Chapter 76 : Lu Guihua’s Spoiling

Although the amount of food was not much compared to others, it was still at least 300 kilograms, which made it very tiring to carry back.

Li Yue’e had just finished unloading the goods from the Lu family’s cart, and now it was Liu Yuzhi’s turn. Lu Guihua was still in line, but she only had three bags, so there was no need for a cart.

Su Mo was looking for someone to help watch her belongings when she saw Lu Guoqiang running over to grab them.

“Guoqiang, help Aunt San look after the food. Aunt San will ride her bicycle to transport it back,” she said.

Lu Guoqiang was happy because his mother had just promised to buy him an egg cake in the next few days. He was excited to show off to his friends, but he wasn’t particularly eager to help.

However, remembering what Brother Guodong had said about Third Aunt being a martial artist and fearing that she might kick him out if he refused, he reluctantly nodded and agreed.

Su Mo moved the three sacks aside and asked Lu Guoqiang to watch over them while she hurried back to get her bicycle.

She didn’t bring any sacks with her. These three sacks had been borrowed from the brigade, and she had to return them soon.

Su Mo quickly returned on her bicycle, bringing two baskets. She placed the two lighter bags in the baskets and hung them on both sides, tying the heavier bag to the rear rack of the bicycle.

With 300 pounds loaded on the bike, the front of the bicycle seemed like it might lift up. Su Mo didn’t dare to ride it anymore and decided to push it instead.

After giving Lu Guoqiang two candies and sending him off, Su Mo began pushing the cart back home.

Once at home, she cleared a space in the utility room and dumped the sweet potatoes there.

The corn kernels and rice were placed in baskets and taken to the commune workshop to be ground into rice and cornmeal.

The commune workshop had electric rice mills and flour grinders, but there was a processing fee.

Of course, the brigade also had stone mills and rice pounding machines. If she didn’t want to spend the money, she could use those, but the quality wouldn’t be as good as the machine-made grains.

Su Mo continued knitting a sweater at home, and when she was almost finished, she went out to buy food.

After knitting for a while, she heard Li Yue’e’s voice. She went outside to see her coming in carrying a sack.

Su Mo was startled and hurried over to help carry it down.

“You definitely don’t have enough food. I’ve discussed this with your father, and I’m giving you this bag of wheat,” Li Yue’e said.

“Mom, this is impossible. If I don’t have enough food, I’ll go to the team and buy more. Don’t give me this. What will you eat?” Su Mo didn’t want to take food from the elderly woman.

Li Yue’e waved her hand and said, “We’re old and don’t eat much. This is enough for us. Just take it, and save yourself the trouble of buying more.”

“Put it away, I have to go back and clean up,” she added hurriedly before leaving.

Su Mo sighed. It was hard to repay the kindness of the elderly. She would just have to make some delicious food later to show her gratitude.

After moving the wheat to the shelf in the west room, Su Mo returned to knitting her sweater. When she was almost finished, she picked up the sack and rode her bicycle to the brigade warehouse again.

As Lu Xingjun had predicted, there were many people returning to buy food.

Fortunately, the brigade had left enough food.

After distributing the grain, Lu Qing’an and Lu Baoguo noticed that more and more people were coming to buy grain, so they discussed and came up with a countermeasure.

Each household could buy a maximum of 100 kilograms of fine grains and 300 kilograms of coarse grains.

If they allowed people to buy as much as they wanted, with so many people, it wouldn’t be enough no matter how much was bought. The team had to keep some rations for the war.

Su Mo waited in line for a long time before it was her turn. After returning the sack to the team leader, she handed over her own sack and asked for 100 jin of rice, corn, and sweet potatoes each, spending 17 yuan.

After moving all the food back home, Su Mo continued knitting her sweater.

In the evening, Su Mo guessed that Lu Xingjun had already returned home, so she took a bag, put the sweater in it, and prepared to go over to compare and see how wide the shoulders and sleeves should be to avoid them being too narrow.

