Chapter 81
In the evening, when Yu Wanxia and Sun Ping came back, Zhou Jiani mentioned the moving matter tomorrow.
Knowing that the educated youth camp had not yet been completed, Zhou Jiani also suggested that Sun Ping stay there for a few days first.
Sun Ping said, "Okay, Jiani, we agreed to move together next Monday morning. I'll stay until Monday and then leave."
Yu Wanxia told her a piece of news with an indignant look on her face, saying that a male educated youth from the old educated youth group had set his sights on her.
"You wouldn't have known until you asked, and when you did, I was shocked," Yu Wanxia said angrily. "You didn't know, but there was a young man who was trying to find a matchmaker with the villagers."
Zhou Jiani felt a tingling sensation on her scalp. She had been focused on her career all her life and seldom interacted with other male comrades. She had only been to the educated youth camp a few times, and when she did, it was always for serious business.
How come several male educated youth are targeting her?
Yu Wanxia said, "If it was just a normal relationship search or blind date, I could understand it, but they all talk about you with such a playful smile on their faces. I feel like they're being very disrespectful."
She was too embarrassed to say anything like, "If I could marry Zhou Jiani, I wouldn't have to work in the fields."
Zhou Jiani said, "Thank you for telling me this. I understand what's going on now. Don't worry, we'll deal with it as soon as it comes."
Yu Wanxia said, "Zhou Hongbing was the first to say that. She said that if you didn't go to live at the educated youth camp, several male educated youth would be very disappointed. They wouldn't be able to get the upper hand."
And they all said it in a very impolite and joking way, and one of them even went straight to find a matchmaker.
Zhou Jiani closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and said, "I've figured this out. When I meet Comrade Zhou Hongbing, I'll thank her."
Zhao Mei had known for a long time that Zhou Jiani and her family were going to move out, and she had guessed that it would be soon, but when she actually heard Zhou Jiani tell her that they were moving tomorrow, she still felt reluctant.
The girls didn't stay at home for long, but they all had good personalities and brought a lot of laughter to the home. Although she was a little busy helping with cooking, she actually felt more fulfilled than ever before.
Not to mention that Jiani helped her a lot both openly and secretly. In addition to herself, her elder brother also benefited a lot. During the days when Jiani was away, he delivered a total of 70 kilograms of dried cowpeas, 45 kilograms of peanuts, 8 kilograms of dates, and 30 kilograms of walnuts, and earned more than one yuan in hard work fees alone.
She was paid for helping her make shoes, and now she had a lot more money. After saving up the wages from the processing workshop, maybe she could take Zhang Kaishan to a big city to see a doctor.
Huihui was reluctant to leave her three sisters, and the little girl even dropped gold beans.
Zhou Jiani pinched her little face and said with a smile: "Come to our place to play after school. It's not far away, right?"
Huihui nodded while sniffling.
Zhao Mei smiled and said, "Let's go to your sister Jiani's house for dinner after school tomorrow."
Only then did Zhang Huihui become happy.
Zhou Jiani gave her a compass, and Zhao Mei brought her a jar of pickled beans, preparing to move them over together tomorrow.
She pickled a lot of them, but she pickled them too early, otherwise she would have produced a lot of dried cowpeas.
In the evening, Zhou Jiani settled the hat-making bill with Zhao Mei and gave her a bag of scraps. She found time to knit a jacket and continue making hats. When the hats were finished, she asked Zhao Mei to make a few new hairbands, hoping to get the village aunts busy during the winter lull so they wouldn't just sit around and play matchmaker for her.
When Zhou Jiani was tidying up her things at home, Qiu Zeming stopped Aunt Cuiyun who was about to go out.
Qiu Zeming was good-looking and very popular with the aunts and sisters. So when Liu Cuiyun saw him, her face immediately lit up with smiles and she asked, "Xiao Qiu, what do you want to talk to me about?"
Qiu Zeming smiled and said, "Aunt, what are you going to do?"
Liu Cuiyun winked and said, "I have something good to tell Comrade Xiao Zhou."
Qiu Zeming asked, "Are you trying to propose marriage to Comrade Xiao Zhou?"
Liu Cuiyun was surprised and asked, "How do you know?"
Qiu Zeming said calmly, "Originally, no one was so enthusiastic, but after the news of Comrade Xiao Zhou renting a house spread, there was a lot of discussion about Comrade Xiao Zhou at the educated youth center."
"Comrade Xiao Zhou is out there helping the village find a way out, but they're making inappropriate jokes behind his back and are even prepared to stop working in the fields. If you introduce people like this to Comrade Xiao Zhou, I don't even know if he'll be happy about it, but I'm sure the village and commune leaders will have to do some ideological work on you."
"Auntie, you gave Xiao Zhou a lot of encouragement on her first day at work, and she's always been very friendly to you. We can't do such a thankless job."
Liu Cuiyun originally thought it was a happy event, and Comrade Xiao Yan looked pretty good, about 1.78 meters tall, with a standard square face, and he worked very hard. Since they entrusted the task to her, she also wanted to help and facilitate the match. If it really worked out, Comrade Xiao Zhou would have someone who understood his feelings.
But after hearing what Comrade Xiao Qiu said, she also felt a little uncomfortable.
