Reborn in a small village in the 1990s

Chapter 161

“We can’t let the chickens and ducks from Jurenzhangzi Village come to our village. It’s not difficult, but it’s also difficult,” Zhao Tingming muttered to himself.

Many people in Jurenzhangzi Village and Dongtaizi Village are related, such as the Zhao Da'e family, who still live in Jurenzhangzi Village. It's December now, and the Lunar New Year is just around the corner. It's the perfect time to visit relatives and friends.

If you give me two chickens, I give you a few ducks, and he gives away a few geese, then things will get complicated. We can sell eggs or chickens, ducks, and geese from Dongtaizi Village, but we absolutely cannot let the chickens, ducks, and geese from Jurenzhangzi's side enter Dongtaizi Village. This is very difficult to do, so we must assign someone to keep an eye on things; relying solely on self-discipline is unlikely.

But it's winter, who should we send? How should we keep an eye on things? This is very difficult.

Another question is whether the eggs are safe to eat and whether they can be given as gifts. These are also difficult to answer.

Zhao Tingming voiced his concerns: "It's difficult. Look at all these people, it's the New Year. They're visiting relatives and friends, bringing chickens or something, and they might just walk in. What are we going to do?"

"I don't know. That's your job. If I say too much, people outside will say: 'Look at Zhao Da'e, he's completely sidelined our village chief...'"

Zhao Tingming was both amused and exasperated: "You know the situation in the village better than I do. In our village, those people are all resentful and discontented. They're difficult to manage. There are so many people, and they're so diverse, it's really not easy to handle this matter."

That's just how it is in our countryside. Big Goose, I've had enough of being the village chief…

"Tch, if you don't want to do it, do you expect me to be the village chief?" Zhao Da'e said with a sneer. "You guys keep saying you don't want to do it today, and you don't want to do it tomorrow. It's true that things are tough right now, and it's hard to even pay your salaries. But even if you're not the village chief, Grandpa, you're still a well-known person in our village, so this kind of thing has to be handled by you. It's true that you might offend some people, but are you afraid of those few maggots? We'll stop them from visiting relatives; this is for the good of all the villagers."

"So what are you going to do? Aren't you going home?"

"No, I mean when visiting relatives, we're not allowed to bring chickens, ducks, or geese. At least we can't let the chickens, ducks, and geese from the other side of the village be brought into our village. That's the bottom line. Let's try not to eat chicken, duck, or geese before the New Year, it's not a big deal. If it's really not possible, we can eat pork or fish during the New Year. It doesn't have to be chicken or duck. Besides, many people can't afford it anyway," Zhao Da'e analyzed. "First, tell the villages with lots of chickens and ducks that there's an epidemic in the Jurenzhangzi area, and to be vigilant and absolutely not to eat any chickens, ducks, or geese from there. Stay away from them. Second, tell those idle folks who go up the mountain to steal and catch pheasants to shut up. Pheasants are not allowed to be brought back to the village. Finally, strictly control those idiots who go out to hunt sparrows, pigeons, and doves; they're not allowed to harm wild animals. Actually, I think it's quite simple. Although the virus is invisible, it doesn't appear out of thin air, nor does it disappear. And it's on chickens, ducks, and geese, so it's visible. Anyway, anything that flies in the sky is not allowed to be harmed, including pheasants. Domesticated animals are definitely not allowed to come in."

By the time spring arrives and the flowers bloom, it might be over. I just have a little personal thought.

Zhao Da'e knew that fowl plague usually only spreads for a very short time. As more chickens become infected, the virus's virulentness gradually weakens and eventually disappears. Otherwise, with fowl plague, there would be no chickens left in the world. Therefore, Zhao Da'e believed in using time to create some space. As long as no problems were encountered in the short term, after a while, the situation would naturally clear up and things would fall into place.

"Let's implement a reward system. This will definitely be very effective. It's a mutual supervision and reporting system, let's try it in our village. When the time comes, if anyone reports another person for bringing chickens, ducks, or geese into the village or bringing back dead chickens, ducks, or geese to eat, as long as the evidence is conclusive, we'll give them some money as a reward. First, it will increase their enthusiasm, and second, it really has benefits. The reward money will come from the person who made the mistake. We don't have any money, so we won't give them a penny. This way, it's both convenient and worry-free."

