"Ah—"
Zhou Zhijun's large hand clamped onto Liu Cuilan's wrist like an iron vice, making her cry out in pain, her eyes instantly reddening.
"Zhou Zhijun, what are you doing? Let go!"
The chilling aura on Zhou Zhijun's face could freeze a person to death. The villagers watching couldn't help but shrink back half a step.
"This is my family matter! It's not your place as an outsider to interfere!" Liu Cuilan's teeth ached from the pain, but it didn't stop her from shouting.
Zhou Zhijun pressed his lips tightly together and suddenly increased the force in his hand.
Liu Cuilan screamed again, her legs giving way as she squatted on the ground. Only then did Zhou Zhijun release her wrist.
Just then, Zhou Xiaowei hurried over with the village party secretary, Zhou Dana.
Zhou Xiaowei was the accountant at the brigade headquarters. Hearing the commotion as he passed the Wang family's gate, he had rushed to fetch the secretary.
"Secretary, you have to stand up for me! Zhou Zhijun nearly crushed my wrist!" Seeing Zhou Dana, Liu Cuilan immediately squeezed out a few tears and began to wail.
"What's going on now? Causing trouble all day long! The reason our village never gets rated as an advanced production team year after year is because of troublemakers like you!"
Zhou Dana shot a glance at Zhou Zhijun out of the corner of his eye, then turned and barked at Liu Cuilan.
"Secretary, I want to divide the household! I beg you to uphold justice for us!" Wang Xiaohong took two strides to stand before Zhou Dana, her tone resolute. "Once the household is divided, everyone can have some peace!"
The affairs of Liu Cuilan's family had long given Zhou Dana a headache. Frowning, he asked, "How do you want to divide it?"
"My sister-in-law, my brother, Xiaoming, and me—the four of us will form one household!"
Liu Cuilan shot up from the ground, pointing at Wang Xiaohong's nose and cursing, "You ungrateful wretch! I raised you all these years, and now you dare to side with outsiders!"
She had been counting on Wang Xiaohong to help her with the work. "If we must divide, then you stay with me, and the three of them form their own household. That's the fair way!"
"I'd rather die than be in your household! I'm staying with my sister-in-law!" Wang Xiaohong retorted stubbornly, her neck stiff.
Zhou Dana knew the temperaments of this mother and daughter all too well. If they were placed together, they'd be quarreling day in and day out sooner or later, bringing nothing but shame to him, the secretary.
He cleared his throat and made the decision. "Wang Haichao, Liu Cuilan, and Wang Xiaoming will form one household.
Xiaohong will be with Jieshi and his family! Each household will have three people. The family land and all belongings will be divided equally!"
As soon as he said this, Liu Cuilan immediately protested, "Secretary, that won't do! I must have Xiaohong!"
Wang Xiaoming was still in school, not only unable to help but costing money to support. His temper was even fiercer than Wang Xiaohong's, which made Liu Cuilan apprehensive.
Wang Xiaohong snorted coldly. "I'd rather go begging than be in your household!"
Zhou Dana couldn't be bothered with Liu Cuilan's crying and fussing. In a firm voice, he said, "It will be done as I said!"
Despite Liu Cuilan's tantrums, Zhou Dana, together with several elders of the Wang family, forcibly divided the household.
The Wang family only had a few rundown thatched cottages. Zhou Dana had Wang Haichao and Liu Cuilan move to Wang Haichao's old family home, squeezing in with his younger brothers.
The family's land, for five people, totaled fifteen mu. Each household was allotted seven and a half mu.
Zhou Dana immediately had several team leaders bring surveying tools to the field. Once the land was measured, boundary stones were planted on the spot to avoid future disputes.
When dividing the livestock, Liu Cuilan insisted on having the old ox, threatening to dash herself against the wall if she didn't get it.
Zhou Dana didn't want to tangle with her further, so he allotted the old ox to her.
The young sow that was about to come into heat, along with five or six egg-laying hens, were given to Chuntao's household.
Besides that, the family's grain, tables, chairs, benches, pots, bowls, and utensils were all split up one by one.
Liu Cuilan had originally planned to sell all the family's pigs, ox, and grain to raise money to build a new house. Now that her clever scheme had fallen through, she was seething with hatred.
