VHBF – Chapter 103 The Village Bully Daddy (Part 14)

After the relief grain was distributed, the production team divided up the remaining grain from before, allocating it by headcount. When the commune members gathered to calculate it, they figured that eating until they were completely full wasn’t really possible, but reaching five or six tenths full would be no problem. And if they exchanged some of the fine grain for coarse grain, they could hold out even longer.

That whole winter, the members were filled with hope and drive. When spring came next year, they planned to work even harder, so as to be worthy of this grain!

After December came January. The period before the New Year was the coldest—almost as if the weather changed overnight. The temperature dropped sharply, the sky turned gloomy, and before long snowflakes began to drift down.

Dahuai Village was backed by mountains, and every winter the mountains turned into a sea of snow.

The commune primary school had gone on break. Of the four children in the Old Qin family who went to school, the twins—Hei Mian and Bai Mian—couldn’t sit still anymore; they wanted to go out and have snowball fights.

Da Hua stayed inside helping her mother with chores. Xiao Hua propped her chin on her hand and sat in the main room watching her little cousin. Grandma had said that if she watched her little cousin properly, she’d make her a cup of brown sugar water later, so Xiao Hua stared without blinking.

Yinyin was holding a pencil, scribbling and drawing on paper, producing crooked, wobbly lines. She lifted her head and looked at Xiao Hua in confusion.

“Big Sister Xiao Hua, you’re so free?”

Xiao Hua shook her head. She wasn’t free—she’d been given a task, helping to look after her little cousin.

After shaking her head, Xiao Hua thought for a moment, then took out a small square piece of sugar from her pocket and handed it over. “Yinyin, here.”

This was what Grandma had given Xiao Hua before going out, telling her to coax the little cousin so she wouldn’t be tricked by brothers Hei Mian and Bai Mian into running outside to play wildly.

Grandma had said that if she managed to soothe her sister well, then if there was any sugar left when she came back, it would be her reward.

Da Hua was learning to make clothes. With the cold weather, sitting on the heated kang was still okay, but if you went outside you had to dress thickly, otherwise you wouldn’t be able to endure it.

In the past, when clothes got too short, you’d unpick them and sew on new fabric. If the family had any extra cotton, you could stuff some inside, and after mending and patching, it would become a “new” little padded jacket.

This padded jacket—taken apart and sewn back together many times—was Da Hua’s most treasured piece of clothing. She relied on this single jacket to get through the entire winter.

Da Hua thought of Third Uncle’s daughter, little Yinyin—the tiny, soft little cousin.

She knew she shouldn’t compare herself with a three-year-old, and she knew Yinyin was obedient and sensible, kind to all the older brothers and sisters, always generously sharing whatever she had. But when Da Hua thought about how Grandma had told Third Uncle to go to the county supply and marketing cooperative to buy her a brand-new padded coat, her eyes couldn’t help but turn red.

The only padded jackets she and Xiao Hua had were ones they’d worn since childhood, made by their own mother. Why did Yinyin get to buy new clothes—and ready-made ones at that?

She’d heard that padded jackets at the supply and marketing cooperative weren’t easy to buy. You needed ration coupons and money, and a decent one cost more than ten yuan. And Grandma was actually willing to spend that!

Zhao Yueya’s belly was already very big, and she could give birth at any time. Chen Qiuhua said the baby would definitely come before the New Year.

Seeing her daughter looking distracted, Zhao Yueya reached out and patted her head, asking what was wrong.

“Mom, why do you think Grandma is so biased?”

As soon as Zhao Yueya heard this, she understood what her eldest daughter was thinking. She herself had asked the same question earlier—why?

Zhao Yueya couldn’t figure it out either. She was about to give birth and didn’t want to fall out with her mother-in-law over this. If she could give birth to a son, then she’d have the confidence to argue back.

So for now, she could only pat her daughter’s head and say, “You’re just a child, don’t think about these things. Didn’t you want to learn needlework to sew yourself a padded jacket? Have you learned yet?”

Da Hua shook her head and lowered her gaze, threading the needle.

The Old Qin household was peaceful and serene—more accurately, the entire production brigade was like this. By this time of year, there was no need to go out to work or do any labor. Everyone just stayed home to “hibernate through winter,” brewing a cup of hot water, cracking some peanuts or melon seeds—there was nothing more enjoyable than that.

The only one in the team still sticking to her post was the team leader’s mother, Chen Qiuhua. The four pigs she’d raised were still in the pen. They had to wait until the end of the year to officially hand them over before she could finally rest.

At first, Yinyin was quite serious. She drew herself, then added a tall daddy beside her, then drew Grandpa and Grandma. After finishing these, she lay down on the table—she still hadn’t finished yet. There were also two pairs of uncles and aunts, plus her twin brothers and Da Hua and Xiao Hua sisters.

