VHBF – Chapter 89 The Village Bully Daddy (Part 2)

The Dahuai Production Team was in an uproar!

The commune members spread the news from mouth to mouth: today the team leader’s mother, Old Lady Chen, had run into a wild boar. Not only had she managed to escape and save her old life, she had actually taken the boar down—and was waiting for everyone to come and share the meat!

From last year to this year, things had only gotten worse. Even eating from the communal pot, people couldn’t get full anymore. It wasn’t like a few years back, when you could really eat your fill. Still, the Dahuai Production Team’s leader was considered capable—he could manage to provide two meals a day for the team. Lunch you could eat until you were full; dinner only about half full. As for breakfast? If you could get a mouthful of hot water to fill your stomach, that was already pretty good.

After finishing a meal, everyone’s stomachs were still empty. They didn’t even dare wander around after eating—had to save their strength, so they wouldn’t be too hungry to sleep at night and delay going to work the next day.

Hearing this good news, some people almost couldn’t process it, standing there dumbly asking if they were dreaming.

At first, hardly anyone in the team believed it. With Old Lady Chen’s tiny frame, it would’ve been good luck if she hadn’t been trampled flat by a wild boar. Privately, a few members even whispered whether the old woman had made up a story about being chased by a boar just to scam some grain from the team.

Now they were told it was real! Not only had Old Lady Chen been chased by a wild boar—she had slaughtered it too!

Who would believe that?!

But when a few sturdy young men followed the location Old Lady Chen gave and came charging down the mountain carrying a huge, fat wild boar, disbelief turned into belief whether they liked it or not.

That three- to four-hundred-jin beast—like a small hill of meat—was right there before their eyes!

After that came a burst of excitement. Even though night had nearly fallen, lamps were lit as people crowded around the canteen to watch the old butcher slaughter the pig. Several experienced men worked together to chop it up, first cutting off a piece of pork and deliberately choosing the tender parts. They had the women cooking slice it into small pieces to make some meat-dumpling soup for everyone—at least so they could taste some meat.

The main event was still to come. By the time everyone had finished a bowl of meat-dumpling soup, the boar still wasn’t fully butchered. It was simply too big, and wild boars have thick skin and tough meat. Slaughtering it took time and effort, and it wasn’t finished until midnight.

Some members just sat nearby watching them kill the pig, unwilling to blink, unwilling to go home to sleep. No matter how sleepy they were, they wanted to keep watching. As they watched, they thought about the big chunks of pork they’d get to eat tomorrow, and their hearts felt so happy they couldn’t sleep at all—so excited they wished the night would pass in an instant.

The Qin family went back early. After finishing the meat-dumpling soup, Chen Qiuhua even relied on her status as a “hero” to ask for another full, rich bowl to take home. She put it in a hanging basket, planning to heat it up in a clay pot for her little granddaughter to eat in the morning. There was no breakfast at the canteen, after all. Her little lucky star—so small and soft—how could she be allowed to go hungry?

In the past, this treatment was reserved for the Qin family’s third son. But today, Qin Yuli had been ignored by his parents all day—forget about saving him any soup. Before going to bed, Chen Qiuhua even called her third son over and told him to contribute the new clothes he had just had made, so the eldest daughter-in-law could undo the stitching and make a new outfit for her precious granddaughter.

Qin Yuli: “……”

Only then did everyone remember that the newly recognized granddaughter didn’t have any clothes yet. She was wrapped in nothing but a little red bellyband. She was fair, tender, and round, with arms and legs like lotus roots, ringed in plump little segments—so well grown it was hard not to admire.

Luckily the weather was hot; otherwise, wearing only a bellyband would’ve made her catch a chill. The child looked, at most, three or four years old. When everyone looked her way, she shyly hid in her grandmother’s arms, her clear, bright eyes occasionally glancing toward Third Uncle.

Zhao Yueya watched for a while, finding it all quite novel, and ended up smiling. The way the child wore that little bellyband really did make her look like a young acolyte beside a bodhisattva—adorable and festive.

Kids this good-looking were rare these days. Looking across the entire Huxia Commune, you wouldn’t find another child this fair, plump, round, and cute.

Zhao Yueya had never seen what city kids were like, but she felt that even city children might not be as good-looking as this one.

Seeing the child hide in her mother-in-law’s arms while sneaking glances at her brother-in-law was also a curiosity. In the past, which village child wasn’t afraid of the Qin family’s Third Son, that unrestrained rascal?

From childhood to adulthood, the outrageous things her brother-in-law had done were too many to count on two hands. Boys of his generation had suffered at his hands since they were young.

Those younger than him weren’t spared either—he could shamelessly bully them all the same. When working in the fields, he ran faster than anyone, but he’d also form little cliques and wander around, always trying to slack off. Spoiled rotten by his mother—he wasn’t diligent at all, and his skin was thick as a wall. Time and again he’d coax his mother into giving him the best food and clothes. Luckily he wasn’t married yet; if another daughter-in-law came in and things stayed like this, Zhao Yueya thought she’d want to split the household.

