VHBF – Chapter 96 The Village Bully Daddy (Part 7)

Yinyin was young, ignorant and carefree. Seeing someone ask questions, and noticing that everyone was just standing around, she puffed up her chubby little cheeks and told everything she knew.

Many childish words, in adults’ eyes, were not worth much attention—some even found them amusing. Several people who happened to come in to buy things laughed and said that children didn’t understand adults’ affairs.

Those who came to the county grain station to buy grain were mostly city folk. They didn’t fully understand the lives of rural farmers; they only knew that farmers tilled the land and handed over a portion as public grain. This grain was transported to the city and fed large numbers of urban residents.

Since that was the case, since they depended on this grain to eat, how could they possibly speak up for rural people?

Perhaps there were some well-informed, highly aware urban workers who understood a bit of the farmers’ hardships, but clearly, the few who had just come in were not among them.

Laughing, they said, “Handing over public grain is a quota assigned by higher leadership—it’s a state matter, of course it’s handled according to regulations. What’s there to argue about?”

“Little kid, you’re only three years old—you don’t understand these things. We workers go to factories to work; farmers naturally farm the land. Everyone’s doing their own job. If farmers stop handing over grain, wouldn’t everything fall into chaos?”

A few people wearing factory uniforms who had come in to buy grain casually said a few words, like expressing an opinion about some idle matter. They didn’t take it seriously—teased a bit, bought their grain, and left.

But the middle-aged man wearing glasses didn’t look very pleased.

Earlier, Qin Yuli—who was holding Yinyin—had been full of vigilance toward this middle-aged couple. Now, the words spoken by those people really irritated him. One thing was that their words sounded unpleasant from the rural folk’s perspective; more importantly, Qin Yuli felt that my daughter—I can bully her quietly myself if I want, but who do you think you are? Even if she was only three years old, it wasn’t their place to lecture her.

Three-year-old children were at an age when they loved to talk. With many people at home and plenty of chatter in the countryside, whenever there was nothing to do, people liked to gossip.

Not only did they chatter at home, they also liked to go out and brag and shoot the breeze.

Recently, Yinyin was often carried by her grandma to chat with the aunties and grannies in the village. She picked up a lot of phrases from them, and feeling that she had learned quite a bit, she loved to show off.

At first, Yinyin was a little confused by what the uncles and aunties from the factory were saying. But after they went out, she came back to herself, stuck out her tongue at their retreating backs, and said, “Grandma said people who grab grain are all class enemies of the peasants—they’re paper tigers that need to be eliminated! Grandma said poor peasants are the most glorious!”

The workers who had just stepped out the door: “……”

This… how do you even argue back against that?

The middle-aged couple: “……”

Qin Yuli couldn’t help laughing. He rubbed his daughter’s little head, thinking: although she could be a little nuisance sometimes, she was still his daughter—she knew how to talk, just like him!

Qin Guoshu was still a bit dumbfounded. He deeply felt that his three-year-old niece was even better at talking than he was as a production team leader. Look at that sharp tongue—she was almost on par with his mother. No wonder she’d been raised and taught by their old lady; in the future, she might even be good material for propaganda work. If she studied more, maybe she could work in the commune’s propaganda committee—how great would that be?

Yinyin herself didn’t really understand what the words she’d said meant. She’d just picked them up from Grandma and the other aunties and grannies. When eating at the canteen, she also often ran into other commune members or cadres.

These people loved teasing the pretty, sweet-talking, adorable little Yinyin. With more talking and more listening, she could piece things together herself and end up saying something astonishing.

Qin Guoshu thought to himself: today, his younger brother hadn’t caused him any trouble; instead, it was his three-year-old niece who exceeded his expectations. The county town was full of workers, and he worried that if his niece said something else shocking, she might offend someone. So he tugged at Third Brother’s sleeve and said it was time to go home.

The middle-aged woman spoke up with a smile. She was a kind-looking lady, with a round face and a blessed appearance; when she smiled and spoke, her tone was very gentle—perfectly to a child’s liking.

“You two little brothers, don’t rush off yet. I find your little daughter very likable. May I treat her to some sugar cakes?”

