Chapter 006

The sun hangs low in the western sky.

In the fields, Han Ting and his fellow villagers applied fertilizer to the wheat seedlings.

Su Yun worked with Han Ting as usual.

She covered her mouth and nose with her left hand, held the dung shovel with her right hand, poured a spoonful of fertilizer on it, and then ran to the edge of the field to retch a few times.

She was very slow at working with one hand, and she had to retch from time to time to breathe, so she could only apply a few spoonfuls of fertilizer in half a day. Since you do less work, you naturally earn fewer work points.

Han Ting simply let her go to the edge of the field to rest.

Of course, she felt embarrassed to do nothing, after all, everyone was working together to earn work points.

So after a break, I'll still pour a spoonful of it on top of it just to show my appreciation.

This time when she came over after taking a breath, Han Ting directly snatched the dung shovel from her hand.

He said to Su Yun, "If you can't do it, don't force yourself to do it. Listen to me and take a rest nearby. I'll take care of all your work. If anyone has any objections, let them tell me. You don't have to worry about it."

Su Yun covered her mouth and nose and said, "I feel embarrassed to always ask you to take care of me like this."

Han Ting suddenly leaned close to her ear and whispered, "I'm sorry, but I'll give you my body."

In public, Su Yun blushed with shame and raised her hand to push him.

She stopped working and turned to the edge of the field, sat down with her hands on her stomach, pretending to be in great pain to make her behavior seem more reasonable.

No matter how reasonable she pretends, someone will always feel uncomfortable.

Seeing her sitting on the ridge and slacking off again, Li Qiao whispered to Chen Sisi, "Look, she's sitting on the ridge again. How can she be so embarrassed?"

Chen Sisi turned to look at Su Yun and whispered, "She's holding her stomach. Maybe she's really not feeling well. Besides, Han Ting is protecting her so much. Let's just forget it."

Li Qiao was still unhappy, but he didn't say anything. He suppressed his anger and continued to work.

After silently pouring two spoonfuls of fertilizer, she suddenly remembered something, squinted her eyes and looked around, then looked at Chen Sisi and asked, "Hey, didn't Lin Xiaohan and Chu Xia come to work?"

Hearing this, Chen Sisi stopped what she was doing and turned around to look.

After looking around and not seeing Chu Xia and Lin Xiaohan, she said, "It seems so."

This is really strange.

These two people have never been absent from work.

Puzzled, Li Qiao turned around and asked Aunt Wu who was not far away: "Aunt, why didn't I see Chu Xia and Lin Xiaohan? I didn't see them go back to the educated youth center for lunch at noon."

Hearing this, Aunt Wu replied while working: "Comrade Xiaolin and Comrade Xiaoxia will not come to work with us in the future. They have other things to do."

Li Qiao became curious, "What's the matter?"

When the other educated youth heard this, they stopped what they were doing and looked at Aunt Wu curiously.

Aunt Wu continued to work and said, "Our brigade is planning to reopen the primary school. The secretary and the brigade leader held a meeting yesterday and selected Comrade Xiao Lin and Comrade Xiao Xia as teachers. They will teach the children in the school from now on. They will get a salary and don't have to work in the fields anymore."

Is there such a good thing? ?

When the others heard this, they were all stunned, and then looked envious.

Li Qiao raised his voice and asked again: "Why did you choose these two?"

Aunt Wu smiled and said, "What did you say?"

Li Qiao choked when asked back, swallowed his saliva and said nothing more.

I held the dung shovel and continued to fertilize the land, but I felt that the fertilizer was so smelly that it was unbearable.

***

Get off work in the evening.

On the way back to the educated youth point.

The ten educated youth made three trips.

The five male educated youth walked in the front, Li Qiao, Chen Sisi and Gu Yuzhu walked in the middle, and the remaining Han Ting and Su Yun followed at the end, at a distance.

Li Qiao complained in the front: "Letting Lin Xiaohan be a teacher, I don't know what they are thinking. How can someone like Lin Xiaohan, who is so hypocritical, teach good children? They will all be corrupted."

