Bringing Good Luck to your Husband in the ’70s

       The accountant originally thought it would take at least two or three days. Only then could the work points be completely settled, but Su Yue’s calculation speed was too fast. It only took half a day to calculate the part of the task assigned to her, but the accountant’s own part had not yet been calculated.

　　So Su Yue took another half day the next day to help the accountant do the calculations, and by noon all the accounts were completed.

　　The accountant of the brigade didn’t know how to thank Su Yue. It really helped him a lot. In previous years, he had to calculate the accounts for at least ten days non-stop. This time, it only took two days to be done, which means that we can distribute things to the members several days in advance, and we no longer have to be chased around by the members.

　　Through this incident, the party secretary also looked at Su Yue with admiration. Originally, he didn’t like the educated youth who came to the countryside to join the team, because the educated youth, both men and women, were very squeamish, and they didn’t know how to do farm work.
They have high ambitions but low abilities, and they don’t do their jobs well, but the brigade still has to bear their rations and accommodation. This is a burden to the brigade, so the commune members don’t like the educated youths, and the party secretary doesn’t like them either. Usually when he sees these educated youths, he also doesn’t like them. He just hope they can make less mistakes.

　　In the past, his impression of Su Yue was that of a very beautiful and squeamish girl who always asked for leave if she didn’t do well at work. He didn’t like her very much, but he didn’t expect that although Su Yue was not good at work, she was very smart and could settle accounts. She can calculate better than he can.

　　With her help this time, the year-end settlement was easily completed.

　　When the party secretary was happy, he gave Su Yue five kilograms of meat with a wave of his hand as a reward for this help, and he also gave five kilograms of fat meat.

　　Everyone loves to eat fatty meat these days. When dividing the meat, they want to share the fat meat, because the fat meat is rich in oil and water, which makes it exciting to eat, and it can also be used to make lard for cooking. It can be said that the party secretary is willing to give five pounds of whole fat meat, which is a big deal.

　　Su Yue actually doesn’t like to eat fatty meat. If she eats it by herself, she will definitely choose to eat lean meat. But thinking that fat meat can be used to refine oil, and with the oil, she can put more oil in cooking, so she didn’t refuse and carried a five-pound bag. Fatty went home happily.

　　When Mrs. Han saw how much fat Su Yue had brought back, she narrowed her eyes with joy, “Great, great, now I can make two large cans of oil. I don’t have to worry about adding oil for cooking during the New Year.”

　　The Chinese New Year is a time when oil is needed, so Mrs. Han happily turned five kilograms of fat meat into lard that afternoon. In addition, she also got a large pot of oil residue. Oil residue is a good thing. Both adults and children like to eat it. After one bite, your mouth will be full of oil. It is extremely delicious for the members who have not seen oil and water all year round. Especially the oil residue that has just come out of the pot. Put one in your mouth and chew it. Once you chew it, you feel as happy as a god. If you can sprinkle some sugar on it, it will be even happier.

　　Han Aimin got a small bowl of oil residue from the old lady. He was so happy that he could hardly find his way around. He sat under the stove with a bench and ate while lighting the fire. He enjoyed it very much.

　　Mrs. Han also wants to serve Su Yue a separate bowl to eat, Su Yue hurriedly waved her hand, “Mom, I don’t want to eat it, I don’t like this.” She still couldn’t eat things like oil residue.

　　Old Mrs. Han said: “You just don’t know how to enjoy happiness by nature. You don’t like to eat delicious things. You always like to eat those things that are worthless.”

　　Su Yue was ashamed, old lady, I really don’t like eating these fat foods.

　　————

　　Early the next morning, the production captain shouted on the radio, asking all members to gather at the brigade headquarters immediately to start the year-end settlement and distribution of things.

　　When the members learned the news, they all grinned with joy. They were so happy that they praised the brigade cadres for their quick work this year. The accounts were settled so early, unlike in previous years when they had to wait until the 29th of the twelfth lunar month or even the New Year’s Eve.

　　It was snowing outside, and it was so cold that people shivered as soon as they went out. Su Yue was afraid of the cold and didn’t like to go out, and didn’t want to join in the fun, so she asked Han Aiguo to take Han Aimin to pick up and move things, while she stayed at home to continue to prepare things for the New Year. In addition to making melon seed candies to entertain guests, the most important thing is to eat on the table. The New Year’s Eve dinner requires a lot of thought.

