"Do you receive a lot of subsidies? You certainly don't lack sugar."
"Yes! Li Zhiqing, after you lend your sugar coupon to Third Sister-in-law, could you also lend your Ninth Aunt a kerosene coupon? We really don't have any kerosene at home. We just had a grandson, and it's really inconvenient without a kerosene lamp."
The more I listened, the angrier I got. Were they taking advantage of me because I was young and there were no adults around? Or were they just not taking me seriously and trying to make me a sucker? I was trying to figure out what to do when I heard, "Mianmian, what's wrong?"
When I heard the familiar voice, I quickly turned around and saw Shen Dong standing behind me. Tears welled up in my eyes, and I said, "Brother, what brings you here?"
"Don't ask me why I'm here. I heard these comrades asked to borrow tickets from you. What kind of tickets?"
Before these men could even respond to their leader's question, the brigade leader approached with his men and said, "Comrade, hello, I am the brigade leader of this brigade, my name is Gu Zhengrong."
As luck would have it, I was being pestered by several women. Chen Junjie, who was standing to the side, got angrier and angrier the more he listened to them. But he wasn't very bright and didn't know what to do, so he ran off to find Chen Enpeng.
Just then, Chen Enpeng was chatting with the brigade leader when he heard, "Pengzi! Pengzi, something bad has happened! Someone is bullying Mianmian! You have to come over right now!"
Before Chen Enpeng could react, the brigade leader asked, "What happened? Who bullied Li, the educated youth?"
“Captain, where are some of the women comrades in the team? They’re pestering Mianmian to lend them the receipts they received yesterday. But after listening for a while, it seems they just want to borrow them and not return them. Mianmian is still young and doesn’t know what to do. I’m not very good at dealing with these women either. That’s why I came to find Pengzi in such a hurry.”
"I'll go with you to take a look," he said, and was about to get up when he heard...
"Captain, Captain, a soldier in military uniform has arrived at our location, accompanied by a police officer."
"What? What's going on, boss?"
"Dad, let's go take a look together. Things haven't been going well lately. We haven't heard of anything happening in our brigade or even the surrounding brigades. They must be looking for someone."
When Captain Gu Zhengrong led a group of people out, he saw a man talking to Mianmian, so he quickly went up to ask.
"Hello, Captain Gu, I'm Li Mianmian's older brother, my name is Shen Dong."
"Oh, so it's Mianmian's older brother!"
"Hello, Secretary Gu, it's nice to see you again."
"Director Zhou, I'm so sorry, I didn't see you just now."
"It's alright, Secretary Gu."
"I wonder what brings Director Zhou here?" Secretary Gu asked curiously.
"I happen to be off today, so I came with my nephew to visit Mianmian. This is my first time visiting Mianmian since she came to our brigade after being sent to the countryside."
"Oh, I see."
But now the villagers standing nearby were dumbfounded. The soldier in front of them was Li Zhiqing's older brother, and the police chief was Li Zhiqing's uncle. Li Zhiqing's family were all high-ranking officials! They couldn't bully them. If they just raised a finger, they didn't know what would happen.
The three women standing to the side were all terrified.
Shen Dong didn't seem to care about the stares he received. Instead, he asked directly, "Captain, who are these three? When I arrived, I overheard them receiving receipts from the young lady. I wonder how they do it?"
When Gu Zhengrong heard what Shen Dong meant, he almost blurted out, "What kind of brigade is yours? Are you a bandit group? You don't even talk about how to borrow, you just ask others to give it to you. Isn't this blatantly paying for your own sister?"
Captain Gu wasn't quite sure what was going on either, so he asked, "What exactly happened to you three?"
"Us, us"
"Let me speak, Captain," he said, seeing them stammering and unsure how to proceed.
"Then tell me, Li Zhiqing..."
"Okay," I recounted in detail how the three of them approached me, how they tried to "borrow" the receipts from me, and so on.
The three men standing to the side had only one thought: it's over, it's over. Now not only does the brigade leader know, but the brother of the man who claims to be Li the Educated Youth knows, and even the police chief knows. Looking at the other villagers standing nearby, they realized they were doomed. Not only did their brigade know, but probably everyone in the surrounding villages knew.
"Since you're so eager to borrow the receipts, fine, but if the three of you don't deliver 100 jin of medicinal herbs next year, you won't get any receipts."
"Of all the people in our brigade, you three are always causing trouble. You're either slacking off at work or complaining of feeling unwell. I think you're just bored. Since you're so idle, perfect, you three will each be punished by cleaning the pigsty for a month."
"Captain, it's us, it's us!"
"Then two months for each person."
"I..."
"Three months"
"We'll do it, we'll do it!" the three men said and ran off, making the villagers who were watching the spectacle laugh.
After finishing his business, Captain Gu Zhengrong said to Director Zhou and Shen Dong, "Why don't you two come in and have a seat at my place?"
"No, Captain Gu, I haven't seen my little sister in a long time and I'd like to have a good chat with her."
"Alright then!"
"You don't know Director Zhou?"
"Captain Gu, I won't go. It's getting late, and I need to get back to the county town as soon as possible."
"Okay! You're busy."
"I'll definitely come over for a visit another day when I have time."
"Sure, definitely, definitely."
"Mianmian, this is a New Year's gift your aunt prepared for you."
"Uncle Zhou, there's no need to trouble you, please take it back."
"No need! This was given to you by your aunt; you can't take it back."
"Alright then, I'll pack some mountain produce for you when we get back, we can eat it later."
"Maybe next time. I took leave to come here, so I need to get back quickly."
"Alright, Uncle Zhou, please thank your wife for me."
"We're family, no need to be so polite," he said before leaving.
"Brother, how did you and Uncle Zhou get here? Is Uncle Zhou going to walk back?"
"No, we crawled away sitting on the snow."
"Oh, that's good. If we walked back, who knows when we'd reach the county town."
"Who can argue with that?"
"Brother, let's go home."
"Then why don't you get your meat here?"
"No need, Comrade Shen, you and Mianmian should go back first. I'll take Mianmian's share back with me later," Chen Enpeng said.
"Who are you?"
"Brother, he and Chen Junjie were comrades who came to the countryside with us in the same batch, and they live next door."
"Thank you, Comrade Chen."
"You're welcome"
"Brother, why didn't you send a telegram before you came so I could pick you up?"
"I'm not a child, do you need to answer my call?"
Even if they're not children, we still have to pick them up; it'll help us see our older brother sooner.
"You!"
"Brother, how about I help you with your luggage?"
"No need, it won't sink."
"Why did you bring so much stuff? How much did it cost?"
"Don't even mention it, your older brother doesn't have that much money."
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