Chapter 100: Second Watch

Chapter 100: Second Watch

Autumn of 1976.

It was harvest time, and the fields of Yangliu Brigade were a hive of activity. Shen Moer rode her bicycle past the rice paddies and was spotted by the sharp-eyed Chen Yu, who had grown into a young teenager. He immediately stood up, waving his sickle: "Sister Moer, Sister Moer!"

Shen Moer hit the brakes, untied a net bag from the handlebar of her bicycle, and said, "Come get some oranges."

Chen Yu cheered and bounded out of the field like a young deer.

In another rice paddy, Zhou Zhaodi, who was bent over cutting rice, heard the commotion and looked up. Seeing Shen Moer on the village path, she darted out like a rabbit: "Ahhh, Master, you're back!"

Zhou Zhaodi had also grown taller, her skin slightly tanned, but her features had matured, giving her a striking, spirited beauty. She had grown into a graceful young woman.

Jiangbei County still followed the educational system of five years of elementary school, two years of middle school, and two years of high school. This autumn, both Zhou Zhaodi and Chen Yu had become first-year high school students at Forward Middle School.

After spending several years with the outgoing and cheerful Chen Yu, Zhou Zhaodi's personality had also become much livelier.

Two years ago, when she had just started middle school, the girl worked up the courage to ask Shen Moer if she would take her on as a formal apprentice, like Zhou Pingan, who had offered tea in a formal apprenticeship ceremony.

Shen Moer looked into the girl's clear and bright eyes, which showed a hint of insecurity and anxiety. After a few seconds of silence, she ruffled her hair and nodded in agreement.

From then on, Zhou Zhaodi had been calling Shen Moer "Master."

Shen Moer smiled at the sunburned faces of Zhou Zhaodi and Chen Yu and said, "Alright, you two share the oranges with everyone. Come over to my place later for dinner. I bought some meat to treat you."

The two of them cheered again.

Chen Yu, quick-witted, reminded her, "Sister Moer, Fu Zhiqing is at the foot of the back hill. They say the seeds chosen for that plot are good, and the harvest is even better than the fields below! You just got back from your business trip and came straight to the village. You must be planning to stew some meat for Fu Zhiqing, right?" He gave a cheeky wink.

Before Shen Moer could respond, Zhou Zhaodi slapped Chen Yu on the back: "Why do you have to stick your nose into my Master’s business? Can't you just enjoy the oranges and keep your mouth shut? You really know how to meddle."

The young girl looked at Shen Moer with admiration: "Master, did you sign a lot of orders at the Canton Fair this time?"

Shen Moer chuckled: "Yes, a bit more than last year."

Zhou Zhaodi immediately raised her fist: "Great! Then I’ll cut even more rice. Master, see you later!"

Chen Yu also dashed back to the rice paddy: "Sister Moer, see you later!"

Shen Moer watched the energetic young boy and girl disappear into the distance, shook her head, smiling, and headed home.

Zhou Zhaodi and Chen Yu returned to the rice paddy. Chen Yu called out, "Grandma, I’m going to Sister Moer’s place for lunch."

Aunt Chen, who was organizing straw stacks not far away, sighed, "You’ve got some nerve, kid! You just casually invite yourself to Director Shen’s house for a meal?"

Chen Yu shrugged it off: "What’s the big deal? She’s still my Sister Moer. She bought some meat and said she’d treat us."

Aunt Chen was even more exasperated: "That meat wasn’t bought for you. It was clearly for Fu Zhiqing. He’s been so busy lately; he’s lost a lot of weight. Your Sister Moer just got back from Guangzhou, and he hasn’t even had time to return home."

Chen Yu grinned: "Sister Moer bought a lot. Fu Zhiqing definitely won’t be able to finish it all. At most, my mom can sell some of the meat and cook another meal for Fu Zhiqing later."

Aunt Chen shook her head: "You kid, your parents will have a word with you later."

As the grandmother and grandson chatted, on the other side of the field ridge, Cao Mei glared at her two grandsons, Shen Xiaowei and Shen Xiaojie, and muttered, "You two are about the same age as Chen Yu. He’s not even related, yet he manages to get close to her. You’re her own nephews, but you don’t even try to get closer."

