Chapter 8

Zhang Wenyue cursed harshly, and Shen He looked unhappy, but did not refute. The villagers were no exception, and they cursed at the Shen family.

Zhang Dagui said sarcastically, “Shen He, what can I say about you? Your Shen family fled famine and came to Shengli Brigade. We villagers never gave you any trouble, did we? Look at how you do things. You haven’t even become a general yet, but you’ve become a heartless man, a Chen Shimei?”

“You’re just a platoon leader. There are hundreds of thousands of soldiers in our country, and there are tens of thousands of platoon leaders. You’re nothing. I’m not saying anything bad about you, but you’re 21 years old and you only became a platoon leader this year. How can you forget your roots so quickly? Have you forgotten how good Xiyue was to you?”

“During the famine, the Zhang family lent you a hundred kilograms of sweet potatoes, which is how you survived. How ungrateful!”

Shengli Brigade was formerly called Zhangjia Village, but it was renamed later. Even now, eight out of ten families in the village have the surname Zhang.

Zhang Dagui is not afraid of Shen He. There are many promising talents in his Zhang family, such as team leaders, factory directors, directors, reporters, etc. Their village is full of talents. There are more than 3,000 people in the village. The Shen family can’t even get a number in the village. If it weren’t for the marriage relationship with Zhang Tieniu’s family, could they be accepted by the villagers so quickly?

Zhang Tieniu said guiltily, “Shen He, you’re not worth saving. If I had known you were such a heartless man, I would have let you drown in the river when you were thirteen, so as to save my Xiyue from any harm.”

Zhang Tieniu was very angry. He saved an ungrateful person and also harmed his daughter. He covered his face and dared not look at Xiyue’s expression.

“Dad, why are you feeling guilty? It’s all Shen He’s fault. He gave up his sister for his future. He deserves to die.” Zhang Wenhai clenched his fists and rushed forward.

“Dad, teach Shen He a lesson. He really thought breaking off the engagement was so easy.”

Zhang Tieniu stood up and joined the fight. When the three men had almost finished beating each other, Zhang Xiyue called for a halt. “Let me make a list. Your Shen family fled to Shengli Brigade in 1959 to escape famine. On the first day of September, we borrowed 100 kilograms of sweet potatoes…”

After reading for a long time, Zhang Xiyue concluded, “Your Shen family often borrows things and doesn’t return them. Everyone knows that Uncle Zhang injured his leg while hunting and spent 80 yuan on medical treatment and 80 yuan on building a house. All of these were borrowed from our family.”

“We in the Zhang family have been thinking about your family’s financial difficulties, so we haven’t urged you to pay it back. Now that the engagement has been cancelled, it’s time to pay it back. Five hundred kilograms of sweet potatoes, fifty kilograms of rice, two hundred kilograms of potatoes, one hundred and sixty yuan, and one hundred eggs. Shen He, you know the answer perfectly well, so pay it back.”

“If there’s not enough food, you can pay me back, or deduct it from your work points. It’s only the Western Moon now, so it’s too early to distribute food, but the brigade allows credit. Shen He, you decide.”

The original owner was a bit unlucky, meeting such a person, and giving so many subsidies to the Shen family. Can the Shen family pay it back? Of course they can. Didn’t Shen Xiaoyun brag everywhere that she had a brother who was a soldier and could earn money for the family?

It’s just using future money to pay off today’s debt.

Shen He suppressed his anger and said shamelessly: “Xiyue, if we can’t be husband and wife, we can still be friends. Let’s forget about these things. When I become a high-ranking official in the future, I will take care of your Zhang family.”

Grass!

Zhang Xiyue couldn’t help herself and stepped forward to slap the man in the face a few times. “Shen He, do you still think I’m a dog that you can summon and dismiss at will? I was blind before, but now that the water in my brain has poured out, do you think I can still be friends with you?”

“You scumbag, if you want to climb up the social ladder, then climb up the social ladder. You can’t slander my reputation. I would accept it if you just said we had no feelings for each other and called off the engagement, but you shouldn’t have called off the engagement when I was about to turn 18 and could get married.”

“You know how much of an impact breaking off an engagement has on a girl, but you still did it for your own selfish desires. I despise you, Shen He. Pay me back right now.”

[Host, you gave me a great slap in the face. I’ll reward you with 500 points, 5 yuan in cash, and a powerful pill. I’m sure you’ve already understood the rules: one slap is worth 100 points, and one yuan in cash.]

