Chapter 12

Li Chunhua would occasionally come over to take a look, but Li Dong was now completely focused on how to turn the items he had into money. Originally, he had brought quite a few things, and the best items to sell were the insecticide and mosquito coils.

However, who knew that the overloading during the time travel had caused these two boxes of good items to lose 99% of their contents. Now, there was only one box of mosquito coils left, just enough for his own use. There were many mosquitoes at night, and he would definitely need to use them.

The insecticide was effective against fleas, lice, and mites, and it was in high demand during this time.

Unfortunately, now there was only a small box left with only five small bottles. Li Dong used half a bottle in the morning, sprinkling it on his bed, clothes, and other places, as fleas were rampant during this time.

Li Dong had been bitten by these pests for several days, and the red spots on his body were truly terrifying. He needed to keep at least one bottle for himself, so he could only sell a maximum of three bottles, which was almost nothing.

"Ah."

If nothing had gone wrong, a large box of insecticide with 100 bottles would have been worth 20 yuan, with each bottle costing 20 cents. With 20 yuan, one could buy over 20 pounds of meat or over 100 pounds of rice. This year's food supply would have been secured, but now he could only sigh.

Li Chunhua looked puzzled. What was wrong with Li Dong? He kept shaking his head and sighing. What was troubling him? For a moment, she forgot to watch him for stealing food, worried that he might have some mental burden. She thought about Li Dong's incident of jumping into the reservoir.

Li Chunhua felt that this was a serious matter. If another life was lost, the commune would deduct points, which would affect the entire Han Village's grain planting for the next year. In recent years, the commune had issued documents to reduce the number of suicides in the village.

A production team could not have more than three suicide incidents in a year. In Han Village, Xiaojuan's father and a girl had already drowned this year. If Li Dong were to be added, it would make three, which was unacceptable.

"Qiuju, keep an eye on Li Dong. I'll go find your father."

Li Chunhua's face turned pale. She couldn't let anything happen.

Li Qiuju was puzzled. "Mom, what's wrong?"

"Keep an eye on him, don't let him run around."

Li Chunhua said, "It's hard to explain in a few words. I'll go find your father."

Han Guofu was leading people to irrigate the fields. Seeing Li Chunhua running over in a hurry, he thought Li Dong might have caused some trouble again. "What's wrong? Did he really steal food?"

"He didn't steal food."

Li Chunhua quietly told Han Guofu about Li Dong's sighing and slapping his thighs, and shared her suspicions. "What? This kid, won't he do something foolish again?"

"Who knows?"

"This is a big deal. I'll go check."

Han Guofu called Han Weijun over, instructed him to continue irrigating, and went to see Li Dong.

While Li Dong was working hard to digest his food and thinking about how to turn his limited resources into money, he had no idea that his full stomach and lack of appetite had led Li Chunhua to mistakenly suspect that he had suicidal thoughts again.

Li Chunhua entrusted Li Qiuju to closely monitor Li Dong, and Li Qiuju did an excellent job, making Li Dong somewhat depressed. He wondered if Li Qiuju had some feelings for him, which was unacceptable, as he still owed Han Weiguo one yuan.

What if he was accused of stealing a woman's husband? That would be too much. Li Dong decided to work hard and not think about anything else. If Li Qiuju had any feelings for him, he would firmly resist and not commit any crimes.

Li Qiuju found Li Dong to be very diligent, working hard without stealing any corn. She wondered if the women who reported him had made a mistake. "Let's see again."

This further made Li Dong feel guilty. "Ah, being young isn't always good. Why is it so hard for me to be a bit taller and handsomer?" He worked even faster, focusing on weeding and not thinking about anything else.

When Han Guofu and Li Chunhua came over, Li Dong didn't notice. "Qiuju, is everything okay?"

"Everything's fine."

"Fine?"

"He's working very hard."

Han Guofu looked at Li Chunhua, puzzled. "You said there was something wrong just now, but now it's fine. Let's go check."

When they came over, they saw Li Dong working diligently, not slacking off at all. He was a model worker.

Li Dong heard the noise and looked up. "Uncle Guofu, is there something wrong?"

"No, nothing's wrong."

Han Guofu smiled. "Take a break, let's chat."

"Chat?"

Li Dong thought to himself, "Is it because of the incident at the reservoir?" But he hadn't been there in days. "Okay."

He clapped his hands, covered in mud, and followed Han Guofu to the shade.

"Sit down and chat."

Li Dong thought, "This is serious. Is there really something wrong?" Han Guofu asked about his work and life, but Li Dong found his words confusing.

"Uncle Guofu, what do you mean? Just say it."

Li Dong felt that Han Guofu had something to say but was being indirect. "I'm really full, I need to work to digest."

"You have something on your mind, don't you? We can't be too pessimistic."

"Pessimistic? Uncle, I'm thinking very positively. Money is just a material thing, it doesn't come with you when you're born or die. Eat when you can, drink when you can." Li Dong patted his chest and burped. "I ate too much, the smell of leek and egg is strong."

Han Guofu was confused. "That's a good attitude, but why are you saying you can eat and drink? You're just a glutton. I thought you had changed."

