Early the next morning, Qian Shulan borrowed a bicycle from the team to go to the county town.
Because Wang Shouli was on a business trip for more than a month, he took a week off and did not have to go back to the county to work.
It just so happened that he could stay at home to take care of Zhou Xuemei and the children, which saved Qian Shulan a lot of trouble.
After arriving at the county town, Qian Shulan went straight to Jiang Yuying and Guo Zhengliang's new home, but no one came to open the door after she knocked for a long time.
Instead, he attracted the neighbor, who was the one who sold the house to Guo Zhengliang.
She had come with them to choose a house, so she still remembered what this man looked like.
"Stop knocking. This family hasn't been here for some time."
Qian Shulan turned around, walked quickly towards the middle-aged woman, and asked anxiously, "Where is my daughter? Do you know?"
When buying the house, Qian Shulan introduced herself to her.
The middle-aged woman still had some impression of her, but when she asked this, she only had a vague idea, "I don't know either. Anyway, since the wedding night, a group of people came in and took County Magistrate Guo away, and the family has never returned."
It seemed that what she knew was very limited, so Qian Shulan didn't plan to ask any more questions.
She immediately turned the front of her bicycle around and prepared to go to Jiang's house. However, when she arrived, she found that the door was locked, and it was obvious that Jiang was not at home.
Qian Shulan had no choice but to go to the Red Flag Hotel to look for someone, wanting to ask if Jiang Yuying had gone to work at the North City Grain Store.
Seeing her coming, Du Dahai immediately came over to greet her.
"Big sister, you are finally here."
Seeing his slightly worried expression, Qian Shulan suddenly had a bad feeling. "I just came back from Guangzhou. I rushed here after hearing from my fourth son that something happened to the Guo family. What happened to their family?"
When this matter was mentioned, Du Dahai became angry. He pulled Qian Shulan to sit down and began to tell her the whole story.
It turned out that County Magistrate Guo was arrested on the night Qian Shulan left.
The charge was that he pleaded for leniency on behalf of rightists, that he had ideological problems and that he needed to undergo labor reform.
Qian Shulan originally only knew that County Magistrate Guo had been on the battlefield, but she never thought that he actually knew Comrade Peng.
"I think the incident involving County Magistrate Guo this time has something to do with the Chen family in Shanghai. After County Magistrate Guo was arrested, Chen Xuanxuan, who had been chasing Guo Zhengliang, showed up. She said openly and secretly that as long as he gets a divorce, she would ask her father to help mediate."
Qian Shulan gnashed her teeth in anger. But her heart sank. Guo Zhengliang wanted to choose his biological father or his wife. I am afraid that most people would have no choice but to give in in such a situation.
As expected, Du Dahai said angrily, "Guo Zhengliang has no choice but to divorce Yuying. Then he will go to Shanghai with Chen Xuanxuan and ask her father to help mediate."
Qian Shulan clenched her hands together. Thinking of Yuying's situation, she was extremely worried. "Where's Yuying? How is she?"
Cun Dahai sighed heavily, "Since the divorce, Yuying has been completely devastated. Anyone who gets married and then divorced on the same day would not be able to bear it. After Guo Zhengliang left, she fell seriously ill. She was extremely depressed. She couldn't even continue working."
Qian Shulan was so angry that she stamped her feet. Who should she blame? Should she blame County Magistrate Guo? But the other party was just helping Comrade Peng to intercede out of comradeship. Who knew that it would bring trouble to himself
Should she blame Guo Zhengliang? Once County Magistrate Guo was labeled a rightist, he would basically be sentenced to death.
When Qian Shulan was studying history, her teacher once told her about this knowledge.
Guo Zhengliang is a filial son and would save his father if there is a one in ten thousand chance.
But what was Yuying's fault? Why did she have to suffer like this? Marriage was obviously the happiest and most joyful day for her, but she had to suffer so much. Qian Shulan felt so distressed and felt so sorry for her.
"Where's Yuying? Where is she?"
Du Dahai saw tears flashing in her eyes, and was obviously very anxious, so he hurriedly said, "Yuying is fine now. She was picked up by your youngest son."
Hearing this, Qian Shulan breathed a sigh of relief. It was good to take her away. But why did they take her away? Yuying had a family. The more she thought about it, the more she felt something was wrong. She frowned and asked, "Is Yuying still not well?"
Du Dahai waved his hands helplessly, gritting his teeth in hatred, "Yuying came back from the hospital, and someone actually climbed over the wall to her house in the middle of the night..."
Du Dahai couldn't continue to talk about what happened next, and Qian Shulan's heart sank. The orphan girl was entered into her home by someone climbing over the wall. This...
She stared into his eyes in disbelief and said, "You mean? She was..."
Du Dahai saw that she was thinking the wrong thing, and hurriedly shook his head, "No, no! Yuying beat the man until he was bleeding, and handed him over to the police. But there were rumors in the neighborhood, and many people whispered behind her back that Yuying was not decent. Her eldest aunt even came to her house to scold her, and Yuying almost collapsed."
