Chapter 4

Yang Guihua begged for mercy with tears in her eyes: “Xiyue, you are fine, please let me go. I don’t want to kill you. Who told you to pretend to be dead? If you were not dead, I would not think of throwing you into the river.”

“Really, I originally wanted Zhiguo to pretend to rescue you from the mountains. You have a good figure. In this way, Zhiguo will have a job, and you two can stay in the city instead of going to the countryside.”

“You’re only staying in the mountains for two or three days, it’s not like you’ll lose any weight…”

Li Hongmei slapped Yang Guihua twice more. “A toad wants to eat swan flesh. My Xiyue is what you want. You are a troublemaker. You are wishful thinking. Dream on.”

“I’ll tie you up in the mountains for three days, and when you come home, I’ll see if your man doesn’t scold you to death.”

Yang Guihua screamed, “Stop it, stop it. This was Yang Tiantian’s bad idea. If you want to blame someone, blame her. I’m stupid and I don’t think so much. If Yang Tiantian hadn’t said that without Zhang Xiyue, no one would take her job, I wouldn’t have done this.”

He wants to get himself out of trouble with just a few words.

Yang Tiantian said aggrievedly: “Aunt Guihua, I was just talking casually. I didn’t expect you to really dare to do it. Zhiguo is so smart and capable. I think Xiyue will be happy if she marries him. If Zhiguo has a job, we don’t have to go to the countryside.”

Glancing at the system screen, Yang Tiantian’s anger level at her reached 80. Zhang Xiyue stepped forward and slapped Yang Tiantian twice. “Bullshit! You’re still lying! You’re just waiting for Wei Zhiguo to kidnap me so you can get someone to report me and reap the benefits. Without the two of us taking the exam, can you really get first place? You’re dreaming.”

Take advantage of this opportunity to make some money, there are not many opportunities to do it.

[Congratulations to the host, you’ve slapped me twice, and I’ll reward you with 200 points, 20 yuan in cash, and a mind-reading card.]

Everyone was in an uproar and pointed at Yang Tiantian and cursed her.

“Oh my god, it turns out that Yang Tiantian is the culprit.”

“I didn’t realize she had such a vicious mind.”

“Indeed, this time the garment factory is hiring designers, and the benefits are so good, I’m jealous.”

Yang Tiantian was very panicked, tears streaming down her face, “Xiyue, you misunderstood me. I didn’t. We are good friends. How could I possibly hurt you?”

Zhang Xiyue said sternly, “Aunt Guihua, what evidence do you have to prove that Yang Tiantian gave you bad advice? Who can testify for you?”

This woman is still not honest. Even though there is evidence, she refuses to admit it.

Yang Guihua’s eyes rolled. “I got it. The one dollar I gave Yang Tiantian contained three two-cent notes and one ten-cent note. I count money every day and have a good memory. I counted this money today, so it can’t be wrong. After she told me the news, I gave her the money.”

Yang Rong glanced at the denomination of the money and said firmly, “Yang Tiantian, you’re speechless now, right? Everyone wants a job, but your method is too vicious. If everyone does this, how can our village still have a good reputation?”

Oh, this happened in the village. If we call the police, I guess we will lose the title of advanced brigade.

Yang Tiantian was disheartened and stopped quibbling. Yang Guihua looked at Zhang Xiyue and said, “Xiyue, now you believe me, don’t you? I didn’t mean to hurt anyone. It was all Yang Tiantian’s bad idea. Arrest her, don’t arrest me.”

She cried out to the sky, “Oh my God, I have such a miserable life. I am already a grandmother, but I have been cheated by someone. Oh my God, why don’t you kill Yang Tiantian, this evil spirit?”

Zhang Dagui smoked his pipe, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and discussed, “The village finally got the award for Advanced Team this year, and it was even in the newspaper. How about you all take a step back and let the Wei and Yang families compensate the Zhang family?”

A couple of agricultural professors came to the cowshed of Shengli Brigade and taught the villagers how to grow mushrooms and fish, and developed a side business. Last year, the village’s work points increased from 20 cents to 30 cents.

“It was Yang Guihua who nearly beat Xiyue to death, and it was also Yang Guihua who wanted to throw Xiyue into the river. This is the most serious mistake. Yang Tiantian instigated the kidnapping, and Wei Zhiguo participated in the kidnapping.”

Zhang Xiyue pinched Li Hongmei’s arm and said, “Mom, money or work points, Yang Guihua’s job, I don’t want to be an educated youth.”

