80s Transmigration: The Young Widow's Hustle to Riches-Chapter 206 - 202: Rather Marry a Pig or a Dog Than a Hooligan
Lin Lan didn’t know she was being looked down upon by Liu Fang, and even if she did, she wouldn’t have cared. Her understanding of the world was on a completely different level from an unmarried girl like that, who had never been beaten down by society.
By the time she rode her bike to the team headquarters, Liu Guozhi had already taken some men to allocate land for the members who had drawn the number one lot.
As Lin Lan was pushing her bicycle out from the team headquarters, she saw Liu Jinbao and a rather delicate-looking young woman walking over, one after the other. From the looks of it, the woman was probably Liu Jinbao’s new wife.
When Liu Jinbao saw Lin Lan, his face instantly darkened. He shot Lin Lan a sidelong glance, then turned his head to the woman behind him and said loudly, "Xu Li, I’m telling you, a woman should be decent and proper. Don’t be like some women who start fooling around with other men the moment their husband dies."
Lin Lan knew he was cursing her indirectly. She treated it as if she’d been bitten by a dog—not even worth the effort to hit back. ’In her mind, garbage and scum like Yang Laoyao could die a hundred times over and it still wouldn’t be a pity. Him wanting her to stay a chaste widow? Dream on!’
Xu Li gave him a surprised look, then glanced at Lin Lan who was walking past them, and suddenly understood that he was cursing someone indirectly.
She lowered her head and curled her lip in disgust. ’If I had known Liu Jinbao was this kind of person, I would have rather married a pig or a dog than a hooligan like him.’
Seeing her lower her head to stare at the ground again, Liu Jinbao kicked her. "I spent so much damn money to buy you, you motherfucker! You don’t even crack a smile all day long. If you don’t want to be married, then give me back the betrothal gift and get the hell back to your Xu family!"
Xu Li kept her head down, silently enduring his kicks and curses.
"The sight of you makes me sick!" Liu Jinbao cursed before turning and storming off.
With her head still lowered, Xu Li walked toward the Liu family home.
Lin Lan rode her bike to the tractor path and saw Yang Meihua and her sister-in-law standing at the courtyard gate. "Sister Meihua, where did they go to divide the land?"
Yang Meihua smiled. "They went over toward the Construction Team. Xiang Hua has to measure and stake all the fields, so you should go ahead since you’re busy with your stall. I’ll have him keep an eye on things for you."
Lin Lan thought for a moment and nodded. "Alright, then. I’ll have to trouble you and Sister He’s husband."
Yang Meihua smiled. "It’s no trouble at all. He has to measure and stake them whether you’re there or not!"
Lin Lan said goodbye to Yang Meihua and returned home. Wang Zhilin had already carried away the pastries.
She checked the time and saw there was still a while before she had to set up her stall, so she and Lin Yuezhen started mashing red bean paste.
She had already asked Wu Shufen to take Lin Changyou’s watch back to him. The new watch had good water resistance and didn’t need to be wound.
She’d been using it for a few days and found it quite good. ’I’ll have enough money to pay back Li Xiangyang after saving for another half a month. Once I’ve paid him back, I’ll save up to buy a few dowry items for Lin Yuezhen and a better watch for Mom and Dad.’
At this thought, she looked up at Lin Yuezhen. "Sis, how come Brother Yong hasn’t come to see you these past few days?"
Lin Yuezhen smiled and signed, "Brother Yong is busy making furniture and renovating the house over there."
Lin Lan: "Oh! Have you been over to see it? Is the house spacious?"
Lin Yuezhen shook her head. "He said the house is in the area behind the clothing factory. He said he’ll take me to see it after it’s all fixed up."
Lin Lan looked at her. "For your wedding banquet with Brother Yong, are you planning to tell Lin Guohui?"
Lin Yuezhen sighed and signed, "I haven’t decided whether to invite them yet. Auntie said that by rights, we should extend an invitation. Whether they come or not is their business!"
’Her younger brother’s family had broken her heart. Her sister-in-law, Lanxiu, was greedy and harsh. If she found out that Yuezhen had found a man with a house in the city, she would latch onto them for sure.’
