When Yu Wuzi heard that she was going to be handled through the name-and-shame method, her facial expressions changed with fright and she quickly said, “Leader, I won’t dare to steal again, but I don’t want to be denunciated.”
The Production Leader was just trying to scare her. A name-and-shame method was different from a denunciation rally in the way that there would not be any physical actions nor would there be a deduction in work points.
(T/N: Name-and-shame was a process where one person is publicly named to be criticised in front of everyone. Usually, this is where people can vent their complaints in a civilised manner. A denunciation rally is when an offender is used as public spectacles— being publicly humiliated, beaten and tortured)
Yu Wuzi began to cry again, “Everyone has eaten it, so why are you criticising me specifically? Why are you making my life so miserable as you bully me?”
Hearing her play tricks , the Production Leader got angry again, “If you don’t want that to happen, you can take the gong of the Brigade and beat it to admit your mistake.”
Yu Wuzi covered her face and started to cry, “I’ve lost my reputation—”
She turned her head to look at Lin Lan, thinking that it was Lin Lan who pulled a trick and deliberately had the Production Leader humiliate her in order to avenge herself for scolding them. She did not review her own mistakes and believed that it was Han Qingsong who got his personal revenge. She also believed that the other village cadres humiliated her in order to please Han Qingsong.
Lin Lan didn’t even bother to give her a look, seemingly dismissive.
“Leader, can the peanuts be divided?” Someone shouted.
It was transported to the Production team’s field that was in the south. Some of them lived in the rear of the village, so to make several trips to and fro was going to take some time.
Peanuts, soybeans, etc., were not given much and they were basically distributed by the members. This was where most of the villagers’ main source of edible oil came from.
When one person brought things up, the others responded as well, “Yeah, let’s divide our portions.”
The Production Leader had no problem with this. Anyway, sooner or later, the stocks would be divided, so it wouldn’t be a problem to give them out now while they were fresh.
He only needed to keep enough food for the public and the Brigade; the rest was for the members.
Each production team had its own accountants and scorers. They sent their people to pull the scales over and the scorers rolled the names of the accountants to control the scales. They then weighed the freshly-produced peanuts in piles.
The members happily got their share of peanuts home.
This time, Lin Lan’s family was the first to get their divided portion.
Someone shouted, “Why is her family the first one to get it?” It must be because Han Qingsong was in charge. After all, Lin Lan’s family was not a big deal and she never got the first pick.
Those who had their parts divided first could transport the food back home first; those who took their share later might have to wait until it got dark, which was inconvenient.