Li Qiao carried the dog and walked home.
Passing through the crossroads, Peng Chunhua called out to her.
"Qiaoqiao, is that the dog from Feng Fugui’s family?"
Li Qiao responded indifferently with a grunt.
Peng Chunhua said with a laugh, "I heard from the villagers that you received your admission notice, congratulations. From now on, even if Jin doesn’t work, you can still get by.
Old Mrs. Qin really had foresight; back then, when Jin was reluctant to have you, Old Mrs. Qin chased him half the village with a broom, and it wasn’t until he had a fall that he agreed. The day before the wedding, he went out drinking and made a scene, and ended up getting caught. Everyone said he was a lost cause, but now it seems he’s the lucky one.
By the way, when do you start school? Will you have to take the college entrance exam again? If you do, and you do poorly, can they take back the admission notice?"
Peng Chunhua spoke as if Qin Jin was good for nothing, shifting the topic.
Li Qiao knew Peng Chunhua wasn’t sincere in her congratulations, but she didn’t expect her to criticize her partner as useless—it was infuriating!
She smiled coolly and said leisurely, "Is that so? I didn’t hear about Jin being reluctant; he always praises me as a goddess descended from heaven, says he could love me to death. I’ll interrogate him later, and if he asks who said that, I’ll point to you. As for the start of school, there’s still time, and I definitely have to take the exam." After studying seriously for half a year, she also wanted to see if she could score as high as usual. "Don’t worry, I won’t do poorly." She walked away.
Peng Chunhua panicked at the thought of confronting Qin Jin.
She felt a chill in her stomach and forgot the pain as she hurried after Li Qiao, "Qiaoqiao, please don’t tell Jin it was me who said that. With his temper, what if he gets violent and hurts me and the child?"
Li Qiao thought, feeling scared now? "Then admit that what you just said about Jin was nonsense."
Peng Chunhua’s face flushed with embarrassment. She hadn’t been talking nonsense, but she feared Qin Jin might accuse her of stirring up trouble and hit her. After hesitating two seconds, she stammered, "I...I was talking nonsense."
Li Qiao smiled, "That’s more like it."
Peng Chunhua: "..."
.....
When Li Qiao got home, she found a rope to tie up the puppy, then went inside to draw a blueprint for a dog house and began to split bamboo with gloves on to make it.
Old Mrs. Qin came over to lend a hand, glanced at the blueprints, and joked, "This dog house will turn out better than some people’s homes."
Li Qiao replied with a smile, "Drawing well doesn’t necessarily mean building well."
They busied themselves until dusk, but the dog house was still unfinished, and Qin Jin had not yet come home.
With dinner half-cooked, Li Qiao put down her work and prepared to go to the village entrance to meet Qin Jin, but just as she was stepping out, she met the team leader, who informed her of a community meeting at 6:30 to draw lots for land allocation.
Li Qiao went back to inform Old Mrs. Qin.
"You’re the lucky star of our family; you should draw the lots later," said Old Mrs. Qin.
"Lucky star?" Li Qiao’s smile was light, "You flatter me."
Old Mrs. Qin’s gaze was tender, her lips curled slightly, "It’s only fitting."
While they were talking, Qin Jin arrived, carrying a big bag.
Woof woof woof!
The puppy yapped with its high-pitched bark.
"Where’d this dog come from? Isn’t this the ugly dog from Feng Fugui’s house?"
"You actually know to come back?" Old Mrs. Qin’s face changed color, "What have you brought into the house now?"
"Candy, planning to distribute it tomorrow to celebrate Qiaoqiao getting into college," he explained.
Old Mrs. Qin’s expression softened, "Buying candy? Later at the team meeting for the land draw, let’s take the candy with us to give out ahead of time so we don’t have to run around tomorrow."
"Alright."
Qin Jin put down the candy to hold the dog, "This dog is so ugly, who picked it up without even choosing a good-looking one?"
"Me," Li Qiao said.
Hearing this, Qin Jin rephrased, "Look closer, it’s actually quite handsome." His gaze drifted downwards, curiously adding, "Grandma, how come a male dog has two rows of nipples?"
Old Mrs. Qin shot back immediately, "Don’t you have two yourself?"
Li Qiao burst out laughing.