’And then there’s Little Lan. What if they find out Little Lan’s business is profitable and pester me to teach them? What should I do? If I don’t, their lives are pretty hard, too!’
’But if I do teach them, it would affect Little Lan’s business, and I’d be letting down Little Lan and Aunt and Uncle.’
Lin Lan hadn’t expected her simple question to make Lin Yuezhen think of so much. Seeing her dazed expression, she thought her sister was dwelling on the bad things from the past again. She smiled and comforted her, "Don’t be sad. The past is in the past. From now on, just live a good life with Brother Yong and give me a little nephew or niece soon."
Lin Yuezhen looked at her and nodded.
When Li Xiangyang arrived, Lin Lan had just finished loading her things into a handcart and strapping it to the back seat of her bike. Seeing him, she smiled. "Did the pork get to the Eucalyptus Forest?"
Li Xiangyang nodded and took the bicycle from Lin Lan. "Zhigang already took it over. Is the land allocated?"
Lin Lan: "Sister He’s husband is measuring and staking it. Sister Meihua said it would be fine with him watching over it."
"Oh!" Li Xiangyang said, pushing the bicycle toward the door.
Lin Lan called out a goodbye to Lin Yuezhen, then left with him for the Eucalyptus Forest.
****
When Wu Shufen and Wang Zhixue arrived in Shilian, Wang Zhixue sat at the Lin family home for a while before heading to Zhang Yuru’s house.
"Old man, Little Lan and the others have had their households officially separated. They started dividing up the farmland today," Wu Shufen said happily.
Lin Changyou took a drag from his leaf-rolled cigarette and said nonchalantly, "We got the notice a few days ago, too. I looked at the policy. We’re okay here. The annual yields we report aren’t high, so after we hand over the public grain, we have a bit more left for ourselves."
"In places that report high yields, after they hand over the grain, the agricultural tax, and miscellaneous fees, the best they can hope for is a full stomach. Did you ask Little Lan how much public grain she has to turn in?"
"That’s still better than not even being able to fill your stomach!" Wu Shufen paused, then continued, "Besides their private plot, Little Lan and Douzi were allocated four mu of fields and two-tenths of a mu of mountain land. They have to turn in nearly one thousand jin of public grain every year, plus over sixty yuan for the agricultural tax."
Lin Changyou nodded. "Lexing Team has a lot of land. Liu Guozhi is pretty sharp; the yields they report aren’t high."
Wu Shufen smiled. "One mu of hybrid rice yields about a thousand jin of unhusked grain, and a hundred jin of that grain produces seventy jin of rice. One mu of old-variety rice yields around seven hundred jin of grain, which produces about sixty jin of rice. I told Little Lan to plant one and a half mu of hybrid rice next year to cover the public grain quota. With the remaining two and a half mu planted with old varieties, mother and son won’t be able to finish all the grain they harvest."
Lin Changyou: "It’s a good thing she can earn money. Otherwise, after turning in the public grain, she’d have to sell more grain to pay the agricultural tax."
Wu Shufen said cheerfully, "Don’t you worry! The money Little Lan earns in a single day is more than enough to pay the agricultural tax." As she spoke, she took out the things Lin Lan had sent back with her from her jacket.
Lin Changyou looked at the things she took out and frowned at her. "You’re a grown woman, how can you be as clueless as Little Lan! It’s one thing for her to buy this stuff, but you actually brought it back? She’s only just started earning a little money, and you’re already spending it recklessly. What will you do if something comes up in the future!"
Wu Shufen shot him a look. "You’re a grown man, and you start spouting nonsense without even asking! Let me tell you, this is from Xiangyang’s family... That boy Xiangyang is good to Little Lan, and his family knows proper etiquette. Ai! I can finally rest easy."
Lin Changyou was also very happy to hear this, but when he saw the ham, cigarettes, liquor, tea, and dried noodles on the table, he started to worry again. "The Li family is being so generous. What are we going to give them as a return gift?"