Shen Xiaowei, already fourteen and at a rebellious age, immediately retorted, "And whose fault is that? Yours! You stole grain from Aunt Moer’s family, nearly made her collapse in the field. Why would she pay any attention to us? Forget it, Grandma. Don’t dwell on it. Aunt Moer said that as long as we have the education and ability, everyone has a chance to join the Embroidery Factory. Just don’t cause any trouble and hold us back."

Cao Mei was left tongue-tied by her eldest grandson's sharp words.

Neither she nor Shen Hongbing were particularly sharp, and their only son, Shen Jianhui, was much the same. However, this eldest grandson was different from the rest of the family. When he was little, it wasn’t obvious, but after starting middle school two years ago, he suddenly became much smarter and more composed.

Cao Mei had often been taken in by Tian Fang before and was most afraid that her descendants would also be deceived by the second branch of the family. Now that someone sharp had finally come up in her own family, she almost always listened to her eldest grandson.

Hearing her grandson's words, she thought for a moment and finally nodded: "Alright, I'll listen to you. In fact, over the years, I've come to realize that your Aunt Moer is broad-minded. I took her grain, and she probably won’t forgive me, but she doesn't take it out on you. If you’ve got what it takes to pass the factory exam, she definitely won't stand in your way."

In recent years, many workers had emerged from their village. Seeing other families' children becoming workers and earning wages, while her own family was still toiling in the fields, Cao Mei couldn’t help feeling regret.

Why had she been so dumb back then, picking on Shen Laoqi and his daughter like that?

But regret was useless. What she’d done wasn’t likely to be forgiven by Lao Qi and his daughter. Cao Mei now hoped that her grandson could pass the recruitment exam and become a worker.

As it happened, in another corner of the rice field, Shen Laoer, Shen Yongjun, and his family were also talking about Shen Moer.

The eldest daughter-in-law, Ma Dongxiang, muttered with a sneer: "What’s the big deal? She’s just a factory manager. You’d think she was the mayor the way she struts around."

The second daughter-in-law, Li Ping, kept her head down and didn’t say a word.

Ma Dongxiang's eldest son, Shen Minbing, had once stolen bricks from Shen Moer's house and was sent to the police station. Later, due to his criminal record, he failed the political review and was fired from the ninth workshop.

After his "second imprisonment," when he was released, he didn't even want to farm anymore. He hung around with a troublemaker from the Songshu Brigade, up to no good. As a result, Shen Minbing, though in his twenties, still hadn’t found a wife.

Who would want to marry a troublemaker?

But Ma Dongxiang didn’t see anything wrong with her son. Instead, she pinned it all on Shen Moer, secretly seething with hatred.

Li Ping, though, couldn’t relate to Ma Dongxiang at all.

Her husband, Shen Jianshe, had been working as a warehouse manager at the Embroidery Factory. With his seniority, his wages had also gone up a bit. According to her husband, Shen Moer only cared about work in the factory and never meddled in personal matters. Regardless of personal relationships, she treated everyone the same.

Shen Jianshe worked diligently, so he never missed out on any perks.

Because Shen Jianshe had a salary, even though he had to contribute some to the family, most of it went to their own household. Over the past few years, their family had been doing quite well.

If Li Ping were to be honest, she was grateful to Shen Moer, so why would she gossip about her behind her back?

Moreover, perhaps because she now had her own money, Li Ping had become increasingly clear-headed over the years. Her mother-in-law might sound sweet, but she was actually pretty sneaky and had become more and more unscrupulous. Her father-in-law, though he didn't show it, was in cahoots with her mother-in-law. The old couple were no angels, and Li Ping now only wanted to separate and live on her own.

Seeing Li Ping remain silent, Ma Dongxiang cursed in her heart, "She’s only in it for herself," and shifted her position, turning to Tian Fang to repeat her words.

Tian Fang was tidying up a haystack with a five or six-year-old boy in tow, occasionally pulling him back when he tried to run off: "Pengpeng, don't run, just sit here."

The boy's features resembled Zhang Junliang's by about sixty or seventy percent, but what was most similar was the look of disdain on his face. He pouted and said, "I'm not a country bumpkin! I don't want to do farm work!"

Tian Fang patiently coaxed him for a long time before finally calming him down. Only then did she have time to respond to her eldest daughter-in-law, sneering: "What's so great about being a factory director? As a woman, she can't even have children. Even if she were the county magistrate, it wouldn't matter. Just watch, the educated youths are returning to the city one after another. Fu Mingze is from the capital. Will he stay here for a woman who can't have children? He'll abandon her sooner or later."