Upon hearing this, Zhao Tingming shook his head immediately: "No, fining people won't do. It's the New Year, and we're all from the same village, everyone's having a tough time. Fining people won't work. If we fine them, the villagers will be furious. Fining them in the dead of winter is like driving them to despair. No, no, absolutely not. As for rewards, there's nowhere to come up with the money. I can't possibly pay for it myself, I can't afford it."

Zhao Da'e thought about it and realized that his suggestion wasn't very good. These days, everyone is struggling. He admitted he was too naive and hadn't thought things through.

“If we don’t fine them, they won’t behave,” Zhao Tingming continued. “So, how about this, Big Goose? Let’s make an example of them. Whoever makes the first mistake, we’ll send them to the barn.”

Upon hearing this, Zhao Da'e was stunned: Uh... isn't this even more unacceptable than being fined?

"Grandpa, that's not what I meant. I meant we'd just scare them a little, not actually arrest them. There has to be someone who plays the good cop and someone who plays the bad cop. It's not good to arrest someone during the New Year."

Zhao Tingming nodded, indicating his agreement with Zhao Da'e's idea. However, he still said, "Da'e, there are so many things going on in our village. Your great-grandmother used to say she didn't want me to be the village chief. I don't want to offend anyone either, but someone in the village has to do this job, this job that involves offending people, right?"

Sometimes I honestly think that talking to a hoe or sickle is so much easier and less troublesome. Communicating with people is actually the hardest thing. Especially in our rural areas, like our village, there are many people and many things to do. There are rich people and poor people, good people and so-so people. You get all kinds of people. Some people are easy to talk to; no matter what it is, I just let them know, and they do it. Those are the easiest to deal with.

Some are just impossible to deal with. If I say anything, they'll find fault and oppose me. That's the most frustrating thing. They often walk the line between morality and immorality, and you can't do anything about it. You might say, "I'm the village head, I'm doing practical things for the people, not to retaliate against anyone, right?" So, this is truly a difficult job.

If someone targets you, either giving you the runaround or going against you, it's really not easy to handle. Big Goose, do you think we can send them in? No, we can't. Last time your grandma was about to be sent in, I disagreed. I begged until my lips were sore, but it was no use. Even so, your grandpa still resents me, saying I'm heartless.”

Zhao Tingming sighed.

Zhao Da'e frowned, put his hands on his hips, and said, "Then I'll be the village chief?"

Zhao Tingming: "..."

Guo: "..."

"Big Goose, don't do this kind of work. There's no benefit to it, and a bunch of people will be picking on you all the time. I'm telling you, I don't even dare to keep a dog at home, afraid someone will steal it. This lousy job will offend people. It's completely useless. We haven't been getting paid these past few days. You know, there's a village levy, but a lot of people don't pay their grain tax. Every year we owe the higher-ups a huge amount of famine."

He's always preoccupied with worries. He has to attend to everything, big and small, in the village. For example, sometimes even your great-grandfather has to borrow money to go out and give gifts.

Zhao Da'e's face twitched: "Borrow money for the gift..."

“Grandpa, if you’re really that poor, let’s put it this way… this gift is optional… We don’t have to go into debt to give a gift, do we? Just do what you can afford.”

Zhao Tingming was also helpless; relationships in rural areas are incredibly complicated.

As the most prominent person in Dongtaizi Village, Zhao Tingming really couldn't do something as absurd as not attending other people's events to give gifts.

For others, the gifts are given to relatives and friends. This year it's a son getting married, next year it's a daughter getting married, the year after that it's an elderly person passing away, or there's a baby's birth or a baby's one-month celebration. Everyone is in the habit of giving gifts to each other.

If you come to my house to give a gift, I will reciprocate by giving a gift at your house.

It's all about reciprocity.

To put it bluntly, giving gifts as a form of financial obligation is a clear-cut debt problem. Because in those times, most families weren't doing particularly well. Especially when a son got married or a child was born, finances were tight. There weren't many wealthy families.

At this time, relatives and friends come to give gifts and visit. They bring some presents or money. Not only is the occasion lively, but it also helps the family hosting the event reduce the large one-time expenditure, which is very helpful.

However, it's clear that Zhao Tingming's practice of giving gifts to everyone he meets is somewhat uncomfortable. After all, his own family doesn't hold an event every year, so it's a loss for him.

But given my current status, there's nothing I can do.

"There's no way to fix it. Just make do with what we have."

"By the way, Da'e, the New Year is just around the corner, is your mom coming back?"

