novellhall Chapter 191 Failure to Harvest
Chapter 191 Failure to Harvest
Qiao An's few words made Lin Wan blush deeply.
Wen Xiaoxiao looked up and could see Qiao An's face.
New moms are great! New moms are amazing!
Hugs to the new mom.
She clung to Joan's leg, her previously timid face now beaming with pride.
"Sister-in-law Lin, putting everything else aside, why did you let Fan Tao call our Xiaoxiao a bastard?"
"How old is he? How old is Xiaoxiao?"
"Even if you don't think about yourself, you should at least think about Brother Fan Lin. You've raised a hero's son like this; aren't you afraid Brother Fan Lin will be restless in the afterlife? Aren't you afraid people will say Fan Tao is ill-mannered, that he was born without a mother, a wild child without a father?"
Joan's words were resounding.
Although Fan Tao is annoying, he is still young and probably doesn't understand what adoption is at all.
The fact that he could call Wen Xiaoxiao a bastard proves that Lin Wan must have said those words at home.
Children learn by example.
Therefore, the person Qiao An wanted to teach a lesson to was Lin Wan from beginning to end.
Lin Wan's face flushed red and then turned purple, before the color faded and she gradually turned pale.
She graduated from high school and is considered educated. She is known for her good manners and knowledge in the compound. Recently, because her family has little income, she is trying to find a job teaching in a primary school.
Now the gate is bustling with people, including elementary school teachers and administrators.
If they hear what Joan said, how will they ever be able to stay here again?
If you can't even teach your own son well, how can you teach students well?
Lin Wan gritted her teeth, turned around, and slapped Fan Tao hard across the face.
"Who told you to talk to a little girl like that? Is that how I've always taught you?"
This slap stunned Fan Tao.
He covered his face, looking aggrieved, "Mom, it wasn't you who said it at home..."
Before Fan Tao could finish speaking, Lin Wan grabbed him by the back of the collar and led him into the courtyard.
"You're not going to school today. Let's go home and settle our scores!"
"Mom...Mom, I did nothing wrong! Didn't you say she was a bastard...uh-huh!"
Qiao An saw Lin Wan hurriedly cover Fan Tao's mouth.
It's getting late.
Everyone at the gate heard it!
"Lin Wan always looks down on us with her chin and criticizes us for being uncultured. But she goes and teaches her son to call others bastards! Unbelievable!"
"Hmph! If she were a teacher, I wouldn't dare let her call my child, for fear she'd corrupt them."
"That's right. I thought she was so capable, but it turns out she took so much money from Commander Huo's family. In the end, it's just that Qiao An is kind-hearted."
Soon, a lot of people gathered around Qiao An.
Although most of the military dependents in the compound are uneducated, they are kind and lovely at heart.
Some of them bent down to tease Wen Xiaoxiao, while others comforted Qiao An.
"We all know about Wen Xiaoxiao. You're a good person and a good mother. To be honest, I don't have your kind of courage."
"Yes, Xiaoxiao used to have a hard life, but now things are better. She has such loving parents and older siblings. Good fortune is yet to come."
"This is your brother Xiaogang. He's in second grade this year. If anyone dares to bully you in the future, go to him and ask him to help you."
A group of people surrounded them, chatting and laughing.
For the first time, Qiao An truly felt the warmth and kindness of the military families in the compound.
A warm feeling welled up in my heart, mixed with a bittersweet emotion.
Wen Xiaoxiao is very happy today; it's the happiest day she's had since starting school.
Everyone knows that she was adopted by Qiao An and Huo Jiyun.
I noticed something strange about her gaze.
Today, Qiao An made such a scene at the door, and many people now know about Wen Xiaoxiao's background. Even the teachers subconsciously feel more affection for this unfortunate child.
Wen Xiaoxiao also became more aware of her importance in Qiao An's heart.
She felt that Joan was her only mother.
Having resolved Wen Xiaoxiao's matter, Qiao An didn't rush home. Instead, she boarded the city center loop bus, intending to take a ride around the city.
Having been in Amtu for so many days, she still hadn't had a chance to really explore the city.
June in Amutu is hot, but it's too hot.
Joan sat on the bus, feeling like she was in a giant steamer.
It's so hot I can hardly breathe.
I see that the people around me are pretty much the same as myself.
"This year is terrible. If this continues, won't people starve to death?"
"Who knows? Anyway, the wheat harvest is almost completely lost, and we'll have to plant corn soon. If we can't harvest corn either, we'll be doomed by October."
"Sigh! It's impossible to get any fertilizer from the commune. Our village brigade went to queue up at dawn, and guess what? We only managed to get one pound."
"Huh? What can one pound do with that?"
"Oh! Don't even mention it! Everyone's starving, but we still have to tell the higher-ups it's a bumper harvest this year!"
"What kind of time is this? Why are you still engaging in this kind of formalism? Don't you care about our lives?"
Hearing the conversation of the people in the front row, Qiao An's mind suddenly jolted.
She suddenly remembered that there was such a passage in the novel.
That year, Amutu City in Northwest China faced a shortage of fertilizer and insufficient water and fertilizer, compounded by unusually high temperatures.
This led to a poor harvest, and the communes below not only failed to report it but also lied and claimed it was a bumper harvest, which eventually caused quite a bit of trouble.
People starved to death in two villages under the jurisdiction of Amutu City.
Driven by extreme hunger, they led the villagers to raid the military grain depot in Amutu, resulting in a physical altercation with the soldiers.
Soldiers cannot use guns against civilians; they can only use human walls to block them.
In the end, not only was the human wall breached, but more than a dozen young soldiers were also killed.
Huo Jiyun was injured, while Political Commissar Huang Minsheng was seriously injured in the stampede and died after being sent to the hospital.
Wu Yingguo, the commander of the Northwest Army, also received a severe punishment for this incident.
It quickly became a laughing stock in the entire military.
Joan had no interest in looking out the window anymore.
Putting aside Huo Jiyun, Political Commissar Huang treated her well, and Wang Baohua had been helping her since the first day she arrived.
They have three children, the oldest being only fourteen and the youngest only five.
If something happens to Huang Minsheng, how will Wang Baohua, raising three children alone, survive in the future?
The more Joanne thought about it, the heavier her heart became. Even two hours later, when the bus pulled into the terminal, she was still thinking about it.
She didn't even notice when the ticket seller called her.
"Comrade...comrade? We've reached the final stop."
When the ticket seller saw that she didn't react, she gently pushed her.
Joan then came to her senses. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry."
She stood up, holding onto the seat, and got out of the car looking uneasy.
On the way back to the compound, Qiao An was also somewhat absent-minded.
There were three boxes of fertilizer in her space, which she had taken from the rat warehouse in Dongjiawan.
These three boxes of fertilizer have remained untouched, but even at most, they only weigh three to five hundred pounds.
It's clearly not enough.
On the way, she chatted with Mo Yuxuan, asking her to go and see how much the fertilizer was selling.
If all else fails, use your own savings to buy a batch.
The money was well spent to save Huang Minsheng and the dozen or so innocent young soldiers who died unjustly.
In the evening, Huo Jiyun rode his bicycle back home after get off work.
Before Qiao An came, he would stay in the military camp every night, as late as he could.
Now, once it's time to leave work, you can't even see him in the barracks.
Do those smelly young men smell as good as their wives?
Of course I have to go spend time with my wife after get off work.
It was different from the usual lively atmosphere when people came home from get off work.
As soon as Huo Jiyun entered the house, he saw Qiao An sitting quietly at her desk, resting her chin on her hand and gazing out the window, as if she was thinking about something.
They didn't even notice him getting close.