Seeing that the young man holding the child looked displeased and somewhat wary, she thought to herself that he was indeed a sharp young man. She’d been observing him from the start—he’d been quite guarded against their attempts at conversation the whole time. If it weren’t for the fact that his daughter was chatting happily, he might have picked her up and left long ago.

She smiled and said, “It’s nothing much. My daughter-in-law is about to give birth, and your child is cute and smart. I want to treat her to some sugar cakes to borrow a bit of good fortune—maybe in a couple of months, she’ll give birth to a pretty little daughter.”

People of this era were mostly simple and honest—except for the oddball Qin Yuli.

Hearing this, Qin Guoshu smiled and agreed. They were going to the supply-and-marketing cooperative anyway to buy cloth and sugar cakes for his niece.

There was a local saying that if there was a pregnant woman in the family, interacting with a child could help bring some good fortune. Of course, “borrowing fortune” had its own rules—you had to buy something for the child in return for it to count.

Usually, though, people preferred interacting with boys. After all, under the mainstream social mindset, ordinary folks still believed that boys were more reliable—able to carry on the family line and easier to find jobs when grown.

At present, the truly sought-after factories—like machinery plants and steel mills—recruited mostly male workers. Female workers tended to go to textile or food factories, which didn’t carry the same weight as the heavy industries the state was actively supporting.

What was strange was that this middle-aged couple actually preferred daughters??

Seeing the flicker of surprise on Qin Guoshu’s face, the middle-aged man smiled, clasped his hands behind his back, and walked out first. “Women just have too many things on their minds. Come on, little brothers—let’s walk and chat casually.”

Qin Yuli held his daughter, keeping his expression neutral, coldly observing the couple’s coordinated act. He also noted the middle-aged man’s walking posture and pace, as well as his instinctive habit of walking in front. In his mind, he judged that this man might not be simple.

The county town’s public security was good these days, and they were merely going together to the supply-and-marketing cooperative—a matter of convenience, nothing serious. Qin Yuli decided he was probably overthinking it, and followed behind slowly with the child in his arms.

His elder brother foolishly walked at the front. The middle-aged man was a smooth talker; in just a few sentences, he had his brother completely wrapped around his finger—so much so that he even revealed the name of his production team in full.

Though it wasn’t anything that couldn’t be said, Qin Yuli still felt suffocated by his brother’s intelligence.

He was biased—not in treating him better, but in that all the brains had gone to him when they were born. Both of his older brothers were a bit lacking upstairs.

Yinyin reached out her fat little paw and pinched her dad’s cheek, urging him to walk faster—she wasn’t done talking yet, she wanted to chat too!

Qin Yuli: “……”

Surely my daughter’s intelligence won’t get infected by her uncle?

According to the Qin family’s favoritism rule, the favored ones were always the clever ones. Yinyin was so doted on by his mother—maybe her brain was pretty good too?

Qin Yuli figured that once she was old enough and sent to the commune primary school, it would become clear. Back then, he’d deliberately turned in blank exam papers and brought home zeroes every day—because that way, his mother would worry and boil eggs and make brown sugar water for him to “nourish his brain.” Even so, everything the teacher taught in class and everything in the books, he understood perfectly well—and even found it silly. Such simple stuff—if you couldn’t understand it, were you even human?

If it were a daughter instead… if she didn’t learn his slick ways, then just sending her to school would be enough to tell whether she had a good brain or not.

Qin Yuli was already thinking ahead to the matter of his bargain-price daughter going to school. At this moment, he couldn’t recall at all how, not long ago, he had repeatedly clenched his teeth and mulled over getting rid of Yinyin in all sorts of ways—he’d even thought about where would be the most suitable place to abandon her.

He was completely unaware of it…

Yinyin, unhappy, shouted, “Big Uncle, wait for me and Daddy!”

After shopping at the supply-and-marketing cooperative, Qin Yuli accepted without the slightest hesitation the sugar cakes and pastries from the middle-aged couple. They were quite generous—buying Yinyin a whole jin of milk-flavored white sugar cakes, plus a small packet of milk candies. None of it was cheap; it cost both money and ration coupons.

Qin Yuli smiled and thanked them. He never stood on ceremony when receiving gifts—joking aside, they were the ones approaching him with ulterior motives. If he didn’t take advantage of their goodwill, Qin Yuli felt he’d be an idiot who refused a free benefit.

