Chapter 33: Must take responsibility

The afternoon passed in a flash. With two wild boars hanging there, everyone's enthusiasm for work increased significantly, and the progress of the autumn harvest sped up by more than half.

As night fell, the threshing floor of Shuangshui Village was bustling with activity and brightly lit.

Although the two wild boars were one large and one small, both were very massive. Combined, they weighed over eight hundred jin, and it took five tables pushed together to hold them.

Among the village's one hundred and thirty households, each family could receive an average of about six jin of meat.

Xiang Shi'an had a knack for butchering pigs; he processed the wild boars cleanly, putting the front and hind legs together, and chopping the ribs and fatty meat into small pieces to be stacked.

The pig offal was cleaned thoroughly and blanched in a large pot, and even seven or eight jin of pig blood was collected. Du Ruoying, the village head's wife, was responsible for distributing the pig offal to everyone.

Zhou Xiang and Xiang Shishui called out names according to work point rankings to collect meat, while Xiang Jianming and Xiang Shi'an distributed it. The adults lined up with pots, bowls, and basins, while the children circled the large iron pot, drooling as they smelled the meat.

Seeing that the good meat was about to be finished and it still wasn't Pei Fugui's family's turn, he shouted at Xiang Shishui in a rage, "Why is our family ranked at the back? Will there be any good meat left by the time it's our turn?"

Xiang Shishui spoke the truth, "Your work points are low, so you are naturally at the back."

Pei Fugui said incredulously, "My son killed two wild boars, and you say our work points are low?! Two wild boars should be worth about sixty or seventy work points, right? How are these work points being recorded?"

Xiang Jianming had just stood up upon hearing the commotion when he was pressed back down by a large hand. Pei Huaiye walked to Pei Fugui in three strides, his gaze chilling, "If you want to eat meat, line up properly! The work points have been recorded in the public account!"

"What did you say?! You unfilial son, stand still! Why didn't you record the work points for the family?!"

As soon as Pei Fugui finished speaking, Chen Lianzhen struck Pei Huaiye's leg with a crutch, "There isn't an unfilial son like you in the whole world!"

Pei Huaiye's body stiffened from the unexpected blow. He said in an icy tone, "There aren't parents like you in the whole world either."

The crowd pointed and whispered at Pei Fugui and his wife.

"Pei Huaiye has made such a huge contribution; shouldn't they be praising their son instead of hitting him?"

"Who told his son not to record the work points for the family."

"If you had been beaten until your leg broke and driven out of the house when you were a child, went hungry every day, and lived in a cave alone for several years, would you still want to record your work points for the family?"

The young people who hadn't heard about this were stunned; this Pei Huaiye was truly too miserable.

Su Qianyue, having finished collecting the meat with Su Xiaomei and Su Zhuangzhuang, stood in the shadows and heard every word clearly.

So Pei Huaiye had lived such a bitter life when he was young.

Su Qianyue's pitying gaze crossed over the heartless parents and through the noisy crowd, locking eyes with Pei Huaiye on the other side.

Her peach-blossom eyes, looking toward Pei Huaiye, shone with a faint, deep affection. She parted her red lips and silently said a few words to Pei Huaiye.

Pei Huaiye's eyes suddenly brightened. He tilted his head toward the riverbank and hooked the corner of his mouth in a roguish smile at Su Qianyue.

Su Qianyue went home, handed the pork to her sister-in-law, and then went to the riverbank to find Pei Huaiye.

Pei Huaiye had already changed into clean clothes. The man, having just finished bathing, carried a sense of dampness. He walked in a hurry, and his hair was still dripping water. Crystal-clear droplets slowly flowed down his sharp, handsome face to his prominent Adam's apple, and then further down...

Su Qianyue stared at his Adam's apple and inexplicably swallowed her saliva.

Realizing what she had done, her face flushed red in an instant, and even her collarbone was stained with a crimson hue.

Pei Huaiye curled his lips, lowered his head, and whispered an extremely shy-making sentence into Su Qianyue's ear.

