Chapter 162: The Poor Man (Revised)

Secretary Zhou glanced at Yu Wanqing angrily and said, "What are you doing standing here? There's a stool but you don't want to sit down. Are you trying to show off how tall you are?"

Yu Wanqing was amused by Secretary Zhou's rogue look, and quickly sat opposite him, then placed the melon seeds and salted peanuts she had brought on the table: "Secretary, let's talk about how you found out that I was getting married?"

"You know something that I don't even know."

Secretary Zhou ate peanuts while saying, "You and Huo Zhiqing have met each other's parents, but you're not ready to get married?"

"Is it Huo Zhiqing who doesn't want to get married?" Secretary Zhou became even angrier when he said this, and he looked as if he would go find Aci to settle the score if Huo Lanci really didn't want to get married.

The captain reminded him, "How could it be that Huo Zhiqing doesn't want to get married?"

Huo Zhiqing almost had the words "I want to get married" written on his mind.

Secretary Zhou suddenly realized: "Yu Zhiqing, you want to start a mess and end up giving up."

Yu Wanqing was very upset.

Why does she want to give up?

How could she be such a person?

This is simply nonsense.

"Secretary, how can you lie with your eyes open? This is slandering my character." Yu Wanqing snorted: "Although Aci and I have met each other's parents, I am still young and there is no rush to get married."

"You are convicting me."

When Secretary Zhou heard that she was not getting married so soon, he smiled and said, "You are still young, there is no rush. Some girls in our village get married at the age of 20."

Accountant Ye nodded and said, "Don't listen to the secretary. If both parents are satisfied, it's okay to get married early."

"Your uncle is right. If you meet the right person and both parents are satisfied, then get married early." After the captain finished speaking, he sighed and said, "Many things will always go wrong if they are delayed for too long."

Accountant Ye and Secretary Zhou were speechless upon hearing this.

Yu Wanqing felt that there must be some story behind the captain's family, otherwise he would not have such feelings.

Secretary Zhou saw the gossipy fire in her eyes and glared at him: "Okay, we have seen that you have returned safely, so hurry up and get to work."

"Even though it's winter, there's still a lot of work to do."

Yu Wanqing nodded: "I understand. I'll get out of here now and not bother you anymore."

Secretary Zhou was irritated by the girl's words: "Get lost!"

Yu Wanqing ran away with a smile.

Accountant Ye glanced at the captain and said, "That's enough. It's been so many years since the incident. Why are you still holding on to it?"

The captain smiled bitterly and said, "You can't get through this." Seeing his sister like this, how could he possibly get through this?

It will never pass.

Secretary Zhou and Accountant Ye looked at each other and sighed.

Accountant Ye said: "Aju is only 39 years old. If you meet the right one, you can still consider it."

The captain stood up and said helplessly: "It is no longer our turn to decide the matter."

He didn't dare to make the decision for Aju.

"I'm going to check on the wheat seedlings in the fields." He fled from the office, which was making him feel a little suffocated at this moment.

Secretary Zhou looked at the captain's slightly hunched back and pursed his lips and said, "What happened back then was not actually the captain's fault. Who could have thought that man was so ruthless?"

Accountant Ye sneered: "If you ask me, it's a blessing that Zhou Ju didn't marry that man."

It's a pity that the captain has hit a dead end. He feels that because he prevented Zhou Ju from getting married, that disgusting thing married someone else in anger.

And Zhou Ju wasted twenty years because of this incident. It was really not worth it.

"Who says it's not true? Unfortunately, we are not the parties involved and have no right to comment." Secretary Zhou also stood up and prepared to go to the commune for a meeting.

As he walked out, he said, "Every day, there are so many things to do. Why bother with the past? When you are alive, you should always look forward."

“No matter how hard it is, I will never go back.”

Accountant Ye smiled and said, "There are a lot of reasons to tell every day."

When the team leader passed by the small river of the brigade, he saw Yu Wanqing and a group of people washing cassava by the river. His sister Zhou Ju was also in the crowd.

Zhou Ju's skin is a little dark, but it does not prevent her facial features from being beautiful, except that her big eyes hide a hint of sadness.

She worked very efficiently and spoke very little. While others were chatting and laughing with those around them, she was the only one who kept a distance from the crowd and worked hard alone.

It's like she's in a world all her own.

When the captain saw this, he felt even more upset.

Yu Wanqing noticed that the captain was looking over here, but when he left, his back looked a little lonely.

At this moment, Aunt Zhou beside him sighed: "He is also a miserable person."

Yu Wanqing was puzzled: "What miserable person?"

