TCFSRMR |Chapter 34

“Are these two kids Shi Ying and Shi Heng?” Sun Lingshuang looked at the two children walking over step by step, and her eyes were full of amazement —

No matter whether it was a boy or a girl, they were both too well grown, weren’t they?

For a moment, eight big words flashed instantly in her mind: “an outstanding place produces outstanding people, and the spirit of the place nurtures its people.”

Compared with Shi Heng, her gaze undoubtedly lingered longer on Shi Ying —

Originally, she had not planned to attend this awards ceremony. After all, they were only primary school students’ essays, so why would it be worth her, a department head, to make a personal trip?

In the end, she happened to have something urgent come up and had to make a trip over here, so she simply took on this task as well. She had thought she would just go through the motions, take a brief look, and leave —

How much could primary school students’ essays really be worth seeing?

As a result, once she stayed, it was no small matter, because she discovered an incredible thing —

A third-grade primary school child had actually, within just six hundred characters, with immature writing, vividly portrayed the image of a father who favored sons over daughters and arranged marriages, and especially at the end, when that father had no choice but to surrender to the new social trend and make the marriage between his son and a widow happen, it was both hilarious and thought-provoking.

Sun Lingshuang read it and slapped the table in admiration. She read it several times in a row and still felt unable to stop, and in the end she gave the only perfect score to this little girl named Shi Ying.

When grading that essay, Sun Lingshuang could not help but be extremely curious about the name “Shi Ying.” She wondered what kind of little child, at such a young age, could write something like this. Now that she had seen her, she was finally satisfied —

Though young, she was clearly a beauty in the making, and just as she had imagined, she looked extraordinarily spirited at a glance.

Then she looked at Shi Heng, and for a moment she felt a bit envious of the two children’s parents —

What kind of family could possibly raise such promising children?

And since the two of them both had the surname Shi, and were from the same school, there was probably some clan relationship as well.

It was not until the two of them stood together at the very center of the podium that Zhou Dazhi finally came back to his senses, and he looked at Liu Qingfeng as if he had seen a ghost:

“These two kids really are from your school?”

“If they weren’t from our school, would they be from yours?” Liu Qingfeng was not just smug; he was grinning from ear to ear. Even so, even Liu Qingfeng felt a bit like he was dreaming at this point —

He had confidence in the two children, but he never would have imagined that the two of them were actually this outstanding.

That was a special prize. There were only two in the whole county, and in the end they both went to their school. Such an honor was something he would not even dare to dream about.

Even Zhou Dazhi, who considered himself steady-minded, was a little stimulated by Liu Qingfeng’s appearance. After a while, he raised his hand and gave him a hard punch on the shoulder:

“Fine, you’re impressive. A bet is a bet. I’ll treat you to a meal. Also, old classmate, congratulations!”

“Why should you treat me? I’ll treat!” Liu Qingfeng said this with his mouth, but he could not help reddening his eyes. He quickly used the chance to wipe his glasses to hide it a bit. “Let’s count it as a celebration banquet for the two children.”

“All right, all right, stop showing off!”

Zhou Dazhi complained softly. He was about to say more when he heard Sun Lingshuang’s voice from above:

“…In view of the fact that Shi Ying’s essay is especially wonderful, on behalf of the city newspaper office, I announce that this essay by Shi Ying will be included in the social special issue column ‘New Fashion, New Customs,’ and it will be published in the next issue of the paper.”

“Oh my, it can really be published in the newspaper?” At this point even Zhou Dazhi was no longer calm —

Teachers are also one of the literary crowd; who among them has not had a writer’s dream? For example, he had submitted manuscripts many times, but to no avail, always ending in defeat. And now the city newspaper office was actually going to include a child’s essay?

For a moment he was extremely curious:

“What exactly did little Shi Ying write?”

“I don’t know either.” There was too much happiness, and Liu Qingfeng was also directly stunned.

When it came time to distribute the prizes, Shi Ying and Shi Heng, the two special prize winners, had their certificates and prizes awarded separately by Sun Lingshuang and Director Liu from the education bureau. Compared with the other students, Shi Ying and Shi Heng, in addition to the certificates and the same prizes as the other classmates, each also got an extra enamel mug with “Serve the People” written on it, as well as a red thermos bottle that, though tacky, somehow looked festive no matter how you looked at it.

