Courtyard houses: Those who are capable are rewarded, and many children bring many blessings.

The villagers all nodded in agreement with the team leader's distribution plan: "Third Master, you're fair, everyone trusts you. Hurry up and distribute the meat, we're all looking forward to a big feast tonight!"

"It's almost the end of the year, and you're always so greedy. Let me tell you, your family needs to be more frugal this year. Don't end up like last year, when we had to borrow money from the production team to buy salt before the harvest even started!"

There are still people with different surnames in Niujiazhai, but they have all intermarried with the Niu family, such as the Zhang family.

Zhang Laonian, the animal husbandryman who usually takes care of the large livestock, is his uncle.

After being interrupted, Niu Decao stopped arguing and said, "Everyone line up. Whoever's name is called, that person comes to collect the meat."

There's one more thing. Starting tonight, we're starting a literacy campaign in our village. Everyone who can't read, young or old, needs to come and listen to the lessons. Let me be clear, there will be attendance checks every day, and anyone who misses will have their work points deducted!

"Third Uncle, is there a reward for mastering this?" Niu Dachuan chimed in.

"A reward? Da Chuan, you're dreaming! I'm teaching you to read, which is teaching you skills. Don't be ungrateful!" Niu Youcao was not polite to his nephew.

The meat was distributed to 25 households in no time, and the commune members who received the meat happily went home to improve their lives.

Niu Youcao, Niu Dashan, Niu Dazhuang, a team leader, an accountant, and a storekeeper stayed behind.

A man with a pipe in his mouth asked, "Uncle Cao, Qinjiawa is clearing land, why isn't anything happening in our village?" Niu Dazhuang asked.

"You've finally taken our village's affairs to heart! Da Shan and I have discussed it several times, but there are too many difficulties. Just getting the soil is a problem for us! Young people are quick-witted, so think of a solution!" Niu Youcao felt both relieved and helpless.

Niu Dashan added, "Dazhuang, there isn't a single earthen slope around us. Underneath the thin layer of mountain skin, it's all rock, if not stone."

After taking a couple of puffs from his pipe, Niu Dazhuang said, "That's not simple. There's soil in Qinjiawa. They don't need that much soil to clear land."

"Why don't we just buy some? Clearing land is only a matter of a day or two. There aren't many people in our village. Clearing a hundred acres of irrigated land will be enough to feed us. This is a great act of kindness that will benefit generations to come!"

"Hehe! You know how clever young people are. You and the brigade leader are even related, so the task of buying soil is up to you. Our village doesn't have much money, so we'll buy less and buy it year after year." Niu Youcao pushed the task onto Niu Dazhuang.

"I can handle this, but don't complain about the conditions I agree to!"

"Alright, when you return the guns this afternoon, sound them out first."

"Uncle Youcao, this matter is settled. After spring, I plan to go to Beijing to make a living!" To go to Beijing, Niu Youcao is the first person I need to get past.

These days, household registration is strictly managed; you need a letter of introduction to stay anywhere.

"Sigh! I know our little village can't keep you here. How come your uncle found you a job?" Niu Youcao sighed.

"Let's go check it out first. As for the job, it's still far from certain."

Niu and Cao assumed he was tight-lipped, so they didn't ask any more questions.

"With Uncle Cao here, even if Dazhuang goes to the ends of the earth, his roots will still be in Niujiazhuang. What's there to sigh about? I think this is a good thing. Dazhuang has made something of himself, and he will definitely not forget us, his relatives."

Although Qin Xueru was a new bride and had never worked a day in her life, she still got a share of the meat when it was time to divide it up.

Both men were able-bodied adults, and they were given 25 jin of meat and 5 jin of offal. The meat wasn't all wild goat meat; half of it was wild boar meat.

Niu Dazhuang doesn't like eating wild boar meat because of its strong, gamey smell, but for ordinary people who might only eat meat once a year, wild boar meat is a delicacy.

He loaded the divided meat into baskets and said, "Brother Dashan, have them take their guns and call me this afternoon. You guys go back too!"

Niu Dashan watched Niu Dazhuang's departing figure and said, "Third Uncle, have you noticed? Ever since Dazhuang got married, he seems like a completely different person."

"Men mature after marriage, what's so strange about that? You'll never understand the responsibilities of marriage if you don't get married!"

"Dashan, since Dazhuang wants to go to Beijing, you can take over as the squad leader next year."

"Third Uncle, isn't this fine as it is? I don't want to take over your job so soon!"

"You slippery fellow! Da Kang isn't cut out for this, and don't count on him. This squad leader position will be yours sooner or later. Let's go!" Niu Youcao tapped his pipe on the sole of his shoe, put his hands behind his back, and went home.

When Qin Xueru saw her husband return carrying meat, she happily leaned against the doorframe, her face beaming, and asked, "How much did you get?"

"You weigh ten jin, I weigh fifteen jin, and the offal weighs five jin. But half of it is wild boar meat."

"What's wrong with wild boar meat? People from other villages want to eat it but can't." As she spoke, Qin Xueru started taking out pieces of meat, muttering to herself, "This piece is goat meat, right? We'll use it to make dumplings for the New Year. This piece is domestic pork, right?"

This is good, it's fatty enough, it'll absorb a lot of oil later. This biggest piece is probably wild boar meat, it's been marinated for half a year and all the flavor is gone, just the aroma remains.

After going through everything thoroughly, he said, "Oh no, that's not right. We've already eaten it all ourselves, so what can we use to exchange it for wheat flour?" After saying that, he started muttering to himself as he pondered.

Niu Dazhuang put his arm around her slender waist from behind, leaned close to her ear, and whispered, "Wild boar meat has all been exchanged for grain. Have you forgotten what I told you this morning?"

Qin Xueru turned her head with a bright smile and kissed Niu Dazhuang gently, saying, "Dazhuang, I've never seen so much meat in my own home before."

"This is only a little bit. From now on, I'll make sure you have meat to eat every day, and you can eat your fill of white flour buns at every meal!"

Qin Xueru's eyes welled up with tears of happiness: "Dazhuang, you won't dislike me in the future, will you?"

"How could that be? You are my lawfully wedded wife."

"Get lost! What, you think you can be emperor?"

"Hehe, I may not become emperor, but I can definitely live a life where I have no worries about food and clothing."

"My man is good at everything, so I'll live the high life with you from now on!"

"No problem, but you also need to study and improve on your own. You can't be completely clueless in the future."

"Who says we're completely clueless? All the sisters in the Qin family can read," Qin Xueru said proudly.

Niu Dazhuang became curious. In this era, not to mention women, even men were rarely literate.

"I've never heard of your Qin family being landlords! Where did you get the money to send you to school?"

"Who told you that you have to go to school to learn to read? We're not going to take the imperial examinations to become top scholars."

Niu Dazhuang helped his wife sit on the kang (heated brick bed) in the inner room and asked, "Tell me, what happened?"

Qin Xueru said with a hint of pride, "You only see that we sisters are pretty, but don't you think about it? If our mother wasn't pretty, could she have given birth to such pretty daughters?"

Before liberation, if a family could afford to marry a beautiful wife, wouldn't they be well-off? My father and his four brothers all got married; that's something most ordinary families couldn't do!

Niu Dazhuang thought about it and realized it made sense. Before liberation, it was very difficult for poor families to find a wife, and many people only got married after liberation.