Chapter 12: How to get food

At this moment, Ma Yumei continued to hold her stomach and complain.

Zhao Xiulan retorted, "Aunt Mei, my dad just told me yesterday that we should continue to promote the spirit of comradeship. I help others not for their belongings! If I accept them, who knows how people will talk about it!

Some people might think that I have ulterior motives for saving others and spread malicious rumors, which would tarnish my reputation and my dad's reputation.

If you go and tell my dad, he will definitely stand by my side!"

Ma Yumei didn't expect Zhao Xiulan to be so articulate!

Since Zhao Xiulan fell into the river, she suddenly became a different person!

This statement from Zhao Xiulan silenced Ma Yumei, leaving her unable to argue and only able to glare angrily at Zhao Xiulan.

Alright, this brat is quite capable! Let's see if she dares to complain to Zhao Weiguo and let him deal with her!

However, Zhao Xiulan couldn't be bothered to deal with Ma Yumei anymore. She tidied up and went straight to the rice field.

By now, quite a few people were waiting for the team leader to assign tasks.

Before long, the team leader distributed tasks one by one with the labor points book in hand.

Due to the "good deed" she did yesterday, Zhao Xiulan received praise from the team leader. Also, considering Zhao Xiulan's poor health, the team leader specifically assigned her a relatively easy task—herding cattle!

There were several cows in the brigade, so herding cattle was considered one of the easiest tasks. All she had to do was lead the cows to where there was grass and let them graze.

However, because the task was relatively easy, the labor points were relatively low, usually only earning about two labor points a day, which was less than doing some heavier work.

Some people who were willing to endure hardship didn't want to do this kind of work, as it was a waste of time and didn't earn much food. Only those who liked to be lazy hoped to do this kind of work.

It was clear that Liu Gensheng noticed this, so he said to Zhao Xiulan, "Xiulan, you go herd the cattle, and I'll give you five labor points later!"

Just like yesterday, Liu Gensheng was generous in giving Zhao Xiulan more labor points. For a task that usually earned two labor points, Liu Gensheng doubled it, even more than some heavier tasks!

Zhao Xiulan was not ungrateful. She thanked him and went to herd the cattle.

The environmental damage caused by the steel production in the past few years had made it difficult to find places with lush vegetation in the brigade. It took Zhao Xiulan quite a while to find a place for the cows to graze.

Once the cows were grazing, Zhao Xiulan found a grassy area to sit down and began to contemplate how to live in the future.

She had food in her hands, but she needed to find a reasonable excuse to take it out. Of course, she couldn't take out too much, not only to avoid suspicion, but also because she didn't want to benefit Ma Yumei and her daughter!

Lost in thought, a voice interrupted her, "Xiulan, what are you thinking about?"

Zhao Xiulan looked up and saw Wu Jinhua, so she smiled and greeted her.

Wu Jinhua had been assigned the task of cutting pig grass, but after finding this place, she sat down next to Zhao Xiulan and chatted for a while.

This was perfect because there were some things Zhao Xiulan couldn't ask others about. After developing a relationship with Wu Jinhua, she planned to gather information from her to prepare for her future.

"Auntie, I want to ask, besides working in the brigade to earn labor points and food rations, are there any other ways to get food and things to eat?"