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Chapter 8: Pick a Der to Eat

The Taoist priest in the temple might not be at home today, otherwise he would have been squatting at the door chatting with everyone.

Xie Hushan looked around and found that Han Hongbing, Chen Daxi, and Ma Mengqi, his childhood friends, were not among the assembled members. It was obvious that after knowing that Ermianfei would arrange for them to collect manure today, they would rather skip work than do this dirty and tiring job.

"Laowu, do you want to pick some Der to eat?" After Xie Hushan waited for the person who was talking to Ma Laowu to leave, he slowly walked over and squatted in front of the steps. He raised his head and suddenly said something out of context to Ma Laowu who was sitting on the steps.

Ma Laowu had already seen Xie Hushan coming to the assembly, and was praising Hu Saner for being honest and proactive, not just saying it. Because he had deliberately leaked this matter to Han Hongbing in the morning, and knew that Han Hongbing would tell Xie Hushan in advance, he wanted to see if this boy had the courage to come to the assembly when he knew that the team wanted him to deal with manure. Unexpectedly, other young men did not dare to show up, but Xie Hushan came openly.

As a result, the unfortunate child squatted in front of him and suddenly blurted out these words, which made Ma Laowu helpless. He couldn't catch his breath and was almost choked to death by the smoke, and he coughed violently.

Pinch a Der and eat it. This is usually the way male elders in the village who favor boys over girls greet little boys who wear open-crotch pants or run around naked as a joke. After the elders say this, the children on the opposite side will usually pinch their own little birds and pretend to throw them into the elders' mouth.

This joke actually has no other meaning. It is mostly what elders deliberately shout to their children and grandchildren when there are many people around. It is mainly used to show off to everyone, "See, the child who ran away from our family is a boy who can carry on the family line and inherit the incense."

Good man, I have lived to a ripe old age and opened my eyes, but here at Xie Hushan, it's the other way around, asking the captain of the third production team to pinch a Der for a junior of his? What, I am forty years old, and I have to take off my pants on the spot to pinch one for him?
Go against Tiangang!

Ma Laowu raised his pipe and pretended to hit Xie Hushan on the head: "I'll catch you a bastard... cough cough cough... you bastard, you are still rebelling?... cough cough cough..."

"No, no, no, I'm just teasing you, Uncle Wu, I was wrong, I was wrong." Xie Hushan took two steps to the side, dodging the pipe that Ma Laowu, who was choking and blushing after being tricked by him, with a sly smile. He waited for the other party to calm down before continuing, "I heard that Uncle Wu was going to arrange for me to collect manure in the county?"

Ma Laowu took a long time to catch his breath and stared at Xie Hushan: "Didn't you tell Secretary Han yesterday that you should take the initiative to participate in the labor of the sideline group? At the meeting this morning, Secretary Han specifically told me to praise you like a flower. He should have seen the way you talked to the elders in your team just now and recognize your true colors. I have seen that you are a bully who only dares to make fun of your fifth uncle. If you have the guts, you can say to Han Laogou, 'Old dog, grab a Der to eat, do you think you can walk out of the brigade headquarters alive?'"

"No, with so many people in our team, do we have to assign me to collect manure?" Xie Hushan took out a Beidaihe cigarette with a filter and lit one for himself. After hesitating for a moment, he put the Beidaihe away and took out the labor card without a filter and gave one to Ma Laowu: "This team is obviously targeting me. No team in Silibazhuang has let young people take the lead to follow the car to collect manure."

Ma Laowu is actually not a bad person and has a good personality, otherwise the three teams would not have elected him as the captain. It is impossible to say that he is targeting Xie Hushan. Xie Hushan actually said that on purpose because he wanted to hear what Ma Laowu was thinking.