Gu Yuzhu continued, "I think Tang Chuxia is not suitable to be a teacher. She is dull and wooden, with an empty head and no ideas at all. What kind of book can she teach?"

Chen Sisi said: "But they perform best in the eyes of their fellow villagers."

Gu Yuzhu sneered and said, "Doesn't being able to do farm work mean they are suitable to be farmers? Does it mean they can be teachers? This is an unreasonable world, and the rules are unreasonable."

This is a very reactionary statement.

Li Qiao quickly raised his hand and covered Gu Yuzhu's mouth.

later.

Su Yun took a deep breath and said, "I really envy Chu Xia."

Han Ting looked at her and asked, "Do you want to be a teacher too?"

Su Yun asked back: "Don't you want to?"

Han Ting replied: "Of course I don't want to. What's the point of giving ideological lessons to a bunch of little brats every day and telling them those great principles?"

Su Yun said: "No matter how boring it is, it's easier than working in the fields."

Han Ting looked at Su Yun and thought for a while, then said, "How about this, I'll find Chu Xia tonight to find out the situation and then talk to her about it, and ask her to give you this opportunity, how about that?"

Su Yun looked at Han Ting: "Isn't this bad?"

Han Ting smiled, "What's wrong with that? I watched Chu Xia grow up. Her personality is not suitable for being a teacher. A teacher should let someone like you who is not suitable for working in the fields but suitable for teaching do the job."

Su Yun thought for a while and said, "I really can't do these rural jobs. I've been relying on you to help me these days. You can't always be like this and hold everyone back. So why don't you ask her for me? If she is willing to give me this opportunity, I will definitely repay her in the future."

Han Ting said: "You don't have to worry about whether you will be rewarded or not."

Su Yun was moved again: "I really want to thank you. When I first went to the countryside, I didn't know how I would survive. Fortunately, I met you here."

Han Ting: "It's right to meet me."

Su Yun smiled, looked at Han Ting with affection in her eyes, then turned her head to look away.

***

In the afterglow of sunset.

Chuxia stood in the yard and took a breath.

She and Lin Xiaohan spent another half day and finally cleaned the school inside and out.

Looking at the brand new campus at this time, although she felt tired physically, she felt satisfied and happy in her heart.

Especially when I imagine that there will be children coming here to school every day, I feel that the effort is worth it.

Lin Xiaohan didn’t have so many feelings in his heart.

He walked out of the gate directly, without even turning his head, and said to Chu Xia: "Remember to lock the gate."

Chu Xia looked at him and said, "Oh, I see."

After Lin Xiaohan left, Chuxia felt more relaxed.

She went to the classroom again, stood on the podium and cleared her throat, pretending that the classroom was full of students. She changed her tone and voice to suit her style, and rehearsed in advance how to be a teacher.

After having a great time rehearsing, we left school and returned to the educated youth point.

I was also happy on the way back, stepping on the last ray of sunset glowing towards me, my face glowing.

When we returned to the educated youth point and entered the fenced courtyard, the others were noisily eating dinner in the kitchen.

Chuxia knew that she could not blend into this atmosphere like air, so she did not go to the kitchen, but went directly into the dormitory and took out three small white snakeskin bags.

She used three snakeskin bags to fill them with dried sorghum rice, corn and sweet potatoes.

When she was packing the dried sweet potatoes, she suddenly heard Chaozi's voice coming from the kitchen, greeting her, "Chuxia, you're back?"

Chuxia turned her head and saw Chaozi coming out after dinner and standing outside the kitchen door.

She smiled politely at Chaozi and responded with a greeting: "Yes."

Chaozi asked again: "I heard that the brigade is going to reopen the primary school. They want you to be a teacher in the school, right?"

This is not a secret, but Chuxia doesn't want to brag about it to anyone.

So she simply responded, "Well, yes."

Chaozi said with envy: "Chuxia, you are so lucky."

Chuxia pulled the corner of her mouth and didn't continue, putting the last few dried sweet potatoes into the snakeskin bag.