But drawing all that had already reached Yinyin’s limit. Her patience ran out.

She lay sprawled on the table, her chubby little face scrunched to one side. “Big Sister Xiao Hua, why hasn’t Daddy come back yet?”

Qin Yuli had gone to the county early in the morning to buy supplies. Besides buying his daughter a warm padded jacket, he also needed to buy some things for the New Year. Even if they couldn’t eat anything fancy, Chen Qiuhua was planning to wait until the pigs were divided up, and on New Year’s Eve have the whole family make dumplings together! With meat filling!

There was no white flour at home. Qin Yuli carried five jin of soybeans to exchange with someone, and even added a handful of dried shiitake mushrooms before the other party agreed.

This was done at the local free market. Before the New Year, everyone was short on money and supplies, so they brought surplus items produced at home to trade with others.

In the county, this small free market was set up specifically for ordinary people. At this time, enforcement wasn’t as strict as it would be in later years. As long as you weren’t buying low and selling high, it was fine to barter your own goods at the free market.

Qin Yuli should have left after exchanging for the white flour, but out of the corner of his eye he spotted a stall displaying some old books. The most eye-catching thing was a stack of small, colorful illustrated comic booklets on top.

After that brief hesitation, Qin Yuli felt as if he couldn’t lift his feet. Almost against his will, his legs carried him over to the stall. He squatted down and casually flipped through the colorful little lianhuanhua comic books, then asked, “How much are these?”

The book seller was a middle-aged man. Seeing a young fellow leafing through children’s comics, he smiled and said, “Buying them for your daughter, little brother?”

“These were left behind by my brat at home,” the man went on before Qin Yuli could answer. “He’s gone to the capital with his mother now and won’t be coming back. I figured I’d just bundle them up and sell them—at least other kids can read them, so they won’t go to waste.”

The middle-aged man sounded a bit sentimental. When he looked like he wanted to keep talking, Qin Yuli frowned slightly and asked, “Name a price.”

There were three books in total—by coincidence, a complete set.

The man chuckled. “A few jin of meat coupons will do. Heh, add a dish for the New Year.”

In the city, not only was meat hard to buy, meat coupons were also in short supply. Often, before you even finished waiting in line, all the meat would already be sold out.

Especially before the New Year, meat and fish were the hardest things to come by.

Qin Yuli didn’t have any meat coupons on him. He wandered around for a bit, then returned to the stall and handed them over. The middle-aged man took one look—three jin’s worth! He briskly passed the books over. “Take them, take them.”

After picking up the three comics, Qin Yuli’s eyes were caught by a book that had been lying underneath them. “Comprehensive Principles of Machinery?”

Qin Yuli said, “I’ll take this one too.”

The man had already gotten the meat coupons and was thinking of packing up and leaving—the weather was bitterly cold, and standing there any longer would freeze his hands and feet stiff. He tilted his head for a look; it was a mechanical disassembly book he couldn’t understand anyway. He tossed it over casually. “Comrade, you look agreeable today—let’s call it making a friend.”

Qin Yuli asked, “Big brother, to have books like this at home, your family must really know their stuff?”

The man waved his hand. “Not me—my dad. He used to be an old worker at the machinery factory. Pity I didn’t live up to it. These things make my head hurt the moment I try to learn them…”

The man turned out to be a chatterbox. Grabbing someone to talk to, he poured out his pent-up frustrations. He said he worked at the largest machinery factory in the county, but he’d never had any talent for mechanics. Books didn’t make sense to him, and the more he studied, the worse his headaches got. Later, when his father retired, he even swapped his well-paid, stable position as a senior maintenance master at the machinery plant with someone else for a warehouse-keeper job.

Warehouse work, of course, wasn’t nearly as valued as technical work—especially not a master craftsman’s role, which came with good pay and stability.

He rambled on for quite a while. Qin Yuli picked out the useful information and quietly took note of the man. When he was leaving, he thought for a moment, then tossed a packet of dried shiitake mushrooms into the man’s box.

These were mountain goods, perfect for making soup.

After the autumn harvest, there had been two rounds of rain. While cutting pig fodder, Chen Qiuhua had picked some fresh mushrooms, later dried them, and stored them in jars. Whenever she stewed a pot of soup, she’d toss in a few slices—fragrant beyond words.

This time, since they were coming out to exchange for white flour, she’d brought some along just in case. It really did come in handy. City folks prized these things, and those three jin of meat coupons for the books had been traded by Qin Yuli using dried mushrooms.

Zhu Dawei was taken aback for a moment. Watching the young fellow run off in a hurry, he couldn’t help but laugh and shake his head. The kid was far too polite—he’d only given away a tattered old book, yet received a whole packet of dried mushrooms in return.

Country folk really were straightforward and sincere. Dealing with people like that put one at ease.