　　This year’s New Year’s Eve dinner was for the whole family. There were more than a dozen people in the family. Su Yue thought that she would have to cook at least a dozen dishes. In order to fill everyone, she planned to fry a meatball, and because when the team was grinding tofu, every family distributed tofu, so Su Yue saved a piece of tofu for stir-frying Chinese cabbage, and the rest of the tofu was going to be used to fry the tofu balls.

　　However, before frying the dumplings, Su Yue called Han Aimin and Hehua and announced to them: “Starting from tomorrow, we will officially start our annual vacation, which means that your classes will be canceled from tomorrow and will continue after the new year. “

　　Although Han Aimin and He Hua are both children who are very conscious about learning, they are students who like to have holidays, so when they heard what she said, they both burst into laughter.

　　When they were laughing the most, Su Yue added: “But before the holiday, you have to take a final exam. This is also the biggest exam of the year. The first place in this exam will be rewarded: a pencil case and two Yuan.”

　　The smiles on Han Aimin and Hehua’s faces froze, and turned into nervousness and anticipation. The nervousness was because they were about to take the exam and they were afraid of not doing well, but they were looking forward to getting such a good reward.

　　The so-called exam means that Su Yue wrote a paper herself. The test questions are all the content she taught them during this period to see how well they mastered it.

　　Su Yue usually teaches very strictly, and Han Aimin and He Hua also work hard, so the teaching progress has been very fast. According to the textbook, they have now finished teaching the content of the third grade of elementary school, so the test paper Su Yue gave this time should be considered Final exam paper for the third grade of primary school.

　　The Chinese language paper test questions include composing words, filling in poems, supplementing sentences, a short comprehension, and a 100-word essay. The difficulty is not easy, at least it is much more difficult than the questions given by the primary school teachers in the brigade. The mathematics papers are all calculation questions.

　　Han Aimin and He Hua sat on each side of the table, facing each other, each holding a paper and a pen. After Su Yue announced the start of the exam, they lowered their heads and wrote the paper with concentration.

　　The Chinese test is two and a half hours long, and the math test is two hours long. The Chinese test is first, then the math test, and the test is completed in one morning.

　　Su Yue took off her watch and put it on the table so that the two of them could see the time at any time. They could control the progress of writing questions by themselves, so as not to finish the paper when the time was up.

　　Not only Su Yue and the two children took this exam seriously, but the adults at home also took it seriously. Old Mrs. Han would come out of the kitchen every once in a while to look at the two children secretly. She smiled with joy when she saw them lowering their heads and writing seriously. laugh. Elderly people are always very happy to see their children studying hard.

　　Han Lao Er and Han Lao Er’s daughter-in-law also attach great importance to it, mainly his wife, because if He Hua can get the first place in this exam, she will get a pencil case and two yuan. Two dollars can cover forty cents!! And the pencil case is also very useful. Xiaolei can use it when he goes to school. Taking it out will make the child look good.

　　So Han’s second daughter-in-law who also rarely set foot in the old house was standing next to Hehua, she looked more like an invigilator than Su Yue. She watched Hehua carefully writing on the paper. Although she couldn’t understand what was written, she still didn’t forget to tell He Hua: “He Hua, please write carefully and don’t make mistakes. If you make a mistake, you won’t be ranked first. I will deal with you when the time comes.”

　　He Hua paused while writing the test questions and bit her lower lip.

　　Su Yue’s face darkened, and she said to Han’s second daughter-in-law: “second sister-in-law, don’t disturb the children while they are doing the questions. If you are here, even if you hehua knows how to write, she may not be able to write it.”

　　Han’s second daughter-in-law curled her lips and wanted to say something, but was dragged away by Han Lao Er, “Let’s go, let’s go, you don’t know how to read, why are you disturbing the children here? There are a lot of things at home.”

　　Han Lao Er’s wife was dragged away by him and left reluctantly.

　　Su Yue rubbed Hehua’s head, “Don’t be influenced by others, only you can decide your own path.”

　　Hehua’s eyes became firm, she said “hmm” and continued writing the topic.

　　The exam was completed in one morning. There were only four papers in total for two students. Su Yue marked the papers during lunch.

