Chapter 148 The Reward Has Come

"you're lying!"

Zhu Caixia pouted, then choked up and said, "Grandma and Dad all said that I was a money-loser. If you have children in the future, you will definitely not want me!"

"When the time comes, you will marry me off early to an old widower in exchange for a large sum of money, and let me be scolded, beaten, and tortured every day."

"I am scared!"

“I’m really scared!”

"Woo~wuwu~"

"Forehead"

When Li Guoqiang heard Zhu Caixia's crying, he was stunned for a moment, then he quickly understood. He couldn't help feeling funny and pity in his heart.

He originally thought that Zhu Caixia was worried that he would no longer care about her after he moved out!
It turned out that she was actually worried that he and Xu Yuping would have a child and then abandon her!

Little did he know that he never wanted Xu Yuping to give birth to a child for him. For this reason, he had already decided to go to the county town and secretly bring back some balloons.

After all, not to mention that Xu Yuping is already in her thirties and is considered an older mother, he would not take the risk just for the sake of confidentiality and saving trouble.

However, it is not convenient to tell Zhu Caixia these things directly.

He hesitated for a moment, then said in a gentle voice, "Alright, alright, stop crying. I promise Chairman Mao that I will never abandon you in the future, and I will never marry you to an old widower."

"You can rest assured now, right?"

"no!"

Zhu Caixia sniffed, then stared at Li Guoqiang's handsome face, shook her head stubbornly and said, "I'm worried!"

"That"

Li Guoqiang frowned, then asked in a deep voice: "Then what do you want?"

"I think."

Zhu Caixia hesitated for a moment, then slowly lowered her head and whispered, "I want to stay at home all my life and never get married."

"Harmful!"

Li Guoqiang's brows relaxed, and then he waved his hands, smiled softly and said, "That's all you ask! No problem, I promise you, you can stay in this house as long as you want."

"Ok!"

When Zhu Caixia heard that Li Guoqiang agreed, she was overjoyed. She raised her hand impatiently and said, "Then let's pinky promise!"

Seeing this, Li Guoqiang was delighted and then stretched out his hand very cooperatively.

"Hang yourself on a hook and you won't be allowed to change for a hundred years!"

Soon, Zhu Caixia shouted the words of the pinky promise, then lowered her head to look at the lifelike puppet in her hand, grinning and laughing.

In her opinion, since Li Guoqiang agreed to let her stay at home and not get married, it was equivalent to agreeing to let her take over Xu Yuping's position in the future.

Otherwise, how could it make sense to let her stay at home and not get married?
However, she had no idea that Li Guoqiang was from the future, and the idea of ​​freedom of marriage had already been deeply engraved in his mind, so he naturally would not want to force her to get married.

At this time, Li Guoqiang was completely unaware that Zhu Caixia had some misunderstandings about him. He just felt funny when he saw Zhu Caixia being as happy as a fool.

Only an innocent girl like Zhu Caixia would believe in this kind of pinky promise. Any woman with a little experience would know that it is just a trick to coax a child.

But, that's why it seems even better, isn't it?
Not long after, Qu Yinfeng brought in Xu Dani, who had just finished taking a bath, and then hurried back to the bathhouse to take a bath.

As soon as Xu Dani got on the kang, she threw herself into Li Guoqiang's arms as usual and pestered him to tell her fairy tales.

When Zhu Caixia saw that Li Guoqiang was going to tell a story, she immediately woke up from her silly state, moved the small millstone slowly, stuck to Li Guoqiang, and hugged his arm tightly.

Li Guoqiang glanced at Zhu Caixia, then tried to pull his arm out with a little force, but was immediately met with opposition from the little girl.

Helplessly, he could only go with her.

Anyway, there are no outsiders here, so there is no need to worry about any misunderstanding.

Little did she know that the biggest misunderstanding had already occurred in Zhu Caixia's heart.

When she saw that Li Guoqiang did not continue to take his arm away, a happy smile appeared on the corner of her mouth, and then she and Xu Dani soon immersed themselves in the fairy tale of Cinderella.

Soon after, the story was over, Qu Yinfeng and Xu Yuping took a shower and returned to the room, and then sent Zhu Caixia and Xu Dani, who looked unsatisfied, back to their beds to sleep.

As the kerosene lamp was extinguished, Zhu Caixia slowly fell asleep with a beautiful vision for the future.

