80s Transmigration: The Young Widow's Hustle to Riches

Chapter 380 - 378: The Brigade Holds a Meeting

Li Guizhi said, "What kind of family do you think you are? We’re next-door neighbors, how could I not know? I give you a couple of vegetables, and you return a whole basket. Only someone who got their head slammed in a door would make up a rumor like that."

Yang Liying nodded. "Exactly. I think they’re just jealous of Lin Lan."

Li Guizhi laughed self-deprecatingly. "That’s right. When my family started a stall selling fried potatoes, Zhang Yazhen went around telling everyone I was a bootlicker, a suck-up shamelessly fawning over Lin Lan."

Lin Lan patted Li Guizhi’s shoulder. "Sister Li, why waste your time on people like her? As the saying goes, a close neighbor is better than a distant relative. When you do well, I do well. That’s how we all prosper!"

Li Guizhi nodded repeatedly. "Exactly. I couldn’t stand them having nothing better to do than stir up trouble, so I started keeping my distance."

The three of them were still talking as they entered the meeting hall, where they saw Liu Guozhi, accountant Jin, and He Xianghua were already present.

Liu Jinbao, who was sitting in the front row, saw Lin Lan walk in alongside Yang Liying. His expression darkened, and he began whispering to Zhang Hua next to him.

Lin Lan glanced at Liu Jinbao. The three of them made their way to an empty wooden bench in the middle of the hall and sat down, exchanging greetings with villagers they knew.

After the three of them were seated, Zhang Yazhen and a few other women entered the hall and sat on the bench in the row behind them.

Seeing that most people had arrived, Liu Guozhi sat down in front of the microphone and tapped it. "Fellow members, quiet down. Quiet down."

A young hothead named Liu Jiang shouted, "Brigade Leader, if you have something to say, spit it out! I’m in a hurry to get to work at the kiln!"

"Yeah, my ducks are still out by the ditch. It’ll be a pain if they wander off."

Since the introduction of the household responsibility system, brigade members only came to the communal grounds when it was their turn to work the collective fields. Otherwise, they couldn’t be bothered to show up.

Some had started small businesses, others were growing vegetables to sell, and some were raising ducks.

The clever and hardworking families were all reaping the benefits of the new system. The people who used to gather on the brigade’s threshing ground during the slack season to bask in the sun, shoot the breeze, and gamble had all but disappeared.

Liu Guozhi glanced at the speakers and said, "I know you’re all busy, so I’ll make this quick. I’ve called you all here today for two reasons. First, to discuss the start of the rapeseed harvest tomorrow. And second, I want to talk about the issue of residential land..."

As soon as he mentioned residential land, the villagers below began to whisper among themselves...

Liu Guozhi watched the villagers whispering openly below, a complicated feeling washing over him. ’Tomorrow will be the last time I lead them out to work...’

An old man stood up. "Brigade Leader, what could be the problem with residential land? When a son grows up and takes a wife, the family divides. The brigade is supposed to give us a plot of land. What’s there to discuss?"

Liu Guozhi frowned, suppressing his impatience. "Uncle Wang, let me finish before you speak."

"Fine, you talk!" Uncle Wang sat back down.

"Ahem, ahem." Liu Guozhi cleared his throat. "First, about the rapeseed harvest. The brigade has arranged it like this: work starts at the usual time, as soon as the loudspeaker goes off.

After the rapeseed is cut and carried to the threshing ground, the stalks left in the fields are for each family to collect themselves. The brigade won’t be involved in distributing them.

This is the last time our brigade will be working together. I hope everyone shows up on time, just like always. Let’s roll up our sleeves, get it done quickly, and then you can all get back to your own work."

Uncle Wang nodded. "That’s right. We’ll be working for ourselves from now on. No more eating from the communal pot. Now we’ll really see who’s a horse and who’s a mule."

Sun Xiuhua pursed her lips. "What’s there to see? Look around, some people have already moved to the city and are living in fancy villas."

