VHBF – Chapter 95 The Village Bully Daddy (Part 6)

Qin Guoshu was a man of action. Early the next morning, after eating a few pieces of rabbit meat and washing them down with water soaked from yesterday’s chicken-soup pot, he got ready to head to the county seat.

As for the rabbit meat that had appeared out of nowhere, Comrade Qin Guoshu had grown numb to it. Once you’ve opened a “private kitchen” once, there’ll be a second time—by the second round, acceptance came much easier.

Besides, there wasn’t much meat. He himself had eaten some, so he couldn’t really say anything to his family.

Then he looked at his old father and mother—both advanced in years, their cheeks still not any fuller. There was nothing he could say. In the end, it all came down to him, the son and team leader, being useless, unable to give his parents a good life.

Qin Guoshu brought up his thoughts at home. He said he wanted to go to the county seat to have a look around, feel things out over there, so he wouldn’t be groping blindly in the dark. Apart from what the commune told them, he needed to see how other people lived, what the county’s policies were like. The more he saw and the more he walked around, maybe he could think of a way out for the team.

If nothing else worked, he could at least check whether the grain station had any grain. If each household with money pooled together, they could buy grain collectively, then sell the refined grain they turned in and exchange it for coarse grain, which would let them hold on for quite a while longer.

Chen Qiuhua clapped her hands. “This is a good idea! Son, you should’ve done this earlier. If you’re a cadre, you’ve got to be flexible—how can you just guard one mu and three fen of land?”

She even patted her third son on the arm and said, “Let our third go with you. His mind’s quick, he understands things. If anything comes up, let your younger brother help you think of a solution.”

Qin Guoshu glanced at his slouchy third brother. That guy was casually holding a grass-woven grasshopper, teasing his little niece with it.

A trace of doubt appeared on Qin Guoshu’s face. Unsure, he said, “Mom, are you sure taking Third along won’t just cause trouble?”

His third brother was a thorn among thorns, the boss of hooligans—doing things entirely on a whim, impossible to figure out. With that kind of temperament, how could Qin Guoshu feel at ease? What if something important came up and he ruined it?

This trip to the county seat came with a task. It wasn’t easy to go there, and there was plenty to handle back in the production team. Besides, the county seat was far from Dahuai Production Team—they were practically stuck in some corner of the county.

This concerned the livelihood of over a thousand people in the entire production team. Qin Guoshu truly didn’t want to joke around at all. Even in his dreams, he wanted the villagers to be able to eat their fill.

One more thing—back when Chen Qiuhua and Old Qin were young, they’d been requisitioned by the county to provide labor to reclaim land for a reservoir. That work was exhausting. Not everyone even had tools; sometimes they dug pits with bare hands, slow and inefficient.

They’d been gone for several months. At the time, the Qin couple had only their eldest son, and there were no elders at home to look after him. When Qin Guoshu was only a few years old, it was the villagers of Dahuai who took turns caring for him—eating at this house today, staying at that house tomorrow. For nearly half a year, he survived on meals from a hundred families.

Qin Guoshu remembered this vividly. It was precisely this experience that gave him such a strong sense of responsibility—he felt the whole village was his responsibility. Don’t look at how Chen Qiuhua always seemed to dislike her son; deep down, she was also gratified. He might be a bit dull, but he knew gratitude and had a sense of duty—that made him a good kid.

Chen Qiuhua slapped his face, turning it back toward her. “What kind of look is that? No matter what, your brother’s brain works better than yours!”

Qin Guoshu’s old face reddened slightly. He couldn’t deny that his younger brother was indeed more quick-witted. It was just a pity that he never used his smarts on the right path—when working in the production team, all he thought about was how to bully honest people and how to slack off.

Qin Guoshu was afraid his unreliable younger brother would mess things up.

Just then, a pair of soft little hands wrapped around his thigh. A small, jade-snow-cute child looked up at him and said in a soft, sweet voice, “Uncle, Daddy is really great. Believe in Daddy—he can do it.”

