Cai Shuzhen recalled that Chunlin was about the same age back then and had excellent academic performance.
Even though she couldn't understand her own handwriting, it still looked so beautiful.
Cai Shuzhen looked at the little girl's fluffy head with loving eyes: "You write so well, are your grades good too?"
Erniu helped her fill out the form. She said a little shyly, "Well, my grades are pretty good. Auntie, I've finished writing it. Please take a look."
Cai Shuzhen couldn't understand it, but she knew the handwriting on the form was very good.
"Thank you. What are you doing here? Did you come with your parents?"
Erniu shook her head and said, "I came with my sister."
She was originally reading at home today, but when she heard that the food factory had hired people, Lin Yu needed to find someone to help maintain order.
Erniu then volunteered to come along.
There are many illiterate people like Cai Shuzhen, and Lin Yuzheng needs someone who can write to help her.
Erniu was recruited by her sister as free labor.
Seeing her standing there talking to an older woman, Lin Yu walked over.
"Is there anything I can help you with?"
Erniu was just talking about her older sister, so she said, "Auntie, this is my older sister."
Cai Shuzhen didn't know Lin Yu's identity, but judging from her age and clothing, she knew that Lin Yu was definitely not just a factory worker.
He might even be a government official.
She was a little embarrassed, because she was illiterate and needed the cadre's sister to help her.
For a moment, I didn't know what to say.
Seeing that she was a little embarrassed, Lin Yu smiled and said, "Hello, Aunt Cai, my name is Lin Yu, and this is my sister Lin Jing. Are you filling out a form?"
Her warm attitude immediately eased Tsai Shu-chen's embarrassment.
"Yes, she's filling out a form. Xiaojing did a great job."
Lin Yu patted her sister's head and said, "Yes, my sister writes very well. It would be great if she could help you."
Hearing her older sister's praise, Erniu felt like she could fly.
Parents usually humbly deny when others praise their children.
I've never seen someone like Lin Yu so readily admit that their own child is really great.
Tsai Shu-chen was also stunned for a moment.
Then I realized that it was understandable that they weren't being modest.
After all, this child is so young, but he looks very capable.
“My child is a bit older than her, but unfortunately, he didn’t have the opportunity to study.”
Perhaps it was because Lin Yu and Er Niu seemed so approachable that Cai Shuzhen couldn't help but speak her mind.
She felt guilty for not being able to give her child the same opportunity to learn as Erniu.
Lin Yu then asked her, "Which brigade are you from? How old is your child?"
Cai Shuzhen told her the basic situation, and then said apologetically:
"I've said too much at once. I'm really sorry. Our family is much better off now. With this job, the two younger ones can finally go to school, unlike their older sister."
She exuded both sadness and optimism, which left Lin Yu with mixed feelings.
"Your child is fifteen years old this year, but she stopped going to school after finishing elementary school. What is she doing now?"
"We picked fruit in the brigade to earn work points."
The production team was considerate of their family and gave her a child who was only a teenager, which was counted as a full work point. With her and Cai Shuzhen's work points, their family was able to survive.
However, the children did not want to take advantage of the brigade, so they often worked very hard.
This little girl, however, treated herself as the strong laborer of the family.
Cai Shuzhen felt sad when she talked about it.
Those who heard it felt bad too; Erniu's eyes were all red.
Cai Shuzhen wiped away her tears and said, "Things will be better from now on. Now that I have this job, she won't have to work so hard anymore."
She had already spoken with the team leader and agreed to give the child half the work points, allowing her to rest for the rest of the time.
The child is still a minor, and Captain Huang couldn't bear to watch her work like that.
Now that she had the opportunity to rest, he agreed.
After Cai Shuzhen finished speaking, she left with the rest of the group to be assigned to her post.
Lin Yu chatted with Er Niu on the side.
The people in Lianhua Brigade have been doing well these past few years; Erniu hasn't seen such a poor family in a long time.
This made her feel a pang of sadness.
"Sister, how can we help her?"
Aunt Cai's daughter is so pitiful; she has to support her family at such a young age.
Erniu suddenly realized that compared to her, she and her sister were only disliked by their biological mother, which was already quite good.
At least they still have the opportunity to study and are well-fed and clothed every day.
The rest of the family also gave them a lot of love.
But Aunt Cai's daughter, Chunlin, didn't have that.
Lin Yu was touched by the child's kind heart: "Don't worry, I'll find a way to help them."
Erniu looked at her with her clear, bright eyes: "Really? Will you let her continue her studies?"
Lin Yu nodded: "Yes, yes."
She wasn't just saying that to be polite; she genuinely wanted to find a way to help the Huang family.
It wasn't just the Huang family; Lin Yu thought there were many other families in similar difficult circumstances.
On the other side, after Cai Shuzhen and the others were assigned their positions, she was taken to the canning workshop.
The newcomers were responsible for washing and cutting fruit, which was not a problem for someone like Cai Shuzhen who was used to doing housework.
The work in the workshop is divided into specific tasks, with each person responsible for only one process.
When Cai Shuzhen was working, several elderly women were observing her.
She thought to herself, "This must be the supervisory group that Zhang, the educated youth, was talking about."
Cai Shuzhen felt like her mother-in-law was watching her while she did chores, and she was quite nervous.
Cutting fruit may seem simple, but it actually tests your knife skills.
The fruit pieces should be evenly distributed to balance the weight of each can.
Cai Shuzhen cut the fruit into pieces according to the given standards, but at first, the pieces were not quite up to standard in size.
But soon after getting the hang of the knife, the fruit he cut started to be the same size.
Upon weighing again, the error rate was not significant.
This kind of work isn't a big problem for women who cook all year round, but to meet the requirements, they need to concentrate even more.
Once she's immersed in her work, Tsai Shu-chen loses all interest in who's watching her.
The members of the oversight team nodded quietly and scored the forms in their hands.
Seeing that everyone had started working, Lin Yu went to find Lin Aiguo.
First, she told him about her encounter with Tsai Shu-chen that day, and then asked him for a favor:
"Could we ask the brigade leaders to compile a list of how many impoverished households there are in each brigade?"
Lin Yu continued, "I think we should give these people more opportunities when we recruit them."
If she had considered this earlier, Tsai Shu-chen would have been able to start working at the factory much earlier.
Lin Aiguo wasn't too surprised when he heard about this; in those years, there were many families who suffered more than his.
Nowadays, there are almost no families this poor in our brigade, so we should help others as much as we can.
He agreed with what Lin Yu said, "I'll talk to them about it later."
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