By the time Qin Yuli reached home, the snow that had fallen all day had just stopped.

He paused for a moment before stepping inside. At the entrance to the main room, a tiny little Yinyin sat on a small wooden stool, both hands propping up her chubby chin, staring longingly at the doorway. The moment she saw him come in, her eyes lit up. Like a little cannonball, she charged over, threw her arms around Qin Yuli’s leg, and even tried to climb up with both hands and feet.

Qin Yuli scooped her up easily and rubbed her cheeks, red from the cold, with his hand. “Sitting at the doorway blowing in the cold wind?”

The little one was wrapped up so tightly she was almost a ball. The coat she wore had been contributed by her older brother, Bai Mian—he was a boy and got better treatment. He was getting a new coat this year, so the one that had become too small for him was taken apart and altered for his little sister to wear first.

The girl had only arrived less than half a year ago. The clothes bought earlier were enough for autumn, but winter was definitely another matter, so this was just an emergency stopgap.

An old padded jacket had been taken apart and stuffed with a lot of cotton. Considering her tiny frame, Chen Qiuhua had made it almost as thick as a quilt.

The pants were padded too. Worn on her body, they made her short little legs look even plumper.

Yinyin was a clever child. Don’t be fooled by the redness in her small face—she wasn’t cold at all. Her little paws were tucked into her pockets, her whole body wrapped up like a ball. Whoever got cold, it wouldn’t be her.

Holding his daughter, Qin Yuli walked into the house, his steps much lighter than when he’d come in earlier.

He had a pile of things strapped to his back. When he took out the three colorful lianhuanhua, half-new and half-old, the children of the Old Qin family all stared, dumbfounded.

“Th-Third Uncle, where did these come from?”

“Third Uncle, can I borrow one to take a look?”

The chubby kid at the commune primary school—the richest child in the entire school—only had a single comic book himself. He’d read it over and over, treasured it dearly, and wouldn’t even let others touch it.

The few books Third Uncle was holding were clearly better than the ones Fat Dun had—one look and you could tell they were far nicer, the illustrations exquisitely drawn.

Qin Yuli dodged the twins’ grabbing hands and stuffed the three books into Yinyin’s arms. “Take them and play.”

The twins, Da Hua and Xiao Hua: “……”

Third Uncle was way too biased…

With the New Year approaching, Qin Yuli made several more trips to the county town. Each time he came back, he’d hole up in his own room, then head to the commune again. Back and forth, he fussed around for several days.

No one in the Old Qin family knew what he was up to. They just assumed he was reverting to his old nature, running around having fun again. Third Son had always been like that—loved to play, loved to make trouble, and whenever he had nothing to do he’d run around with the local ruffians from inside and outside the village.

Besides, there was no farm work to do right now, so the Old Qin family couldn’t be bothered to rein him in.

There was a heavily pregnant woman in the household waiting to give birth. Other than the men, only Chen Qiuhua and her second daughter-in-law could work.

Chen Qiuhua was run ragged, directing her second daughter-in-law to do this and that, preparing for the New Year.

Before the New Year even arrived, Qin Yuli braved a heavy snowfall to make another trip to the county town, then rushed back and announced a piece of good news to the family.

Chen Qiuhua reacted the strongest. Her voice trembled as she asked, “Th-third… what did you just say? Where are you going?”

Qin Yuli repeated himself. “I’ve made connections with people from the machinery factory. All this running around lately was for that.”

“You went to the commune to learn driving on the tractor? And you got acquainted with people from the machinery factory? They helped you a lot—and even introduced you to a job?”

“Mom, I’ve received commune commendations before. I was on the newspaper. I’m a model working man. As soon as Secretary Yang heard I wanted to learn, she agreed.”

“And that comrade from the machinery side is kind-hearted. You know your son’s likable—I get along wherever I go…”

“Enough, enough—get to the point!”

Chen Qiuhua impatiently cut him off. She suspected her son was bragging again. Was he trying to stir something up?

Jobs were so hard to come by these days. No matter how generous a machinery factory worker was, could he really introduce someone to a job?

This time, though, it truly was a combination of luck and Qin Yuli’s deliberate maneuvering.

Toward the end of the year, most work came to a halt—except for the transport fleet. They still had to run back and forth delivering supplies to various county units. With the New Year coming, what the people needed most was supplies.

The old brother who sold books to Qin Yuli, Zhu Dawei, was a bona fide second-generation worker. He’d grown up in the county workers’ compound and knew plenty of people across the county’s major factories and units. Even if he wasn’t particularly accomplished, he could still put in a good word.

It just so happened that an old brother at the machinery factory, responsible for repairing vehicles for the food factory’s transport fleet, casually complained that young people these days were less and less willing to endure hardship. They griped about the cold weather and snow making roads hard to drive. Several drivers had taken leave, unwilling to take on the year-end runs. The vehicles were already repaired, yet no one came to pick them up.