After loading, she put away the winnowing basket, took a brush with dried sorghum ears, and went out carrying the three snakeskin bags.

As soon as Chuxia left, the others finished their meal and came out of the kitchen.

Han Ting glanced around the yard and asked Chaozi: "I seemed to hear you talking to Chu Xia just now, where is she?"

Chaozi looked at Han Ting and replied, "Take the food out."

Han Ting nodded and said, "Then wait for her to come back."

***

Living conditions in the countryside are poor and there are no flour-grinding machines.

Every household in Tanxi Brigade uses stone mills to grind flour.

The brigade has a public mill, and some well-off families can buy their own stone mill.

Chuxia didn't want to trouble his fellow villagers, so he naturally went to the brigade's mill.

She was lucky today. When she arrived at the mill, there was no one inside.

Because every household needs to grind flour for food, there will be queues at the mill in most cases.

Chuxia came alone, and as a girl she had limited strength, so she did not use the big stone mill in the middle of the mill.

That big stone mill needed a strong man to push it, or two or three weak men to push it together.

Chuxia picked the small stone mill next to it which was light and easy to push.

She first swept the millstone with a sorghum ear brush, then poured the sorghum rice in the snakeskin bag onto the millstone, and fed the sorghum rice into the mill eye while pushing the mill.

The upper grinding wheel hummed as powder continued to seep out of the gap between the two grinding wheels.

Grinding flour like this is a tiring and boring job, so Chuxia hummed a song while pushing the mill to pass the time and make herself feel less bored.

She was humming "Let's Row the Boat Together".

The lyrics of this song are about rowing in Beihai Park.

As Chuxia hummed, she couldn't help but miss home and her parents.

Thinking back to how she had ignored her parents' dissuasion and opposition, and insisted on giving up the opportunity to stay in the city to work, and signed up to go to the countryside with Han Ting, her parents were so angry that they didn't eat for two days. She didn't feel anything before, but now she suddenly began to feel uncontrollable regret and guilt.

If she had come to her senses before signing up to go to the countryside, she would definitely not have come to join the team.

She will definitely stay in the city, stay with her parents, and be filial to them.

Now that I'm here, I can't even see them when I miss them.

Never mind, it’s not too late to wake up now.

Anyway, as long as nothing goes wrong, she will get the chance to return to the city early.

Just treat this period of time as a period of self-experience, and be filial to her parents when you go back.

Chuxia took a deep breath and pushed the mill faster.

After grinding the sorghum flour and putting it back into the snakeskin bag, she continued to grind corn flour and dried sweet potato flour.

While grinding sweet potato noodles, someone else came to the mill.

It was not a fellow villager, but Lin Xiaohan, who had washed and dried grain in the morning just like Chuxia did.

Chu Xia turned around and saw that it was Lin Xiaohan, but she didn't say hello.

There were no other fellow villagers around, so Lin Xiaohan naturally did not hide his arrogant and domineering nature, and did not say hello either.

He also didn't wait for the small mill that Chu Xia was using.

He was strong enough to push the big mill in the middle of the mill, so he used that mill to grind his grain. Although it is difficult to push, it can be sharpened faster.

Not long after Lin Xiaohan arrived at the mill, all the early summer sweet potatoes were ground.

She swept the sweet potato flour off the millstone, put it all into a snakeskin bag, and went back.

When I returned to the educated youth point, I heard the noise coming from the boys' dormitory again.

It was already dark now, and there was no light on in the girls' dormitory. It was obvious that everyone was gathered in the boys' dormitory to play together.

Chuxia naturally didn't pay much attention to them. She went straight into the kitchen, turned on the light and started cooking.

There was a box of new matches on the stove. The matches and lamp oil were also distributed by the brigade, so Chuxia naturally used them directly.

She planned to steam some buns with the freshly ground flour, using sorghum rice, corn flour and sweet potato flour. Now that the weather is not hot, they can be eaten for several days.

Don’t cook the porridge, just drink some hot water.

