Back to 1978

Chapter 135: I'm glad you're back

"Did someone come to you some time ago and ask if our brick factory could supply a large quantity of red bricks? They trusted the quality of our brick factory and were willing to pay a deposit to place an order for a large quantity, and wanted to have long-term cooperation in the future?" Xie Hushan said as he unzipped his backpack and searched for foreign goods inside.

Han Hongzhen thought about it and said to Xie Hushan in surprise:

"Someone actually came to us! I told him that the brick factory was short of coal and could only use firewood to make green bricks. He felt sorry for us and said that he trusted the quality of our brick factory... If it didn't work, he would help introduce us to some places where we could buy coal."

Xie Hushan took out a set of T-shirt, jeans and sneakers that he had matched for Han Hongzhen. He did not continue the topic, but handed the clothes to Han Hongzhen and said with a smile:

"Come on, try it on in front of me. I brought it back from Hong Kong Island."

Han Hongzhen didn't answer it, staring at Xie Hushan:
"Send it to Taozi, and send me some clothes."

"Der, I said it was a gift? What are you thinking? You have to pay! Do you think this clothing is labor protection? It's a gift~" Xie Hushan said to Han Hongzhen:

"Taozi, Ertao, Sanpang and the others are all in the bag."

"I don't have money and can't afford it. Put it away quickly." Han Hongzhen looked at the clothes in Xie Hushan's hand that seemed to be high-end in color and quality. In order to avoid being tempted, she simply turned her head away and stopped looking, saying.

Xie Hushan put the clothes on the table and said to Han Hongzhen, who refused to be bribed, with a smile:

"The money has been deducted a long time ago. When I borrowed the bicycle from Accountant Zhao before coming here, I told him that it would be deducted from your year-end bonus. If you don't want to wear it, you can sell it to other girls and wives in our team and let them give you the money at the end of the year."

"Oh, Accountant Zhao asked me to tell you that, based on last year's income, you still owe the team more than 40 yuan. Find a way to pay it back as soon as possible. Don't hold the team back and become a pauper."

Han Hongzhen glared at Xie Hushan angrily. What a good-for-nothing this man was. He went to get the subsidy while she worked so hard to look after the brick factory and also had to cook for those militiamen. Yet he didn't come back to praise or encourage her, at least to say thank you for your hard work.

This guy knows exactly what to say to make him mad, and he starts by telling himself that he deserves to be tired for so long. Not only that, he deserves it, but he also owes the team more than 40 yuan, so he should pay it back as soon as possible.

"Who told you to deduct my money? You did this without discussing it with me? I'm going to fight with Accountant Zhao when I get back?" Han Hongzhen said harsh words, but her hands had already reached out to take the clothes that Xie Hushan brought.

You have already paid for this yourself, so there is no need to feel embarrassed.

Han Hongzhen unfolded the T-shirt and looked at the pattern, and asked Xie Hushan:
"How much will be deducted?"

"Not much, deduct two hundred." Xie Hushan said in a low voice.

"How much?!" Han Hongzhen immediately folded up the clothes she had just opened, held them up with both hands, opened her eyes wide, and looked at Xie Hushan:
"Two hundred yuan for a piece of clothing, a pair of pants and a pair of shoes? Which girl in our team can get two hundred yuan a year? I can't sell it even if I want to, so take it away!"

This guy is taking advantage of me. There are no such expensive clothes in Bingyang County. If they are foreign goods from Hong Kong Island, they are so expensive. There is no way I can wear them out. If I wear clothes worth 200 yuan, won’t people be angry?
"I promise you can pay it back this year." Xie Hushan said with a smile:

"Don't be afraid. I'm not giving you gifts to win you over to have an affair with me. Besides, the clothes I brought for Taozi are much more than the ones you have."

"If you ask me, you guys are too shameless. You should all learn from Lao Yang. That pretty boy not only ate and took things from me, but his wife also took quite a bit of money. He never even considered giving me money."

"Besides, I told you that I only have a few pieces of clothing, and there's also this one." Xie Hushan said as he picked up a lady's watch and threw it on the table:
"There's still a women's bicycle that hasn't arrived yet. Even though it's second-hand, I'll only charge you two hundred yuan for all these things. Is that expensive?"

"Calculate carefully yourself. Did I charge you a dime more from the beginning to the end?"

After listening to Xie Hushan's words, Han Hongzhen stopped talking and lowered her head to continue touching her clothes.

