Chapter 39 Chapter 39

On the day when the autumn harvest began, Shen Moer and Cheng Tao took six students to the city to participate in the preliminary competition. Uncle Liu drove a donkey cart to take them to the bus stop, where they met two teachers and six students from the commune primary school.

Shen Moer discovered that the teachers leading the team at the commune primary school were the two she saw that day, the taller one was named Wang and the shorter one was named He.

Of course, the two teachers did not remember her, a stranger whom they had met only once, but they knew that she was the daughter of Shen Shaoyuan, so they were very polite along the way and kept saying that without the help of Comrade Shen Shaoyuan, their Liuqiao Commune Primary School would have been in big trouble.

After getting on the bus, he took the initiative to give up the front row seats to the people from the Yangliu Brigade, and sat in the back with the people from his own school.

In this harmonious and friendly atmosphere, the car drove all the way into the county town, and then they met up with teachers and students from other schools in the county at the county bus station. It was a huge group of people, and the county even specially arranged two large buses to take them to the city.

Six primary school students who had never been to the county town followed Shen Moer and the others timidly. Even the usually brave Maomao had a tense face and his mouth was no longer chattering. The little girls became even more nervous and gathered closely around Shen Moer. Zhou Zhaodi even quietly pulled the corner of Shen Moer's clothes.

Cheng Tao was amused by their appearance.

He was not surprised that the children were nervous and uneasy. What surprised him was that Shen Moer did not look nervous at all. Before he came, he was worried that he would not be sharing the responsibility of taking care of six students with others, but would be taking care of seven by himself.

After all, Shen Moer didn't dare to talk to anyone in the village before. Even if she has changed now, Cheng Tao thought she is not so restrained in the village anymore.

But thinking about how she usually argued with Shen Lingling, Cheng Tao shook his head and laughed. It seemed that things were really different.

The bus arranged by the county was very large, and could seat forty or fifty people. Shen Moer and the others lined up to get on the bus and got a relatively back seat.

Teacher He from Liuqiao Commune Primary School sat in the front row in front of them. He politely stuffed an orange into each of Shen Moer and Cheng Tao's mouths and said, "We still have three or four hours to go. Eating some oranges will make you feel better. If you feel really uncomfortable, covering your face with orange peel will also help."

Perhaps because he was afraid that Shen Moer and Cheng Tao would be embarrassed to accept them, he added, “I picked them from the orange tree in the yard of my hometown. They are not something precious.”

Having said that, it would be bad to refuse, so Shen Moer and Cheng Tao thanked them and took it. The oranges were bright yellow and looked very fresh.

It is always troublesome to take children out. Students from Dongfanghong Primary School and several other commune primary schools were sitting in the front row of the bus. When the bus started, two students suddenly said they wanted to go to the toilet. The teacher had to take them off the bus and go to the public toilet at the bus station.

A car full of people were waiting. The children in the front row were chattering non-stop, but a few students from Yangliu Brigade Primary School were huddled there like quails, looking out the window curiously and whispering occasionally.

Shen Moer heard a teacher from a commune primary school sitting diagonally across from her mutter, "Dongfanghong Primary School is just like that. The students don't even know to go to the toilet before getting on the bus."

It turned out that the two students who got off the bus were from Dongfanghong Primary School.

Soon, the teacher came back with two students. The car drove out slowly. The teachers from other commune primary schools in the front row greeted the teacher surnamed Dong. The gist of it was that their other schools didn’t even have art classes on a regular basis, and this time the focus of participating in the preliminary competition was basically on participation, and the award would depend on Dongfanghong Primary School.

Teacher Dong was reserved and polite. As they chatted, someone suddenly said, "I heard that there is another brigade primary school that has signed up. Isn't this ridiculous? It's good enough for the children in the village to go to school, but they also want to draw?"

The man sneered, obviously not taking it seriously.

Someone quietly reminded him that the people from Liuqiao Commune were right behind him. The person curled his lips and said, "You're not allowed to tell the truth?"

Teacher He stood up and wanted to speak, but Teacher Wang pulled him back to sit down in a conciliatory manner: "Forget it, forget it."

Cheng Tao frowned and turned around to look at a few students reassuringly.

