Chapter 92: The Old, Weak, Sick, and Disabled

"Hao Jianshan, Zhang Qingdai, Xie Danhong."

Most villagers would rather see male educated youth. After all, educated youth all need food. Unless they meet an outlier like Ye Yu, male educated youth generally work harder than female educated youth.

When they saw that there were more female educated youth than male educated youth selected in Wangjiagou, they felt a little more balanced, but wasn't the number too small?

This group of educated youth who went to the countryside was larger than that of Ye Yu and his group at that time, and more people were assigned to various parts of the country. The vast majority of production teams had six to eight people, but there were only two production teams with only three people on the list, and three production teams with only two people on the list.

Wangjiagou is one of them.

They felt that it was unfair and asked the commune cadres to give an explanation.

The vice president explained: "This time, it's not just educated youth who are going to the countryside, but also some of the "five black categories" from the farms. These production teams have to take in some of these people separately."

Their Pingquan Town is different from the wasteland farms in the northwest and southwest. There is not so much hard work there, and there is only one farm. Because it is close to the capital, they receive more people in the "five black categories" than educated youth. Last year, batches of people were sent down one after another, and the number has only decreased this year because more people have gone to more difficult places.

The farm is now half full.

There will definitely be bad elements in the future, that is, criminals, who belong to the bottom of the five black categories. They have no other choice but to do hard labor on the farm.

The above means that we can find some non-bad elements with good performance, such as rich peasants and highly educated people, and send them to other production teams to work in the fields.

The vice president glanced apologetically at the production teams, including Wangjiagou, and reiterated, "These five black categories don't need special treatment. Just let them live in the cowshed and donkey shed, do the hardest and dirtiest work, and simply distribute food so they can barely get enough to eat. They're going to the countryside for reform, not to enjoy a life of luxury!"

Now, the entire production team was speechless. Those were the "five black categories"! No matter how good the "five black categories" were at doing dirty and hard work, they would rather have educated youth than these class enemies.

They all looked at Wangjiagou with sympathy, thinking that he was too unlucky.

Some people even started to worry about them. All the people who came to draw lots from Wangjiagou were educated youth. This was bad luck. They didn't know if the people in the Wangjiagou production team would blame them when they found out.

Ye Yu and the other three were very calm, mainly because of Ye Yu. Although Xu Fei and Hua Feifei also felt that they were a little unlucky, they would be fine as long as Ye Yu was there even if the sky fell.

As for Han Jing, he was the one who usually didn't like to use his brain, but he thought the most. Apart from other things, he knew a lot of people who were classified as the "five black categories", including his neighbors in the compound, and even his family was almost one of them.

Because of this, he actually has sympathy for one or two of the five black categories.

Therefore, when the vice president asked people from three production teams to go to the farm to pick up people, Han Jing took the initiative to lead the team on the Wangjiagou side, and the other was Ye Yu.

Hua Feifei and Xu Fei stayed behind to pick up the educated youth.

With the sympathy of many people, Ye Yu, Han Jing and others followed the commune secretary to the farm.

Although it is called a farm, they not only do farm work, but also build roads and reservoirs. The commune official said that Wangjiagou was going to build a reservoir, and this kind of work was just right for them.

But when I got there, I couldn't say it.

There are rows of simple thatched huts, which are windless on all sides, and two of them have collapsed under the weight of snow. Living in such an environment, eating the simplest food, doing the most strenuous activities, the pressure of life has made them all haggard.

If these were really bad guys who had committed crimes, they would be happy to see this scene, but there were some unlucky guys who were only affected by their family background.

The commune cadre cleared his throat: "The president said that we should arrange for people with children or minors first." Looking at those little kids who were not even as tall as an adult's knees, he couldn't bring himself to ask them to carry manure to repair the reservoir.

The three production teams each selected their own personnel.

The other two production teams selected young people or middle-aged people. These people at least looked able to work and would not just work for free and waste food.

Ye Yu was not used to this unilateral choice similar to picking pork, which reminded her of many dark memories, so she did not move and Han Jing followed her.

Therefore, the choices left to them in the end can be simply summarized as "old, weak, sick and disabled."

There were seven people in total, three old people, three children, and a young woman.

Among them, there was an orphan named Bai Rongrong, who came with her grandparents, but both of them did not survive the winter. The child was less than ten years old and had experienced too much pain in life. She was lifeless, didn't speak, didn't pay attention to anyone, and didn't even blink when she saw people coming.

There was a lonely old man named Lin. He was kind and looked very nice, but he was a little thin. People from other production teams would have chosen him, but in the middle of their conversation, the old man coughed several times, which scared people away.

There is also a grandfather and grandson named Ou. Grandpa Ou is old-fashioned and strict, but he is very protective of his only grandson. Ou Liang is a teenager, the oldest among the children. He is also at the age of growing up. He is not getting enough nutrition, so he is not as thin as a bamboo pole, but as skinny as a stick.

The last three people are three generations of grandparents and grandchildren, and their surname is Xiang.

