After having a bowl of sweet potato, corn and bean porridge in the morning, the educated youth prepared to go to work.
"You can't wear that." Qu Hua looked at Yan Jing in her short-sleeved shirt and smiled, shaking his head. "If you go to harvest rice dressed like that, the rice might just cut you."
Ning Xi was foresighted enough to find something to wear with long sleeves.
"You can't do this either." Qu Hua nodded at her.
Ning Xi: “?”
Another female educated youth, Zhang Xue, took down her straw hat from the wall and showed it to them. "Haha, you guys are from the north, you don't know how hot the sun is in the south. Without a straw hat, you'll get dizzy in a short while."
"But we don't have any hats. Did you buy your straw hats at the supply and marketing cooperative?"
"No." Zhang Xue shook her head, pretending to be profound.
"Come on, stop teasing me. We made this ourselves. I have two new ones. I'll give them to you first. You can make them and return them to me when you have time."
Qu Hua took out two new straw hats from the wooden basin under his bed and handed them to Ning Xi and Yan Jing.
Yan Jing reached out to take it, but was afraid that she wouldn't be able to return it, so she hesitated and said, "Sister Qu, I don't know how to weave a straw hat."
"You can't do it now, but you can learn it as long as you study hard. You can't live without a straw hat in the south unless you can stand the sun." Qu Hua handed the straw hat to the two without saying anything.
It is not easy to weave a straw hat. There is no wheat straw here, so we have to use the core of rice straw, which is the core of rice ears. We have to pull out the straw one by one and pinch off the ends before we can weave the hat.
This was the result of her labor at the expense of her rest time, so naturally she would not give it to the two of them for free.
"Thank you, Sister Qu. When I have time, I will learn how to weave hats from you." Ning Xi took it and put it on.
"Dang dang dang--" The sound of metal hitting came from afar. This was the order for the team to go to work.
"Let's go!" Qu Hua put on straw sandals and led the way.
"Are you all here? Let's divide into teams now." With the arrival of new educated youth, the team leader made new arrangements.
Those who harvest rice, those who bundle rice stalks, and those who carry rice each have their own division of labor.
"You...just bundle the rice stalks." The team leader of Ning Xi's team glanced at her and frowned secretly. Why was she assigned such a skinny educated youth?
Tying rice stalks is a relatively easy job. You just need to put straw ropes on the ridge of the field, go to the field, bring up the harvested rice, and tie it tightly.
"Thank you, Captain." Ning Xi knew that he was taking care of her, so she quickly thanked him.
"Well, get to work!" When team leader Zhou Tiedan heard the educated youth thanking him, he thought he was quite tactful.
Ning Xi's team includes Qu Hua, Chu Hongchen, Yuan Yin, and Xia Zhiwei, a combination of old and new educated youth.
Ever since Yuan Yin got rejected last night, she either rolled her eyes at Ning Xi or turned her head away from her. The two of them haven't said a word to each other.
Ning Xi also treated her as air, just a stranger. No matter how much Yuan Yin disliked her, she felt nothing in her heart.
"The sickle is very sharp. I'll show you how to use it. Be careful not to hurt yourself." Qu Hua went down to the field first and cut the crops for the new educated youth to see.
The rice has not been harvested yet, so naturally there are no rice stalks to bundle. Ning Xi stands on the edge of the field and watches.
"Hmph, you seem to be feeling comfortable." Yuan Yin couldn't bear to see her looking so relaxed, so she snorted, took off her straw sandals, and went to the field to start cutting rice.
"Yeah." Ning Xi nodded in agreement. This was indeed easier than harvesting rice.
Yuan Yin choked for a moment, but didn't continue to argue. She still knew which was more important, squeezing others or working hard to earn work points for herself.
Although the captain of Yuzhuang Brigade is not well educated, he is very good at arranging tasks and has assigned tasks to each team.
Finish cutting first and then take a rest. If you can’t finish cutting, continue cutting.
If the team leader finds you slacking off, he will tell the scorekeeper. Of course, the people you work with will not tolerate you slacking off either.
The team leader himself also has to go to the fields. If he doesn't work, he won't get any work points. However, team cadres can also get work points by attending commune meetings.
It is not yet six in the morning, the coolest time of the day. If we work harder now, we can rest longer when it gets hot at noon.
Even taking an extra ten minutes of rest is good.
Yuan Yin thought that her brain was not completely broken to the point of wasting such precious time on quarrels.
After teaching Ning Xi how to harvest and store rice, Qu Hua went on to teach her how to tie knots.
Ning Xi tried a few times before finally getting used to it. "Thank you, Sister Qu."
No wonder Qu Hua is so popular among the educated youth. With his enthusiastic and comprehensive attitude, he deserves the respect.
"Ah!! What is this?" Xia Zhizhi Zhiwei cut his calves for a while and suddenly felt itchy on his calves. He lifted his calves and saw several black and green things sticking to his legs.
"Sister Qu, Sister Qu, please save me!" This thing was still wriggling. Xia Zhiwei was shocked and scared. He jumped up and down in the paddy field. He wanted to pull it off with his hands, but he didn't dare to touch it.
"Don't move, wait for me." Qu Hua cut the grass faster, much faster than the others. When she came out of the field, there were several leeches stuck on her legs.
He walked skillfully to the edge of the field and took out his small bag, which contained a box of matches and a torch for starting a fire. Qu Hua lit it skillfully and blew it out, while it was still warm, he put the torch on the leech.
As they were burned one by one, the leeches curled up and released their suction cups, and fell off the legs.
"Ugh~" Xia Zhiwei did the same thing to himself. The leech fell to the ground and was still twisting. Even the tall and strong man from Northeast China couldn't help but feel a chill.
Qu Hua comforted him: "You'll get used to it. Locals just pull it off with their hands, but that can easily cause infection. You can also use alcohol, concentrated salt water, or white vinegar."
Burning with fire is the most economical method.
"Sister Qu, can I use it too?" Chu Hongchen also climbed onto the ridge of the field. His skin was very white, and the leeches were more conspicuous on it.
"Use whatever you want." Qu Hua waved his hand, took the sickle and went into the field to cut the rice.
The weather has been good this year. It rains when water is needed, and it shines brightly when the sun is needed. The fields I harvested these two days were all in good sunny locations.
A lot of rice is not yet yellow!
Qu Hua also hopes to harvest more grain this year and send some new rice back for his parents, younger sister and younger brother to try.
As the sun got higher and higher, even though Ning Xi was wearing a straw hat, sweat still flowed down. Her hair was wet, and the wet towel she brought to wipe the sweat smelled of sweat.
Ning Xi felt weak and dizzy, so she quickly took out a piece of fruit candy from her pocket, peeled it open, put it into her mouth, chewed it into pieces, and swallowed it.
After tying up a pile of rice stalks, she stood up and was about to go into the water, but she felt dizzy, her footing missed, and she fell into the field.
Chu Hongchen was assigned the rows of rice near the ridge of the field. He was the first to notice the movement behind him and immediately put down the rice in his hand and pulled Ning Xi.
As a result, his upper body moved, but his feet were still stuck in the mud, and he fell all over the mud.
"Ning Xi fell down!" Xia Zhiwei was cutting slowly and was left behind by Yuan Yin and Qu Hua. Hearing the noise, he rushed over and called for help.
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