At this point, not only the students, even the teachers were filled with envy.

Unlike Sun Lingshuang, who especially valued Shi Ying, Director Liu’s attention was more focused on Shi Heng —

He had not known about the leaders coming to Shilipu to investigate Shi Heng’s matter before, but the county party secretary did know.

After the people above left, the county party secretary specially instructed Director Liu to pay more attention to the child named Shi Heng from Shilipu. Although he did not say it very clearly, the meaning of praise was overflowing from his words. He also told Director Liu that if the child had any requests, they must be fully satisfied.

When he first saw this name earlier, Director Liu had thought it was just someone with the same name, but after seeing the school name following it, he realized it was the same person.

Vaguely, he had some understanding of why even the county party secretary was paying attention. Now looking at it, this child really was different from the others.

After awarding the certificates and prizes, there was a brief discussion meeting. As usual, the leaders asked the teacher and student representatives from each school present whether they had any feasible suggestions for education work, or whether there were any requests they wanted to make.

The first to be asked were the students.

The children were all obviously a bit shy, and every single one of them shook their heads. As for Shi Heng, he was even someone who never said a word. Just as Director Liu was preparing to ask the teachers from each school, Shi Ying stood up instead:

“I have…”

Liu Qingfeng was startled, thinking that the discussion meeting after the competition was part of the proper procedure and had always just been a formality. The children did not understand, so they would not really think that if they wanted something, they could actually ask for it, right?

For a moment, he felt a little regretful. How had he forgotten to instruct the two children about this?

While he was anxious, he heard Shi Ying speak in a soft, delicate voice:

“Uncle, could you give us some books? We are a rural school, and we can’t even buy books… If there are books, could you give us some… storybooks would be best. If not, then textbooks from primary school up to high school are fine. If there are also some problem sets, that would be even better…”

Actually, the last sentence was what Shi Ying really wanted to say. According to her memory, the country would restore the college entrance examination the year after next. If she wanted her mother to go to university, then she would have to start studying from now. But the problem was that their school simply did not have high school textbooks.

Even if her mother wanted to read them, she could not. As the department in charge of education, the education bureau might have them. Even if they did not, they would probably have channels to help find them. Aside from that, there was also Shi Heng. From what the system said, in the areas of math and science, her older brother grasped things pretty quickly. He did not like listening to stories, and only liked those tedious numbers. If they had junior and senior high school textbooks, then math, physics, and chemistry and the like would surely make her brother happy.

No one had clearly expected Shi Ying’s request to be this, and everyone, including the teachers and students from each school, was left staring dumbly —

Children are children; there is no child who does not love to play. On normal days, they would all wish teachers would never assign homework.

Yet today, there was actually a child who solemnly asked the education bureau leaders for books to read and problems to do?

The teachers from the other schools were instantly filled with envy when they looked over —

No wonder the children from Shilipu School were able to win the special prize. Just look at this thirst for learning. They were only this old, and they were already thinking about reading high school textbooks.

They were even more determined to go back and raise the bar for the children in their own schools —

Which school of theirs had an environment that was not better than Shilipu, which was dozens of li away from the county town and not even connected by road? And yet they had watched helplessly as the special prize was taken away by others. Looking at it now, there really was a reason.

Naturally, Shi Ying did not realize that because of her little scheme, the other children of her age instantly began a forced, back-and-forth grind in their student lives, and even more so, she herself became the synonym for “someone else’s child.”

Director Liu was also deeply moved, repeatedly praising Shi Ying as a good child who “loves learning and has ambition,” and immediately instructed the staff to go find all the books they could find. Besides storybooks suitable for children, he specifically emphasized that they must collect all the textbooks from primary school up to high school, and also find the problem sets. He also promised Shi Ying that in the future, if there were opportunities to go to the city or the province, he would help buy other books as well —

The county party secretary had specifically instructed that if the children from the Shi family had any requests, they should be satisfied as much as possible.

Because of that, when they left the county seat, Liu Qingfeng and his colleague each carried a child on their backs, and there were also two large bundles of books hanging on either side of the front crossbar.

They swayed all the way back to school. As soon as they entered the school gate, Liu Qingfeng’s laughter spread throughout the whole campus:

“Where is everyone, where did everyone go?”

