Reborn in 1966

Chapter Sixty-Five: Returning the Chicken

Nothing happened that night. The next day, just as dawn was breaking, bursts of crying and cursing could be heard coming from a courtyard near the river on the east side of the north end of the village. The crying and cursing were coming from Tian Cungen's house.

Tian Cungen's family lived near the brigade headquarters. They raised four chickens: three that laid eggs, a rooster that was kept to be slaughtered for the New Year, and three hens that laid eggs. These were the family's oil and salt containers. Every night, the children would wait for the chickens to go into their coop and then close the coop door.

The Tian family has four children. The eldest, Aimin, is twenty years old and works in the village earning work points. The second, Aimei, is a girl, thirteen or fourteen. The third, Xiaomin, is a boy, around ten years old. The youngest is a girl named Aiqin, who is only six years old.

Last night, Aiqin and Xiaomin blocked the chicken coop. The two kids felt a bit complacent because they only counted four chickens every day. They just randomly counted and blocked the coop. Who knew that when the chicken came back while they were eating, it couldn't get into the coop, so it wandered around the neighborhood. As it wandered, it wandered all the way to the entrance of the brigade office and was caught by Wang Sizheng and Tonghui. It almost became the two of them's meal.

Tian Cungen's wife is a feisty woman, as feisty as Tian Honggen's wife back in the day. Of course, now Tian Honggen's wife has been suppressed by Tian Honggen and has lost her former boldness. She is going further and further down the path of being a virtuous wife and loving mother, and is doing better and better. Now, only Tian Cungen's wife in the village can still show her strength.

The loss of their own chicken was a major scandal for the Tian family. Tian Cungen's wife cursed at the two children for a long time, then continued cursing at the door, spewing out all sorts of insults, wishing the chicken thief a terrible death and deserving of eternal damnation. The six educated youths, who were still in bed, were speechless with astonishment. Wang Si and Zheng Tonghui were especially relieved that they hadn't eaten the chicken last night. They had thought that if they had, what could the chicken do? But now they thought differently. Look at the chicken's fighting spirit! If the chicken knew they had eaten someone else's chicken, especially a laying hen, it would probably eat them alive!

Qi Xiangnan quickly got up, checked his watch, and saw that it was only a little past six o'clock. He figured that Secretary Tian would be arriving at the brigade headquarters soon, so he washed his face and brushed his teeth before waiting at the entrance of the brigade office.

Secretary Tian gets up early every morning. As he gets older, he needs less sleep. He gets up before six o'clock every day and goes to the brigade office early. In winter, he lights a stove, and in summer, he sweeps the yard.

Before dawn today, I heard Tian Cungen's wife crying and cursing in the alley not far away. Her two children looked like they had been hit a few times, and they were crying quite loudly. I thought about going to comfort them, but then I felt that losing a chicken was a big deal at home, but not a big deal in the village. It wouldn't be appropriate for me to go there, so I decided to leave it at that.

When they arrived at the brigade office, they saw Qi Xiangnan waiting for them at the door. After opening the door, the two went inside. Qi Xiangnan said, "Secretary Tian, ​​we caught a chicken in the brigade's yard last night. We were planning to go and ask around this morning to see if anyone had lost a chicken, but before we even got out of bed, we heard someone cursing like this. It seems a bit inappropriate for us to get involved. Could you please go and return the chicken to its owner?"

The educated youth had only been in the village for less than a month, and they didn't know all the villagers very well. They had originally planned to ask around when they went to work, but when they heard the crying and cursing early in the morning, they knew they had to find a way to return the chickens to the villagers now. However, it was not appropriate for any of the six of them to go forward alone. Going to Secretary Tian was the most suitable option. The chickens themselves were a small matter, but with the secretary taking the lead, the influence he would bring would be significant. With the leader taking the lead, the relationship between the two sides, which was not very harmonious to begin with, could be brought closer.

Secretary Tian had heard that many educated youth in other villages were stealing chickens and dogs. Nowadays, everyone's living standards are not high. Some families can't even afford to eat meat a few times a year, let alone kill a chicken. Which family doesn't raise a few chickens? The eggs laid by the chickens can be sold at the purchasing station to exchange for oil and salt. Which family doesn't cherish their chickens? Some educated youth steal other people's chickens and roast them in the suburbs. Can there be any secrets that stay hidden forever? As a result, the relationship between the educated youth and the villagers became even more tense.

I've been observing these male educated youths in my village for a long time. Qi Xiangnan and Li Lei are both hardworking people, Wang Xuanyi and Zhao Jianguo are also decent, as for Wang Si and Zheng Tonghui, one is glib and the other is cunning and deceitful. I just don't know if there's any inside story about this chicken.

Looking closely at Qi Xiangnan, whose gaze remained calm, Qi Xiangnan stood there composedly as Secretary Tian scrutinized him.

When Secretary Tian arrived at Tian Cungen's house, he said to Tian Cungen's wife, who was still sitting on the ground cursing, "Cungen's wife, stop cursing. Your chicken went to the brigade headquarters last night and was seen by those educated youths. They were afraid that if it left, they wouldn't be able to find it, so they helped to cover it with a big basket. You should go and bring your chicken back quickly."

