With the focus on ensuring the welfare of the members and making a positive contribution to socialist construction, Shuzhen quickly and successfully united the villagers, whether they realized it or not, behind her. After hustling for about a month, when each person had earned at least ten yuan or work points equivalent to ten yuan, everyone began to look at Shuzhen, the female team leader, differently. Even those few team leaders who had previously tried to incite trouble and were ready to replace her with phrases like ’a donkey pulls the cart, a mare in harness, and we’re letting women run the show and create chaos’ were left speechless. There weren’t many women serving as team leaders, but this woman was capable and daring, knowing how to actively create welfare for the members! With ten yuan per person, if each family had at least two people working... Wow, that’s equivalent to an income increase of at least thirty for each family! Calculating at the price of one jin of rice being 0.17 yuan and one jin of flour 0.13 yuan, this could buy at least a hundred or two hundred jin of fine grains. Just this one aspect was enough to make the members actively support Shuzhen as their new leader, eager to be diligent and industrious under her leadership. Hoeing the ground, digging the earth? Work as the team leader instructs, with commitment to complete it efficiently and quickly while maintaining high quality. If the main farming tasks aren’t completed beautifully, how can the team leader focus on leading everyone to engage in side businesses? Thinking of new ways to prosper..., oh! We are increasing production and contributing to the country’s construction! Having tasted the benefits of beautifully completing the main tasks of farming, and being guided by the family of Lianshan to vigorously develop sideline businesses, the members were more motivated than ever, eager to engage in forestry, animal husbandry, and fishing alike. As long as it was legal and reasonable, and not subjected to criticism, they were ready to try anything that could earn them extra income. Once done with the fields, they eagerly rushed to the hills and forests, bustling with activity. No one balked or complained about not having any idle time throughout the year, no matter how exhausting it was. Originally, all tasks, including fieldwork, followed the rule of compensation according to labor. If you went, you earned money or work points, and if not, no one forced you, right? Everyone wanted to earn a little more, just a little more, to improve their family’s life, save money for their daughters’ dowries, or sons’ weddings. Having such opportunities was considered a blessing; who would think about whether it was tiring or not? And so, from the busy spring to summer, as the members’ pockets grew fuller, their recognition of Shuzhen as the team leader also increased. Topics once considered taboo became their pride; even the little ones like Dou Ding coldly retorted when mocked: "So what if our team leader is a woman? She has made life better for our Liu family village members, and there’s not a single failing household in the village. The elders and children all have enough to eat and wear, and that surpasses countless men! If you think so highly of yourself and look down on women, don’t be shamelessly learning how to raise earthworms to feed chickens, ducks, and geese! No bragging, but the concept of that ecological three-dimensional farming method was proposed by our female team leader. Come to our village and see for yourself; we don’t just have earthworm-fed chickens. We have surface water raising ducks and geese, corm planting underwater, and fat fish farming in a three-dimensional setup!" From being led by a woman to rule the roost, to willingly following her leadership, Shuzhen executed a stunning turnaround. It allowed her family, who had been worried sick for her from the start, to breathe a sigh of relief, giving her a big thumbs up instead. "Saozi is just so clever; the same wild vegetables and grasses, and only she has the knack to turn waste into treasure. If only the previous team leaders had such ability, we three siblings wouldn’t have been in such a backward household for so many years!" Lian Yue lamented, full of regret in his voice: "It’s a pity our stinky Ning Kang came at the wrong time; otherwise, if Jianshe and I could have joined this effort, how much money could we have earned in a spring and summer!" "Hey, that’s just asking for a beating! When Ning Kang grows up, he’s going to study and become something big, making thousands a month, which is far better than your measly earnings now, isn’t it?" Standing half in, half out of the doorway, Shuzhen laughed at Lian Yue’s petty-mindedness. Lian Yue wasn’t angered a bit by this, just smiled, inviting Shuzhen to sit, "You’ve been busy this whole time; it’s been a while since we last saw you. What brings you here today?" "My second nephew is almost a month old. How can an aunt not come and spoil him a little? Wouldn’t it be awkward if, one day, only his second aunt gets all the favors when he makes something of himself, leaving me, as the big aunt, out in the cold?" Shuzhen laughed, smiling, showing off the pale blue gauze she brought for the child to Lian Yue and Qiu Fang. She promised two sets for each of the seven kids, Jiandang and Jianguo from her second brother’s family, Jiezi and Jiajia from Lian Hai’s family, Xiao Ning An and Xiao Ning Kang from Lian Yue’s family, plus Lian En, hoping they’d stay cooler through the summer. Knowing that once Saozi gave something, she wouldn’t take it back, and that she was most impatient with polite refusals, Lian Yue and Qiu Fang didn’t say much else, only committing to making sure the little ones properly respect and honor their big aunt/big mother in the future, not taking these good things for granted. They swore that if any of them were disrespectful towards their big aunt/big mother, they’d let their fathers swing the wooden poles at them, beating those ungrateful brats with no conscience. Shuzhen laughed heartily at this: "Why so dramatic? It’s just a few pieces of cloth, nothing more! It was a present from some new youth from Shanghai. I just noticed the gauze was cool and in good measure, so I exchanged with them some fabric and food stamps and quickly brought it over to make the kids some summer clothes." Upon Shuzhen mentioning these new youth, Qiu Fang and Lian Yue became intrigued, eager to gossip, asking her how the four youths - two guys and two girls - would be arranged. Were they going to be arranged like other production teams, sharing the same food and living space with the members and working in the fields together? "No way, with their fine arms and legs, are they fit for labor? Expecting them to earn enough work points even to sustain themselves is difficult; it’s better to organize the village school..." "Wow, our Liu family village is finally going to run a school, Saozi? Thank heavens, now Jiezi and Jiajia won’t have to travel miles just to go to school." Qiu Fang excitedly looked at their big aunt, the team leader, with full expectations. "Hey, thank heavens? Shouldn’t you thank our decisive, capable team leader Saozi?" Lian Yue teased her sister-in-law, then looked at Shuzhen with eager anticipation: "Seriously come on, Saozi, this school thing is good news, you’ve got to make it happen soon!"