Su Changjiu didn't understand for a moment why he needed to send a message to Director Li.
Just a few eggs, and Director Li would come all the way to pick them up?
It wasn't worth it!
Director Li was a good person, but he wouldn't make a trip for this.
Besides, he already had plans for these few eggs and couldn't give them to Director Li.
"They gave us so many chicks, we have to let them know the chickens have started laying eggs, so they can rest easy," Grandpa Su said solemnly.
During this time, Grandpa Su had actually been under a lot of pressure.
The chicken farm was indeed established, but they owed others.
The chicks and chicken feed were all provided by Director Li, and they hadn't paid a cent yet; it was all debt.
If the chickens weren't raised well, wouldn't they drag others down with them?
Now that the chickens were laying eggs, they had to let the people who were worried put their minds at ease, right?
That's right, in Grandpa Su's mind, he felt that Director Li's heart had always been hanging.
Actually, Li Changqing himself didn't know why he had never worried that the Hongxin Brigade's chicken farm would fail.
Su Changjiu then slapped his own forehead.
Grandpa Su's considerations were not unreasonable. He was still young and didn't think as thoroughly as the elder.
"Uncle, you really do think things through. No wonder people say, 'An elder at home is a treasure.'"
"You're already in your fifties, hurry up and go!" Grandpa Su chuckled, stroking his beard, clearly pleased by Su Changjiu's words.
"I know. There's a phone at the commune. I'll go to the commune and call the county!"
Su Changjiu was happy, and his voice was more confident as he spoke. m..oΓg
Phone calls were expensive, and Director Qian treated the commune's phone like a treasure, keeping it locked in a box all day and not letting anyone use it.
But he believed that Director Qian would agree to a call for such a matter.
Su Changjiu was excited!
Su Changjiu hurried to the commune, and the entire Su family returned home excitedly.
Although the chicken farm belonged to the commune, the Su family had put in a lot of effort, and now they finally saw results. Grandma Su was exceptionally happy.
Returning home and seeing that it was almost time to cook, Grandma Su took out about ten eggs.
Seeing her mother-in-law so generous, Liang Xiu was slightly surprised to see her take out a dozen eggs at once.
"Mom, how can you bear to take out a dozen eggs at once?"
"The chickens at the chicken farm started laying eggs today. To celebrate, we'll have scrambled eggs tonight!" Grandma Su was very happy.
"Grandma, I see there are still a few tomatoes on the tomato vines. Let's pick them all and make scrambled eggs with tomatoes," Su Xiaotian immediately ran to Grandma Su, expressing her desire to order dishes.
"Alright, you call your brothers to pick all the remaining tomatoes from the vines, and we'll stir-fry them tonight."
Grandma Su looked at her granddaughter's expression with great affection.
Others might not know, but the Su family members themselves knew that the chicken farm idea was proposed by Su Xiaotian, and most of the chicken-raising methods were also provided by Su Xiaotian.
They had never known many of the precautions for raising chickens that this child mentioned. If they had relied on their old methods for raising chickens, the chicks would definitely not have been able to lay eggs in such a short time.
Su Xiao Jiu, Su Xiao Ba, and the other children, without Su Xiaotian calling them, heard Grandma Su's words in the yard. One by one, they busied themselves with carrying baskets to the vegetable garden to pick tomatoes.
"Mom, scrambled eggs with tomatoes go best with rice. How about we make rice tonight?" Liang Xiu said after thinking.
The family didn't lack food and drink. Although white rice and white flour weren't abundant, eating them once or twice a month was not a problem.
As expected, Grandma Su immediately agreed.
"Okay, today is a good day. Tonight we'll have rice and scrambled eggs with tomatoes!"
"Scrambled eggs with tomatoes are the most delicious, sweet and sour. Scoop a spoonful over the rice, it's so fragrant, I love it!"
Su Xiaotian loved the taste of scrambled eggs with tomatoes mixed with rice. She could almost drool at the thought of it.
In a few more years, scrambled eggs with tomatoes would be everywhere, but the tomatoes then wouldn't have the taste of the ones grown in their own yard now.
"You little glutton!" Grandma Su chuckled as she scooped rice from the rice bag.
