Chapter 11

Xiaojuan carefully cut off a small piece of the apple and cherished the rest, dividing this small piece into two portions, giving a larger one to Lidong.

"Father has already eaten, I don't want any more," Lidong waved his hand. He didn't really like apples; eating too much fruit wasn't very interesting.

Unlike now, when apples, a northern fruit, are quite common in southern cities, in the countryside, especially in mountain villages, many children have never even heard of them, let alone eaten them.

Xiaojuan looked doubtful. Adults always said they had already eaten. Lidong smiled, the little one knew quite a lot. "Eat it, Father really has eaten."

A small piece of apple, so precious, it couldn't be helped; these days, resources were so scarce. Actually, this was already considered good. In previous years, resources were even more scarce, and there were even difficult times when people starved to death. Now, things were a bit better.

Fewer people were starving to death. As long as one worked hard, one could manage to have a half-full stomach, of course, as long as there were no natural disasters or misfortunes.

Xiaojuan carefully nibbled on the apple skin. Lidong was about to say that the skin couldn't be eaten and wanted to peel it off, but Xiaojuan stopped him. The apple skin was so fragrant, why couldn't it be eaten? It would be such a waste. She even recited a quote from a great leader.

Fortunately, Lidong came late and didn't have to memorize books, or it would have been quite a headache. "Yes, yes, yes, hard struggle, strive to achieve the four modernizations, starting with eating the apple skin."

Xiaojuan smiled and leaned slightly against Lidong. The lazy father who didn't work hard had returned and brought Xiaojuan an apple, which was really delicious. However, Father still needed to be educated; he shouldn't spend money recklessly, or there wouldn't be enough food for winter.

Perhaps feeling the warmth, the little girl soon fell asleep. Lidong looked at the sleeping Xiaojuan with a pang of sympathy. This child probably didn't sleep well all night. "Oh." He wanted to settle Xiaojuan down to sleep but accidentally touched her forehead, which was burning hot.

She hadn't slept all night and had cried all night, and then she fell into the water. With such折腾 (trouble), it was no wonder Xiaojuan, who was already weak, had a fever. "Medicine, right, I brought medicine."

Lidong rummaged for a while but only found cold medicine, no fever-reducing medicine. What to do?

There was no choice but to find the team leader. It was just dawn when Lidong knocked on the door, and Han Guofu had just woken up. "Who is it, so early in the morning?"

"Uncle Guofu."

"It's you, Lidong, what's up?"

Han Guofu looked at Lidong with disdain, thinking he might be here to borrow money. He had already told everyone not to lend money to Lidong, who was lazy and didn't work hard, and his work points were even less than a woman's.

Such a person had no future. At the end of the year, he wouldn't even get enough food, let alone money.

In Han Village, food rations were distributed based on a 40% per capita and 60% work points ratio. For example, a child would get 18 pounds of food per month, of which 7.2 pounds were distributed per capita, and the remaining 10.8 pounds had to be bought from the production team.

The work points were used to buy food. The value of one work point depended on the year-end calculations, including expenses, money set aside for seeds and tools for the next year, and other costs. After all these expenses and the state's grain quota were accounted for, the remaining amount was the work points.

Lidong's work points weren't even enough to buy his own food, and he might even owe the production team money at the end of the year. He definitely wouldn't have any surplus, as he couldn't even earn as much as a woman.

Han Guofu had good reason to be disdainful. There was competition between production teams, and a lazy person could set a bad example.

"Uncle Guofu, Xiaojuan has a fever. Do you know where there's a hospital?"

"Hospital? Why go to a hospital for a fever? I'll get you some medicine."

Han Guofu thought it was nothing serious. A fever could be treated with medicine, and there was no need to go to a hospital. City kids were just picky. Fever-reducing medicine only cost a few cents, and Lidong still had some money left from the one yuan Xiaojuan gave him the day before.

Lidong hadn't returned the money yet, so he borrowed it from Han Weijun, bought the medicine, and fed it to Xiaojuan. Then he started preparing breakfast.

Xiaojuan was sick and needed some good food to recover. Lidong didn't have much good food on hand.

Cured meat and a few eggs. He had originally bought a box of over 200 eggs, but now there were fewer than ten left. Sigh, what bad luck. "I'll cut some chives and make some chive and egg buns, and cook some cured meat congee."