Shen Moer turned her head and saw that the children all looked embarrassed. Her face suddenly darkened and she stood up and said loudly: "I am a teacher in the Yangliu Brigade of Liuqiao Commune. My surname is Shen. The comrade who said we were messing around, are you a teacher?"

The carriage suddenly became quiet. The students in the front row turned their heads curiously to look at Shen Moer, while several teachers looked at each other.

The man who had spoken before curled his lips and said nonchalantly: "Isn't this nonsense? Which leader here is not a teacher?"

Chen Moer said with a cold face: "Since you are a teacher, you should have heard of the term "teaching without distinction". You should treat students equally and respect the rights of every student to learn knowledge and participate in competitions, instead of classifying students into different levels and arbitrarily belittling and ridiculing rural children. The country is calling on educated youth to go to the countryside and receive re-education from poor and lower-middle peasants. Why do you, teacher, look down on the countryside and rural children so much?"

The person suddenly stood up nervously. She was a woman in her thirties with a Hu Lan haircut and a slightly big face.

She glared at Shen Moer: "Don't accuse me of anything. I just made a factual assessment. How can it be regarded as looking down on the countryside and the children in the countryside?"

Shen Moer looked at her indifferently: "Your so-called realistic evaluation is nothing but your own groundless conjecture. Do you look down on rural children? I believe everyone here has their own evaluation in their hearts."

The man's face flushed red, not knowing whether he was angry or embarrassed. Teacher Dong from Dongfanghong Primary School stood up to smooth things over: "We are all from the same unit, Teacher Hu, and Comrade Xiao Shen, please say less. There are so many children watching, it will have a bad influence."

Shen Moer nodded: “Indeed, as a teacher, you should always pay attention to your words and actions.”

Teacher Dong: “…”

Teacher Hu was obviously not convinced and wanted to say something, but Teacher Dong pulled her, whispered something, and pushed her back to her seat.

Seeing this, Shen Moer also sat back in her seat. Teacher He in the front row silently gave her a thumbs up, and Cheng Tao also smiled and gave her a thumbs up.

A whole car of elementary school students looked at this and that, with some surprise on their faces.

It was the first time I saw a teacher quarreling in front of them!

The few students brought by Teacher Hu exchanged glances implicitly and all felt a little embarrassed.

Their teacher lost the argument.

And most importantly, they also felt that Teacher Hu seemed to look down on rural children. A teacher had clearly said before that the students in the team were courageous enough to go to the city to participate in the competition.

The children from Liuqiao Commune Primary School and Yangliu Brigade Primary School all covered their mouths and laughed secretly. Especially the children from Yangliu Brigade Primary School, they all straightened their chests and raised their heads, no longer nervous or afraid.

It was almost noon when we arrived in the city. The car drove directly to the city workers' club, the venue for the competition, which was borrowed by the city education bureau. As soon as we got off the car, we were led by staff to a large indoor venue, where people in white chef uniforms were waiting. After they lined up under the guidance of the staff, they were given meals in turn.

Each person was given a large spoonful of rice and two small spoonfuls of vegetables, which were stir-fried pork with carrots and scrambled eggs with green peppers. Although the pork and eggs accounted for a relatively small proportion, the food was so good that most people were pleasantly surprised.

Six primary school students from Yangliu Brigade held an enamel basin in one hand and a spoon in the other, and looked at each other with expressions of disbelief and surprise.

"Eat quickly, then take a rest and be in the best condition for the competition in the afternoon." Cheng Tao said cheerfully.

Shen Moer touched Zhou Zhaodi's head and said, "Eat quickly."

Several children began to eat with big mouthfuls, while Chen Moer ate slowly and leisurely. Occasionally, she looked up and saw Zhou Zhaodi quietly wiping her eyes.

She ate very seriously. Shen Moer was originally worried that she looked so thin and small that she would not be able to finish the food in the large enamel basin, but she finished it very quickly, and the enamel basin was as clean as if it had been washed with water.

After finishing their meal, the enamel basin and spoon were taken back by the staff. They rested for a while, went to the toilet, checked the stationery they brought with them, and then followed the staff's instructions and entered the classrooms like little ants.

The leading teacher returned to the dining area to rest and wait.

