“It’s just a simple home-cooked meal. It’s nowhere near as good as you say.”
Bai Su added, “Factory Director Zheng, if you don’t mind my cooking, you’re welcome to visit again.”
Factory Director Zheng knew he had only come along to provide cover for Qin Yanyue. Now that Qin Yanyue had located the brigade’s cowshed, he certainly wouldn’t bring him along next time.
He gave Qin Yanyue a resentful look.
Qin Yanyue glanced at him indifferently, a silent warning in his eyes.
The exchange was so subtle that no one else at the table, engrossed in the delicious food, noticed it.
But Bai Su saw everything.
After the meal, Qin Yanyue felt he had already spent quite a long time at Heping Production Brigade.
He stood up. “Thank you for your hospitality, Comrade Bai Su. I’ll visit again.”
He was coming again?
Surely her brother wasn’t going to keep sending her parcels and asking Qin Yanyue to deliver them?
Bai Su was puzzled. If she were a beautiful young woman, she might have thought Comrade Qin had taken a fancy to her.
But she was already a middle-aged woman with daughters!
After seeing Qin Yanyue to the car, she watched the vehicle drive away.
When Bai Su asked He Yan to take some canned fruit and dried longan home, she couldn’t help asking curiously, “Xiao He, where did you take them for their walk?”
“We didn’t go very far. We just walked around the slope behind the houses, near the brigade’s cowshed.”
The mountain hollow on the rear slope was where the brigade kept its cattle. It was a rather secluded place.
How had they ended up wandering over there?
Seeing the puzzled expression on Bai Su’s face, He Yan realized she seemed to be thinking something over.
Quick-witted as he was, he immediately sensed that Auntie Bai wouldn’t have asked that question without a reason.
He thought carefully before telling her, “Secretary Qin said there was a stream over there and the scenery was nice. When we reached that mountain hollow, he suddenly needed to relieve himself, so he went to the cowshed to borrow their latrine.”
So that rough-looking former soldier was actually quite particular about such things.
The mountain hollow was secluded enough that he could easily have found somewhere to relieve himself, yet he’d gone all the way to the cowshed to use the latrine.
Still, Bai Su had no prejudice against the people living at the cowshed. In fact, she knew that many of them possessed genuine talent and ability. They had simply fallen on hard times, like dragons trapped in shallow waters.
“Oh, I see. That’s fine. Lihua’s uncle asked Secretary Qin to bring us a huge parcel this time.”
“Take some canned fruit and dried longan home for your mother. They’ll help nourish her body…”
Meanwhile, after Lu Qiushuang had taken her husband and Old Madam Lu to confront Bai Su, the dispirited eldest son of the Lu family had taken out a tobacco pipe he’d kept hidden away for a long time and drawn on it several times.
He needed a smoke!
After being brutally beaten by three young men, his entire body still ached terribly, yet he had to continue working in the fields.
Fortunately, the spring planting was finally finished, and he could at last catch his breath.
He was still waiting for his brother-in-law from the county town to stand up for him and retrieve that written confession when his mother’s furious shouting suddenly came from below the slope.
“Why are you dragging me away? And you even gave her a ten-yuan note? I might as well die!”
“My chickens! The chickens I raised for an entire year! She ate every last one!”
“And that sewing machine! We worked so hard to save enough money and ration coupons to buy it. We barely used it, and it was still practically brand-new!”
“Having a sewing machine in the house would have made us look so respectable when Dajun got married. And she just carried it away! I can’t swallow this humiliation!”
“That rotten-hearted wretch! Has she no conscience? She even got people to beat my son and grandson…”
Old Madam Lu wailed as though both her parents had died. Lu Qiushuang and her husband struggled to drag her home, one pulling her along while the other frantically tried to cover her mouth.
The eldest son put down his tobacco pipe. “What’s going on?”
“Didn’t you get the written confession back?”
“Get it back? Forget about ever getting that confession back!”
After giving Old Madam Lu a ten-yuan note, Lu Qiushuang finally managed to coax her mother inside.
She glared at her elder brother.
“If you hadn’t entertained those filthy thoughts in the first place, would Second Sister-in-law have gotten something she could use against you?”
