Chapter 52: Learn from Comrade Zhang Yang

Wang Zhaodi had just turned onto her side and closed her eyes, hoping to sleep away and heal her fragile, heavily traumatized soul.

Little did she expect Wang Jie to be so blind and step right on her sore spot as he started yelling!

"What do you mean, not enough for me to eat?"

"Did I eat your ration?!"

"Every single bite I swallowed belongs to my own grain! What business is it of yours how much I eat?"

"Brother! Look at whose man is as idle as you, doing nothing all day except bragging and shooting his mouth off?"

"Since you've got so much free time, why don't you go do all the chores around the house? Go help Mom! You're only good at bullying your own family, utterly useless!"

Wang Jie: "..."

He had only said one sentence, and Wang Zhaodi shot back five or six sentences in one breath!

What is wrong with this girl? Did she swallow a pack of firecrackers?

Then, second thoughts hit him: Mom and his younger sister had taken a bunch of little brats to Zhangjiatun today to demand justice.

Judging by Wang Zhaodi’s drooping, deflated spirit, things probably hadn't gone very smoothly.

Wang Jie gave a dry laugh. "Well, since they had to resort to meat, it means the Zhang family still has a guilty conscience! What happens once can happen twice, why not just go back tomorrow? Demand even more tomorrow!"

Wang Zhaodi almost ripped off the quilt beside her, thinking it would be better to just smother this pig-brained idiot to death!

"That bit of meat wasn't given by the Zhang family at all! The Zhang family didn't even pluck a single hair for us!" Wang Zhaodi roared.

Wang Jie's eyes widened. "Huh?! That stinking bitch Zhang Yan, has she really gotten this brazen? You went there lying flat on a flatbed cart! And she still wouldn't take out things from home to save someone?"

"Well, you'll have to ask yourself that. Brother, look at what a fine wife you picked! She pissed me and Mom off to the brink of death!"

Wang Zhaodi said with bitter resentment, "Didn't you say they promised you eighty-eight yuan? If you ask me, their family is still the exact same as before! A month from now, there's no way they'll cough up that money! They're purely playing you for a fool!"

Wang Jie puffed out his chest. "If he doesn't pay, all the better! If he doesn't pay, I'll have even more of an excuse to go to his house and snatch people away!"

His eyes narrowed halfway, his tone vicious, "When the time comes, I'll go snatch the adults and the kids, and you guys can look around the rest of their house. Whatever you see that can be taken, take it all back!"

Mentioning pillaging things reminded Wang Jie of his mighty eldest maternal uncle.

"When the time comes, let the eldest uncle go too! He'll bring his hunting rifle, and it'd be best if he brings a few brothers from the militia squad along to back us up and hold the fort!"

When Wang Jie spoke of Qian Weiguo, his eyes were full of absolute worship.

Yet this worship was fiercely sliced through by Qian Chunfen, who had just walked in carrying a large bowl of wolf meat soup. It poured down over him like a basin of icy water, chilling him straight to the bone.

Wang Jie: "Mom, why are you looking at me like that?"

Qian Chunfen was boiling with rage. "You're still thinking about your eldest maternal uncle! That man isn't thinking about us at all!"

Wang Jie was baffled. "Isn't the eldest uncle just busy? He's usually pretty good to us."

With a loud *bang*, Qian Chunfen slammed the bowl down onto the small kang table. The wobbly soup splashed a few droplets out, making Wang Jie's heart ache.

He nimbly hopped up onto the kang, stationing himself beside the small table to wait for Qian Chunfen to finish her piece.

Qian Chunfen stared at the soup as well. "If the matter of them hunting that wolf hadn't blown up... I wouldn't have even known he hunted a wolf at all! Thank goodness the commune handled it fairly and distributed this wolf meat to people in both villages, otherwise, do you think you'd ever get to taste a single bite of this?"

Wang Jie didn't catch her drift and blinked frantically.

It was only when Wang Zhaodi couldn't stand it any longer that she stepped in to explain the whole story.