Miao Xiuxiu had been worried all along. Hearing Liu Qingfeng’s voice, she was the first to come out of the office:

“Principal Liu…”

“Mom.” Shi Ying ran over happily.

Miao Xiuxiu caught her in one hand and bent down to pick her up:

“Yingbao and Hengbao are back?”

“Not only are they back.” Liu Qingfeng was already smiling so hard that his mouth was nearly stretched to his ears. “Let me tell you, Teacher Miao, Yingbao and Hengbao really brought great honor to our school this time!”

As he said that, he excitedly raised the certificates and prizes in his hand:

“Special prize, two special prizes!”

“In the past there were only first, second, and third prizes. This is the first time this special prize has been set up!” Along the way Liu Qingfeng had no idea how many times he had said this to his colleague, and even now he was still full of spirit. “I specifically asked around, and they said that the leaders felt that our Yingying and Hengheng were too outstanding, and that just giving them a first prize wasn’t enough, so they specially set up a special prize.”

“Such an honor, I can’t say it has never come before, but at the very least it has not come before in the past!”

Miao Xiuxiu was also extremely pleasantly surprised —

As a mother, of course she felt her own children were the most outstanding. Even so, Miao Xiuxiu did not dare imagine that the two children, on their very first participation in a competition, would both win prizes, and not just prizes, but special prizes.

Besides the fact that those selected to participate in the competition were all good seedlings, there was also another very important reason, and that was that both Shi Ying and Shi Heng had only been studying for how long?

She had already thought that getting a prize would be good enough, but in the end the two children were both special prize winners?

“Hengheng’s special prize was because he got full marks in math…”

Although his Chinese score was still the dragging-behind sixty-something points, his math was the only perfect score in the whole county —

According to what the education bureau leaders said, even the children in the province had not gotten full marks.

“And Yingying’s essay, Teacher Miao, you don’t know how much Director Sun from the city newspaper office liked it after reading it. She even made a firm promise on the spot that it would soon be published in our city’s daily newspaper.”

Once these words were spoken, Shi Ying and Shi Heng instantly became like the school’s lucky mascots.

Because they knew Shi Heng refused contact with anyone, everyone focused their attention on Shi Ying. This one pulled her over to look, that one pulled her over to see, and Liu Qingfeng even directly had all the teachers of each class gather the students together on the spot, had Shi Ying and Shi Heng stand in front, and praised them for a full ten or twenty minutes without the slightest sign of satisfaction.

Standing there, Shi Ying really felt like her whole body had grown thorns —

If she said that she had worked this hard only because she really wanted to win high school textbooks for her mother, would anyone believe her?

Now that the books had been brought back, in order to avoid being watched like a monkey like this, she should still keep a low profile in the future.

Finally, after Liu Qingfeng’s impromptu meeting ended at last, Miao Xiuxiu was carrying a thermos in one hand, Shi Ting and Shi Jie were each holding an enamel mug, and as for Shi Ying, she was holding the high school textbooks she had specifically asked for from the education bureau leaders —

There was no way to directly tell Miao Xiuxiu about restoring the college entrance examination, so fortunately there was her older brother.

Shi Ying directly told Miao Xiuxiu that these were all things Shi Heng was interested in. Miao Xiuxiu agreed right away, saying she would tutor Shi Heng then.

As the saying goes, teaching benefits the teacher as well. If she really kept tutoring over the next two years, Miao Xiuxiu should be able to thoroughly understand the high school textbooks.

She had only held the textbooks and walked a few steps when the weight in her hands suddenly lightened. It was Shi Heng who took all the books she was carrying, and only put the two light paper certificates into her arms.

Shi Heng had two schoolbags on his back and was also holding a stack of books. Then she looked at herself, who only had two light certificates, and Shi Ying suddenly felt a little embarrassed herself.

She tugged at the corner of Shi Heng’s clothes:

“Big brother, carrying so much will make you tired. Let me take some.”

Although Shi Heng did not speak, he clearly held the books in his hands even tighter.

Shi Ying had no choice but to give up, and could only remind Shi Heng:

“If your arms get sore, let me hold them for a while. If you get tired, I’ll feel bad for you…”

Unexpectedly, just after she finished speaking, even the two certificates were taken over by Shi Heng with one hand. In the end, in the whole family, Shi Ying became the only one with empty hands.

