As the selection having problem with age.

The oldest person among applicants was Lin’s father, and there were also two others around forty-seven or forty-eight years old.

Lin’s father didn’t say anything, but the other two disagreed, saying, “We got in based on our abilities, why shouldn’t we be eligible?”

“Exactly, we’re still young. City officials don’t retire until they’re sixty.”

The rejected candidates were causing a commotion and refused to leave.

Someone passed the message to the commune office, explaining the situation.

Director Qin and his colleagues had just returned from a trip and were also paying attention to the tractor driver selection process.

When they saw there was an issue, they decided to intervene.

Director Qin said, “We’ll handle this as we declared earlier, with fairness, transparency, and justice.”

After some discussion, although the few people had bribed the instructor for extra training, it didn’t seem to violate any regulations. It was only the instructor’s acceptance of private work that was against the rules.

They decided to punish the instructor and confiscate the bribes.

They would then give the batch of candidates who were initially rejected another opportunity by allowing them to train one-on-one with the instructor.

After that, they would compete again against those who had already received extra training.

The winners would stay, and the losers would be eliminated.

As for those who were accepted without extra training, they would remain as they were.

They then discussed the age issue.

Director Qin said, “This was a mistake in your work. The age requirements should have been established from the beginning.”

The person in charge wiped his sweat, “Yes, we didn’t consider it thoroughly at the time. We didn’t expect someone in their fifties to apply. It just so happened that this one was accepted.”

Director Qin looked into Lin’s father’s situation.

It would be unreasonable to dismiss him on the grounds of age, but older individuals were indeed less suited for such high-intensity work.

Secretary Jing whispered, “Director, this person is the father-in-law of Lu Shaotang from Lu Family Village. Lu Shaotang’s wife, Lin Shu, and his sister-in-law also came for the assessment.

Lin Shu achieved the highest score but didn’t continue with the assessment.

His sister-in-law was also outstanding, ranking first in the assessment.

Oh, and Lin Shu’s younger brother did quite well too, ranking fifth in the team. The young man is very good at learning.”

Director Qin was quite surprised, “Wow, this family is impressive and quite capable.”

The person in charge already had a solution in mind, “Director, how about this? Our commune is going to establish an agricultural machinery team. In addition to tractor drivers, we also need support staff. Let’s place Mr. Lin in the support team.”

Director Qin nodded, “That’s a good idea. Let’s assign the older individuals to the support team.”

Those who had been selected based on their abilities should not be directly eliminated, as that would be unfair.

The person in charge went out to announce the decision.

The rejected candidates who were now given a chance to train were immediately pleased and started cheering, saying, “The public…”

“Fairness is what a commune is all about! We’re convinced now!”

After a few more days of testing, some people were reselected while others were eliminated.

This time, Lin Yue was selected!

Brother Lu Da was still not chosen.

Sun San was selected.

Brother Lu Da had many theories but lacked practical skills. His brain and hands didn’t quite coordinate well.

When plowing the fields, he talked a lot but his actions were chaotic and not very effective.

To encourage these tractor drivers to learn well, the commune director, Director Qin, ordered the collection of ten pigs from several teams ahead of time.

The commune slaughter team was instructed to kill them and distribute the meat as rewards to the tractor drivers.

The future of the commune’s farming would depend heavily on these tractor drivers.

Sister Lu Da, being the top performer, was rewarded with two pounds of lard, five pounds of pork belly, five pounds of ribs, and a large bone.

She exchanged the large bone for a big piece of fatty intestine.

Lin Yue’s father received three pounds of meat, two pig ears, and two pig trotters.

Lin Yue received three pounds of meat, three pounds of ribs, and two pounds of assorted bones.

Everyone was very happy when they got the pork.

In those days, people in the countryside only slaughtered pigs for the New Year, so fresh pork was a rare treat.

The commune leaders were truly kind!

They looked at Lin Yue and his father, and Sister Lu Da with their bags of meat and felt envious, wishing they could have such luck.

Lin’s Father gave his share to Sister Lu Da, saying, “Sister Lu Da, please take this back with you.”

Sister Lu refused at first, saying, “My sister-in-law won’t want it, and my mother won’t either. Uncle, the neighbors have helped Lin Yue a lot. You should take this home and cook a big pot of meat for them to show your appreciation.”

Lin’s father was indeed planning to do that, but he thought eight pounds of meat was enough.

The father and son insisted that Sister Lu take the meat, almost to the point of crying if she refused.

Sister Lu Da, frightened, quickly accepted it, promising to let Lin Shu return it later if needed.

This made Lin’s father happy.

By the time the meat was distributed, it was already noon. Everyone from the villages hurried home to eat.

It had been a long time since they had eaten meat at home!

Sister Lu Da carried the meat home cheerfully, in high spirits.

Although it was about twenty pounds, she carried it easily but pretended to struggle a bit, making her look burdened and catching more attention.

A young man named Xu Guangmao saw that Sister Lu Da seemed to be struggling and offered, “Sister-in-law, let me help you.”

Sister Lu Da quickly replied, “No, no need.”

She deliberately made it look like she was struggling to draw more attention to the meat she was carrying.

---

It’s meat!!!

As expected, people along the way were envious.

Passing by a neighboring village, a child licked their fingers, crying and begging their parents to buy meat, hoping that Sister Lu Da would give them a piece.

Of course, Sister Lu ada couldn’t bear to part with it!

You cry, and I’ll give you some?

Haha, I have so many people at home.