By the way, Ye Yu had a strong connection with them. She had met them once when they were parading. At that time, she felt that the little girl of three generations of grandparents and grandchildren was very familiar. Knowing that their surname was Xiang, they were from Yanjing City and were cultured people, she immediately connected them with Sun Shizhong, one of Ye Lan's blind dates. They were the unlucky family reported by Sun Shizhong.

Mr. Xiang's hair is completely white, his skin is dark, and the cracked chilblains on his hands have not healed yet, but his back is straight, and his shoulders become straighter as the pressure increases.

His daughter Xiang Yan was the only young person among the seven, but she was also the only one who was seriously ill. Although she was young, she was unsteady when she walked, her face was red and she had a fever, and it seemed that she could die at any time.

Han Jing frowned:

"No medicine?"

The farm manager explained that there are doctors to treat sick people. In fact, there are Chinese medicine doctors on the farm, such as Mr. Lin, but the supply of medicinal materials is insufficient, and some people inevitably died on the farm this winter.

After all, many people who have no worries about food and clothing find it difficult to withstand sudden misfortune. Even physically and mentally they may not be able to bear it, and some choose to end their lives.

Xiang Yan has been sick for a long time this winter and has had a fever more than once. The fact that she has been able to hold on until now is really because the administrator is taking care of the little girl of the Xiang family.

The little girl, whose name has been changed to Xiang Xingxing, is not yet 5 years old. She is ignorant and doesn't know anything. She pulls at the hem of her mother's trousers. When she sees strangers, she looks up and smiles sweetly at them.

This unconscious smile is too sad to see.

It also indirectly proves that Mr. Xiang and Xiang Yan are very good to their granddaughter/daughter. Even when they are in difficult situations, they try their best to give her the best things and protect her young heart.

Because of this, when Ye Yu openly handed Xiang Xingxing an egg and a candy, no one stopped him. When he gave Bai Rongrong and Ou Liang biscuits and candies, no one stopped him either.

Xiang Xingxing wanted to stuff the food into her mouth as soon as she got it, but was stopped by Grandpa Xiang. After thanking Ye Yu, the old man helped his granddaughter peel the eggs and eat them first. The little girl's cheeks were bulging with food, like a cute little squirrel.

"Thank you." Ou Liang was well-educated and very polite. He ate a little too fast because he was very hungry, but he still did not forget to force some of the food on his grandfather.

Bai Rongrong reacted the slowest. She didn't say anything and didn't reach out to take it, which made many people frown. She then rolled her eyes and looked at Xiang Xingxing who was eating, then raised her eyes and looked at Ye Yu for a long time. Finally, she moved, snatched the thing away, and stuffed it into her mouth.

Ye Yu: "Be careful not to choke to death."

Others:

“…”

While Ye Yu was playing with the child, Han Jing distributed the few multi-grain cakes he had to Grandpa Lin, Grandpa Ou, Grandpa Xiang, and Xiang Yan.

Several people thanked him repeatedly.

This also shows that Ye Yu and Han Jing have no objection to such distribution.

The people in other production teams secretly breathed a sigh of relief. At the same time, they felt that the educated youth from Wangjiagou were indeed too young and ignorant, and would definitely be scolded when they returned.

Because they were in a good mood, they followed Ye Yu and Han Jing's example and shared some things with others.

But not that much, and some of it is not even staple food.

But even for a single pumpkin seed, these people cracked it very seriously, and even chewed the shell repeatedly. At this time, they couldn't help but envy the group of people who were assigned to Wangjiagou.

Eggs, biscuits, candies... They haven't eaten these things for a long time. Just smelling them makes people swallow their saliva. Although the multi-grain cakes are also made of sweet potatoes and multi-grains, you can smell a hint of oil. Did they add oil to them?

Several people started to sing the empty city plan in their stomachs.

More importantly, there was no contempt, disgust or fear in Ye Yu and Han Jing's eyes when they looked at them. This was the most common look they had faced during this period, and that was why they were so sensitive to their eyes.

The former looked calm, as if they were normal people, which they were in fact. The latter's eyes were overflowing with sympathy; he was a very kind young man.

After the distribution was completed, the group left the simple and dilapidated farm.

Xiang Yan really couldn't hold on any longer, so Ye Yu suggested that they go to the town clinic first to get some medicine, at least to reduce Xiang Yan's fever so that he wouldn't die on the way.

“…”

The commune cadres hesitated to speak, wanting to say that this was not in compliance with regulations, but considering that it was a life after all, they did not stop it.

So the people from Wangjiagou separated from the others, and Han Jing squatted down and carried Xiang Yan on his back, saying, "This will be faster and won't delay things."

As soon as he finished speaking, Ye Yu also picked up Xiang Xingxing, who was walking unsteadily. She was so light and weightless. Xiang Xingxing was still stuffing food into her mouth, and she just pretended to glare at the air with her legs in the air, not caring who was holding her.

The commune cadres and other people felt that this was wrong, but they didn't know what to say. They looked at their backs as they left, which were uneven, but there was an inexplicable harmony in them.