Man Hua also laughed along. “That’s right, a reward. I remember the team had some extra Cloth Coupons. Oh, right, and some county-level grain coupons and oil coupons. Our village cadres rarely go to the city on business, so they’ll expire if we just let them sit around.”
The Old Branch Secretary nodded. “These rewards… I’ll discuss it with the other cadres in the team!”
Upon hearing this, Ning Yuan’s eyes lit up with joy. “Thank you, Old Branch Secretary! Thank you, Sister Manhua!”
Hearing the Old Branch Secretary and Man Hua change their address for her from “Ning Zhiqing” to “Xiao Ning,” she knew they had truly started to see her as one of their own and as a friend.
Although the villagers didn’t use things like grain coupons or oil coupons, they did need Cloth Coupons. Besides, the grain each household in the village had was barely enough to fill their stomachs.
To put it plainly, those county-level grain and oil coupons were the village’s way of subsidizing her food rations.
And right now, she was desperately short on coupons!
Ning Yuan was overjoyed.
…
When the news spread, the entire village was in an uproar.
Ning Yuan also received twenty-two catties of grain coupons, twelve feet of Cloth Coupons, and five catties of oil coupons. There was even one catty of Dessert Coupons. She was absolutely ecstatic.
With these, it would be much more convenient to buy things when she went to the city.
She carefully put the coupons away and led the way up the mountain.
Hua Zi found his older brother, Hei Zi, and led a group of strong young laborers from the village to follow Ning Yuan up the mountain, carrying the wild boars down one by one.
Seeing that all the boars had fatal injuries, they were all astonished, but they didn’t delve into why the dilapidated old traps had such great killing power.
A bustling crowd skinned and gutted the boars, cleaning out the innards to be divided up. Every household in the village would get to eat meat.
Everyone usually lacked oil in their diet, so many villagers looked at Ning Yuan and expressed their gratitude.
The group of Educated Youths at the Educated Youth Spot also received a few catties. When many of them saw Ning Yuan, their expressions were sheepish.
After all, they had just kicked her out of the Educated Youth Team, and now they were taking a share of her meat.
However, Ning Yuan didn’t mind. She had no intention of continuing to associate with the people from the Educated Youth Team anyway.
Watching Ning Yuan laughing and chatting with the villagers, becoming one of them, Huang Xuehong’s plump, dark face was filled with dissatisfaction. “She just got lucky, that’s all. What’s there to be so smug about!”
Tang Zhenzhen snorted coldly to herself. That’s right, what kind of dog-shit luck did Ning Yuan have to actually find four wild boars with that bad element? It was a real pity they weren’t gored or bitten to death by the boars.
Huang Xuehong said, her eyes red with envy, “And everything belongs to the collective. How can the village team reward her with grain coupons, Cloth Coupons, and oil coupons!”
Hearing this, Tang Zhenzhen felt a surge of resentment. She turned her head and suddenly saw a thin, gaunt woman collecting her share of meat off to the side.
A plan formed in her mind. She suddenly let out a cold laugh, turned, and sidled up to the gaunt woman who had just received her meat. “Aunt Wang San, I have something to tell you.”
After listening to her whisper, Aunt Wang San’s sharp, thin face fell, and she slapped her thigh. “You’re absolutely right!”
Then, she immediately walked over to Man Hua, who was registering the villagers who had received meat, grabbed her arm, and yelled at the top of her lungs—
“I hear you’re giving that Ning Zhiqing a lot of Cloth Coupons, and you’re also giving her the county-level grain and oil coupons that the team had previously distributed?”
Man Hua looked at Aunt Wang San and frowned. “This is a reward for Ning Zhiqing, approved by the team. Without Xiao Ning, would you be eating wild boar meat today?”
Aunt Wang San put her hands on her hips and sneered caustically, “What do you mean we wouldn’t be eating meat without her? I’ve heard all about it. These boars fell into the traps by themselves. Most of those traps on the mountain were made by my father back in the day. If you’re going to give out rewards, you should be giving the coupons to me!”
Ning Yuan, who was listening from the side, was stunned. She had seen shameless people before, but she had never seen anyone this shameless.
What? This had somehow become Aunt Wang San’s achievement?!
Not only was she stunned, but the villagers lining up for meat were also dumbfounded. Was that even possible?
The Old Branch Secretary frowned. “It’s true your father was an old hunter in the village, but he’s been dead for so many years, and those traps are old and broken…”
“No matter how old and broken they are, those traps were still made by my father!” Aunt Wang San was already known in the village as a shrew, and she directly cut off the Old Branch Secretary.
She pointed her finger at Ning Yuan’s nose without any courtesy. “If it weren’t for my father’s traps, you would have died on that mountain with no one to even collect your corpse. I’m your savior! It’s good enough I’m not making you kowtow to me. Now hand over those coupons!”
Aunt Wang San was the type to pluck a feather from a passing goose—if her neighbor’s fruit tree grew a branch into her yard, she would claim a share of the fruit, and if they refused, she’d threaten to cut down their tree.
Ning Yuan glanced expressionlessly at the gloating Tang Zhenzhen and knew she was the one behind this.
She looked coldly at Aunt Wang San. “Fine, I can give them to you.”
Aunt Wang San’s triangular eyes instantly lit up. “Now that’s more like it…”
“But, you must also go up the mountain tonight and lure the other wild boars into the traps your father left behind. Then I’ll give you the coupons,” Ning Yuan interrupted her just as impolitely.
Hearing this, Aunt Wang San jumped up. “On what grounds! Are you crazy? It’s so dangerous, why should I do that!”
“So you know it’s dangerous. It’s precisely because my man and I risked our lives to lure the boars into the traps that you have to do the same,” Ning Yuan said with a straightforward, cold laugh.
As soon as she finished speaking, the other villagers who couldn’t stand Aunt Wang San chimed in—
“That’s right! Those traps have been there for years, but we’ve never seen one catch a wild boar on its own!”
“They risked their lives to lure the boars into the traps and then kill them. You, Aunt Wang San, should do the same to cancel out their contribution!”
“Exactly!”
Aunt Wang San was suddenly choked up, at a loss for how to retort.
She simply plopped down on the ground, slapped her thighs, and began to wail, “I can’t out-talk you! Do you Educated Youths think you can bully people just because you’re educated?!”
“Anyway, I don’t care! The boars died in my father’s traps, so the reward is mine! If you don’t hand over the coupons, don’t even think about leaving today!!”
Disgusted, Ning Yuan turned to leave.
But when Aunt Wang San saw this, she lunged forward, grabbed her leg, and started shouting, “Give me my coupons! Don’t you dare leave!”
Hearing that there were several dozen catties of grain coupons, as well as rare Cloth Coupons, she absolutely could not let Ning Yuan go!
Ning Yuan’s face turned grim and ugly as she looked at Aunt Wang San, who was clinging to her leg and even trying to pull her pants down.
She couldn’t help but want to send a kick her way.