Reborn in the 90s, I traded my ex-husband for eight apartments.

Back in the village, Bai Zhenzhu first went to the village chief's house.

When the village chief's wife saw the spare ribs, fruit candies, and two packs of Wuniu cigarettes that Bai Zhenzhu brought, her face beamed with joy.

"Pearl, why are you being so polite with your Uncle Zhao? Is something the matter? Just tell me if you need anything."

Village Chief Zhao, also smoking a cigarette, said:

"I heard your family is thinking of letting someone else farm their land?"

Upon hearing the village chief's words, Bai Zhenzhu began to suspect that the village chief might want to cultivate the Bai family's land.

The village chief's family has many able-bodied members; he has two sons, and none of them go far away to work, so they are indeed capable of doing many things.

So he smiled and said:

"Yes, Uncle Zhao, my eldest and second eldest brothers have found jobs in the city and are planning to take their wives there to work. My parents can't manage all the land, so they need to find people to farm the land belonging to my parents and my eldest and second eldest brothers."

The village chief's wife, being impatient, quickly said:

"Pearl, my family has a lot of labor, could you give us some to plant?"

Bai Zhenzhu said loudly, "Of course! We feel most at ease letting Uncle Zhao do the farming. Everyone in the village knows that Uncle Zhao is a master farmer."

She thought for a moment. The old couple's land and her sister-in-law's land might be entrusted to someone else. Only her second sister-in-law was hot-tempered and had fought with most of the women in the village. She didn't have any close female friends, and her second brother wasn't home. So she should be able to make the decision about this land.

He said, "How about this, Uncle Zhao, you can farm my second brother's land? We won't charge rent or anything. You can give us 40% of the produce after deducting taxes and costs. Once the rice and sweet potatoes are harvested, you can plant winter wheat."

The village chief's wife was overjoyed:

“Sure, sure, of course. It just so happens that our family owns a few plots of land next to your second brother’s.”

What Bai Zhenzhu was thinking was that since the village chief was farming her family's land, he would naturally take care of the old couple in the future. That was the purpose of her trip.

The village chief was also a sensible man:

"You all need to be careful while you're out earning money. Don't worry about home, I'll keep an eye on things. Don't take the gossip in the village to heart, it's just idle women spreading rumors."

"Thank you, Uncle Zhao. I feel relieved to hear that."

As she spoke, Bai Zhenzhu took out two hundred yuan from her pocket:

"Uncle Zhao, my brother and I are leaving before the rice and sweet potato harvest. I would appreciate it if you could help me find someone to collect this money. You can set the price, Uncle Zhao. If there is any left over, consider it as payment for your tea. If there is no left over, then I'm sorry to say that you're at a loss."

The village chief's wife's face was frozen from smiling:

"What's this about losses? We're all from the same village. Pearl, don't worry, your Uncle Zhao will definitely handle this well for you and make sure it won't be too much of a burden for your parents."

Bai Zhenzhu said gratefully, "Then I'll have to trouble Uncle Zhao and Auntie."

As soon as she left, the village chief's wife picked up the money and started calculating:

"Their three families' millet and sweet potatoes, if eight people work, will only take four days to harvest. You can hire four women, five yuan each a day, that's 80 yuan for four days. And four men, six yuan each a day, that's 96 yuan for four days, totaling 176 yuan. You'll still have 24 yuan left over. Our eldest son and his wife will also work, they'll get 44 yuan too. Oh my, this Pearl from the Bai family is really sensible. I think her way of doing things is better than her brothers'."

Village Chief Zhao said, puffing on his cigarette, "You'll have to help Sister Xiufen cook then. We can't just take this money for nothing."

The village chief's wife smiled and gave him a reproachful look: "You don't need to say that. I think the Bai family will prosper sooner or later. Pearl values ​​you so much as the village chief. Not to mention anything else, every time she comes back, she never misses out on your cigarettes and meat. Find a chance to teach that old hag Feng Cui a lesson. She has such a foul mouth. And she's supposed to be an elder? Bah!"

Bai Zhenzhu, of course, had no idea what the village chief and his wife had said at home. After returning home, she continued harvesting corn.

After Bai Chenglei's family finished harvesting their corn, the couple came over to help Xu Yin with the harvest.

The weather has been nice these past few days, so the corn has been drying in the yard. After sunset, the boys bring it inside.

It rains a lot in this mountainous area, so the grain that's been drying needs to be brought inside every day to be safe.

These corns are meant to be used to feed pigs. If the corn gets wet from the rain and becomes moldy, then it can't be used to feed the pigs.

The elderly couple had planted tobacco on their land and hadn't planted much corn, so they came to help Xu Yin with her harvest after they finished.

The next day, the whole family worked together and finally finished harvesting Xu Yin's corn by morning.

Then the family started packing their things, while Zhang Minmin went with Principal Zhang to the county's housing management office to sign the contract and complete the transfer procedures.

In the end, Bai Chenglei's land was given to a family that Liu Fang had a good relationship with in the village to cultivate. That family was also an honest person, and they brought a piece of cured meat that very day.

The elderly couple gave their land to Li Zhongguo to cultivate.

Li Zhongguo is about the same age as Bai Dahai. No one wants to hire him when he goes out to work, but he's not old either. If he cultivates more land, he can grow more grain and raise more pigs.

As for the smaller produce in the field, such as soybeans and mung beans, the elderly couple would help harvest them later.

With the land settled, the siblings were finally at ease.

Early on the third day, Bai Zhenzhu took Bai Chenglei, Liu Fang, Xu Yin, and Xiao Shuoshuo back to Yuan County.

Several children had red eyes.

Liu Fang stroked her eldest son's head and gave him some instructions:

"At home, you must listen to your grandparents. As the eldest brother, you must take good care of your younger brothers and help them study hard. Your parents will go to the city to earn money to support your university education and buy you houses in the city."

She couldn't say anything else; these were the heartfelt words of a parent.

Bai Wenbin rubbed his eyes, straightened his chest, and stood up like a real man:

"Mom and Dad, and Auntie, don't worry, I will take good care of my younger brothers and grandparents. I will look after the house."

Li Xiufen wiped away her tears and urged people to leave:

"Hurry up, hurry up, don't miss the train."

Xu Yin held back her tears:

"Son, don't be naughty at home. I'll buy you machine guns when the New Year comes."

These days, toy guns are incredibly tempting for boys. When playing war or spy-catching games, whoever has a toy gun is always on the side of justice.

The three boys immediately stopped crying.

After Bai Zhenzhu and her group boarded the bus, they discovered that Zhang Minmin and Dong Juan were also on the bus.

Bai Zhenzhu also brought her bicycle, paid for its transport, and had the driver tie it to the roof of the vehicle.

Seeing that Bai Zhenzhu was carrying things, Zhang Minmin hugged Shuo Shuo into her arms and said with a smile:

“My mom insisted on coming along; she also wanted to see the lotus pond.”

Bai Zhenzhu sat down next to them and said, "It was the right thing for you to go. If you decide to get your goods from Lotus Pond in the future, it will be inconvenient for you to go to work, and you will really have to rely on your aunt."

Dong Juan said smugly, "Of course! This brat thinks I have bad taste, so I'll just go and see how city people dress and learn from them, won't I?"

Xu Yin also joined in the fun:

“Aunt Dong’s thinking is more progressive than ours. I was a little nervous when I went to the county town for the first time, but you want to go to the provincial capital.”

Someone on the bus noticed they looked like a family and asked out of curiosity:

"What are you all doing in the city?"

Bai Zhenzhu smiled and said, "Let's go to the south to work."