The little dumpling tilted her tiny head and added, “Or maybe Yinyin can go too. Yinyin will help Uncle watch Daddy and won’t let him do bad things.”

Qin Guoshu: “……”

Bringing one unreliable hooligan of a brother was tiring enough—now he had to bring a baby too?

Qin Yuli raised his eyebrows high, grabbed the kid by the back of her collar, and picked her up, hanging her over his arm, pretending he was about to toss her out. The little dumpling laughed happily, thinking Daddy was playing with her, clinging tightly to him and refusing to let go. “Hahaha, Daddy can’t throw me away, can’t throw me away!”

Qin Yuli: “……”

Qin Guoshu’s headache got worse. Looking at this father-daughter pair, it was clearly one big child leading one small child—not a single reliable one among them.

Who knew his mother would be quite happy after hearing this and think it was a great idea. She immediately said, “Let the little girl go too. She’s well-behaved and won’t cause trouble.”

Chen Qiuhua indulged her little granddaughter in everything. Besides, the girl was already three years old and had never been to the county seat. Going with her uncle and father to see the world wouldn’t be a bad thing.

As she spoke, she ran back into the house and pulled out two ration tickets—one cloth ticket and one pastry ticket. “Our little girl’s been with our family for so long and hasn’t had a single new outfit made. Eldest and Third, take her to the supply-and-marketing cooperative and get a piece of fine cotton cloth. While you’re at it, buy a few sweet cakes for her to eat.”

Several children, carrying schoolbags made from discarded cloth and just about to head to school, were instantly filled with envy when they heard this. They walked off, looking back every few steps to stare at Grandma.

Chen Qiuhua glared at them dismissively. “Haven’t you had enough clothes made before? Your little sister just came to our family—she hasn’t had even one made yet.”

Da Hua said, “But isn’t the one she’s wearing new too?”

Chen Qiuhua replied, “That was made by taking apart your Third Uncle’s new clothes. If you want one too, have your dad’s clothes taken apart to make it. Grandma won’t stop you.”

Da Hua: “……”

Her dad was more stingy than the poorest man in the village, especially toward her. Da Hua felt that in all her years, she’d never seen her dad wear a new outfit.

Although Zhao Yueba and Li Dailai felt that their mother-in-law was being overly generous to their brother-in-law’s adopted daughter, they had nothing to say.

Why?

The meat they’d eaten these past few days was all brought back by the brother-in-law. There was still meat hanging in the mother-in-law’s room. The days ahead might still depend on that bit of grease to get by. You can’t complain when your mouth’s been fed.

Besides, what their mother-in-law said made sense. The adopted niece really hadn’t had new cloth pulled to make clothes. Little children have delicate skin and can’t wear coarse cloth—especially this little niece, whose skin was particularly tender and fair, like a glutinous rice dumpling. Making her wear old clothes and rough cloth just wouldn’t do. Making one new outfit and buying a piece of cloth wasn’t a big deal, and the money and tickets all came from the mother-in-law anyway—there was no place for them to speak up.

The twins and the sisters Da Hua and Xiao Hua went off to school, still turning back step by step, their hearts fixed on Yinyin’s sweet cakes.

Grandma had said she’d buy sweet cakes for the little sister. That thing—they’d only heard of it, never tasted it. They’d heard it was white and soft and sweet. The chubby kid at the commune primary school said there were different flavors too—milk-flavored and fruit-flavored ones were more expensive, while the regular kind was cheaper.

Even the regular kind held an irresistible attraction for children—more tempting than new clothes.

Qin Guoshu was helpless. Under his mother’s “tyranny,” he could only take the unreliable father-daughter pair along to the county seat. He regretted it now—if he’d known, he shouldn’t have mentioned it at all and just gone himself.

Yinyin was held in her father’s arms. Qin Guoshu pedaled the production team’s only asset—a battered old bicycle that had been used by the county seat, then used by the commune for several years before being used by production team again. On the back seat sat the unreliable duo.