In just this short walk—from the grain station to the supply-and-marketing cooperative across the street—Qin Guoshu had already made the middle-aged man into a bosom friend of different generations.

The man’s surname was Chen; as for his given name, who knew. Qin Guoshu addressed him like a sworn brother, calling him “Brother Chen.”

He felt Brother Chen was a good man, with high ideological awareness. When chatting, he could fully empathize with the hardships of farmer comrades, understood their difficulties, and even joined him in criticizing those cadres who exploited old peasants.

Qin Guoshu frowned, his sun-darkened bronze face full of worry. “Ah, Brother Chen, I really don’t know what’s going on with the world these days. Isn’t filling one’s belly more important than anything else? Even if you want development, don’t you still need people to put in the labor?”

“City workers are educated folks—we rural people can’t compare. But city folks have to eat grain too, right? What they eat is grown by old peasants. If you starve the farmer comrades to death, who’s going to farm the land for the city people?”

Qin Yuli listened the whole way. By this point, he could tell—the middle-aged man was likely not simple. He was probably some kind of city cadre. The questions he asked felt more like what higher-ups would ask when coming down to conduct inspections.

Otherwise, ordinary people wouldn’t ask these things, much less patiently listen to his simple-minded big brother ramble on, with a three-year-old child occasionally chiming in—her words childish, yet making people laugh in spite of themselves.

Just then, Yinyin, who could never keep her mouth shut, spoke up again. In her milky little voice, she echoed what her uncle had said: “Eat till you’re full, eat meat, then you’ll have strength.”

Under his younger brother’s death glare, Qin Guoshu patted his little niece’s head and scolded with a smile, “Greedy little girl. You’re lucky enough just to have some gruel to eat—still thinking about meat? When Uncle gets his wages, I’ll secretly buy you a small piece.”

As a brigade leader, Qin Guoshu earned over twenty yuan a month. In the past, he’d been reluctant to spend it and always handed it over to the family matriarch—their mother. If he wanted to withdraw a bit to buy meat for his niece, his mother would definitely prepare the meat coupons for him without a word.

Chen Huaisheng shifted his gaze to the fair, tender, chubby Yinyin and said approvingly, “Your family is quite harmonious.”

“These days, there aren’t many families that can raise a child this well—she’s even fairer than city kids. This little body has real heft.”

By “heft,” Chen Huaisheng meant Yinyin’s chubby little body and plump cheeks—soft and round like a jade doll, completely different from children raised in this era. Other kids were skinny and dark, but this one was born well and raised even better.

People would believe it if you said she came from a high-ranking cadre’s family—and even such families might not manage to raise a child like this. Seeing that she could speak so articulately at such a young age, with a spark of cleverness and confidence, he concluded it must be due to an excellent family atmosphere and education.

He summed it up: “It’s clear your family must be a good one—united and loving.”

Qin Guoshu felt his family really was quite decent, with few quarrels, so he smiled and nodded. “Our family is pretty good, yes.”

Qin Yuli silently thought: isn’t it just because everyone’s afraid of the old lady, so no one dares stir up trouble—“forced” harmony?

His daughter being praised by someone who seemed like a “big shot” made Qin Yuli happy as well. He raised his brows with a faint smile, hooked Yinyin around his neck, and lifted her high.

Yinyin laughed happily, even puffed out her little chest. This big uncle said she had “heft”—didn’t that mean she was important? For Daddy, she was the most important little treasure!

With the conversation in full swing, neither family hurried back. They went next door to the state-run restaurant. The Chen couple used coupons, while Qin Guoshu grit his teeth and put up two yuan and fifty cents in cash.

Half of it was money Qin Yuli chipped in—no one knew where he’d fished it out from. The other half was originally budgeted to buy sugar cakes for Yinyin, but since Chen Huaisheng had already bought those—and even extra candy—the money was left over.

True kindred spirits were hard to come by. Spending a bit over two yuan to give the little girl a good meal felt worth it to the Qin brothers.

Of course, Qin Guoshu unilaterally felt the man was a “kindred spirit.” Qin Yuli felt it was worth it purely because he could tell the man had an important background—making connections was never a bad thing.

It wasn’t a Monday or weekend, so the restaurant had no big meat dishes. Even if there were, Qin Guoshu wouldn’t be able to afford them.