After a while, he finished preparing breakfast and called Xiaojuan to wake up. Lidong had to go to work, weeding in the cornfield, which would take about two more days. "Xiaojuan, wake up, it's time to eat."

"It smells so good."

"Of course, chive and egg buns, and cured meat congee. Try them and see if they're good."

"Buns?"

"Cured meat congee."

Xiaojuan was stunned, suddenly climbed out of bed, and rummaged through the cabinet, pulling out a handkerchief. Lidong was puzzled. What was the little girl doing? Why was she making such a fuss over breakfast?

"Huh?"

"Money?"

Lidong was surprised. Xiaojuan actually had money. She had given him one yuan the day before, and he thought that was all the money they had. He didn't expect Xiaojuan to have a small savings.

She had ten yuan, which wasn't a small amount. Xiaojuan counted it several times, fifteen yuan and sixty-three cents, and sighed in relief. Lidong understood and was both amused and exasperated. The little girl thought he had stolen the money.

He had to educate her and maintain his image as a father. How could he become a thief?

Xiaojuan saw that the money was still there, but the buns and cured meat congee were on the table.

Did Father go out and steal last night? She remembered that stealing was a crime and could result in execution, which was often publicized. Xiaojuan had even seen it once, and it was terrifying.

"Father, did you steal?"

Lidong was startled by Xiaojuan's serious look and the question that made him laugh and cry. "What nonsense."

"Then where did you get this?"

The little girl stood firm, tears almost streaming down her face, holding the handkerchief with the money. "Father, if you stole, return it. I have money."

"Okay, okay."

Lidong laughed and cried. "I'll tell you, but you can't tell anyone. I told you, someone in the commune buys fish. I caught a few big fish last night and sold them."

"Really?"

"Of course."

Lidong smiled. "Look, this flour is so white. Where could I have stolen it?"

"Ah."

Xiaojuan saw the big bag of flour and hugged it happily.

As for the cured meat, Xiaojuan was even more surprised, but when she learned that Lidong had spent all the money, her face turned serious. "Father always spends money recklessly. Don't do it again next time."

"Okay, okay."

Lidong laughed. "I won't spend money recklessly. Put the things down and eat. The chive and egg buns will get cold."

"Eggs?"

"Hehe, look."

"Really eggs."

Xiaojuan cheered and carefully wrapped the remaining six eggs in a rag and put them in a box. Lidong was amazed. She also put away the flour for making vegetable buns for the New Year.

The cured meat was even more off-limits to Lidong. Xiaojuan planned to exchange it for food rations when they were distributed, as her new father couldn't earn work points. Lidong was speechless. How did this little girl become such a housekeeper?

However, the little girl was easy to fool, but the people in the team were not. Lidong told her not to tell anyone about selling the fish, and Xiaojuan agreed, thinking that selling fish could earn money and shouldn't be known by others.

Xiaojuan ate the chive buns and drank the cured meat congee, feeling very happy. She looked at Lidong with tears in her eyes. Lidong smiled. "Eat quickly, the steamed buns are still hot."

Chive and egg buns with cured meat congee, if Han Guofu saw this, he would probably say it was a waste. No farmer ate like this, and it was even better than what city people ate.

Lidong was thinking about selling stockings and shirts in the city. Yes, and hair clips. Unfortunately, the box of electronic watches was almost empty, with only two left. Otherwise, electronic watches would be very valuable in this era. He would talk to Han Guofu about it.

Hehe, then he could eat chive and egg buns and drink meat congee without worry, and Han Guofu would be envious.

"Burp."

He couldn't eat any more. The chive and egg buns were so delicious. Did the space and time make the eggs and flour mutate? Not only the buns, but the cured meat congee was also delicious. He was so full.

In the morning, Lidong went to weed the cornfield. Someone had reported that Lidong had stolen corn from the team. Li Chunhua planned to check it out. But after several checks, there was no sign of it. Was it a false report? No, her wife had also said that Lidong had stolen corn.

"What's going on?"

Li Chunhua muttered. Lidong was digesting his food. Sigh, he was too full to think about stealing. "Oh, Auntie, is there something you need?"

"Nothing, nothing."

Strange, Li Chunhua muttered. Lidong was the type who would steal sweet potatoes and hide them in his pants. Why had he changed?

"Pretending, definitely pretending. I need to come more often. The team's morals are not good, and I need to catch a few examples." Li Chunhua thought and decided to keep a closer eye on Lidong.