Li Shulan was so shocked that she almost steered her bicycle straight into the field.
Good heavens!
Five hundred yuan!
That was enough to buy a job in the county town with a monthly salary of twenty yuan!
And a house in the county, too.
An County wasn’t exactly prosperous, but it was still a county—not a village, not even a small town!
And now she, Li Shulan, suddenly owned a whole house in the county?
She couldn’t control her excitement. She stopped the bicycle at once, then pretended to casually pull out a house ownership certificate from her bundle. It had the address and the size of the house written on it—she couldn’t read most of it, but she could definitely recognize the three characters of her own name: Li Shulan.
She really had a house in the county!
Following the system’s prompt, she had it read her the address on the certificate.
She had visited the county a few times in her previous life and knew a bit about the area.
The house was just over a hundred meters from the county hospital!
Didn’t that mean that when her eldest daughter-in-law gave birth in the future, she could bring her to stay in the county ahead of time?Then when labor started, she could go straight to the hospital—no more danger of giving birth in the village!
Li Shulan’s smile reached all the way to her ears.
This reward was amazing.This system was incredible!
Meanwhile, at the brigade leader’s house—
When Li Shulan came to borrow the bicycle, the brigade leader’s family was still eating breakfast.
Seeing Li Shulan’s departing figure, Qin Qin felt irritated.
She stirred her cornbread porridge with her chopsticks without drinking it.
Her mother, Xia Chunhua, also knew about her youngest daughter secretly dating Educated Youth Yang.
With all the rumors lately, she understood what was troubling the girl.
At first, she didn’t take it seriously—after all, she didn’t think much of Yang Weiming. He looked proper enough and wasn’t short, but he was useless at farm work. What good was a man like that?
But then she remembered what Li Shulan had said a few days ago.
She nudged her husband.
“I heard the higher-ups have started recruiting Worker-Peasant-Soldier University students these past two years. Has anyone from our commune been sent?”
At this, the pregnant woman at the table suddenly looked up.
Qin Daniao took a sip of his porridge before answering, “Why are you asking about that? Our brigade doesn’t have any available spots this year.”
“Tsk.” Xia Chunhua glared at him. “Just answer me. Why do you care what I’m asking for? Are there any or not?”
Qin Daniao shook his head. “Not in our commune. But the neighboring commune sent two last year—one was an educated youth who went down in ’68, and the other was some labor model from one of their teams.”
Xia Chunhua immediately pressed further.“Did that educated youth get his household registration moved back to the city? And what about job assignment after graduation?”
Qin Daniao smacked his lips. “Probably moved back. Even though they say ‘where you come from is where you go,’ once you get into university, your family can get documents issued and transfer your hukou back. Job assignment would follow the household registration. I’m not too sure about the details. Why are you even asking all this?”
Instead of answering, she switched topics.
“Did you know? Two days ago, Li Shulan made up the bride price for both her daughters-in-law and even bought a sewing machine.”
“You told me that the other night.” Qin Daniao looked confusedly at his wife. “But I really didn’t expect it. If there was anyone in the village who used to look down on female educated youths the most, Li Shulan would’ve been second—and no one dared claim first! Yet once she married them in, she treats them like precious treasures. Strange!”
“What’s strange about that? That woman is sharp!She used to scold those female educated youths because she was afraid they’d set their sights on her two sons. And those so-called city girls—please. Many of them had worse living conditions than us villagers. Ten-plus people squeezed into thirty or forty square meters, never enough food or space. ‘City people’ was the only nice thing about them. If one of those girls managed to latch onto her sons, wouldn’t she be furious? Of course she had to act fierce, so her boys wouldn’t come home on leave and get seduced by those vixens.”
Hearing this, Xu Hui tightened her grip on her chopsticks, feeling uncomfortable.
After all, the one she had originally wanted to marry was indeed Li Shulan’s eldest son…But—
Xia Chunhua continued, rolling her eyes at her third daughter-in-law.
“But those earlier educated youths can’t compare to Meng Yue and Su Xiao!Both prettier than the other, high school graduates, and their families had good conditions. So what if their parents were sent down? Their family assets were still passed to the daughters. In their first month here they exchanged eggs, meat—how poor could they be? Getting two wealthy and educated daughters-in-law—it’s no wonder she treasures them.”
Back when Meng Yue and Su Xiao first arrived, everyone had been envious.Even she herself had been tempted—her youngest son was old enough to marry, too.
Who could’ve expected that before even a month passed, Li Shulan’s two sons would pick up two treasures?
“Anyway, that’s not the point.” Xia Chunhua continued. “My point is: buying that sewing machine wasn’t just about the bride price.”
Who makes up bride price half a month after the wedding?
Qin Daniao finally realized something.“That’s right. She already has a sewing machine herself. Why buy another unless she’s burning money?”
Xia Chunhua said, “Her younger daughter-in-law is now a teacher at the brigade elementary school. But the elder daughter-in-law still doesn’t have a job. They can’t have one teaching while the other works the fields. How would her eldest son feel? For fairness alone, she has to find something easy for the elder one too.”
Qin Daniao wasn’t stupid.“Yesterday, when she was fighting with Old Lady Niu, I heard her mention her elder daughter-in-law can embroider.So she wants to put her into the sewing team?”
“Of course. Why else buy two sewing machines? You think she has money to burn?”
At this, Qin Qin’s eyes lit up instantly.
Move Meng Yue into the sewing group?Yes—why hadn’t she thought of that!
She couldn’t offend Meng Yue—Li Shulan would remember.She also couldn’t force Yang Weiming to stop talking to Meng Yue—he’d think she was unreasonable.But if she transferred Meng Yue to a light, indoor job, wouldn’t that solve everything?
No conflict with Aunt Lan,no more chances for Yang Weiming to approach her.
The more she thought about it, the brighter her eyes became.
Finally, she blurted:
“Dad, transfer Meng Yue to the sewing group!”
She then hurried into the room and brought out a handkerchief.
“Look—this is what Meng Yue gave me yesterday. She embroidered the rabbit and the flowers herself. Her skill is very good.”
Her praise wasn’t exaggerated. The chubby rabbit embroidered in the corner was adorable, and the little chrysanthemums on the edges were delicate.
Xia Chunhua nodded in approval.“It really is good.”
She turned to her husband.“Since she already has a job as a teacher, why not go all the way and give her a sewing-group position too? It’s no big deal.”
Xu Hui, who had been listening, finally couldn’t hold back.
“Mom, I also want to join the sewing group.I learned some tailoring from Grandma before, and now that I’m seven months pregnant, I really shouldn’t be working in the fields…”