Aunt Zhou glanced in the direction of Zhou Ju and said, "The captain is actually a very good brother." After saying that, she stopped talking.

The gossip died out at the very beginning. Yu Wanqing felt uneasy and wanted Aunt Zhou to continue.

However, Aunt Zhou was determined not to say anything more and changed the subject. Yu Wanqing could only swallow the half-eaten melon and didn't know when she would be able to finish it.

When they were leaving work, Aunt Zhou and Yu Wanqing were walking back. Aunt Zhou looked at Yu Wanqing with a smile and asked, "Want to know about Zhou Ju?"

Yu Wanqing nodded repeatedly: "Is this matter related to the captain?"

If it wasn't related to the captain, she wouldn't be so curious. She always felt that Zhou Ju's matter was a heavy burden on the captain.

Aunt Zhou was silent for a while before she started talking about the Zhou family.

Twenty-two years ago, seventeen-year-old Zhou Ju was dating a young man from Dazhai Commune. Half a year later, the two young people wanted to get married. At that time, everything was quite chaotic, and the team leader's mother was in poor health, so the team leader hoped that the two could wait for half a year.

Zhou Ju was a sensible girl and she understood that now was not a good time to get married, so she told her partner about it and he agreed.

As soon as he knew what was going on, he married a girl from the town (there was no commune at that time).

Even moved away without saying a word.

By the time Zhou Ju found out, it was too late. She went to the man's house, but they drove her away and said she was being pretentious just to get more betrothal gifts.

A lot of unpleasant words were thrown at Zhou Ju, which made her lose the desire to live. When she came back, she jumped directly into the river at the entrance of the village.

If the captain had not jumped down to rescue her, Zhou Ju would have been dead.

Aunt Zhou sighed, "Zhou Ju was indeed rescued, but the smiling girl disappeared from then on. She is still diligent and obedient, but she no longer mentions marriage. Because of the suicide incident, the captain's family does not dare to force her to go on a blind date or get married."

"Kill Xie Rui." More than 20 years later, when talking about Xie Rui again, Aunt Zhou still gritted her teeth: "In my opinion, he clearly wanted to climb up the social ladder and didn't want Zhou Ju, but he was afraid that Zhou Ju would keep pestering him, so he moved away."

"They got married and moved away in less than half a month. This was clearly premeditated."

"Damn you, damned bastard."

Yu Wanqing had never expected the truth behind this to be like this. She asked, "Now I don't know where that Xie Rui has moved to?"

"How dare you mention this person?" Aunt Zhou whispered, "Because of this incident, no one from the Zhou family of Wuxing Brigade will marry anyone from the Xie family brigade of Dazhai Commune."

"In fact, I did look for him, but that bastard seemed to have disappeared and never came back to the Xie Family Brigade."

Thinking of this, Aunt Zhou grabbed Yu Wanqing's wrist and said, "Tell me, could Xie Rui be dead?"

Otherwise, why haven't he come back for more than 20 years when his parents and brothers and sisters are all here?

Yu Wanqing said: "They are not in the same commune as us. Even if they come back, they won't tell us."

Aunt Zhou thought about it and felt that it made sense: "If we find that bastard, we must break his legs."

Yu Wanqing knew that Aunt Zhou was just venting her complaints, and even if she wanted to beat her, she wouldn't do it openly. The younger generation of the Zhou family might just put her in a sack.

"By the way, we will send a group of people to help dig the reservoir tomorrow. They will be paid every day. Do you want to go?"

Yu Wanqing shook her head: "I want to go into the mountains to get some firewood."

Everyone goes into the mountains to collect firewood in winter, and then they start to get busy in the spring of the following year. In the summer, there are many snakes, so it is not suitable to go into the mountains to collect firewood.

"Auntie, are you going to dig a reservoir?"

"I'm an old man, I won't join in the fun." It's not that she doesn't want to go, but her own son had called her a long time ago to warn her that she was not allowed to repair the canal or dig the reservoir.

Comrade Zhou always stood on the side of his two sons and was always worried that she would hurt her health if she worked too much.

In fact, it's a job I do all the time, there's no need to be so coquettish.

"Secretary Zhou and Comrade Jianhua just feel sorry for you." Digging a reservoir is a very hard job. It would be fine for a day or two, but it would take more than a month. Every day is hard work. A grown man would be exhausted, let alone a woman in her forties.

Aunt Zhou smiled when she heard this, she naturally knew that her husband and children were worried about her.

Although Comrade Lao Zhou is arrogant outside, he is very obedient when he returns home.

The premise is not to interfere in any of his work decisions and not to extend your hand to the larger troops.

