Chapter 50: First Update, Great Joy

It is lunchtime now. Some of the commune leaders and staff are resting in the office, some have gone home but only to the nearby town, and some are eating with lunch boxes.

When they heard that something big had happened, some who were dozing off fell off their chairs, some who were eating threw down their lunch boxes and ran out, and some rushed out of their homes after hearing the news.

The man who was “shouting” was really full of energy, and his voice was so loud that not only the whole commune, but even the neighbors in the commune could hear it clearly.

It is probably the nature of the Ye people to watch the excitement. Look, several people stuck their heads out and looked into the commune. When they saw the educated youth, they reflexively wondered if these educated youth had caused any trouble again.

Before we knew it, a crowd of people had gathered in the commune.

Xu Fei didn't know that there was a word in later generations that could describe his current situation - social death.

I really want to find a crack in the ground to crawl into!

But no.

When the educated youth first went to the countryside, they were received by the vice president. He had a good memory and recognized Ye Yu and others from Wangjiagou at a glance. They were the model educated youth they were going to publicize. Could it be that these model educated youth had committed some serious mistake?

The vice president asked hurriedly.

"Wrong? Who made a mistake?" The loud-mouthed clerk looked bewildered. It took him a moment to react before he explained, "It's not a mistake. It's a great thing."

Good thing?

It's a good thing, why are you howling like that? He thought some educated youth had committed murder and arson!

When the vice president saw that it was the secretary Xiao He, he immediately understood what was going on. Xiao He was enthusiastic and careful in his work, but he had a unique and weird brain and often made some ridiculous jokes.

I guess it is still the same now.

He looked at another clerk, who smiled awkwardly. Wasn't she too shocked and forgot that Xiao He would easily make mistakes when he got excited?

"What Xiao He said is correct. This is indeed a big deal," he continued, adding in one breath. "Comrades Xu Fei and Hua Feifei, two educated youth who came to our commune this year, have had their articles submitted. President, Vice President, look at the Yenching Daily and the People's Daily. Here and here, it says the contributor is Xu Fei, an educated youth from the Wangjiagou Production Team of Pingquan Commune."

"Really? Our commune reported it?"

"What a happy event!"

"This is a great joyous event."

The commune president, vice president, and commune director all smiled happily, their mood suddenly became brighter, and they no longer cared about the fact that their small congratulations did not express their wishes.

The onlookers were also surprised. In the newspaper? How many communes in the country had Pingquan Commune made it to the newspaper? And Wangjiagou, which had always been a poorly performing production team in their commune, even ranked at the bottom, completely inferior to the top model production teams, was also in the newspaper?

This is all related to the educated youth.

It seems that the educated youth were not as useless as some people said. They could not work in the fields, but they could write articles. They could write about the living conditions in Wangjiagou, Pingquan Society, to the leaders and the people of the whole country.

What’s more important is that I heard that publishing this article in the newspaper not only doesn’t cost any money, but can also make money.

An aunt who was watching had a relative who worked at the post office and was the most informed. Her relative said that he personally saw the educated youth with glasses take out money from the envelope. He heard that it was several tens of dollars (?), almost equal to their annual income.

I don’t know if the educated youth in other teams can do it. Some of them have their parents’ homes in the countryside, and there are three or four educated youth who can’t lift anything with their hands or walk with their feet.

This is totally useless! How come the educated youth from Wangjiagou are so powerful?

President Zhao read the contents of the newspaper aloud again.

Xu Fei's writing is passionate to begin with, especially the complete restoration of the "speech" scene between Han Jing and Hua Feifei at that time, and the sublimation of the theme at the end.

At that time, the people in Wangjiagou were so excited that their blood boiled and they clapped their hands red for the educated youth.

Now it can.

Later on, every time President Zhao read a paragraph, people would applaud enthusiastically. More and more people came to watch, and the applause became louder and louder.

Some people even began to secretly step forward and ask Hua Feifei and Han Jing, who seemed to be the most talkative, how to sing the "Ode to Red Plum" in the title. They also successfully introduced this song to the entire Pingquan Commune.

Thanks to the content in the newspaper, Xu Fei was finally able to calm down and accept his own excellence.

In addition, although the post office did not have the Zhiqing newspaper, the president of Pingquan Commune had ordered it.

Hua Feifei finally saw her own article with her own eyes. It was in the golden section at the bottom center of the newspaper. There were also celebrities whom she had only heard of before who wrote articles praising the educated youth from Wangjiagou.

She was very proud. She took the newspaper and read it aloud to herself.

While Xu Fei's writing might have had some parts that the audience didn't quite understand, Hua Feifei's writing was universally comprehensible. Feeding pigs in the fields—wasn't that something they'd experienced? Naturally, it made them more empathetic.

Those with low emotional values wiped away their tears and said, "The educated youth are all teenagers, and their backgrounds are so far away from home. I think of my daughter who married far away in the county. She can only visit relatives once a year, and she has to bear all the hardships by herself."

"The county is much closer to our commune than the educated youth's homes are to the commune. Life in the county is much better than in the countryside. Your daughter is going there to enjoy life, while the educated youth are going to the countryside to suffer."