There was no stir-fry available, but she still had a lot of canned braised pork and beef that she hadn't finished.

These cans were bought for her by her parents, but she herself had never eaten a single bite.

She had originally planned to leave it all to Han Ting to improve his meals, but now she naturally doesn't think so anymore.

Thinking of the aroma of canned meat, Chuxia couldn't help drooling.

So she quickly kneaded the dough and rolled it into small buns, put the buns one by one on the steamer, and then boiled hot water to steam them.

Because the steamed buns are small, they cook quickly when steamed.

It was easy in early summer. I just put the three kinds of steamed buns in one pot and steamed them.

Thinking that it was almost ready to be served, she stood in front of the stove and carefully lifted the lid. The aroma of the steamed buns mixed with the hot air hit her face, which was also very fragrant.

Chuxia put down the lid of the pot, hooked his fingers on the hemp rope, and lifted the steamer out of the pot.

The hemp rope was also hot, so she quickly put the steamer on the table and raised her hands to pinch her ears.

Without waiting for the heat on her fingers to dissipate, she hurried to the dormitory to get a can of food.

I took the can back and sat down. When I opened it and was about to eat, the door curtain was suddenly lifted from the outside.

Chuxia looked up and saw that it was Han Ting.

After Han Ting entered the room, he said, "Are you secretly eating delicious food here?"

As he spoke, he sat down at the table, reached out to pick up a cornmeal bun, brought it to his mouth and took a bite.

The steamed bun was small, so he took half of it in one bite.

Before Chuxia opened her mouth to say anything, he had already started chewing.

While chewing the steamed bun, he said, "Well, it tastes good when it's fresh out of the pot."

As he spoke, he reached out and picked up the chopsticks on the table and put them directly into the can.

This time Chuxia reacted quickly and grabbed the can and put it in her arms.

Han Ting's outstretched chopsticks fell empty, he looked at Chu Xia for a moment and said, "What's wrong?"

Chu Xia held the can without looking at him, and said in a slightly gloomy tone: "The can is mine, and the food is distributed to me per person. If you eat it, I will go hungry."

Han Ting looked at the steamed bun in his hand and was stunned for a while.

Then he laughed and said, "Well, what's the big deal? We don't plan to share with you. If there is not enough food, you can just eat ours."

Chu Xia still lowered her eyebrows and shook her head: "No need."

If that were the case, they would surely come one after another to eat the steamed buns she made and then give her food.

Wouldn't that mean she would suffer more than if she were a partner?

Han Ting slowly put away the smile on his face and put down the chopsticks and the remaining half of the steamed bun.

He stared at Chu Xia for a while and asked, "Tell me, what happened to you?"

Chu Xia didn't answer, she pursed her lips and continued, "Forget about the food I gave you before. Don't eat my food anymore. We have separated, and I need to eat myself."

Han Ting looked at Chu Xia in silence for a while, then nodded and said, "Okay."

Then he asked with concern: "Then tell me, what happened to you these two days?"

Chuxia got up, picked up a pair of chopsticks again, came back and sat down, eating steamed buns and canned braised pork.

She answered Han Ting while eating: "Nothing, I just suddenly came to my senses."

Han Ting looked at her and said, "You're just going to say nothing after you've thought it through. Are you holding back your anger and offending people for no reason? There are more than a dozen of us who came to the countryside together. If we don't unite and help each other, who can we count on?"

Chuxia ate her meal without saying anything.

Han Ting continued, "I heard that you offended Gu Yuzhu last night, just because of a mirror? You don't like looking in the mirror anyway, so if she wants to, then let her. Why are you being so fussy about it?"

When I heard Han Ting say similar things in the past, I thought his generosity made sense.

Listening to it again now, Chuxia couldn't help but feel a little angry.

She didn't want to explain any more, and continued eating, saying, "The mirror is mine. If I want her to look in the mirror, I can. If I don't want her to look in the mirror, I won't. If you think I'm being petty, then I am. It's up to you to think whatever you want."

