Back to the 60s: The Struggle Career of a Charmed Wife
Chapter 392 - 0392 Casual Dinner Chat 4_1

Chapter 392: Chapter 0392 Casual Dinner Chat 4_1

This situation was one that outsiders could comment on, but they couldn’t provide a solution.

After all, Wang Zhengguo and Wang Zhengjun were brothers by blood, and they were just bystanders.

After hearing Wang Zhengguo’s words, Uncle Xu gave a faint smile, "There are many ways to handle this, but I don’t know which one you would choose. You could either remove the root of the problem, or, you could turn a blind eye."

Wang Zhengguo sighed. When he had consulted Lu’s father previously, he had said the same thing.

"If I were heartless, I would really want to remove the root of the problem and let their family return to farming with a mark of disgrace. But what good would coming back do? They’ve grown accustomed to city life; they surely wouldn’t be willing to work on the farm to earn work points. Whether they’re doing well or not in the city, they will always project an image of endless prosperity. It’s better for us to not see any of it; there would be fewer times that their presence here would trouble us. If they were really here, my family and the families of my younger siblings wouldn’t be able to live in peace. My brother is vindictive, selfish and excessively proud due to his deep inferiority complex. I’m most afraid that they would disrupt the peacefulness of our production brigade and disrupt our peaceful lives."

The Wanglou Brigade was made up of twelve production teams, with each team having families varying from fifteen to twenty households. The Lu Family alone accounted for about twenty households, some of which were assigned to their seventh production team, while others were in other production teams. At the time of the founding of the nation, some families were struggling and were classified as middle or low-income peasants, but there was also a handful who were classified as wealthy peasants.

Because of the Lu Family’s ancestry, being classified as wealthy peasants was not exactly considered good.

Lu’s father being a landlord meant he was in an even worse category. He became a subject for labor reformation, having to write a self-criticism every year to show his repentance. In recent years, through the achievements of his son and daughter-in-law, the others have turned a blind eye, and due to his strict management, not allowing the common folk to criticize others without restriction, he and his grandchildren were able to live peacefully.

If Wang Zhengjun were to return, he would certainly not be willing to be inferior to others. He will definitely have his sights set on being the head of the brigade.

If he were in charge of the Wanglou Brigade, no one would have a good life, especially the Lu Family. In Wang Zhengjun’s eyes, the Lu Family was a giant malignant tumor in the Wanglou Brigade that needed to be removed swiftly. Wang Zhengguo had noticed his younger brother’s indescribable hostility and hatred towards the Lu Family.

No, it should be said to be jealousy.

Despite his talents, he happened to be born into a tenant farmer’s family. The members of the Lu Family were no better than him, but they lived better lives than him.

Therefore, Wang Zhengguo took the opportunity to send Wang Zhengjun away from the Wanglou Brigade after the founding of the nation.

In terms of affection and character, the second and third brothers were a hundred times stronger than the younger brother. They wouldn’t return kindness with ingratitude after they achieved success. But to ensure the peaceful days of the Wanglou Brigade, Wang Zhengguo sent Wang Zhengjun to the city and kept the other siblings behind.

Fortunately, over the years, the harvests of the Wanglou Brigade had been good. During the time of the Great Leap Forward and the Steel Smelting Campaign, he heeded the advice of Lu’s father and didn’t blindly follow the trends. Although a communal dining hall was established, they never allowed the people of the Wanglou Brigade to eat and drink excessively. With the previously kept grain reserves, they were able to safely get through the three years of famine.

No one starved to death, so he was able to command respect and obedience.

Wang Zhengguo sorrowfully said, "A while ago, I went to a meeting at the commune. The commune officials had gone to a meeting in the county before, and when they came back, they held a meeting for us. They said, in our county, just this three years, just this three years, the population has dropped from over 30,000 to 20,000. Currently and for the foreseeable future, food remains a top priority."

The sharp drop in population was unprecedented. What does it mean in a county, during those three years, for the population to decline drastically from more than 30,000 to just over 10,000? Two-thirds of the population starved to death. That’s why the prices of black market grains were so high during the times of famine. Prices were high but the marketplace was empty, even if you had money, you could not buy anything. In some places, a kilogram of dried yam or sweet potatoes would cost six yuan, six yuan, and these were only coarse grains! So don’t say that the prices I wrote previously were not accurate!