Chapter 106

On the big day to collect grain, it should have been Yin Zhihe’s turn to visit the brigade office.

But Yin Zhihe thought the work points he earned were too few, making it shameful to collect such a small amount of grain.

Shen Guixiang had gone to her daughter’s house to freeload, and Yin Zhihe, too lazy to move, ordered Lu Jiaojiao to go collect the grain instead.

Looking at He Ting’s grain haul, it was enough to feed him, Lu WeiWei, and their two children for a year. By contrast, the grain Yin Zhihe earned with his work points could barely last one or two months. Lu Jiaojiao felt a wave of sorrow.

Even though she knew Yin Zhihe might become successful in the future, the present offered no hope.

Zhou Yanfeng was helping He Ting carry the grain, and Lu Jiaojiao’s gaze stayed fixed on He Ting. Only when He Ting and Zhou Yanfeng pushed the cart off into the distance did she pick up the meager grain in her baskets and slowly start walking back toward the Yin family’s home.

The two baskets together weighed about 100 jin (approximately 50 kg), pressing heavily on her shoulders.

Back at her parents’ house, though life wasn’t great, such backbreaking labor was done by Lu Jianguo.

In the brigade, it was always men who went to collect grain. Only someone as lazy as Yin Zhihe would make a woman carry baskets and fetch the grain.

The heavy load nearly crushed Lu Jiaojiao. Tears welled in her eyes as she carried the burden, stopping every few steps to rest before continuing toward the Yin family’s house.

Passing by the brigade office, she caught the scent of smoked pork and the sweet aroma of puffed rice candy.

Sugar was a luxury these days, and making puffed rice candy consumed a lot of it. It also required money to buy glutinous rice from the brigade. Only well-off families could afford to make puffed rice candy for the New Year.

In her memory, during all her New Year celebrations at her parents’ house, the family had only ever made puffed rice candy once.

She saw He Yunqi leading a group of young children, each holding a large piece of puffed rice candy in their hands. Lu Jiaojiao was filled with envy.

But with so many children watching, she couldn’t very well snatch a piece for herself.

“What’s that you’re all holding?”

He Yunqi, that spiteful kid, hadn’t forgotten how Lu Jiaojiao was a bad person, having led other children to throw stones at him.

Seeing Lu Jiaojiao eyeing their puffed rice candy as though she were about to drool, Yunqi cunningly licked his candy, then stuffed it into his mouth, chewing with an exaggerated expression of enjoyment.

“Can’t you tell?”

With an innocent smile, Yunqi replied, “We’re eating puffed rice candy!”

“Doesn’t your family have any?”

That single question—“Doesn’t your family have any?”—
hit Lu Jiaojiao straight in the heart.

This brat! This annoying little punk! He was infuriating in both this life and the last!

Wanting to taste the puffed rice candy, Lu Jiaojiao tried coaxing him. “Oh, so your family made puffed rice candy? Let your auntie have a taste, won’t you?”

“Sure!”

“Sure!”

Xiao Qi handed the puffed rice candy to Lu Jiaojiao.

But before the other kids could stop him, Xiao Qi suddenly shouted at the top of his lungs, “Uncle, come quick! A bad woman is trying to steal my candy!”

Hearing Xiao Qi’s shout, the other kids joined in, yelling wildly:

“Come quick, Uncle! A bad woman is stealing our candy!”
“A bad woman is stealing candy!”

He Ting and Zhou Yanfeng, who were busy moving grain, rushed out of the house at the commotion.

Lu Jiaojiao had only just touched the puffed rice candy in Xiao Qi’s hand, barely enough to get a taste by licking her fingers, when her eyes met the stunned gazes of He Ting and Zhou Yanfeng, who had just come running out.

She felt like spitting out blood in frustration.

It was utterly humiliating.

Lu Jiaojiao didn’t dare linger. Ignoring the weight of the grain pressing into her shoulders, she hurriedly walked away under their disbelieving stares.

