Chapter 13: The Discerning Eye

Chapter 13: The Discerning Eye

Feng Chen's notorious reputation did not fade with time; instead, it worsened.

In everyone's eyes, he was cold and aloof, a bully who beat people up, a good-for-nothing loafer, and a stingy miser. No decent person would associate with him, let alone marry him.

No matter how strong he was, it only raised the fear of being beaten to death by him.

Even if a woman were attracted to him, she would still consider his reputation and standing in the village, lest she be ridiculed after marrying him.

But Feng Chen did not care about his tarnished reputation or his inability to find a wife.

He preferred staying away from the village, often venturing into the mountains for days or even weeks at a time.

Each time he returned, he brought back numerous game animals, which he never turned over to the collective.

Although some members of the collective had strong objections and wanted the leaders to pressure him into handing over his catches,

he refused, coldly stating that anyone craving meat should go hunt themselves, and forcing him to turn over his catches was a dream.

This infuriated those envious villagers.

What amused Tang Yuan was that despite his aversion to earning work points, he went all out farming after the land reform, even leasing others' plots to cultivate more.

Everyone was puzzled by this behavior.

When reporters interviewed him, he said that he loved farming above all else, and when there wasn't enough land in the collective, he would hide in the mountains to cultivate new fields.

He revealed his secret base in the mountains to the public.

No one expected that he had been secretly farming in the deep mountains for seven or eight years!

Everyone was stunned.

The villagers suddenly understood and appreciated him.

It turned out that he hadn't been avoiding labor but had been thinking of the community.

By not participating in the collective labor, he didn't share in the food distribution, allowing other members to receive more rations.

Those who had misunderstood him apologized and offered to introduce potential brides to him.

However, he was solely focused on farming and showed no interest in finding a partner, leading the protagonist to suspect that he might not like women or was incapable.

After publicly declaring his love for farming, he threw himself into it wholeheartedly, leasing more land and purchasing agricultural machinery. He happily farmed every day, growing crops, vegetables, fruits, and melons.

Later, he even led a group to Africa to farm.

As the protagonist pointed out, even though he became incredibly wealthy, he remained single.

The accomplished Tang Xiang and the male lead returned home, seeing Feng Chen driving a massive tractor and sarcastically remarked, "This man has a model's physique but an aesthetic as rustic as can be. How can someone so rich be so stingy? What's the point if he only knows how to make money and not enjoy life?"

The protagonist was right because the man was indeed very frugal.

His grandmother had always cut his hair, and even with salons everywhere, he still sported a rustic hairstyle. At times, due to the dust from the fields, he even shaved his head, saying it was convenient and cheap.

When others introduced potential brides to him, he wore clothes sewn by his grandmother to meet them, bluntly stating that he was a farmer and taking them to modest restaurants.

Even at national and international agricultural conferences, he wore clothes sewn by his grandmother, standing out among the suits but remaining unperturbed.

The protagonist said that such a miser deserved to remain single forever.

Indeed, he remained unmarried for life.

At the end, Tang Xiang expressed her thoughts, saying that one's character is inseparable from their environment, discussing how Feng Chen and Tang Yuan were shaped by theirs, hoping her children would learn from these examples.

Tang Yuan had no interest in Tang Xiang's future achievements but was very interested in Feng Chen's land in the mountains!

The future agricultural tycoon avoided entanglements with the main characters, showed no interest in women, and was obsessed with farming.

What a perfect partner for collaboration!

She wanted to find an opportunity to work with him, jointly cultivating the land in the mountains.

Given the policy and resource monopolies, farmers found it hard to prosper, regardless of their skills.

She wasn't in a rush to make money; her priority was securing food and clothing and living in a spacious and clean house.

Since Feng Chen was skilled at farming and had already started clearing land in the mountains, he was an ideal collaborator.

The large iron pot quickly cooked the porridge while they chatted.

Breakfast was simple: dry rice and a bowl of coarse grain porridge each.

Having just separated households, they had no pickles, so the family of three drank the porridge plain.

Dad Tang and Mother Tang didn't mind, having grown accustomed to coarse grains. With dry rice available, they ate heartily.

They needed to hurry to work, so the meal tasted especially sweet.

For Tang Yuan, a time traveler, it was quite painful.

Though she had been here for ten days, she still couldn't get used to the food.

The dry sweet potato slices were bland, the sorghum was rough and bitter, with poor texture and digestion.

Millet, however, was good—pure and natural, making delicious porridge.

Unfortunately, it was mixed with sweet potato chips and sorghum rice.

It seems I'll have to make millet porridge separately in the future.

Sigh, I should hurry up and go to the mountains to clear more land, so we can grow more crops to supplement our food supply.

With more grain, we could grind sorghum and millet into flour for pancakes, which would be much better than this kind of mixed meal.

While they were eating, the head of the Tangjia Village team and the livestock caretaker came over together.

Dad Tang hurriedly got up to greet them. In recent days, his daughter had been sick, and he had taken several days off, even though taking leave deducted from his work points. But it also meant less work done.

Usually, the team leader doesn't allow casual leave.

"Seventh Uncle," he greeted woodenly.

The team leader's surname is also Tang, and he is in his early fifties. Because of his seniority, Dad Tang has to call him Seventh Uncle.

He is the team leader of the Forward Team and also the captain of the Tangjia Village production team.

Being a cadre in the production team isn't easy; one must be skilled at farming and adept at managing personnel, as well as able to mediate conflicts among the members. Otherwise, some wouldn't respect him, and others would find fault, making it impossible to carry out work.

Seventh Uncle Tang has great seniority in the village and participated in the guerrilla warfare during his youth. He is stern and strong-willed and an excellent farmer, so he commands considerable respect within the team. The members are afraid of him and dare not act recklessly around him.

