Old Mrs. Song is reborn; get out of here, you scumbag husband and illegitimate child!

"We're all from the same village, you can't even joke around with us. You've made so much money and you're still so angry."

The Party Secretary, with a cigarette between his fingers, pointed at the man's nose and said, "Why did you provoke Song Xianglan? Seize the opportunity to have her go find Yang Dashan."

The dead man, lying in the coffin, couldn't run away and could only resign himself to being splattered with excrement and urination and cursed.

"You have a grudge against Yang Dashan, and you're deliberately giving Song Xianglan a chance to get revenge? You're messing with a menopausal woman; you're like an old woman jumping into a river because she's tired of living."

A burst of laughter erupted from the crowd.

Several men were trying to suppress their laughter, their shoulders shaking.

Song Xianglan rolled up her sleeves. "Who are you calling a menopausal woman?"

The Party Secretary quickly took a drag of his cigarette and turned to look at the account book. "I said Chunhua's been acting like she's gone through menopause lately, like she's eaten Mars. She keeps giving me the cold shoulder and refusing to cook for me."

Song Xianglan rolled her eyes.

"Serves you right."

Her gaze swept across the crowd and landed on Yang Jianjun, who was standing on the periphery with his head down.

Yang Jianjun hunched his shoulders, wishing he could bury his head in his crotch. He didn't have the money to contract farmland, so he wanted to see how much land Song Xianglan had contracted.

Song Xianglan looked away with a face full of disgust.

Wang Cong's family squeezed into the crowd. Zhang Mahua walked at the front; he was burly, with deep lines of fat marks on his arms.

The flesh on his face jiggled as he walked.

Song Xianglan felt that she had gained weight again.

Wang Cong, Mei Fang, and Zhang Yujuan, whose complexion had improved slightly after a year of recuperation, all huddled behind Zhang Mahua.

Zhang Yujuan's lips moved swiftly.

He mumbled something to himself and stopped coughing altogether.

Wang Dahai didn't divorce Zhang Mahua; instead, he went to work on a ship.

Zhang Mahua has completely let loose now. She controls all the money in the house, and anyone who dares to disobey her will be beaten. She's managed to turn those three troublesome kids, Wang Cong, into meek little quails.

Zhang Mahua squeezed to the front of the desk, staring at the hand-drawn village map on it.

Seeing that Song Xianglan had taken over all the wasteland, barren mountains and beaches in one go, she was also envious.

He pointed a short, thick, dark finger at the north side of the map and asked, "How much is this area along the coastline near Tangjiazhuang, that wasteland?"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Yujuan quickly crawled out from behind Zhang Mahua.

"That wasteland is all rocks and sand. What can it be used for? At most, you can grow some sweet potatoes if you clear it up. Not even a single vegetable can survive."

It would be better to save the money to lease paddy fields, grow enough grain to feed the family with white rice, and sell any surplus rice for money.

Wang Cong nodded in agreement.

"Spend money to buy a windy spot, and all you get is sea breeze and waves, and the wind will blow your way to nowhere. Paddy fields are much more practical; we can grow three rice crops a year here."

Mei Fang also tugged at Zhang Mahua's sleeve.

"Mom, we have a lot of people in our family, and you have a big appetite. If there are fewer paddy fields, we'll all starve."

Mei Fang could see clearly just now that Song Xianglan not only contracted wasteland, but also contracted more than ten acres of good paddy fields.

She leaned close to Zhang Mahua's ear and said, "Song slaughtered pigs and bought up the wasteland to build a processing workshop and warehouse. He has ten acres of paddy fields as a safety net. Our family doesn't have that kind of financial strength."

After being lectured by the three men, Zhang Mahua began to have some doubts.

She turned and stared blankly at Song Xianglan: "Sister Song, you're very clever. Which one do you think is more profitable for me to contract?"

Song Xianglan didn't even lift her eyelids.

In twenty years, that barren land in Tangjiazhuang will be known as the most beautiful coastline corner, an excellent location for building a resort hotel.

But what right does she have to tell these people?

"You decide for yourself." Song Xianglan zipped up the canvas bag. "Nobody can see in the back of their head. Just pay for whichever part you want to buy, and don't regret it once you've paid."

Wang Cong continued to chatter on about the benefits of paddy fields.

Zhang Mahua gritted his teeth, pulled a cloth bag from his waistband, and slammed it on the table.

"I'll do as you say. I'll take over the paddy fields."

The team leader crossed out a paddy field marker on the map, and the accountant collected the money.

Most villagers will grit their teeth and contract the paddy fields again; everyone has a clear understanding of the costs and benefits.

Rice grown three times a year can feed the whole family and leave some surplus.

Almost 95% of the villagers contract some paddy fields.

In the end, no one wanted the five acres of wasteland near Tangjiazhuang.

It's a small place, and it's right next to Tangjiazhuang.

The people of Tangjiazhuang were notoriously belligerent, and they would fight over territory every few days. Nobody wanted to get involved in their troubles.

The captain tapped the table and looked at Song Xianglan:

"Old Song, all that's left is this five or six mu of wasteland next to Tangjiazhuang. I'll give you the lowest price possible, do you want it?"

Song Xianglan made a mental calculation.

This is a prime piece of meat; others treat it like trash, but she treats it like a treasure.

"Alright." Song Xianglan reopened the canvas bag. "We must obey the brigade leader's orders. Mark that piece of land for me as well."

Shen Huijun squeezed through the crowd from the side and pulled out a wad of cash from her pocket.

"Mom, we brought money too. If you don't have enough, we have some here."

"That's enough, that's enough." Song Xianglan said that was enough, but still took the money from Shen Huijun's hand and gave it to the accountant.