"They are all good children. Even if they have to endure hardships, they still smile so brightly. They look so beautiful when they smile."

"They are all innocent young people who just arrived in town. Two of them gave candy to my second child!"

"My daughter also has..."

More local people began to learn to think about problems from the perspective of the educated youth, and when they were no longer so psychologically resistant, they naturally saw many of the educated youth's advantages, such as youth, vitality, kindness, enthusiasm, etc.

The commune president also praised Xu Fei and Hua Feifei highly, calling them role models for educated youth. Without waiting for the annual meeting, he immediately gave them an enamel cup with a five-pointed star and a pen as rewards, encouraging them to keep up the good work.

I was not disappointed about Han Jing's failure to submit his article and Ye Yu's failure to submit his article, because both of them appeared quite a few times in Xu Fei and Hua Feifei's articles, and both had different abilities. The former was sunny and positive, while the latter was a hard worker.

The commune president was also very encouraging to them and gave each of them a notebook with a five-pointed red star.

Ye Yu didn't expect that he could also get some benefits. He took it and thanked him. Although it was a bit disappointing that it was not edible, this notebook could at least be used to write many letters.

Hua Feifei could also see what Ye Yu was thinking at a glance, just like Wang Laidie.

Of course, there are definitely more benefits than these.

For example, the commune leader who was still hesitating about whether to approve Wangjiagou's pig-raising quota for next year discussed it and asked Han Jing and others to notify their team leader to come to the town to fill out a form, which almost meant approval.

Wangjiagou has become the most famous brigade in Pingquan Brigade. There must be many hidden benefits. Apart from other things, people from Wangjiagou will be envied by others when they go out.

Therefore, almost everyone who had some connection with the educated youth in the countryside was thinking about whether they should ask whether the educated youth they knew or the people they knew knew could also write articles and register them in the brigade.

It would be even better if you could mention Aunt So-and-so like Hua Zhiqing did, and the newspapers would be able to pass on the news from generation to generation.

Xu Fei and Hua Feifei were not worried or disappointed because other educated youth might also submit their works. They were now full of confidence and hoped to compete with more aspiring people. They were even more hopeful about building the countryside. They answered the questions of local people wholeheartedly, especially emphasizing the importance of reading and knowledge.

The common people only heard it once, but they only remembered that knowledge = royalties = money.

Many people were saying that the old principal was right, the town’s middle school should not close down, and their children should go to high school. Once they learned the writing skill, they could contribute articles and make money like Xu Zhiqing and Hua Zhiqing, easily (? ) earning a full-time salary. Isn’t this much better than working in the fields?

The four of them struggled to leave the commune. Shopping in Pingquan Town was just like a celebrity shopping in later generations. There were people everywhere they went. They looked even more like monkeys in a zoo than on the first day they arrived in the countryside. They couldn't help but quicken their pace to the supply and marketing cooperative.

As soon as we arrived at the supply and marketing cooperative, we were also warmly welcomed.

Especially the salesperson who had a conflict with them last time, his enthusiasm changed 360 degrees.

Unlike others, when she heard that an article written by educated youth in the town had been published in the newspaper, her heart skipped a beat. Could it be that... After further inquiries, she was really in tears: "Oh my! How did I offend these ancestors!"

The other salespeople were also apprehensive. They hadn't directly offended the educated youth, so they thought nothing would happen. Even the director of the supply and marketing cooperative heard the news and came over.

Because of this, when Ye Yu and the other three arrived at the supply and marketing cooperative, they found that there was enough of everything they could buy, including some expensive almond and peach kernel cakes and local snacks that did not require a ticket, and even a bottle of white wine and white pepper powder that were great for removing fishy smells.

In addition, the scarce goods that were consumed by internal employees, such as cotton cloth that had defects but did not affect its use, enamel basins, nylon socks, aluminum lunch boxes, hand-made clippers, and gas lamps, were taken out.

However, faced with the concerned inquiries from the supply and marketing cooperative and the salesperson, Xu Fei and Hua Feifei honestly admitted that they had already written and sent it out, but had not received a reply yet.

There is also good news. They did not specifically target the supply and marketing cooperative in Pingquan Town, nor did they mention any particular person. Instead, they targeted the current chaos in the supply and marketing cooperatives in the entire Ye country equally, and gave some small examples that can be found everywhere in life.

After hearing this, the salesperson didn't know whether to swallow it or spit it out.

She was glared at several times by the director of the supply and marketing cooperative, and was sure to be scolded when she turned around, but she could only swallow her bitterness and did not dare to offend these educated youth again. She had to put on an ugly stiff smile to entertain them warmly, but this smile was actually much more pleasing than her usual sidelong glance at people.

From that day on, people in Pingquan Town would find that their attitude had changed drastically when they went to the supply and marketing cooperative to buy things. One of the girls in particular was particularly enthusiastic and her weighing and calculations were quick and efficient.

In short, Ye Yu and his team's purchase was a great success, and they quickly retreated, leaving the onlookers' sight.

On the way back, we turned to the Red Flag Brigade.