During this time, when Shen Moer stood up and walked around, she heard Teacher Hu say to others in a veiled tone: "It would be nice to get a string of zeros and be at the bottom of the list."

This time Shen Moer ignored her.

Three hours later, the competition was over, and the teachers hurriedly took the students to the return bus without even having time to ask them how they performed.

When the car drove out, someone muttered, "The people in Xinxiang Commune changed their cars."

Shen Moer didn't pay attention. She didn't know who was from Xinxiang Commune at all. It was only after Teacher He told her that she knew that the teacher surnamed Hu was from Xinxiang Commune.

Teacher He also revealed a piece of news to Shen Moer that Teacher Hu’s lover worked in the County Party Committee’s Education Bureau and had connections in the government, so she usually spoke and acted in a flamboyant manner.

Shen Moer didn't care too much. The unpleasant person changed to another car by himself, and she was happy to have some peace and quiet.

On the way back, the children were not as excited as when they went there. After a whole day of hard work, they all looked a little listless. However, a few members of the Yangliu Team were in good spirits, whispering to each other from time to time.

Chen Moer also heard Zhou Zhaodi whispering to Xiao Ye that she was very full today and had shredded meat and eggs. This was the first time she had eaten meat and eggs since her grandmother passed away.

Listening to the child's excited words, Shen Moer looked quietly out the dark window.

It was almost eight o'clock in the evening when the car arrived at the county town. Fortunately, the commune's car was still waiting for them at the bus station. The group of people changed cars without stopping. When they arrived at the commune's bus stop, both adults and children were tired and hungry. Shen Moer and the others hurriedly said goodbye to the teachers and students of the commune's primary school and got on the donkey cart that was waiting there.

Uncle Liu handed four white flour buns to Shen Moer: "Your father prepared these. He was afraid that you would be hungry, so he let you have a bite first."

Shen Moer thanked them and after taking it, she broke the bun in half and gave half to each person. Everyone was very hungry, and even though their mouths were very dry, they still ate half of the bun in small bites.

After eating, the children collapsed on the donkey cart and began to snore.

Cheng Tao couldn't help but laugh and sigh: "This day has really been like a war."

Shen Moer nodded: "I am indeed tired."

I might as well follow Fu Mingze's example, put my hands on my knees, and then bury my face in my elbows and close my eyes for a while.

When she finally got home, she didn't even eat. She just drank a large bowl of water, washed up quickly, went into the house and fell asleep.

The next day, Shen Moer slept until noon. Fortunately, she only had one class near noon that day. After washing up quickly, she ate a few mouthfuls of warm porridge in the pot and rushed to school.

When the class was over, Cheng Tao reminded her: "No classes in the afternoon, join the brigade's labor."

Shen Moer's face suddenly fell.

During the autumn harvest period, the brigade primary school only had classes half a day. Teachers and students had to participate in the brigade's labor every afternoon. The children were responsible for picking rice ears or passing the harvested rice, while the teachers were assigned to the twelfth production team and harvested rice with the educated youth.

After crossing over to this world, Chen Moer only pulled weeds for a few days at the beginning. Later, when there was less work in the fields, she stopped going to work. When she had to go to work again, she had become a teacher in the brigade primary school. So this autumn harvest was actually her real and serious work.

Seeing her like this, Cheng Tao burst into laughter: "It's only been a short time since you last went to work, and you're not used to it? Don't worry, we'll be working with the educated youth, and the intensity of the work will definitely not be as great as your Eighth Production Team."

This is probably the only good news.

Ever since she went to the county town to buy crayons, Shen Moer has been busy giving private lessons to several primary school students. She has used almost all of her spare time to make up for the lessons. So, when you calculate it this way, she and Fu Mingze, who are in the same village, have not seen each other for more than ten days.

I took back his three kilograms of food coupons and was thinking of returning them to him with some subsidy, but I never found a chance.

Oh, by the way, that day in the county, he paid for the noodles at the state-owned restaurant and the movie tickets afterwards. He was obviously extremely poor, but no one knew why he had to put on an act. She couldn't say much in front of Zheng Jiamin.