Holding the kid, Qin Yuli mulled things over several times in his heart, thinking: what would happen if he “accidentally” dropped the kid now?

That was what he thought—but his hands held her tighter and tighter, as if he were cradling a lump of gold, afraid she’d fall. Qin Yuli himself didn’t notice this, and even comforted himself that doing it now would be too obvious—he’d look for another chance.

Practically standing in her dad’s arms, firmly encircled by his arm, with her uncle pedaling hard in front, the little dumpling was delighted. She spread her little arms into the wind. “Daddy, it’s so fun outside!”

Hearing this, Qin Guoshu even found time to sigh inwardly. Even a three-year-old baby knew the outside world was better than Dahuai Village. He didn’t know when he’d finally be able to let the villagers eat their fill every meal, have meat every now and then—that was the best life Qin Guoshu could imagine.

The county seat was much livelier than the town. Qin Guoshu didn’t choose to go to the commune first. That day he’d angered the commune secretary, so he wanted to do some investigation on his own first, check out other places, and only go reason with the leaders once he had some confidence.

Most of the houses in the county seat were built with green bricks and tiled roofs; there were also small apartment buildings, mostly unit housing. The people living there had grain, tickets, and iron rice bowls—life was good.

With no particular destination, Qin Guoshu just wandered around with his brother and little niece.

Whenever he saw those residential buildings, he couldn’t help but reveal an envious look. Then he’d look at what people were wearing—factory uniforms and badges. Successful people.

After walking around for a bit, the three of them went to the grain station first. Qin Guoshu asked about the prices of various grains and inquired about stock levels. The people at the grain station were very cocky, saying they had as much grain as you wanted—no shortage at all!

Qin Guoshu felt awful. There was surplus grain in the city—so why did they have to force hardworking old farmers onto the road of hunger?

He then asked whether they accepted refined grain in exchange for coarse grain.

The grain station aunt impatiently waved her hand. “We take it, we take it! The sign’s standing right there—go look yourself!”

Qin Guoshu hadn’t even finished calculating when Qin Yuli glanced at it and worked it out. The price was a bit lower than the black market exchange rate, but this trade was permitted, the channel was legitimate. There was no worry about getting black-hearted grain, and no fear of being reported or arrested.

Qin Guoshu figured he’d go back later and inform the team members, have them haul all their grain over to exchange for coarse grain—leave not a single grain of refined rice behind!

Standing at the entrance of the grain station, Qin Guoshu—at 1.75 meters tall, considered quite tall in this era of not eating enough—stood there staring at the grain price board with a worried face. The little dumpling strained to stretch her arm and patted her uncle on the shoulder, imitating her grandparents. In a tiny baby voice, she comforted him, “Uncle, don’t be sad. We’ll have food to eat—we won’t go hungry.”

At that moment, a middle-aged couple walked in from outside. Hearing a three-year-old child say something like that, they looked over in curiosity.

They saw a child even better-looking than the city kids in New Year pictures, with a little chubby face pulled tight, speaking like a little adult. “Uncle doesn’t want to divide the grain among those bad guys. Next time Yinyin will help you beat them up.”

As for fighting, the little dumpling had experience. As long as you acted fierce enough, the bad guys would get scared and run away.

The day the team’s public grain was hauled away, the little dumpling had been held by Grandma, watching the whole time—watching the uncles and aunties, the elderly grandpas and grandmas cry; watching them go home, shut the doors, and curse the bad guys who’d taken the grain. The impression had been deep, and she’d felt especially indignant.

Seeing this, the middle-aged couple found it amusing and teased the child with interest. “Who are the bad guys? The ones who took your grain?”

“They’re bad. They took the grain. Grandpa and Grandma, Daddy, Uncle, Auntie, and the big brothers and sisters will have to go hungry. Grandma said later we’ll have to eat grass, like the big cows.”