Chapter 145 Educated Youth in the 1970s (Part 9) I Want to Build! I Want to Learn...

For various reasons, the Xinhe Village brigade headquarters did not publicly criticize Zhang Shuda and Chen Shi, but handled the matter internally. Two days later, both of them were transferred out of Xinhe Village.

According to Qin Tiezhu's private words, they were transferred by the county's information office to the Baishan logging camp, where they would have to do voluntary labor for several years! Song Ce was taken aback for a moment, then smiled faintly and continued with the repair work he was doing.

In the blink of an eye, a week has passed.

The temperature in Xinhe Village has been above 30 degrees Celsius for the past few days, and the scorching sun makes people's skin burn. The intense wheat harvesting work in recent days has been particularly strenuous for the three newly arrived female educated youth.

Wu Wangliu wiped the sweat from her forehead and bent down again to continue cutting wheat. By the time she had almost finished cutting her assigned plot, her back and waist were aching. She gritted her teeth, looked at her palms where the skin had been chafed by the sickle, and felt a burning pain.

"Wang Liu, come and rest for a while, have some water!" Not far away, Qi Ziling straightened up, laughed heartily, and shouted to her.

Wu Wangliu nodded and responded.

Zhang Shuda and Chen Shi, who had come with her this time, were urgently transferred away for some unknown reason. The brigade's explanation was that there were places where their contributions were needed more. But she knew that was just an excuse.

What reasons would a sent-down youth be transferred away? It must be because they made a mistake, and a serious one at that... Thinking of this, she felt a mix of emotions.

Of the three new female educated youths who arrived in Xinhe Village, Qi Ziling was the most straightforward and generous. Undeniably, even someone like her would find it difficult to genuinely dislike Qi Ziling.

And Jian Fangning? She's a shy girl with no guile and nothing particularly admirable about her personality. Yet, this very person is favored by that man and takes care of him in every way.

She was somewhat puzzled. She could understand his favoritism towards Qi Ziling, after all, Qi Ziling was dating his older brother and would be his future sister-in-law. But that girl Jian Fangning… Wu Wangliu was confident that she was superior to her in looks, figure, and family background, yet that man was polite to her but not close enough.

Why?

On what grounds?

Wu Wangliu pursed her lips and dragged her weary body to the edge of the field. Qi Ziling smiled at her, handed her an enamel mug full of water, and said, "Wangliu, drink up, this is cooled boiled water, it's been sitting in the old well for a while, it's refreshingly cool!"

At this moment, Jian Fangning also came over, blushing, and said that she had finished harvesting the wheat in the field. Wu Wangliu glanced at her, only said "hmm", and then tilted his head back and gulped down more than half a vat of water.

"Sister Ziling, Sister Wangliu, do you think Brother Song can really fix the tractor?" Jian Fangning asked softly.

Hearing this, Wu Wangliu's expression remained calm, but she was inwardly annoyed. Didn't Song Ce have a name? What did Jian Fangning mean by calling him "brother"? Wasn't this just asking for trouble?

"I think he can! Xiao Ce is a capable kid. If he wasn't confident, he definitely wouldn't have boasted to the captain." Qi Ziling took a sip of water and said with a smile.

"Even if Xiao Ce can't fix it, it's understandable. He's young and still a child. The captain probably won't blame him too much..." Qi Ziling silently added in her mind.

Wu Wangliu's expression remained unchanged, and he said softly, "Whether it can be repaired or not is his business... Let's not worry about Song Zhiqing's matter too much. Today, the brigade leader assigned us six plots of land to work on. If we don't hurry up and get to work, we'll probably have to work until dark."

Jian Fangning was taken aback, then blushed. She quickly stood up and said apologetically, "Sister Wang Liu is right, I'll go back to work now."

"Okay, let's go! I'll go too."

...

At this moment, Song Ce tightened the last screw and said to the excited Captain Qin Guangde behind him, "Captain, it's done."

Upon hearing this, Qin Guangde's face lit up and he stepped forward to confirm again, "Comrade Xiao Song, is it really fixed?"

