Chapter 42: “Love Rival” Regret not having met earlier.

As long as it is a living thing, from humans to livestock and poultry, there are some commonalities.

A sturdy child, lively in personality, large in physique, loud in voice, quick in movement, eats well, is basically healthy.

The same goes for piglets, with their legs, calls, eyes, eating habits… all can be distinguished.

On this point, Zhao Ke and their five people’s opinions were quite unanimous.

Half an hour later, Lao Fang came back and, when explaining the standards for choosing pigs, also mentioned these aspects.

What they hadn’t thought of were things like the size of the piglet’s nose, head, the shape of its feces, and even whether its tail wagged rhythmically and forcefully… these were also points Lao Fang told them.

Lao Fang also said: “It’s best to choose piglets from the same litter, they are easier to raise, and they don’t fight.”

Zhao Ke’s notebook was filled to the brim, and she suddenly thought: “What if the pigs mature and need to mate, how do we handle that?”

She asked naturally, but Lao Fang hesitated when facing the little girl.

At this point, Zhao Feng’s mind lit up, quickly took over her notebook and pen, and told her to step aside while he wrote.

Zhao Ke walked not far away to “steal lessons,” observing how the workers in the pig farm took care of the pigs.

Lao Fang talked to Zhao Feng for a while, and then said: “Pigs for mating have very high requirements, otherwise the piglets born won’t survive or grow strong.”

His point was that it’s better to buy ready-made pigs from the farm, it’s easier and the quality is guaranteed.

Zhao Rui just agreed, but if Zhao Village could handle mating the pigs and breeding piglets on their own, they could save quite a bit of money in the future.

However, in the short term, it seemed unlikely to do it well.

Zhao Feng shouted at Zhao Ke: “Jie, come back.”

Zhao Ke heard the call and returned.

Lao Fang asked them: “How many piglets are you planning to buy?”

Zhao Feng and Zhao Rui both looked at Zhao Ke.

Zhao Ke flipped to the front of her notebook and said: “About five hundred yuan.”

“So many?” Lao Fang was somewhat surprised, “How are you going to take them back?”

Zhao Ke asked: “I heard from the master over there that we can rent a small truck from the pig farm? We can buy some other things, and with the few of us, can we take them back together?”

Lao Fang asked: “Our farm truck has a load capacity of four tons, aside from the piglets, what else are you planning to carry? It can’t be overloaded.”

“Just buy a few bags of cement, maybe add a cow, it shouldn’t exceed two tons.”

“You guys are really going to work hard.” Lao Fang sighed, nodded, and said, “You can rent it, but it’ll take two days, the truck will be out delivering pigs.”

He asked for the location, mentioned the rental fee, and said they would also need to pay for the fuel, “Is that okay?”

That money could almost buy one or two more piglets.

Zhao Rui and the others thought it was expensive.

But Zhao Ke thought about it for a moment, gritted her teeth and said, “Okay, two days is fine, I’ll make the deal with Fang Ge.”

Lao Fang said they needed to pay a deposit and took them to the pig farm office to get a receipt.

Zhao Rui furrowed his brows and quietly asked her: “What do we need cement for? We can’t waste money on building such good walls for the pigs.”

The production team definitely couldn’t build it like the pig farm.

Not to mention cement walls, most of the houses in their production team still had paper-covered windows.

The Zhao Village production team only had a few windows in the brigade office, each fitted with a piece of glass, and then there were Zhao Xingshan’s house, Yu Sanjiu’s house, and Zhao Ke’s house.

The pieces of glass in Zhao Ke’s house were actually brought back by Zhao Ke, after she acted without approval. Although Comrade Yu Xiulan agreed later, at the time, she completely opposed them wasting that money.

Some money has to be spent. No matter how much one tries to save, they can’t be too stingy.

Zhao Ke replied to him: “The cement isn’t for building walls, it’s to plaster the bottom of the compost pit. Uncle and them all agreed.”

“Then renting a truck isn’t necessary, right? When we buy the cow, we can use a cow cart, if that’s not enough, we can take a few in a passenger car, it’s a bit of a hassle, but we can get them back.” Zhao Rui, thinking of the truck rental fee, felt distressed, “Yesterday, it would have been better if we just drove the cow cart ourselves, we could have saved some money.”

Zhao Ke said: “Rui Ge, we need to consider safety. With so many pigs, what if something happens on the way, or there’s some loss? It’d be worse.”

The road was already bad. They had been shaking in the passenger car for seven hours and couldn’t stand it. The piglets are fragile; they probably couldn’t handle it either. What if a few died or got sick? What would they do?

Zhao Rui still felt distressed, but the logic was indeed valid.

The whole stretch of road was so open, and the cow cart wouldn’t arrive in one day. What if some ruffians came to rob or steal? The loss would be even worse.

Zhao Rui no longer voiced any objections, and the other three were even less likely to.

Once the receipt was issued, Zhao Ke had Wang Lao San and Zhao Shuangzhu take the money to the pig farm’s accountant.