Mother Shen felt sorry for her son being beaten and burst into tears, “You Zhang family is too much. Didn’t you just cancel the engagement? We still have this thing. Shen He has become a platoon leader. It’s not like before when he only had an eight yuan allowance a month.”

Shen’s mother was very confident. She thought it was a great thing to get a promotion. But after a closer look, she found that if her family returned all the things, they would have no money left.

The Shen family came to the village after fleeing famine. They borrowed money to repair their house and buy the furniture. The family worked diligently for so many years and only had a little extra money. They didn’t dare spend much of it for fear that they would need it in an emergency.

“Zhang Xiyue, you are so vicious. You just can’t stand seeing my son prosper. If it weren’t for you, he would have married a rich man who was the son of an official. He wouldn’t have had to serve as a soldier for three years before getting promoted.”

Zhang Xiyue sneered: “Auntie, you are so confident. Hey, a mere platoon leader looks down on me? That’s right, then return the things.”

Under everyone’s heated gazes, the Zhang family went to the Shen family to get money and food. They had not paid back all the money and still owed two hundred work points.

Shen He said with a gloomy face: “Zhang Xiyue, I won’t owe you anything from now on.”

Shen Xiaoyun snorted arrogantly: “That’s right, Zhang Xiyue, don’t bother my brother in the future. He wants to marry me a clean sister-in-law, and a capable family to help me. You, a sick village girl, can’t compare to that.”

Zhang Xiyue wanted to let Shen Xiaoyun go, but she couldn’t help herself and shouted to the village bachelor Liu Damao, “Old Liu, do you want a wife?”

After wiping his nose, Liu Damao smiled foolishly, “Of course I do, but I have no money. Who would be willing to marry me? Even the matchmakers avoid me.”

He is an old bachelor who is lazy and greedy. Any good thing he gets goes into his mouth. He can’t even keep any food. How can he support his wife and children?

Zhang Xiyue approached Zhang Tieniu and whispered, “Throw Shen Xiaoyun to Liu Damao.”

Zhang Xiyue smiled maliciously: “Liu Damao, open your arms, I’ll give you something.” Liu Damao opened his arms as if possessed by some unknown force, and in just a few seconds, Shen Xiaoyun fell into Liu Damao’s arms.

“Ah, let me go, you filthy bastard.” Shen Xiaoyun shouted in fear.

It was over, she was hugged by Liu Damao.

Zhang Xiyue smiled sweetly: “Hehe, Shen Xiaoyun, you are not clean anymore, just get married. Marry a chicken, follow the chicken; marry a dog, follow the dog. If you don’t have food to eat, you can go to the back mountain to dig wild vegetables.”

It’s easy to talk without any worries. Their village is not that feudal. Even if someone falls into the water, it’s okay not to get married as long as they can withstand the pressure.

Shen He’s chest heaved with anger: “Zhang Xiyue, you are so vicious. Xiaoyun treated you as her sister-in-law and treated you sincerely, and you treat her like this?”

That’s so mean! How can you treat a girl like this?

Zhang Xiyue raised an eyebrow: “So you also know that this is called vicious, you weren’t so shameless when you slandered my reputation, didn’t you pretend to be calm? I’m giving you a taste of your own medicine, and you can’t stand it?”

“Shen Xiaoyun, you are not clean anymore. You have been touched and hugged by a man. You should marry him and give him eight or ten children. I sincerely wish you all the best.”

Shen Xiaoyun cried and said, “Zhang Xiyue, you are so vicious. I won’t marry you. If anyone forces me to marry, I will hang myself at their house.”

Father Shen limped and smiled apologetically: “Xiyue, look, we have already paid back the money and things, and we will pay back the work points slowly. From now on, our two families will be the same as before. Brother Tieniu, let’s go hunting in the mountains together…”

When it came to the point of breaking off the engagement, he tried to stop it, but failed. His wife and daughter at home all supported their son, and he felt guilty about it.

Zhang Tieniu said angrily with a dark face: “Go away and stay away from our house from now on. Shen Dayong, don’t call me your brother from now on.”

It was already late when the Zhang family returned home carrying their belongings. Li Hongmei was worried that Zhang Xiyue might get stuck in a rut, so she asked cautiously, “Xiyue, are you really not thinking about Shen He anymore?”