It happened that Shen Shaoyuan brought back a few pounds of flour two days ago, so Shen Moer cut some ham and chopped it into minced meat, soaked some dried mushrooms that she had picked up from the back mountain and dried, washed a few radishes, cut them into fine shreds, and stir-fried them into a plate of fresh and fragrant fillings. Then she used the yeast water stored at home to make the dough and made a basket of vegetarian buns.

The steamer was made by Shen Shaoyuan with the help of village members a while ago. Shen Moer has been busy recently, so the father and daughter have been eating simpler meals. The new steamer has not been used yet. When a basket of buns is steamed, the air is filled with not only the tempting aroma of the buns, but also a hint of the fresh scent of bamboo.

Chen Moer moved the steamer to the other side of the stove, boiled water in the pot, cracked an egg into the pot, and sprinkled a pinch of sugar into the soup, making a bowl of sweet egg drop soup.

Two buns and a bowl of sweet egg drop soup, and lunch is done.

When she went to work in the afternoon, Chen Moer carried a bamboo basket. The enamel jar was filled with cooled boiled water, and the enamel bowl was filled with soft, pink and white vegetarian buns, which were covered with clean white cotton cloth, and a towel was placed on top of the white cotton cloth.

Shen Moer walked to the edge of the field carrying a basket and met Shen Lingling, who was holding a sickle in her hand and carrying a military green kettle on her body.

Shen Lingling glanced at her, snorted, and quickly walked in front of her, as if she had achieved some victory by surpassing her.

Shen Moer was puzzled.

The educated youth were already working in the fields. As soon as Shen Lingling appeared, Zhang Zhiqiang immediately greeted her warmly and asked her to come over to join them. Some of the old educated youth also began to call her "Teacher Shen".

Since she became a primary school teacher, Shen Lingling has worked with the educated youth during the busy farming season. She is very familiar with them, especially the older educated youth before Fu Mingze. Before the incidents happened in her family, many male educated youth secretly regarded her as a goddess, and of course, many still do now.

After the warm greetings, Shen Lingling looked back at Shen Moer with pride.

Shen Moer was too lazy to pay attention to her. She went down the nearest ridge to the field. After walking a few steps, she heard a surprised "Comrade Shen Moer". She raised her eyes and saw Zheng Jiamin waving at her from behind the rice field farther away: "Comrade Shen, come here!"

Then, a man next to him who was originally bending over to cut rice slowly stood up straight. His tall figure was like a small poplar standing in the rice field. He held a sickle in one hand and a handful of rice in the other, and looked at her from a distance.

Maybe it was because the autumn heat was too strong, Shen Moer suddenly felt her cheeks were a little hot from the sun.

Shen Moer glanced at Shen Lingling on her left, who was chatting animatedly with Zhang Zhiqiang and others in Tian Lizheng, and then glanced at Yang Qingqing on her right, who was looking at her with an inexplicable and somewhat resentful look in Tian Lizheng's eyes, and immediately and decisively chose to keep moving forward.

After walking a few steps, a female educated youth wearing a wide-brimmed hat caught up with him: "Teacher Shen, Teacher Shen Moer!"

Shen Moer stopped and turned to look at the person who came. She recognized that it was the female educated youth named Wang Qiutong, so she asked, "Wang Zhiqing, what's the matter?"

Wang Qiutong held the sickle in one hand and grasped the brim of her straw hat with the other. She seemed a little embarrassed, but she still mustered up the courage to ask, "Teacher Shen, can I go over there with you to cut the grass?"

Shen Moer turned her head doubtfully and looked in the direction of Fu Mingze and the others, and asked uncertainly: "Is it in the direction of Fu Zhiqing and Zheng Zhiqing?"

Wang Qiutong nodded immediately: "Yes, I want to go with you."

Shen Moer nodded: "Okay, let's go."

She actually wanted to ask, since you want to work with them, why didn't you go over before? But then she thought about it and saw that there seemed to be only Fu Mingze and Zheng Jiamin there, and it was probably because Wang Qiutong, as a female comrade, was embarrassed to take the initiative to go over and "team up" with them.

When Wang Qiutong heard her agreement, she was so happy that she immediately followed her.