Muttering to herself, she said, "That house has my share. Since they got it, they have to give me money to build a house!"
Wang Haichao lowered his voice in agreement. "You're right. One of these days, we'll go demand money from them. Don't let the secretary know, and definitely don't let Zhou Zhijun catch us!"
The household division was good news for Zhou Zhijun as well. With two less troublesome people around, he would have more chances to get close to Chuntao.
The pots, bowls, and utensils in the house had been almost entirely swept away by Liu Cuilan; even a rickety dining table and two chairs were taken by her.
Wang Xiaohong had thirty-four yuan left at Zhou Hongxia's house. She went and fetched about ten yuan of it, then rode Zhou Zhijun's bicycle to the market street to buy pots, bowls, and utensils.
Zhou Zhijun had originally planned to go build a wall but was delayed by the Wang family quarrel. With his bicycle loaned out, he thought he'd go tomorrow instead.
The two mu of land with the leftover sweet potato vines had been allotted to Liu Cuilan, so Chuntao no longer needed to go chop the vines. She just took a basket and went to the fields to cut grass.
The family's young sow was already seven or eight months old. Fed daily on kitchen slop mixed with wheat bran, without even a bit of bran meal, it still hadn't come into heat.
Chuntao calculated that she needed to take good care of this sow from now on, to make it come into heat and farrow early. Selling the piglets could raise money to buy a young calf.
In those days, farming relied entirely on human labor and livestock. Working the land without an ox could exhaust a person to death. She didn't want to ask others for help; having her own ox to use would be much more convenient.
Seeing Chuntao heading out with her basket to cut grass, Zhou Zhijun also shouldered his hoe and followed, the thoughts in his heart charging around wildly like a rampant donkey.
The fields were full of villagers harvesting the leftover sweet potato vines. The sorghum and corn stalks had long been cleared, and without the green curtain of tall crops for cover, there was nowhere to do anything with Chuntao.
Zhou Zhijun frowned deeply, skirting along the private plots to the south and heading towards the eastern gully.
Chuntao was cutting grass at the bottom of the gully. Fortunately, the terrain here was low-lying, so people working up above couldn't see what was happening below.
As she cut grass, Chuntao pondered how to make their future days more prosperous.
Suddenly, a pair of large feet appeared before her, clad in brand-new black corduroy shoes. She recognized these shoes; she had made them with her own hands.
Back when Zhou Zhijun was helping the Wang family with work, Wang Laohan had told Liu Cuilan to make a pair of shoes for Zhou Zhijun, but Liu Cuilan had pushed the task onto her.
Busy working in the fields during the day, she had sat under the kerosene lamp night after night, stitching them needle by thread. Besides these light shoes, she had also made a pair of padded ones.
It had been two years since she made these shoes. She had never seen Zhou Zhijun wear them and had thought he disliked her craftsmanship. She never expected him to be wearing them now.
Why was he here? Chuntao's heart leaped into her throat. Her hand holding the sickle unconsciously slowed, and she didn't dare lift her head.
Zhou Zhijun slowly moved closer to her, then suddenly crouched down and grabbed her wrist holding the sickle. Chuntao's hand trembled, and the sickle clattered to the ground.
"Peach... It's been over two months... I've missed you to death!" His voice was terribly hoarse, his breath, smelling of old tobacco leaves, hot against her face, burning her cheeks as if on fire.
Zhou Zhijun hadn't touched her in over two months. Chuntao knew he was suffering, and she feared he might impulsively do that thing.
There were still people in the fields up above. If they were seen, gossip would be the least of their worries. Zhou Ergan would surely seize the chance for revenge, dragging her out for a public shaming parade...
The more she thought, the more frightened she became. Chuntao abruptly stood up and instinctively stepped back, forgetting there was a shallow pit behind her. Her heel slipped into empty air, her body tilted backward, and she began to fall.
The next second, a large hand clamped firmly around her slender waist.
In a dizzying whirl, her burning hot face collided heavily with a hard, unyielding chest.
His rough, large hand tightened its grip on her small waist. Zhou Zhijun gritted his teeth, determined that today, no matter what, he would have her.
