"Zhang Liunian, you're slandering me! I never did such a thing. Don't frame me." Exposed, Tu Meili's heart fluttered.
She had done these things very discreetly and carefully; no one knew except for those educated youth.
How did Zhang Liunian find out?
Wait, how could she forget Jiang Qingqing? She was an educated youth herself. Although not from their village, she might know the female educated youths from their village.
"Whether I'm talking nonsense or not, you can ask the female educated youths who haven't left."
Zhang Liunian had long been displeased with her, and seeing her stirring up trouble and not letting him be at peace, he decided to seize this opportunity to reveal her shameful deeds. This way, she wouldn't become the director, and he wouldn't have to deal with her meddling in his affairs openly in the future.
"Zhang Liunian, I'm your sister-in-law. If you slander me like this, when Liuhuo returns, I'll make sure he teaches you a lesson."
Tu Meili gritted her teeth, refusing to admit she had done such things.
"Liunian is not wrong. I've also heard about you from the neighboring Hongshan Brigade."
Seeing her denial, Jiang Qingqing stepped out from behind her husband, her gaze sweeping to the red string on Tu Meili's neck. She continued, "A friend of mine was able to return because of you. To get your help, she gave you a pair of jade pendants, a dragon and phoenix, passed down through her family.
If you want to prove your innocence, you can. Just take out the red string from your chest, and it will prove everything."
Tu Meili had been constantly bothering their family, and Jiang Qingqing found her disagreeable. Seeing her husband wanting to deal with her, she naturally stepped forward without hesitation.
"..." Hearing this, Tu Meili instinctively reached for her neck, her expression filled with panic.
"No, no, there's nothing. I can't reason with you." Tu Meili couldn't think of a better solution for the moment and could only say that before turning and heading home.
Her departure was an implicit admission of her actions.
The crowd erupted in discussion. It turned out that eighty percent of the female educated youths in the village had abandoned their husbands and children for this reason.
They had complained about their village having bad feng shui and encountering only ungrateful people, not realizing Tu Meili was involved in it.
How could she do such a thing?
"So, the reason I'm left alone now is because of Tu Meili?" a young man, abandoned by a female educated youth, suddenly spoke up from the crowd.
Following him, a few others also voiced their sorrow.
Finally, they marched to Tu Meili's house to question her. Tu Meili denied it, but they didn't believe her. They pulled at the red string around her neck and saw that it was indeed the dragon and phoenix jade pendant.
Now it was undeniable; it was Tu Meili who had done it.
The angry young men and women attacked Tu Meili with fists and kicks, and finally declared that they would never allow her to become the women's director.
Zhang Liunian didn't care about these matters. He saw off Zhang Laoshi and the others, then helped his wife into the house and began preparing the braised dishes.
Washing vegetables, chopping, lighting the fire, putting them in the pot, and covering the lid, they waited for the food to cook.
He joined his wife by the side to peel shrimp, while their daughter played with a lobster nearby. As she played, she wandered towards the door.
Zhang Liunian withdrew his gaze from his daughter and asked, "How is Yaba?"
"Much better. He'll be able to come to work tomorrow. I went to see him at noon. His fever has broken, but he's still weak. I told him to rest for another day."
"That's good," Zhang Liunian breathed a sigh of relief.
"Liunian, did you buy a flatbed cart? Why did you think of buying a flatbed cart?" Jiang Qingqing was a little confused. She thought buying a bicycle would be best.
However, with outstanding debts, a bicycle would have to wait.
"Yes, I signed an order contract with the machinery factory at noon. Tomorrow, besides what we need to sell, we also need to deliver three hundred jin of lobsters to them. We can't carry that with just shoulder poles."
Upon hearing that her husband had signed another order, Jiang Qingqing's eyes lit up, and she looked at Zhang Liunian with surprise, "Really?"
That's wonderful! Their quantity would double, and so would their income. It was already over a hundred yuan a day, but tomorrow it would be over two hundred yuan.
My heavens, their family would earn over two hundred yuan a day?
Wouldn't the remaining debts be paid off tomorrow?
Ah! That's wonderful, wonderful, they could finally clear their debts.
Jiang Qingqing was overcome with excitement, wishing she could just hug Zhang Liunian.
But her sister-in-law was still nearby, so she couldn't do that.
Suppressing her excitement, Jiang Qingqing had to praise her husband again to express her joy and happiness. "Liunian, you're amazing! You're so capable, always bringing in new revenue for our family."
"Of course, who wouldn't be when they have a good wife?" Zhang Liunian raised his eyebrows proudly.
Jiang Qingqing's face turned slightly pink at his words, her eyes sparkling with affection, and she shyly glanced at her sister-in-law next to them.
Seeing her diligently peeling shrimp, as if she hadn't heard their playful banter, anyone looking at her ears would notice they were blushing crimson. She was already embarrassed.
Zhang Liunian noticed his wife's shy gaze and realized he had been a bit too much. Such words were best said when they were in bed.
Clearing his throat twice, Zhang Liunian resumed peeling shrimp.
Jiang Qingqing, trying hard to prevent herself from blushing and her heart from pounding, fell silent for a moment before recalling a problem.
"Then our pressure tomorrow will be very high, right? How many jin do we need to peel in the morning?"
Once a cooperation is established, the task quantities must be clear to avoid losing credibility.
Zhang Liunian looked up and smiled at her, saying, "The machinery factory needs three hundred jin by noon, and the construction site needs another one hundred and twenty jin. So, we need four hundred and twenty jin of lobster meat tomorrow morning.
The afternoon will be better, with the more than one hundred jin we sell ourselves at the construction site."
Zhang Liunian had already calculated it, and a hint of solemnity appeared on his face as he finished speaking.
Four hundred and twenty jin in one morning was clearly too much for just a few of them!
It seemed he would need to find one or two more people. Who would be suitable?
Zhang Liunian began to ponder personnel in his mind, while the aroma of braised dishes wafted from the main hall.
Passing by, the villagers on their way to work, smelling the fragrance, couldn't help but recall the braised dishes they had eaten last night.
It was so delicious.
When did this Zhang Liunian acquire such great culinary skills?
No, they should leave quickly, otherwise, they wouldn't be able to walk any further.
The surrounding neighbors hurried away, while the young children left at home, taking advantage of the elders' inattention, all gathered around.
Then, they saw Zhang Yehua squatting on the ground playing with lobsters. The lobsters were large, as big as their hands, crawling around and always falling into the small holes Zhang Yehua had dug beforehand.
As they watched, they couldn't help but join in.
However, not long after, Hua Bao's voice was heard from outside the house.
"My dad is not a lazybones, he's not!"
Hearing this, Zhang Liunian immediately put down the lobsters and walked out. He saw his precious daughter standing with her hands on her hips in front of a group of children, her face puffed up like a pufferfish.
"Exactly, exactly! Your dad is the lazybones of our village. My parents used to say that."
"My parents said the same thing, that your dad is the laziest person in the whole world."
"..."
These children were all five or six years old. When they said this, they didn't have any malicious intent; they were simply stating the impression Zhang Liunian had in their parents' eyes.
Zhang Liunian wasn't angry, but seeing his daughter defending him so fiercely, his heart warmed immensely.