"Making us go to the Zhang family today was entirely the eldest uncle's idea! First, the eldest uncle called us over and said he went hunting in the mountains and had a conflict with Zhang Yang, claiming that punk has been acting too arrogant lately. He told us to go over there and wear him down, press him for the money along the way, and squeeze some things out of his household!"

Wang Jie grew even more confused. "I knew all that..."

Wang Zhaodi hammered her fist against the small kang table.

"But back then, he didn't mention at all that their two squads had a conflict because of a wolf! That meant the wolf meat was still in the hands of our village's militia squad at the time! The eldest uncle only sent me and Mom to stir up trouble, but never mentioned anything about sharing the meat. In short, he never intended to give Mom a single share!"

The more Qian Chunfen retraced it in her mind, the more wrong it felt. "If he had even the slightest intention of sharing the meat back then, our family wouldn't have ended up with just a mere few ounces!"

Looking at the soup before her, Wang Zhaodi felt that before it even touched her lips, it already tasted bitter!

A good five or six catties of meat had suddenly dwindled down to a mere six or seven ounces. Who wouldn't find that bitter?

Wang Jie finally understood what the two of them were getting at, but he still held a differing opinion deep down.

"The eldest uncle isn't that kind of person! Under the circumstances back then, it certainly wasn't convenient to distribute the meat... Otherwise, how would that wolf have ended up in the hands of the commune in the end?"

Qian Chunfen ground her back teeth and remained silent.

She knew very well what kind of temperament her own flesh-and-blood younger brother possessed!

Yet precisely because Qian Weiguo had acted so unfairly this time, failing to look out for his own maternal family from the get-go, Qian Chunfen hatched a brand-new plan.

"In a little while, take two or three catties of sweet potatoes and go check on your eldest maternal uncle! He said he sprained his ankle and hurt his nose a bit when he went hunting in the mountains. As his nephew, you naturally ought to show him more concern! Only then will he personally step forward to back you up when you go demanding that eighty-eight yuan later!"

Qian Chunfen reasoned eloquently.

Wang Zhaodi gathered from this that her mother wanted to turn the tables and use the eldest uncle to put the Zhang family in their place.

Only Wang Jie remained completely out of the loop, shouting a direct "Got it" once he heard the plan.

"Mom is right! Once we have the eldest uncle backing us up later, let's see what Zhang Yang and Zhang Yan have left to fight us with!"

...

During the short while Lin Qiushui and Zhang Yan had been chatting, Zhang Yang moved swiftly, fashioning eight slingshots using household rubber bands and leftover branches from split firewood.

Four large ones and four small ones.

One of the large slingshots was given to Zhao Dong, while the other two were intended for the Gao brothers.

The first pair of smaller slingshots went to Zhang Wen and Zhang Fei.

The remaining one large and two small slingshots were handed over to Lin Qiushui, who was preparing to take her leave.

"Keep a slingshot on you for self-defense. If you run into bad guys, you can pull it out and counterattack at any moment."

When Zhang Yang handed the items to her, worried that she wouldn't know how to use them, he borrowed Zhao Dong's slingshot and briefly showed Lin Qiushui the ropes.

Neither of them had been doing heavy labor at the moment, so neither wore gloves.

The tips of Zhang Yang's calloused fingers accidentally brushed against the back of Lin Qiushui's delicate hand. She gave a slight shudder, as if mildly electrocuted.

Her face flushed crimson all of a sudden.

Yet, Zhang Yang didn't notice this tiny detail, remaining utterly focused on explaining how to use the slingshot to Lin Qiushui.

Lin Qiushui drew a deep breath.

Is something wrong with her face lately?!

Why does it blush at the drop of a hat!

Comrade Zhang Yang here is wholeheartedly teaching her self-defense, so she couldn't spend all day harboring her own maidenly fantasies!

She ought to learn well from Zhang Yang's diligence and capability, and become someone useful to the commune!

Lin Qiushui pushed down her romantic little thoughts and concentrated fully on Zhang Yang's instruction.

Zhang Yang was demonstrating to Lin Qiushui with utmost solemnity: "If you want to use a slingshot well, simply knowing how to pull it back is far from enough."

"The hand pushing the bow and the anchoring position of the back hand both require specific techniques."