RYEY – Chapter 138 The Human Traffickers Have Arrived

After eating and drinking their fill, the two of them carried ten lunchboxes packed with food and went back to the supply and marketing cooperative. Of course, Qiu Min already knew what had happened; Skinny Monkey had been so scared that he cried in her shop.

“Cheng Qiao, are you still going to keep doing this in the future?”

“Of course! Only a fool wouldn’t make money when they can.”

Qiu Min felt bitter. She would gladly be that “fool,” but her family didn’t have money. Once she had a child, she would have to sell her work position, which meant she’d lose her income completely.

“You could sell your job to Skinny Monkey. At least you’d still have some income.”

Cheng Qiao was puzzled by her train of thought. Qiu Min shook her head. She had already been forced to promise that once she had a child, she would sell her position to her eldest sister. But this wasn’t something she wanted to tell Cheng Qiao.

Following Cheng Qiao’s suggestions, Qiu Min took out malted milk essence, Snow Cream, clam oil, mung bean cakes, fruit candies, and other snacks and daily goods, spending nearly twenty yuan.

On the way back, Cheng Qiao felt that something wasn’t right. She tugged at Li Huan’s arm: “Qiu Min seems to have something on her mind.”

“According to Skinny Monkey, she’s had some conflict with her family. We shouldn’t get involved.”

“Hey, Li Huan, doesn’t our village also get a quota for the Workers, Peasants, and Soldiers University?”

“I don’t know. We didn’t have time today. I’ll ask tomorrow. If we do get one, you should go.”

“I won’t go. I’m having a baby this year—it wouldn’t be convenient.”

“Then we’ll let Wang Xiangyang go. That fellow’s pretty sharp.”

“But won’t that cause chaos at the educated youth spot?”

“So what? I’m the village head, so I make the decisions. If they don’t like it, let them be village head instead.”

Cheng Qiao nodded. From her experience in her past life, the village head’s power really was absolute—basically a one-man rule. If you didn’t obey, there were plenty of ways to make your life miserable.

“Even if there’s a quota, don’t announce it yet. Let’s observe quietly first. Whoever performs best—we’ll give it to them.”

“Perform best? In what way?”

“Silly! You’ve already set up a literacy class and a security team. I bet you’ve got a third big move planned. We’ll just wait and see who does best. You’ll award the quota to them.”

“Mm, wife, you’re right. That’s what we’ll do. Tomorrow I’ll go ask the commune. Why’s one quota such a big secret anyway—what nonsense.”

“Don’t forget to bring gifts. If you see an auntie, give her an egg. If you see a young girl, give her candy. If you see a man, offer him a cigarette.”

“Ah, good thing you reminded me! The person in charge at the commune gave me five yuan for two packs of cigarettes, and I almost forgot.”

“You really are…”

Two packs of Peony cigarettes, worth five yuan and eight cents, appeared in Cheng Qiao’s hand. Li Huan hurriedly dug into his pockets, but after rummaging around only found twenty cents. He had already handed all his money over to Cheng Qiao.

“Qiao, I’ll pay you back once I get my wages.”

“When you get your wages, you’ll just give me exactly five yuan and eight cents?”

Li Huan’s mind was perfectly clear at this moment. He smiled at her: “How could I? Wages and ration tickets all go straight to my wife, not a cent less. As for pocket money, I’ll take whatever my wife says.”

Cheng Qiao nodded with satisfaction. People said when a man has money, he goes bad; when a woman goes bad, she gets money. That’s why she would never let Li Huan carry more than ten cents at a time.

The next morning, Li Huan rushed out early and finally got insider news. Their village did indeed have one quota, but the official notice wouldn’t come until after May. He kept this information to himself.

Time passed quickly. The security team had been patrolling for nearly a month. Not to mention traffickers—not even a villager from a neighboring village had come visiting.

“Where are these traffickers supposed to be? Those educated youths are always paranoid. We shouldn’t listen to them anymore.”

“Silly, isn’t being on the security team great? You get work points every day and snacks at night.”

“That’s true. We’ll just keep at it. After all, there aren’t any traffickers.”

Uncle Niu grew anxious when he saw the guards slacking off. He shouted angrily that enemies were cunning and liked to strike when least expected, so they had to stay vigilant.

The scolded team members mumbled agreement, but the moment Uncle Niu left, they started slacking again—this one ran off to pee, that one went to drink water. Before long, only Da Mao was left standing guard at the straw shed.

Da Mao glared at them angrily. Truth be told, he wanted to leave too, but his father had sternly warned him that if he dared slack off, he would no longer acknowledge him as a son.

At the same time, in the village committee office, Li Huan and Chen Weidang were proctoring exams. The literacy class was nearly over, and it was time for Li Huan to fulfill his promise.

Auntie Wang was the first up. Cuihua pointed at the characters on the blackboard with a stick, and Auntie Wang read them all correctly—she now recognized over two hundred characters.

“Well done, Auntie Wang! Please take your prize of one jin of white flour.”

Auntie Wang smiled so wide her wrinkles overlapped. She could read now, which meant she might even snatch a job tallying work points. That job was easy and earned eight points a day!

On the men’s side, Chen Weidang also pointed at the blackboard with a stick, but the learners were children. Perhaps because kids absorbed knowledge quickly, even the weakest had managed to win a jin of sorghum flour.

The top student was Gou Dan, age six, the only grandson of Grandma Chen. Her son and daughter-in-law had both been soldiers who died heroically. Fortunately, they left behind a grandson, giving her a reason to live on.

Grandma Chen was too old to work in the fields, but thanks to her children’s military pension, she and her grandson could survive.

Gou Dan was very sensible. He knew if he learned two hundred characters, he’d win a jin of white flour, so he studied diligently. His grandma’s teeth were bad, and he wanted to give her soft white flour to eat.

Li Huan pulled out seven White Rabbit candies. Lele had promised the kids that whoever got first place would win candy. Why seven? Because people said seven White Rabbits equaled a cup of milk.

Gou Dan stuffed the candies in his pocket, held the flour in his arms, and ran home with his little neighbor, Gou Sheng. But he was so happy that he ran too fast, and four-year-old Gou Sheng couldn’t keep up.

“Brother Gou Dan, wait for me!”

Gou Sheng stumbled and fell, dropping his bag of sorghum flour. He cried in distress. It had taken him a lot of effort to learn twenty-five characters to earn that flour—he couldn’t let it go to waste.

Gou Dan glanced back at him, wanting to help, but then thought of making Grandma happy first. So he told Gou Sheng to wait there; he’d be right back.

Gou Sheng nodded and slowly began putting the spilled sorghum back into the bag. He had only just begun when someone popped a piece of candy into his mouth.

Gou Sheng’s heart leapt. He knew Gou Dan had seven White Rabbits, so he quickly mumbled his thanks: “Thank you, Brother Gou Dan!”

“Little one, I’ve got lots more candy here. Want some more?”