Wang Jieshi was so crippled that Zhou Zhijun didn't believe he could still be a man.
In this life, Chuntao was destined to only bear children for him, Zhou Zhijun.
It would be best to have a whole bunch! The boys should be strong and sturdy like him, able to shoulder the farm work.
The girls should have regular features like Chuntao, but their temperaments shouldn't be like hers; they needed to be a bit fiery and assertive to be of use.
The more Zhou Zhijun thought about it, the sweeter he felt. The corners of his mouth couldn't help but curve up slightly, as if he could already see Chuntao giving birth to a group of tiger-headed, robust children, surrounding him and calling him dad.
But when he came back to his senses, the smile on his face faded a bit.
He just wanted to take Chuntao away from Wangjiazhai right now and live their own little life.
Zhou Zhijun sighed heavily, turned around, and walked toward the fields.
He thought to himself that he would use his true sincerity to move her, and his solid abilities to conquer her.
As long as it was something Zhou Zhijun wanted to do, there was nothing he couldn't accomplish!
Lately, the villagers of Wangjiazhai were so busy they didn't even have time to fart.
On one hand, they had to seize the good season to hurry up with spring plowing and planting. On the other hand, with the discovery of an oil well on the village's private plot, everyone had their own little calculations in mind.
In the countryside back then, there were bumpy dirt roads everywhere, impassable for large vehicles.
Since Wangjiazhai's private plot had an oil well, the first thing to do before drilling was to build a road.
Only when the road was widened and flattened could the heavy equipment, steel bars, cement, and other materials for drilling be smoothly transported to the well site, and the extracted crude oil be shipped out in time.
While the villagers were bustling with activity in the fields, they also hoped that the road construction would occupy a piece of their own land.
Even if it didn't take up the whole plot, just the wheels rolling over the edges and corners could bring in some compensation money, which was a considerable income back then.
The newly built road had to detour from Nangang to Qingshan Street, then pass through the north of Wangjiazhai, all the way to the private plot.
From the North Field to the private plot, a portion of the land on both sides would be occupied.
The village party secretary, Zhou Dana, led a few people from the brigade headquarters, following the technicians from the oilfield to measure the land.
The villagers whose land was being occupied followed closely, their eyes wide open, afraid that their land would be under-measured by even a fraction.
Those villagers whose land wasn't occupied felt sour in their hearts. Watching others busy themselves, their eyes turned red, and they kept sighing.
When the Wang family divided their property, the acre or so of land in the north was split equally between Liu Cuilan and Chuntao's family.
During this land measurement, Liu Cuilan brought Wang Haichao and his brothers closely behind, wanting to register Chuntao's portion under her name.
Zhou Xiaowei was the accountant at the brigade headquarters, responsible for registering land ownership, and he completely ignored Liu Cuilan.
"Zhou Xiaowei, did you hear me? Put it all under my name!" Liu Cuilan stood with her hands on her hips, her voice raised by eight degrees.
"Everyone's land is their own, you can't just write it down however you want!" Zhou Xiaowei didn't even lift his head.
"When we divided the property, I didn't take the old house, I already lost out big time! What's wrong with giving me this bit of land?"
Liu Cuilan was relentless. "Besides, this is our family's private matter. Just write what I tell you to write. Why do you care so much?"
Wang Haichao was quite tactful. Seeing that the hard way wasn't working, he quickly took out a cigarette, approached Zhou Xiaowei with a playful smile, handed it over, and kept saying nice things.
But Zhou Xiaowei was straightforward and completely ignored his attempts.
Wang Xiaohong had seen through Liu Cuilan and her group's intentions early on, and she specifically ran over during the land measurement.
Seeing Wang Haichao whispering on the side, she walked straight over and asked, "Brother Xiaowei, is my family's land measured yet?"
Zhou Xiaowei looked up and saw it was her. He smiled and nodded, "It was measured a long time ago. It's recorded clearly in the ledger. Don't worry!"
Liu Cuilan and Wang Haichao didn't gain any advantage, their faces turning black with anger, and they could only stomp their feet fiercely on the side.
After the road was built, the tin houses of the surveying team on the north slope were all moved to the private plot side, and many new tin houses were brought in, forming a larger courtyard.
Suddenly, over a hundred workers arrived, both men and women. Li Mingliang, who had come to survey earlier, also stayed in Wangjiazhai permanently.
The adults were all thinking about the land compensation money, but the children had their own thoughts.