But now, her mother-in-law’s little darling had changed. They said that lucky child had saved her life. Zhao Yueya pressed her lips together in a smile, answered with a bright “Mm,” and then looked at her brother-in-law. “Where are the clothes?”

Qin Yuli: “……”

When Qin Yuli went inside to fetch the clothes, he even shot a furtive glare at the little lump in his mother’s arms. Stealing his clothes, stealing his food—he felt like he and this kid were just incompatible. One of these days, he thought, he’d secretly carry her out and toss her into the mountains to feed the big tigers!

Yinyin smiled shyly at him, her chubby little face flushed red, her eyes sparkling. Daddy was looking at her.

“……”

These days, every household was struggling. Suddenly having an extra milk-drinking baby to feed was no small matter.

Early the next morning, Chen Qiuhua carried her newly acquired little granddaughter to the brigade office to register her in the population records and put her household registration under their family.

She had asked around. The little granddaughter spoke clearly and was quick-witted. She told her that her name was Yinyin; beyond that, she knew nothing. The baby looked at her with those watery, bright eyes, confused and innocent. Chen Qiuhua had just survived a brush with death and been saved by the child—her heart couldn’t have been softer. On the spot, she said she would take the child home and raise her, making little Yinyin her granddaughter! She would scrimp on her own rations if she had to, but she would bring the child home and raise her!

Chen Qiuhua wasn’t lacking in granddaughters. She was a woman from the old society, and deep down she did favor boys over girls. The two daughters her eldest daughter-in-law had given birth to had both been deeply disliked by her; she usually didn’t get close to them. Giving them something to eat was, in her view, already enough conscience for a grandmother. How many little girls in the team had been abandoned or sold? At least the Qin family was decent enough!

But the lucky doll in her arms was different. She had saved her old life, at such a critical moment. Not only had she saved her life, she’d even gotten them wild boar meat to eat for free. She was a good child—a blessed, fortunate child.

Chen Qiuhua was exactly this kind of person. Once someone caught her fancy, her favoritism would tilt clear into her armpit. Back then, her youngest son—born late in life, good-looking and sweet-tongued—had been her precious darling, spoiled for a full twenty years for no particular reason. Now, this three-year-old child was the same.

Chen Qiuhua felt that this child carried great fortune, that she was a destined lucky star in her life, and that she had to be cherished and doted on in the palm of her hand.

The small cadre responsible for registration stared wide-eyed as Old Lady Chen beamed and fed the child in her arms dried sweet potatoes. Those were the very same pound of dried sweet potatoes she’d swindled out of the production team just yesterday!

Old Lady Chen lifted her head and shot him a glare. “What are you staring at? Never seen a pretty child before? Even if you keep staring, you won’t be able to give birth to one!”

Small cadre: “……”

“Name, age, where she came from…?”

Chen Qiuhua: “Her name is Yinyin. As for the surname, she’ll follow our Old Qin family’s—Qin Yinyin. Sounds nice, doesn’t it?”

The small cadre’s eyelid twitched. Under the old lady’s piercing stare, he said, “…Sounds nice.”

“She’s three. Don’t know her birthday—just count it from yesterday. Picked her up yesterday and brought her into our family, so that’s my granddaughter’s new birthday.”

“Where’d she come from? Picked her up in the mountains. My granddaughter smashed straight into a wild boar and killed it. Otherwise, would you all have meat to eat today?”

“Oh my, look at your ignorant, unlucky face. What, it’s not allowed to smash a wild boar to death? My granddaughter’s got huge fortune—you’re not the kind who can envy that!”

Small cadre: “……”

If he hadn’t received instructions from the team leader first thing in the morning, the small cadre wouldn’t have registered this at all. Register my ass—this little old lady could choke a person to death with a single sentence. He was so mad he felt awful all over.

After finishing the registration, the cadre asked stiffly, whose name should it be registered under?

It couldn’t be under you two elders’ names, right? Then the child would have to call you “Mom”!

Chen Qiuhua hadn’t thought of that at first. The moment she saw her little lucky granddaughter, she felt the child belonged to the Old Qin family. She’d only focused on bringing her home to acknowledge kin—nothing else had crossed her mind.

At the cadre’s question, she thought through her three sons.

She and the old man were obviously out. They were old and didn’t know how many good years they had left. She had to find her precious granddaughter a young, strong backer.

The eldest son was a team leader. He muddled along, neither good nor bad, but he was upright and rigid, devoted to public matters. He already had two daughters—daughters weren’t worth much in his eyes. Chen Qiuhua ruled him out immediately. What if, in the future, that blockhead son wronged her darling for the sake of public affairs or his own two daughters?