When the few of them entered the house, Yin Zhaodi was just coming out of the room with a bamboo tray in hand. Seeing the things in the hands of the few of them, she was obviously a little dazed:

“What did you all do? Why did you buy so many things?”

Enamel mugs and thermos bottles were rare things, and yet the eldest sister-in-law had not only bought them, but they were all in pairs?

However, Shi Guoping, knowing that today was the day the two children went to the county for the competition, immediately had a guess:

“Let me guess, these are Yingbao and Hengbao’s prizes?”

“They’re the younger brother and younger sister’s prizes.” Shi Ting happily raised the enamel mug in her hand high toward Shi Guoping.

Just then, Old Lady Shi came out of the room, and upon hearing this she clearly froze for a moment:

“What did you say? These thermos bottles and enamel mugs are all prizes?”

“Mm-hmm.” Shi Ting nodded, looking as though she shared in their honor. “Grandma, you don’t know, just now Principal Liu specially kept all of our classmates behind for a meeting and praised younger brother and younger sister… Younger brother and younger sister went to the competition today and both won special prizes! Principal Liu also said that younger brother’s math was the only full mark in the whole province, and younger sister’s essay will also be published in the newspaper.”

As soon as this sentence came out, Shi Zongyi, who had been carefully holding the enamel mug and rubbing it over and over, was so startled that he nearly dropped it:

“What, published in the newspaper?”

Published in the newspaper?! Speaking of which, the most glorious person in their village was the branch secretary Liang Dacheng. But even Liang Dacheng had never been on the newspaper. And now his granddaughter was actually going to be in the newspaper?

“Oh my, oh my, does that mean our family is going to produce a wenquxing?”

In the past, that would have been a major event worthy of bringing honor to one’s ancestors and going to the ancestral hall to worship them.

Not only Shi Zongyi, even Old Lady Shi, who had seen all kinds of storms and waves, was shocked. In their excitement, the old couple simply could not sleep. Shi Zongyi was even tossing and turning on the bed like a baked pancake, and in the end he directly took hold of the old lady’s hand:

“Huiru, I really must have burned a lot of incense in my past life to have been able to marry you.”

Old Lady Shi’s original name was Li Huiru, and unless he was too excited, Shi Zongyi usually rarely called the old lady by her name so intimately.

The old lady turned her hand back and held Shi Zongyi’s in return:

“It’s me who should be thanking you… if it weren’t for you, how could Zhong’an and I still be in this world…”

If Shi Zongyi had not saved her, decades ago she would have already jumped into the water with the child in her belly and ended it all.

The old couple were so excited like this, so one can imagine how happy Shi Guoan and Miao Xiuxiu on the other side were —

They naturally knew that their daughter was smart and clever, but they had not expected that their son could also grow into a useful person.

You have to know that according to Shi Guoan’s original expectations, it would already have been enough if Shi Heng could take care of himself and know how to eat and dress.

And yet the child could actually go to school, and after going to school, perform so well.

Their emotions were too excited, and the two of them nearly cried on the spot. After finally managing to calm down, they simply could no longer bear to move their gaze away from their children.

They actually waited until Shi Ying and Shi Heng were both asleep before they quietly got up again, going over to their daughter’s bedside to look for a while, then over to their son’s side to take a peek for a while. It was not until Old Lady Shi saw that the lights in several rooms over there were not on while those here were on, and found it strange, that she put on her clothes and came over to look, only to see the two of them still happily shuttling back and forth between the two rooms.

The next day Liang Dacheng also came rushing over after hearing the news, circling around the prizes of the two children and clicking his tongue in admiration:

“How did your two children grow up to be like this?”

Not only are they spirited, they’re also this promising.

“My wife even said yesterday that if one of our kids were like Hengbao or Yingbao, she would kowtow three times to the Bodhisattva every morning.”

Because of this matter, many people in the village who had originally not wanted to let their children study were also tempted —

Enamel mugs and thermos bottles were rare things, and yet people had gone to take an exam once and casually brought them back. And they each brought back two.

Even the essay, if written well, could be published in the newspaper.

Anyway, the child at home could not help much. If they really went to school, maybe they could get such an award too, or bring honor to the family once as well?

“By the way, when will our Yingbao’s writing be published in the newspaper?” Liang Dacheng became more and more excited as he spoke. “Which day I go to the commune, I’ll just bring it back for you.”

