Knock knock knock,

Upon hearing the knock, Zhan Chunlan knew who it was without even turning around; apart from Xiao Cheng, no one else was so "polite"!

"What?" Zhan Chunlan stood up, crossed her arms, and leaned against the door frame. Looking at the bright young man in front of her, she raised her right eyebrow slightly. She had to remember this face carefully, because she wouldn't see it again before returning to the city. Hahaha, just thinking about it made her happy (*^▽^*)

"What am I supposed to do? There's no one at home." He only knew Zhan Chunlan here, and he wanted to be with her all the time so that he wouldn't feel so lost.

“If you get up any later, everyone will be out working in the fields. Just turn right when you go out and keep walking straight. I’ve already told them, and they’ll call you when they see you.” Zhan Chunlan went directly to the woodpile and pulled out a large bamboo basket, handing it to him.

Xiao Cheng set off with his basket on his back. Fortunately, there weren't many side roads here. Walking on these country lanes with a basket on his back felt quite nice. Thinking of Tao Yuanming's "picking chrysanthemums by the eastern fence," it seemed pretty good.

"tear--"

Xiao Cheng was shocked as he was working on it; a radish actually had thorns?

He was pulling with all his might when the invisible thorn pierced his palm without warning. The pain shot through him instantly, causing him to immediately drop the radish, shake his right hand vigorously in the air, and then gently exhale through his mouth.

Zhan Honghui looked at the person in front of him who was taller and bigger than them, and saw that even pulling a radish was so difficult for him. He shook his head and couldn't bear to watch.

He glanced at Zhan Honglin, who was two years younger than him, and saw him intently pulling up radishes, piling them up into a small mountain. Hmm, it seemed that he was the only one acting strangely.

Forget it, Mom already said that no matter how much or how little he does, he's doing it for free anyway, so we shouldn't complain.

Xiao Cheng squinted for a long time before finally finding the thorn stuck in his palm. He pinched two fingers and carefully pulled the thorn out. Whew, that felt much better.

He looked up, ready to continue, but wait, where's the radish in front of him?

In that brief moment, Zhan Honghui and Zhan Honglin had already pulled themselves out three to five meters.

Are these kids really that strong? Or do they have some kind of way to avoid being stabbed?

"No, we're used to it. Our hands are calloused, and thorns can't pierce them." When Zhan Honglin heard his question, he patiently answered him, considering that they would be sharing a bed in the future, and held out his hands for him to examine carefully.

The hands before him, well, they looked somewhat mature. The palms were rough, with obvious grooves and dark marks; moreover, there was a thick layer of calluses on the palms and knuckles. He felt a pang of sadness: "Will Comrade Luo Shan's hands become like this after she went to the countryside?"

Zhan Honglin: "Huh? Who?"

“One of my classmates went to the countryside, to a place even farther than where I am.” Xiao Cheng felt a pang of sympathy for Comrade Luo Shan when he thought of her, and his words unconsciously carried a hint of sadness.

Zhan Honglin didn't understand his strange tone. What was wrong with going to the countryside? He was born here and would spend the rest of his life here anyway. However, he still answered seriously, "Probably so. Everyone in our brigade has hands like this. Adults' hands are even rougher than mine."

Perhaps because they were all locals and there was no comparison, he thought about it carefully and then said, "Last year, a group of educated youth came to our brigade. When they first arrived, they were just like you, and now their hands are about the same size as mine."

"Ah?" Xiao Cheng felt even more distressed. He thought of Ms. Fang Yun's slender and delicate hands and made a decision! "I'll call my mom later and ask her to send some face cream to Comrade Luo Shan for me."

"Zhan Honglin, what are you standing there for? Everyone else has finished pulling them out!" Zhan Honghui was so focused on pulling out radishes that he didn't notice the two boys had already started chatting to the side!

Although Xiao Cheng is free labor, if he does a little more, his family members can do less. How can he expect Zhan Honglin to refuse to work as well?

