Chapter 84

With her eyes gleaming at the sight of the pork, Shen Guixiang shoved her way through the crowd, toppling a few people, and managed to grab the fattest piece of meat.

Thinking of the taste of braised pork, she gulped down a mouthful of saliva and finally wriggled out of the throng with the meat in hand. Just as she emerged, she bumped into her second son-in-law, Chen Fugui, who was there procuring supplies for the cooperative.

Noticing the calculating gleam in Shen Guixiang’s eyes, Chen Fugui spoke first. “Mom, this meat is for Haohai, right?”

Haohai was Chen Fugui’s son with Yin Yueping and Shen Guixiang’s grandson.

Chen Fugui enthusiastically reached for the meat in her hands. “I heard from Secretary Liu’s son about the burglary at your house. The Lu family paid back a full hundred yuan.”

“Mom, you must be here to repay the medical expenses Yueping advanced at the commune hospital. Haohai was just talking about his grandma this morning, and here you are buying pork for him.”

Shen Guixiang had been hoping to extract some benefits from her son-in-law, who worked as a cook at the state-owned restaurant.

But when Chen Fugui reached for the meat in her hands, Shen Guixiang panicked.

She stepped back, her face turning cold. “Who said this meat is for Haohai?”

“The brigade is building the rabbit hutches, and your brother can earn eight work points a day. I’m buying this meat to nourish him. Now you two want to take it? Truly ungrateful!”

With a frosty expression, Shen Guixiang added, “It’s getting late. I need to head back to the brigade to cook.”

With that, she left her second son-in-law behind and walked out of the cooperative without looking back.

As soon as Shen Guixiang exited the cooperative, she started cursing Secretary Liu’s son, Liu Zaicheng.

Coincidentally, Liu Zaicheng was waiting for someone in a tractor parked outside the cooperative. Hearing Shen Guixiang muttering curses like “son born without an anus,” he leaned out from the driver’s seat and called out, “Auntie, who are you cursing?”

“I’m cursing…”

She almost blurted out “you,” but stopped herself just in time.

Spotting Liu Zaicheng on the tractor, Shen Guixiang immediately felt the ache in her legs from all the walking. She decided she’d try to hitch a ride back to the brigade and quickly changed her tone.

“Oh, Zaicheng, I didn’t even notice it was you!”

“Our brigade has been busy building the rabbit hutches these days. My son, Zhihe, is working hard earning work points. I thought I’d buy some pork to strengthen him, and then I happened to see you here waiting with the tractor.”

Liu Zaicheng nodded. “Yep, I’m here waiting for someone.”

Shen Guixiang, acting overly familiar, climbed onto the tractor. “Waiting for who? It’s getting late.”

“For the sent-down youth assigned to our brigade,” Liu Zaicheng replied halfway, noticing Shen Guixiang had already climbed aboard. He quickly tried to shoo her off. “Auntie, what are you doing? This tractor is here to pick up the sent-down youth. There’s so much stuff on board; there’s no room for passengers!”

Liu Zaicheng had barely finished speaking when he noticed Shen Guixiang had already climbed onto the tractor. He hurriedly tried to get her off.

“Auntie, what are you doing? This tractor is here to pick up the sent-down youth. There’s already so much stuff loaded; there’s no room.”

“In a moment, we’ll need to take the youth. You’d better get down.”

Before he could finish, a group of sent-down youth walked out of the supply and marketing cooperative, carrying their belongings.

At the front of the group was a particularly fair and stunning young woman. Not only could Liu Zaicheng hardly tear his eyes away, but even Shen Guixiang, another woman, was momentarily entranced.

The girl wasn’t just pretty—her clothes stood out as well. She wore a fine Dacron shirt under a plaid jacket, and among the locals, she stood out like a crane in a flock of chickens. In short, she was simply eye-catching.

The tractor Liu Zaicheng drove had already been loaded with supplies for the brigade, the youth’s luggage, and now several of the youth themselves. Adding Shen Guixiang made the space even tighter.

The sent-down youth grumbled at the extra passenger.

