Chapter 209: Criticism Without Naming Names

Immediately following this, in the outer room of Mu Xueli's home in Sujiatun, a grand drama titled "How Parents Educate Their Son" was staged.

It must be said that this play was performed quite seriously and well; it was absolutely as if it were real! Even the various sounds were so authentic.

"Bang," "Bang"—these were the sounds of palms slapping against clothing.

"Ouch, you two won't teach me, and yet you're hitting me." This was Mu Xueli's indignant voice.

"Slap"—this was the sound of a strike to the back of the neck, also known as a "neck-slap."

"So what if I hit you? I'm your father, I'll hit you if I want." This was Mu Hua's exasperated voice.

"Thud," "Thud-thud"—these were the sounds of feet kicking someone.

"I'll let you spout nonsense, I'll let you spout nonsense." This was Liu Ruxin's gritted-teeth shouting.

"Ow, stop hitting, stop hitting, I was wrong, can't I just stop learning?" This was Mu Xueli's voice of surrender.

This Mu Xueli was truly unqualified; he didn't even want to act anymore after just this little while. What a damn disappointment!

The sounds ceased, and the grand drama came to a close.

Although he had received a beating, Mu Xueli still felt that Mu Hua and Liu Ruxin knew something, but they just wouldn't teach him. However, he didn't dare ask again, mainly because if he asked again, he would have to take another beating.

Then, Mu Xueli stood up from the ground, patted the footprints off his body as if nothing had happened, and said in a flat tone:

"Mom, don't hide all the money. Leave me 2,500 yuan; tomorrow I'm going to buy a gun with my brother-in-law."

Upon hearing this, Liu Ruxin asked suspiciously: "Don't you already have a gun? Why buy that thing again?"

Mu Xueli sighed and said: "The gun I have is a bolt-action; it can't fire continuously. Besides, my brother-in-law and Wang Li are also buying. My brother-in-law even said it's best to buy two at a time, as the supply and marketing cooperative won't be selling guns in the future."

Once Liu Ruxin heard that buying the gun was Wang An's request, she very readily took out three stacks of "Great Unity" banknotes. After handing two stacks to Mu Xueli, she counted the remaining stack and said:

"Spouting a bunch of nonsense—you just had to say your brother-in-law told you to buy a gun, and would your mother refuse?"

After hearing this, Mu Xueli not only confirmed that his parents indeed knew something, but he also began to doubt life itself, falling into self-denial. Was he really that untrustworthy?

Just as Wang An was secretly pondering, the team leader in front, Sun Da, said: "Who wants these fishing nets? The big ones are 10 yuan each, and these small ones are 5 yuan. Accountant Li, make sure to keep good records."

After Sun Da finished speaking, there wasn't even a single person below to respond. It was very obvious that everyone had absolutely zero interest in buying fishing nets.

In this era, fish were mostly worthless because in Heilongjiang Province, any small river with water, or even a puddle, had fish in it. If you wanted to eat, you just took a bucket and a scoop net, found any small river, and you were done.

However, most people didn't catch fish for human consumption, but to feed chickens, ducks, and geese. Fish were an excellent food for them, and the chickens, ducks, and geese were especially willing to lay eggs.

The fish of Heilongjiang were very famous; besides the "Three Flowers and Eighteen Children," there were seventy-two types of miscellaneous fish! Of course, there were many others whose names people couldn't even call out.

But the most famous fish were only a few, like the chum salmon, sturgeon, kaluga, red-tailed fish, rainbow trout, and so on. Everyone knew these fish were delicious, but a very strange thing was that the delicious things were always few in number!

Moreover, wanting to sell these famous fish was not an easy task.

Relying on horse-drawn carts, you could at most reach the county seat. However, the Hulan River passed right by the DJ county seat, so no matter the time, the county seat never lacked people selling fish!

Most importantly, the price of fish was truly dirt cheap, usually a few cents per jin. And the people who bought them were those with jobs; ordinary folks who wanted to eat fish basically went to the river to catch them themselves.

