Chapter 14: Making Li Lijuan Earn Work Points

Because she was afraid of being discovered by others, and also because she couldn’t explain the source, Zhao Xiulan didn’t take anything out of her space to give to Zhao Xiu Zhu to eat.

That girl only got one steamed bun for lunch; how could she possibly eat enough?

It’s no wonder people in this era are thin and frail, unable to eat properly every day, lacking nutrition. It’s a miracle if they can grow up healthy!

Sigh… it seems going to the county town is urgent. With her around, Zhao Xiu Zhu must be well-fed and chubby.

After finishing a day’s work, when Zhao Xiulan returned home, Zhao Weiguo had just come back too.

Li Lijuan prepared dinner.

This was also done at Zhao Weiguo’s request. Otherwise, it would definitely have fallen on Zhao Xiulan’s shoulders again.

In Zhao Xiulan’s view, Li Lijuan didn’t work all day, so naturally she had to take on more responsibilities at home.

Apart from Ma Yumei, who was pregnant, Li Lijuan was the only one who didn’t work! Even the six-year-old Zhao Xiu Zhu had to work, but Li Lijuan didn’t have to.

Originally, Li Lijuan used to work like everyone else, but since Ma Yumei became pregnant, using the excuse of needing someone to take care of her, Li Lijuan didn’t have to earn work points with Zhao Weiguo’s consent.

In this era, earning work points by working wasn’t compulsory; you could choose not to work. But without work points, there would be no food, and it was highly likely you would starve to death without earning any food.

In the village, families who were relatively lazy or unable to provide labor due to special reasons earned fewer work points compared to what they invested. The value of the food and agricultural products they received did not match, resulting in negative balances on their accounts. These families became known as “hanging households” or “upside-down households”. Over the years, hanging households that couldn’t settle their debts were called “old hanging households.”

In the production team, hanging households were ridiculed and considered “third-class citizens,” an embarrassing label!

Where there were hanging households (upside-down households), there were also successful households (straight-up households), which were relative to the hanging households!

“Successful households” could enjoy life, have some income on paper, celebrate festivals with joy, and even take cloth tickets to buy cloth for new clothes for their children.

Families like Zhao Xiulan’s, with few laborers but still working, managed to get by every year, avoiding falling into the hanging household category but also unable to become successful households.

Zhao Xiulan naturally had opinions about Li Lijuan not working.

Why should this mother and daughter duo be lazy at home while Zhao Xiu Zhu, who was so young, had to work to earn food points for the family?

No, she had to find a solution. She couldn’t just let this mother and daughter be lazy at home, doing nothing but eating!

Unexpectedly, during dinner, Zhao Xiulan encountered an opportunity.

Today, Zhao Xiulan refused Wu Jinhua’s ten jins of sweet potatoes. Ma Yumei blew a lot of wind in Zhao Weiguo’s ear, criticizing Zhao Xiulan’s actions and highlighting her own hardships, of course, using her pregnant belly as an emotional leverage.

Zhao Weiguo, being a person who cared about his son, even though he felt that Wu Jinhua shouldn’t have asked for those ten jins of sweet potatoes, if Ma Yumei was truly hungry and her unborn child was suffering, he felt sorry for them. Under Ma Yumei’s influence, Zhao Weiguo also felt that Zhao Xiulan hadn’t considered Ma Yumei’s situation enough and shouldn’t have refused Wu Jinhua’s sweet potatoes.

While Zhao Weiguo was drinking his sparse rice porridge, he earnestly said to Zhao Xiulan, “Xiulan, I heard that Wu Jinhua sent ten jins of sweet potatoes to thank you today. Why did you refuse it?

“Our family doesn’t have much food left. If you had accepted it, you could have given some to Meimei’s unborn brother. You did a good deed, and their gratitude was also sincere!”

(End of Chapter 14)