“Comrade Liu, who is this?”

“She’s an auntie from our brigade. She came to the cooperative to buy meat and wanted a ride back,” Liu Zaicheng explained, unable to outright kick her off after she’d already climbed up.

The youth were dissatisfied and started complaining. “There’s no room for this!”

Oh, now that was too much for Shen Guixiang to tolerate.

Newly arrived youth daring to dislike her?

Hands on her hips, she was ready to pick a fight.

But the fair, pretty young woman stepped in to calm everyone down.

“All right, it’s probably not too far from the cooperative to the brigade. Let’s squeeze a little.”

Now that was more like it!

A beautiful and understanding person!

Shen Guixiang snorted. “I didn’t even complain about you newly arrived youth, but now you’re complaining about me?”

“You’ll suffer soon enough.”

Just as tensions rose on both sides, the pretty young woman diffused the situation again.

She reached into her pocket and took out some White Rabbit candies, handing one to each person, including Shen Guixiang.

The candy quickly silenced Shen Guixiang.

“Now, this girl is truly something—beautiful and generous!” Shen Guixiang said aloud.

But in her heart, she dismissed the girl as foolish. Such an expensive treat like White Rabbit candy, and instead of keeping it for herself, she hands it out like this? To everyone?

Even when the locals celebrate weddings or big events, they only use cheap fruit candies.

In the brigade, when people hosted weddings or other celebrations, they would only serve cheap fruit candies.

The only ones who could afford milk candies were He Ting and Zhou Zhifeng, the two youth from the capital.

Already dissatisfied with her daughter-in-law, Lu Jiaojiao, Shen Guixiang’s eyes lit up with cunning as she looked at the beautiful female youth in front of her, thinking she might be easy to manipulate.

“Girl, you’re so pretty. You must be from a big city, right?”

“Yes, Auntie,” the young woman replied with a friendly smile. “My name is Feng Shishi, and I’m from the capital.”

Feng Shishi was deliberately trying to establish a good relationship with Shen Guixiang because she had an agenda. She had gone to great lengths to get herself assigned to the same brigade where He Ting was stationed.

When Shen Guixiang heard she was from the capital, her eyes practically sparkled with scheming intent.

“We’ve got two youths from the capital in our brigade too,” she said with a sly smile.

“Really?”

It seemed the people Feng Shishi had bribed hadn’t lied to her—He Ting was indeed stationed in Xiangyang Brigade.

Feng Shishi’s excitement grew as she eagerly probed for information.

“Auntie, are the youths from the capital in your brigade named He Ting and Zhou Yanfeng?”

“That’s right. How do you know them?”

Shen Guixiang’s calculating gaze became even more obvious, but Feng Shishi didn’t notice. She assumed the country folk were merely awed by her background.

Feng Shishi’s excitement spilled over. “He Ting and Zhou Yanfeng lived in the same compound as me back in the capital. When I heard they were stationed here, I applied to be assigned to Xiangyang Brigade so we could look out for each other.”

She then asked with a hint of nervousness, “Auntie, has He Ting gotten married? A friend of mine stationed in a neighboring brigade said he got married in the countryside.”

Ha!

That He Ting who married Lu Baiwei? He was loaded!

He had barely married Lu Baiwei and already built a three-room red brick house—the only one of its kind in the brigade.

And that Zhou youth? Who knew how many fancy goods he had gifted to Tang Jinghe’s family?

Now here was this beautiful young woman who not only came from the same place as He Ting and Zhou Yanfeng but probably had a wealthy background, with her whole family likely eating state-provided food rations.

Shen Guixiang, long unhappy with Lu Jiaojiao as her daughter-in-law, started scheming to replace her with Feng Shishi. In her eyes, her son, Yin Zhihe, was the best.

Naturally, Shen Guixiang wouldn’t miss the chance to badmouth He Ting.

“Oh, you mean He Ting? I know him. He couldn’t handle the hardships of rural life, so he married our brigade leader’s niece. Now he doesn’t even have to work in the fields to earn work points. Instead, he’s managing the brigade’s rabbit farm.”