"Why didn't you steal corn today?"

"Steal corn?"

"Burp."

Li Dong burped again, and Han Guofu understood. "You ate too much, no wonder. I thought you were a lazy glutton. Last time, you probably fell into the reservoir while fishing."

Han Guofu smelled the leek and egg, recognizing it. "You ate eggs this morning and got full, no wonder the corn wasn't appealing. I thought you had changed. Why were you sighing?"

"Sighing?" Li Dong was surprised. "Am I being watched?"

Li Dong slapped his forehead, realizing that he had been caught. He had eaten too much corn and stolen some to take home, which was why Li Chunhua and her daughter-in-law were watching him. Fortunately, he had eaten too many buns in the morning.

Li Dong looked at Han Guofu with a sad face. "Uncle, don't misunderstand me. I'm a knowledgeable youth, I wouldn't steal or take things. I swear to the great leader."

The great leader wouldn't care about such trivial matters, being busy with state affairs.

Han Guofu wanted to spit at this shameless person. "You wouldn't commit suicide, I don't believe it. You were probably sighing because you ate too much and couldn't eat the corn. How could I believe such nonsense?"

"Alright, I understand."

"Go back to work."

"Uncle, I have something to talk to you about."

Li Dong quickly pulled Han Guofu aside. "Uncle, I have a relative in the city. I wrote to them last time and want to go to the commune to see if they've replied."

"I'll let Weijun go with you to the commune."

Han Guofu informed Li Chunhua and her daughter-in-law before leaving. They were both amused and worried. "He's just full and can't eat corn. Leek and egg, it's not easy to manage a household. How can he eat like this?"

The three of them sighed. Li Chunhua was concerned. "If he keeps eating like this, will we have enough food? What if there's a famine? We can't let him starve."

"We are farmers. As long as we work hard, we won't starve."

Han Guofu waved his hand. "When the time comes, we'll give him some heavy work. I don't believe he won't be hungry."

"That's true. A big guy like him shouldn't be hanging around women all day."

Li Chunhua thought about it. "When he's not eating, he works more. He won't starve. I'll talk to him again, and you can help educate him."

"Being single, he doesn't understand the difficulties of managing a household. What about finding him a wife?"

Li Chunhua's suggestion made Han Guofu think. "We can start by introducing him to someone. When the work slows down in the fall, we can help fix his house. With the drought in the north, many people are fleeing. Fixing the house will make it easier to find a wife."

"Alright."

Li Dong was pleased with Han Guofu's response and worked even harder. He was sure he would get a reply, as he had written the letter himself.

However, he needed to figure out how to convince Han Weijun. After a day of thinking, he came up with a plan. "Brother Weijun, you're busy. I'll go with Xiaojuan, so it won't affect your work."

"Alright."

At the commune, Li Dong found the letter he had written among the pile of mail. The postman was lazy, and the letter had been there for two days.

He happily returned to the village and, at the entrance, took out a package wrapped in a flowered sheet. It contained flour, cured meat, canned food, half a pound of milk candy, a shirt, several pairs of stockings, and some clothes and eggs for Xiaojuan.

It was a large package, all brought by Li Dong. Xiaojuan thought Li Dong had bought these things from selling fish, but now he could openly show them. They had discussed it the night before, and Xiaojuan was a witness.

Otherwise, it would be hard to explain. The items were brought by someone, as mentioned in the letter, which Li Dong had added later. The items were real.

"Wow."

"Milk candy."

"Xiaojuan, share the milk candy with everyone."

A group of children, drooling at the sight of the large package, were eager to try the milk candy. Many children had never seen milk candy before, only heard about it. Xiaojuan reluctantly took out a handful of milk candy, giving each child half a piece.

The children in Han Village, who received half a piece of milk candy, were reluctant to eat it. Soon, the whole village knew that Li Dong's city relatives had sent a lot of good things.

"Xiaojuan's family is eating meat today."

The cured meat, with its rich aroma, made the children drool. Unfortunately, there wasn't much meat.

The envious children watched as Xiaojuan's rice bowl had two slices of translucent cured meat on top.

"Xiaohao, try this." Li Dong put a piece of meat in Han Xiaohao's mouth, making the child very happy.

Han Guofu's family was having breakfast when they heard about the meat at Li Dong's house. Han Guofu slapped his thigh. "This is a disaster. He's not living a proper life."

"Eating meat in the morning, better than the great leader."

Other families also scolded their children, saying Li Dong wasn't living a proper life, eating meat outside of holidays. But the children didn't understand. Xiaojuan's family was eating meat, and her new father was making it for them.

The children began to imagine when they would have a new father to make them meat.

"I can't let this continue. I need to talk to him."

Han Guofu slapped the table, threw his pipe, and the whole village was restless.

Han Xiaohao, with a mouth full of oil, happily ran back, holding two pieces of milk candy. "Brother, sister, I brought you milk candy."

"Don't make a fuss and go home to eat."

"Grandpa, Xiaojuan's father brought back a lot of good things, canned food, meat, sweet milk candy, and big cans of meat!"

"What?" The whole family was shocked. So many good things, what did Li Dong's relatives do?