Otherwise, Comrade Zhou would be very angry.

The next morning, those who were going to dig the reservoir gathered at the brigade headquarters and then took a ox cart to their destination together.

Yu Wanqing saw Zhou Ju sitting on the ox cart. She was sitting alone at the very edge of the cart, holding a bundle in her hands. She didn't talk to anyone and was still living in her own world.

This time, the team leader took them to Qujiawan and visited the first group of members and educated youth who went to Qujiawan.

Yu Wanqing also found something very interesting, that is, the captain only dared to look at Zhou Ju secretly every time.

If she remembered correctly, Zhou Ju seemed to have built a small house next to the brigade commander's house, where she lived and cooked alone.

Could it be that Zhou Ju has been ignoring the captain for all these years?

If this is the case, it is no wonder that the captain has been living in guilt and is so cautious when dealing with Zhou Ju's matter.

Yu Wanqing, Guo Hongying, Gao Qingmei and little Gao Sheng went into the mountains to chop firewood. Everywhere around the mountain, there were women with children chopping firewood, and some children were running around, picking up fallen pine branches and bringing them back to their mothers or grandmothers.

Yu Wanqing liked to make fire with pine needles. Pine needles were burning in the stove, and then large pieces of firewood were put in. The large pieces of firewood would burn quickly.

Yu Wanqing used a rake to bring all the pine needles around to her, while Gao Sheng was having fun on the flat ground not far away: "Auntie, auntie, there are wild fruits here."

Yu Wanqing looked over and found that Gao Qingmei was talking patiently to Goldman Sachs.

She thought of her second brother Zhou Chengye and decided to ask him what he thought of Qingmei someday. If he liked Qingmei, she would have to work harder.

Now Qingmei's brother has come to Guangdong, and she is worried that he will introduce someone to Qingmei.

Guo Hongying came over and said curiously, "You have been staring at Qingmei for quite a while."

Yu Wanqing pushed Guo Hongying's head away and said, "Go back to work quickly and stop gossiping here."

"Thinking too much will not help you grow." After saying this, Yu Wanqing continued to work.

Her goal today was four handfuls of pine needles.

After picking up enough pine needles, Yu Wanqing found pine branches and twigs nearby, placed them on the ground, and then put the pine needles on them and tied them up.

Gao Sheng came over dragging a dozen pine branches: "Aunt Yu, I'll help you."

He put the pine branches on the ground, and a cute smile appeared on his sunburned face: "Aunt Yu, I found a lot of pine branches over there."

"Come quickly, I'll take you there."

After saying this, Goldman Sachs ran to the front happily.

Yu Wanqing was worried that he had run too far, so she hurried after him.

Standing on a slope, Gao Sheng pointed downward and said, "Aunt Yu, look, there are pine branches all over the ground."

Yu Wanqing stood beside Gao Sheng and looked in the direction he pointed. She saw a large deep pit in the distance with lush green plants and many pine branches.

She frowned slightly and looked around, realizing that there was a path not far from this location. People usually passed by here, but it seemed a bit unusual that no one was picking up so many pine branches.

"Yu Zhiqing, you can't go down." A member of the commune passed by and saw Yu Wanqing and Gao Sheng standing on the top of the deep pit. He shouted loudly: "That place is very dangerous. You can't run down just to pick up some pine branches."

Yu Wanqing turned around and found that it was the carpenter Uncle Shen Qi, who was standing not far away carrying a load of firewood.

"Uncle Seventh, why can't we go down?" Yu Wanqing held Gao Sheng's hand and strode towards Uncle Seventh.

Uncle Chen put the firewood down and pointed at the big pit and said, "That place is a bit weird. In the past, some people wanted to cut firewood and pick pine branches there, but they all died in the end."

Uncle Qi raised four fingers: "There were four people in total, and not one of them is alive."

After hearing this, Gao Sheng held Yu Wanqing's hand tightly and said, "Aunt Yu, don't go. Don't go."

Yu Wanqing reached out and patted Gao Sheng's head: "No, no, no."

Uncle Chen Qi said, "When you go back, remember to tell those young educated youth that they should follow the local members when they go into the mountains. If they tell you not to go to a place, you should never go."

After saying this, he left carrying his firewood.

At the end, he reminded: "Remember not to go down, it's very dangerous."

"Okay, we won't go down."

Before leaving, Yu Wanqing glanced in the direction of the big pit, thinking that she would find time to come and take a look.

It's so weird, I always feel like there's some unspeakable secret.

She even suspected it might be a laboratory.

At dinner, Yu Wanqing told Huo Lanci the location of the deep pit: "Do you know this place?"