NOVPUBBut if this was really the case, Lin Lan felt the need to remind her Third Sister about it.
Lin Lan felt that it was okay for members to earn a little something during times of material shortage, but policies must still be followed. After all, how could ordinary commonfolk fight against policies?
Especially since Han Qingsong was a cadre himself, there was naturally an urge to not break the existing rule.
The big sheet was almost done washing, so the boys all got into the water and rinsed it over and over again. Xiaowang slid over like a small fish and helped to pull up the quilt. After playing with it for a few times, the large fabric was rinsed clean, which was done in an easier manner compared to the women doing the laundry by themselves on the shore.
Dawang and Erwang then dragged it back, folded it in half a few times before all of the children worked together to twist it, “1, 2, 3, twist! 1, 2, 3, twist!”
The few women who had originally isolated Lin Lan were now very envious when they saw that her children were helping their mother with the house chores. They could not stop their eyes from wandering despite restraining themselves from making comments about it.
After wringing it out and throwing the clean fabrics into the basket, Dawang borrowed a few poles from the haystack on one side and draped the sheets to dry in the sun. Next up were the mattress sheets and clothes. After washing and drying all of them now, there was no concern of having insufficient spaces to dry the larger sheets at home.
“Those kids are really good at doing chores,” Several women murmured.
Seeing that all the big sheets had been washed, Sanwang noted that the remaining ones were small mattress sheets and cotton-padded jackets and trousers. There was no longer any use of him being here, so he exclaimed, “Mom, I want to get some gluten to catch some cicadas.”
Lin Lan, “Ask your Second Brother to help you with that; don’t strain yourself and get hurt.”
Erwang wiped his hands and said, “You go and make the gluten first. We can catch some after eating.”
Sanwang was eager to give it a try, “Eldest Brother, let’s go after dinner. But, I think I can go now to practise and give things a shot,” He was very anxious as he wanted to be as powerful as his eldest brother. He would poke the cicadas one by one and make every effort count.
Hearing that they actually used fine flour to make the gluten into cicada traps, several women were about to explode from anger, “Why are you wasting food like this?”
One of them even muttered bitterly, “How unafraid of the divine lightning judgement!”
‘Divine lightning judgement’ were considered harsh words as it was a phrase used to curse others, so they weren’t typically used this casually either. Lin Lan became angry when they heard them say this. I couldn’t care less when you called me names and teased me all along, but my children never used your soap or ate your rice(4), so who are you to judge? Using divine lightning judgement on them, even? Do you think the order to implore judgement is passed down by someone like you?
(T/N: Eating others’ rice is another way to say ‘raising someone’ because it means you grew up with their meals)