Sure enough, upon hearing Xie Hushan complain that he was targeting him, Ma Laowu didn't even take the cigarette Xie Hushan handed him, and explained on the spot: "Hu San'er, don't be ungrateful, I'm doing this for your own good. Secretary Han told me that you want to learn about side jobs, help the team with small businesses, and learn how to do business, but which of these side jobs in our team do you know? Can you make rice noodle wrappers in a rice noodle workshop? No way, can you make tofu in a tofu workshop? No way, can you set up a stall to sell wontons and sesame cakes at the market?"

"I know how to set up a stall, so why don't I set up a stall to sell wontons..." Xie Hushan's eyes lit up when he heard about setting up a stall to sell wontons. Apart from anything else, wontons contain meat, so whether they can be sold is not certain, but he can definitely satisfy his craving.

Ma Laowu revealed Xie Hushan's thoughts in one sentence: "You know nothing, you are going there to set up a stall? I don't know you yet, you must be going there to eat! How dare I let you go? You are so old that you can eat me to death. The wontons that the wonton stall makes are not enough for you to eat. You have to set up the stall at five in the morning and finish eating by half past five!"

Xie Hushan opened his mouth, but ultimately did not refute Ma Laowu's slander against him.

"But Secretary Han said that we can't discourage the enthusiasm of young members, especially those like you who are striving to make progress." Ma Laowu held his pipe, and the more he thought about Xie Hushan's words targeting him, the angrier he became, and the harsher his tone became:
"What should I do? I listened to him and assigned you work in the sideline group, saying it was voluntary labor that would not delay production. Is that possible? Can I really use you like an animal and not give you work points? But you do the work of the sideline group, and I give you work points. If other young members see this and want to do the same, what should I do? So, don't say it doesn't delay production. You are doing the work of the sideline group on a voluntary basis. If you want to do it, do the most difficult work at the moment. If you can collect the manure well this time, it will allow our team to spend less money and buy more and better manure, and let the young and old men in the third team praise you for having a head for business. I will give you part of the work of the sideline group, and everyone will be convinced. They won't stab me in the back and scold me for accepting your benefits. They won't point fingers at you behind your back and say that you used the back door to give gifts in exchange for an easy job."

"I have to let all the members of the team know that you, Hu Saner, want to learn to do a side job. I dare to let you be in charge of the side job, not because you got in through the back door, but because you have the ability! You have the ability! You are more promising than us who are blind with sorghum flowers on our heads. You should do this! But if you can't even bring yourself to collect manure, what business are you in? Just go and farm honestly!"

As he spoke the following words, Ma Laowu's voice became louder and louder, causing the members who were gathered in the distance to subconsciously come over here.

"Uncle Wu, calm down and have a cigarette." Xie Hushan handed the cigarette to Ma Laowu, lit it for the angry Ma Laowu, and said with a smile: "Uncle Wu, you are right to scold me. If you want to do it, you have to do the hardest job. There is nothing wrong with that. Calm down. There is no need to make yourself angry. Otherwise, I will give you a Der too, and we will be even. Come on, open your mouth..." "Get out of the way!" Ma Laowu was amused by Xie Hushan's last words. He took a puff of cigarette and scolded: "Then let's make a deal. If you are determined to do a side job, you will be responsible for this job of collecting manure. Don't worry about whether it is done well or not. If you dare to give up halfway..."

"That can't be possible. I am the leader of the militia platoon and the leader of the basic youth production assault team. How can I be a deserter? Isn't it just about spending less money and collecting more manure? The less money I spend, the more manure I collect, and the greater my contribution, right?" Xie Hushan asked, "But there is one thing. How to collect manure is up to me. Don't arrange the animals and carts in the team today. Let them do what they should do. In addition, the team can lend me two bicycles so that I can go to the city to check the market."

"If you go to the city every day to check the market, will our team have to wait for you every day? Besides, what do you think of the market for manure? There are two manure pits by the river in the county town. You pay the manure seller in the county health bureau and then listen to him and tell you how to load the manure. It all depends on whether you can handle things well. How can you make him stop giving us yellow manure soup?" Ma Laowu looked at Xie Hushan suspiciously:
"I'll even lend you two bicycles. What's the matter? Are you a donkey? Do you need four wheels wherever you go?"

