Chapter 77: Will Representative Qin Still Leave?
Da Tian was used to being wild, and he was the only son at home. His parents were both technical backbones at the factory, so it wasn’t his turn to go to the countryside.
When had he ever suffered this kind of humiliation?
Just as he was about to open his mouth to curse, Lu Qiaoge stepped on his mouth with one foot. It didn’t take much strength, but it made Da Tian’s vision go black.
Lu Qiaoge was unhappy. This person had ruined her pleasant mood from early in the morning.
Lu Qiaoge’s glance was calm, yet devoid of any emotion. She said, “I’ll ask you one last time: who am I?”
A shiver arose involuntarily, and Da Tian stared at her in terror with wide eyes.
His mouth kept making muffled “wu wu wu” sounds nonstop.
Lu Qiaoge moved her foot away and stared coldly at Da Tian, who had ruined her mood.
Da Tian felt that oppressive force disappear, and the suffocating sensation in his chest was gone too.
He scrambled to his feet and retreated several steps backward, his back against the big willow tree. He wiped his mouth in a pathetic manner and immediately said, “You, you are Lu Qiaoge!”
Lu Qiaoge was dissatisfied and stared at Da Tian with a frown and unkind gaze.
Da Tian had no choice but to continue, “You, you are the mediator from Xiangyang Neighborhood Committee, Lu Qiaoge!”
Lu Qiaoge restrained the hostility on her body and curved the corners of her mouth at Da Tian, asking, “Did you come to night school today to help out?”
She then called to Du Shuang, “Go call Shao Le and Meng Qingshan. Tell them five free laborers have arrived.”
Du Shuang finally reacted, looking at Lu Qiaoge with admiring eyes. Wow, going out with Lu Qiaoge felt so safe.
When Shao Le and Meng Qingshan came over to take the people, there was no need to ask—they knew these guys had been dealt with by Lu Qiaoge.
Lu Qiaoge stared at Da Tian and said slowly, “Sun Da Tian, your proactive attitude in helping out deserves praise. I’ll go report this to Director Hu right away. By the way, I heard you have to report to the Security Department every week, right?”
Sun Da Tian looked at Lu Qiaoge with some dread.
Supported by Xiao Tao, he felt the pain lessen considerably. He gritted his teeth secretly: damn it, a gentleman takes revenge after ten years.
Besides, he couldn’t afford to cause trouble lately, or he’d be sent to the farm for reform.
At this moment, Xiao Tao felt a faint pain where he had been kicked, but they had started it with their mouths. Lu Qiaoge wasn’t one to suffer in silence. Most importantly, she was born with great strength just like her older brother—no, Lu Qiaoge seemed even stronger than Lu Zhiguo.
They couldn’t beat her earlier, and now with her helpers here, it was even more impossible.
Especially Meng Qingshan, who was glaring at them with a fierce look.
A good man doesn’t suffer immediate losses. He quickly said, “We’re just here to help today. Thank you, Mediator Lu, for giving us this opportunity.”
Lu Qiaoge smiled. She had originally planned to go straight to Guzi Village, but Sun Da Tian and the others had changed her mind.
Lu Qiaoge went to the Security Department first and directly found Section Chief Jia.
After some pleasantries, Lu Qiaoge said, “Section Chief Jia, I’m here to report to you about Sun Da Tian, Shi Tao, and the others.”
Section Chief Jia was stunned for a moment. Reporting to him about Sun Da Tian? He didn’t quite understand.
“It’s like this: they just went to night school and saw everyone working enthusiastically, so they insisted on joining in. I didn’t want to dampen their enthusiasm, but I was worried they might actually be there for tomorrow’s market day. You know, Section Chief Jia, tomorrow Manshan Commune will have members from three villages coming to deliver vegetables for the exchange of supplies. I’ll confirm tomorrow’s arrangement with Director Zhu again later. You surely know what status our compound holds in the members’ hearts without me describing it. This supply transaction is all-out for Manshan Commune, and our military family courtyard can’t let the members see us as a joke.”