“They said the newspaper will be mailed over.” Miao Xiuxiu explained.

“Then it’s still trouble for Dacheng to buy a few more copies and bring them back.” The old lady on the side said.

She had to keep her granddaughter’s writing well. Besides that, the old lady also wanted to burn one copy for her ex-husband —

Back then, her ex-husband had thought of going out because he felt that the domestic situation at the time was bad, and he wanted to go out first and also find a way out for their mother and son. In the end, however, he died a violent death and could not even leave a single word behind.

If her ex-husband knew underground that he had such a capable grandson and granddaughter, he should also be able to rest in peace.

“All right, auntie, don’t worry, leave this matter to me.” Liang Dacheng agreed at once, and after that, whenever he went to the commune, he would first find someone to ask for a copy of the city newspaper to look at.

Where there is a will, there is a way. That day, when he went to the commune for a meeting again, Liang Dacheng really found the newspaper at the meeting place. There was even not just one in the conference room, but a whole stack.

Liang Dacheng was immediately overjoyed and decided on the spot that after the meeting, he would shamelessly ask the commune leaders for a few more copies.

Just as he was thinking about how he should say it then, he saw commune secretary Yao Lin come in from outside. Only, whether it was his imagination or not, Yao Lin’s expression seemed a little off. He also kept glancing over at him from time to time.

Liang Dacheng immediately became a little nervous, thinking that from the way Secretary Yao looked, it seemed as though he had done something wrong. But that could not be, could it? Since he became village branch secretary, he had always been conscientious and diligent, putting all his energy into work, and had never done anything that harmed others for his own benefit.

The same feeling was shared by Yin Maolin, the branch secretary of Yinzhai Village sitting beside him. Taking advantage of the moment when Yao Lin walked up to the podium and took his seat, he lightly nudged Liang Dacheng:

“Hey, Branch Secretary Liang, why do I feel like Secretary Yao is a little off today…”

He always felt that Secretary Yao was holding back some kind of anger, and that anger was directed at him.

“Maybe he ran into something troublesome?” Liang Dacheng was also completely puzzled.

Yao Lin, who had already sat down, swept his gaze over once more. Liang Dacheng quickly shut his mouth and sat up straight.

Just as it seemed that the branch secretaries from each village had arrived almost all the way, Yao Lin then instructed the staff to first distribute that stack of newspapers one by one.

This unexpected surprise made Liang Dacheng immediately delighted. He quickly took one with both hands and carefully flipped to Shi Ying’s article. He had only skimmed it just now, but now that he looked closely, he realized it was truly extraordinary —

Shi Ying’s essay of more than six hundred characters had not only been placed on the front-page headline, it also occupied the center position, and Sun Lingshuang had even personally taken the pen to write an editor’s note, making it simply impossible not to see it.

At the same time, Yao Lin’s voice also rang out from the podium:

“…Today I’ve gathered everyone here because our commune has produced one very big good thing, and also one very big bad thing.”

A very big good thing, and also a very big bad thing?

For some reason, Liang Dacheng suddenly thought of Yao Lin’s gaze when he had looked over earlier, and his whole body jolted. He quickly put down the newspaper in his hand —

Why did it feel like this had something to do with him? Otherwise, why had Secretary Yao looked at him like that just now?

The next moment, Liang Dacheng heard his own name:

“First, I want to commend a comrade, and that is the branch secretary of Shilipu Village, Liang Dacheng…”

“Comrade Liang Dacheng, while doing his own work well, also cares about school construction and works hard to create good learning conditions for the children…”

“In this county competition, the teachers and students of Shilipu Village also achieved excellent results, with two children suddenly winning special prizes… One of the children’s writing was even published in our city newspaper…”

Oh my, Secretary Yao had said just now that there was one very big good thing and one very big bad thing, so it looked like mine is the very big good thing?

Being praised, Liang Dacheng was flattered beyond measure, and his back immediately straightened even more.

Yin Maolin beside him was also extremely envious —

Hey, you have to admit, Liang Dacheng really has good luck. Their village actually produced such amazing children, and even Liang Dacheng, as the village branch secretary, got to share in the glory.

He was just thinking that after the meeting he would ask Liang Dacheng for some advice, when unexpectedly Yao Lin’s voice sounded again:

“As for the bad thing, it is also related to this article…”

“Everyone open the newspapers in your hands now and look at the article in the center of the first page…”

Yao Lin’s voice had already become stern, and his gaze, carrying an imposing force without needing anger, swept directly toward Yin Maolin.

