"Xu Huayun? Very good, very good."
Lu Fangfang smacked her lips, a hint of regret in her eyes.
It seems that this Old Xu was really just a coincidence.
Looking at the man's slovenly appearance, she thought of Zhu Haiming again and realized that she had underestimated her before.
If Zhu Haiming hadn't joined the running group, her fate would probably have been even worse than Lao Xu's.
She was standing there, deep in thought, when Uncle Guo and Xu Huayun had already lifted her off the cart from the carriage.
"Comrade Lu, come up quickly. There's a place south of our village entrance where the soil is the stickiest. We use that soil to build houses and kang beds."
Lu Fangfang came to her senses and sat in the carriage.
Looking back, she saw that Old Xu was pushing a cart, following behind the horse-drawn carriage.
"Uncle Guo, this..."
“It’s alright, Old Xu is a rightist, so he should be reformed.”
Uncle Guo took the whip, cracked it, and made a "snap" sound.
"Giddy up!"
"Gurgle, gurgle..."
The carriage slowly headed south, with Xu Huayun pushing a cart behind it, following silently.
Lu Fangfang opened her mouth, but in the end, she didn't say anything.
The carriage carrying the two soon arrived at a place where the yellow earth was exposed.
After the carriage stopped, Lu Fangfang jumped down, bent down, grabbed a handful of soil, and squeezed it tightly.
When she released her grip, the soil in her palm remained clumped together.
"Comrade Lu, don't worry, our Sixth Team's soil is definitely up to the task."
Uncle Guo patted his chest and assured him that he had taken the shovel from the carriage and tossed it to Old Xu, who had just arrived.
The two grabbed their tools and got to work with great enthusiasm.
"Uncle Guo, Comrade Xu, thank you so much for your help."
"Comrade Xiao Lu, don't be so polite. If you need anything in the future, just come to our Sixth Team. We'll definitely take care of it for you. You are a military wife, after all. We can't just stand by and watch."
Hearing this, Lu Fangfang felt even more embarrassed.
She picked up the shovel from the car, found a spot with lots of clay, and stomped on it forcefully.
She shoveled up the dirt and threw it into the carriage.
"Comrade Xiao Lu, you can rest. Let Lao Xu do it."
"Uncle Guo, that won't do. I'm not incapacitated. How can I just stand by and watch?"
Lu Fangfang smiled and shook her head, then continued to shovel the soil with all her might.
After loading the horse-drawn carriage, the group filled the flatbed cart with clay.
Uncle Guo gave a shout and prepared to head to the family compound.
Beside her, Xu Huayun had already started pushing the cart.
"Uncle Guo, do you have any rope?"
Uncle Guo was a little puzzled. "Comrade Lu, what do you need the rope for?"
“The truckload of soil is too heavy, let me help Comrade Xu pull the truck.”
After all, it was clay being hauled for her own family, so Lu Fangfang couldn't just sit idly by.
The road is so long, it'll be easier for her to pull the cart ahead.
"No, please don't."
Uncle Guo was startled and quickly stopped her.
Looking around, Uncle Guo said in a low voice, "Comrade Lu, I can see that you are a kind-hearted person, but if you want what's best for Lao Xu, then please don't help him pull the cart."
"Comrade Xiao Lu, I won't lie to you. Getting Old Xu to push the soil is already a huge help to him."
Lu Fangfang was slightly taken aback.
She then remembered the big-character poster she had just seen, and a guess formed in her mind.
She glanced back at Xu Huayun and nodded silently, indicating that she understood.
Seeing this, Uncle Guo felt relieved.
"Giddy up!"
He cracked the whip, and the carriage slowly started moving again.
The carriage was covered in clay, so Lu Fangfang didn't sit on it but walked alongside it.
Looking back, I saw that Old Xu was tall and strong, with a scholarly air about him. He was pushing a cart of clay, but he seemed to be struggling a bit. Before long, his forehead was covered in sweat.
She watched silently, offering no assistance.
...
"Where is Xu Huayun? Right, Xu Huayun, the faction member, come out here right now and come back to the farm headquarters with us for education."
"Let me tell you, Xu Huayun, if you dare to run away, you'll face the consequences."
As the group pulled the clay to the stable at the village entrance, they saw several men wearing red armbands standing in the yard, searching for something inside the stable.
The sound of the carriage startled the group.
Upon seeing Xu Huayun over there, several men immediately rushed over.
They held ropes and signs, and grabbed Xu Huayun, intending to tie her up.
Xu Huayun stood there blankly, not moving, letting the men grab her.
"Comrades, comrades, the old rightists are undergoing labor reform. What are you doing? Do you want to rescue the old rightists? Let me tell you, you are going to make a mistake."
Uncle Guo rushed over, untied the ropes binding Old Xu, and stopped the group.
"Pah, what nonsense are you spouting? We're taking Xu Huayun back to the farm headquarters, do you dare stop us?"
Several men wearing red armbands looked at Uncle Guo with unfriendly expressions.
"No, he's undergoing labor reform. If he leaves, who will push all this dirt? This is dirt that's for the military wives to haul. We must let the old rightist push it so he can undergo reform!"
The men were taken aback and turned to look at Lu Fangfang.
Seeing that she was wearing a military uniform, the group immediately felt awkward.
There was only one military unit nearby, and the woman was wearing a military uniform, so she really was a military wife.
The leading man's eyes darted around, then he looked at the carriage and immediately shouted, "What's going on here? They're making him do manual labor, and they're using a carriage to haul dirt?"
Before Uncle Guo could speak, the leading man called out.
Several men stepped forward and overturned the carriage, scattering all the dirt inside onto the roadside.
“Guo Pianzi, let me tell you, labor reform should look like labor reform. You’re not allowed to use a horse-drawn carriage. If I see you using a horse-drawn carriage again, I…”
"Pah! I worked so hard to get this installed, and you just dumped it all out like that?"
Lu Fangfang shouted, interrupting the man's words.
She was furious when she saw the dirt scattered on the roadside.
She and Uncle Guo had worked so hard to put this on, she thought, turning to look at the man before striding over.
"Put it back in! Put it back in!"
The man instinctively took two steps back, then said in a mixture of shame and anger, "You...do you know who I am?"
"I don't care who you are. My family has been poor farmers for three generations, and my husband is a proud soldier. How dare you push my car? Who gave you the guts to bully a military family member?"
Lu Fangfang doesn't work at the ranch, so she's not afraid at all.
She glared angrily at the man and yelled, "If you're a man, tell me your name, let me know who you are, and see who has the audacity to bully poor farmers and military families!"
"I...I..."
The man's face was quite a sight; he immediately cowered.
"Comrade, it's a misunderstanding, a misunderstanding, it's really a misunderstanding. I wasn't targeting you, I was just teaching that old rightist a lesson."
After saying that, he waved his hand and immediately tried to slip away.
"Stop right there!"
The group paused for a moment, then slowly turned around. "Comrade, it's a misunderstanding."
Lu Fangfang pointed to the clay scattered on the roadside and said irritably, "Put the clay back in!"
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