Ever since the last incident of falling into the stream, Yang Qingqing had become irritable and gloomy. She was not in a relationship with Shi Wei, but the two of them often quarreled in the vegetable garden. Wang Qiutong was unlucky enough to encounter them twice, and each time she overheard what she heard shocked her.

She was really scared of these two people now, especially when she eavesdropped on Shi Wei once and heard him say, "I'd rather marry Wang Qiutong than you," and Yang Qingqing replied, "If you help me kill Fu Mingze, I'll help you get Wang Qiutong." She almost trembled when she saw these two people.

It’s really scary, woooo.

She doesn't want to work with Yang Qingqing!

I don’t want to work with Shi Wei even more!

Zheng Jiamin expressed a warm welcome to Shen Moer and Wang Qiutong who came with Shen Moer. Wang Qiutong was so moved that she immediately rolled up her sleeves and started working.

Shen Moer looked at Wang Qiutong strangely, thinking, isn't it just a change of land to work on? Why is this girl so happy?

She put the bamboo basket she brought on the ridge of the field beside her, turned around and walked back, and saw Fu Mingze step aside and give her his original seat.

Shen Moer didn't bother to be polite with him. She adjusted the straw hat on her head and went over to start cutting rice.

Accompanied by the swish sound of machinery, the golden rice fell to the ground in groups, bending down, moving forward, bending down again, and moving forward again... Soon, Shen Moli felt the sweat flowing down from her forehead, sliding down her forehead to the corners of her eyes, and her eyes were so irritated that she could hardly open them.

I have never been so sweaty from working in my entire life.

"How was the preliminary round?"

At a certain moment, a man's clear voice sounded beside her. Shen Moer was in a trance for a moment before she stood up, wiped the sweat off her face with the towel hanging around her neck, and replied, "From what they said themselves, it seems that they performed quite well."

Fu Mingze also stood up, turned his head to look at her face which was red from the scorching sun and hard work, and nodded: "That's good."

Then he asked, "Do you want to sit down and rest for a while?"

Shen Moer looked back at him and asked seriously, "Have I been cutting for half an hour?"

Do you have the nerve to just go sit down and rest for a while?

Fu Mingze: “…”

After taking a breath, Shen Moer bent down and started working again. She was physically strong, but lacked experience in farm work. She adjusted her skills according to the original owner's memory and gradually became proficient.

After learning so many poems about the hard work of farmers, it is better to practice it yourself.

If she were in Daliang, she would have to suggest to her uncle the emperor that the royal family, civil and military officials should do farm work for a few months, so that they would have to think twice before trying to squeeze the people's money.

After working for more than an hour, Shen Moer and the others sat down on the edge of the field to rest for a while. They each took out a cup and a kettle to drink water. Shen Moer took some buns from the bamboo basket and distributed them to the others: "Eat some snacks, you will work faster later."

Zheng Jiamin cheered and took it and ate it. Wang Qiutong was a little dumbfounded. She refused a few times but was finally persuaded by Shen Moer to take it. After taking a bite, she looked at Shen Moer with sparkling eyes: "Comrade Shen Moer, this bun is really well made, even better than the one in the state-owned restaurant!"

Shen Moer smiled and said, “Then you can eat another one later.”

Fu Mingze ate the buns quietly, looking at the person next to him from time to time, watching her talking to Wang Qiutong with a smile, watching her drinking water slowly from a large enamel pot, and her lips that were dry due to excessive sweating becoming rosy... He lowered his eyes and looked away.

After eating and drinking, Zheng Jiamin and Wang Qiutong's enthusiasm for work increased and they soon returned to work again.

Chen Moer put the enamel pot back into the bamboo basket, sorted out her things, and was about to get up and go back to harvest rice when she heard Fu Mingze say, "Brother Bao got a second-hand bicycle. He bought it for fifty yuan and repaired it for more than twenty yuan. If you want it, it's eighty yuan."

After a pause, he added: "If the money is not enough, you can owe part of it first."

Shen Moer immediately said: "Yes, we can get the money together, um, try our best, try not to owe it."

Fu Mingze nodded: "Then I'll come to see you in the evening."

After saying that, he got up and went to work.

Shen Moer: “?”

I don't quite understand what the connection is between buying a second-hand bicycle and coming to see her at night?