Chapter 187 The Director of Women's Affairs gives Yi Ke some ideological work
"Director, please have some sugar water." Yike poured a glass of sugar water for the director of women's affairs. I bought several of these enamel cups, which are specially used to pour boiled water for guests. In other people's homes, people use rice bowls to pour boiled water. No matter who comes, they use bowls to pour boiled water. It’s not that the guests drink too much, it’s that they don’t have the money to buy so many enamel cups. Since Ziyi regained his memory, he has regained his cleanliness obsession from his previous life. It is absolutely not allowed to drink from someone else's bowl and eat from it. So Yike took the initiative to buy a few enamel cups so that when guests came, they would no longer have to use bowls to collect boiling water.
Yike poured himself a glass of boiled water and sat down opposite the director of women's affairs. Since the director of the Women's Department said that she was here to chat on a mission, it would definitely take a long time, so Yi Ke poured some boiled water and drank it slowly while listening to her talk.
Yike had only met the director of women's affairs a few times and had never taken a serious look at her appearance. Today, she discovered that she was quite pretty and very much in line with the aesthetic standards of this era. The director of women's affairs had her hair cut short like a female cadre, which made her look neat and energetic. She is not short, about 1.6 meters tall, and thin. Although her skin is a little dark, it is not the ugly dark. There is a kind of vague sadness on her face, probably because of the hardships in life. She just looks several years older than her actual age. It is understood that she is only in her forties, but looks to be in her early fifties.
The director of the women's department saw Yi Ke observing her, and couldn't help but pursed her lips and smiled, saying jokingly: "Zi Yi's wife, how is it? Is your appearance acceptable?"
"Hehe, I'm sorry for being rude, Director. It's mainly because I will observe anyone I see who's good-looking. It's become a habit." Yi Ke said with an embarrassed smile, pinching the end of her braid.
"Oh..." the director said in a long tone, "I am still good-looking. Thank you for the compliment. I am in my forties and have long passed the age of being good-looking."
First, I despise myself for being bad at talking and not knowing how to praise others. I hope I am praising the wrong person. Yi Ke simply stopped talking and waited for the director of the women's department to speak. Anyway, she came to chat with a mission, so he just made a basket to carry the things.
When the director of women's affairs saw that Yi Ke didn't say anything, she started to introduce her own situation. "Ziyi's wife, you may not know my name yet. I am from this village as well. My last name is Liu, and my name is Liu Xiuyun. I am 41 years old this year. I have three brothers and two sisters in my family. I am the youngest, the daughter who comes late to my parents' lives. So I was the most favored before I got married, and I went to school for four years. In the whole village, the number of women of my age who can recognize words can be counted on one’s fingers, and I am the only one who has studied for four years." The women's director said this with a bit of boasting.
Yi Ke pretended to be envious and said, "The director is really amazing. I haven't been to school for a single day."
The director of the women's department was surprised. She asked incredulously, "You have never been to school for a day? But you can read and write beautifully. We all thought you had been educated. We never expected that."
"My sister taught me some when I was a child, and then Ziyi taught me some more." Yi Ke explained.
The head of the women's department looked envious and said, "You are really smart. You have never been to school, but your handwriting is better than those who have been to school, and you can even make a backpack like that. If only my daughter Lihua were half as smart as you, I would feel relieved when she gets married."
Yi Ke said cheerfully: "Lihua is also very smart. Look, she can even make bags with you, and she does it very well."
The women's director nodded and said that her daughter was indeed very good at needlework and she could not catch up with her. She continued to introduce her situation: "My husband's name is Wang Liugen, he is three years older than me. We had two daughters and a son, and then something happened to him."
The director of women's affairs looked sad when she said this: "In the autumn of 1960, the canteen of the production brigade had just been disbanded, and every household in the village had no money and no food. As luck would have it, the roof leaked and it rained all night. The grain that the team had just harvested had not yet been distributed to the members in the granary. A fire burned down the granary. When my husband was trying to rescue food from the fire, the wood that fell from the fire broke his leg. From then on, he could only walk with crutches. In order to take care of my family, the brigade made me the director of women's affairs. In this way, in addition to the ten work points a day, there was also a subsidy of two yuan a month."
"Let the past be the past. Fortunately, your uncle survived. You have to be more positive. The family depends on you." Seeing that the women's director was about to cry, she hurriedly comforted her.
"Yes, you are right." The director of women's affairs paused and continued, "At that time, the oldest child, Lihua, was already engaged, but because of her father's injury, the other party disliked the burden on her family and called off the engagement. Later, Lihua refused to talk about marriage, saying that she would wait until her younger brothers and sisters grew up before getting married. This year, she is 18 years old, and until now, not even a matchmaker has come to her door."
"Director, eighteen years old is not too old. Doesn't the policy stipulate that girls can get married only when they are eighteen? So don't worry about Lihua's marriage. When our village makes money, there will be many matchmakers coming to our door. Hehe, by then, your door will be trampled down and you will be anxious again."
"If that day really comes, I will thank you." A smile appeared on the face of the women's director.
"Why should you thank me? I'm not a matchmaker." Yi Ke said with a smile.
The director of the Women's Affairs Department was in a good mood, so she said happily, "Of course we have to thank you. It was you who came up with the idea of making the bag, and you taught the women in our village to make it. Your cousin also introduced us to the way to sell it. You see, this time everyone thought they would have to wait for the summer harvest with empty stomachs again, but in the end everyone made money by selling the backpacks and exchanged the money for food. There has been no smoke from cooking in the village in the mornings in the past few years, but there has been smoke from cooking again in the past two days. So who else can we thank if not you? We women all know that you led us to do this, not like the secretary who pushed all the credit onto men and thought it was Ziyi's credit. He has that kind of male chauvinism and will not admit that women have abilities."
"Ziyi's wife, you can't ignore us just because of what the secretary said. After you left, the team leader told us everything you said last night, and we were so excited. If we really do what you said, it will be hard for our village not to become prosperous. Ziyi's wife, please take us with you for the sake of the whole village." The women's director looked at Yike with hope.
Yike is not the kind of person with great sentiments. To put it bluntly, she is a bit lazy. She is the kind of stay-at-home girl who is not good at socializing or speaking. Apart from her family and friends, she basically doesn't care about anyone else. This time, I am willing to spend all my energy to find ways to make money simply because the people in the village are too poor.
He ate meat every day, but the people in the village couldn't even drink the meat soup. I felt a little guilty, so I thought about helping the villagers make some money and improve their lives. As a result, the secretary poured a bucket of cold water on her at the very beginning, and her kindness was wasted. So she retracted her head like a turtle, intending to continue hiding behind Ziyi and living a life of parasite.
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