Chapter 24 : The Aunts Who Make Dirty Jokes

By 10 o’clock, the three acres of land that Su Mo was responsible for had been cleared of weeds.

Su Mo had absorbed energy all morning and felt warm and full of vitality. Based on her experience, her current ability should be considered to be at the early stage of the first level.

An early-stage first-level supernatural power that can nurture one vegetable seed at a time, from seed to maturity.

Su Mo saw Ma Xiaojuan in the distance, who had barely cleared half of her land, so she went over to help her while absorbing energy at the same time.

Although Su Mo wasn’t planning to interact too much with the educated youth, after spending the last two days with them, she had grown fond of Ma Xiaojuan.

She appeared careless but was actually cheerful, generous, and sensible a person you could get along with.

Ma Xiaojuan was also allocated three acres of land.

For picking peanuts, one work point is recorded for every acre of land cleared.

In fact, pulling peanuts isn’t very difficult. An experienced person can clear one or two acres in a day. The tough part is carrying the peanuts back. Most peanut fields are far from the production team and are unsuitable for growing grain, so a significant amount of time spent picking peanuts is actually spent hauling them.

Ma Xiaojuan had already noticed that Su Mo was very quick at pulling peanuts, but since they were far apart, she couldn’t shout to ask. Now that Su Mo was coming over, she immediately asked, “Sister, tell me the secret to picking peanuts so fast?”

“What’s the secret? Just pull hard.” Su Mo said, picking up a peanut vine and pulling it up with force, then frowning. “Your land is harder than mine. My land is easier to pull up.”

“Damn! So that’s it. No wonder those aunties could pull the weeds so quickly. It turns out the land was well divided.” Ma Xiaojuan was frustrated.

Is she being bullied because she’s an outsider?

She decided that after the autumn harvest, she would try to curry favor with the team leader and squad leader to ensure they would give her better land in the future.

Although she didn’t rely on these work points, no one wanted to always be considered a weak link. Su Mo had been at the bottom, but now she wasn’t, so Ma Xiaojuan found herself at the bottom instead.

“You pick the peanuts first, and I’ll help you bundle them. Finish your work early so you can rest,” Su Mo urged.

Ma Xiaojuan reluctantly began bundling the peanuts.

Her shoulders were sore and raw from carrying all the bundles.

She suddenly envied Su Mo for having a partner who could help her pick the peanuts.

Should she also find a partner and ask him to help her with the work?

Ma Xiaojuan thought over the young men she had met during this period and was instantly shocked.

Forget it. She’ll take her time with the work. If she doesn’t finish it all, there are other male educated youth at the site. After the autumn harvest, she could buy some meat and treat them.

There’s no need to sell herself for such a small matter. People like Su Mo’s boyfriend were rare in the village and even in the city.

When Lu Changzheng came back from picking peanuts, he noticed that his wife was missing. He looked around and saw that she was in another field, still picking peanuts.

Lu Changzheng: …

Aren’t you tired? Why do you like farm work so much? He also wanted to tell her to go back early since his mother was going to propose marriage at noon.

After picking up the last two bundles of peanuts, Lu Changzheng walked over to where Su Mo was and whispered, “Wife, go back early. My mother will be there at noon.”

Su Mo nodded. “Okay.”

Lu Changzheng smiled in joy. Although he always called her his wife, it was only in moments like these that he felt the true meaning of it in his heart.

This is the final name.

In the evening, he would go to the commune to make a phone call and ask if the marriage application had been approved. If it had been approved, he would take his wife to get the certificate and marriage documents the next day.

“I won’t come back after I finish picking these. I have to go help my mother pick the fruits,” Lu Changzheng said. He added, “Just help pull the peanuts out, but don’t carry them. The road’s not easy to walk on, and they’re heavy.”

Su Mo nodded, and Lu Changzheng left with the peanuts.

When the aunties saw Lu Changzheng helping Su Mo with her work, many of them became jealous.

“If I had known that helping with work would win Lu Changzheng over, I would have had my daughter wait for him on his way back. It would have been such a good opportunity for an outsider.”

