The 1960s: The Story of a Country Girl's Journey to the City

Besides learning about the Lin family's gossip, everyone also received a bonus: Da Chun disapproved of his new wife, and the men of their brigade suffered at the hands of the women of Beishan Brigade once again.

Over the next few days, Bao Ya, with her characteristic of "I have a mouth, I can talk," chatted with people all over the village. There were not many entertainment activities in the village, so gossip was everyone's main source of entertainment.

Whenever someone asked, Bao Ya would patiently answer their questions, explaining the family's income and expenses in detail. Some families even applied what she learned to their own accounts and realized they had been taken advantage of. Within just a few days, fights broke out in the village as if they had planned it all.

Captain Su Daqiang and other brigade cadres didn't eat at home for a week, spending their days overseeing the division of property among the families. After the division, the family would have to provide a meal.

The Lin family was the most talked-about household in the brigade. Some said that the third branch of the Lin family was unfilial and petty. Others said that the eldest branch of the Lin family was too greedy, incompetent, and only wanted to leech off his younger brothers.

Even so, Old Man Lin gritted his teeth and refused to mention the matter of dividing the family property.

After living in the village for a month, Bao Ya had figured out the situation. The majority of people in the village had the surname Su. She was the granddaughter of the Su family and had been raised by them. To the Su family members in the village, she was one of their own. As for the lawsuit with the Lin family, whether she was in the right or not, as long as she didn't suffer any losses, that was fine.

Around noon, Bao Ya returned home with an empty basket. Just as it was lunchtime, she washed her hands and went inside to sit in her seat.

Everyone was already seated, and Granny Lin was distributing the food. This was also the time for Granny Lin to assert her authority, and she enjoyed this feeling.

With a stern, old face and wrinkles around his downturned mouth, he looked even more mean. His gaze swept across the table before finally settling on Bao Ya, giving her a fierce glare before starting to serve the food.

Bao Ya rolled her eyes inwardly: What a bunch of fuss. What's wrong with sharing food? You think you can starve anyone to death?

Next, it was discovered that the one who had starved to death might have been herself. Old Mrs. Lin gave herself and the men in the family each a bowl of porridge and two cornbread buns. Second Aunt went to the kitchen and brought back a basin of porridge, which was much thinner and had obviously been diluted with water. The dry food distributed to the women was black flour and wild vegetable buns, with more vegetables than grain. The black flour had obviously been mixed with bran.

That's really something! What's going on? Eating cornbread every day is bad enough, and now they're eating pig swill.

"this one?"

Bao Ya frowned and asked. "This wasn't what we ate a few days ago. Was this specially prepared for her today?"

"What's wrong with this! Take it or leave it!"

Granny Lin, with a long face, said as if it were perfectly reasonable;

"You do no work all day, just run around the village like a madman, and you still expect to eat and drink well?"

"You're really good at making yourself look good. Do you even have any delicious food at home? When you invited me back, didn't you say I wouldn't have to do any chores? Besides, my aunt gave me 30 jin of grain when I came back. What, you fed all my grain to the dogs?"

After Bao Ya finished speaking, everyone in the room turned pale.

Old Man Lin coughed lightly and said softly.

"Baoya, Grandpa and Grandma are getting old. You won't mind if we eat well, right? Men have to do hard work, and they can't go hungry. Grandpa knows you're a sensible child and won't complain about food, right? The autumn harvest is in a few days, and we'll definitely make you something delicious after the grain is distributed. That's all for today, everyone. Let's eat and not be late for work."

He was still upset about the fifty yuan, thinking he'd get it back when no one was around that night. But the girl went to sleep at her grandmother's house that night and wanted to come back for dinner the next day. Seeing his wife doing this, he didn't stop her, thinking he should teach the girl a lesson.

"That's not how it works. Based on how much labor you put in, Second Aunt should eat better. After all, she earns ten centimeters a day, which is more than my eldest uncle and my father. Besides, the distribution of grain is a matter for later. What I'm eating now is the grain I brought back. I brought back fine grain, and it's gone in just a few days. That's not what you said when you lied to me about coming back. So all your words were just empty promises. You can't just sit back down after you've done your business."

"What do you mean, 'your food'? This is our food, it's all gone. Take it or leave it."

Old Mrs. Lin said indignantly, "I refuse to believe I can't deal with this brat. She's been swindling fifty yuan from me, and I haven't been able to sleep for days."

"Baoya, you're a young lady, fighting over food and drink. What will people say about your in-laws if word gets out? Quickly apologize to your grandparents and don't do it again."

Uncle Lin looked heartbroken.

"Uncle, you always treat yourselves to special meals, of course you don't know our suffering. Is it so hard to give me a bite to eat? My parents have raised your children for so many years, but they haven't paid any attention to me. I have to bring my own food every few days I stay in this house, and what do you get in return? You even steal my food. How heartless are you? Your own backs are being pierced to pieces, and you still have time to worry about my reputation. You're just worrying about things that don't concern you."

When Lin Lao Er and Zhang Laidi heard Bao Ya say that the eldest son's family was giving her special treatment, they also looked at Lin Lao Da. They thought that Bao Ya was indeed quite capable, but she wasn't lying. She must have seen it somewhere, which showed that her parents were extremely biased.

While they were talking, Lin Laosan stuffed one of his cornbread buns into Bao Ya's hand, took the black-faced wild vegetable cornbread from Bao Ya's hand, and took a bite.

"Hmm, Mother, you two really don't do any work and have nothing better to do than cook two different dishes. If Sister-in-law went to the fields to earn more work points, we wouldn't have to cook two different dishes."

"Third brother, you unfilial son, you're just like your daughter, you don't do your job properly, all you do is make your mother angry, I might as well just die."

As he spoke, he made a move to sit on the ground and howl.

"Hey, what do you mean by 'not a good person'? Show me one! How do you know so much?"

Hearing Bao Ya's words, he was suddenly speechless. Was she wailing now to perform what it meant to be "a worthless thing"?

"Grandma, don't worry, you won't die. As the old saying goes, evil people live for a thousand years. You'll live for at least a few hundred more years."

Bao Ya rolled her eyes at her and said leisurely.

Damn it, I'm starving and have to watch her act, it's so annoying. She wanted to flip the table, but she held back when she saw the pleading eyes around her. Sigh, her self-cultivation is still lacking.

Bao Ya stuffed the cornbread her cheap father had given her into her cheap mother's hands, pushed the bowl of dishwater in front of Wu Ya, and got up to walk out.

After thinking for a moment, he stopped and said, "I'll lend you that grain for a few days, but you have to pay me back when the grain is distributed. You can pay me back with public funds."

After saying that, he turned and left.

Where are you going?

Su Ruyi stuffed a cornbread into her mouth while asking indistinctly.

"Bao Ya, where are you going if you're not going to eat?"

Lin Laosan also got up.

Bao Ya walked to the middle of the yard and said in a huff, "I'm going out to beg for food."