In her dream, she dreamed that she turned into Cinderella, and her mother Xu Yuping turned into a fairy, made her a pair of very beautiful red embroidered shoes, and then sent her to Prince Li Guoqiang, so that she and Li Guoqiang lived a very happy and beautiful life from then on.

In the blink of an eye, it was the next morning.

After Li Guoqiang finished his breakfast and had just worked for more than an hour at home, Xu Yuchang came running over to inform him that the people from the supply and marketing cooperative had arrived, and asked him to take his shopping book and go to the threshing ground to buy things, so that everything would not be snatched away by others.

Upon hearing the news, he hurriedly put down his tools, called Qu Yinfeng, Xu Yuping, Zhu Caixia and Xu Dani, and hurried to the threshing ground with the sled.

At this time, the entire Jinshan Fort was in an uproar. Men and women, young and old, every one of them, walked out of their homes with excitement on their faces, and then gathered in the threshing ground.

When Li Guoqiang and his colleagues arrived, quite a few people had already come to the threshing ground. It looked crowded and lively.

In the center of the crowd, there were three large carriages parked, with a lot of cargo on top.

Among them, food includes cooking oil, sugar, cigarettes, salt, vinegar, wine, soy sauce, tea, candy, cakes, etc.;

Daily necessities include matches, tooth powder, floral water, soap, shampoo, bowls and chopsticks, lunch boxes, tea cups, washbasins, vanishing cream, straw paper, kerosene lamps, kerosene, scissors, floral cloth, cotton, shovel, carriage harness, iron pot, flashlight, batteries, needles and thread, elastic bands, wool, whip, vegetable seeds, etc.

Although the quantity of each item is not large, the variety is so complete that it is a bit dizzying to look at.

Moreover, these goods can basically be purchased per person or per month and quarter with a shopping book, which is a benefit provided by the state to farmers.

For example, according to the regulations, each person, regardless of whether they are adults or children, can buy 6 feet of cloth and 2 taels of cotton every year to make new clothes. As for matches, tooth powder, soap, salt, soy sauce, cooking oil, sugar, cigarettes, etc., they can be purchased monthly or annually with the shopping book.

However, if you want to buy these things, it is not enough to just be qualified, you also need to have money.

Many times, you are eligible to buy, but cannot afford it.

At this time, some wealthier families would privately pay a higher price to have someone help buy more things.

And those poorer families are also happy to transfer their purchasing qualifications in exchange for some money to buy daily necessities such as oil, salt, sauce and vinegar.

The main theme is to help each other and get what you need.

Since each educated youth represented a family, except for Li Guoqiang, as soon as the other educated youth arrived at the threshing ground, they were pulled aside by some of the wealthier families in the village to discuss the transfer of purchasing qualifications.

Among them, the most important thing is to buy sugar, cigarettes, candy, cakes, etc., which are used as gifts to visit relatives during the New Year.

Just as everyone was looking at the goods on the carriage and thinking about what to buy for their families, brigade cadres such as Xu Guangfu and Xu Yuliang also handed over the payment for the last fish sale to the people from the supply and marketing cooperative, and then prepared to divide the money on the spot so that everyone would have money to buy things for the New Year.

Upon hearing the news, everyone cheered and lined up to receive the money.

In the end, according to the distribution method of six people for four workers, Li Guoqiang, Qu Yinfeng and Xu Dani received a total of 13 yuan, which was equivalent to half a month's salary for an ordinary worker.

Then, Li Guoqiang gave all the money directly to Qu Yinfeng, and asked her to take Xu Yuping, Zhu Caixia, Xu Dani and others, with two shopping books, to the carriage to buy things, and asked them to spend as much money as possible.

After they came back after shopping, he took the shopping book and bought some things they didn't buy.

Among them were a pair of batteries, an iron pot, a bottle of toilet water, two bottles of vanishing cream, a pound of candy, a pound of melon seeds, a pound of pastries, etc. Basically, he bought everything that could be bought.

For him, money is not a problem at all. The problem is how to get some supplies reasonably.

Now that he has the opportunity to purchase supplies openly, he must of course buy them all, whether for his own use in the future or for keeping as backup.

Soon, the supplies on the three large carriages were reduced by more than half at a speed visible to the naked eye. Some of the more scarce supplies, such as flowered cloth and cotton, were sold out directly.

