Just as she was thinking about how to help her father solve the problem, Shi Rushuang lifted the lid of the pot and said to her daughter, who was sitting there with her thoughts wandering, "Qingqing, stop burning the firewood. Don't you still need to wash your hair?"

"Hey! I'll wash it right away." Gu Qingqing woke up as if from a dream. She quickly took out the firewood and soap beans, and put the red charcoal left after the hard firewood was burned into a clay pot, and pressed the opening with a wooden board.

She stood up, took a red enamel basin, scooped two scoops of hot water, picked up the roasted soapberries on the ground, tore them into pieces and threw them into the basin, then took the pressurized water from the well and added cool water.

Gu Qingqing has waist-length hair. Since she was a child, Rushuang taught her that girls should take care of their hair and wash their hair frequently with soap nuts.

The good thing is that her hair is now black and shiny, and it goes smoothly without tangles when she combs it.

Girls of the same age in the village all envied her braids.

After she washed her hair and took a bath, her uncle and cousins ​​came back from the fields carrying hoes. Gu Bao's feet were covered in yellow mud. He shouted to Gu Qingqing, "Hey, niece, don't put away the basin. Bring me a basin of water so I can wash my feet. If I step on mud all over the yard, your grandma will punish me again!"

"He's coming!" Gu Qingqing fetched a basin of well water and went over. She looked around and wondered, "Where's my father? Why hasn't he come back?"

"Carry the things and go to Uncle Xu's house." Gu Bao's two white and tender feet stepped on each other, and the ground was covered with yellow mud.

"I listened to your grandfather and went to seek advice from Uncle Xu."

As soon as they came back from the private plot in the backyard, Gu Jin walked towards the village entrance carrying two kilograms of dried melon wine without saying a word.

It seems that his elder brother is really unsure.

Gu Qingqing thought it was a good thing for her father to ask Grandpa Xu for advice. After all, Grandpa Xu had been the captain for so many years and must have a lot of experience.

She put away the washbasin, went back to her room, got a dry towel to dry her hair, blew out the kerosene lamp and prepared to go to bed.

This time she heard the clear whistle before daybreak, from near to far. She rubbed her eyes and fished out an old pocket watch from beside her pillow. It was the watch her third uncle bought for her from the city.

It’s exactly five o’clock, not a minute less.

Gu Qingqing sighed and got out of bed.

Only a faint light was visible from the horizon. Shi Rushuang was kneading dough to prepare steamed buns, while Han Lianxin was adding firewood to the stove while yawning.

"Fortunately it's not winter now, otherwise I would be too lazy to get up." Han Lianxin was sleepy, and suddenly she was happy when she thought of something: "Sister-in-law, I think my brother really has some qualities of a captain. I think he has inherited my uncle's special skills."

Shi Rushuang glared at her and said, "You, just tease your elder brother. Don't tell me, I still feel good when I hear the whistle. Otherwise, I always feel like something is missing."

"That's right. When Uncle Xu was in office, he worked diligently every day and almost became the timekeeper of our Datunzi Village."

"Mother, Second Aunt." Gu Qingqing came in carrying a red enamel basin, opened the lid of the pot and scooped out two spoonfuls of hot water.

"Dad has not been sleeping in since today."

"Your father feels little. Apart from your grandma, he is the first one to get up every day. It would be good for him to have something to do."

Gu Jin didn't come back until breakfast. His steps were brisk and his expression was as if it was a sunny and cloudless summer day.

It seems that he got the true teachings from Grandpa Xu.

Gu Qingqing thought.

Today is the last day of rice harvest. Gu Jin assigned tasks to the members in the morning: "Women and older uncles will go to harvest and thresh the rice, and the young and strong will go to plow and cultivate the land in preparation for autumn sowing."

After saying this, his eyes fell on the five educated youths who came yesterday.

"You...you go and weed the fields and apply fertilizer." We have been busy with the two-wheeled farming recently and have not done much work in the fields.

After the distribution, the members went to the custodian to get the farm tools. Gu Qingqing and Qian Guihua still partnered to cart the millet. The oldest old man in the village said that the weather would change in two days.

Millet cannot be exposed to rain, otherwise it can only be eaten by chickens if it sprouts.

Nowadays, most members of the production team can barely fill their stomachs, so how can they waste food like this?

Qin Wu walked over with his hands behind his back, and as soon as he opened his mouth, he said something strange: "The long talk with Uncle Xu last night turned out well. The two kilograms of melon-shaped wine were not in vain."

"Uncle Xu is a nice person, unlike you." Gu Jin replied with a smile.

"What's wrong with me?" Qin Wu glared at him and said, "I picked you up by the wrong person. We still have to work together. Please be more gentle when you talk to me."

"Okay, okay." Gu Jin pulled his arm and walked to the field: "Let's go check on those educated youth first. I don't think they are good at doing things."

"Stop talking," Qin Wu tried to shake the fool off but found that he couldn't. He was surprised for a moment because he didn't expect him to have so much strength. "When I talk about these educated youth, my cheeks hurt. I feel weak when I walk. I fall down if the wind blows."

"They came at the right time. They came just as the robbery was about to end. Otherwise, they would have cried and wanted to go back to the city."

Although Gu Jin didn't know why he had such a big grudge against the educated youth, he couldn't help but frown when he saw the male educated youth digging the soil not far away with a listless look on his face, muttering, "If they continue to do this, they won't hoe the soil at all, and the hoe will ruin my job..."

"Isn't that right?" Qin Wu rolled his eyes at him unhappily. "The educated youth who came here before were like this too. Uncle Xu's hair turned white with worry. He wished they could hurry back to the city."

"Don't act like I'm..." Qin Wu remembered that he was no longer in the army but was the secretary of a party branch. He swallowed the curse words that were about to come out of his mouth and blushed: "Don't act like I'm targeting them. They're not as good as a three-year-old child. Who would respect them?!"

"I didn't say you were targeting them." Gu Jin still had a silly smile on his face: "I just want to discuss something with you."

"What's the matter?" Qin Wu looked at him warily: "What bad shit are you holding back?" Others think Gu Hanzi is honest and simple, but he doesn't think so.

Those smiling clerks in the army are full of bad intentions, and it is these stubborn people who do all the hard work.

"…It's like this," Gu Jin cleared his throat, "I was thinking that the members of our production team are not very energetic. After the double-drought period, we will have to repair the river bank and dig ditches. In two months, it will be the flood season."

"A young laborer like us can only earn 75 yuan in work points in a year, which is not even as much as your Hu Zi earns in the city in three months, let alone buying a Feige brand bicycle."

"Why are you dragging our Hu Zi down with you?" Qin Wu pulled his hand out of his arms. "What's the use of hugging each other like this, old masters? If you have something to say, just say it."

"Let's call on the production team. Most of them just shout slogans without putting in any effort. There is no clear production plan." Gu Jin was not bothered by being thrown away: "It's useless to have determination. We have to do practical things."

"I plan to implement piece-rate pay and divide the farm work into groups. Qin Mengzi, what do you think?" After Gu Jin finished speaking, he was still a little nervous. He rubbed his hands and waited eagerly for Qin Wu's response.