"Why are those bastards gossiping about a female comrade behind her back?" Liu Cuiyun felt a little disgusted when she heard this. If a good thing really turned into a bad thing, Comrade Xiao Zhou would feel uneasy. He was afraid that he would have a problem with her. She pursed her lips and thought for a moment, then said, "Then I won't go to Xiao Zhou tonight. I'll ask around first."
She was too lazy to look for Xiao Yan, but Yan Mancang had been waiting, scratching his head. When he realized it was about time, he hurried over with a flashlight to ask for the news. Liu Cuiyun reached out, picked up the broom, and smacked him a few times, angrily saying, "What were you talking about behind Comrade Xiao Zhou's back? Did you say that if you married her, you wouldn't have to work in the fields? Did you say that if you married Comrade Xiao Zhou, you wouldn't have to live in the dormitory?"
Was he going there because of Xiao Zhou, or was he trying to take advantage of his cadre status? Or was he going there because of the house he rented?
Yan Mancang was stunned for a moment, then he frantically explained with a red face, "No, Auntie, I just said it casually, as a joke."
What Liu Cuiyun meant was, since you like Comrade Xiao Zhou, why don't you fight back when other male educated youth make jokes about her and protect her a little?
If she had the courage, she might have had a chance to speak up. However, upon hearing this, she immediately widened her eyes and said, "You said those things? You, you talk nonsense behind my back, and you still have the nerve to ask me to be your matchmaker?"
Liu Cuiyun almost suffocated and grabbed Yan Mancang and hit him a few more times.
There is no need to ask any more questions, the case was solved directly.
Fortunately, she didn't say this to Xiao Zhou. If she had, Xiao Zhou would have been very upset when he knew about this.
"Oh, you, you damn kid, you're going to kill me!" Liu Cuiyun cursed angrily.
Yan Mancang panicked. He thought it was just a harmless joke, really just a joke. Why was Aunt Cuiyun so disgusted?
Yan Mancang wanted to explain, but Liu Cuiyun pointed at his nose and scolded him, and he walked away in shame.
On the way back to the educated youth camp, his shoulders slumped. In a fit of rage, he boasted, "If I could marry such a capable wife, I wouldn't even have to work the fields anymore."
There were people nearby making a fuss, all treating it as a joke.
He didn't expect such a result. Under the night sky, Yan Mancang's face turned red with regret. After a moment, he raised his hand and slapped himself in the face.
He really didn't disrespect Comrade Zhou Jiani, he was just... just joking.
Zhou Jiani didn't know about this. Like Yu Wanxia, she was so excited about moving the next day that she couldn't sleep and tossed and turned in bed.
Sun Ping couldn't stand it any longer and said with a sullen smile, "Hey, you two aren't going to do that, are you? You're almost rubbing a layer of mud off this kang."
Zhou Jiani rolled over and lay down, closed her eyes, and said with a smile: "Okay, okay, go to sleep."
Yu Wanxia didn't want to sleep. She half-got up, propped up her chin with her hand, and said, "Jia Ni, I'm going to take a day off tomorrow. We'll move in the morning, and then go to town to buy some meat in the afternoon. Then we can have a nice and lively evening."
Zhou Jiani narrowed her eyes and said, "Why bother with so much trouble? Just ask Sister Zhao Mei to bring some back from the state-owned restaurant tomorrow."
Some interpersonal relationships can easily become estranged if not used often.
It seemed like there were two cans of meat waiting for her to take.
I moved there in the morning and it was tiring to pack up everything. How could I have the energy to go shopping in town?
The next morning, Zhao Mei was given five yuan and two pounds of meat coupons.
She doesn't know how much a can of meat costs, so she'll just refund if she gets more than she deserves.
Zhao Mei went to deliver the vegetables, came back to have breakfast and then went to work in the processing workshop.
So when she came back, Zhou Jiani and the others' moving ceremony had not yet begun.
Zhou Jiani actually got back what she wanted.
In addition to the pork belly and the two canned meats, there were also three pounds of dried kelp and a fish, which were given to her by the people from the state-owned restaurant to celebrate her move.
Zhou Jiani was very curious as she carried the three pounds of dried kelp.
He gave half a pound to Zhao Mei, kept one pound for himself to entertain Qiu Zeming and the other two in the evening, and took the remaining one and a half pounds to the village committee, asking them to arrange for someone to prepare a big pot dish and add a dish for the people in the processing workshop.
At around eight o'clock, Qiu Zeming drove the village's ox cart over, followed by Zhang Baosheng and Liu Tong. Even Li Jingdang, who had not been seen for a few days and was tanned, came and said he wanted to help Zhou Jiani move.
Zhou Jiani hadn't expected such a commotion. Embarrassed, she said, "We can carry it ourselves in two trips at most. There's no need to mobilize so many people."
Zhang Baosheng was carrying two pounds of noodles in his hand. He had eaten food from Comrade Xiao Zhou's house last time and had not returned it yet. This was a good opportunity. Combined with the housewarming celebration, he directly grabbed two pounds of noodles.
Liu Tong brought a pound of eggs as a gift.
Li Jingdang only found out about this when he went to Zhang Baosheng to report on his work this morning. He didn't have anything else on hand, but he had a dictionary that was neither new nor old, so he took it and gave it to Zhou Jiani.
Zhou Jiani really couldn't stand such a big fuss. She accepted the gifts, thanked them repeatedly, declined their help, and asked them to come over for dinner in the evening to have some fun. Then she quickly put the things on the ox cart and asked Qiu Zeming to drive to their new home.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