Ma Dongxiang wholeheartedly agreed. Imagining the scene of Shen Moer being heartlessly abandoned, she couldn't help but cackle with laughter.

Across the field ridge, Zhou Zhaodi and Chen Yu exchanged glances. Zhou Zhaodi rubbed her arm: "Oh my, I got goosebumps. Aunt Dongxiang's laugh is really creepy."

Chen Yu nodded: "Like an old witch."

Aunt Chen commented: "She's definitely up to no good."

Shen Moer rode her bicycle back to her small courtyard.

Two years ago, the courtyard had been renovated again. The room where Shen Shaoyuan slept...

The roof of the room where Shen Moer slept had leaked in several places, so it was demolished and rebuilt, now a blue-brick tiled house, making the entire courtyard look more orderly.

Shen Moer brought the meat, fish, and tofu to the kitchen, washed her hands, and went out to check on the production situation in the "off-site workshop" set up in a room vacated by the neighboring brigade headquarters.

In the past two years, with the easing of policies, the lives of those labeled as landowners, wealthy peasants, counter-revolutionaries, bad elements, and rightists had improved significantly.

For example, Old Wang, who lived in the cowshed to their right, after enduring one cold winter after another, was finally rehabilitated and returned to the capital before last winter.

On the other side, the small landowner mother and son no longer had to do the dirtiest and most tiring work for the brigade. The small landowner Lin Kaicheng now worked in the fields like other ordinary commune members, while Lu Dongyun had become a key member of the "off-site workshop."

Everyone was busy, but someone was the first to see Shen Moer and called out, "Factory Director Shen."

Immediately, everyone turned to look outside the door, and soon, everyone stood up and greeted Shen Moer happily.

"Are these the latest embroidery designs? Any issues?"

Lu Dongyun smiled and said, "No issues, we were thoroughly trained beforehand, how could there be any problems? Factory Director Shen, you just came back from Guangzhou, how is our factory's performance this year?"

Although they were not officially part of the Embroidery Factory, having done embroidery work for the factory for so many years, Lu Dongyun already considered herself part of the factory. The factory's good performance meant they had work, and they took pride in it.

Shen Moer replied casually, "Of course, it's as good as ever!"

She stayed there chatting with Lu Dongyun and the others for a while, then went to her family's vegetable garden to pick some vegetables and went home to cook.

After stir-frying the meat, she added white radish and mushrooms to make a stew. Since there was already stew, the fish was braised with soy sauce, and the tofu was pan-fried until golden and then cooked in a homestyle sauce. She also stir-fried two vegetable dishes, and that was about it.

While cooking, Shen Moer suddenly heard rapid footsteps outside, and then her Fu Zhiqing appeared at the kitchen door, drenched in sweat.

"Why did you come to the village?"

Fu Mingze carefully looked at his wife. After more than half a month apart, with such a heavy workload, she should have slimmed down, but strangely, he felt she might have even gained a little.

It seemed the food in Guangzhou really suited her taste.

Shen Moer efficiently served the dishes into plates, saying as she did, "You've been so busy here, I heard from Dad that you've slimmed down, so I quickly grabbed some meat to reward our hardworking Fu Zhiqing!"

In the past few years, Fu Mingze had led the commune members of Yangliu Brigade in experimental fields, improving irrigation and fertilization methods, and selecting many high-yield, disease-resistant seeds, achieving significant results. Yangliu Brigade had now established over a hundred acres of municipal experimental fields.

Shen Moer glanced at Fu Mingze and shooed him away, "Go wash up, you're all sweaty. Come back clean, I have something important to tell you."

Fu Mingze was about to step in but stopped at her words, turned around, and walked out, "Alright, I'll wash up first."

After more than half a month apart, he couldn't let his wife smell his sweat right away, could he?

While pondering whether he could squeeze out a day or two to go home and spend time with his wife, Fu Mingze quickly took a quick shower.

He came out still damp, and Shen Moer had already finished cooking and was bringing the dishes out. Fu Mingze helped carry them, asking as they walked, "What important thing did you want to tell me?"

Shen Moer laughed and said, "Take a guess?"