When no one came forward to buy anything, the people from the supply and marketing cooperative counted the money and supplies, then hurriedly drove away in their horse-drawn carriages.

This is why their supply and marketing cooperative purchases fresh winter-caught fish from Jinshanbao every year. If it were other production brigades, they could not even think of asking them to deliver the goods to the village in person. They could only take the purchase capital and money to the supply and marketing stations in the commune and the county to buy supplies.

When Li Guoqiang saw the crowd gradually dispersing, he immediately wanted to take Qu Yinfeng and the others home to continue making doors and windows.

However, before he could walk far, he was stopped by Xu Guangfu.

Immediately afterwards, Xu Guangfu called Shang Xiuzhen and Ma Hongying over, and then took out a small stack of money and a certificate from his pocket.

Li Guoqiang looked at the six big words "Advanced Militia Member" written on the certificate and immediately realized that this was the reward for killing the Tiger King last time.

"Qiangzi, this is the certificate of commendation and a bonus of 100 yuan issued to you by the higher-ups' commune, in recognition of your contribution to the last tiger hunting operation in the mountains."

When Xu Guangfu saw the look of realization that flashed across Li Guoqiang's face, he didn't keep him in suspense and directly handed him the certificate. Then he dipped his tongue with his finger and carefully counted out the hundred yuan.

"Thank you for your recognition. I will continue to work hard and strive to make greater contributions to the organization!"

Li Guoqiang reached out to take the certificate and bonus, his expression straightened, and then he spoke loudly and said something polite.

"Ok!"

Seeing that Li Guoqiang was not dissatisfied, Xu Guangfu could not help but nodded with satisfaction and said, "In addition to this certificate and the 1500 yuan bonus, the commune also gave our brigade yuan, which will be directly included in the brigade's income and settled together at the end of next year."

Hearing the price, Li Guoqiang couldn't help but shook his head.

You know, that tiger king weighs about seven or eight hundred kilograms. Even if it is sold at two yuan per kilogram, it is already beyond the price.

Not to mention that it also has very valuable fur and a small whip.

If you take it to a purchasing station in the city to sell it, you can get at least more than 2,000 yuan.

However, since the higher-ups insisted on doing so, he had no say.

After all, there are some unspoken rules and social conventions involved, which cannot be explained in just a few words.

"correct!"

After Xu Guangfu finished speaking, he saw that Li Guoqiang didn't say anything, so he quickly continued, "The reward for hunting wolves in the mountains last time has been distributed. Each wolf is 20 yuan. You have killed 5 in total, so that's 100 yuan."

"Of these, you need to hand over half, which is 50 yuan, to the team first. The remaining 50 yuan is up to you to decide how to divide it!"

After saying that, he put his fingers on his tongue and licked them, then counted out 50 yuan bills one by one and handed them to Li Guoqiang.

Seeing this, Li Guoqiang did not bother to be polite with Xu Guangfu and hurriedly reached out to take the money.

Then, in front of Xu Guangfu, he divided the money into three parts. Two of them, each worth 16 yuan, were given to Shang Xiuzhen and Ma Hongying respectively, and the remaining one, worth 18 yuan, was pocketed by him.

In this regard, Shang Xiuzhen and Ma Hongying were not dissatisfied at all. Instead, they kept waving their hands to indicate that he had given too much.

In the end, he forced the money into their hands, and they accepted it with embarrassment.

The main reason why he wanted to divide it this way was to avoid being accused of forgetting his principles for the sake of profit.

As the saying goes, only by giving can you gain.

Look, didn’t you see that Shang Xiuzhen and Ma Hongying were almost unable to hold back and bow to him to express their gratitude?
After making sure that Xu Guangfu had nothing else to do, he immediately returned home and placed the certificate and the money he had received in front of Qu Yinfeng and the others, instantly winning a round of applause.

Then, under their gazes, he took the 18 yuan and stuffed it into Xu Yuping's hand, then laughed and said, "Take this money, it's for your household expenses. I'll give it to you when you've spent it all!"

"This"

Xu Yuping's eyes widened when she heard this, and then she said in a half-surprised, half-panic tone: "How can this be possible? How about you just keep the money yourself?"

As she said this, she wanted to stuff the money back into Li Guoqiang's pocket.

(End of this chapter)