The more Qian Shulan listened, the more she felt something was wrong. Her brows knitted together. This was just too much of a coincidence. Someone must have deliberately harmed Yuying.
Yuying has a good temper and gets along well with her colleagues and neighbors. Apart from Chen Xuanxuan, there is no one else who would go to such great lengths to harm her.
Thinking of this woman's viciousness, Qian Shulan had every reason to suspect that Chen Xuanxuan must have instigated the arrest of County Magistrate Guo.
Her father is the mayor of Shanghai, much higher than County Magistrate Guo, the mayor of a small county town with 18 counties. Whatever he says will be more convincing.
The people above him must believe what he said more, and now the anti-rightist movement has started again, and many people have begun to distance themselves from those rightists in order to protect themselves. County Magistrate Guo is a straightforward person, and you never know if he says something wrong and someone uses it as a handle to sue him. If you are not careful, you may be framed.
As long as the mayor of Shanghai comes out to testify that County Magistrate Guo has a close relationship with Comrade Peng, the higher-ups will certainly take his words seriously.
If it were just this, it would be fine, but Chen Xuanxuan didn't even let Yuying go. She was so vicious that if she didn't let Chen Xuanxuan get the punishment she deserved, she would not be named Qian.
Du Dahai continued, "Later, your fifth son brought Yuying home, saying that he had a place to stay for her. I haven't seen Yuying for a long time."
Qian Shulan wiped the tears from her eyes, stood up with her hands on the table, and said to him, "Then I'll go find her now."
Du Dahai nodded, thought for a moment and asked again, "You came here so early in the morning, have you eaten?"
It would have been better if he hadn't said anything. Qian Shulan just got up and found herself a little dizzy and then she felt hungry. Because she was too worried about Yuying, she rode her bicycle for several hours early in the morning and didn't even have time to take a break to drink water and eat. Now she found that her legs were weak and she was very tired.
Du Dahai hurriedly invited her to stay for dinner. Du Dahai should have exchanged a lot of the food Qian Shulan had left at Jiang's house. So he came out directly with the white flour buns.
After Qian Shulan had eaten and drunk her fill, she paid the money and food coupons and was ready to leave.
Du Dahai hurriedly called her, "Wait for me, Yuying can't eat recently, please bring her a bowl of spicy soup, let her drink it, otherwise her body will collapse."
Qian Shulan nodded heavily in response.
Soon, Du Dahai came out with an aluminum lunch box. Worried that she would spill the soup while riding her bicycle, Du Dahai found two hemp ropes and tied a knot on the lunch box from left to right and from top to bottom.
Qian Shulan put the lunch box in the basket in front of her bike and rode to the Water Conservancy Bureau.
As soon as she arrived at the staff quarters of the Water Conservancy Bureau, Qian Shulan saw Yuying sitting at the door of the single dormitory combing Xiaodie's hair.
It was Wednesday, and Xiaodie should have gone to school at this time, but she was here. Qian Shulan guessed that Wang Shouzhi was worried about Yuying being alone at home, and worried that she would be upset, so he asked Xiaodie to take a leave to stay at home to look after Yuying.
"Yuying?" Qian Shulan stopped her bicycle and called out.
Jiang Yuying, who was concentrating on helping Xiaodie tie her hair, immediately turned around and found that it was Qian Shulan. She immediately stood up with red eyes, "Godmother, you are here."
Xiaodie also stood up and called to Qian Shulan in a baby voice, "Grandma!"
Qian Shulan smiled and touched her head, then put her arm around Jiang Yuying's waist and said softly, "Boss Du asked me to bring you some spicy soup. Let's go in and heat it up."
The two of them quickly carried the stools into the room.
After heating it up, Qian Shulan served a bowl to each of them, and then that was it.
They both wanted to pour some for Qian Shulan, but she waved her hand and said, "No, I've already eaten at Boss Du's. You guys drink it."
The two of them had to drink it themselves.
After drinking, Xiaodie ran to wash the dishes very diligently. Jiang Yuying tried to stop her, but Qian Shulan thought it was good to let the child do some housework. This would make the child more responsible.
Qian Shulan saw Xiaodie go out, touched her hair, and said softly, "Yuying, you have suffered."
Yuying smiled bitterly. Her red eyelids were covered with mottled marks, and her dark circles were particularly deep, which must be because she couldn't sleep all night.
"What are your plans?" Qian Shulan asked.
Jiang Yuying looked dazed. "I don't know either. Godmother, I feel so tired. I want to rest for a while."
"Then take a rest. Don't think about anything." She glanced at Xiaowu's room and found a few clothes hanging in the room that belonged to Yuying. Wang Shouzhi probably let Yuying live with him, and then he went to live in a dormitory with his colleagues.
Jiang Yuying was a little embarrassed. "But I still have work to do. I've already asked for a month's vacation. If I don't go, my boss will be dissatisfied with me."