　　Because Han Aimin had studied arithmetic, he was always better at arithmetic than Hehua. This time he got full marks in the math test, while Hehua made a mistake in a calculation question and only got ninety-five points. However, Hehua’s Chinese score has always been better than that of Han Aimin. This time Hehua scored 95 points in the Chinese test, but Han Aimin only scored 88 points in the Chinese test. In this way, Han Aimin’s total score was two points less than Hehua’s.

　　Hehua is the first place in this final exam.

　　When the results were announced, Hehua was so happy that she almost fainted. When she took the beautiful pencil box and two dollars from Su Yue, she couldn’t help crying.

　　No one knew the huge impact in her heart at this moment. For her, this was not just a simple first place, but a confidence in her future life, and it pointed out a way forward for her.

　　She has not been taken seriously by her parents since she was a child, and she always seems to be an insignificant and insignificant existence in the family. It seems that the only meaning of her life is to take care of her younger brother and help him in the future.

　　But now she realizes that she does not exist for her brother. She can also be very powerful and can be praised by others. She can also be a leader on her own.
What a great person, she is not a loser like her mother said!

　　Su Yue understood He Hua’s feelings, patted her back, wiped her tears, and whispered to her: “Remember, you can also be great. As long as you work hard, you can become who you want to be. No need to care what others say, only you can decide your own life.”

　　Hehua nodded heavily, keeping these words firmly in his heart. And think about it when you encounter difficulties in the future, and use this motivation to tide over difficulties again and again.

　　Han Aimin was a little disappointed not to get the first place, and as an uncle, he actually lost to his niece. He felt so embarrassed that he was embarrassed to see others.

　　Su Yue patted him on the shoulder, “It doesn’t matter if you didn’t get first place in the exam. Just try harder next time. How can a man take this small failure to heart?”

　　Han Aiguo also encouraged He patted his younger brother on the shoulder and said: “Your sister-in-law is right, listen to your sister-in-law.”

　　Fortunately, the whole family started to get busy on the first day of the official annual holiday. Su Yue was going to fry the dumplings, and Han Aimin was in charge of Lighting a fire in front of the stove, he was so busy that he didn’t even have time to think about the result.

　　Especially when he was lighting the fire and eating freshly cooked meat dumplings and tofu dumplings. They were so fragrant that he wanted to bite off his tongue. He ate one bite after another until his mouth was full of oil. Now all the disappointment and shame were forgotten.

　　On the twenty-eighth, we fried the dumplings and on the twenty-ninth, we prepared the dishes. The New Year’s Eve came right after.

　　Early in the morning, Han Lao Er, Han Lao Er, his wife and three children came over from the new house to help. Han Lao Er’s daughter-in-law handed half a catty of meat and a bag of brown sugar to Mrs. Han, “Mom, All the money to build a house this year has been used up, and there are no good things in the house, so don’t dislike it.”

　　As long as they are interested, Old Mrs. Han is happy, and she doesn’t care if they don’t have anything. After putting away the things, she turned around and went to the room to get a handful of candies and gave few snacks to the children , which made the children jump with joy.

　　Later, Han Lao San also brought Han Lao San’s wife and Maomao over. Han Lao San’s daughter-in-law can now move around, as long as it is not strenuous exercise. But it was obvious that she was too cautious. She sat on the chair as soon as she arrived. She didn’t even bother to move her mouth, not even asking for help. Apart from calling out Mrs. Han, she didn’t even say hello to Su Yue and Han Aiguo.

　　Seeing her like this, Su Yue didn’t bother to pay attention to her. If she didn’t say hello, she wouldn’t take the initiative to say hello. She should be busy with herself and treat her as if she didn’t exist.

　　Old Mrs. Han was also angry, but because she still had a baby in her belly, she didn’t care about her. Just like Su Yue, she treated her as if she didn’t exist.

　　Han Laosan frowned and wanted to scold her, but when it came to celebrating the New Year, he didn’t want to quarrel. Forget it Arguing at  mother’s place would ruin good mood for the New Year, so he simply held back and went to his house. He went up to Han Aiguo and said, “Brother, if you need any help, just call me.”

　　Han Aiguo was not polite to him, “Mother and the others have to cook, and we have distributed the work, and we have to move some hay. Go to the kitchen with Chaihe, and wash the dishes and chopsticks that will be used later.”

　　”Okay, I’ll move them!” Han Laosan was very happy that his elder brother was not polite to him, and he happily ran to move them.

