Due to the team leader’s anger, old lady Niu’s family didn’t dare to make a fuss anymore, and seeing what happened to them, other families didn’t dare to make any trouble either. As a result, the rest of the grain distribution went exceptionally smoothly.
Song Wei also saw Old Lady Lin and her family. Still recovering from injuries she’d gotten in a fight in the mountains, the old lady was being helped along by her two sons. Song Wei thought to herself, “She’s surprisingly tough, coming here in this condition.”
The Lin family also seemed dissatisfied with their work points, because this year, their grain allotment wasn’t enough to last the year. They’d even have to buy more grain with their own money, which they clearly hated. The miserable looks on their faces lasted a good while—something that made Song Wei secretly smile.
This time, she also spotted Old Lady Lin’s other sons and Old Man Lin. Old Man Lin looked a bit hunched, his face deeply wrinkled, dark, and thin like other older men in the village. Next to him, Old Lady Lin looked surprisingly robust.
Once the people with work points had taken their share of the grain, it was time for those who needed to buy some, like Song Wei.
“I’d like sixty pounds of sweet potatoes,” declared Xu Laidi, rushing to the front.
The team leader glanced at her with curiosity. “Xu, buying so many sweet potatoes again?”
Xu Laidi’s expression was awkward as she forced a laugh. “It’s not that much… I just have a big appetite.”
“Even with a big appetite, you can’t eat only sweet potatoes all the time. They’re tough on the stomach.”
But he gave her the sweet potatoes regardless. They were cheap and filling, but except in very poor times or during disasters, people didn’t rely on sweet potatoes for every meal.
“Add ten pounds of cornmeal, too.”
Xu Laidi paid up reluctantly, then stuck around to see what others were buying.
Many villagers who’d come to watch did the same, Bai Yunjiao ordered about twenty pounds of fine grain and the rest as coarse grains, including twenty pounds of sweet potatoes. Winter in the northeast was long, with little work and no new work points, so she stocked up to avoid going hungry later with no way to buy food.
Some of the other senior “educated youths” didn’t need much grain. Their work points were low, but for one person, they could scrape by.
But Gao Le and Zhao Su, who were more well-off, wanted a full hundred pounds of fine grain. The team leader was speechless; they and Xu Laidi were complete opposites.
Hearing this, the villagers and other educated youths turned to look at Gao Le and Zhao Su.
Song Wei even overheard some of the older women commenting, “Didn’t expect Gao and Zhao to be rich!”
“I heard they pay people to grow their vegetables and chop firewood.”
“Really? Gao and Zhao might not be great at farm work, but their families have money. I wonder if they’re interested in anyone yet? My niece would be a good match.”
“Oh, please—your niece? My daughter would be better suited.”
Hearing about Gao and Zhao’s wealth, some of the older women who previously looked down on them for being bad at work now saw them differently. City folks, well-off, even if they weren’t good at labor, still had money.
Song Wei noticed that Xu Laidi and other women with daughters of suitable age were looking at the two young men like hungry dogs eyeing a bone.
Song Wei: ………
These two clueless guys. In the end, they didn’t get as much fine grain as they wanted, but each still managed to buy forty-five pounds of fine grain, with the rest as coarse grains. They didn’t get any sweet potatoes at all.
Just as they were about to leave with their grain, Xu Laidi stopped them with a friendly smile, asking after their health. The two, a bit freaked out, quickly grabbed their grain and ran off as if something were chasing them.
“Team leader, I’d like thirty pounds of fine grain, fifty pounds of coarse grain, and ten pounds of sweet potatoes…” Song Wei listed off her order. She wasn’t buying too much or too little, but it wasn’t only for her—there was also Heidan to feed.
The team leader attitude toward her was quite good; though she was troublemaker, she had taken in Heidan, the poor little boy, and cared for him. Nowadays, he looked quite different, more lively, with a bit of meat on his face. Even though his clothes were made from Song Wei’s old clothes, they were decent, and he even had new shoes. This alone made the team leader look upon her more favorably.
So, without hesitation, he gave her the grain she wanted.
With over a hundred pounds of grain, Song Wei put some in her back basket and carried the rest in her hands.
Heidan wanted to help, so Song Wei took a few pounds of sweet potatoes and put them in her basket, leaving him five pounds to carry.
“Let’s go home,” she said.
Heidan nodded happily and followed her closely.
As they walked away, some villagers commented, “Song Wei seems to be doing a good job taking care of that child. Heidan’s put on a bit of weight; she must be feeding him well.”
One woman scoffed, “Just wait. She’ll ruin herself feeding him, then let’s see if she’s still smiling.”
This was Heidan’s aunt, Deng Chunhua, who for some reason hadn’t left and had been watching the grain purchases.
Another villager, irritated by her attitude, shot back, “Come on, Deng Chunhua, he’s your family. You lot treated him so poorly, and Song Wei’s practically raising him for your family. Why not wish her well instead of hoping for her to suffer?”
Others also looked at her with disapproval.
Deng Chunhua, however, didn’t think she was wrong and even spat in the direction Song Wei and Heidan had gone. “Heidan’s cursed. His parents died as soon as he was born, and everyone close to him has bad luck. Look at my son—he was doing fine until he got mixed up with Heidan. Now he’s lost his job, and that little tramp Song Wei even hit him. The boy’s a disaster!”
Someone nearby muttered, “You shouldn’t say things like that,” especially since superstition wasn’t encouraged in those times.
But even though no one said it outright, some still held such beliefs, and so they dropped the subject.
By this time, Song Wei and Heidan were already on their way home, oblivious to Deng Chunhua’s bad-mouthing. Even if they’d heard, they wouldn’t have taken it to heart.
Seeing their food supply grow, both felt a sense of satisfaction. Every time they stocked up on food, no matter how little or how much, it brought them joy. In this, Song Wei and Heidan were quite alike; they both loved to stock up on food.
For Song Wei, food was more important than money. Only when she saw more and more food at home did she feel secure.
“Come on, let’s go catch a fish today and make sauerkraut fish to celebrate!” She declared.
Adding more grain to their stash was, in her opinion, a reason to celebrate.
Though neither of them was good at making sauerkraut fish—Song Wei didn’t know how at all, and Heidan was too young and inexperienced—they decided to swallow their pride and ask Li Juan for help.
When Li Juan heard they were planning to catch fish, she immediately said she wanted to join them.
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