Chapter 36: Venting Frustration (Part 1)

After hearing Zhao Xiulan’s words, Zhao Xiu Zhu nodded, “Okay, sister, then I’ll listen to you. I’ll work hard at home to earn work points.”

“Good girl! Don’t worry, sister can handle it alone.”

“Mm-hmm!”

Before Zhao Xiu Zhu left the house, Zhao Xiulan deliberately made her drink a few more sips of water to dilute the smell of the meat bun in her mouth.

Otherwise, if someone smelled it, especially Ma Yumei, who with a sharp nose could detect anything delicious. If Ma Yumei found out that Zhao Xiu Zhu had eaten meat buns, it would surely cause a huge commotion.

In the afternoon, Zhao Xiulan continued to work and earn work points.

Because it was already afternoon, many tasks had been taken by others, so Liu Gensheng arranged for Zhao Xiulan to pick cotton.

Under the scorching sun, it was extremely hot. Zhao Xiulan secretly applied some sunscreen to avoid getting too tanned.

The original owner, like most girls in the production team who had been working for a long time, had been tanned black.

As the saying goes, fair skin covers a hundred flaws, and girls always pursued a fair complexion.

Zhao Xiulan was no exception. She had to take good care of her skin and restore it. Otherwise, being dark and skinny would make her look like a little country girl compared to the fair and beautiful girl she was in her previous life, with long legs.

Now that she applied sunscreen to prevent her face from getting dark, when she returned home in the evening, she would apply some whitening cream from her space. The original owner’s skin was also rough, so she planned to use a face mask every night to take good care of it.

After a busy afternoon, Zhao Xiulan handed in all the cotton she had picked.

In addition to growing food crops, the production team also planted some cash crops every year according to the tasks assigned by the state.

Picking cotton was measured by the amount of cotton picked by each person.

The more cotton one picked, the more work points one could earn, and vice versa.

Zhao Xiulan picked a lot of cotton in the afternoon, the most among the people who worked together in the afternoon.

Some people were lazy and couldn’t pick as much cotton in a whole day as Zhao Xiulan did in one afternoon.

After counting, Liu Gensheng recorded three work points for Zhao Xiulan based on the amount of cotton she picked.

Earning three work points in one afternoon was considered relatively high.

Looking at Li Lijuan, she was assigned to the task of cutting pig grass. She only earned two work points for the whole day.

But for those who worked hard and cut a lot of grass, they could earn four or five work points.

Facing Li Lijuan like this, Zhao Xiulan shook her head. She had never seen such a lazy person.

Being lazy was one thing, but not being able to earn much work points and complaining about being tired, as if she had suffered a lot, was another.

As soon as she got home, Li Lijuan complained to Ma Yumei, “Mom, I’m so tired. Look at me, my arms and face are all sunburnt, and it hurts so much… sniff, sniff, sniff, I don’t want to work anymore!”

Ma Yumei felt very distressed when she saw Li Lijuan like this, and couldn’t help but turn to Zhao Weiguo, who was beside her, “Weiguo, look, Lijuan’s skin has been sunburnt like this. She might even get sunburned. How about not letting Lijuan work from tomorrow? As a mother, it’s really hard to watch!”

Zhao Weiguo frowned when he heard Ma Yumei’s words, and Zhao Xiulan quickly stepped forward and said, “Aunt Mei, it’s okay if Li Lijuan doesn’t work, but then she shouldn’t eat either. Whoever wants to eat should earn work points themselves. She’s such a grown-up, but she still wants others to support her? She’s capable and able-bodied, not someone who needs to rely on others. Nowadays, society can’t tolerate freeloaders.”

(End of Chapter 36)