I pressed my fingerprint and took the contract.

Song Xianglan felt a sense of relief.

In addition to the allocated ration fields, responsibility fields, and private plots.

She now holds two hilltops, one large and one small, a 15-mu wasteland, a 5.6-mu coastal wasteland, a large beach, and 10 mu of good paddy fields.

Definitely the first household in the village.

Wang Zhihe, Liu Yukun, and several others paid for the land they had contracted.

They paid again and received the new land use permit for their homestead.

Seeing them making purchases, Song Xianglan's mind started to wander as well.

If you don't buy that large vacant lot behind your house now, you won't be able to buy it later when policies tighten.

Her yard is quite big.

But these days, who complains about having too much land?

She leaned closer to the table. "Team leader, the five or six fen of land behind my house has been designated as residential land. Let's calculate how much it will cost."

The accountant stared wide-eyed, the abacus beads clicking loudly, and smacked her lips as she looked up:

"Old Song, you've spent tens of thousands today. Your old house and new house are connected, the yard is big enough for a horse to run in, and the vegetable garden is big enough to eat. Isn't that enough trouble?"

"My family has two children, Xiangdong." Song Xianglan's hand didn't tremble at all as she took out the money.

"If Tingting becomes successful in the future, she might want to find a son-in-law to live with her family. Even if she doesn't, we still need to prepare a house for her. While we have some spare money, we should quickly acquire more land."

"In the future, two Western-style buildings will be built in the courtyard, one for each of the siblings. I will live in the house I have now."

The Party Secretary exhaled a smoke ring and glanced at the old Party Secretary and the Brigade Leader.

"Buy it if you have the money. A few of us are encouraging everyone to buy homestead land. The policy is good now, but this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Who knows, getting homestead land in the future might be as difficult as climbing to the sky."

The old Party Secretary nodded emphatically.

A few days ago, Song Xianglan had Chunxia pass on a message, urging her close relatives to quickly finalize the land allocation for their homesteads.

This will prevent future generations from fighting tooth and nail over houses and land boundaries.

The old Party Secretary called together his sons, and each family bought something for their grandchildren.

Brothers who didn't have enough money pooled their resources together, and he even used his own savings for his coffin to help out.

Chunxia poured all her savings into it. Nie Xiaochuan even said that if it wasn't enough, he would lend them the money he had.

Chunxia was so moved that she wiped away tears several times. Zhang Qin also decided to prepare a set for Yang Xiaoye and Yang Xiaozhi, the two siblings.

The two brothers, Da Mu and Da Mu, stood on the periphery, clutching the land allocation slips they had received, watching enviously as others bought homesteads.

Their original house had long been occupied by their uncles and aunts.

Grandparents are still alive and haven't separated the family property, yet they insist that the two brothers, Da Mu and his brother, have jobs and that their deceased father has no share of the house.

Song Xianglan: "I'll allocate a plot of land for Da Mu and the mute to each of them, adjacent to each other, and I'll pay for it."

The two brothers, Da Mu and Da Mu, squeezed in, their eyes reddening, and they were about to kneel down with a thud.

The mute man gestured wildly, babbling in a language no one could understand.

Song Xianglan grabbed their arms and said, "A man's knees are worth more than gold. Take the land you've been allocated and work hard to make a living for yourselves."

The sun was gradually setting in the west.

The sunset turned half the sky blood red.

It also makes people's blood hot from the sun.

The brigade headquarters has been packed with villagers since 1 p.m.

The weather was sweltering, and even a broken palm-leaf fan couldn't dispel the stench of rancidity and sweat.

The smell of cheap cigarettes wafted straight into people's nostrils.

The fumes made people's heads buzz.

Song Xianglan tugged at her short-sleeved shirt, which was sticking to her body, and was about to call her family to go home.

A sharp shout of cursing came from the main road outside the village, followed by the muffled sound of things being smashed.

The sound grew louder and louder as it traveled on the wind.

It drowned out the noise in the brigade headquarters.

Chunxia came running from the road, covered in sweat, waving her hands as she ran and shouting at the top of her lungs, "They're arguing! They're fighting!"

The crowd parted to make way.

Chunxia rushed to the table, leaning on her knees and panting heavily. "The Lin family is fighting. Lin Yanni came back to divide the land. Her brother and sister-in-law want her to hand over the land for them to farm."

Some people in the village muttered:

"Lin Yanni accepted a high dowry and married Gong the Cripple who had polio in the city."

She had three children, and their household registrations were all kept in our village.

When she returned, she was allocated land and also contracted five acres of wasteland. Her brother and sister-in-law hadn't contracted any wasteland before and hadn't objected, but after she paid, they started making a fuss.

Chunxia slapped her thigh: "Her brother and sister-in-law said some really nasty things. They said that other families' married daughters didn't transfer their household registration, but they voluntarily left their land at their parents' home for their brothers to cultivate."

Lin Yanni, on the other hand, clung to the land, insisting on farming it herself. People accused her of leeching off her family.

Several old men who were watching the commotion chimed in:

"She can't possibly grow her own food. She married into a family in the city who gets government-subsidized grain rations, and she still dares to bring her whole family back to her parents' home to beg for money."

They wanted nothing more than to scrape the bottom of Lin Laowu's pot clean and take it back to the Gong family. Now they're coming back to seize land; do you think the Lin family can swallow this insult?

The shouts and curses from the other end of the road suddenly rose in volume.

It was accompanied by the woman's piercing screams and the child's cries.

Shen Huijun rolled up her sleeves. "Mom, shall we go take a look?"

Song Xianglan slung her canvas bag over her shoulder and strode towards the direction from which the voice came: "Let's go. Let's see how Lin Yanni deals with her bloodsucking family."