Yin Maolin jolted and hurried to look at the article Yao Lin had mentioned. But the more he read, the more wrong it felt, until in the end he was practically sitting on pins and needles —

Eh, Yinzhai is mentioned in it, and the name is the same as their village?

And there is Yin Shuanzhu, their village actually has one too. And this son preference, and this arranged marriage too…

By the end, Yin Maolin was practically sitting on pins and needles —

If it were just one or two similar places, that would be one thing, but with so many similarities right now, how could Yin Maolin fail to realize that what was written was their Yinzhai’s real story.

In other words, whether it was Yinzhai or him as branch secretary, this time they had become famous in a big way. As for the one who had dragged him down so miserably, it was no one else but Yin Shuanzhu.

“…We often say that women can also hold up half the sky… The country has been liberated for so many years, and it has always strictly cracked down on son preference and arranged marriages. Yet in some places, such things still happen again and again. Should grassroots leadership comrades not reflect on this?”

Yao Lin’s voice abruptly rose —

Although this article was only a few hundred characters long, it could not be denied that its influence was huge. Starting from yesterday, Yao Lin had successively received phone calls from the city women’s federation and the city propaganda department asking him about this article.

Yao Lin was simply exhausted from dealing with it. Especially when he saw that the protagonist above was actually the same name as the father complained about by the girl who had come to seek help when he had just taken office at the commune, he immediately suspected whether it was the same person.

Even more excessive was that back then he wanted to sell his daughter, and now even better, he had become someone who wanted to sell even his granddaughter!

And Shi Ying’s article also wrote that clearly the Yin family’s son already had someone he liked —

Though she was a widow, she was diligent and capable, beautiful and kind-hearted. Why should such a modern woman not pursue her own happiness?

As for the happy ending given above, the women’s federation people also said plainly that according to their investigation, this ending was actually the young author’s wishful hope. As for reality, it was completely not like that. In fact, that Yin Shuanzhu was still obstructing the two young people from being together now.

Clearly, right now they were busy with autumn harvest and winter plowing, swamped with work, yet he had to put everything else aside because of that Yin Shuanzhu. How could he not be angry?

In his fury, he gave Yin Maolin a harsh public criticism from start to finish.

In the end, Yin Maolin was scolded so badly that he practically wanted to find a hole in the ground to crawl into.

After finally enduring until the meeting was over, Yin Maolin went over in a sorry state to admit his mistakes to Yao Lin:

“Secretary Yao, this is all my failure in work. Look at this matter…”

“Last time you already guaranteed that you would do a good ideological job on Yin Shuanzhu, and yet how long has it been? He’s back to his old ways again! That shows your work was not done thoroughly at all!”

“I really know I was wrong… Secretary Yao, please arrange a course of action. Whatever you want me to do, I’ll do it…”

“Yin Maolin, are you really without a brain or pretending to be without a brain?” Yao Lin grabbed the newspaper and slammed it heavily on the table, his finger pointing at the “happy ending” written by Shi Ying. “This is the voice of the people. You are the people’s servant. If you don’t act according to the voice of the people, then what else do you want to do?”

In his anger, he went on scolding for more than ten minutes. It was only when he saw Liang Dacheng peeking in from time to time that he finally stopped:

“Dacheng, why are you poking your head in? It just so happens I have something to hand over to you.”

Compared with the tone he had used speaking to Yin Maolin, Yao Lin now was undoubtedly much kinder.

“What is it, Secretary Yao?” Liang Dacheng hurried in.

“It’s Shi Ying little friend’s manuscript fee.” Yao Lin took an envelope from the drawer and handed it over. “You can just take it back for them.”

“Oh my, there’s money too?” Liang Dacheng’s voice suddenly rose.

“Of course.” Yao Lin was amused by his fussing and could not help laughing. “If a child writes well and gets published, of course there will be manuscript fees.”

Seeing that Liang Dacheng had taken the envelope but was still standing there not leaving, he found it a little strange:

“What? Is there something else?”

“There is indeed something.” Liang Dacheng rubbed his hands together.

“Say it.”