"It's not that I'm greedy, it's just that Grandma cooks so deliciously."
The little girl knew how to please people, and with a single sentence, Grandma Su's face bloomed with joy.
As the grandparents were talking, Su Taohua came in.
Liang Xiu, carrying a bundle of dry grass, hadn't entered the door yet. She happened to see Su Taohua and asked casually.
"Sister Taohua, why are you here?"
"I was idle at home, so I came to chat with you for a while."
Su Taohua had a smile on her face. It was evident that she was in a good mood.
"Where are the two kids?" Liang Xiu asked as she walked in with Su Taohua.
"They went to Xinghua's house, and Xiaomei is busy at the chicken farm."
"That's great, stay for dinner at our house tonight," Grandma Su said immediately upon hearing this.
Su Taohua looked at the sky. It was indeed time to prepare dinner, and it was not appropriate for her to visit at this time.
At that moment, Su Taohua was about to turn and leave, but Liang Xiu pulled her back.
"Sister Taohua, since you're here, why are you leaving?"
"I forgot it was time to cook," Su Taohua asked awkwardly.
"You child, you're being too polite! Come in quickly. If you don't stay for dinner tonight, don't come to our house again!" Grandma Su said with feigned anger.
Although she knew Grandma Su was pretending to be angry, Su Taohua still obediently stayed.
"Then I'll trouble you for dinner tonight, Auntie."
Grandma Su, who was washing rice, added another bowl of rice and said, "When you send food to the eldest daughter-in-law later, send Xiaomei's along too."
Since Su Taohua was staying, she also helped with the cooking.
With Liang Xiu, Qi Liangying, and Su Taohua in the kitchen, Grandma Su returned to the main hall to sew shoe soles.
"Sister Taohua, there's something I've always wanted to ask you, but I didn't know how to start," Liang Xiu said.
"What is it?"
Su Taohua added a handful of dry grass to the stove fire and gently shook it a few times to make the fire burn more vigorously.
"It's about... what do you think for yourself?"
"Myself? What is there to think about?"
"Li Changming won't be out for another two years!" Liang Xiu said in a low voice.
Su Taohua's expression changed slightly.
"He has nothing to do with me, we're divorced!" Su Taohua said.
After Li Changming beat her for Kang Yiye and she had a miscarriage, she had completely given up on that man. At the time, she hadn't thought of divorce, just wanted to muddle along.
But later, during the New Year, Li Changming wasn't home and was consorting with that woman. After she caught them in the act, her last bit of hope was gone. From then on, she had thought it through clearly.
Even if Li Changming came out in two years, they would go their separate ways.
"Sister Taohua, it's hard for a woman to live alone. How about finding someone else?" Qi Liangying said suddenly while cutting tomatoes.
"What's the point of finding someone else? Finding one like that in a lifetime is enough, I'm not looking anymore!" Su Taohua shook her head, her tone extremely firm. "Besides, in a couple of years, Xiao Liang will be looking for a wife."
Qi Liangying actually felt that Su Taohua was still quite young, not even forty yet, and it wouldn't be bad to find someone.
With Su Taohua's capability, there would be no shortage of people willing to come to her door if the word got out.
"Now Xiaomei is working at the chicken farm, Xiao Liang can earn work points as an adult, and I can also earn work points. Our family's life is good and comfortable!"
It was indeed more comfortable than when Li Changming was around. Su Taohua was very satisfied with such a life.
Seeing Su Taohua's firm attitude, Liang Xiu and Qi Liangying, the sisters-in-law, didn't persuade her further.
When it comes to living, only the person involved knows the true feelings.
Others might think it's not going well, but as long as you feel good about it yourself, it's fine.
"Xiao Liang has also graduated from high school. I wonder if there are any job opportunities in the city," Liang Xiu said suddenly, as if thinking of something while cutting cabbage.
"I wouldn't dare to think about that. When his father was still alive, I had this idea too, thinking of letting him find a way in the town, but it never worked out."
Moreover, now, as a woman, where would she find such a way?
Fortunately, Xiao Liang is a diligent and hardworking child. Even if he works in the brigade, his future life won't be bad.