“I didn’t expect Lu Changzheng and Su Zhiqing to actually start dating. Didn’t the commune leaders say that we shouldn’t judge such acts of bravery and saving lives with an old-fashioned mindset?”

“It’s all because of that fool Li Cuihua, spreading rumors everywhere, thinking that no one knows what she’s thinking. As a result, a good man like Lu Changzheng ends up with an educated youth from another place.”

“That Su Zhiqing isn’t even half as good at work as my daughter. I don’t know what that Changzheng kid sees in her. Why isn’t she as tough this time?”

A few years ago, a girl from the village liked Lu Changzheng. She came from a good family and was pretty. When Lu Changzheng came back to visit her family, she and her family secretly planned to invite him to the back mountain to slander him, hoping to destroy his reputation and force him to marry her.

But Lu Changzheng was tough as well. He reported the family to the Revolutionary Committee for slandering the military. The family was detained by the Revolutionary Committee for a long time before being released. If it weren’t for some connections, the girl might have been publicly criticized.

Afterward, the girl was married off to a distant place by her parents, and the family kept a low profile in the village, no longer as high-profile as before.

Seeing this, some people in the village who had other intentions gave up.

“What does he like about her? Because she’s pretty? If it were your daughter, maybe she’d have been brave enough to accept him,” one aunt said with a smile.

Her daughter had been married for several years, and her grandson was already helping with cooking, so she just watched these things with amusement.

“What nonsense are you talking about, old man? There’s nothing wrong with my daughter. She’s a good worker at home and outside. How many girls in this village can get eight centimeters of work done every day, like my daughter?” Nowadays, the highest work point for women’s labor is generally eight centimeters.

“Your daughter is a good worker, but she’s too big and strong. Not only does Lu Changzheng not like her, but even my son doesn’t like her.”

“Get lost, my daughter doesn’t even like your son. He’s like a gigolo. He doesn’t even get as many work points as a woman. He’ll be a loser who needs to be supported by his wife in the future.”

The aunt threw the peanuts aside and rolled up her sleeves. “You want to fight? My son just doesn’t like farm work. He’s very smart and will definitely find a job to show you all in the future.”

The aunt who was arguing with her curled her lips but said nothing, she knew she couldn’t beat that woman.

The other aunts pretended to try to stop the fight, and the aunt who had been arguing picked up the peanuts again, and the group set off once more, chatting away.

“Although Changzheng kissed Su Zhiqing in public this time, I heard it was a way of saving her life, so it doesn’t count as destroying her innocence. He should be exempt from responsibility,” another aunt said.

People are like that. If Lu Changzheng doesn’t marry Su Mo, they’ll say he’s destroying her innocence; but if they see him marrying her, they’ll feel like they’re losing out. A good guy like him shouldn’t be given to an educated youth from another place.

“Oh, they say people fall in love with each other. If you were a man, wouldn’t you be attracted to Su Zhiqing’s looks? Her white, tender body is so pleasant to look at, let alone touch.”

“It’s the same thing once the light is out.”

“You don’t understand,” the aunt said with an evil smile, clearly implying something behind her words. Among the group of aunts, this one had the fairest skin.

“It’s comfortable, but if you don’t know how to work, you’ll starve to death.”

“Lu Changzheng is an officer, and he gets a lot of allowances every month. Why would he care about work points? As long as he’s comfortable in that aspect, that’s all.”

“He only came back once in the past few years, so he’s a little lost.”

“You’re the one who needs to worry about that. Why don’t you take him with you to the army? I heard those soldiers are very good at it. I wonder if Su Zhiqing can handle it, since she looks so delicate.”

The aunts burst into laughter, and the topic gradually grew more interesting.

“I don’t know if she can bear it, but you, my wife, can definitely handle it. I heard from Baxiang that she passed by behind your house, and the sound…”

“Okay, I told you who spread the rumors, it turned out to be that chatterbox.”

“Tell me about your husband…”

…

Lu Changzheng was passing by another path above and happened to hear the aunts below making dirty jokes, which made him feel a little embarrassed.

But then, he thought that what the aunts said made some sense. It would be a shame to keep such a good daughter-in-law at home. He decided he should find a way to get her into the army as soon as possible.