Qin Yue’e slammed the cup down on the table and glared angrily at Huo Guangji.
Huo Guangji froze.
What was wrong with this woman? Why had she suddenly become angry again?
Then Qin Yue’e stared at him coldly.
“If Captain Huo has nothing else to say, you can leave! These are my children, and I’ll find a way to take care of them myself. But if you really consider yourself their father, then pay their child support!”
……
Huo Guangji’s lips tightened into a straight line.
His pockets were completely empty, and he couldn’t help regretting that he hadn’t taken out some of his salary earlier.
This woman really has money on the brain. Is money all she thinks about?
“I don’t have any money on me right now.”
After dropping that sentence, he didn’t want to stay any longer and turned around to leave.
Qin Yue’e glared at his back, furious.
Sure enough, he’s a scumbag. He’s eager enough to take the children, but the moment she asks him for money, he suddenly plays dead!
Over the next few days, Huo Guangji didn’t show up at all.
Qin Yue’e was actually happy to have some peace and quiet.
Every day, she took the children with her to help out in the mess hall. She hardly even saw Huo Guangji when he came there to eat.
She divided the duck eggs she’d collected into two batches.
One batch contained eggs that were already close to hatching, while the other consisted of eggs that weren’t fertile.
Qin Yue’e didn’t keep any for herself. She simply sent all the eggs to the mess hall.
Zou Zhengping, the deputy director of the mess hall, was practically grinning from ear to ear.
“Xiao Qin, where did you get so many duck eggs? If we bought these from the local villagers, they’d easily be worth several yuan! There must be more than five jin here!”
Qin Yue’e had collected eggs all along the stream, so naturally there were several kilograms.
And these were only the infertile ones. Including the eggs she was incubating herself, she still had another two kilograms or so.
“Deputy Director Zou, everyone here has treated me so well since I came to the unit. Consider these duck eggs my small contribution to the team! Why don’t we give the soldiers something extra for lunch? I also caught some small shrimp from the stream and salted them. We could make scrambled duck eggs with shrimp paste. How does that sound?”
Zou Zhengping was so happy he could barely stop smiling. He nodded repeatedly.
“Of course! But we can’t just take these from you for free. You and the children aren’t having an easy time. I’ll submit a request to the logistics department and have it paid out of the unit’s funds. Whatever they’re worth, that’s what you’ll get. We can’t let you lose out!”
As he spoke, Zou Zhengping started walking toward the logistics department.
Qin Yue’e couldn’t stop him at first.
“Deputy Director Zou, please don’t bother! I don’t want the money. But there’s something I’d like to ask you.”
She quickly stopped him.
She had gone through all that trouble to collect so many duck eggs. She certainly wasn’t doing it for a one-time payment—that would be a terrible deal.
What she wanted was a long-term arrangement.
When Zou Zhengping heard that, he assumed she had run into another difficulty and immediately stopped.
“What is it, Xiao Qin? Are you having some trouble? Do the children not have enough clothes? Or aren’t they getting enough to eat?”
Qin Yue’e shook her head.
“The unit has already done more than enough for me and my children. We can’t keep taking advantage of everyone’s kindness. Although logistics gives us meal tickets, I’ve been thinking that sooner or later, the children and I will have to leave the unit. So… I’d like to do some business with you, Deputy Director Zou!”
“Do business?”
Zou Zhengping was completely stunned.
He wasn’t actually offended by what she’d said. In those days, everyone wanted to earn some money. The fact that Qin Yue’e openly said it actually made her seem honest and straightforward.
After all, working in the mess hall was a position with plenty of opportunities for personal gain. If someone secretly took a little food or supplies home, that alone could be enough to benefit them.
Zou Zhengping stopped and smiled warmly.
“Then tell me, Xiao Qin. What kind of business do you want to do with me?”
“I collected quite a few duck eggs that are almost ready to hatch. To be honest, seven or eight ducklings hatched this morning. I was thinking that our unit has never really developed poultry farming. If I could raise ducks here, then in the future, when the unit needs duck eggs or ducks for meat, we wouldn’t have to go down the mountain and buy them from the villagers anymore.”
Qin Yue’e hesitated before continuing.
“The only thing is… raising ducks privately seems a little contrary to our current socialist policies. I thought I’d better ask the leaders for approval first.”
She was still somewhat nervous.
After spending several days with Zou Zhengping, Qin Yue’e had realized that he wasn’t the type of rigid person who blindly repeated slogans about socialism.
But the atmosphere outside was still like this.
If someone’s family happened to raise a few extra chickens or ducks, they could easily be accused of taking advantage of the collective system. If things were made serious enough, they could even end up in prison.
That was why she had never intended to hide this.
She would simply put everything out in the open and ask the leaders for permission first.
As long as the leaders approved, she could stay at the unit.
After hearing her explanation, Zou Zhengping immediately slapped his thigh and burst out laughing.
He pointed at Qin Yue’e, laughing so hard that he couldn’t even speak for a moment.
“You, Xiao Qin! You’re still so young, yet you talk like some old scholar! The great leader already said that our leadership’s thinking needs to be flexible and that specific situations should be dealt with specifically. Rules may be fixed, but people aren’t! How could your idea possibly count as making a mistake?”
With that, he simply waved his hand.
“That’s it. I’ll go find Commander Liu and have him personally approve it for you! From now on, the responsibility of improving the unit’s food supply will be yours, Xiao Qin!”
Qin Yue’e’s eyes immediately lit up.
She nearly screamed with excitement.
But there were soldiers all around waiting to get their meals, so she restrained herself and happily smiled.
“Then thank you, Deputy Director Zou!”
And just like that, Qin Yue’e’s duck-raising project at the unit was approved.
The grown ducks would be sold to the unit according to its purchasing standards, at 2 yuan and 50 cents per duck.
Duck eggs would be sold slightly cheaper than the price at the local supply and marketing cooperative, at around 50-plus cents per jin.
Considering she was living deep in the mountains, far from anywhere else, Qin Yue’e was already more than satisfied to have a way to earn money.
After Liu Shutong learned that Qin Yue’e would be raising ducks, he simply set aside a small patch of unused land behind the guesthouse and gave it to her.
He even arranged for several soldiers to help her build a fence around it.
Inside the enclosure, they also installed a water trough for the ducks so they wouldn’t wander away.
From that day onward, Qin Yue’e treated the newly hatched ducklings like precious treasures.
She got up early every morning and stayed busy until late at night, taking care of them.
The two little children also became completely obsessed with the fluffy ducklings.
Xiao Zhuyue wanted to see the ducklings the moment she opened her eyes every morning.
She even followed the adults to the stream to collect bugs, gather grass seeds, and catch tiny fish and shrimp to feed the ducklings, worried that they wouldn’t grow properly.
In a way, she was already showing that familiar quality of children from poor families growing up early and learning to shoulder responsibilities at a young age.