Dad Tang is also afraid of him.

Tang Bingde stood with his hands behind his back, a palm-sized tobacco pipe tucked into his belt, wearing a pair of handmade cotton shoes made of velvet.

He nodded and grunted, "Stay here for now, work hard, and accumulate work points. Dry some mud bricks in summer, and I'll save some sorghum stalks for you in autumn. By next spring, before the wheat harvest, it will be your turn to build two rooms."

For the time being, only mud houses can be built; forget about brick or tile ones. However, the foundation still needs to be made of stones and blue bricks, otherwise, it won't be sturdy and could easily collapse in heavy rain.

Dad Tang didn't expect Seventh Uncle to remember his plan to build a house despite being so busy. He felt both grateful and embarrassed, knowing that he was too poor and would likely owe the team a lot of money.

Mother Tang also brought her daughter out to greet the team leader.

Tang Yuan, pretending to be sick, naturally had to play the part fully. She couldn't suddenly get better right after moving out. She scurried to the north side and hid behind the water barrel, peeking out.

Mother Tang understood and quickly pretended to be anxious, "Yuan Yuan, don't be scared. This is your Seventh Grandfather."

Dad Tang was genuinely nervous, fearing that if his daughter acted like she did in the old house, Seventh Uncle might forbid them from living there, worried that she might cause trouble in the livestock shed.

Tang Yuan knew what to do. She peeked at Tang Bingde and whispered, "This is Seventh Grandfather, not the lame ghost."

Tang Bingde has seen patients with mental illness, ranging from mild to severe. They all share certain commonalities, including delusions and hallucinations.

He nodded, and despite usually keeping a stern face to maintain authority, he softened his tone and smiled at her, "Don't be afraid, child. I am your Seventh Grandfather. I used to hold you when you were little, and you even came to give me New Year greetings."

Tang Yuan nodded, "I'm not afraid."

She slowly came out and stood beside Mother Tang.

The livestock caretaker followed the team leader, slightly hunched over, looking honest and obedient.

He smiled, "Seventh Uncle exudes righteousness and has helped Yuan Yuan ward off evil spirits."

Dad Tang believed him and looked at Seventh Uncle with hopeful eyes.

Tang Bingde said, "Don't talk nonsense. The girl was just scared. She'll be fine with some rest."

Mother Tang added, "Seventh Uncle, don't worry. Yuan Yuan is very quiet now. She even helped me with cooking this morning. She definitely won't break anything here."

Tang Bingde looked at Tang Yuan. She was tall and slender, with neatly combed hair and a clean face. Most importantly, her eyes were pure and clear, nothing like those of other mentally ill people.

He had initially been worried when he heard that she had gone mad and set fires, fearing that if she continued acting that way in the livestock yard, he would have to take responsibility.

Seeing her now, he felt relieved.

Like Tang Zhonghe, Tang Bingde appears the same to everyone on the surface but actually has his own judgments.

Tang Zhonghe smiles at everyone and treats everyone well, while Tang Bingde is stern and handles everything officially.

However, he is somewhat gentler with Dad Tang.

Dad Tang has always been honest, diligent, and never shirks responsibility, which naturally earns him respect from his elders, especially as the team leader.

But Tang Bingde also finds Dad Tang's overly submissive nature frustrating.

Initially, he wanted Dad Tang to be the small team leader, and the members agreed. But Uncle Tang persuaded his brother to let him have the position instead.

Dad Tang, always filial and respectful to his elder brother, agreed.

Yet Uncle Tang wasn't grateful and instead took advantage of his brother, using him to show his fairness and generosity.

After becoming the small team leader, Uncle Tang deliberately assigned more strenuous tasks to his brother and sister-in-law to boost his reputation and authority.

In this way, he gained good fame and could arrange tasks for others without complaints.

Moreover, Dad Tang is diligent and honest, willing to put in hard work, so villagers often ask him for help. But when the hosts invited them for meals, Uncle Tang would join in.

Dad Tang, feeling awkward, would let his brother go alone.

When Tang Bingde built a new house for his son's marriage, he called both Dad Tang and Uncle Tang to help.

Dad Tang worked hard, while Uncle Tang often took breaks, chatted, smoked, and liked to brag.

At mealtime, Dad Tang ate mostly coarse grains and vegetables, avoiding meat, while Uncle Tang specifically picked meat.

He gave Dad Tang a piece of meat, but Dad Tang couldn't bear to eat it and secretly took it back for his wife and daughter.

Uncle Tang jokingly said that his second brother didn't like meat, so he would eat his share.

Tang Bingde had originally thought that Dad Tang would work tirelessly for his elder brother's family all his life, but unexpectedly, the brothers suddenly split the household.

Looking at Dad Tang's honest and simple-minded appearance, he sighed inwardly, perhaps the heavens favored the naive.

However, seeing Tang Yuan, he felt a bit uncertain. After all, he was old and had seen many people; he sensed that Tang Yuan had changed.

If she was pretending to be crazy to avoid the arranged marriage, then... this girl had some skills.

So far, he hadn't seen such a clever and courageous child.

He hadn't considered that Tang Yuan might be pretending to be crazy for the sake of splitting the household; he only thought she didn't want the arranged marriage, so he went along with saying she was scared and would recover after a few days.

With him and Tang Zhonghe speaking up, when Tang Yuan returned to normal, others wouldn't have any reason to doubt her.

Tang Bingde, always serious and not one to talk much, gave a few words of advice before heading to the street to blow his whistle for work.

Watching his broad back, Tang Yuan was grateful for his protection.

In the original text, Tang Bingde was also a good cadre. Although he was strict and authoritative, he was dedicated and responsible, ultimately sacrificing his life in a fire while saving fellow members.