The second son was suitable enough—honest and simple, and most importantly, he listened to her. The second daughter-in-law was a bit petty, but timid; she wouldn’t dare make a fuss. That couple was easy to control. And they had no daughters, only a pair of twin sons. A daughter was the real treasure.

Chen Qiuhua was just about to say to register it under the second son when Qin Guodong’s honest face, with its simple smile, floated into her mind—and her mood instantly soured. She shut her mouth.

No, no. That unlucky child was slow-witted and easy to bully. If she and the old man were gone in the future, wouldn’t he just let brothers, sisters-in-law, and outsiders bully him? Look at how useless he was—nothing but brute strength, no education, no brains. His days were bound to be hard; at best he wouldn’t starve. Thinking that way, Chen Qiuhua crossed the second son off the list too.

In the end… only the youngest son remained.

Her third son was a bit of a rascal, but he valued feelings and was sharp-minded—the most like her. Outsiders said she doted on her youngest without thinking. As if she, Chen Qiuhua, were stupid.

She was biased, sure. But when people treated her third son well, he treated them well in return. He was loyal and emotional. Otherwise, how could he have gathered so many hooligans outside to form cliques and hang around with him all day?

Don’t joke. These days, nothing was precious except food. Those people were all sharp as ghosts—if they were willing to call him brother, the third son clearly had his own strengths.

So what if he was a hoodlum? Old operas even talked about some emperor surnamed Zhu who started as a beggar or bandit!

Chen Qiuhua pondered for quite a while. The small cadre didn’t dare rush her—he was afraid one word would get him sprayed to death by this old lady.

Chen Qiuhua lowered her head to look at the milky-scented little child in her arms, smiling kindly. “Grandma’s good little Yinyin, which of your three uncles would you like?”

The little dumpling blinked in confusion. Chen Qiuhua explained, “Grandma means—who would you like to be your dad, just in name. Don’t worry, Grandma will raise you. I won’t rely on them.”

Yinyin’s eyes lit up. She understood this! Wasn’t she here precisely for a dad?!

“System Uncle, this grandma is really a good person. Yinyin likes her!”

The system chuckled, guilty and not daring to speak.

In this world, it was originally supposed to place the child into the belly of the Old Qin family’s eldest daughter-in-law, Zhao Yueya—who was already six months pregnant. Who knew something would go wrong? Higher-ups caught it meddling in the previous world, swallowing the male lead’s golden finger in one bite. It got a verbal reprimand and a warning that if there were a next time, it would be demoted. So scared that its data glitched, it accidentally airdropped the little cub outside.

She happened to run into that wild boar. The system gave a little push, successfully dumping the credit for killing the boar onto the human infant. By a twist of fate, the child was picked up by the Old Qin family’s matriarch—bringing things back to the starting point.

The system thought this wasn’t bad either. Maybe it was destiny for the little cub to become Qin Yuli’s child! If she’d been placed in Zhao Yueya’s belly, the blood relationship would be there, sure—but there’d be no way to acknowledge the villain as her dad. The system didn’t care, but the little cub probably would’ve exploded.

Chen Qiuhua waited for her darling granddaughter’s answer. The little dumpling happily kissed Grandma on the cheek, then shyly burrowed into her arms and said in a baby voice, “Willing to follow Daddy.”

“Which daddy?”

“That one—the best-looking one!”

With that, Chen Qiuhua knew. She thought to herself that a child was still a child—judging by looks!

Her darling granddaughter had the same good eye as she did, knowing to pick a daddy with potential!

Comrade Qin Yuli, taking advantage of a bathroom break, had slipped off to slack again, running into the mountains with a few brothers to wander around, thinking to bag some wild game to taste.

Although the team had pork at lunch and dinner, wild boar meat was good but coarse. Eat a couple more bites and it got greasy. Qin Yuli was picky—wild rabbits and pheasants, tender wild meat like that, tasted better.

Just after setting a trap for rabbits, Qin Yuli sneezed. The hooligans burst out laughing, teasing him: “Brother Qin, you’re so weak, like a woman. It’s only just autumn and still so hot—already caught a chill?”

Qin Yuli shot them a cool look, a withered foxtail grass stem between his lips. “Your bones itching? Want a fight?”

The others waved it off immediately. Qin Yuli had great physical fitness, was tall and strong, and fought like a brute—no rules, always striking where it hurt most, with zero regard for honor. Anyone who’d crossed hands with him had learned their lesson. Unless forced, no one wanted to seek suffering.

They didn’t catch any pheasants or see any rabbits, but they’d set the traps. The idle young men headed down the mountain, planning to check again tomorrow to see if any rabbits fell in.

Judging by the time, it was almost time to clock out and eat lunch. Going down now was perfect for heading to the canteen for meat!

Qin Yuli squinted, thinking about the kid his mother had carried off in the morning, plotting how to avenge this “clothes-snatching” grudge.

Completely unaware that in the brief moment he’d slipped off to slack, a proper daughter had already been added under his name—and that he’d taken on the heavy responsibility of a guardian.