Just then, a male educated youth in the crowd stepped forward and offered his seat to the tearful female educated youth. This action immediately attracted the attention of those around him, but the male educated youth did not care. He simply smiled and watched the female educated youth sit down before standing aside.
Seeing this, Jiang Suisui couldn't help but think to herself, "Please don't let me be assigned to the same brigade, or I'll be in for a good show!" With a heart full of trepidation, Jiang Suisui and the group embarked on their journey to the commune. The vehicle bumped and jolted along the way, and after a full two hours of swaying and jolting, they finally arrived at their destination—the commune.
As soon as they got off the bus, the educated youth became as lively as birds released from their cages. They looked around curiously, their eyes filled with a desire to explore this unfamiliar place. Meanwhile, at the entrance of the educated youth settlement, people from various brigades had already gathered. Those brigades with better conditions had people riding brand-new bicycles or driving beautifully decorated oxcarts to welcome the new educated youth. Even the oxen's heads were specially tied with bright red flowers, making them look particularly festive. In contrast, the brigades with slightly worse conditions had to choose to come on foot. As for the tractors that Jiang Suisui had been longing for, not a single one was to be seen. Presumably, they were all busy in the fields at this moment.
After slowly getting off the bus, Jiang Suisui let out a deep sigh of relief, as if the tension that had been building in her heart could finally be released. She couldn't help it; the long and bumpy two-hour journey had left her feeling nauseous, with waves of nausea constantly rising in her throat. If she hadn't prepared beforehand by putting several sweet and sour plums in her mouth to suppress the strong urge to vomit, she probably would have already been vomiting uncontrollably.
At this moment, the other educated youth also got off the bus and stood quietly to the side, waiting for further arrangements. Not far ahead, the cadre in charge of leading them, Officer Tian, was holding relevant documents and walking hurriedly towards the director of the educated youth office, seemingly to complete the handover procedures.
Meanwhile, Director Li of the Educated Youth Office was sitting with several brigade leaders, discussing the newly arrived educated youth. One of the brigade leaders, his face full of worry, complained anxiously, "Director Li, when will this situation ever end! Just this year alone, I don't know how many batches of educated youth have arrived. We really can't afford to support them anymore!" With that, he let out a long sigh, his brows furrowing deeply.
After listening, Director Li silently took a drag on his cigarette, exhaling rings of white smoke. After a moment, he finally spoke, "Sigh, what can we do? It's an arrangement from above. The city is already under heavy pressure, sending these young people here is to alleviate that pressure. Let's just consider it responding to the national call and contributing to the country's development!" He then lightly flicked his cigarette ash, a hint of helplessness in his eyes.
Director Li's brow furrowed deeply at the thought of these educated youth, his heart filled with worry. When they first heard that these youths were coming to the countryside to support rural development, everyone was overjoyed, anticipating the changes and progress they would bring to the village. However, several years have passed, and they haven't seen them achieve anything significant.
And look at their farming skills! They're nowhere near as good as the older members of the team! They all look weak and frail, and they're never very good at farm work. When the year-end work points are tallied, lo and behold, it's not enough to eat! We can't just stand by and watch them go hungry, can we? There's no other way but to take extra grain from the commune's reserves and distribute it to them. Naturally, this means the other team members receive less grain, which causes quite a bit of resentment!
The villagers were furious, complaining that these educated youth were taking away their rightful share of grain. The educated youth, on the other hand, felt they had come to the countryside to support construction in response to the call, and that receiving more grain was only fair. Even more troublesome was the fact that the arrival of the educated youth had stirred up the hearts of many young men and women in the village. Some girls defied their families' objections and resolutely married educated youth, while some young men happily brought them home. However, they seemed to have overlooked a practical question: what if the educated youth returned to the city one day? Could they take them with them? Always dreaming of the best; these young people were in for a rough time!
Nowadays, the village is filled with all sorts of opinions and grievances. The commune is also deeply worried, unsure how to properly handle this matter to satisfy all parties. After all, balancing the basic living needs of the educated youth with the interests of the commune members is incredibly difficult!
After the handover was completed, an officer registered the names and then each went to their assigned brigade. Jiang Suisui's brigade, Qingshan Brigade, had arrived with an oxcart, which was better than the brigade that had nothing. Jiang Suisui smiled bitterly. Although she had prepared for this and knew that the conditions in the countryside were poor, it was still unknown whether she, a city girl who had never experienced hardship, could adapt to this environment. She could only take it one step at a time.
There were two people in front of the oxcart in Qingshan Brigade. One of them was an old man in his sixties or seventies who was pulling the cart. He had a thin face and his clothes were covered with various patches. We called him Grandpa Ding.
The other one was the captain of the Qingshan Brigade, a man in his forties, quite tall, very serious, wearing a faded Zhongshan suit, with a few cigarettes in his jacket pocket, presumably given to him by someone but not used. From his words and actions, Jiang Suisui could see a trace of military bearing.
Soon, two more educated youths arrived, a man and a woman. Good heavens, the female educated youth was the one who tried to take Jiang Suisui's seat on the train.
Jiang Suisui thought about the female comrade's performance and realized that Qingshan Brigade was about to have some interesting things to watch.
Everyone should be here, five people in total. The team leader told us to load our luggage onto the car, get in, and set off for Qingshan Brigade.
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