“During spring planting, that He family brat with the landlord tyrant background and the brigade leader’s son, Li Xiangyang, just happened to be cutting bamboo in the mountain hollow to build a fence. And what a coincidence that Educated Youth Zhou happened to come across you too!”
“You walked straight into Second Sister-in-law’s trap!”
“So many people were willing to help her. It’s obvious that Second Sister-in-law has become much cleverer than before.”
“Stop provoking her. We can’t afford to offend her!”
“Why can’t we afford to offend her?”
The moment he heard that they hadn’t managed to retrieve the confession, the eldest son felt utterly frustrated.
“Your husband has so much influence. He’s a leader at the food-processing factory…”
Having lost another twenty yuan, Lu Qiushuang was also seething with anger.
Trying to explain things to her elder brother was like talking to a brick wall. She turned to her husband instead.
Yan Weicai dejectedly put an arm around the eldest son’s shoulders.
“Eldest Brother, I’m only a workshop director at a food-processing factory. I can’t interfere in Heping Production Brigade’s affairs, can I?”
“It’s not that I don’t want to stand up for you. It’s just that Second Sister-in-law’s brother in the military has some powerful connections.”
“When we went to see Second Sister-in-law earlier, guess who I saw?”
Yan Weicai was still shaken by the encounter.
He was terrified that Factory Director Zheng might have recognized him outside Bai Su’s house.
If that happened, his superior might start making life difficult for him at work!
The eldest son stared at him, and Yan Weicai told him the truth.
“I saw our Factory Director Zheng. He’d accompanied Second Sister-in-law’s brother’s former comrade to Heping Production Brigade.”
“Second Sister-in-law sent her brother a telegram, and someone has already come to stand up for her.”
“That man’s surname is Qin. He’s no ordinary person. Even our factory director has to curry favor with him.”
Yan Weicai lowered his voice. “I heard the county’s newly appointed secretary is surnamed Qin. His name is Qin Yanyue, and he transferred here from the military. His family is from the Capital. That important man surnamed Qin who appears in the newspapers is his father.”
“He’s that important man’s youngest son, born when his father was already advanced in years. He’s the youngest of the brothers and is especially favored.”
“Who knows what possessed him to insist on coming to our little county to serve as secretary?”
“Someone like him is only here to gain some experience and polish his credentials. Eventually, he’ll be transferred back to the Capital. People throughout the county are practically lining up for a chance to get into his good graces.”
“And today, when he came to Heping Production Brigade, our factory director personally accompanied him.”
“He’s a former comrade of Second Sister-in-law’s brother. Thank goodness I pulled Mother and Qiushuang away quickly. If Factory Director Zheng had recognized me bullying Second Sister-in-law, do you think I’d still be able to keep my little workshop director position?”
A secretary from the county?
As far as the eldest son was concerned, even the brigade secretary was already an impressive official.
The commune secretary was someone far beyond his reach.
So just how important must a county secretary be?
The eldest son was completely dumbfounded.
“Does that mean we can’t cause trouble for my sister-in-law anymore?”
“Absolutely not!”
Yan Weicai offered him some advice.
“Not only must you stop causing trouble for Second Sister-in-law, you should start treating her with more respect. Hasn’t she always wanted to adopt Dajun as her son? Have Dajun visit her more often and say some nice things to win her over.”
“What good will come of falling out with her?”
“We won’t even get a share of the things Lihua’s uncle sends anymore.”
“Take Dajun’s wish to work at the food-processing factory, for example. Even if I found an opportunity, I could only arrange a temporary position for him. But if we get back into Second Sister-in-law’s good graces and Secretary Qin is willing to help, all it would take is a word from him…”
Meanwhile, after moving back into her maiden family’s house and receiving the parcel from Lihua’s uncle, Bai Su’s living conditions had improved considerably. They could even enjoy snacks now.
Originally, Bai Su had intended to divide the canned fruit, dried mango, walnut pastries, and other treats among Lihua and her sisters. But then she remembered how Lu Lanhua had saved flatbread and eggs to give to Zhou Yan in exchange for being assigned to work alongside the educated youths…
So, she changed her mind.