Rebirth in 1972: Redemption in Changbai Mountain

After leaving Wang Shouye's house, Zhou Rui turned back to the town's supply and marketing cooperative. He hadn't shaken his bad habit of spending money he earned, always bringing things home with him.

Back in the village, while still on the way, I heard people say that the village was going to distribute grain the next day.

"We've waited so long, and finally the food is being distributed! My family is waiting for the wedding; how can we manage without food? We can't even hold the banquet!"

"Won't it take this long? There are so many people's work points; Accountant Zhou and the others need to calculate them carefully."

"There are quite a lot of weddings in the village this year."

"That's right. This year has been uneventful, with no major disasters or disasters, and we even cleared dozens of acres of wasteland, so it's a good year. With food at home, why not get married now?"

"This year is good. We have a new kid named Ruiwa who knows how to hunt. During the busy farming season, we get to eat more meat, and we have more energy to work."

"Didn't the Zhou Jiutian family suffer a loss? They let such a golden child escape."

"They brought it on themselves. Other people's grandchildren are usually pampered, but in their case, they turned their own grandchild into an enemy."

"Shh...don't say anything. Zhou Jiutian's eldest daughter-in-law is over there."

"What's the big deal? I'd say it to her face too. Can't I say it just because I dare to do it?" Although the aunt was stubborn, her voice was much softer. Everyone knew that Zhou's eldest daughter-in-law was a troublemaker, always making a fuss over nothing.

At this moment, Zhou Rui was already sitting in Zhao Youzhi's house, talking to Zhao Youzhi about the Xiangyang Forest Farm recruiting temporary workers.

"The forest farm really gave our village twenty spots?" Zhao Youzhi was a little surprised when he heard the news. In previous years, there were at most ten spots, and when things were busy, they would increase to twelve, but no more than that. He didn't expect there to be twenty spots this year.

Zhao Youzhi, as the village head, wasn't particularly capable, but he was truly dedicated to the villagers. In the past, after the villagers received their grain for the winter, the men would often gamble and cause disturbances at home.

This time there are ten more spots available, and fewer people who are idle at home. Plus, they can earn more money.

"It's true, I confirmed it with Director Zhang. He's now the deputy director of Xiangyang Forest Farm, so his word carries weight." Zhou Rui patted his chest to assure him. This was a spot he had fought for, so how could it not be true?

"Alright, I know you're eager to go home. We'll start distributing the grain tomorrow morning, and I'll let everyone know then. Ruiwa, thank you on behalf of the villagers." Zhao Youzhi patted Zhou Rui on the shoulder.

He knew that Zhou Rui had spoken up for them; otherwise, why would Zhang Zhenbei have given their village ten more temporary worker slots?

When Zhou Rui got home, he took out canned food and snacks from his bag as usual. Although An'an and Pingwa had seen this scene several times before, they were still very happy.

None of them had ever been to town before and didn't know what it looked like. Zhou Ping might have been there, but he didn't remember much about his childhood. So every time Zhou Rui came back from town with something, Zhou Ping would pester him with questions.

Zhou Rui also brought large meat buns from the state-run restaurant, which An'an and Zhou Ping ate with gusto, their mouths greasy. They didn't want to eat anything; the buns alone were enough to fill them up.

Even the small rice cakes, Zhou Rui tore into tiny pieces for her to eat by nibbling.

Nothing happened that night, and early the next morning, a large group of people gathered at the village office. They chatted in groups of three or five, or seven or eight, without showing any impatience.

This year the weather has been favorable, resulting in a good harvest. New land has been cleared and crops have also grown. Compared to last year, the harvest will be significantly larger, making life much easier.

Everyone is dreaming of buying more fabric before the New Year to make more new clothes for their families, and whether they can eat more dumplings during the holiday. They're also hoping that by pooling their resources, they can get their son a wife, or that by working harder next year, they can renovate their old house.

clang... clang... clang...

The old village chief struck the broken iron plate he used for work.

"Alright, quiet down. It's freezing cold, let's finish this quickly and go home." Zhao Youzhi said loudly, his hands behind his back. "Now, Comrade Zhou Shumin, the brigade accountant, will explain the specific details of the village's income and expenditure this year."

Zhou Shumin, holding an account book, cleared his throat before saying, "This year there was no drought or disaster, and with the addition of more than 50 mu of land, the village now has a total of 1462 mu of land. After the harvest, the brigade calculated that the total yield, including soybeans, corn, wheat, rice, sweet potatoes, etc., was more than 326,400 jin."

"A total of 39,168 jin of grain were delivered to the public treasury, and 32,600 jin of grain were kept as reserves. 58,752 jin of grain were purchased through the unified purchase system. The money from selling this portion will be calculated together with the money from selling fish from the village's fishponds at the end of the year."

"The grain ration is 195,840 catties. Based on a 7:3 ratio of labor to work, each person gets 267 catties and 7 liang. The total work points for the whole village for the year are 123,416 points, which translates to 4 liang and 7 qian of grain per work point."

"When you collect your food later, make sure you check your work points carefully so you don't make a mistake."

As soon as Zhou Shumin finished speaking, the room erupted in excitement as everyone began calculating how much grain they would receive.

"Two hundred and sixty-seven jin per head, not bad. If you add work points, it's more than three hundred jin."

"You're right, but unfortunately some people are lazy and don't get many work points. They don't even know if they can get 300 jin (150 kg)."

"Indeed. If you ask me, we should teach these lazybones a lesson. We should calculate their wages based on the five-fold labor and five-fold labor, and see what they eat then."

"That's impossible. If we did that, wouldn't those people living on welfare and the families of martyrs starve to death? At least we should guarantee their food rations. But this policy has definitely benefited those lazybones."

"You see things very clearly. Your family must have earned a lot of grain this year, right? Five strong laborers, plus a few teenagers, that's at least 10,000 work points, which should be at least 5,000 catties of grain."

"It's no use having more; the grain isn't fetching a good price. Even if we sell it all to the grain station, it'll only bring in three or four hundred yuan. My third son is getting married this year, and the kids need to go to school—it all costs money! Sigh..."

Clang... Zhao Youzhi directly tapped the iron plate with his tobacco pipe.

"Alright, everyone line up and collect your grain according to your production group's line. Listen to me while you line up."

"This year has been good, and we'll continue reclaiming land next year. So, our brigade headquarters has decided to go to the market in Hongxing Town tomorrow to buy a cow. That way, we can cultivate more land and harvest more grain next year."

"That's good. Buying a cow is a good thing. It will make people less tired, and we can plow more land."

"But this is collective money. If we spend it, won't we get less money at the end of the year?"

"You're so short-sighted. This ox is the village's most valuable asset. We're spending this money to earn even more."

Zhou Rui, listening below, slapped his forehead. Oh right, the Hongxing Town market day! He'd almost forgotten. Zhou Rui had made plans to go buy antiques and gold; he'd almost missed it.

I'll go with the village chief and the others tomorrow, and we can borrow the village's oxcart to transport meat and grain.