"I know that. Even if we run out of food, we can just wait for the next harvest and buy more from the team or trade with the villagers."

"We definitely need to buy some from the production team; we don't even know if we'll have enough grain to eat."

"Ah, Mianmian, you don't have enough either," Chen Junjie asked.

"I don't know! I've never experienced such strenuous labor before, and I didn't know I had so much strength or how much I could eat. I just know that the more effort I put in, the faster I get hungry and the more I eat."

"Oh, I see."

"Then you can't work yourself to death. Besides, no matter how much you do, the team leader can't give you more work points, can he?"

"That's true. When the work was assigned yesterday, the team leader arranged for me to work behind his wife's back. This couple usually gets 6 work points, but they get 8 work points during the autumn harvest."

"Who can argue with that?"

“If I give you 10 work points, you’ll do 10. But didn’t I hear yesterday? Anyone who finishes early can go to the points clerk to get more work, and they’ll get the exact amount they need.” Chen Enpeng

"Okay, we'll collect it after we finish the work. In any case, it's work points, and we can get more when the grain is distributed."

"Who can argue with that?"

At the end of the day, I earned 12 work points. The team leader's wife, after finishing her work, received an additional 2 work points. Including myself, only five women could earn 12 work points in a day. The highest number of men could earn was 16. Most earned 12-14 work points. Those earning 10 work points were all over 50 years old, and even those over 60 could earn 8. Children over 15 could earn 8-10 work points, and children under 15 who could work in the fields could earn 2-6 work points.

However, each household would leave one person behind or go back an hour early to cook. Many families ate in the fields. On the first day, we didn't know we could bring our food to eat in the fields. Starting from the second day, the three of us also brought our food and ate in the fields, and we could even rest for a while afterward.

I hadn't anticipated eating in the fields, so I hadn't prepared much. I couldn't bring out my large meat buns made from a mixture of wheat and water. I had to eat cornbread instead. Luckily, I had saved some broth from the braised pork and used it to cook vegetables. By lunchtime, the food was cold, and the pork flavor wasn't strong. Besides, the villagers ate in the fields in groups, so the three of us educated youth ate far away. As a woman, I certainly couldn't sit with the two men, so I sat about five meters away from them.

To make it convenient for each household to eat, the production brigade was quite humane, generally arranging meals together or not far from each other's homes.

The villagers didn't really like the three of us educated youths working with them, but we had no choice but to be assigned to the same team. Also, the three of us were quite fast workers, so even if we weren't working together, they wouldn't object to us being in the same team.

To ensure a safe and successful harvest, the following harvesting methods are employed: 1) Harvest lodged crops first, then normal crops; 2) Harvest mature crops first, then late-maturing crops; 3) Harvest cash crops first, then grain crops; 4) Harvest seed fields first, then general fields; 5) Harvest hilly and riverine land first, then low-lying land. Rice, spring wheat, and soybeans are harvested first, generally in September, followed by peanuts, sweet potatoes, and corn, usually in October, and finally cabbage.

After harvesting the crops in the fields, every day when I got home, I still had to find time to harvest the grain from the free land.

To encourage the members' enthusiasm, the brigade leaders specially set up several awards. For example, the top three boys and girls in the autumn harvest would receive a thermos, an enamel basin, and an enamel mug, respectively. The top three children under 15 would receive a notebook, an exercise book, and a pencil, respectively.

There was also a special reward: whoever earned the most work points during the autumn harvest would receive 20 jin (10 kg) of grain as a bonus. The entire village, men, women, and the elderly, pitched in for it, all striving for those 20 jin of grain. Don't forget, those 20 jin of grain could be considered a man's food supply for half a month!

The autumn harvest in the north lasts a very long time, from early September to mid-October, about fifty days in total. Those fifty days are truly exhausting, let's just talk about myself.

The original three stir-fried chickens, five old ducks for soup, two iron pots of stewed goose, 200 large meat buns made with a mixture of two types of dough, 500 steamed cornbreads made with a mixture of three types of dough, 100 eggs, a pot of braised pork, a large pot of vegetables, several pots of eight-treasure porridge, and two pots of rock sugar mung bean soup, along with the noodles I had prepared, were all gone in less than a month. In addition, I also finished off the braised pork, braised fish, steamed buns, wontons, dumplings, fried dough sticks, pan-fried flatbreads, fried dough sticks, and stuffed pancakes I had bought in the city before. There wasn't much left of the braised beef either; only half of the large meat buns remained.

I truly never imagined the autumn harvest would be so tiring. Although I was also born in the countryside in my past life, I was too young then, and I usually didn't have to do any heavy work. When I grew a little older and learned to cook, I was responsible for preparing meals for the family. Now I think about why my father said, "It would be good if you cooked us a hot meal."

No wonder! The autumn harvest is just too tiring.

My mother in my past life also said, "She could lose more than ten pounds in a month during the autumn harvest."

Indeed, in these 50 days, I haven't lost more than ten pounds, but I've lost 8-9 pounds, even while indulging in excessive eating. You didn't see how thin the two people next door are; they're practically skin and bones. They're working incredibly hard to earn 12 work points a day. There's no other way; food is too important. If they don't earn more work points, they won't have enough to eat next year. They slept at home for three days and three nights. I didn't hear any noise from next door and, worried something might have happened, I climbed over the wall to check on them. I found they had fevers and quickly went to fetch Grandpa Wang to examine them properly, fearing they might have damaged their health. Then I heated the kang (a traditional heated bed) and boiled water. Grandpa Wang was also worried and stayed there for those three nights. When the brigade leader heard the news, he sent his eldest son to help Grandpa Wang take care of them.

Team leader Gu Zhengrong hadn't expected that not only would the three educated youths persevere through the autumn harvest, but none of them would collapse. Looking back at the work points they had earned during the 50 days of harvest, he said to his father and brothers sitting in the team office, "These three educated youths really put in a lot of effort."

"Who can argue with that?"