“Actually, these two matters are both related to Shi Ying…”

“One is that Shi Ying’s grandmother asked me to bring back a few more copies of the newspaper for them, saying she wanted to keep them as a memento…”

“That’s naturally no problem. Anything else?”

“There’s also this: Shi Ying has an older brother named Shi Heng…”

“Shi Heng?” Hearing Liang Dacheng mention this name, Yao Lin’s expression immediately became unusually attentive —

When the people from above came to investigate the matter last time, before leaving they had addressed both the city, county, and commune leaders.

Especially Yao Lin, the directly under him local official.

“Well, Shi Heng made something used for watering the fields, and it succeeded in an experiment at his home…” Speaking of this, Liang Dacheng became animated and full of energy —

Under Shi Guoping and the others’ overtime efforts, the first field in the village had already been successfully installed. Seeing with his own eyes that only a little water was put inside, and those seedlings grew green and luxuriant, Liang Dacheng was so happy he nearly went crazy.

He also knew this was a big event. After all, most of their area was mountainous or hilly. If it could all be used, the significance would be huge.

“What watering-the-fields thing?” Yao Lin was obviously rather puzzled. How could not much water make crops grow so well? The more he heard, the more confused it got.

“I don’t really know how to explain it.” Liang Dacheng scratched his head. “Otherwise, Secretary Yao, whenever you have time, come take a look at our village, and you’ll understand.”

When Liang Dacheng said this, Yao Lin also became very interested, and immediately agreed to come to Shilipu for on-site inspection the next day.

After going back, he thought about it. The higher-ups had specifically instructed that whenever Shi Heng had anything going on, it had to be reported upward, so he immediately called the leader and reported this matter.

Unlike the smug confidence Liang Dacheng had when he came out of the commune compound, Yin Maolin was downcast, muttering as he walked:

“We’re both branch secretaries, so why are you so lucky, Dazheng, and I’m so unlucky?”

“You really do have to say it, that Yin Shuanzhu is exactly the kind of person who causes trouble for you.” Liang Dacheng also felt sorry for Yin Maolin. “But that Yin Shuanzhu is really outrageous! Just because he didn’t want his son to marry a widow, he wanted to sell his granddaughter! Our Ting girl is only that little, and that old thing could even do something like that!”

“He made me lose face like this, so he, Yin Shuanzhu, shouldn’t expect to have it easy either.” Yin Maolin gritted his teeth.

Right then, he pushed his bicycle and rushed home.

As soon as he entered the village entrance, he saw Yin Jiabao wandering around there. He immediately propped the bicycle to the side and waved for Yin Jiabao to come over.

“Uncle Maolin, where are you coming back from?” Though Yin Maolin was young, his generational rank was high. Add to that the fact that he was the brigade branch secretary, and he was unusually respected in the village.

“Where do you think I’m coming back from?” Yin Maolin said angrily. “Also, go back and discuss with Xiuzhen what day the two of you are planning to set for your wedding. Once you decide on the date, just report it directly to me. Also, the sooner the better.”

Knowing that Yin Maolin did not like him, Yin Jiabao had already prepared himself to be scolded. He never expected Yin Maolin to actually say this to him, and for a moment he was so excited that even his voice trembled:

“Uncle Maolin, do you mean that you, you’re going to stand up for me?”

“I don’t particularly want to stand up for you!” Yin Maolin said angrily. “Who made you have such a capable brother-in-law.”

“My brother-in-law?” Yin Jiabao was stunned for a moment.

“Your brother-in-law from Shilipu.” Yin Maolin was also deeply impressed. Look at how other people teach their children. Though they are young, they’re formidable. You bullied their child in the front, and in the back they made you famous nationwide.

That kind of counterstrike was really unmatched.

Yin Jiabao instantly understood —

Sure enough, it was still the eldest brother-in-law who cared about him, and he really did get the matter done.

“Then about my dad…”

“Go back and tell him to come to the village committee immediately.” Yin Maolin’s face darkened.

At this time Yin Shuanzhu was lying at home. His son was going against him, and his daughter had also grown estranged from him —

A few days ago, when Yin Zhaodi left, he had truly fainted from anger and surging blood. When he fell, he even bumped into the corner of the table, and the big bump on his head still had not gone down even now.

And yet just when he himself was about to die, Yin Zhaodi ran off without even turning her head back.

Just as he was getting more and more furious, Yin Jiabao came in swaggering from outside with Xiuzhen.