The two of them carried the money over, tore open the cloth bag tied around their waists, and the moment the money was taken out, both of them felt as if a heavy burden had been lifted.

With that matter settled for now, the five of them left the pig farm.

Liu Zhigang repeatedly cautioned at the gate: “Meizi, remember, you must come to my place for dinner tonight, you can’t skip it.”

Zhao Ke had no choice but to agree.

After the five of them walked a distance, they turned around to look at the pig farm’s outline and the characters on the gate.

Zhao Rui and the others all breathed a sigh of relief: “Good thing we know someone, otherwise we would’ve had to figure out the way from the County on our own, wasting time and effort.”

“Sometimes, don’t be afraid of trouble. Opening your mouth can save a lot of trouble, we’re not taking advantage of them for nothing.”

Zhao Ke asked the gatekeeper for help, paid the phone charges, and even gave three pieces of mung bean cake.

It cost a little, but things went smoothly.

Zhao Ke said: “I just asked the master at the pig farm, the cement can be bought in the County. When we go back, if there’s nothing else, we can just go and have a look.”

The four all agreed.

They returned to the county first and went back to wash up.

Only Zhao Ke brought an extra set of clothes. Yesterday’s smelly clothes had been washed and aired out for a day and night, so Zhao Ke just changed into clean clothes.

The others were still in the same clothes, doing their best.

Zhao Ke went out, dressed decently, so when she went to the Supply and Marketing Cooperative to buy something, the salesperson’s attitude was fairly okay.

She bought a box of snowflake cream, a bottle of liquor, weighed a jin of sponge cake, and then gritted her teeth, went to the state-owned restaurant, and bought half a roast chicken.

It had only been two days, and Zhao Ke’s pocket was already thinner and thinner.

It’s no wonder her older sister said, “A poor family, but a rich road.”

She saved that little bit of money with difficulty. What needs to be spent, must be spent, but spending it still hurt.

Before, she was only in the commune area, money went in and out of her pocket, and it was fairly comfortable. But once she came out, Zhao Ke clearly felt: she was still too poor.

———-

At 4:30 in the afternoon, Liu Zhigang rode his bicycle to the supply and marketing cooperative to find them. When he saw Zhao Ke holding things in her hands, looking displeased, he said, “Meizi, aren’t you embarrassing me? Why are you carrying stuff?”

Zhao Ke was very firm in her attitude, “How could I come empty-handed? With five big mouths open, I can’t just show up like that. If you won’t let us bring anything, we can’t go no matter what.”

Liu Zhigang was enthusiastic, but Zhao Ke and the others were polite, and him bringing them back home would make him look good, so he didn’t say anything else. He pushed his bicycle and walked back home with them.

The Liu family lived in an alley.

Before they entered the alley, Liu Zhigang pointed ahead at the distant gate of a big courtyard and said, “That’s the cadre family’s compound. I followed my old leader when I retired. The house was arranged by my old leader, otherwise, we wouldn’t be able to live in this location.”

Zhao Ke nodded, indicating she was listening.

“Let’s go, your Saozi should have prepared the meal.”

As they just turned into the alley, a female voice came from behind, “Uncle Liu?”

Zhao Ke turned around in surprise. It was someone she had seen before—the “Xiao Hui” who was with Liang Hui yesterday.

The county town was indeed not that big.

Xiao Hui greeted Liu Zhigang, her gaze constantly shifting toward Zhao Ke.

Liu Zhigang asked curiously, “What? Do you know each other?”

Xiao Hui nodded, “We met yesterday.”

Then she hesitated and said to Zhao Ke, “Comrade, can I talk to you for a moment?”

Zhao Ke agreed.

Liu Zhigang called out, “Then let’s talk at home.”

Xiao Hui looked a bit awkward, “Uncle Liu, I won’t go in.”

Zhao Ke spoke to smooth things over, “We women comrades can’t talk comfortably with you men comrades around, right? Liu Ge, just point me to where your house is, I’ll go by myself later.”

Liu Zhigang slapped his forehead, “Look at me, I didn’t think that through. Alright, you guys talk, just keep walking in, I’ll leave the courtyard door open, we can see you from the yard.”

“Alright.”

Once they left, Xiao Hui introduced herself to Zhao Ke: “My name is Ding Xiaohui.”

Zhao Ke smiled, “Hello, I’m Zhao Ke.”

Ding Xiaohui bit her lip, hesitated for a moment, and then asked, “Why do you have a conflict with Liang Hui?”

Zhao Ke tactfully told the truth: “He was previously my high school classmate’s boyfriend. He went with my classmate to our village for a visit. After spending more time together and getting to know each other better, they realized they weren’t very compatible, so my classmate suggested breaking up. Besides that, I’ve never had contact with him, so there shouldn’t be any other reason.”

As Ding Xiaohui listened to her words, her expression changed repeatedly, finally settling on anger. “He said he broke up with his previous girlfriend because that young woman became infatuated with someone else and had poor character, so he took the initiative to end it. He even claimed the young woman pestered him several times!”