Section Chief Jia hadn’t taken it seriously at first—after all, it was the military compound; who without eyes would dare cause trouble.
But hearing this, the ones without eyes might be their own people.
Recalling the conduct of Da Tian and his group, who never committed big mistakes but constantly made small ones, Section Chief Jia immediately turned serious.
He said to Lu Qiaoge, “I’ll arrange a patrol team specifically responsible for order at the market day. Don’t worry, Comrade Xiao Lu; I’ll send them to night school shortly.”
Lu Qiaoge thanked Section Chief Jia satisfactorily.
Then she and Du Shuang rode bicycles to Guzi Village.
That morning, Old Hu and Brigade Leader Lin had spoken on the telephone, and now Old Lin was waiting for Lu Qiaoge at the brigade office.
Seeing the two come in, he enthusiastically brought out palm-length cucumbers and a basin of cherries for them to eat.
“These are the first batch of cucumbers—very sweet. Try them quickly to quench your thirst. The cherries are a bit sour, but the taste is pretty good too.”
The accountant over there said, “In another month, there will be even more vegetables to eat from our fields: cucumbers, tomatoes, eggplants, green beans, and early-ripening melons.”
Du Shuang felt embarrassed, but Lu Qiaoge grabbed a handful of cherries for her to taste the freshness.
At this season, there was almost no fruit available.
The small cherries could be called top-tier delicacies.
But it was undeniable that the cherries were too delicious.
Lu Qiaoge walked around the village and quietly gave Brigade Leader Lin three yuan, whispering, “My sister-in-law is pregnant, and I want to get her some cherries. When delivering vegetables tomorrow, just put them in a bag for me.”
Brigade Leader Lin originally didn’t want the money, but since Lu Qiaoge insisted, he had to accept it and solemnly promised.
Lu Qiaoge was preparing to go to the commune, and Brigade Leader Lin didn’t give her vegetables, as that would be inconvenient.
Anyway, tomorrow was market day, so giving Qiao Ge eggs, cherries, cucumbers, water radishes, celery, and such would be perfectly justified.
After all, he was now the top brigade leader in front of Director Zhu.
He was the overall commander of tomorrow’s vegetable delivery convoy.
Meanwhile, at the Military Representative Office, Qin Hengzhi said to Xiao Su, “Arrange a guard squad to be at night school on time at four tomorrow morning. This kind of market day is the first attempt, so there are bound to be issues. Our military representative office has a duty to maintain order.”
Xiao Su responded loudly with “Yes,” then hurried out.
This time he was finally certain: perhaps their Representative Qin didn’t even know it himself, but he cared about Comrade Xiao Lu!
If that’s the case, would Representative Qin still leave?
—
This transaction was different from the past or even before.
That face-to-face barter was actually quite troublesome, and with no precedent, it was especially prone to arguments at the exit.
Lu Qiaoge had made over a thousand small paper slips together with the idle street cadres and several volunteers at the neighborhood committee.
To put it bluntly, they were just white slips.
But they were made from discarded rough paper.
However, these rough paper slips didn’t deceive; they could be exchanged for the supplies you wanted after market day ended.
They had denominations written on them: one fen, five fen, ten fen, and so on up to amounts below one yuan. At first, this had startled Huang Juan—was this meant to be used as money?
Only after Lu Qiaoge explained the method did she relax.
It was very simple to use: anyone wanting to trade supplies could exchange the things in their hands for these slips.
Lu Qiaoge gave them an example.
“For instance, if I take a pack of matches containing ten boxes, and each box is now two fen, then I take a twenty-fen paper slip to buy vegetables.”
Lu Qiaoge held up a ten-fen paper slip in her hand. “Some of our vegetables will still be at last time’s prices: one fen per jin of leafy greens. So, the ticket in my hand can be exchanged for twenty jin of spinach or lettuce. I give this ticket to the vegetable-selling member, and the member can wait until the vegetables are sold out and then use the rough paper slips in hand to exchange for the supplies they want.”
