Time flies, and in the blink of an eye, it is April 1968. April is the most beautiful month in the world, and no one can resist the temptation of spring.

——Spring is warm, flowers are blooming, trees are lush, and grass is green. It is so beautiful.

But this year no one had time to appreciate it. The spring breeze in April was very cool, and the willow and poplar catkins in the sky were carried away by the wind, swaying in the wind and falling on pedestrians, walls, and the end of the street.

It can't help but make people upset.

Inside the office, Jin Lijuan frowned as she took a sip of tea from her enamel pot. She was worried. She had been careless for a moment. Just then, the Revolutionary Committee issued a notice emphasizing the need to mobilize the "third batch" of graduates to go to the countryside.

Her second daughter had just received her graduation certificate, and she saw that there were still a few months left before the end of the third year of junior high school, so she thought there was no need to rush.

Who would have thought that the neighborhood committee would notify her children yesterday to go to the countryside? She had considered doing the same as everyone else, either using her connections to quickly find a job and stay in the city.

But the year before last, after her eldest son graduated, he insisted on volunteering to join the military corps, and she and her husband finally arranged a job for that bastard last year.

This is really unavoidable.

But these words could not be uttered to anyone, otherwise, all kinds of accusations would be put on her. What made her even more worried was that her second daughter at home was so happy to hear the news that she couldn't wait to leave Beijing.

This damn girl is so heartless. How could she know what life is like in the Corps or in the countryside? Ultimately, it's my fault that my husband and I protected our child too naively.

Jin Lijuan had no idea that when a leader from Yunnan Province was giving propaganda to those educated young people, he emphasized the description of the fairyland-like "Charming Yunnan" and "South of the Colorful Clouds".

Everyone listened with fascination, and the children, who were still young and inexperienced in the world, were deeply attracted by the story.

That was really a lot of empty talk, with saliva flying everywhere.

People say that when you go to Yunnan Province, you can wear carrots on your head and sugarcane under your feet. If you fall, you can reach out and get a handful of peanuts as thick as your thumb. There is also beautiful ethnic minority customs!

Of course, we can't blame this person entirely. Many young people with lofty ideals are now enthusiastic about "going to the countryside." Last winter, many Red Guards wrote oaths to pledge their determination to go to the countryside and submitted them to their superiors.

Given this general trend, it's inevitable that there will be some ideological clashes between parents and children. The slogan "Go to the countryside, go to the frontiers, go to where the motherland needs you most!" is particularly appealing to city kids.

"Whoever has tickets, no matter what they are, give them to me first, and I will make it up to you later." She thought about it and since it couldn't be changed, she might as well prepare things early and bring them to the child.

Zhou Jiao didn't care when she heard that. You know, the other party was her eldest cousin's wife's niece. Both the husband and wife were working, and the eldest son also worked. She borrowed the bills just to add something to the family.

She wasn't being ostentatious; she took two months' worth of industrial coupons and a few half-pound sugar coupons. She had nothing else. It wasn't that she was stingy; besides her salary and industrial coupons, she also had some company welfare coupons. Her family provided for her needs year-round, and everyone knew it.

The other two male colleagues were even worse off than her. Apart from a few pocket money and food coupons in their pockets, all the financial power was in the hands of their wives.

Jin Lijuan knew what was going on. After thanking the three of them, she took the enamel pot and went out for half an hour. When she came back, her brows were furrowed even more tightly, as if she was about to pinch a fly to death.

At work, the other party usually protects Zhou Jiao.

Seeing this, Zhou Jiao broke her habit of not liking to talk too much at work and looked at her. "What other tickets do you need? I'll go back and get them."

Jin Lijuan smiled gratefully. She no longer concealed the truth and whispered, "My second daughter is going to Yunnan Province to be an educated youth."

Zhou Jiao frowned immediately upon hearing this and paused, "The child is going?"

Her implication was that if the child didn't want to go, Jin Lijuan, with her connections over the years, could still stop them. She didn't quite agree with going to the countryside, but everyone had their own thoughts, and it wouldn't be good to say too much.

Jin Lijuan nodded with a wry smile.

So far, Zhou Jiao has not seen any other children in the other party's family except for the eldest son who came to the unit once, and she doesn't know what the other party's daughter looks like.

She wasn't one to pry into other people's privacy, so after thinking for a while, she asked, "Do we really have to go to Yun Province? Isn't it too far? A place farther out in the suburbs would be fine too."

"It's confirmed."

Since that was the case, Zhou Jiao didn't say much. She had originally wanted to ask the other party if they could let the child apply to go to her hometown in Northeast China so that they could take care of him, but then she realized that since the child had to go, he was probably a radical in his thinking. It was better not to harm the old captain.

After all, in the words of the villagers, these girls are incompetent, lazy and spoiled. They are all spoiled by their parents and take a long time to adapt to rural life.

From making fire to working in the fields, working according to the farmers' schedule, working from sunrise to sunset is not an easy task. Not to mention the language barrier, even the busy farming season is exhausting. Just like when she first came here, she was very tired and uncomfortable every time she went to the countryside to study agriculture at school.

But that's life, you have to adapt and conquer it.

"Children are debts. She's making a fuss about leaving, but as a mother, I have to prepare something for her. Otherwise, I won't be able to sleep if I think about it too much."

Indeed! Zhou Jiao patted her comfortingly and said with a smile, "Then you sort out these tickets and see if there's anything missing. I'll go back and find someone to collect them. If there really isn't anything, then there's nothing I can do."

Jin Lijuan felt relieved upon hearing this. She knew Zhou Jiao well enough to know that if she could get her to say these things, the problem would basically be solved. She had considered going directly to Zhou Jiao before, perhaps offering her old military uniforms or military coupons. But if she didn't speak up, she always felt awkward, as if she was specifically after the girl.

Like Zhou Jiao, there were several others who sought Zhang Guoqing's help. Fortunately, they were all in the same compound, and they all knew how much they were supposed to receive each month and year based on their rank, so it didn't put him in a difficult position.

The era of sending educated youth to the countryside was in full swing. Not to mention outside, even in the compound, many wild children would rather go to the countryside than join the army.

These days are very lively, with farewell drinks, farewell drinks... all kinds of gatherings.

Compared with those brothers who have parents and elders around them at home, the most pitiful ones are the young girls and boys whose parents are under quarantine and investigation.

Some people rely on a monthly subsidy of 20 yuan and basic food supplies and are unwilling to leave the capital. Zhang Guoqing understands this very well.

We are all born and raised by our parents. Who can bear to go far away and not care about their parents and elders who have not returned yet? For such people, he will help them as much as he can.

As for those brothers and sisters who were despised by their peers and whose parents had already decided to send them down to the countryside, he and Zhou Jiao not only gave them a small amount of financial support in public like everyone else, but also gave them big gifts in secret.

Before entering the compound, he may have had an investment mentality to some extent, but after so many years of living together, he has feelings for even every blade of grass and every tree in the compound, not to mention these friends who used to play crazy together.