As soon as she entered the Lu family’s yard, she heard the sound of something falling and banging coming from the second house. Su Mo was a little confused and hurried into the living room of the first house.

At this moment, Liu Yuzhi was kneading dough and preparing to steam buns.

“Sister-in-law, what’s going on?” Su Mo pointed toward the second room.

Liu Yuzhi sneered, “I guess she’s upset because she didn’t get any money today.”

“She carried three people’s rations by herself, so it’s normal she didn’t get any money,” Su Mo said, puzzled. “Her work points were never high to begin with.”

It didn’t cost much, so she should have been happy.

“They don’t think like that. They only want to compete with my family. When they see us getting more, they get jealous.”

“She doesn’t even think about it. Your eldest brother alone earns 2,100 work points, and I earn seven or eight work points a day. The children at home also help earn work points by picking grass for the pigs. How can it be the same?” Liu Yuzhi finally found someone she could confide in and had to vent her frustrations.

“You don’t know, ever since the second son went to the lumber mill, she has relied on his salary, doing just six work points a day and nothing more. The two boys at home are the same, they just go out and have fun every day and don’t earn any work points.”

“Before the family split up, she thought we took advantage of her so much. She was sarcastic to me every day and pushed all the housework onto me. I was almost bullied to death by her.” Liu Yuzhi’s eyes became moist as she recalled the past.

“It’s better now that we’ve divided the family. Only after dividing it do we realize who was really taking advantage of whom.” Liu Yuzhi sighed with relief.

“By the way, Third Sister-in-law, what are you doing here?”

“The sweater is almost finished. I came to compare it with my brother to see how wide the shoulders and sleeves should be.” Su Mo smiled.

“Oh, you finished knitting so quickly? Let me see,” Liu Yuzhi said as she washed and wiped her hands.

Su Mo took the sweater out of the bag and handed it to her.

After Liu Yuzhi took it, she exclaimed, “Third sister-in-law, your pattern is so beautiful. People from big cities really are different.”

“I made a lot of money this year, so I plan to knit sweaters for my three little ones. Can you teach me how to knit this pattern?” Liu Yuzhi asked.

“Sure, no problem,” Su Mo replied. “When will Big Brother be back?”

“He should be back soon. I asked him to take the kids to buy eggs,” Liu Yuzhi smiled. She was in a good mood today and planned to make a nice meal.

These days, each household is allowed to raise only three chickens. When the family split, the original three chickens were given to her in-laws, so she had to wait until spring to raise more, and there were no eggs now.

“Third brother’s wife, come eat dinner here tonight. I will steam white flour buns.” Liu Yuzhi invited.

Su Mo had sent them rabbit meat before, but she didn’t have anything particularly delicious to give Liu Yuzhi in return, so it was fine for her to have some white flour buns.

Su Mo waved her hand, “Sister-in-law, no need. I had already cooked before I came, and it’s warming in the pot.”

Just then, the sound of a bicycle was heard outside. It was Lu Weiguo coming back from work.

Lu Weiguo parked the bicycle and entered the house. He saw Lu Guihua sitting on a stool, not cooking, and asked, “Why aren’t you cooking? How was the food distribution today?”

This one sentence instantly sparked the anger in Lu Guihua.

“Eat, eat, eat. All you do is eat. You three, father and son, don’t work and just rely on me for support!” she yelled.

Lu Weiguo was confused. “What’s wrong with you today? What’s going on? When have I relied on you for support?”

“Am I crazy? I’m crazy, I’m crazy because I’m frustrated! You don’t rely on me for support? You handed over all your wages this year, but your food is paid for by my work points!”

“Haha… give the money to others, and I’ll buy the food. There’s no such good thing in the world,” Lu Guihua shouted louder.

“Some people just can’t get enough of the benefits. They get a lot of money from the family split, and they also get their own work points, so they don’t worry about getting a stomachache when they eat.”

Liu Yuzhi couldn’t stand hearing this, so she rushed out, hands on her hips, ready to argue with Lu Guihua.

Su Mo: …

So, should she mediate the fight or just sit back and watch?