"She has plenty to eat, sigh!"
Liu Aiguo looked at the group of people.
"Okay, in that case, the money distribution won't change. I'll just divide it according to the plan?"
"You just said how much it would be, 5.6 cents, right?"
Old Master Liu tapped his cane.
"Then that's settled. Keep that one-tenth of the land separate. As for those old men and women in the village who have no one to take care of them, and those two children who have no one to take care of them, you should keep an eye on them more often."
Our village is only so big. This guy, Xiao Jian, who's not even related to us, has already contributed money. It's like feeding him; we can't let anyone else fall behind in terms of labor. Let's all lend a hand, and we'll get through this."
"Okay, sure, I'll open the door and start settling the accounts then?"
The villagers outside laughed heartily, seemingly unfazed by the cold, and stood waiting outside, their clothes covered in a thick layer of snow. As soon as the door opened, they rushed forward.
"Village chief, is it time to distribute the money?"
"you,"
Liu Weimin knew in his heart that they were all terrified of being poor, and they were all unsure of what to do when such a good thing happened out of the blue.
Seeing these tall, strong men, dressed in thin clothes, sleeves tucked in, shivering from the cold, and looking at Liu Weimin's hopeful eyes, Liu Weimin felt a pang of sadness.
"Alright, come in, all of you. It's a good thing it's not too cold yet, otherwise, imagine how frozen you would be! Were you all in such a hurry just for one night?"
A group of grown men, their mouths numb from the cold, were baring their teeth.
"Village chief, isn't this urgent?"
"Hehe! Brother Weimin, we can't sit still at home, so we might as well wait here. Being closer means we'll know sooner if anything happens, right?"
The room, which was not big to begin with, suddenly became crowded when a group of people rushed in. It was a miracle if you could even stand up and hear clearly, let alone stay warm.
"Alright, alright, you want a share of the money, don't you?"
Line up, one by one. First, check the numbers over here. If they're correct, then come over here to sign and collect your money.
"If anyone doesn't understand, hurry back and find someone who does. Don't give me any trouble with the unresolved issues. You're all anxious, and so am I. I'm envious of this huge sum of money sitting in my hands, not even really mine. I'll be even more reluctant to part with it later."
"Ha ha!"
"Hahaha!"
This immediately caused a burst of laughter, and several old men nearby also laughed so hard their beards trembled.
"That kid!"
Even at 5.6 cents per pound, and assuming an average of 300 pounds per family, that's 16.8 yuan. A typical factory worker in the city only earns 25 or 26 yuan a month. 300 pounds, in two or at most three sacks, is probably just a family's harvest for a day.
In one day, they earned more than half a month's wages for the workers. Even Liu Weimin and his colleagues were all smiles at this amount. They worked hard all year round, and only those families that were particularly hardworking and had a lot of able-bodied members could earn so much money, as they usually earned the full amount of work points.
Even in Liu Weimin's family, all four adults are able-bodied, and they barely manage to get this much money throughout the year.
The villagers who had just received their money were still standing there in a daze.
"Patriotism, have you miscalculated?"
Everyone likes money, but these honest farmers, unblinded by the allure of wealth, remained steadfast. Holding those unprecedented ten-yuan notes, their hands trembled.
"Why are you giving me so much money?"
Few villagers had received formal education, and even fewer knew how to do basic accounting, so Liu Aiguo explained it to them sentence by sentence.
"Brother Erzhu, look, your family sold 610 jin (300 catties) of walnuts and hazelnuts, right?"
"Oh right, there were also some chestnuts and pine nuts, which I gave to Xiao Jian, the educated youth, a few days ago,"
“Look, Brother Erzhu, all the mountain products we bought today are the same price, 5.6 cents a pound. 610 pounds is 34.6 yuan. That’s right, they’re all from your farm.”
"How many?"
"How many cents per pound?"
Like a drop of cold water falling into hot oil, the people in the room instantly erupted in chaos.
"Village chief, is it a little over 5 cents a pound?"
"Is there a mistake in the calculation? How can this thing be so expensive?"
Liu Weimin and the others weren't sure what the next price would be. They were worried they'd go crazy if they found out they were settling for 8 cents per pound, but they decided to give them a heads-up first.
“I know that everyone sells their goods at the supply and marketing cooperative for 2 cents, or at most 3 cents. We contacted this company because we wanted to help everyone get more money.”
Today was the first time, and they offered a high price to show their sincerity.
Next time they come, they'll have to follow the market rates there; they can't afford to lose money, right?
Another burst of laughter erupted around them, but as the laughter grew, more and more sobs and choked-up voices appeared, and some people's eyes reddened and they even shed tears.
The room fell silent for a moment.
The snow continued into the afternoon, and as darkness fell, it showed no signs of stopping. However, the temperature inside the house had noticeably dropped, and Cheng Rui had to light the fire wall more often.
Once again, Cheng Rui lit the firewood and lit the stove. He ran and stumbled onto the kang (heated brick bed) in his slippers, shivering violently. He took off his cotton-padded coat and placed it beside the kang, rubbed his hands together, and then put them directly on the kang to warm them.
"It's really gotten colder; even with all this burning, we're not getting warm."
"This snow is really heavy outside, sis. If it keeps falling like this, we'll definitely be able to build a snowman by tomorrow morning, right?"
I glanced out the window, and sure enough, the yard was already covered in thick fog.
If this amount of snow were in Northeast China in later years, it would definitely have led to the immediate closure of highways.
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