Rebirth in 1960, My Industrial Age

Chapter 16: On the way home
"Technician Zhou, you must accept these mountain products. I have really troubled you these past few days."

Bai Youtian from Hongqi Commune took a rabbit, a pheasant, and a string of wild mushrooms and tried hard to stuff them into Zhou Fengnian's hands, his face full of gratitude.

A man went to the countryside to carry out a project to support workers and farmers. He not only helped them repair all the agricultural machinery, but also repaired all the power lines in several nearby villages. He was so busy that he felt a little guilty.

Bai Youtian even heard some villagers discussing whether Technician Zhou was forced by Secretary Bai, otherwise why didn't he know to take a rest.

The villagers knew to take a break when they were tired from work, but Zhou Fengnian seemed to be never tired and worked harder than the person with the most work points in their village.

Bai Youtian felt very aggrieved when he heard this. He also advised Zhou Fengnian to take a rest, but Zhou Fengnian was unwilling to do so. It was not him as the secretary who forced him to do so. Besides, how could he dare to force the people in the city?

After Zhou Fengnian set out from Hongqi Commune, he went to two more communes and spent seven or eight days repairing all the agricultural machinery in those two communes. Then he returned to Hongqi Commune to replace parts for another tractor and repaired the faulty circuit in Hongqi Commune.

For more than ten days, Zhou Fengnian had not rested at all. He ran back and forth between the three communes, which made the secretaries of the three communes a little fed up with it. They all advised Zhou Fengnian to take a rest, but in vain.

This time it was Zhou Fengnian who completed the task. Bai Youtian was grateful, so he brought some mountain products and asked Zhou Fengnian to take them away no matter what.

Because he saw Zhou Fengnian bringing some pickles sent by other communes when he came back from the other two communes. Although Zhou Fengnian said that he exchanged them himself, Bai Youtian felt that their Hongqi Commune could not fall behind, so this happened.

It just so happened that a few hunters from the Hongqi Commune formed a hunting team, went into the mountains, and had a considerable harvest.

Otherwise, Bai Youtian wouldn’t be able to show it off.

"Secretary Bai, we really can't accept it. This is against discipline. How about this? I'll exchange the food coupons with you. This will count as material transfer, not speculation."

Seeing that he couldn't refuse, Zhou Fengnian took out his food coupons and said that he had not spent any of his subsidized food coupons and money during his trip to the countryside to help workers and peasants, so he had saved a lot.

If a group of people came, the commune would definitely not be able to provide them with food, and only public-to-public services would collect food coupons to provide meals; but only Zhou Fengnian came and helped them so much, which commune could not afford to provide them with a few meals?

So Zhou Fengnian still had more than ten kilograms of food coupons and more than ten yuan on him. He had already exchanged some things in the previous two communes.

Bai Youtian said quickly: "How can this be possible, Technician Zhou, you have helped us so much, if we don't show some appreciation."

"That's it, Secretary Bai. Actually, I've already made a profit. Although there is a pork ration in the city, each person gets very little. If you can exchange with me, I'll be lucky. I still have nine catties of food coupons. Let me exchange this pheasant and rabbit with you. I'll take advantage of you. What do you think, Secretary Bai?"

Bai Youtian saw that Zhou Fengnian had a very determined expression on his face and knew that exchanging food coupons was his bottom line, so he had no choice but to say, "Okay, let's do as you say, Technician Zhou."

After agreeing, Bai Youtian admired Zhou Fengnian even more. It was rare to find someone who didn't take advantage of them at all. The projectionist who came last time ate and took things with a look of disgust.

Bah, there's no comparison!

The rabbits and pheasants that Bai Youtian took were not big, weighing only about five pounds in total, and they were not pork. The rabbit had a lot of bones, so exchanging them for nine pounds of food coupons was a win-win for both parties. After all, Zhou Fengnian rarely saw meat in the city.

"Thank you, Secretary Bai. If nothing else, I'll leave first. We have to get to Sanshui Commune as soon as possible."

After Zhou Fengnian accepted the rabbit and pheasant, he planned to say goodbye and leave. He was accompanied by a militia who escorted him part of the way.

The mission was successfully completed, and he earned more than ten yuan and several kilograms of mountain products. Next, he planned to go back to Hongjia Village first, but he was not in a hurry to go back.

If Zhou Fengnian returns one day later, he can get one more day's subsidy. Before he leaves, Luo Cheng also tells him implicitly that he doesn't need to rush back. This is what the machinery factory owes him. If the subsidy is still withheld after sending him to the countryside, Zhou Fengnian will dare to complain to the factory director and secretary. Zhang Anhong, a deputy factory director, cannot cover up everything.

------

Hongjia Village

Ever since Zhou Fengnian returned home last time and brought a bunch of good things, his reputation in the village has changed dramatically.

Especially Zhou's father, who helped to establish a good reputation in the village, would give out cigarettes after work. While puffing on the cigarette happily, he would boast that it was brought back from the city by his third son, who could smoke it all day long and never finish it.

The villagers standing by were complimenting Zhou's father while secretly cursing him for showing off; he was just showing off because he couldn't finish the cigarette and even put it back into the box.

However, Zhou Fengnian's reputation in the village was much better, and the Zhou family also bought some new things. Even the eldest daughter-in-law and the second daughter-in-law of the Zhou family each got a new piece of clothing, and even the fifth child of the Zhou family was sent to school.

Only the third son of the Zhou family could make the Zhou family's life suddenly so good. Now the Hongjia Village does not use Zhou Fengnian as a negative example, but uses him as an inspiration to teach their own children.

After work in the afternoon, Zhou Weitian and Zhou Jiaan followed their father home.

"Dad, can you go back and cook some bacon? There's still some meat left from the third brother's meal."

Bang!
Before Zhou Weitian finished speaking, he was slapped by his father. Then he covered his head and saw Zhou Fugui angrily said: "Still eating meat, I think you are like bacon, can you eat that meat every day? Let's talk about it after the New Year."

"Wouldn't it get hairy if I left it there?"

Seeing Zhou Fugui was about to start fighting again, Zhou Weitian quickly picked up the weaving basket and ran back home. He felt that eating meat was fine, but working was harmful to the body, so how could he not eat some more?
After a while, Zhou Weitian suddenly came back and shouted to Zhou Fugui: "Dad, the third brother is back!"

"What? The third son is back?"

After hearing this, Zhou Fugui hurried over and turned a corner, and saw Zhou Fengnian standing in front of his house. When he saw them, he greeted them.

"Dad, second brother, I was wondering why my eldest brother ran away when he saw me. It turns out you were behind me."

Zhou Fugui stepped forward and asked, "San'er, why are you back? You've only been away for a few days."

"I was on a business trip to the countryside. I just came back from Hongqi Commune. I still have a lot of time left, so I went home to take a look."

Zhou Fengnian pushed the cart into the house while talking, then took the mountain products off the cart and continued, "Dad, let's eat this tonight. I exchanged mountain products with the people of Hongqi Commune. It's pheasant stewed with mountain mushrooms."

"Okay, this is good, Third Brother, I'll help you get it!"

Before Zhou Fugui could speak, Zhou Weitian nodded quickly and then couldn't wait to take the mountain products and other bags from Zhou Weitian, wishing he could throw the pheasant into the pot immediately.

Zhou Fugui clenched his fists. He wanted to teach this greedy boss a lesson again.

(End of this chapter)