Chapter 127 What a sin!
"Uncle Sheng, where are your children? Why aren't they at home?"

Li Guoqiang walked into the room, took a look at the surrounding environment, and then asked casually.

"Oh!"

Guan Changsheng was slightly stunned, then he laughed and answered, "Two of my daughters got married a few years ago, and my old son retired from the army last year and was assigned to the Fengxian Agricultural Machinery Bureau as a tractor driver. Now we are the only two old people left at home!"

"That's very good!"

Upon hearing this, Li Guoqiang couldn't help but praise: "You and Aunt Yu can wait to enjoy happiness in the future!"

You know, tractor drivers are a very popular profession these days. Not only can they get a salary and eat commercial grain, but they also have very broad development prospects.

"Harmful!"

Guan Changsheng raised the corner of his mouth, then waved his hand hastily, and said seriously: "I don't dare to expect to enjoy any happiness. As long as my family can be safe and sound, I will be satisfied!"

After saying this, he recalled the experience of being almost killed by a wild boar, and for a moment he couldn't help but feel more grateful to Li Guoqiang.

If you lose your life, you will lose everything!

At this time, Zhou Xiaoyu also came in with a plate of fried peanuts and a pot of liquor, with a very enthusiastic smile on her face.

"Come on, Qiangzi, have a drink and chat with your uncle first. I'll prepare a few delicious dishes for you. I guarantee you'll enjoy them!"

After saying that, she poured a bowl of warm wine for Li Guoqiang and Guan Changsheng respectively, and just as she was about to turn around and leave, she heard shouting coming from outside the house.

"Sister Xiaoyu, Sister Xiaoyu!"

"Hey, here we come!"

Zhou Xiaoyu was slightly stunned, then quickly responded, turned around and walked out.

After a while, she came in with an old lady with gray hair, a shrewd face and a black mole at the corner of her mouth.

Guan Changsheng frowned slightly when he saw this, and then asked hurriedly: "Auntie Wang, what are you doing here?"

"hey-hey!"

Aunt Wang laughed awkwardly, then said awkwardly, "Well, I plan to take Cui'e, Yanhong, Ximei and the others to Kai County early tomorrow morning. I want to ask you to issue some certificates."

After she finished speaking, she saw Guan Changsheng's face suddenly turned very ugly, and she hurriedly continued to explain: "You know, they all have no men in their families, and it will take several months for the thaw to happen. The food at home has already run out, so they came to me for help. I had no choice but to agree to take them there."

"If you don't agree, I'll go back and tell them!"

"boom!"

"enough!"

Hearing Auntie Wang's last threatening words, Guan Changsheng could no longer hold back his anger. He slammed his hand on the table and angrily yelled, "Auntie Wang, has your conscience been eaten by a dog?"

"Don't think I don't know what shameful business you are bringing to Kai County. You used to do it secretly with the two widows Fengtou and Fengwei, but now you are actually targeting people in our own village. Do you believe that I will have someone tie you up and take you to the commune?"

"Ouch!"

Aunt Wang's neck shrank slightly, and then she cried out with an innocent look on her face: "Captain, you really wronged me. I really didn't want to take the people from our village with me. If they hadn't come to my house to beg me, saying that they couldn't make ends meet anymore, I wouldn't have dared to come to you!"

"Don't be angry yet, I'll go get them back right away!"

After saying that, she turned around and walked out without waiting for Guan Changsheng to say anything.

However, before she reached the door of the outer room, Zhou Xiaoyu quickly stood in front of her, blocking her way.

She looked at Zhou Xiaoyu's burly figure and rough face, her heart tightened slightly, and then she hurriedly asked: "Sister Xiaoyu, what do you mean?"

"Means nothing!"

Zhou Xiaoyu shook her head, then said in a deep voice: "My man hasn't let you go yet!"

Aunt Wang: “.”

"okay!"

Guan Changsheng looked at Aunt Wang's wrinkled face, was silent for a while, then waved his hand helplessly and said, "Xiaoyu, let her go!"

Hearing this, a hint of hesitation flashed across Zhou Xiaoyu's face, and then she slowly made way.