Han Ting looked at Chu Xia for a while, and said patiently: "Chu Xia, being overly calculative and petty is not a good thing. Let's not talk about others, just take Lin Xiaohan. What's the point of living like him who doesn't care about anyone?"

Chuxia didn’t know whether Lin Xiaohan’s life was interesting or not.

But he didn't treat people with any sincerity at all, it was all calculation, and she really didn't agree with that.

Seeing that Chu Xia didn't respond, Han Ting continued, "I know, you've probably just been in a bad mood these few days, and it will be fine in the past. Let's not talk about the past, I want to tell you something serious now. I heard from the villagers that the brigade has decided to reopen the school and let you be a teacher?"

When Chu Xia heard Han Ting mention this, her nerves instantly tensed up and her alarm bells rang.

If the plot in the novel goes by, Han Ting mentioned this matter to her now because he wanted her to give the opportunity of being a teacher to Su Yun.

She raised her eyes and looked at Han Ting, holding her breath and saying nothing.

Han Ting really looked at her and continued, "I have watched you grow up, and I know best what you are suitable for and what you are not suitable for. I am not suitable to be a teacher. Among the dozen of us, only Su Yun often performs on stage. She reads a lot of books, not only has ideas, but also can sing, dance and do art. She can teach children a lot of things, so she is the most suitable to be a teacher. And she really can't do farm work, so after comprehensive consideration, I think it is best to let Su Yun be the teacher. What do you think?"

I don't think so.

Chuxia wanted to say this sentence right away.

But when the words came to my lips, they seemed to be blocked by something and I couldn't utter them.

Seeing that she didn't say anything, Han Ting just assumed that she agreed.

He added: "I know you have been kind and righteous since childhood, and you are well-behaved and sensible. You will definitely not selfishly refuse this."

Chuxia wanted to refuse very much, but she couldn't say the words.

The fingers that were holding the chopsticks had turned white, and the words that had been squeezed to the corner of her mouth couldn't come out. She was so anxious that her heart was flustered and sweat was coming out on her forehead.

She suddenly remembered that it was the same thing last night when she wanted to refuse Han Ting's partnership.

It seemed as if she was restrained by something and was unable to reject Han Ting as she wished.

She held her breath and thought to herself - could it be that even though she had awakened her self-consciousness, she was unable to escape the key plot of the original text? Does she have to soberly watch herself follow the main plot of the original text?

no.

This is absolutely not allowed.

If she agreed to this and was then controlled by the plot, wouldn't that be more painful than death? If that's the case, it would be better not to awaken.

Chuxia clenched her fingers and tried to break free from this restraint.

But the harder he tried, the less he could say, and soon beads of sweat broke out on his forehead.

Han Ting was still talking to her according to his own ideas. "Tomorrow, take some time to go to Captain Liang and tell him about this matter. If he disagrees, I will take you to talk to the secretary."

After hearing this, Chuxia felt pain all over her body.

She still tried her best to refuse, so hard that the veins on her forehead emerged, but it just didn't work.

Then, just as she was about to feel despair, a sneer suddenly came from the door.

Chu Xia and Han Ting turned around and saw Lin Xiaohan enter the kitchen.

The moment she saw Lin Xiaohan enter the room, Chu Xia felt that the invisible restraint on her body suddenly disappeared.

At the moment when the restraint disappeared, she quickly stood up from the table and subconsciously took two steps towards Lin Xiaohan, saying decisively and eagerly: "I won't go, I refuse, I won't let you go."

Han Ting was already feeling unhappy because he suddenly saw Lin Xiaohan with a sneer on his face.

Hearing Chu Xia suddenly say this again, his brows suddenly frowned.

He looked at Chu Xia and was about to speak again.

Chu Xia immediately raised her hands to cover her ears and interrupted him, saying, "Don't say anything more. I will not give the opportunity to be a teacher to Su Yun. It's your business if you like her, want to take care of her, and want to be good to her. It has nothing to do with me. Please don't drag me into this. I don't want to be taken advantage of!"