Idea: Isn’t This Backwards?
Su Xiaoman carried a warm red sugar bun as she went out. The fragrant bun was tightly wrapped in several layers of oiled paper, preventing any scent from escaping, but one could feel the warmth when touching the paper.
With a “click,” the lock of the old house door closed.
Su Xiaoman looked around, besides the fragmented mountain birdcalls and the rushing stream, there was no other sound.
The sunlight had some warmth. Su Xiaoman walked under the shade of the trees. When the wind blew, the densely packed tree shadows swayed back and forth on the ground. She took a deep breath, enjoying the fresh breeze with a hint of greenery, a slight coolness that was refreshing.
She headed towards her uncle’s house, climbing up the slope while pulling branches. Her view became slightly higher, and she saw a middle-aged woman carrying a large wicker basket walking ahead. The woman, about forty or fifty years old, was somewhat heavy-set and stumbled suddenly while passing a small slope.
“Ouch.” Sitting on the ground, the already weak wicker basket tore open with a “rustle,” and two pumpkins rolled out.
Zhou Yanzhi twisted her waist, the pain engulfing her body, causing her to continuously cry out. Amidst the pain, she vaguely saw the figure of Su Xiaoman approaching.
Su Xiaoman put down what she was carrying and slowly helped the person up.
Zhou Yanzhi was surprised. She was someone who was outspoken and had gossiped a lot about Su Xiaoman in the village before, often arguing with Liu Shufeng. She originally thought Su Xiaoman would come and mock her when she was in trouble, but she didn’t expect Su Xiaoman to help her without hesitation.
“Aunt Zhou, are you alright? Should we go to the clinic?”
“It’s alright, it’s not serious. I’ll just go home and rest. I’m not badly injured…” Zhou Yanzhi said, but her eyes glanced at the pumpkins on the ground.
Although she wasn’t badly injured, the basket was broken, making it inconvenient to carry these pumpkins back.
Following her gaze, Su Xiaoman picked up the fallen pumpkins one by one, placing them in the basket with the hole facing upward. Zhou Yanzhi endured the pain and hugged the basket of pumpkins to her chest.
“Aunt Zhou, let me help you back. It’s on the way to my uncle’s place.” Since their paths coincided, Su Xiaoman, being helpful, offered her assistance.
Zhou Yanzhi used to think Su Xiaoman was nosy, but now she felt her heart warming up. As they walked forward together, she found it hard to restrain her desire to talk and communicate.
Zhou Yanzhi’s tone became warmer and more friendly, and Su Xiaoman smiled gently, exchanging a few words with her.
“Xiaoman, did you cut Old Fifth Xie’s hair?”
Su Xiaoman nodded, “Yes.”
Zhou Yanzhi looked at her deeply and suddenly leaned in, whispering, “Are you planning to settle down with that scoundrel Xie?”
Su Xiaoman: “…”
That’s about it.
Suddenly, a scene popped into her mind—a pure white Samoyed dog innocently eating dog food, its shiny black eyes filled with a dampness akin to washed water, sparkling, with its snowy white tail swaying gently behind.
This scene made her unable to help but smile.
Zhou Yanzhi caught sight of her smile, as if she had understood something, her eyes shimmering incessantly.
Su Xiaoman realized what scene she was thinking of, and after a moment of absentmindedness, she couldn’t help but stifle a laugh. She had always longed for cute pets like cats and dogs when she was young, but Mrs. Su didn’t like them, so she could only dream of raising them…
Xie Gouzi, Xie Dog, hearing it so often, she now easily associated him with such thoughts.
Zhou Yanzhi patted Su Xiaoman’s arm, “Xiaoman, you should have Xie Fifth shave his beard, he must be a good-looking boy, very handsome when he was young.”
After saying that, she seemed to remember something and sighed, “Xie Gouzi is a poor child. He just happened to be born under an unlucky star. Auntie knows, girls like you prefer cultural people like Educated Youth Jiang who come from the city… If Xie Gouzi was born in the city, he would also be a cultured person.”
“I remember it was over a decade ago…” Zhou Yanzhi squinted her eyes as she reminisced, “When Old Fifth Xie was young, there was a school outside the village. His mother didn’t let him go to study, but he secretly listened to classes by the window. I asked him back then, ‘Can you hear them studying from here?’ and he could, he could recite everything they read inside word for word.”
“I was thinking, if this child could study properly, he definitely wouldn’t be inferior to city folks, maybe even more cultured than that Educated Youth Jiang.”
“Really?” A pitiful image of an uneducated child appeared in her mind, and Su Xiaoman felt a bit melancholic. The snowy white Samoyed whimpered, its fluffy ears drooping.
Zhou Yanzhi lowered her voice again, “But now, with the Four Pests campaign, we’re not allowed to talk about strange things. When Xie Gouzi was young, there were some strange occurrences around him, many people were afraid of him.”