Zhang Yazhen picked up where she left off, her eyes on Lin Lan in the row ahead. In a snide, passive-aggressive tone, she said, "Exactly. And then there are others who’ve crawled out of who-knows-what godforsaken mountain hollow to come live here. With all these outsiders, our village will never know peace."

Lin Lan shot to her feet, spun around, and glared icily at Zhang Yazhen. "You stinking bitch, if you’ve got the guts, say my name. What kind of pathetic coward runs their mouth behind people’s backs?"

Zhang Yazhen stared back at Lin Lan. "If the shoe fits, wear it." She then turned to the rest of the villagers. "Everyone, you tell me. Haven’t outsiders come to our village? If something goes missing from someone’s house later on, who’s going to take responsibility?"

Lin Lan’s voice was low and dangerous. "Responsible for my ass! You meddling bitch, always stirring up shit. I was trying to run a small business, and you reported me to the joint defense patrol time and time again. When you failed to screw me over, you went to Lirong’s house and goaded her into picking a fight with me. But look at me, I’m still standing here, doing just fine!"

As she spoke, she lunged forward and slapped Zhang Yazhen across the face. "You bitch! How dare you lie through your teeth and spread such filth! You better tell me right now, what did you lose? Which one of your eyes saw my family take it? If you don’t make yourself clear, I’ll tear you to shreds."

Zhang Yazhen had never imagined Lin Lan would dare to strike her in the middle of a meeting. She was stunned for a moment, but when she recovered, she shrieked in fury, "You damn shrew, you dare hit me?" and lunged at Lin Lan.

Yang Liying and Li Guizhi quickly stood up and grabbed her arms. "Lin Lan is a single mother who can barely feed her child! She was just making a few snacks to sell in the Eucalyptus Forest to earn a little money, and you go and report her to the patrol.

You’ve pulled this kind of rotten, heartless stunt more than once! You were the one who instigated a fight between Sister Sun and Lin Lan, too. Let me tell you, your schemes to hurt people won’t work. You shouldn’t be so vicious. Vicious people get what they deserve."

The woman sitting next to Zhang Yazhen also tried to calm her down. "Yazhen, let it go. Just talk it out."

Zhang Yazhen kept struggling. "You vixen! I’ll kill you..."

Zhang Jun’s wife held Zhang Yazhen back, feigning concern. "That’s right, just talk it out. Have you forgotten how badly my Zhang Jun was beaten up that time? We can’t afford to provoke her, but we can avoid her."

Lin Lan looked at her and said coldly, "A foul mouth deserves to be slapped. Some people can’t control what comes out of their mouths. They should be careful, or they might find their mouths torn open to their ears."

Zhang Jun’s wife gave Lin Lan a dark look. "So we can’t provoke you, and we can’t avoid you either?"

Lin Lan met her gaze. "People do as they please, but Heaven is always watching. Good is rewarded, and evil is punished. If there’s no retribution yet, it’s only because the time hasn’t come."

Zhang Jun’s wife let go of Zhang Yazhen. "Well, fine! So a person can’t even say a word of reason around here. It’s their fight, let them settle it. It’s got nothing to do with me!"

"What’s the beef between Zhang Yazhen and Lin Lan, anyway? I’ve seen them go at it more than once."

"She’s got a screw loose. She’s always running her mouth behind people’s backs. Just because Lin Lan didn’t hear it firsthand and couldn’t be bothered with her before doesn’t mean she was scared of her."

"Having people come here to rent is a good thing! I was thinking of renting out a couple of rooms myself!"

Some of the older villagers recalled that before the crackdown on "capitalist tails," the small-time vendors who made a living in the East Market couldn’t afford city rents, so they would rent rooms in Lexing, which was the closest village. Renting out spare rooms was a good way to supplement the family income.

The more clever ones, seeing people start to rent out their houses, were already thinking about building a couple of extra rooms on their private plots to rent out.

Zhang Yazhen continued to struggle. "Let go of me! Today, I’m going to tear her to pieces..."