Other provinces were waiting—waiting for supplies to be delivered. Who knew the transport fleet would have several people essentially go on strike, finding all kinds of excuses not to go? They said that if they ran into heavy snow blocking the roads, they might not be able to return, and could end up spending the New Year stuck on the road in another place.

Even the food factory was frantic, scolding the drivers one by one—but scolding didn’t help.

After all, running vehicles during the New Year was extra overtime. If workers refused and the factory forced them, and someone complained to the union, the factory would be in trouble. Yet the food factory couldn’t bear to lose such a big order, so things remained deadlocked.

The speaker had no intention, but the listener did. Qin Yuli’s interest was piqued. He spent several days preparing, front to back. He wanted this job.

Over these days, Qin Yuli used “not understanding mechanical principles” as an excuse to visit and ask for advice, and he got along quite well with the Zhu-surnamed, honest, chubby middle-aged man. Zhu Dawei himself was pretty lost—he didn’t really understand machinery either. Otherwise, would he have sold off that big, thick book?

After getting home without even having a bite of meat, he got a solid beating from his old man.

That was when Qin Yuli came calling.

Using consultation as a pretext, he never came empty-handed, always bringing some countryside trinkets as gifts.

Zhu Dawei was probably used to being looked down on for not understanding machinery. Seeing Qin Yuli ask humbly for instruction satisfied his vanity at every turn, so he waved his hand and said he could teach him some basics.

One clueless man teaching another—yet the student was smart. A casual question would stump him. Zhu Dawei would frown, but he really didn’t want to lose face in front of Qin Yuli, his “country bumpkin apprentice,” so he thick-skinned it and went to ask his own father for advice. Back and forth like this, Old Master Zhu noticed something odd, and so Qin Yuli naturally entered his line of sight.

After testing Qin Yuli with a few questions, Old Master Zhu discovered a “good seed” and immediately had the urge to take him on.

These days, people didn’t really say “take on a disciple.” They called it teaching students—master craftsmen guiding learners. Old Master Zhu had long regretted that his own son couldn’t inherit his skills. Now, by a twist of fate, the man who’d bought his book turned out to be talented, clever, and diligent. Being his teacher gave Old Master Zhu a great sense of accomplishment.

In just a few days, Qin Yuli had become very familiar with the Zhu father and son. When Qin Yuli mentioned wanting to try helping out by driving transport for others, Old Master Zhu personally went to make introductions for him.

That part was easy to handle. With the New Year approaching, no one wanted to go anyway. Letting him help run a vehicle or two was fine—just pay him some wages for this one trip. It wouldn’t upset the leaders, and once the run was done, the job would still be in their own hands. No big deal.

The only concern was whether this young man could actually drive. Could he handle sudden vehicle issues? He’d need to be bold yet careful—who knew what kinds of damned ruffians blocking the road he might run into.

When they heard that Qin Yuli could drive, already had his license, and was Old Master Zhu’s student learning repairs from him, they were reassured.

Qin Yuli had learned to drive at the commune. This stuff was simple enough, and he was naturally good at it. With a few pointers from the drivers there and some back-and-forth practice, he’d mastered it.

Later, once he got to the county town, the first thing Old Master Zhu asked was whether he could drive. Hearing from his disciple that he could—just that he didn’t have a license yet—Old Master Zhu, who’d repaired vehicles his whole life and knew plenty of people in that field, slipped Qin Yuli into an exam. Two days later, the license was out—fast as hell.

Drivers were scarce these days, and licensed drivers even more so. Once they heard he had credentials, they were already more than halfway convinced.

Then they heard he’d learned repairs from Old Master Zhu, knew more than the average driver, and could figure out solutions if something broke down on the road.

That sealed it. “You’re the one!”

Even the ten yuan hardship fee they’d initially planned to give was raised to twenty.

Of course, workers couldn’t be privately replaced—no one had that authority or the guts. But recommendations were allowed.

Under the title of a temporary worker, Qin Yuli was hired by the machinery factory to help transport the final batch of pre–New Year supplies out of the province.

After hearing all this, the Old Qin family clicked their tongues, staring at Third Son in disbelief.

He still looked as carefree and unserious as ever, yet without a word he’d landed a job—and a temporary position at the county machinery factory, no less!

Even if this temporary job only lasted for this period, it was still incredibly valuable. Having been a temporary worker at a machinery factory would go into your file, making it much easier to find opportunities in the future.

Chen Qiuhua reached out, wanting to feel her son’s forehead to see if he’d developed delusions. Qin Yuli shook his head, slapped the signed contract down in front of them, and said, “Stop overthinking it—it’s absolutely real. The convoy leaves a little after five tomorrow morning.”