“The elders used to say, children at that age are prone to hearing and seeing unclean things.”
Su Xiaoman: “…”
—Unclean things?
“At that time, there was a family surnamed Ji who lost their daughter-in-law. It was said that she accidentally ate rat poison. The family was preparing for the funeral, and everything should’ve ended there. But at that time, Xie Fifth claimed he heard that the Ji grandparents poisoned the daughter-in-law…”
“He was still young then, about four or five years old, but he could recount it vividly.”
“Many people believed him.”
“At that time, it caused quite a stir. The deceased’s family accepted the body, took money from the Ji family, and because of this incident, they extorted some more. The daughter’s death was unclear, and they didn’t cause any trouble. However, not long after, the Ji family went to the Xie family to make trouble, saying that the Xie family’s child was spreading rumours to defame them… Sun Mei beat Xie Fifth up.”
“I don’t know if they felt guilty, but that family moved away.”
“Xie Fifth became quieter and quieter, keeping his head down, not speaking much.”
Hearing this, Su Xiaoman felt a bit heavy-hearted, unable to describe the feeling. Fortunately, she and Zhou Yanzhi had already arrived at their destination. They bid farewell, but Zhou Yanzhi insisted on giving her a pumpkin, which Su Xiaoman declined.
In rural households, the doors were usually open during the day. Su Xiaoman walked straight into her uncle’s house, where she bumped into her aunt, Wang Qiaoxiu, washing vegetables outside.
Wang Qiaoxiu was a middle-aged woman with short hair. As soon as she saw Su Xiaoman, she greeted her with a hearty smile, casually grabbed a bunch of vegetables, and shook off the water, “Xiaoman, what brings you here?”
“Aunt, I’m here to see my uncle.”
Su Xiaoman had a good relationship with her uncle’s family. She used to come to play often when she was young, and her aunt, Wang Qiaoxiu, was very fond of her.
“Your uncle is chatting with Secretary Liang right now. Huh, why hasn’t there been any noise from there for a while? Could they have gone out from the back?”
“Aunt, I’ll go in and check.” Su Xiaoman handed the bag she brought to Wang Qiaoxiu.
“You just got here, and you brought something.” Wang Qiaoxiu shook her head and made some excuses.
Su Xiaoman handed the bag to Wang Qiaoxiu, then hurried inside, leaving Wang Qiaoxiu still calling after her from behind as she continued to wash the vegetables.
Sure enough, Secretary Liang had already left. As soon as Su Xiaoman entered, she saw her uncle, Liao Zhaoqiang, with a worried expression on his face, sighing as he smoked a cigarette.
When Liao Zhaoqiang saw Su Xiaoman, a faint smile barely appeared at the corner of his mouth, “Ah, Xiaoman, you’re here. Your mom says you’ve been quite sensible lately.”
“Uncle, I heard your sighs from outside, why are you worried?”
Liao Zhaoqiang exhaled a puff of greyish-white smoke, which was a bit choking in the air. He slapped his thigh, and the burnt-out cigarette ash fell to the ground with a rustle, “Adult matters, matters concerning the team.”
Thinking of her purpose for coming today, Su Xiaoman saw the situation and said, “I heard that Uncle has been very busy lately with the affairs of the production team. The members are all grateful to you, and our production team will definitely make achievements.”
“I heard about it when I came. They said that our production team will lead the women comrades to do sideline jobs, liberate production. We have mulberry trees here, suitable for raising silkworms. If the sisters-in-law learn, raising silkworms will be another source of income, earning more work points.”
“Moreover, if we buy a tractor, it’ll save a lot of effort in the fields… These are all good things.”
Liao Zhaoqiang rubbed his forehead and smiled bitterly, “Some things can’t be rushed. We don’t have experience in raising silkworms. The idea is good, and it sounds good, but Uncle is now very troubled. No one else in the village is willing to cooperate.”
“Pig farming, fish ponds, silkworm breeding… they’re all good things. But if we don’t do them well, all our efforts will be in vain.”
“No one knows how to raise silkworms. If we fail because of our lack of experience, what should we do?”
“I’ve decided to take it slow.”
Liao Zhaoqiang sighed and extinguished his cigarette. “Now everyone is trying to persuade me. Even Secretary Liang came and said I’m too radical, that being too radical will easily mess things up.”
“We can’t be too radical, we have to take it step by step. What worries me the most now is that people in the village don’t trust me. They still want to maintain the status quo.”
Many members of the team were conservative in their thinking. Even if they were initially convinced, when they encountered difficulties, they were unwilling to move again, afraid that their efforts would be in vain, preferring to maintain the status quo rather than make changes.
“I went to another production team before. They have a mill and bought internal combustion engines. Machines grind beans, extract oil, and mill rice, making things much easier.”