"Let's talk about this slowly. We'll keep our ears open, and maybe there will be an opportunity. Speaking of which, there aren't many children in our Hongxin Brigade who have graduated from high school!" Liang Xiu muttered.
Su Taohua chuckled at Liang Xiu's words.
"Your family is really obsessed. You're always thinking about studying and education."
"It's just that we see that child Xiaotian loves to learn and knows everything, so we also want to improve ourselves," Qi Liangying said with a gentle smile.
"That's true. My Xiaomei also said that after following along and learning for a while, she understood a lot. She also said that she should let Xiao Liang read more when he's free, as it's beneficial. It's just that this child Xiao Liang doesn't like to read; he always wants to join the army," Su Taohua sighed.
This was also the reason for her visit today. Conscription was about to begin, and Xiao Liang was old enough, but she didn't know if there would be an opportunity.
If it were before, it wouldn't matter, but now, with such a father, she was afraid it would delay her child.
Qi Liangying and Liang Xiu exchanged glances and understood.
But they, as women, couldn't say much to Chen Zi'an.
"Sister Taohua, I'll talk to my husband about this later and ask him to mention it to Zi'an if he has a chance," Liang Xiu said, only daring to promise this much, given her good relationship with Su Taohua.
"Thank you, Li Changming, that shameless man, who messed around himself and is now dragging down the child." Su Taohua's expression was somewhat dejected.
Liang Xiu comforted her, "It's nothing. Xiao Liang is a good boy, as everyone in our brigade knows!"
"Of course, my children are all good, but... you don't know, a few families wanted to arrange marriages for my Xiaomei, but they all lost contact." Thinking of this, Su Taohua's teeth itched with hatred. It was enough that her own life was not going well, but to also drag down her child, such a father was worse than dead.
"Xiaomei is only sixteen, no need to rush," Liang Xiu quickly said.
"She's not young anymore. I think we need to hurry with Xiaomei's matters. I'll have to trouble you aunts to help out and see if there are any suitable young men in the nearby brigades. I don't ask for anything else, just that they are honest and hardworking."
"Sister Taohua, I think Teacher Yu at our primary school is quite good, but he's a few years older than Xiaomei!" As soon as Qi Liangying said this, Su Taohua's face changed drastically.
Qi Liangying then remembered that she had spoken out of turn.
Why was Li Changming arrested? It was because he was involved with the educated youth. Teacher Yu was also an educated youth.
Bringing up such a person was like poking a wound, wasn't it?
"Sister Taohua, I didn't mean anything by it, I just mentioned it casually. Please don't blame me!" she apologized quickly.
Su Taohua said, "It's a personal issue, it has nothing to do with being an educated youth!"
While Li Changming's involvement with Kang Yiye was partly Kang Yiye's fault, if Li Changming himself had been a good person, things wouldn't have escalated to this point.
She had no objections to educated youth, but she didn't want her daughter to marry one, as they were not the same kind of people.
"I just want Xiaomei to marry someone honest and upright. Although Teacher Yu is good, he will eventually return to the city, so I'm afraid he's not suitable."
"How many years has this 'returning to the city' been talked about? Sang Chunlan has gone from a young girl to an old maiden and is still staying in our brigade," Qi Liangying said with a smile.
"That's other people's business, let's not worry about it. As for the educated youth, as long as they can find a way, they all want to leave the countryside!" Liang Xiu said with a smile, her hands moving nimbly to put the cut cabbage into a basin.
"That's exactly right! Over the years, how many educated youths have come and gone, many have left, and many have stayed, but few have settled down." Su Taohua saw it very clearly.
A few families in the brigade married female educated youths as wives, and they seemed fine now, but if you looked closely, they still wanted to leave.
Not to mention the male educated youths who married girls from the brigade, they were even more eager to leave immediately.
"Educated youth are not suitable. I also like this child Xiaomei, but my family doesn't have any nephews or nieces, otherwise, I wouldn't let outsiders benefit."
Liang Xiu muttered, then suddenly remembered something and asked Qi Liangying, "Second sister-in-law, do you have anyone suitable from your family?"
"I can't think of anyone suitable for the moment. My neighbor has a young man of similar age, but the young man is not good-looking and doesn't match our Xiaomei."
Qi Liangying's words made the other two laugh.