Xiao Cheng found his group and was assigned to a team with Zhan Honghui and Zhan Honglin. The three of them were to pull up the radishes in this field.

"Got it, right away!" Zhan Honglin immediately snapped out of his daze and shoved a hoe into Xiao Cheng's hand: "If you really don't know how to pull them out, just use the hoe to dig them up. Just be careful not to damage the radishes, or you'll have to pay for it. You don't have any work points to begin with, and you don't want to work for free, do you?"

Xiao Cheng gripped the hoe in his hand, nodded, and began carefully digging up radishes.

The Xiangshu Brigade has always grown round radishes, which are mostly easy to pull out; with a gentle tug, the radish comes out.

Xiao Cheng, who was not used to farm work, did not think so. Some radishes were indeed easy to dig, but many others required a lot of effort. If he used too much force, he would get pricked. He decided to just dig them out honestly, at least that would be easier on his hands.

Half an hour later, he looked at the blisters on his palms and wondered why using a hoe could cause blisters on his hands.

As Zhan Honghui turned to throw the radish back, he saw Xiao Cheng standing there quietly, lost in thought. He shook his head. "Forget it," he thought. "Weren't we like this when the educated youth first came down? We'll get used to it after a while."

Zhan Honglin, perhaps being younger, couldn't remain indifferent. Upon approaching, he noticed blisters on Zhan's hands and said nonchalantly, "It's like this for the first few days of using a hoe; calluses will grow and it will be fine."

Xiao Cheng shook his hand and continued.

This hurt even more; my hand ached whenever it touched the hoe, and it hurt even more when I moved it. "Life in the countryside is so hard, how will Comrade Luo Shan manage there?"

Zhan Honglin was speechless. He glanced at him from head to toe. "You? Or are you just feeling sorry for someone else? I bet they're used to it by now!"

"Forget it, don't pull up the radishes anymore. Just carry them to the drying ground." He really couldn't stand it anymore. Would carrying the radishes cause any more problems?

Xiao Cheng also felt that carrying radishes shouldn't require much skill, so he enthusiastically filled his basket with radishes until it was full: "Heh~ Sure enough, I just hadn't found a suitable job yet. I'm doing pretty well here."

He walked to the bamboo basket with a smile, slowly squatted down, placed the two straps of the basket on his shoulders, and slowly stood up—still no luck? He adjusted his posture and tried again—still no luck. He refused to believe it, so he braced himself with his hands on the ground, hoping to use the strength of his limbs to get up—

It didn't budge an inch!

He looked around and saw that everyone was busy working and no one was paying attention to him. He breathed a sigh of relief, quickly stood up, took half of the radish out of the basket, and tried again. Although it was difficult, he managed to stand up, albeit unsteadily.

He stood still, adjusted the two shoulder straps slightly, and slowly walked towards the drying ground.

The weight of the half-carried radish made it impossible for him to stand up straight. He could only walk forward with his head down, glancing up at the road every now and then before continuing to walk forward with his head down.

"Brother Xiao Cheng, what brings you here to carry radishes?"

A cheerful female voice came from the side. Xiao Cheng turned his head and recognized her. He had seen her yesterday, but he didn't know her name.

"Pulling radishes is too strenuous, carrying them on your back is a bit easier," Xiao Cheng replied breathlessly, completely unlike the girl next to her who seemed relaxed. Hmm~ judging from her tone, you could tell she probably carried very few.

"Pulling radishes is hard work? I'd rather keep pulling radishes all the time." The girl was a little puzzled. Why would someone find carrying things so easy?

"Never mind, Brother Xiao Cheng, you're walking too slowly, I won't wait for you, I'll go ahead first."

As soon as he finished speaking, a petite girl appeared in front of Xiao Cheng carrying a full basket of radishes on her back. She took big, fast steps, and it was impossible to tell that she was putting in any effort.

His back was bent from being weighed down.

Xiao Cheng was speechless. He silently imitated the girl, putting his thumbs under the straps to hold them. Sure enough, his shoulders weren't so tight anymore.