Qin Jin cleared his throat and leaned close to Li Qiao, threatening in a low voice, "Don’t laugh, or I’ll make you cry later."
Li Qiao: "..." Such a scoundrel!
.....
After dinner, the family of three walked towards the team headquarters.
Qin Jin handed out candies to everyone he met, sweetening their mouths.
There were praises for Li Qiao’s bright future, for Old Mrs. Qin’s good fortune, and for Qin Jin’s luck in marrying a university graduate.
Some also said they were waiting to see the Cai family’s embarrassment.
The family of three disliked any talk related to the Cai’s.
Li Qiao finally couldn’t help himself and said," Do you think I don’t know the Cai’s? Don’t bring him up again." Was he tagged with that surname because of a mere romance, and now it can’t be torn off? It’s really bad luck!
Qin Jin and Old Mrs. Qin silently exchanged looks; the daughter-in-law nearly declared outright she was no longer the person she used to be.
"Alright, let’s drop it, drop it."
At six-thirty, the team leader appeared on time with two cardboard boxes and delivered a formulaic opening speech. He then took out a newspaper and read the content, which essentially stated that the land would return to individual ownership, and each year only twenty percent of the crop yield per mu of land needed to be paid.
For example, if one harvested five hundred jin of crops, one would pay one hundred jin.
When everyone heard this, they were elated.
With fertile land, the harvest of one crop could far exceed five hundred jin.
And previously, when everyone worked together, they feared doing more work and ending up at a disadvantage, leading many to reluctantly and lazily work.
Since the land wasn’t managed diligently, after a busy year, the harvest was barely enough to make ends meet.
For one’s own land, one would definitely care for it meticulously.
With seven or eight people in a family, and two mu of land per person, how much surplus crop would they have in a year?
In the future, wouldn’t they have white rice and flour with every meal?
"Quiet, quiet!" The team leader clapped his hands on the table and waited for everyone to quiet down before he continued, "For fairness’ sake, I have prepared two boxes, one box with the names of each household and another with the locations of the land. Those whose names I draw will come up and draw for their land plot."
Everyone thought this was a good idea.
After all, those who drew first might get a good plot.
Those who drew later might end up with the less desirable land if the good ones were already taken.
The team leader reached into the cardboard box.
After unfolding the piece of paper, he said, "The Qin family, who will come up to draw?"
Old Mrs. Qin pushed Li Qiao forward.
Li Qiao stepped up and casually picked a piece of paper.
Seeing the paper, the team leader clicked his tongue, which made everyone think Li Qiao had gotten a good plot.
They discussed among themselves:
The university graduate really is different; his luck is through the roof, either getting a hundred jin of pork or drawing a fertile plot.
Old Mrs. Qin couldn’t help but puff out her chest with pride.
All they heard the team leader say was, "Your luck, ah, that plot of land is low and always waterlogged, nothing but rice can be grown there, but it’s only one and a half mu. You need to draw again."
"Ah? I need to draw carefully this time." Li Qiao reached into the box and fumbled for quite a while before pulling out another slip of paper.
Yu Feng silently prayed that Li Qiao would draw land nobody wanted.
With no harvest, she and her grandson would have to rely on Li Qiao to live. Sooner or later, Li Qiao wouldn’t tolerate it anymore and would divorce Loser Qin; a thug enraged might kill her, ending up in jail afterwards.
Looking at the paper, the team leader’s eyes slightly lit up," This piece is good; the south side is next to a road with a drainage ditch, making harvest convenient, and the plot is also large. But there are only about ten or so mu of this type of land here, so it’s not possible to assign all four and a half mu to you at once. Draw one more, and we’ll balance it out later."
Qin Jin thought it was unfair.
During the meeting, they never mentioned the land wouldn’t be divided as a whole.
His family had a total of six mu, and one and a half mu were taken up by the lowland; why wasn’t there talk of evening it out then?
But just as his wife drew a fertile plot, there was suddenly a new requirement.
Was it a sign of contempt for him?
He was about to argue his case forcefully.
Old Mrs. Qin signaled him to stay calm and not to rush.
Li Qiao didn’t think too much and obediently drew another one, also a fertile plot and very close to their home.
It was then that Qin Jin had no more to say.
Li Qiao returned to his seat holding the drawn slips of paper.
Old Mrs. Qin said contentedly, "Not bad."