After all, Xie Hushan was telling the truth. Not counting clothes and bicycles, a watch would cost at least two hundred yuan in the supply and marketing cooperative, and that was not even such a beautiful model.

Zhongping Supply and Marketing Cooperative only sells four types of timekeeping tools: a wall clock for 45 yuan, and a table clock for 36 yuan. These two types do not require indicators and are essential items that farmers can buy for their son’s new house when they have a good harvest or their children are getting married.

The remaining two types are watches, one is a Roman watch, which costs 195 yuan, and the other is a Plum brand watch, which costs 205 yuan. You need a quota to buy them. Moreover, they are the most expensive products sold by the supply and marketing cooperative, more expensive than bicycles, cameras, and sewing machines.

In the entire Zhongping Commune, there were few families who could afford to buy watches for their women. The few female comrades who wore watches either had someone in their family working in the commune and secretly obtained a quota, or had relatives in the county who helped them secretly buy second-hand watches from watch repair shops in the city.

"You said I sold you the clothes cheaply. Did I have any intention?" Xie Hushan said to Han Hongzhen:

"Yes, I told you. I told you to try it on. I'll be watching you."

Han Hongzhen rolled her eyes at Xie Hushan, who then laughed:
"The other day, someone came to the brick factory and wanted to buy a lot of bricks. He also took the initiative to help find coal, just like what I just did. What do you think his intention was?"

Han Hongzhen thought for a moment after hearing what Xie Hushan said:
"But you said, he gave us a deposit and introduced us to coal. Even if we really produce red bricks as he said, it doesn't seem like we will suffer any loss, right?"

"What if someone knows something we don't know, for example, he knows that the price of red bricks will definitely increase in the future, so he stocks up in advance? Of course, I'm just giving you an example, the price increase is unlikely." Xie Hushan said to Han Hongzhen:

"Just focus on making and selling green bricks. If the other party is determined to do it, they will definitely come again. Sooner or later, we will figure out what they are up to."

Seeing Han Hongzhen nod thoughtfully, Xie Hushan coughed: "Ahem!"

"What?" Han Hongzhen asked puzzledly.

Xie Hushan deliberately urged:
"Change it, I'm waiting to see it. I'm telling you, if you don't let me see it, I'll have Accountant Zhao calculate it for you at the original price. The money you owe to the production team for the famine can be deducted until you're through your 60th birthday."

"You're so unruly all day long!" Han Hongzhen rolled her eyes at Xie Hushan in anger.
"Go! Go check on the peaches!"

Clothes, watches, and a bicycle, and all I got in return was a young widow urging me to go look at peaches?
Was Taozi brainwashed?

When Xie Hushan walked out of the office, carrying his backpack and preparing to go to Taozi's house, the idle Dahei had already finished his work.

It very rudely left Erxi behind without even looking at him, and ran straight towards Xie Hushan, wagging its tail beside him, as if it wanted to go to Taozi's house with Xie Hushan for a free meal.

"Dahei, you are not just an ordinary scum." Xie Hushan patted Dahei's head:
"I will find you a wife in the future. It will be unfair to other good people. How come you treat your precious daughter like a worthless slut..."

At this time, a group of militiamen were laughing foolishly while holding the Hong Kong shirts and lighters that he and Han Laoer brought back for them. Although they were all brothers since childhood, their friendship was basically not mixed with material things and was rather simple and pure.

Of course, it was mainly due to poverty. They had almost nothing valuable to share since they were little. So when they suddenly received the lighters and T-shirts brought back by Xie Hushan and Han Hongbing, they felt very embarrassed.

Han Laoer was telling them that this thing was worthless in Hong Kong Island. People over there could buy a few second-hand sewing machines and a family could open a small factory to produce it.

The cheap T-shirt that they are holding so fondly at the moment only costs five dollars a piece in wholesale in Hong Kong, which is only worth one dollar and ten cents in RMB.

"Capitalism does have its advantages. The things here are fashionable and cheap. I wish I could go and see them one day." When Wu Shuanzi heard that the clothes were only sold for one yuan and ten cents, he said in an envious tone.

Overjoyed, although Ma Saner and several other militiamen did not openly praise capitalism like Wu Shuanzi was so shameless, they obviously agreed with what he said.