He planned to blackmail Yang Guihua for her job. If she lost her job, Wei Zhiguo would also be dealt with by Yang Guihua.

Li Hongmei put her hands on her hips and said fiercely, “Okay, I’ll let you go. We want Yang Guihua’s job at the garment factory. She swapped jobs with her eldest daughter-in-law and is a temporary worker. We don’t mind. Wei Zhiguo and Yang Tiantian want 100 yuan in compensation.”

After hearing this, Yang Guihua fainted from fright. She knew that the Zhang family would not let her go.

The Wei family members pinched their Ren philtrum and cried one by one about how difficult their family was. The eldest daughter-in-law of the Wei family was pregnant and even knelt down to beg the Zhang family to let them go.

“Auntie, my mother is already 50 years old and can’t be without a job. She has a family to support. I’m pregnant with twins and my three sons are crying for food. Please, please.”

The captain looked embarrassed and said, “This compensation is indeed too much. Even a family can’t afford so much money. Can you give me a smaller amount?”

Zhang Tieniu said with a stern face: “No, they almost threw my Xiyue into the river. How can her reputation be good if she was kidnapped and sold? Fake kidnapping is still kidnapping.”

“Li Xiaocao from the village was abducted by human traffickers. The police rescued her, but the Li family refused to let anyone in. Village scoundrels also harassed her. Li Xiaocao drank pesticide and died.”

Father Wei knew he wouldn’t get away with it today, so he asked tentatively, “How about this, I’ll give you the job? Guihua’s job is worth 200 yuan. Is that enough compensation?”

He glanced at Wei Zhiguo. It was all because of this useless guy that he got Guihua into trouble. This bad idea didn’t work out.

Yang Guihua protested, saying she was planning to give this job to her grandson so she could take over after she retired. “No, this temporary job is only worth 200 yuan, which is too much. I might as well go to a labor camp.”

Wei’s father advised: “Old woman, you should be content. It’s a good thing that you were not sent to labor camp. Reputation is important.”

“You’re old. If you go to the farm, you’re afraid you’ll be tortured and never come back. Look at what happened to the people in the cowshed. You won’t be much better off.”

“All right.”

Zhang Xiyue nodded: “Then I will take a step back. Aunt Yang wants the job, and this job will be given to my sister Xi. Wei Zhiguo and Yang Tiantian will help our family earn work points for the next month, ten work points a day.”

“We are all sophomores in high school and can’t take the college entrance exam. Even if we don’t go to school, the teachers won’t say anything. In order to avoid going to the countryside, everyone has already inquired about jobs. It’s okay to take leave from school.”

“Also, Wei Zhiguo and Yang Tiantian are not allowed to take the garment factory’s recruitment exam.”

Ten work points—it was hard for an eighteen-year-old to earn that much. Currently in Xiyue, Wei Zhiguo and Yang Tiantian both had city hukou. Without jobs, they would be notified by the Youth League Office to go to the countryside as educated youth by August at the latest. Finding connections to return to the village was nearly impossible.

In recent years, the educated youth who came to the village are all from outside the area. They must have a legitimate excuse to change their household registration and cannot find loopholes. It is difficult to change the household registration.

This time, the educated youth who went to the countryside would be assigned to the south and the northwest.

Zhang Xiyue wanted to trick these two people into earning full work points, which was worth 72 yuan a month and could be exchanged for food.

Yang Guihua nodded helplessly: “Zhiguo, Mom agreed on your behalf. Mom is doing this for your own good. You don’t want to go to labor camp, do you?”

Yang Guihua fainted from anger after losing her job.

Wei Zhiguo muttered: “Okay.”

Ten work points a day in a brigade were worth three cents a day, or one or two cents.

Ten work points in Shengli Brigade were worth thirty cents. That was because Shengli Brigade was close to the city, and the farmed mushrooms and vegetables were delivered to the supply and marketing cooperative every day. This was considered a side income and was much more valuable than work points in some places. In the end, he was burdened with a huge debt.

Thirty-six yuan is a huge sum of money. Wei Zhiguo’s face was gloomy. He was afraid he would be beaten to death when he got home.

Yang Tiantian’s face turned pale: “No, can I pay with money?”

“Tiantian, are you kidding me? You know your family status, right? The Yang family won’t pay for you. What do you think, Uncle Yang and Aunt Yang?”