Song Ce wiped the sweat from his brow, smiled, and picked up the tractor crank, saying, "We'll see if we try." With that, he cranked the handle and slowly started the tractor. Soon, the tractor sputtered to life, the sound somewhat noisy, but to Qin Guangde's ears, it was like heavenly music!

Unexpectedly, Comrade Xiao Song actually fixed the tractor in the brigade that had been broken for several years!

Qin Guangde excitedly stepped forward, patted Song Ce on the shoulder, and laughed loudly, "Good lad! Our Xinhe Village needs talents like you! You've really helped our brigade a lot this time!" After saying that, he couldn't wait to jump onto the tractor, sit in the driver's seat, and drive Uncle Li, Uncle Qian, and several other villagers toward the wheat field with a beaming smile.

The villagers of Xinhe Village, who were working in the fields, heard the sound of a tractor in the distance. They were startled at first, and then they all put down their work and looked in the direction of the sound.

"Tractor! It's a tractor! The tractor in our brigade is ready!"

"Great! This will definitely speed up the wheat harvest in Xinhe Village!"

"The captain is really capable! Where did he find such an expert?"

"Hey? You don't know? This tractor was repaired by Comrade Song Ce, a new educated youth who came to our village!"

"Really? Comrade Song Ce is so amazing!"

"Of course! He's a progressive young man!"

...

Hearing the villagers' occasional exclamations of praise, Qi Ziling said proudly, "See, I told you Xiao Ce could do it!"

"Mmm!" Jian Fangning's face flushed red as she excitedly responded.

Wu Wangliu didn't speak, only a faint smile on her lips, as she continued cutting wheat. However, she seemed even more energetic than before.

After that, Wu Wangliu truly witnessed Song Ce's abilities. This long-abandoned tractor was just the beginning; in the following month, Song Ce actually independently developed a combine harvester.

It's called a harvester, but it's not a simple harvester. The machine he researched is a combined machine that can complete the processes of harvesting, threshing, separating stalks, and removing debris from wheat in one go, directly harvesting wheat grains from the field.

When this simple harvester appeared in the fields, all the villagers in Xinhe Village were thrilled!

At first, they thought this young educated youth only had some minor skills, but they never expected that he could actually make a machine on his own using the scrapped machines in the scrap yard!

Some of them had seen threshers and harvesters before, but they had only vaguely heard of advanced machines that combined the two directly, which were only found abroad. Unexpectedly, the combine harvester harvested nearly 100 acres of wheat on its first day of trial use!

The older villagers in Xinhe Village watched this scene with tears in their eyes. After the combine harvester stopped, they couldn't wait to gather around it, touching and looking at it, as if they couldn't understand how such a dilapidated machine could be so powerful.

Standing at the front of the crowd, Qin Guangde felt a surge of pride as he listened to the villagers' exclamations of amazement. Uncle Li stroked the old exterior of the combine harvester, his voice trembling slightly: "If... if our village could apply to the organization for new parts, Comrade Song could definitely make a brand new machine exactly like it! Would our village still have to worry about harvesting wheat? It's truly amazing!"

Song Ce smiled gently and replied, "Uncle Li, this is the first generation of the machine, and there are still many areas that can be improved." As soon as he finished speaking, the villagers who had gathered around started to chatter.

"Improve it? What's there to improve? This machine is already amazing!"

"Uncle, what Comrade Song means is that after the improvements, we might be able to harvest two or three hundred mu a day!"

"Wow! A really impressive person has come to Xinhe Village this time!"

"Absolutely! We'll save so much effort when we harvest wheat from now on!"

Standing on the periphery of the crowd, Wu Wangliu watched the man being surrounded by the villagers, a complex mix of emotions welling up inside her. From the beginning, she had thought that Song Ce was a good catch, and that by spending more time with him, perhaps his family had connections and could get him transferred back to the city sooner. Then, as his fiancée, she could definitely go back to the city with him.

But she hadn't expected that despite her efforts to be kind, Song Ce would remain indifferent. His polite and courteous manner made her feel like she was basking in a warm spring breeze. Yet, she had a strange feeling that she would never be able to enter his heart…

Clearly... clearly I am the best choice, aren't I?