Han Hongbing was very dissatisfied with everyone's reaction and summarized his impression of Hong Kong Island to them:

"What a bullshit advantage! I tell you, the remnants of the Taoist sect over there are just like Huang Shiren. If someone owes them money, they will drag the wife of the debtor to a brothel and sell her for money! I saw it with my own eyes!"

"If you have money but don't care about your life, you are a local emperor. If you have no money and are afraid of death, you are just waiting to be bullied. This is capitalist society, and it has its advantages. If you, Wu Shuanzi, really go there, Chiang Kai-shek will be sent to open up wasteland in Nanwan!"

"I've seen through it all. It's the old society over there, with bandits, hooligans, and landlords enjoying great success. The public security bureau doesn't dare to intervene when they bully people. If ordinary people don't have the courage and ability, they won't be able to eat enough here, and they will starve over there too. If I really want to talk about the benefits, I'm not going against my will. There are indeed some benefits."

"What's the benefit?" Everyone asked Han Hongbing. Han Hongbing smiled and said, "Girls over there know how to dress up. As long as they don't get too mad, even the ugliest girls can look like fairies by drawing their eyebrows, putting on powder, and wearing a dress."

"Then why didn't you and Commander Xie bring one back, but just brought a dog for Dahei?" Ma Saner asked Han Hongbing.

Han Hongbing looked at Xie Hushan who was listening and laughed:
"Thank you, Commander. There are already peaches there. As for me, I'll take advantage of them and come back. I'll eat the sugar coating and return the shells to them."

"Yo yo yo~ We're getting an advantage. What advantage?" A group of people became interested.

Han Hongbing saw that everyone was intrigued by him, and acted exaggeratedly proud:

"What bargain can I tell you? I'll just say one thing, I've had some meat before, and you guys can figure out the rest slowly."

"Tell us! Tell us, let us broaden our horizons..." Several people hurriedly urged Han Hongbing not to lose his appetite and to tell them in detail about the meat.

Only Lao Meng suddenly stood up and looked at the people who were making trouble like they were idiots:
"What else are you talking about? I understand everything, but you don't understand yet."

Han Hongbing was a little confused by Lao Meng's words. He didn't say anything, but how did Lao Meng understand everything? He asked Lao Meng:

"Comrade Deputy Commander, what do you understand?"

"You also did the matter of pairing Dahei with a dog." Lao Meng looked at Han Hongbing and said in a positive tone:
"Commander Xie, didn't you just say that Dahei was eating foreign meat? So I figured that eating foreign meat means having sex with a dog."

Including Xie Hushan, everyone burst into laughter. Han Hongbing was so upset by Lao Meng's words that he wanted to cry but had no tears. He took a long breath to prevent himself from falling over. After catching his breath, he said to Lao Meng:

"Your analysis is pretty good, don't fucking analyze it next time!"

After Xie Hushan heard this, he deliberately smiled and shouted to everyone:
"So this is what it means to start eating meat! Brothers, did you understand what the deputy commander said?"

"Understood!" As soon as Xie Hushan opened his mouth, these guys knew what he was going to do and immediately responded loudly.

Xie Hushan asked again: "Then tell me, what did Chief of Staff Han do in Hong Kong Island!"

"Chief of Staff Han is having a dog mating in Hong Kong Island!" a bunch of wicked bad guys shouted at the top of their lungs.

This caused the workers in the distance to look towards Han Hongbing, wanting to see who was so brave and courageous as to do such an inhuman thing.

Han Hongbing was so angry that he beat those guys one by one.

Amid the laughter of the crowd, Xie Hushan walked towards Yakou Village with a smile on his face, but in fact he was thinking:
A shabby brick factory in the countryside can't even produce red bricks and can only produce green bricks which are more expensive. What is there to be exploited about it?
There have been some small changes in Taozi's family. A pile of green bricks has been stacked next to the yard. Although they are all defective products or half bricks, they were picked up by Jin Mancang. If the people working in the brick factory in Yakou find defective products, they will not waste them. After asking Han Hongzhen, they will take the defective products back to their homes.

Jin Mancang saved these bricks so that when the number was almost enough, he could build a spacious blue brick wing in the courtyard for Xie Hushan to live in, so that this son-in-law would not have to sleep in the low mud house like them.

When Xie Hushan pushed open the gate, Er Tao'er was helping Taozi, who was setting up a stall, clean the pig's offal in her yard. When she heard the door open, she looked up and saw Dahei and Xie Hushan appear at the door. She immediately smiled:

"Third brother! Why are you here?"