Before Yin Shuanzhu could even start scolding, he directly said:

“Uncle Maolin said for you to hurry and go to the village committee. If you’re late, and something bad happens, don’t blame me for not telling you.”

Yin Shuanzhu was indeed startled, and he did not bother looking for trouble with Xiuzhen. He slipped on his shoes and hurried out —

Though he was like an emperor in front of his daughter, domineering and overbearing, in front of outsiders he was timid and afraid of trouble.

When he reached the village committee, he discovered that sitting inside, besides the branch secretary, the accountant, and the other village leaders, there were also several highly respected elders of the Yin clan, all of whom were looking at him as if he were some mortal enemy with a blood feud —

In fact, the few elders did not think that way?

They always said a person lives for face, yet the face of their Yin family had all been thrown away by Yin Shuanzhu.

The one sitting on the far right was exactly Yin Shuanzhu’s own paternal uncle. Seeing Yin Shuanzhu poking his head in and looking around, he directly flung his cane over:

“You unworthy thing!”

“How did my big brother end up giving birth to such a hopeless thing like you!”

Facing so many cold stares, Yin Shuanzhu was so frightened that his legs were practically turning to jelly:

“Uncle, uncle, don’t be angry yet… what, what is this about?”

“You still have the face to ask!” Yin Shuanzhu’s uncle took back the cane that Yin Maolin had helped pick up for him, got to his feet shakily, and started striking Yin Shuanzhu with it. “You’ve completely lost the face of our ancestors!”

After taking several successive hits, Yin Shuanzhu finally understood. It was all because he had wanted to use Shi Ting to help his son swap for a wife, and he was now famous all over the country. Everyone knew that in their Yinzhai there was a Yin Shuanzhu whose skin was thicker than a city wall and whose heart was darker than Huang Shiren’s!

With that reputation of his, Yin Jiabao would only ever have the life of a bachelor, and Yin Shuanzhu could just wait for the family line to be cut off.

Hearing this, Yin Shuanzhu’s vision went black, and he nearly fainted on the spot.

When he returned from the village committee, Yin Shuanzhu’s legs were weak.

Seeing his bloodless face, Old Lady Yin was also frightened. After hearing roughly the whole sequence of events, she was equally terrified —

What on earth was wrong with the eldest daughter and son-in-law? Even if the elders in the family had done something wrong, in the end Shi Ting’s marriage had not even happened, so why did they still write their family into the newspaper?

“Then what are we supposed to do now?”

“What can we do? What else can we do?” At this point Yin Shuanzhu was truly regretful enough that his intestines had turned green —

If he had known earlier that his eldest son-in-law had such a petty mind, he would not have set his sights on his granddaughter.

“If it doesn’t work, have someone carry a message and let Zhaodi come back once.” Old Lady Yin also felt bitter in her mouth. “Since the things in that newspaper were made up by people from their family, then let their family withdraw the original thing again…”

But after having someone carry messages to Shilipu several times, not to mention that the eldest son-in-law did not pay them any mind, even daughter Yin Zhaodi did not show her face once.

“What are we supposed to do then? Zhaodi, how could she be this heartless now?” Old Lady Yin kept wiping her tears.

“Cry, cry, cry, what are you crying for!” Yin Shuanzhu, whose mouth was covered in blisters from anger, no longer even had the energy to scold —

Right now, the most important thing was not what happened on the eldest daughter’s side, but finding someone quickly to beg Xiuzhen to marry in. After all, their Jiabao already had a bad reputation, and now with this incident, I’m afraid no woman other than Xiuzhen would be willing to marry in.

In order not to have the family line cut off, Yin Shuanzhu had no choice but to lower his head and act like a grandson for once. He personally begged the matchmaker to go to Xiuzhen’s family to make the arrangement, and in the end he got the girl married in grandly and gloriously.

It was just that when Yin Jiabao got married, Yin Zhaodi only had someone bring the gift money over, and it was the kind that bypassed Yin Shuanzhu and was handed directly into Xiuzhen’s hands.

At that moment Old Lady Yin finally understood that what they had done before had thoroughly hurt the people of the Shi family, and I’m afraid that in the future the eldest daughter would really not recognize them as her maternal family, just as she had said when leaving.

What is called trying to cheat but losing the bait is exactly the right way to describe the two old people.