When Aunt Wang saw this, she was delighted, then she quickly lifted the door curtain and ran away.

"It's really a sin!"

Guan Changsheng stared at the swaying door curtain in a daze, then suddenly sighed with a complicated expression.

"Uncle Sheng, what's going on?"

When Li Guoqiang saw Guan Changsheng's look, he hesitated for a moment, but finally couldn't help but ask with some confusion.

"Ugh!"

Guan Changsheng glanced at Li Guoqiang, then shook his head, sighed and said, "After all, this is all forced by life!"

"oops!"

Seeing Guan Changsheng's embarrassed look, Zhou Xiaoyu couldn't help but said with some disdain: "It's just selling meat! Look how difficult it is for you."

"If you don't tell me, I'll tell you!"

Soon, she explained the whole story.

After hearing this, Li Guoqiang was suddenly silent.

He didn't expect that among the 19 households in the Fenghuangling Production Brigade, there were nine widows, and in five of them, both the mother-in-law and the daughter-in-law were widowed together. It could be called a village of widows.

The reason for this situation is that, in addition to the fact that collecting herbs and hunting in the mountains is a high-risk job, the main reason is that the great famine eight or nine years ago forced the villagers to focus their hunting targets on more valuable prey such as blind bears, tigers, and wild boars, which led to constant injuries.

Among them, some were bitten to death by wild beasts, some accidentally fell off a cliff, and some were even injured or killed by homemade gunpowder guns.

Those women who lost their husbands had no way to support their families by collecting herbs and cultivating a small piece of land, let alone finding wives for their children. Therefore, some people gradually set their sights on selling meat.

However, since everyone in the village knows each other well and they are all poor, even if they want to sell the meat, they don’t know to whom.

In the end, no one knew how the old widow Aunt Wang got in touch with the people in Kai County and found a way to sell meat. Then, slowly, she led the two widows, Fengtou and Fengwei, to start this business.

At the beginning, people in the village didn't know much about it.

However, when they saw that Aunt Wang and the two widows' lives had suddenly become better off, and even they became less enthusiastic about going into the mountains to collect herbs, plus they often asked the brigade for certificates to go to Kai County, they immediately aroused the suspicion of the villagers.

As the saying goes, the truth will eventually come out.

With the help of some interested people, they soon found out what kind of business Aunt Wang and others were doing.

As the production team leader of Fenghuangling, Guan Changsheng ran to Aunt Wang's house to question her immediately after learning about this matter, and told her in person that it would be impossible to issue them with certificates again, hoping to stop them from doing these ugly things.

However, not long after, Aunt Wang brought the two widows to his house, crying and wailing, saying that he had cut off their family's livelihood and demanded that he be held responsible for it.

In desperation, he could only choose to turn a blind eye.

However, he didn't expect that less than two years later, Aunt Wang would set her sights on a widow from the same village.

This made him feel both angry and aggrieved.

Although he could have people capture evildoers like Aunt Wang and bring them to the commune, doing so would be tantamount to forcing Aunt Wang and the two widows into a desperate situation.

Unless he could think of a way to make a living for those families who had lost their men, he would not dare to stop them at all.

Thinking that Phoenix Ridge would become a chicken coop in the near future, he felt as if a huge rock was pressing down on his chest, making it difficult for him to breathe, and his face felt hot.

Zhou Xiaoyu looked at Guan Changsheng's dark face and silence, and thought that she almost became a widow today. She couldn't help feeling scared in her heart, and then she couldn't help but feel more grateful to Li Guoqiang.

After all, aside from the fact that she has a son who is a tractor driver, if she really becomes a widow, with her current appearance, even if she wants to follow Aunt Wang in doing business, no one would dare to take her in!
After a moment of silence, Li Guoqiang slowly came back to his senses, and then asked with mixed feelings: "Uncle Sheng, according to what you said, you should be able to help them apply for some living subsidies from the commune, right?"

In fact, he didn’t know much about the poverty alleviation policies at that time. He just thought, based on his impressions from his previous life, that he should be able to ask the country for help in this situation.

"Ah!"