There was a television in the workers' courtyard, and it was close to the village. In the future, they could run over to watch it while holding their bowls.
The oilfield's efficiency was very high. The road was soon paved with gravel, all the equipment was put in place, and the oil well officially started drilling.
The main oil well happened to be drilled on the land belonging to Chuntao and two other village households.
The workers' courtyard, mud pit, crude oil pool, and various mechanical equipment occupied twenty or thirty acres of land in total, almost taking up the entire private plot.
When the land was initially divided, every household had a private plot.
But some families thought the private plot was too close to the village, and the village's chickens and pigs often ran into the fields to ruin the crops, so they didn't want it when dividing the property.
Liu Cuilan was one of them. During the property division, she gave all the private plots to Chuntao and the others, and she took a large piece of good land at the west end of the village.
Now that the private plot was occupied by the oilfield and could receive compensation, how could Liu Cuilan be willing to accept it?
This time, she didn't bother Zhou Xiaowei anymore. Instead, she invested heavily, went to the commune to find a credit officer, borrowed tens of yuan, and bought good cigarettes and liquor for Zhou Dana.
She also bought a piece of floral cloth for Zhou Dana's wife, Wang Jinzhi, and weighed two catties of yarn for Zhou Pandi. Under the cover of darkness, she quietly sneaked into Zhou Dana's house.
Zhou Dana was the head of the village, and how the compensation money was divided was entirely up to him.
In front of Liu Cuilan, he severely criticized her, saying she shouldn't engage in these crooked practices.
He didn't explicitly agree to her request either, only vaguely saying, "I will consider this matter."
There were several other households in the village that didn't want the private plots back then, and now they all regretted it, making a fuss with their parents and siblings to re-divide the land, causing a huge uproar.
But the compensation money wasn't given immediately, and everyone could only wait patiently.
The food for the oilfield workers was quite good, with white steamed buns and rice for every meal. From the leftover slop every day, one could scoop out quite a few slices of fat meat.
Some strong-willed women in the village carried water buckets to the workers' courtyard every day to snatch the slop.
They would take the fat meat slices home to satisfy their family's cravings, and the remaining slop could be used to feed the pigs, killing two birds with one stone.
At first, only a few people went to snatch it, but later many people grew jealous, and more and more women went to snatch the slop.
Fights even broke out over the snatching, and two women had their heads smashed open.
If someone really died, the oilfield wouldn't be able to bear the responsibility.
The leader in charge of logistics went to Zhou Dana to discuss, and eventually, it was decided that whoever's land the oil well occupied, the slop would go to that family.
Chuntao's family and the other two households whose land was occupied took turns carrying the slop every other day.
But this rule had only been implemented for a few days when other women in the village refused to accept it, demanding that "as long as it's a family whose land was occupied, they should all take turns carrying the slop."
If they disagreed, they would go to the workers' courtyard to make a scene. The oilfield workers had no choice, and Zhou Dana couldn't persuade them either, so they could only compromise.
On the day it was Chuntao's family's turn to carry the slop, Auntie Wang and Sister Li from the village had already gone there early.
Seeing Chuntao coming over with a water bucket, not only did they not step aside, but they righteously said, "This slop doesn't have a name on it. Whoever wants to carry it, carries it!"
Chuntao remembered Aunt Zhou's words, "A kind person is bullied, a gentle horse is ridden!"
She fiercely pushed down the fear in her heart, a stubborn glint showing in her eyes, and said to the two women, "Auntie Wang, Sister Li, today is my family's turn to carry the swill. What are you two doing here trying to muscle in?"
"Well listen to you, Li Chuntao, you're out of line saying that!"
Auntie Wang stood with her hands on her hips. "The swill belongs to the workers' compound, not your family. I'll take it if I want to. Who do you think you are?"
Sister Li shouted from the side, "Exactly! You can't even keep your own man, yet you have the nerve to boss others around!"
Chuntao's eyes instantly turned red. Tears welled up in her eyes, but she bit her lip tightly and forcefully held them back.
She couldn't cry. Crying would mean admitting defeat.
So many families took turns carrying the swill, and it was finally her family's turn. The old sow at home was still relying on this swill for the nutrition she needed to birth her piglets!
This time, Chuntao truly refused to just swallow her anger.
Tossing aside any concern for face or shame, she suddenly raised her voice and shouted at the two women, "Put that down right now! If anyone dares to carry away even a drop of this swill today, I'm going to the Party Secretary for justice! And if the Secretary can't settle it, I'll go to the commune and report you!"
