned long ago, they didn't gain much, and many of the jobs she had promised to do were not fulfilled.
However, their image in front of the villagers was definitely solid. At least for a while, Wei Qiang couldn't say anything more about this topic. Didn't you see many villagers subtly pointing and whispering about Wei Qiang and Chu Rou?
The distribution of grain continued in a lively atmosphere, with the educated youth gradually moving forward. However, they were already quite far back in the line. Just as they had finished putting their share of grain into bags, they heard Liu Weimin shouting.
"Come on over if you want to buy grain."
Liu Weihong, who was standing nearby, rushed over first and handed the money in her hand to Liu Aiguo.
"I want to buy whole grains."
Everyone present knew she wanted to buy grain, but Liu Aiguo frowned again as he looked at the several ten-yuan bills in his hand.
"Liu Zhiqing, are you sure you want to buy so much grain?"
You see, grain is very cheap in the village, especially since she wanted coarse grains; ten yuan could buy dozens of kilograms. Liu Aiguo wanted to persuade her to give up.
"Liu Zhiqing, you don't need to buy so much at once, you're just one person,"
Liu Erhong bit her lip, looking somewhat troubled.
"Uncle, I know it's wrong to take away the villagers' resources like this."
However, during this period, I had little food on hand, so I borrowed some food from my fellow educated youth.
It's said that if you borrow and repay, it's easy to borrow again. Everyone helped me when I was in trouble, so no matter how you look at it, I should repay everyone as soon as possible after buying the grain.
This is yet another piece of gossip, isn't it?
Jian Dan, Su Hong, and Wei Shujuan also stared wide-eyed. Su Hong suddenly remembered something, covered her mouth with her hand, and whispered,
"She borrowed from us that day, wasn't it just...?"
Yes, that's right.
Wei Shujuan suddenly raised her voice.
“A few days ago, when Liu, the educated youth, came to us, she was too embarrassed to say anything. If we hadn’t pressed her, she wouldn’t have told us. She even told us not to tell anyone, because she was afraid that others would laugh at her for starting to borrow grain as soon as she arrived in the countryside.”
But looking at it today, it's not your fault. It's clearly someone else who caused you to be unable to earn work points, which led to this result. You can't blame all the mistakes on yourself.
You came to the countryside to support rural development, but you relied on your own hands and wisdom. Now, you're only injured, which limits your ability to shine, but you can't deny your original intention to help build the countryside.
After the grain was distributed, the villagers happily carried it home. Those who came to watch were mostly those who had finished long ago and were at the front of the line; there weren't many of them.
However, Liu Weimin, Liu Aiguo, several village officials, and several elderly people from the village were all there.
Immediately, all eyes turned to Wei Qiang, who had just left carrying the grain. Liu Weimin's brows furrowed for the umpteenth time today.
"This person, this person,"
For the time being, I really can't find any suitable words to describe it.
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