After listening to the Party Secretary's words, it took Tian Cungen's wife a while to process their meaning. She quickly got up and asked, "Secretary, is it true?"

Party Secretary Tian said, "How could this be fake? You should go and check. If it's yours, bring it back. If not, go look elsewhere. Do you think you can just come back by yourself by cursing your chickens here first thing in the morning?"

Hearing the noise at the door, Tian Cungen came out of the yard and said, "Secretary, come in and sit down."

Party Secretary Tian said, "Why are you sitting? You're all crying and cursing so early in the morning. Aren't you ashamed? Go and see what's going on."

Tian Cungen's wife pulled him along and ran towards the brigade headquarters. Getting what was lost and found again was a pleasant thing.

Upon arrival, they saw a wicker basket covered at the entrance of the educated youth dormitory. Before they even got close, they could hear the "clucking" of a chicken coming from inside. Tian Cungen's wife lifted the basket a crack and said, "Oh, that's our chicken."

Qi Xiangnan said, "Auntie, if these are your chickens, please take them back quickly. You'll have to keep a close eye on them from now on. What will you do if they run off into the fields?"

Tian Cungen's wife kept thanking them. Later, the family made pancakes and even had their youngest son deliver a few to the educated youth. Zhao Jianguo said to Wang Sizheng and Tong Hui, "If you two had secretly slaughtered the chicken, would we still be able to eat these hot pancakes now? Look at how fierce Tian's wife was that morning. If she knew that you two were the ones who ruined her chickens, you two can imagine what would happen to her, right?"

Later, when the educated youth group held a meeting, Qi Xiangnan brought up this matter for discussion.

Qi Xiangnan said, "Farmers are the most grateful people. We just helped stop the chickens, and they have always remembered our kindness. When they have something good to eat, they will bring it to us so we can have a taste. Comrades, if we are kind to others, they will repay us with kindness, or even several times over. We must remember that farmers are the most honest and simple people."

Later, some of the educated youth from Shenjia Village left and some stayed, but they all got along very well with the people of Shenjia Village. Many years later, the educated youth who had stayed in Shenjia Village made an appointment to go back to Shenjia Village together. When they talked about how well the educated youth got along with the villagers, they kept thinking about the past. As they thought about it, they remembered the chicken in Tian Cungen's house. Everyone jokingly said that the harmony between the educated youth and the people of Shenjia Village started with a chicken.

Pei Yin heard about this two days later, when Shen Jinhua and Meng Ruolan took her to the river to gather pig feed.

Shen Jinhua curled her lip and said with some disdain, "I think that chicken was snatched from someone else's mouth by Qi Xiangnan."

Meng Ruolan said, "How can you say that? I think all the educated youth in our village are quite good."

Shen Jinhua said, “Ruolan, you city people all have food ration coupons, and the government provides you with whatever you eat. Take meat for example, everyone gets a little pork every month. In our rural area, how many times a year can we eat meat? There were also educated youth in my grandmother's village. They stole chickens from the village twice in the month they were there. When the villagers went to find them, they denied it to the death. Before they came, the village never seemed to have any chickens, ducks, geese, or dogs missing.”

Meng Ruolan said, "I think it mainly depends on the leader. If all leaders were like Qi Xiangnan, this kind of thing probably wouldn't happen."

Shen Jinhua said, "That's true. Hey, Ruolan, what's the point of going to school if you can't even take the college entrance exam? Look, now you need a recommendation to go to university, and there are only a few spots in a county. Besides, those who go to university are mostly from good family backgrounds, and most of them haven't really had a proper education. How can they learn anything good in university?"

Meng Ruolan said, "I don't know if they're doing well or not, but university courses are very difficult to learn. I saw what they were studying when my grandfather was still teaching at the university, and most people couldn't even comprehend it. Jinhua, I think you should read more books when you have time. Once we learn something and remember it in our minds, it becomes our own. And since it's our own, the more the better. My grandfather has always urged me to read and study. He said that even if I can't continue my studies, I can't slack off. People who read a lot look different from those who read little. 'A belly full of poetry and books naturally brings forth elegance.' It's always good to read more books and learn more."

Shen Jinhua nodded and said, "That's true. Just look at my aunt. She's different from other people. The children she raises are also different from other children."

Meng Ruolan said, "That's right, look at our little Peiyin, she's so capable at such a young age."

Shen Jinhua looked over and saw Pei Yin following behind the two of them, squatting down and pulling up the grass on the ground with all her might. She was not being perfunctory at all and was extremely serious.

Pei Yin no longer wants to play around the village with Pei Tian and Pei Zhi. She has no interest in children's games, which are just catching robbers and hopscotch. She thinks they are too childish and would rather spend that time with Shen Jinhua and Meng Ruolan to gather pig feed and dig wild vegetables.

Thinking of how her grandmother happily hugged Pei-yin and praised her for a long time after seeing her working with her, Pei-yin sighed. Her grandmother hadn't been eating or sleeping well these past few days. It's really not good for a woman in her sixties to be like this.

Grandma has been extremely stressed these past few days because my second aunt is about to give birth.