Furthermore, fishing and mountain-roaming were different. Fishing in the river actually had no danger, because as long as your swimming skills were decent and you didn't mess around in bad weather, you basically wouldn't die.

Therefore, in DJ County, there were quite a few people who made a living by fishing, but making a living by fishing was just that—"making a living." It was like farming; you were just alive, with no quality of life to speak of. After waiting for a long time, someone below said: "Who would buy that thing for 10 yuan? Isn't that too expensive?"

Wang An had no interest in fishing. In fact, Wang An had no interest in any business that didn't make money, and he didn't have much interest in eating fish either.

Because Wang An clearly remembered that one year, the rainfall in Kaoshan Village and the surrounding villages was too heavy, and most of the crops were soaked to death. So that year, every household in Kaoshan Village and the surrounding villages relied on eating fish to survive.

Fish meat was different from the meat of various animals because fish had no fat, and fish cooked without oil had a very strong muddy, fishy smell.

Eating it occasionally for a few meals, fish was a delicious thing! Eating it often was also okay; although this thing had no fat, it was meat after all, and at least you could swallow it.

But eating it every single meal, whoever ate it would vomit; even smelling it made one want to vomit!

Therefore, in Kaoshan Village, most people didn't like to eat this stuff. Of course, there were some people who could never get enough of fish, but the number of such people was indeed small.

As for the fishing nets, except when they needed to complete tasks assigned by superiors, which would organize everyone to fish with nets, very few people used them in daily life.

A bucket and a scoop net could do the job; a whole fishing net wasn't even worth the effort. Mainly, everyone found the thing to be in the way.

After a while, seeing that no one was speaking, Sun Da frowned and said again: "Big ones for 5 yuan, small ones for two-fifty. Does anyone want them?"

Alas, there was still not a single person to respond.

Sun Da's frown deepened. At this moment, Accountant Li said: "How about we just sell them for 1 yuan each? It'll save us the trouble."

Accountant Li was named Li Youcai, a cousin of Li Biao's father's generation, and he was incredibly skilled with an abacus.

Sun Da thought for a moment and said: "Then we won't distinguish between big and small; they are all 1 yuan per fishing net. You must buy one big and one small together."

It must be said that the person who could become a village head definitely didn't have a brain that grew in vain! He could even play it like this.

Alas, there was still no one speaking. Regarding useless things, the common people of this era were absolutely very rational, because everyone was the type who would split a single cent in two. How could they possibly waste 1 yuan to buy something useless? Besides, 1 yuan in this era was not a small amount.

With no one speaking, Sun Da got a bit anxious. If the items couldn't be turned into money, for Sun Da, who had just become village head, this was no different from his work not being done properly. If someone from above came down to stroll around, wouldn't that have a very bad impact?

So Sun Da began to criticize without naming names. Sun Da shouted: "The households that just bought mules and horses, why aren't you speaking? You spent several hundred, so are you short of 1 yuan?"

Someone below muttered: "That was clearly two yuan, how did it become 1 yuan?"

Sun Da definitely heard it, but at this time he could only pretend not to hear it, and continued: "Everyone be more proactive. Who will take the lead? Do I have to name you?"

After Sun Da finished speaking, he cast his gaze toward the group from the old Wang family, as well as his own family, the group from the old Sun family.

The meaning was very obvious: hurry up, I'm about to name you. Why are you not giving me any face?

Wang An wanted to laugh at this situation. No matter how big the leader, they all wanted the tasks they were responsible for to be completed perfectly.

Because I can have no merit, but I cannot have faults!

And so, Wang An touched his father Wang Dazhu and his second uncle Wang Daliang with his finger, and signaled to the two brothers with his eyes.

Then Wang Dazhu said reluctantly: "My family will take two."

Wang Daliang also said listlessly: "Then my family will take two as well."

Thanks to "Promise Made for You" for the tip, thank you, thank you!

(End of chapter)