"You! You're talking nonsense!" Su Qianyue jerked her head away and took half a step back, glaring angrily at Pei Huaiye.

Pei Huaiye gave a roguish smile and reached out a large hand to quickly pinch Qianyue's waist, his eyes domineering and fierce, "What are you running for?"

Su Qianyue was scorched by his aggressive gaze. She buried her small face in Pei Huaiye's chest and remained silent, listening to his powerful heartbeat. A wave of numbness spread through her entire body like an electric current. She couldn't help but stretch out her soft arms to wrap around his sturdy waist, and her little head rubbed against his chest as if she were enjoying it very much.

Then, Pei Huaiye's whole body shuddered, and a certain place instantly...

Su Qianyue realized what was happening and turned bright red! Just as she pushed him away to create some distance, she was fiercely pulled back into Pei Huaiye's arms. He said in a hoarse voice, "Don't move!"

It was a long time before the two of them finally let go of that hot and unbearable embrace.

Su Qianyue's pair of peach-blossom eyes were glistening with moisture, and in the end, she gave Pei Huaiye a few hard punches with her small, soft fists.

He enjoyed the soft, fluffy punches and handed her two pheasants and a basket of mountain goods.

Su Qianyue pushed the basket back, "I'll take half, you keep half! There are only three pheasants in total; one went to your parents, and if you give the rest to me, will you still have anything to eat? Besides, if I take it all back, it won't be easy to explain to my family. Pei Huaiye, you need to take good care of yourself too."

These words were clearly heartwarming, but Pei Huaiye felt a slight sense of loss upon hearing "it won't be easy to explain to my family." After all, Su Qianyue hadn't broken off her engagement with Shen Xunbao yet, and on the surface, she was still someone else's fiancée.

Su Qianyue seemed to sense Pei Huaiye's disappointment. She raised her shy, flushed little face, gave a bright smile, and said with a proud yet serious expression, "Pei Huaiye, give me some time; I will take responsibility for you."

Pei Huaiye pulled a playful smile to the corner of his mouth, but his eyes were filled with deep affection, "Alright, I'll wait for my Qianyue to take responsibility for me."

When Su Qianyue got home, she was bumped into by a little cannonball, "Auntie, come drink some sugar water quickly."

Su Zhuangzhuang enthusiastically pulled Su Qianyue, "Auntie, this is the sugar water I made; you must taste it."

Su Qianyue blinked. Su Qingxi hurriedly explained, "Silly Zhuangzhuang was taught by Li Gousheng to dissolve White Rabbit Creamy Candies in water to make sugar water. It's delicious, but it wastes too much sugar. The last three White Rabbit candies in our house are all in this bowl."

Su Qingxi sighed, looking at the bowl and swallowing her saliva.

Su Qianyue pinched her cheeks, "You and Zhuangzhuang share it." She thought of something and asked, "Zhuangzhuang, where did Li Gousheng get the White Rabbit Creamy Candies?"

Su Zhuangzhuang drank the sugar water, smacked his little lips, and said very innocently, "I don't know."

After they finished the sugar water, Su Qianyue put on a stern face and said a few things to the two of them.

Zhuangzhuang was only five and didn't understand very well, but he firmly remembered that from today on, he would not eat or drink anything given by others.

Su Qingxi was thirteen and immediately understood what her second sister meant. She nodded thoughtfully; Li Gousheng's family was close to Su Qianqian, so they would have to be on guard from now on.

Two days passed. After the production team distributed the pork, Xiang Jianming went around persuading people, and only then did he convince five or six households to try cooperating with the Supply and Marketing Cooperative.

But it was still too few.

The villagers of the Shuangshui Brigade had indeed been taken away to be shot for speculation and profiteering in the past. Now, they were all so scared that they didn't dare go to the black market, let alone trust cooperation with the county Supply and Marketing Cooperative.

Su Qianyue thought for a long time; this progress was still too slow. She prepared her wording and found President Zhang to explain the villagers' concerns and worries.

Zhang Dongfeng's heart sank, "Five or six vegetable gardens are far from enough. Qianyue, what other ideas do you have?"