　　Han Lao’s third daughter-in-law secretly pouted, this big fool, being ordered to do a job is like getting a big deal.

　　In the kitchen, Chef Su Yue, Mrs. Han and Mr. Han’s second daughter-in-law are in charge of helping.

　　For this New Year’s Eve dinner, Su Yue planned to cook ten dishes. In addition to the existing two dishes of meat dumplings and tofu dumplings, she also used the extra tofu to cook a tofu and cabbage dish; Mrs. Han got up early this morning to kill A chicken that had been raised for a year and was just waiting to be killed during the Chinese New Year. Su Yue used this chicken to make a braised chicken dish.

　　Because the meat was divided during the Chinese New Year, Su Yue also made a plate of braised pork, stir-fried the meat into shredded pork, and plated it with the dough she made, making a dish of shredded pork with Beijing sauce.

　　The remaining four dishes are all vegetarian, namely spicy and sour shredded potatoes, eggplant stew, fish-flavored shredded pork and glutinous rice lotus root.

　　Han’s second daughter-in-law looked straight at her on one side and remained motionless for a long time.

　　Darling, are you making this meal for the President ?

　　When will farmers like them be able to eat such good food during the Chinese New Year? As she has grown up, the best meal in her memory was during the Chinese New Year last year. At that time, the family had not been separated. Because the eldest brother received an allowance in the army, the family’s conditions had improved. The old lady cooked six dishes for the New Year’s Eve dinner. Among the big dishes, two of them were meat. Her mouth was filled with oil that time, and she felt that there was no better day than that time.

　　As a result, she now knows that last year’s food was not that good, but this year’s food is extremely good. She really didn’t expect that the Chinese New Year would be so rich. She had never eaten some of these dishes before, and the aroma felt like it was getting into her stomach.

　　It turns out that after the separation, my eldest brother and his mother had such a good life. Unfortunately, their family had used up all the money to build a house, and now their food was not as good as before the separation. If the family had not been separated, wouldn’t she have had the same life?

　　She doesn’t even want to separate the family.

　　Old Mrs. Han called Han’s second daughter-in-law several times, “Why are you so dazed at my second daughter’s house?”

　　Han’s second daughter-in-law came back to her senses, “Ah? Mom, what did you call me for?”

　　Old Mrs. Han pointed out. The dishes in the pot, “The dishes are ready, you bring the dishes to the table, and let the second brother and the others arrange the bowls and chopsticks. We are ready to eat.”

　　”Oh.” Han’s second daughter-in-law hurriedly put away her worries. Thinking about it, she took the dishes to the main room and put them on the table. But when she saw Han’s third daughter-in-law sitting at the table eating melon seeds and not knowing how to help, she felt unhappy.

　　Why is she sitting here eating ready-made food while they are busy here?

　　Feeling unhappy, Han’s second daughter-in-law said, ” third daughter-in-law. Go and put the dishes and chopsticks around. It doesn’t take much effort.”

　　Han’s third daughter-in-law continued to eat melon seeds and threw the shells directly on the table. On the clean floor, she said casually: “I’m pregnant with a child. The doctor said I need to rest, so how can I work? Besides, isn’t my husband working? They don’t need me to do it.”

　The second daughter-in-law couldn’t bear to see her acting like she was the Queen Mother just because she was carrying the child. She immediately rolled her eyes and said, “Is it possible that you can’t even move when you’re pregnant with a child? You are so delicate, what if you have girl in their. Lets see what you will  do then. “

　　When Han Laosan’s third daughter-in-law heard this, she immediately exploded and stood up. “What did you say? You are afraid that only you are pregnant with two girls, so you are eager for others to be pregnant with girls too?”

　　Han’s second daughter-in-law was so excited by the ‘two girls movie’ that she started to argue with her: “You think he is a son, so he is a son? I think he is probably a girl!”

　　Han’s third daughter-in-law pinched her waist and spoke louder, “Let me tell you, girls from our Zhao family are famous for giving birth to sons. I gave birth to a son with my first child, and this one is still a son! I am different from you!”

　　The quarrel between the two people here attracted everyone. Before Han Lao Er and Han Lao San could come up to talk, Old Mrs. Han came over with a kitchen knife and slapped it heavily on the table. “If you two quarrel again, get out of here and don’t ever come to my old house for dinner again!”