They simply ordered a few servings of plain flour dumplings, plus a plate of cucumber stir-fried with two eggs. Even so, everyone ate with great satisfaction. Their family didn’t raise chickens, and higher authorities didn’t allow it anyway—Yinyin hadn’t eaten eggs in a long time, let alone dumplings. She ate until she was utterly content.

She shared a big bowl with her daddy, filled with over ten plump dumplings. Qin Yuli fed the kid one, then ate one himself; even the soup was shared.

Mrs. Chen smiled when she saw this. “I wouldn’t have guessed, Comrade Qin Yuli—you’re so young and already so good at taking care of a child.”

These days, few men took care of children—most dumped them on the women. And taking care of a daughter, no less. Father and daughter, you take a bite, I take a bite—the scene was quite warm. Especially since both had good looks, it was pleasing to the eye.

When they asked about the child’s mother, Qin Guoshu, being straightforward, said the little girl was picked up by his mother in the mountains and given to his third brother as a daughter. “My third brother isn’t married yet.”

Chen Huaisheng and his wife nodded to themselves. To treat a picked-up child so well and raise her like this—the family was kinder and more down-to-earth than they’d imagined.

After finishing her food, Yinyin smacked her little lips and sighed seriously in her baby voice, “If Grandma were here, it’d be nice—we could share some with Grandma.”

She was a bit regretful, saying it was a pity they couldn’t take it home for Grandma to eat—she could only eat it into her tummy, eating until it bulged.

Hearing this, something flashed through Chen Huaisheng’s mind. He suddenly said, “Good child, what did you just say? Say it again for Uncle Chen.”

“Want to share it with Grandma?”

“No, the sentence after that.”

“Daddy said we can’t pack it up to take home—we have to finish it here. But the portion was too big. Yinyin ate too much, and her tummy’s all round.” As she spoke, she patted her chubby belly with her little hand. Qin Guoshu couldn’t help laughing; Qin Yuli looked thoughtful.

Chen Huaisheng hurriedly said, “You two young brothers, I still have something to attend to, so I’ll head back first. If you need me in the future, go to the county committee compound and tell the gatekeeper you’re looking for Old Chen.”

Qin Guoshu stared blankly at the hurriedly departing figure, wondering why it was so sudden.

“……”

On the way back, Qin Guoshu kept sighing, talking about what he’d seen and heard in the county, praising that understanding yet authoritative big brother comrade who seemed to know everything—stringing together one compliment after another.

“Not all city folks are clueless cultured types. Someone like Brother Chen is pretty good—understanding toward us old peasants. If you ask me, cadres should be like that—thinking for the common people, throwing vanity aside.”

Qin Yuli shot his brother a look. “It was one thing to say that earlier. Now shut up. That’s not something you can just say anywhere.”

Qin Guoshu immediately shut his mouth and even glanced around. It was his carelessness—if such words got to the commune cadres’ ears, how could he continue as brigade leader?

After returning to the production team, Qin Guoshu wracked his brains overnight and wrote a speech. The next evening after work, he gathered the members and read it out. At a time like this, as brigade leader, he had to step up—boost morale, give everyone confidence, and help them hold on through this difficult stretch.

The mobilization had some effect, but not much. What the farmer comrades needed most right now was grain—grain they could see. No matter what you said, nothing was as useful as real food.

Recently, some people deliberately didn’t finish their meals at the canteen, taking the leftovers home to save for the next meal—saving one meal to cover the next, always leaving one meal in reserve. Even if it didn’t help much, it made them feel a bit more at ease.

Unfortunately, gruel was liquid and didn’t keep long. Some people cut up cornbread and steamed sweet potatoes, dried them in the sun, and stored them as reserve grain.

When the day came that there was no food at the canteen, it could help them hold out a few more days.

Sun-dried cornbread had not a drop of moisture—hard as stone, impossible to bite without soaking in water. Even so, the members treasured it.

Chen Qiuhua did the same. She thought that if one day there was no food, no gruel to soak for her granddaughter, she’d soak the dried cornbread for her to eat.

That year’s autumn was very short, almost linking straight onto the tail end of summer. Before long, the weather turned cold—and counting the days, well, it was already the Winter Solstice.