Qian Shulan thought for a moment and said, "I'll let your elder brother take over for you for a few days. You can come with me to the countryside to rest for a while. Come back to work when you've recovered your energy. Is that okay with you?"
Being pointed at behind her back every day, if this continued, even if Yuying was a strong person, she would not be able to bear it.
Jiang Yuying didn't hesitate, "Okay!"
After this matter came to an end, Qian Shulan asked again, "Where is Xiaowu?"
Somehow, Jiang Yuying felt a little uncomfortable when she heard Qian Shulan asking about Wang Shouzhi. She lowered her head slightly and said, "Because he was worried about me, he took more than 20 days off. The leader was very dissatisfied with him. I told him that I was well, so he went to the countryside. He has been gone for almost five or six days."
Although Qian Shulan was somewhat curious about Yuying's reaction, it was not appropriate to ask her at this time. She secretly calculated the days and said, "It will probably take him ten days to come back. Let's not wait for him and go back to the countryside directly."
Because the land is getting increasingly dry, Wang Shouzhi used to take a week to go to the countryside, but now it takes half a month to come back.
Qian Shulan took Jiang Yuying and Xiaodie to Grandma Fan's house and asked Grandma Fan to help take care of Xiaodie.
Then Qian Shulan rode her bicycle alone to the North City Grain Store to find Director Chen and ask him to agree to let Wang Shouren temporarily take over Jiang Yuying's job.
This time she brought 20 kilograms of rice, and Director Chen agreed immediately.
Qian Shulan was a little worried about Wang Shouren. Although Wang Shouren listened to her very much, it didn't mean that he would listen to others. Besides, he was a little silly.
But she couldn't always let him do the hard work.
He needs to be allowed to interact with more people outside so that he can make progress in the future. This way he can be more courageous in the future.
Qian Shulan thought for a while and added, "My eldest son is a little stupid. Director Chen, please take good care of him. It's best to let him do his job as a salesperson."
This means that if Wang Shouren is asked to do the job of a salesman, even if he does not do it well, he should be asked to work hard to learn. Don't ask him to move goods just because he does not do a good job.
Director Chen immediately understood Qian Shulan's subtext and quickly agreed, "I will take good care of him. Don't worry."
Then he asked her indirectly, "Can you help me contact the grain dealer?"
Qian Shulan did not agree right away. She tried to avoid such head-losing things as much as possible. "She went to Hebei recently. I heard that the drought there had wiped out the crops."
Director Chen was full of surprise and stammered, "Nothing?"
Qian Shulan didn't expect that Director Chen didn't even know this news.
If you think about it carefully, you will find it is very normal. Director Chen is just the director of a grain store in a small county, not a purchaser of the Grain and Oil Bureau. He does not need to go out to contact for grain, so naturally he has no way of knowing what is happening outside.
Moreover, newspapers and radios in that era were basically weapons of the country. When the country asked people to broadcast news of a bumper harvest, the people on the radio station did not have the courage to broadcast news of a severe famine. Even if they were so hungry that their legs and feet were weak, they would still raise their arms and shout that the yield per mu was 10,000 kilograms. It's really ironic when you think about it.
Director Chen pondered for a long time, then asked tentatively, "Then the price of grain will not go up, right?"
The price will definitely go up. Qian Shulan didn't want to expose herself, so she had to raise the price. She nodded and said as a matter of course, "It will definitely go up. I heard that rice in Hebei is already selling for three yuan per pound."
Director Chen was so shocked that sweat started to form on his forehead. He kept saying, "Then please help me contact her. Don't sell all the grain."
Seeing that he was really anxious, Qian Shulan was surprised, "You just bought several thousand kilograms of food last time, why are you in such a hurry?"
Director Chen also sighed, looking very tired. "There are many relatives in the countryside. The whole production team has the same ancestor. I can't just watch my fellow villagers starve to death. The last time we had that little grain, each family was given 100 kilograms, and in the end, my family had less than 200 kilograms. It's still more than a month before the sweet potatoes are harvested, and my family of 20 has only three or two taels of food per person a day. How can we survive? Our grain store can't even distribute sweet potato flour by the end of this month. Tell me what we can do?" He rubbed his face, obviously very desperate.
Qian Shulan did not doubt his words. Many production teams in Linyang Province have the same surname. Some have lived here for generations, while others were moved here from other places.
It's obvious that Director Chen comes from a poor background. We can tell from the fact that he actively helps his nephew find a job that he is a kind-hearted person who attaches great importance to his family.
But she couldn't take risks rashly. She had to ensure her own safety first.
Qian Shulan thought for a moment and said, "I'll help you contact her. You know Hebei is quite far from here. If I send her a message now, it will take at least half a month for her to come back. You wait for my news."
Seeing that she was willing to help, Director Chen was very grateful and said quickly, "Okay, okay, thank you!"
After leaving the grain store, Qian Shulan went to Grandma Fan's house to pick up Yuying and took her back to the Wangjia Village Production Brigade.
The author has something to say: Don’t lock it!!!