Zhao Tingming asked with some concern, "No matter what, I think this matter is pretty much over. I haven't told anyone, but your father went to your maternal grandparents' house a few days ago, and your eldest uncle didn't give him a friendly look at all. He did see your mother and your sister, but they're not coming back. He didn't say why they're not coming back either."

Your mom has been staying at her parents' house for over a month now, and your sister's one-month celebration hasn't even been held yet. I just feel that she can't stay at her parents' house all the time; it's not convenient. Besides, it's not very convenient for your mom to stay at her parents' house while you stay at your aunt's. Yesterday, your uncle asked me to help with finding guests on the tenth of the month, but I haven't agreed yet. Your cousin is getting married soon at your uncle's house, and they only have four rooms. Where will you stay after your cousin's wedding?"

"Um... my great-grandmother said I had nowhere to go, so I came to stay at your house. She'll stay as long as the world goes by and she won't kick me out," Zhao Da'e said with a chuckle.

Zhao Tingming: "..."

Guo's lips twitched: "..."

Guo did say that, but... well, she couldn't really live there forever, at most she could only live there for a while.

"Whether my mom comes back or not isn't up to me. It depends on my dad's attitude," Zhao Da'e said. "Our family is in complete chaos right now. If she comes back, they'll probably start fighting. My third aunt ran away, my grandma is in jail, and my grandpa is causing trouble at home. We're about to fall apart; we can't live like this anymore."

Besides, even if my dad went alone, he couldn't be called back. Grandpa, you know, now that my mom's back, she still has to stay in that storage room, and there's nowhere else for her to go. My sister is too young; it's not really suitable for her to stay in the storage room. My grandparents originally agreed to let my mom have the house for her postpartum period, but then my aunt came and they argued. Now my grandma's still in confinement; those two will hold a grudge against me for the rest of their lives. I don't even dare go home, let alone my mom.

"Oh dear... no, no." Zhao Tingming waved his hand: "They are your elders, after all. How could your grandparents be angry with you? How could they hold a grudge against you? Nothing like that."

Zhao Da'e shook his head: "I don't believe it. I might believe it if it were someone else, but I don't believe it about my grandma and grandpa. Our family is completely different from yours, Grandpa. Your family has five daughters and one son. But the son is the youngest, and he's been admitted to university and will be graduating and getting a job soon. A large part of my uncle's tuition was paid for by his five older sisters."

Zhao Da'e understood this perfectly well. Zhao Tingming had five daughters, but none of them were particularly popular or well-off, and the family offered them almost no financial support. The reason Zhao Tingming was able to afford to send one of his daughters to university and why the family wasn't particularly poor was because Zhao Tingming and his wife strongly insisted that their five daughters help their brothers. While many might consider this selfish, it was simply the reality.

Dongtaizi Village had no wealthy families or particularly rich households. In those days, it was extremely difficult to send someone to university. Leaving aside any ideological issues, the economic burden alone was a formidable obstacle.

Education doesn't necessarily cost a lot of money, but even if it's not a lot, for many rural families, children who stop studying, get married, and have children at seventeen or eighteen are under double pressure. A college student not only has to spend money on education but also doesn't help the family at all.

Moreover, nutrition was poor in this era. Many people were not in particularly good health. This was incomparable to later generations. In later generations, even men in their seventies could still do physical labor. But in this era, people in their sixties were really unable to do much farm work. Zhao Tingming was already unable to do any heavy physical labor. During the spring planting and autumn harvest, Guo Shi did most of the work, with the remaining tasks being assisted by their five daughters and sons-in-law.

The advantage of Zhao Tingming doing this was that his financial burden wasn't too heavy. His family wouldn't be completely destitute. Life wasn't wealthy, but it wasn't particularly difficult either.

Of course, the downside was that Zhao Tingming's five daughters also lived in poverty and were not wealthy. Therefore, the help that the five older sisters provided to Zhao Tingming's youngest son was enormous.

Conversely, things are different for Zhao Da'e's family.

“My grandparents are extremely biased. My eldest aunt doesn't care about the family. My second aunt hardly ever comes home either. These two sisters basically don't help the family. My eldest uncle, Zhao Tiebao, separated from the family very early and doesn't care about the family either. My third uncle is very lazy, and my third aunt is even more cunning, lazy, greedy, and slippery, but she always does more work than the other three. Not to mention my parents, but did my grandparents see that? No.” Zhao Da'e spread his hands: “So, I don't expect my grandparents to have a change of heart one day. If they had a change of heart, they wouldn't have accused me of stealing the savings book.”