Chapter 15 Zhao’s Mother Puts the Entire Qian Family in Check!

After asking around, Zhao Qianqian finally understood.

It turned out that new educated youths had arrived—this meant the male lead, Zhou Wen, had come.

Which also meant that the female lead, Qian Sanya, would soon be reborn.

If Zhao Qianqian remembered correctly, it should happen within the next two or three days.

Her troubles were about to begin!

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Educated Youth Spot.

Zhou Wen had always heard others describe how bitter and harsh life in the countryside was.

How poor the food was,

how tough the living conditions were.

But from the moment he stepped off the train, everything was nothing like he had imagined.

Because in Qian Family Village, the team had actually sent people with a tractor to pick them up.

In other places, he had heard, educated youths were only met with ox carts.

They had to put their luggage on the carts and walk themselves into the village.

But those assigned to Qian Family Village could ride directly into the village.

Even though it was his first time going down to the countryside,

he had often heard from others who had gone earlier:

“The educated youth dorms usually have very few rooms—seven or eight people to one, sometimes even more than ten.”

But in Qian Family Village,

each of them had their own little room—complete with blue brick walls and red tile roofs.

And upon arrival, the older educated youths even held a welcome banquet for them.

That in itself wasn’t unusual.

The unusual part was the scale of the feast.

This time, three new educated youths had come, joining the existing fifteen, making eighteen in total.

Yet they hosted three full banquet tables.

And each table had dishes of fish, chicken, pork, and eggs—a total of ten dishes per table.

Zhou Wen thought ten dishes would be enough for all eighteen.

But there were three tables—thirty dishes in total!

Of course, the dishes were repeated across tables:

steamed fish, deep-fried yellow croaker, braised fish, stir-fried fish scraps, pork and cabbage stew with vermicelli, spicy chicken, scrambled eggs, stir-fried pork with chili, cold shredded radish, cold cucumber salad.

Zhou Wen couldn’t help but be curious—why so much fish?

It was as if fish cost nothing.

Later, after asking around, he learned the truth.

The fish were gifted by the brigade.

Because Qian Family Village had over thirty ponds, every time new educated youths arrived, the brigade would donate fish to their dorm as a gesture of welcome.

Zhou Wen felt he had truly come to a good place.

He had a feeling life here would only get better and better—perhaps he could even help his family back home.

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The Old Qian Household.

Over the past few days, meals at Old Qian’s home had grown worse and worse.

Especially today—lunch was only cornbread and pickled vegetables.

Naturally, people started complaining.

The first to speak was Qian Ertian: “Thirty yuan a month for living expenses, and this is all we eat?”

Lately, Zhao’s mother had been deeply hurt by Old Qian’s family’s attitude.

So she no longer cared to indulge them.

As soon as Qian Ertian spoke, Zhao’s mother fired back:

“Thirty yuan a month, but our family has several people with no work points. Just buying grain costs at least ten yuan a month. Otherwise, what are we supposed to eat? And you—don’t earn any grain yourself, yet every day you freeload from the family table.”

Qian Ertian worked only as a temporary hand, earning fifteen yuan a month.

Of that, ten had to be handed in, while Old Qian allowed him to keep five for food.

He could have eaten in the canteen.

But instead, he insisted on taking food from home, so he could save up more private money.

Unlike the other children of Old Qian, no matter how much or how little they earned, every bit was handed over.

Clearly, Qian Ertian had it easiest.

And yet he was still so picky.

“So what if I freeload?” Qian Ertian said as if it were only right. “Doesn’t my father’s thirty yuan living expense cover me too?”

At this, the youngest of Zhao’s sons spoke up:

“Second Brother, what my mother means is—look at Eldest Brother and Sister-in-law. They each earn more than ten work points daily. Their monthly work point wages are no less than your temporary job’s. Yet they’re filial—they hand everything over to Uncle Qian.”

Some things others couldn’t say.

So the youngest one said it.

Zhao Dongdong had long disliked this second brother of the Qian family, who always picked fights with his mother, as if she had taken too much.

Hearing this, Qian Ertian slammed the table in anger: “Zhao Dongdong, what are you trying to do—sow discord? Even if I keep five yuan as private money, that’s still a matter of our Qian family. What’s it got to do with you?”

Zhao Laoda seized the chance to speak:

“Anyway, you Qian family members never treated us like part of the household. We get no share of the house or property. And now even the monthly living expenses are being counted down to the last cent. Ten yuan just for grain, plus the cost of meat, vegetables, and everyday social obligations—what’s left after that?”

Since the words had already gone this far,

Qian Ertian finally voiced his long-held complaint:

“I’ve done the math. With thirty yuan, unless it’s the month we buy cloth and shoes, Mother should still have over five yuan left each month.”

“Don’t say it’s not every month,” Zhao’s mother shot back sharply. “Even if it were five yuan each time, isn’t that my due? I didn’t ask for the house or property. I slave away every day, cooking and serving you all, making clothes too. And you mean to say I don’t even deserve five yuan?”

At this point,

Old Qian stepped in to smooth things over:

“Ertian, say no more. Since you insist on taking food from home, then every month you’ll buy meat twice for the household to improve our meals. Consider it the price of your packed lunches. Otherwise, stop taking food from home—or hand over that five yuan.”

As head of the family, his word was law.

Though unhappy, Qian Ertian didn’t dare argue further.

After all, the old man was loaded.

He still wanted to get more money out of him later.

Besides, they never said how much meat.

At black-market prices, meat cost around one to one yuan twenty a jin. With tickets, just a few mao.

Buying half a jin twice a month meant he’d spend barely more than a yuan, still leaving nearly four yuan.

After scolding his son, Old Qian turned to Zhao Saihua to lecture her:

“Since we still have five yuan left each month, there’s no need to eat cornbread every day. Use two or three yuan to improve our meals.”

At that, Zhao’s mother laughed coldly:

“Why don’t we just divorce? After all, marrying a man means relying on him for clothes and food. I didn’t ask for your house or property, yet now even the monthly living expenses are being haggled over. What’s the point of going on like this?”

Old Qian was left speechless.

Truthfully, he was very satisfied with his current life and had no desire to divorce.

But Zhao’s mother had always been tolerant, hardly ever raising her voice.

Now, in just a few days, she had repeatedly confronted him and clashed with his children.