“Their productivity is high. Women raise silkworms and sew, and they have fish ponds, as well as several tractors bought in cooperation with the county’s state-owned factories… They can earn one yuan and fifty cents of work points in a day!” His voice unintentionally increased several times when he reached this point.
But in the next moment, like a deflated balloon, it instantly shrunk back.
“It’s a pity that there’s not enough money in our production team, and everyone’s income is low. Even though I have good intentions, it’s still difficult to make it work.”
“I finally managed to get a batch of good seeds, but nobody wants to plant them. The Sun family and the San family came to scold me, saying they don’t want to plant them, claiming they are high-yielding but not believing it.”
…
Liao Zhaoqiang sighed a few times, looking at his blackened fingers, then lit another cigarette. “Xiaoman, when you came today—”
Before Liao Zhaoqiang could finish his sentence, Su Xiaoman interrupted him, “Uncle, I’ve heard about the method of raising silkworms before. I know how to do it.”
“Uncle, don’t worry for now. Many people don’t trust you because only you went to see the demonstration of the advanced team, while others didn’t. Of course, they won’t believe it or plant the good seeds.”
“But our production team can send people to learn. If they don’t believe that they can earn one yuan a day, let the people in our village go and see for themselves. Once more people have seen it, everyone will believe it.”
“Let our production team members go with the educated youth.”
“We have fewer multi-leaf mulberry trees here, but we can graft leaves from the mulberry trees over there… Uncle, we can form a study team to go to the advanced production team and learn.”
Liao Zhaoqiang widened his eyes, stunned on the spot. Form a study team?
He had never expected his niece, Su Xiaoman, to say such things.
“Xiaoman, how come you suddenly… You used to…”
Su Xiaoman immediately seized the opportunity to showcase herself, “Uncle, I’ve changed now. I’ve been working hard to learn literacy recently, studying books and various knowledge to make my thinking positive. In the future, I want to actively participate in labour and construction.”
“Uncle, look, I have a talent for women’s labour. Although I can’t work in the fields, look at this clothes my sister-in-law made. Look at the embroidery on it.”
“I’ve also read about grafting in books. Uncle, let me join the study team to learn advanced production techniques from others. Women in our village should also develop suitable labour to liberate productivity.”
“You…,” Liao Zhaoqiang’s expression became somewhat indescribable. He couldn’t believe that his niece would say such things. But he couldn’t help but focus on the small piece of clothing handed over by Su Xiaoman.
Surprisingly, the embroidery on it was really good, with fine and neat stitches. It must have been made by a skilful and careful girl.
Their Xiaoman was not only beautiful but also skilled in cooking and sewing.
But this child had caused a sensation before because of “Educated Youth Jiang,” and now she assured him that she would devote herself to production construction.
Liao Zhaoqiang worried whether the sun had risen from the west, or if he was dreaming. Why did Secretary Liang, who had previously supported him, come to persuade him to give up, while his niece, full of ambition, encouraged him to engage in production construction?
Isn’t this reversed?
Forming a study team, well, this idea had some benefits. It had been seen in newspapers that other production teams had done it, and the province even encouraged it. Perhaps Su Xiaoman, this child, had seen this idea in the newspaper?
“You and Educated Youth Jiang…” Liao Zhaoqiang hesitated in his speech. Su Xiaoman’s current change, could it be for Educated Youth Jiang? Those educated youth who went to the countryside were all intellectuals. Liao Zhaoqiang had heard about things like bringing textbooks to study to get closer to those educated youth before.
Perhaps influenced by the educated youth, after seeing related reports, she spoke like this today. Although unexpected, it couldn’t be considered extremely abnormal, but…
What exactly was in the mind of this niece of his?
Su Xiaoman spoke up, “Uncle, I’m married now, and I have no relationship with Educated Youth Jiang anymore. My current goal is to make myself happy in the future. Only when our production team develops good productivity and everyone’s living standards improve, can every member live happily.”
“If the workday value of our production team is also more than one yuan a day, everyone’s life will be good. We’ll definitely have enough to eat, be well-dressed, and occasionally have meat.”
Liu Zhaoqiang was moved by the words of the other party, which he had also thought about before. Yeah, if the output of their production team increased, and there was more year-end bonus for each household, why worry about not having good days?
However, other fellow villagers couldn’t wrap their minds around it, not realizing that the one who had already turned the corner was his niece, Su Xiaoman.
Su Xiaoman’s tone was particularly sincere, “Uncle, I’ve read some books recently, and I’ve come to understand that a good life is created with one’s own hands.”
Liu Zhaoqiang’s slightly cloudy eyes flickered, he took a few puffs of smoke, finally exhaling a long breath, still undecided.
His previous setbacks had dampened his impulsiveness, “Xiaoman, your idea is good, I’ll think about it some more and discuss it with others.”
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