"Second sister-in-law, you still have this idea? Did you fall for second brother because he looked handsome?" Liang Xiu teased.
Qi Liangying blushed at Liang Xiu's teasing and pretended to spit, saying, "You're becoming more and more unruly."
After a while of joking, the food was ready, and the whole family ate dinner merrily.
When Su Taohua went home, she took Wang Xianghua and Su Xiaomei's meals with her.
When she delivered the food, the other families working at the chicken farm also happened to bring their meals.
As the young girls at the chicken farm were cheerfully preparing to eat, they were surprised to find that every household had added eggs to their dishes tonight.
There were various egg dishes such as steamed egg custard, scrambled eggs with chives, scrambled eggs with tomatoes, and scrambled eggs with cucumbers.
"What's going on tonight? Why are we all eating eggs?"
"My mother usually doesn't bear to eat eggs. It's not a festival, why are we eating eggs today?"
They looked at each other.
"It's probably to celebrate that the chickens at our chicken farm have started laying eggs!" Wang Xianghua said after thinking.
Cow shed.
Chi Ge and Du Tonghe had already heard that the Hongxin Brigade's chicken farm had finally waited for the chickens to lay eggs today, and they were discussing it.
"I actually thought this wouldn't work before, but I didn't expect it to succeed!" Chi Ge was actually quite surprised by this.
In such circumstances, for the Hongxin Brigade to actually establish a chicken farm and successfully raise so many chickens was truly rare.
"I'm just worried that the Hongxin Brigade will be targeted. Not everyone wants a better life!" Du Tonghe sighed.
The tallest tree in the forest will be destroyed by the wind!
The Hongxin Brigade's vigorous chicken farming would surely make other brigades jealous. Perhaps some people would have ulterior motives towards the Hongxin Brigade.
"I asked Zi'an about this before, and Zi'an said it's fine."
"Although Zi'an has some status in the county, it's not enough to protect such a large chicken farm!" Du Tonghe was not entirely at ease.
If it were just a small chicken farm, Chen Zi'an's ability would surely be able to protect it, but the scale of this chicken farm was too large now.
"Old Du, don't worry about this. Zi'an's superior leader was helped by Old Brother Su years ago. Otherwise, do you think the Hongxin Brigade could have been so smooth?"
In other words, the real backing of the Su family was not Chen Zi'an, but the leader above Chen Zi'an.
"That's what everyone says, but it seems that leader only sent one package to the Su family."
Chi Ge smiled and didn't say much.
On the surface, it seemed like he only sent one package, but Chen Zi'an brought many things every time he came to the brigade.
Based on Chen Zi'an alone, he probably couldn't afford so many good things, so it must have been the superior leader's doing.
Also, as the Su family's life got better and better, he observed secretly that the Su family didn't lack various coupons. Where would farmers get so many coupons? It must have been given by the superior leader.
It must be said, this was a perfect misunderstanding.
Chi Ge's thoughts were also the thoughts of many members of the brigade.
Everyone felt that the Su family's current good life was a reward for saving someone back then.
At this time, Su Changjiu had returned from the commune.
He took the first batch of twelve eggs from the chicken farm and went to the cow shed.
"Professor Chi, Professor Du," Su Changjiu said politely.
When the people inside heard Su Changjiu's voice, they immediately stopped talking.
"Team Leader, why are you here?" Chi Ge and Du Tonghe came out together.
"I'm here to thank you!" The team leader didn't say anything else.
"Thank us?" Chi Ge and Du Tonghe looked at each other. What had they done recently?
That was worth the team leader coming to thank them specifically?
"I've seen it this past year. You two are both truly skilled and have helped our brigade a lot."
The two then understood.
As expected, Su Changjiu continued, "Our Hongxin Brigade had a bumper harvest this year. As the team leader, I must thank you!"
Du Tonghe was silent for a while.
"Team Leader, I dare not take credit for this. It's not just my credit, it's..."
Su Changjiu looked around and interrupted Du Tonghe's unsaid words, "I know, but Xiaotian is too young. These merits can only be placed on you!"
Du Tonghe was stunned. It turned out that Su Changjiu wasn't completely ignorant, but was protecting Su Xiaotian.
"Team Leader, you mean..."