As she was thinking, Qi Ziling pulled Jian Fangning to squeeze next to her, nudged her shoulder, and said with a grin, "Wang Liu, look how amazing Xiao Ce is!"

Wu Wangliu gave a soft "hmm," and for the first time, she didn't look at Jian Fangning's reaction. Her gaze never left Song Ce.

In the afternoon, news that the newly arrived educated youth in Xinhe Village had invented a combine harvester spread like wildfire to several nearby villages.

Even before the next day was over, the village leaders of Xiangyang Village, Guanzhai Village, and Jinbu Village each brought several villagers to the door that evening, insisting on seeing this amazing combine harvester.

Without saying a word, Qin Guangde waved his hand, signaling Song Ce to demonstrate for them. As the harvester started again, the golden wheat ears were swept into it, and in the blink of an eye, plump grains of wheat were released.

The people from Xiangyang Village, Guanzhai Village, and Jinbu Village were all stunned.

"Um... Captain Qin, Song Zhiqing, could we borrow this machine?" The head of Xiangyang Village asked with a forced smile, rubbing his hands together.

"Captain Zhao, we came together, why should your brigade borrow it first?" The brigade leader of Guanzhai Village was displeased upon hearing this and immediately retorted.

"That's right, that's right! Let's be fair, let's draw lots!" the village head of Jinbu Village chimed in.

Upon hearing this, Qin Guangde laughed heartily, his face beaming, and said, "We all live in several nearby villages, so we should help each other out. But our village still has a lot of work to finish! So, after a meeting at the brigade headquarters, it was decided that the harvester for Xinhe Village will not be lent out for the time being."

"Old Tan, we've known each other for so many years, you can't be so clingy!" The head of Jinbu Village quickly pulled Tan Guangde over, trying to get on his good side with a big smile.

Qin Guangde simply patted the other man's hand and said politely, "Old Zhou! It's not that I don't want to help, it's just that we haven't finished harvesting the wheat in our fields yet! Once we're done with this busy period, if the machines are available, I'll..."

Before he could finish speaking, the village head of Guanzhai Village became unhappy and said loudly, "Old Tan, I, Old Feng, have known you for decades. If we're talking about relationships, aren't we the closest?"

"Yes, yes, Lao Feng, you're right..."

“If you put it that way, Lao Tan is my wife’s niece’s uncle! Our two families are related!” Captain Zhao of Xiangyang Village retorted.

Seeing the team leaders arguing heatedly, Qin Guangde, adhering to the principle of not offending either side, immediately came up with an idea.

"Hey, Lao Feng, Lao Zhao, Lao Zhou! Don't be anxious! I think we can still discuss this." Qin Guangde raised his voice, recalling what Song Ce had told him, and said with a smile, "Our Xinhe Village can lend out machinery, but... you'll have to contribute some grain and diesel, how about that?"

The three brigade leaders fell into deep thought upon hearing this. After a while, Zhao, the brigade leader from Xiangyang Village, spoke first: "Providing diesel oil is fine, but how do you calculate the grain?"

Qin Guangde smiled and said, "This matter... won't there be some wear and tear from using this machine? Let's discuss it properly! Old Zhao, don't worry! Don't you all know what kind of person I, Qin, am? I definitely won't let anyone suffer a loss."

Captain Feng of Guanzhai Village stroked his chin and said in a deep voice, "Old Tan, it's not that we're unwilling to give, but we're worried that if we give too much grain, the members of the brigade might not be happy."

Zhou, the team leader of Jinbu Village, nodded in agreement: "That's right! These days, food is precious to every household. If I agree to your request, I'm afraid I won't be able to explain it to everyone when I get back."

Qin Guangde nodded and said slowly, "I understand the difficulties you all face. How about this? I won't hold back. How about this number?" As he spoke, he shook his right index and middle fingers.

"That's a lot..."

"Let's discuss it again..."

After some haggling, Sancun finally reached an agreement with Qin Guangde.