Chapter 44: Taking Matters into One’s Own Hands

Li Rui gave Jiang Nian a thumbs up and turned to Ye Zhiqiu, “Your teacher is right, people should read more. Don’t listen to those who say reading is useless. Money can be lost, but knowledge is stored in your brain, it’s always useful, no matter what. Like this time, if I didn’t have some skills, my article wouldn’t have caught the eye of the newspaper.”

Ye Zhiqiu nodded, “I know, I will study hard and let those stinky men know that women are no worse than them.”

Even if you don’t steam buns, you still have to fight for your breath. Ye Zhiqiu was determined to fight for this breath.

Li Rui felt a little embarrassed, “Hey, watch your words. There’s a man in front of you. I’m different from other men, I’ve never looked down on women. Jiang Nian can vouch for me. You should at least give me some face.”

Ye Zhiqiu smiled awkwardly, “I wasn’t talking about you, Brother Rui is naturally different from other stinky men. You’re a good man, I know.”

Li Rui then continued to brag, “You have good taste.”

“By the way, do you know about that dog’s application to build a school?”

Jiang Nian knew who he was referring to without having to think, but she was a little surprised. “So soon? Building a school isn’t like building a house here, it’s not something you can just build with a house. Can they even get the application approved?”

“If it were anyone else, it might not be possible. But I heard that Director Yan of our cooperative is a man with great vision. He must know the benefits of letting children go to school. Whether it will be successful or not is still uncertain.”

Building a school is definitely a good thing for the benefit of the villagers. She should be happy for the children, but thinking about her achievements being stolen by others, Li Rui couldn’t help but feel annoyed.

He angrily made a request, “Anyway, you’re on my side. If those two guys come to you for help, you can’t help them.”

Jiang Nian just looked at him, without saying anything.

Li Rui backed down, “Okay, I know I shouldn’t be like this. Zhao Heiping is a jerk, the children are innocent. If this school doesn’t get built, they’ll have no chance to go to school. I shouldn’t have such thoughts just because I’m angry.”

But it was really infuriating. He was about to explode.

“Actually, I think you don’t need to target Zhao Heiping. He stole your opportunity, he just wants to achieve something, or achieve other goals through this. You just need to do your job well. As long as you are better than him, he will naturally be inferior and his efforts will be in vain, right?” Jiang Nian said.

“Of course. If it weren’t for this fight, I wouldn’t have gone to the women’s federation to give a speech.” He said with a bitter face. “You don’t know, I, Li Rui, have become famous now. I’m not only a friend of women, but also an enemy of men. Good heavens, I’m really afraid that one day when I go out, I’ll accidentally be stuffed into a sack by some jerk.”

He complained, but he didn’t regret writing the article.

It was because of his in-depth understanding of the situation in recent times that he realized how little life security rural women had.

They had no chance to be independent. They either relied on their natal family or their husband’s family. Society was always harsh on women, far less tolerant than it was on men.

So over the years, there have been quite a few women who have hanged themselves from the rafters or drowned themselves in the river. It wasn’t just Zhou Xiaoyu’s mother who suffered such a great injustice.

A few days ago, there was a woman who had been abused by her husband for years. When asked why she was still holding on, she said that her family was persuading her to endure it, afraid that she would go back and lose face, so even if she was beaten to death, she couldn’t get a divorce.

Of course, the women’s federation was already working on solving this problem.

He came to mooch a meal and complained about his negativity to Jiang Nian and Ye Zhiqiu. Fortunately, he still knew to help wash the dishes, so he was still tolerable.

Knowing that they were going to town tomorrow, he asked them to help him sell his duck eggs.

He was very busy himself. Because the results of his last article were very good, the women’s federation asked him to help them sort out the injustices faced by women that he had learned about during this time, and then write an article to publish it, so that the whole society could pay attention to it.

Then they would also apply for it upwards. They wouldn’t say that they were fighting for the greatest benefits for women, but at least they would give them a way out when they couldn’t go on, so that they wouldn’t have to resort to ending their lives.

Everyone was moving towards their own desired direction, whether good or bad, at least they were trying.

After returning from Jiang Nian’s place, Yan Jin didn’t go straight home. His marriage had been a constant topic of conversation at home recently, making him extremely annoyed.

Without even thinking about whether Jiang Nian would agree, he went to the town government and applied to expand the Zhoujia Village clinic into a formal health center and apply for drug supplies.

Jiang Nian’s Chinese medicine was effective, but whether it was collecting herbs from the mountains, processing them, or the villagers taking them home to decoct them, every step was cumbersome and troublesome. If there were drug supplies, she could directly prescribe pills for the villagers, which would simplify many steps and she wouldn’t be so tired.

In Yan Jin’s view, these were all things that would only benefit Jiang Nian, she had no reason to disagree.

It wasn’t easy to achieve every goal. Yan Jin was the director of the cooperative, but he couldn’t do everything he wanted.

Besides, they had a lot of things going on at the cooperative recently. First, they opened a clinic, then they started a literacy class, and then a writer who advocated for the protection of women’s rights emerged.

Except for the last one, which was not mentioned for now, the first two were indeed contributions to the villagers, so they didn’t take much effort and were willing to give their full support.

But how long has it been? They just talked about building a school a few days ago, and now they want to expand the clinic into a health center!

They told him that they should transfer Doctor Jiang to the town health center to work, so that more people could know about her medical skills. But Yan Jin refused to agree.

He nagged and pleaded until nightfall before he finally achieved his goal and left with satisfaction.

The stars in the sky were gone, it was probably going to be cloudy.

He quietly returned home, parked his bicycle, and saw the door of the main room, which had been closed, suddenly open.

Yan’s mother said to him with a cold face, “Come in here.”

Yan Jin sighed helplessly and went in. Before he could speak, he saw his father, who was also in the room, looking at him sternly, and Li Qing, who was standing beside him with her head down.

He knew what was going on without having to think.

As expected, Yan’s mother opened her mouth and questioned, “Yan Jin, tell me the truth, do you have someone else?”