For two consecutive days, Zhang Qiurui went to work in the fields during the day and came back to recite quotations at night. He had memorized most of the quotations from the Little Red Book by heart.

Zhang Qiurui discovered that even though there were various rewards for participating in the literary competition, the team members did not seem to be very enthusiastic about reciting quotations. They were just coveting the team's rewards and were just talking nonsense.

She pondered in her mind, and she soon understood.

The older generation had never read a book and could barely recognize a few characters. The quotations they knew were taught to them one by one by the team organization in the early years. They were asked to recite quotations to participate in the competition, so this was not making things difficult for them.

Most of Zhang Qiurui's generation did not even graduate from elementary school. They were exhausted after work every day and had no time to think about these things.

As for their generation, they are still young. Although some of them have received a few years of education, those quotations are very boring to them and they naturally have no interest in memorizing them.

At 6:30 that evening, the entire team gathered at the square under the banyan tree.

After each household finished dinner, they carried their small stools and walked towards the banyan tree.

In 1975, their team not only had no electricity, but also no television. There was no entertainment activities at night. The whole team held a collective meeting, which became the collective "night life" of the entire team.

As soon as half past six arrived, hundreds of people had gathered in the square next to the banyan tree.

In the past, Zhang Qiurui had never seen so many people. Their production team had hundreds of people, divided into three teams.

The first team was led by team leader Xu Qunyi, who was composed of young male laborers. They usually did some physically demanding work, such as clearing land, carrying water, harvesting rice, etc.

The second team was led by deputy team leader Zhang Qiushi, who was an older member of the production team and was responsible for raising pigs, chickens and ducks, repairing farm tools, and composting.

The third team was led by the women's team leader Zhou Zhengxiang, who led the women and children of the production team and was responsible for light physical labor such as planting and weeding.

On weekdays, the three teams each perform their duties and rarely interact with each other, but when night falls, the square under the banyan tree becomes their common gathering place.

The atmosphere of tonight's party was slightly different from usual, with a subtle tension and anticipation in the air.

The villagers were sitting or standing, talking in groups of three or five, and the topics mostly revolved around the upcoming literary competition.

The crowd gradually quieted down after the team leader, Xu Qunyi, coughed dryly. Standing on a simple platform made of a few wooden planks, he glanced at everyone present and said in a deep voice, "Fellow villagers, I'm sure everyone knows about the Wendou flooding incident. This is a matter of great importance to the annual harvest."

The grandson of Zhu Fucai from Zhucun Production Team participated in a quotation competition held by the city a few days ago and almost made it to the finals. Judging from this, Zhu Fucai's grandson can recite at least a hundred quotations. If we don't pay attention, we will definitely lose this literary competition, and each household will get ten to twenty kilograms less of grain.

Several of us cadres also discussed and selected talented people from each team member to participate.

Finally, five people will be selected and each will be awarded five work points. The three people finally selected will be awarded ten work points. If they win the game, they will be awarded fifteen work points, a number of various tickets, and one yuan.

I hope everyone can actively participate and bring honor to our production team!"

"I'll do it." After hearing that the five finalists would receive rewards, someone in the crowd couldn't contain themselves and responded loudly, breaking the brief silence.

Then, as if a fuse had been lit, voices rang out one after another.

"I'm coming too!"

"Count me in!"

The team members' faces were filled with expressions of both nervousness and excitement, as if this was not just a competition of words, but also a battle for honor and livelihood.

"Huang Jiaguo, you come first." Team leader Xu Qunyi called a young man in his twenties to come on stage.

“Then I started.

All reactionaries are paper tigers! Work hard and you will have enough food and clothing!

...........

Study hard and make progress every day. That's all I know, I don't know anything else." Huang Jiaguo said thirty-three quotations intermittently. After realizing that he had said too little, he scratched his head a little embarrassedly.

"Thirty-three points, good. Qiushi, you write them down first. Jiaguo, you don't have to go down. We will select five people to come up first. Then the sixth person will come up and recite the quotations. Whoever recites the least will go down.

Who's next?" Xu Qunyi patted Huang Jiaguo's shoulder encouragingly.

"I'll do it!"

"Chen Jiefang, you are here."

"Where there is oppression, there is resistance! Ask the vast land, who is the master of the rise and fall! The country is so beautiful!

........。

"Uncle Qiushi, that's all I know. How many have I said?" Chen Jiefang reeled off all the quotations he knew in one breath, his eyes gleaming with anticipation, and he was obviously quite satisfied with his performance.

"Thirty-nine points, six more than those about family and country. Not bad!" Zhang Qiushi nodded approvingly and wrote them down in the small notebook in his hand.

Several people went up one after another, but none of them could recite more than seventy quotations. The best one could only recite sixty-three.

"This won't do. If we had this competition a few years ago, I would have been able to get on and represent the team." An elderly lady became anxious when she saw this scene.

In the early years, there was a task of reciting quotations and poems. At that time, we worked during the day and the brigade organized study at night. Anyone who didn't memorize dozens of quotations would be criticized if they told others about it.

In recent years, the policy has been relaxed and no one cares about this matter anymore, so I have almost forgotten what I remembered before.

"That's right, why can't the young people in our team do the same?" Some people in the team also saw something was wrong. If their team really lost this literary battle, the paddy fields and rice would lack water and the yield would decrease. Each household would get dozens of kilograms less of food rations, which would become a problem.

Thinking of this, everyone's heart tightened, and they started talking, and the atmosphere became increasingly tense.

"I'll do it!" At this time, Zhang Qiurui shouted loudly.

Zhang Qiurui's voice penetrated the noise of the crowd and instantly attracted everyone's attention.

Zhang Qiurui's eyes revealed an unquestionable firmness and confidence. She raised her feet and walked towards the platform. Each of her steps seemed so powerful, as if each step was stepping on everyone's heartstrings, stirring up ripples.

The noise of the surrounding crowd gradually died down, and all eyes were focused on Zhang Qiurui who suddenly stood up.

"Zhang family, can you do it?" Someone suddenly shouted half-believingly, with a hint of ridicule in his voice.

But Zhang Qiurui didn't waver at all. The corners of her mouth curled up slightly, revealing a faint but determined smile, as if to say, "Whether I can do it or not, we'll find out next."