Bullshit!

“Clearly, it was because he went to our village with my classmate, nitpicking everything. My classmate thought his character was questionable and decided not to continue seeing him.”

Liang Hui actually said such things about Duan Shuyi behind her back!

Zhao Ke rolled up her sleeves and placed her hands on her hips, indignant. “I was way too polite to him yesterday.”

Ding Xiaohui, usually a quiet girl, was so angry that her face turned bright red. After holding it in for a long time, she finally blurted out, “This bad person!”

Zhao Ke: “…” That insult was way too weak.

Ding Xiaohui glanced aside in embarrassment. “I… I’ve never insulted anyone before.”

“You won’t feel satisfied insulting him like that,” Zhao Ke instructed her. “Say, ‘bastard!’”

Ding Xiaohui pinched her voice and softly said, “Bastard~”

“Bastard!”

Ding Xiaohui raised her voice a little, “Bastard.”

Zhao Ke nodded, her gaze encouraging.

Ding Xiaohui, still sounding gentle but trying to sound fierce, said, “Bastard!”

The power was still lacking, but she had likely tried her best. Zhao Ke gave her a thumbs-up.

Ding Xiaohui’s lips curled into a smile, but then she became dejected again. “But his family has ties with mine. Even if we break it off, my dad will still tell me to let it go. He won’t be punished, and in the future, he might deceive other girls.”

Zhao Ke didn’t want to let him off so easily either. Her eyes shifted, and she leaned in close to whisper in Ding Xiaohui’s ear.

As Ding Xiaohui listened, she nodded repeatedly. “This could work.”

Zhao Ke reminded her, “We’ll leave the day after tomorrow. Wait until we’re gone to act.”

“Don’t worry. I won’t let anyone suspect you.”

After that, the two parted ways.

Zhao Ke easily found Liu Zhigang’s house. Liu Zhigang’s wife, Ma Yuzhi, was fair and plump, clearly well cared for.

She was just as enthusiastic as Liu Zhigang, and it might have been because Zhao Ke brought gifts to the house, putting her in a good mood. She not only prepared four dishes but also brought out liquor to entertain them.

The husband and wife bantered at the dinner table, but the atmosphere between them, even to the blind, clearly showed they had a good relationship.

When they left, Liu Zhigang once again rode his bicycle to take them to the guesthouse.

The next day, Zhao Ke and the others arranged the cement, bought some tools, and also asked around about where to buy cows.

On the third day in the county, Zhao Ke went to the Revolutionary Committee and truly ran from department to department on behalf of the commune, collecting quite a few materials and documents.

During this period, she naturally encountered Liang Hui.

Zhao Ke treated him as a stranger, took her things, and left without giving him a single glance.

Liang Hui, though ignored, let out a sigh of relief.

On the fourth day, Zhao Ke and the others boarded a small truck, taking more than thirty piglets, a calf, and a large pile of supplies back to Shuangshan Commune.

At the same time, Ding Xiaohui and Duan Shuyi, whom she called over, started a “fight” with the Revolutionary Committee Office, demanding that Liang Hui clarify who exactly had “poor character.”

Liang Hui never expected Ding Xiaohui to verify his words with Duan Shuyi. Now, with the two of them blocking his office door, all the colleagues in the Revolutionary Committee Office knew he had been badmouthing a female comrade behind her back.

Though Duan Shuyi’s family background wasn’t particularly strong, she wasn’t someone easily trifled with. She took the matter directly to the leadership of the Revolutionary Committee, demanding an explanation.

Ding Xiaohui, with tears brimming in her eyes, also announced in front of everyone that she wanted to break up with him.

The impact of this incident on the Revolutionary Committee was too negative, and the leadership had no choice but to step in and discipline Liang Hui.

Liang Hui could only swallow his bitterness in silence, unable to defend himself.

Finding a partner in the future would become much harder for him, and he would face gossip and ridicule for a long time to come. The suffering was only just beginning.

Meanwhile, Duan Shuyi and Ding Xiaohui left the Revolutionary Committee’s premises arm in arm.

Ding Xiaohui invited, “Come hang out at my place. Stay over tonight, and leave tomorrow.”

Duan Shuyi agreed.

The two people regretted not having met earlier, and happily went back to Ding Xiaohui’s home.

On the way, Duan Shuyi came up with a mischievous idea.

That evening, accompanied by Ding Xiaohui’s brother, the two quietly punctured the tires of Liang Hui’s bicycle, leaving neither the front nor the back untouched.

The next day, Liang Hui, completely unprepared, got on his bicycle. The moment he pushed off, the bike wobbled uncontrollably, and he toppled straight into a stinking gutter.

Covered in slop and garbage, Liang Hui propped up his bike, only to see the deflated tires. Furious, he shouted, “Who! Who punctured my tires! Don’t let me catch you! Pay me back!!”