Guan Changsheng couldn't help but sneer when he heard this, then shook his head and asked in a deep voice: "Do you know how many widows there are in the villages around here?"

"Moreover, according to the basic rations set by the higher-ups, as long as they can work hard to go into the mountains to collect herbs, the food they get in return should be barely enough to feed their families."

"The main reason they chose to take this route is because they are worried that something might happen to them while collecting herbs in the mountains, and that no one would take care of their children."

Li Guoqiang: “.”

He was just thinking about asking for help from the country and hadn't really thought about basic food rations.

No wonder Guan Changsheng feels so embarrassed and conflicted about this matter!

It turns out there is a deadlock here that cannot be avoided.

If they were in the Jinshanbao Production Brigade, those widows who had lost their husbands might be able to earn work points by working in the fields and barely support themselves and their children. However, in these mountains, if they wanted to exchange enough food, they could only go into the mountains to hunt and collect herbs.

Once you go into the mountains, no one can guarantee that there will be no accidents. What if you fall off a cliff, or are attacked by wild animals such as wolves, blind bears, tigers, and poisonous snakes? What should happen to the children at home?
Thinking of this, he suddenly understood why those widows would rather be stabbed in the back than not insist on doing the meat business.

However, even though he understood it, he couldn't think of any better way to help Guan Changsheng solve this problem.

You can't let him spend money and effort to support them for nothing, right?
"okay!"

Seeing that Guan Changsheng and Li Guoqiang remained silent, Zhou Xiaoyu quickly waved her hands and said, "They chose this path themselves. They don't feel ashamed. Why are you so concerned about it?"

"If you ask me, Brother Sheng, you shouldn't have been soft-hearted in the first place and promised to give them the certificates. If they had the ability, they would have sneaked over on their own."

"Otherwise, if something really happens in the future, what will we do? Won't we still have to rely on others?"

Hearing this, Guan Changsheng gritted his teeth secretly, then nodded vigorously and said, "Yes, Xiaoyu, you are right. I shouldn't issue them any more certificates. If they continue to act like this, the reputation of our Phoenix Ridge will be ruined."

"If they continue to make trouble with me, at worst, I will just quit being the captain. Whoever wants to be the captain can do it!"

"If I can't provoke you, can't I hide from you?"

"Hey!"

Zhou Xiaoyu was delighted when she heard that, and then nodded quickly and praised: "That's right! I told you a long time ago, let's not get involved in things that we can't control, so as to avoid getting involved and making ourselves looked bad!"

At this point, she glanced at Li Guoqiang and then explained, "Well, Qiangzi, don't think that I am heartless. It's because I really can't do anything about this matter."

"If there is any way, I will not stop your uncle, and I can even help your uncle to manage it."

"Can you understand what I say?"

"understand!"

Li Guoqiang nodded, and then said with an expression of agreement: "I understand what you mean. This kind of thing is indeed difficult to deal with, especially since Uncle Sheng is the captain. If anything goes wrong, he will be held responsible."

"That's good!"

When Zhou Xiaoyu heard what Li Guoqiang said, she immediately felt relieved, then turned around and went out to busy herself with cooking.

Guan Changsheng did not talk about these bad things anymore. Instead, he talked to Li Guoqiang about going to Erdaogou Commune to sell meat tomorrow.

Since their village does not have much arable land, they mainly rely on collecting herbs and hunting to exchange for food from the commune. So if Li Guoqiang needs it, he can help exchange the wild boar for various foods.

After hearing this, Li Guoqiang felt a little tempted at first, but then quickly shook his head and rejected the proposal.

Although Guan Changsheng could help exchange the wild boar for food, he knew that there was a quota for the amount of food each person could exchange. If he asked Guan Changsheng to help with the exchange this time, Guan Changsheng would not be able to exchange enough food rations from the commune in the future.

Seeing that Li Guoqiang did not agree, Guan Changsheng had to temporarily give up the idea of ​​repaying his gratitude and instead invited Li Guoqiang to drink.

As he drank, his eyes unconsciously fell on the Type 56 semi-divine gun next to Li Guoqiang.

(End of this chapter)