Chapter 10

Yan Mingli left, but the aunts and sisters gathered together, chattering non-stop.

“Do you think the boy from the Yan family can get married?” The wife of Li Laosan, who likes to gossip about other people, nudged Aunt Zhao beside her with her elbow.

“I think it’s difficult.” Aunt Zhao took over the conversation, pouting and shaking her head.

“He is handsome and there are many young ladies who like him.” The second aunt next to Aunt Zhao said disagreeingly.

“Good looks can only make a living.” Li Laoer’s wife took the arm of Li Laosan’s wife and said disdainfully.

“That’s right. He has a bad background and is poor. Which girl would be blind to marry him?” Aunt Yang almost patted her chest and made a promise.

“You can marry into the family, look! The little girl is thinking about it!” Third Aunt raised her eyebrows in the direction of Nie Xiaoyu.

“Don’t talk nonsense, or you’ll end up in Duck Forest.” Li Lao Da’s wife said seriously.

“There are haystacks in Yazilin.” Li Laosan raised his elbow. That direction was clearly the direction where Widow He was.

“She thinks that the boy from the Yan family will pay attention to her? Bah!” The second aunt looked at Widow He who was standing at the other end of the threshing ground and posed coquettishly, and spat fiercely on the ground.

Before the aunts and grandmothers could say anything, Nie Hongshan started shouting at the top of his voice, “Members, please pay attention! It’s almost time to go to work. Please line up and take your tasks. Finish them early and leave early. The chairman told us…”

After Nie Hongshan gave an impassioned three-minute mobilization speech, the members began to receive tasks and farm tools and went to work.

At this time, Yan Mingli had just taken off his straw sandals and tied them around his waist with a straw rope, and was walking barefoot on an almost invisible path.

This path is not easy to walk on, but it takes much less time than the slightly wider yellow mud road.

Otherwise, considering that Tongzi Commune is only a two-hour bicycle ride from the county town, it would be impossible for him to get back in the afternoon.

More than an hour later, Yan Mingli stood on a small hill outside the county town. He remembered Er Laizi saying that the blood selling point was in an alley north of the county town.

When I walked in, I saw a small table. Behind the table was a person taking notes, and there were other people queuing with their sleeves rolled up. That was the blood station.

Yan Mingli did not receive much education, and only attended elementary school for a few years when his family was well off.

So I knew how to read, and after putting on my straw sandals, I quickly found the blood station while walking, asking, and looking around.

Following the scattered people queuing up, Yan Mingli waited.

It didn’t take long, probably only about twenty minutes, before it was his turn.

The middle-aged man wearing an armband behind the table glanced at him and swiftly reached out his hand towards his eyelids.

Yan Mingli stepped back reflexively, his hands clenched into fists, and asked in a cold voice, “What are you doing?”

He had just observed carefully that those people just rolled up their sleeves and started drawing blood, but why did he have to touch his face when it was his turn?

Yan Mingli didn’t like others touching him, especially the widows in the commune. Their bright eyes always liked to look at his butt, and occasionally they would even pretend to touch it as they passed by.

At first, he was young and didn’t take it seriously. He thought everyone was very tired after a day’s work and it was just normal for them to have unstable legs.

But when one day the widow He from the village actually reached out her hand as she passed by him, grabbed his crotch and gave him a wink, he knew what they were thinking.

At that moment, a strong sense of humiliation ran rampant through his body. Almost immediately, he pushed away Widow He who was about to get close to him, and looked coldly at her falling to the ground and crying ugly.

Soon the members gathered around, and Widow He distorted the truth in front of the members, saying that he wanted to take advantage of her and attacked her when she disagreed.

Fortunately, Widow He did not have a good reputation in the village, especially among women, she was a terrible person, so not many people believed what she said.

But he was still scared, which led to him being more cautious when facing women from then on. He would never get close to them unless it was absolutely necessary, and would stay as far away from them as possible.

“It’s your first time here, don’t you know the rules?” The middle-aged man glanced at him with contempt in his eyes.

In this day and age, which well-off family would sell blood? Even those with slightly worse conditions wouldn’t do that.

Only the peasants from the countryside, the farmers who work in the fields, those who are addicted to gambling, and those who cannot make much cash all year round and are in urgent need of money would come to the blood station to sell blood.

“What rules?” Yan Mingli really didn’t know what the rules were for selling blood. Judging from Er Laizi’s tone, isn’t it just about drawing a bottle, paying the money and leaving?

“Lower your head a little, let me take a look at your eyes to see if you have jaundice or hepatitis.” The middle-aged man impatiently asked him to lower his head.

Although the Yan family has suffered a lot in recent years, Yan Mingli has a very good foundation. He is tall and strong.

Yan Mingli had never heard of jaundice hepatitis, but he was always smart and knew that the middle-aged man was doing serious work, so he did not argue with him and immediately moved his head closer.

“Stick out your tongue again and let me see your stomach.” The middle-aged man looked at his black and white eyes and said again.

But after he finished speaking, he tilted his head to the side out of habit.

These country people basically have no habit of brushing their teeth. Every time he checks new people, he would feel nauseous because of the stench in their mouths.

Later, in order to avoid wasting food, he had no choice but to go for inspection with his nose pinched.

But this newcomer today didn’t have any bad smell. The middle-aged man couldn’t help but look at him a few more times with satisfaction. “No problem, you can sell blood.”

After saying that, the middle-aged man deftly took out a syringe from an aluminum box wrapped in a hot towel, and then used tweezers to take out a long needle from another aluminum box that was half filled with iodine.

Wrap the hose around the elbow, use a cotton swab dipped in iodine to rotate it in the olecranon on the inside of the elbow, put the cotton swab back into the iodine bottle, and then pat the slightly bulging panel under the hose.

Only after he could clearly see the blood vessels did the middle-aged man insert the needle forcefully.

After drawing blood, the middle-aged man took out three large unity cards and pointed his finger at the small notebook and red clay beside him. “Sign your name. If you can’t write, use your fingerprint.”

“I’ll hold the cotton swab and you sign it.” The middle-aged man pressed the disinfected cotton swab in his left hand tightly and urged.

This cotton swab is for reuse, so we can’t let them take it away.

Yan Mingli picked up a pen and signed his name in the nearest signature column on the small notebook.

His handwriting is very beautiful, square and energetic, and you can tell at a glance that he has put a lot of effort into it.

The middle-aged man couldn’t help but look up to him. He threw the sterilized cotton swab into the sterilizer bottle to continue soaking it, then removed the needle and threw it back into the aluminum box for disinfection.

“If you want to sell blood in the future, come here to find me. They all call me Yao Xuetou.” Yao Xuetou’s tone was obviously better than before.

“Okay, thank you, Yao Xuetou.” Yan Mingli took the three big unity notes, stuffed them into the cloth bag sewn on his waistband, and then rolled the cloth bag into his pants.

He had to be careful about the money being stolen, as this was their family’s lifeline for the future.