Without waiting for Xie Hushan's response, he hurriedly threw the half-washed drain water back into the basin and ran out in a flash.

As soon as he walked out of the hospital gate, at least a mile away from the peach stall, he started shouting loudly: "Sister, Third Brother is back!"

Judging from Ertao's attitude, he was not trying to inform Taozi that he was back. He was clearly trying to inform the members at Yakou to keep an eye on the female members, because the big gangster Xie Hushan was back.

This personality is nothing like her sister's calm and steady personality.

Dahei circled around the pig and looked at Xie Hushan from time to time. Xie Hushan walked towards the main hall and said to Dahei:
"How dare you eat it? Wait, I'll give you a piece when the peach is cooked."

The east room where he lived was kept clean and tidy. It seemed that Taozi and Ertao had not moved in during the time he was away, and the room still remained the same as it was before he left.

After putting down his backpack and sitting on the edge of the kang for just two minutes, his future mother-in-law, Li Qiaozhi, came running back from the yard with a bunch of wild vegetables. She placed the vegetables next to the stove in the main room and came in to greet Xie Hushan:

"When did Hu San come back? Did your business trip go well?"

Xie Hushan smiled and said to Li Qiaozhi: "It went smoothly. We have finished all the work and the subsidies have been paid out."

As she was talking, she wanted to stand up, and Li Qiaozhi immediately said:
"Just sit down, don't get up. I'll go get you some water. You must be exhausted from riding all the way from Zhongping. Go to bed and have a good rest."

After saying that, he quickly went to the main room to boil water, and his mouth was not idle:

"I was digging wild vegetables and didn't know about it. But then your aunt Jiang, who was digging with me, told me that she seemed to hear Er Tao'er calling Taozi all over the village, saying that her third brother was back. I hurried back as soon as I heard it."

"Just wait and see. Taozi and the others will have to run back soon."

"Aunt, is there enough food at home in the spring?" Xie Hushan walked to the door, looked at the handful of wild vegetables next to the pot, and asked.

Among the wild vegetables that Li Qiaozhi dug at this time, there were several that the people of Zhongping no longer dug for human consumption. They were very bitter and not tasty, and were usually chopped up after being dug up to feed chickens and ducks.

But looking at the cliff mouth, it is obvious that people are preparing to eat it themselves.

Li Qiaozhi added water to the pot and started to light the fire, saying:

"Enough. This spring we even have less sweet potatoes than in previous years. We've eaten a lot of steamed bread. In previous years, at this time, the children would have been vomiting acid. To be honest, this spring we have enough to eat at home, and we have to thank grandma for that."

This is what Li Qiaozhi really thinks. The person who was most satisfied with this marriage to her might not be Xie Hushan, but Xie Hushan's grandmother, because the old lady gave a sewing machine to her family when she was engaged. What she gave was not just a sewing machine, but a way to make a living. When the members of the nearby commune wanted to get some cloth and knew that her family had a sewing machine, they would come to her for help in making clothes.

Although it is difficult to collect money for this kind of thing, no one would come empty-handed. They would bring three or five eggs, or a liter of grain. If they saved up a batch of eggs, they could exchange them for money at the market, and if they saved up the grain until spring, they could fill their family's stomachs.

Every now and then, laborers from Xishan would ask her to help patch clothes or something like that, and she would pay her 3.2 cents of hard-earned money. Her life was much better than before.

When Xie Hushan was chatting with Li Qiaozhi, they saw a cart loaded with stall supplies being pulled by sisters Taozi and Ertao, and Sanpang and Laosi Biaozi pushing it from the back, walking in from outside the courtyard gate.

Xie Hushan walked over to help park the car, then looked at Taozi and said with a smile:

"Taozi, you don't know how many temptations I have resisted just to come back and eat the food you cook."

Taozi wiped the sweat off her face with her sleeve and looked at Xie Hushan with a smile in her eyes:

"Glad you're back. What do you want to eat? I'll make it for you."

At the moment when the two looked at each other, Sanpang was very blind and wanted to come over to greet Xie Hushan warmly, but before Taozi could say anything, Ertaoer kicked him in the butt, almost kicking the child to death:
"My sister is talking to my third brother, why are you coming over here? Get out!"

While Li Qiaozhi was adding firewood to the stove, she continued:

"Let's go to the brick factory. It's far away so as not to bother your sister and Hu San!"

(End of this chapter)