“Hey, tell me, how could the old couple in the Meng family indulge Yang Zhaodi so much? Your eldest sister-in-law is like the child who doesn’t cry and therefore doesn’t get candy, but I don’t think your mother is an unreasonable person. She didn’t say anything when she saw I couldn’t do needlework, and she even taught me hand-in-hand.”
Xia Xianxian, who had just finished eating melon seeds, expressed her confusion. She had come into contact with Meng Wenzhou’s mother several times, and she didn’t seem like an unreasonable mother-in-law at all.
“If you aren’t deaf or dumb, you can’t be the head of a household,” Meng Wenzhou sighed.
“They have lived together for many years, and there are many complicated twists and turns inside. A family cannot really draw such a clear line. You can’t fight for who is right or wrong in everything, so you just smooth things over. Over time, resentment is bound to build up; someone will always feel they are being taken advantage of.”
“Hey, I haven’t told you yet, but my family was already arguing incessantly back when I was in school.”
“It got even worse later on. My family spent a lot of money on my wedding. Before the wedding, my older brothers and sisters-in-law wouldn’t give it a rest. The way my sisters-in-law looked at me, they looked like they wanted to swallow me whole. Once my parents saw that, they knew that if they didn’t split the family up, everyone would end up as enemies. That’s why we separated.”
The two whispered to each other, avoiding the crowd, and walked to the threshing floor of the neighboring village. From afar, they saw the white screen set up on railings. It was still early, and the movie hadn’t started yet.
However, there were quite a lot of people waiting to watch the movie.
The front rows were already packed with a dense crowd, and young children were running back and forth among them.
The threshing floor was incredibly lively.
“Tsk, I don’t know if we’ll be able to squeeze into a good spot. If it’s too far away, we won’t be able to see the whole thing,” Xia Xianxian said, standing in place, looking left and right.
“Look!”
Meng Wenzhou pursed his lips in a direction. There was an overturned stone mill on the side, and the position was quite good, but for some reason, no one was sitting there.
With the millstone available, the stools they brought were no longer needed.
Zzz—zzzz—
Xia Xianxian finally understood why no one wanted to sit there—it was too noisy.
The white noise from this loudspeaker was much more grating than that of the system.
“Ding!”
【System task updated, please work hard to complete it, Host!】
【This task can be completed individually at the Host’s discretion. (Note: The reward remains the same.)】
【Task: Collect the fountain pen of the Hekou Village Party Secretary. (Note: This item was a war trophy captured by the Secretary back in the day.)】
【Reward: Bicycle part (1/3).】
Hiss, it asks for the war trophy of the neighboring village’s Party Secretary right off the bat!
Meng Wenzhou and Xia Xianxian looked at each other.
“System, what does ‘bicycle part’ mean? Does this mean I have to complete other tasks later to collect the rest?” Xia Xianxian asked silently in her heart.
【Yes, Host. The task rewards are matched to the difficulty of the current task. Please work hard to complete it.】
Zzz—zzzz—
The grating white noise sounded again.
The projectionist’s voice came through the loudspeaker: “Tonight’s movie is about to start. Everyone, please settle down.”
“Heh, this projectionist comrade is really cultured. The words he speaks sound so pleasant.”
The village women and men below laughed after hearing the projectionist’s scholarly tone.
“He’s inviting us, comrade projectionist, you are invited too, you are invited too!”
The projectionist was young, and being teased by everyone like this, his face turned red.
He kept his head down, his hands moving faster and faster. Soon, the logo of the August First Film Studio lit up on the screen.
As soon as the movie started, everyone was busy watching the screen, and the previously noisy threshing floor fell silent.
Xia Xianxian, however, was no longer in the mood to watch the movie. This task seemed strange in every way, yet the system had emphasized that the difficulty was matched to the reward.
Meng Wenzhou, on the other hand, looked calm. He squeezed Xia Xianxian’s hand, signaling her to watch along with everyone else, and took melon seeds and candy out of his cloth bag.
Seeing Meng Wenzhou like this, Xia Xianxian decided to just watch along with everyone else. Since Meng Wenzhou was so composed, what was the point of her worrying alone?
Sure enough, it was better to be lazy when there were two people to share a task—no, I mean, it’s better to have peace of mind.
To tell the truth, this black-and-white open-air movie was quite interesting. Xia Xianxian was immediately drawn into the plot.
The militiamen in the tunnels would fire a shot and then change positions, and every shot hit its mark.
Just as it was getting exciting, the audience in the front row heard a loud roar, and then, with a ‘bang,’ fire suddenly burst out from the projection area.
“Fire!”
Following this scream, the crowd in the front row erupted, and the scene immediately descended into chaos.
The audience in the front row scrambled to run backward, while those in the back, unaware of the situation, pushed forward to see what was happening. The two groups collided; the crying of children and the shouting of adults intermingled.
The generator had caught fire!
The wooden box used to hold the film reels was also ignited. The projectionist was shivering as he tried to pull the connecting wires, but the fire spread along with them.
Meng Wenzhou had been alert to the surroundings since the system issued the task, and he reacted immediately when the accident occurred.
He jumped up, took off his coat, and threw it directly onto the generator.
He then shouted to the crowd, “Don’t panic!”
Seeing Meng Wenzhou’s actions, everyone quieted down for a few seconds, but soon the scene became chaotic again.
A large hole was quickly burned into his coat, and the fire flared up again.
Wearing only his undershirt, Meng Wenzhou stood on high ground and shouted, “Everyone, listen! Able-bodied men, divide into a group and come over to help me extinguish the fire! The rest of you, help move the elderly and children to a safe place!”
After shouting several times, the crowd found a backbone, and the situation began to become orderly.
Several young men from Hekou Village soon followed him to the front, grabbing whatever was on hand to put out the fire regardless of the consequences. Some used headscarves, some used dirt from the ground to cover it, and even more comically, some used stools to smash the fire.
An old woman tripped over a stool that had been tossed aside. The people behind were surging outward layer by layer; if she fell now, it would be difficult to get back up. Xia Xianxian had been keeping an eye on the crowd evacuation precisely because she was worried about such things. Seeing the old woman lose her balance and tilt forward, she immediately reached out and steadied her.
“Are you okay?”
The old woman was also looking back with lingering fear and thanked Xia Xianxian for holding her up.
“Danger!”
A tense voice came from the front row again. Although Xia Xianxian was worried about Meng Wenzhou, she had to continue accelerating the evacuation of the crowd.
That shout had come from the projectionist. The fire had spread to the outer insulation of the wires.
Once the wires caught fire, it would be difficult to extinguish.
Clang—
A sharp metallic clashing sound echoed in everyone’s ears.
Meng Wenzhou grabbed the shovel a young man had been using to throw dirt on the fire and swung it directly at the burning wires.
In an instant, sparks flew. The generator, its wires severed, finally stopped running, and the fire subsided. The other young men with shovels took the opportunity to cover the flames with sand and dirt. The fire was finally extinguished.
The fire was out, but the smell of burning hung over the entire threshing floor.