"I can still go and check on the manure every day. It's not my wife, so why should I keep looking at it? Starting from today, I'll get this done in three days at most, okay? Don't worry about anything else. If the manure is not collected in three days, or it is collected at a high price, I will go to the supply team and will never let our team suffer any losses. But if I bring back cheap and high-quality farmyard manure, you have to keep your word and let me be responsible for part of the work of our team's sideline group in the future."

"That's right!" Ma Laowu agreed, and stood up from the steps. He looked around at the members of the third team who were almost all there, cleared his throat and shouted, "Before arranging today's work, let me tell you something. Hu Saner took the initiative to say that he would be responsible for the work of applying fertilizer and collecting manure in the team in summer. No matter how it is done in the end, at least the young members of our team are responsible and conscious, and they deserve encouragement!"

There was an uproar below, and several mature and steady farmers couldn't help but speak up: "Old Five, this is no joke. At Hu San'er's age, won't he be fooled to death by those dung scoopers selling dung in the county?"

"What can we say? If we really bring back a few truckloads of yellow manure soup, it will be our own land that will be ruined. How can we let Hu Saner follow us to learn a little bit of the trade and let him be responsible?"

"Listen to me, Hu Saner said that he will not let the team suffer any losses. If the manure is not collected properly and the team suffers losses, he will use his own money to make up for it." Ma Laowu added, "And he really wants to collect manure voluntarily. He wants to participate more in our team's sideline work, which is to do small business. He must try collecting manure. If he doesn't understand how to collect manure, he will have to do whatever he is supposed to do in the future."

"Ma Laowu, my nephew was just being vindictive, can't you tell?" A middle-aged man in the crowd crossed his arms and shouted coldly, "Hu San'er's words don't count. Find someone else in the manure collection team. I tell you, the Xie family is not without people. We can't let you bully the children."

Ma Laowu was so shocked by the other party's words that he didn't know what to say next. Xie Hushan quickly stood up and looked at the other party. That was Xie Qifeng, the second son of grandma and Xie Laoliu and Daxiu's second uncle. He rarely smiled at Xie Hushan. After all, his own mother always used the food she gave to take care of Xie Hushan, the grandson of the fourth room, which would make anyone feel uncomfortable.

Unexpectedly, when something happened, the first person who felt it was unfair and stood up to speak up for Xie Hushan was his second uncle.

"Second Uncle, I volunteered. I will definitely be able to collect it. It has nothing to do with Fifth Uncle! I really volunteered to collect the manure!" Xie Hushan hurriedly explained to the other party.

Seeing that Xie Hushan was actually going to collect manure, Xie Qifeng's face changed, but in the end he did not scold him in front of everyone. He just said with a straight face: "Okay, if you want to give it a try, go ahead, but it's the same, don't cause trouble, don't let your grandma worry about you!"

Seeing Xie Qifeng stop talking, Ma Laowu patted the dust off his butt and said, "Okay, since no one else wants to compete with Hu Saner for this job, Hu Saner will make all arrangements for collecting manure. Accountant Zhao, after the others go to work, go and help Hu Saner borrow two bicycles and let the livestock team continue to transport stones with other livestock teams in the brigade today."

He looked at Xie Hushan next to him and said, "Hu Saner, say a few words to everyone and show your determination."

"Ahem~" Xie Hushan stood up straight, looking at the eyes of the people in Team 3 looking at him, deliberately slowing down his speech, and said to Ma Laowu: "Comrades, to encourage me, let Laowu give me a..."

"Fuck your grandma!" This time, before Xie Hushan could finish his sentence, Ma Laowu had already reacted. While cursing, he kicked Xie Hushan off the stairs.

In the early morning sunshine, Xie Hushan's deliberately exaggerated and funny behavior made the members burst into laughter. A new day for the third production team of Zhongping Brigade began with these laughters.

(End of this chapter)