The parents, enraged, grabbed their child and gave them a spanking, saying, “You can’t bear to let the child have a bite of meat, but you’re showing off?”

Sister Lu Da replied, “You’re blaming me now? I can’t hide it.”

Xu Guangmao laughed, “Should have brought a sack with you.”

He took out a pocket of his own and gave it to Sister Lu Da, saying, “Sister, cover it up with this. Don’t let others be tempted. It’d be bad if they followed you home to get some.”

Outsiders wouldn’t dare to follow, but if it was someone from the family, they might shamelessly come over.

What could you do?

Sister Lu Da thought about it and laughed, “You’re really clever, just like my third sister-in-law.”

Xu Guangmao chuckled, and the group headed home together.

Fang Dihua had just returned with lunch and was astonished to see Sister Lu Da carrying such large pieces of meat.

Fang Dihua exclaimed, “Oh my goodness, what is this…”

The commune had announced that those selected would receive meat today.

Fang Dihua had thought it would be just a couple of pounds, but unexpectedly, it was… so much!

Lin Shu also came out, astonished, “Big Sister, you’re amazing! You’re the best! Our family hasn’t had fresh pork in ages. You’ve brought us meat, and you still say you’re not impressive? What more do you want? Do you want to bring a whole pig back?”

Sister Lu was flattered by Lin Shu’s praise and couldn’t stop smiling.

Fang Dihua helped her unload.

Sister Lu Da mentioned the meat and pig’s feet given by Lin’s father, “Mom, don’t blame me. I didn’t want it, but Uncle insisted. He would have cried if I refused. You know how uncomfortable it is to see someone his age crying?”

Fang Dihua asked Sister Lu Da to divide the meat in half and send one portion to her family.

Sister Lu said, “No need, no need. If my father wants to eat, he can buy it himself.”

Fang Dihua insisted, “What do you mean no need? Just send it.”

So Sister Lu Da cut off a pound of meat and a pound of ribs for her family.

To avoid leaving out the eldest daughter, who lived at her eldest aunt’s place, Sister Lu Da cut another pound of meat for her elder sister-in-law and borrowed a bicycle from the team to deliver to both families.

As for the second sister-in-law, Fang Dihua didn’t allow Sister Lu Er to send any meat.

Her Father was a teacher at the commune and had meat tickets from the commune; he didn’t even give any to his in-laws, so why should she?

Think again.

When Sister Lu Da was delivering the meat, Fang Dihua and Lin Shu divided the five pounds of meat they had.

Sister Lu Da planned to preserve the meat as salted pork, and later, during the autumn harvest, she would share it with the Lin family to add some variety to their meals.

Lin Shu reminded her mother, “Mom, since Dad has become a barefoot doctor and Sister-in-law has been selected as a tractor driver, we’ll likely need to rely on the team’s support in the future. Shouldn’t we invite the team leaders over for a meal?”

Fang Dihua agreed, “Yes, we should. With the pig’s trotters, ears, and intestines, plus all the ribs and one pound of meat, we’ll make a big pot of food and have a feast at home.”

With a large family, one pound of meat doesn’t go far, especially if they want to invite guests.

Some families save their best food for guests and deny themselves, which can make the children feel envious and act out.

Fang Dihua preferred to cook extra food for the family to enjoy together, avoiding any hard feelings or complaints later.

“If we finish the meat, we’ll just eat vegetarian dishes after that,” she said.

Lin Shu joked with her mother, “Mom, should I cook it to perfection, or just make it good? If it’s perfect, I’m worried you’ll overeat and waste food.”

Fang Dihua laughed, “Make it the best you can! Cook lots of dishes and use less grain.”

The third daughter-in-law was a good cook and made delicious dishes, so eating more vegetables would save on grain.

“Got it,” Lin Shu replied.

She used her cooking skills to prepare a large feast with two stoves going at once.

The table was filled with a variety of dishes: braised pork with potatoes, stir-fried pork ribs with vermicelli and mushrooms, spicy sausage with green peppers, garlic cucumber with pig ears and trotters, seaweed with ribs, egg yolk pumpkin, pumpkin egg pancakes, chives with eggs, braised eggplant with soybean paste, garlic lettuce, and stir-fried greens.

Since they had lard, Lin Shu rendered some pork fat to use in cooking.

She also rendered some pork belly to make more lard.

Tonight’s meal was a real feast, unlike the usual sparse dishes with just a bit of oil and water.

The delicious smell wafted out for miles, and the neighbors could smell it and say it was incredibly appetizing.

Some families even ate an extra bowl of porridge just from the smell.

Fang Dihua had Brother Lu Dage and Second Brother Lu Erge invite the village leaders, including the team secretary, team leader, and production team leader, over for drinks.

Lu Shaocai, the accountant, came on his own.

Fang Dihua also sent food to some closely related families, even though they weren’t invited.

This included Xu Laonian’s family, Aunt Li, Old Lady Qiu, Old Lady Wang, and two families from the village receiving welfare.

Since Huzhi returned, Old Lady Wang had been especially supportive of the Lu family.

When relatives visit and bring dishes every few days, Fang Dihua naturally remembers to reciprocate with gifts.

The family with five guarantees has no children, so Fang Dihua and Old Man Lu usually help them a bit, sending a couple of tasty dishes whenever they have something good.

The team secretary brought two bottles of liquor, the team leader brought a bag of salted peanuts, and the production team leader brought a few salted duck eggs.

Only Lu Shaocai, that good-for-nothing, came empty-handed, claiming that he was a family.