“She’s so bad! She tried to trick me out of my candy!”
“Exactly! Her family is so poor they can’t afford candy, so she wanted to steal ours!”
“Bad woman! Shameless!”

Lu Jiaojiao: “…”

On her way back, she accidentally kicked a stone and nearly tripped flat on her face.

By the time she finally managed to carry the heavy load of grain back to the Yin family’s home, her shoulders were nearly rubbed raw, only to find that in broad daylight, Yin Zhihe was snoring away under a blanket.

“Yin Zhihe, get up!”

Thinking of how well Lu WeiWei was living compared to her, and how she was the only woman forced to carry grain from the brigade while other families sent their men, Lu Jiaojiao was furious. She stormed over and yanked the blanket off Yin Zhihe.

“Other men go hunting in the mountains during winter and bring back game for the New Year.”
“Other men go to the brigade to collect and carry grain home, but here you are, sleeping soundly and leaving the hard labor to me, a woman!”
“Look at how many work points He Ting earns in a year. And you? How many do you earn?”
“Other men earn enough grain to last a year, while the grain you earn isn’t even enough for a single meal during the New Year.”
“Other men support their wives, but you’re lazy and greedy. You can’t even earn enough grain, and you have your mother mooching off your sisters. How unlucky am I to have married a man like you?”

“Yin Zhihe, are you even a man?”

“Yin Zhihe, are you even a man?”

Yin Zhihe was in the middle of a deep, sweet sleep, dreaming of striking it rich.

In his dream, he had married Lu WeiWei. Together, they ran a business on the black market. He struck gold—literally—digging up a chest of it at home. He became wealthy trading clothing, lived in a spacious house, drove a car, and everyone around him fawned over him, calling him “President Yin” in reverence.

Life in the dream was exhilarating, glorious.

At this point in the dream, an uncle who had fled to Hong Kong during turbulent times returned. The uncle, who had no son, declared he would treat Yin Zhihe as his own and take him and Lu WeiWei back to Hong Kong to inherit his fortune.

The condition was simple: the uncle asked where the chest of gold buried under the Yin family property had gone.

The uncle said the gold could belong to Yin Zhihe, but he wanted to keep the chest as a memento to take back to Hong Kong.

But the chest, along with the gold, had been sold off long ago when Yin Zhihe cashed in the treasure.

Now, where could he possibly find the chest?

In his dream, Yin Zhihe was so anxious he was spinning in circles. Then, the cold woke him up.

Opening his eyes, he saw Lu Jiaojiao yanking his blanket and calling him “not a man.” It was as if she had touched his most sensitive nerve.

In his dream, he had married Lu WeiWei, and she had never looked down on him.

But here was Lu Jiaojiao, this despised, useless woman, daring to insult him.

The dream had felt so vivid, so real. He was still basking in the glory of his dream life, and now Lu Jiaojiao’s words—”not a man, not a man”—rang in his ears, igniting his rage.

Yin Zhihe shot up from the bed and, without thinking, slapped Lu Jiaojiao across the face.

“Yin Zhihe, how dare you hit me?”

“I’m going to the brigade to report you and have you arrested!”

Hearing her mention reporting him only enraged Yin Zhihe further.

His mind was flooded with images of how Lu Jiaojiao had tricked him into that haystack, ruining his chance to marry Lu WeiWei.

Now, looking at the plain and disheveled Lu Jiaojiao, all he could think about was the gentle and virtuous Lu WeiWei from his dream.

Yin Zhihe firmly believed that if things had gone the way they did in his dream, he would have married Lu WeiWei, become wildly successful, and lived a life of prosperity, respect, and admiration.

Instead, here he was, despised and called “not a man.”

As Lu Jiaojiao tried to flee the house, threatening to report him to the brigade, Yin Zhihe grabbed her by the hair, dragged her to the bed, and pinned her down. Raising his fist, he struck her face with brutal force.

Lu Jiaojiao let out a blood-curdling scream:
“Help! Yin Zhihe is going to kill me!”