These were villagers who had heard rumors. They were all uncles and aunts with young and strong men in their families. They brought their sons along to find the brigade leader and asked to let their sons go to the agricultural machinery station to learn how to drive tractors.
After all, driving a tractor is a skilled job, and once you learn it, you have a skill. Plus, driving a tractor earns you more work points than a regular worker, so who wouldn't want to be a tractor driver?
I originally intended to look for it at the brigade leader's house, but since I saw it here, I came here directly to look for it.
"Captain, I heard that our brigade was also allocated a tractor this year. Other brigades have sent people to the county to learn how to drive tractors. We should send someone too."
The brigade leader said, "Our brigade's educated youth, Luo, can drive a tractor. Not only can he drive it, but he can also repair it. We already have a suitable candidate, so there's no need to find someone to go to the county to learn. It's unnecessary."
"Hey, Captain, I've never seen a woman drive a tractor before. Captain, have you seen it with your own eyes?"
The question came from an older woman surnamed Chen. As she spoke, she glanced sideways at Luo Jingyan, her eyes clearly filled with disdain. A delicate, frail young educated youth, could she drive a tractor? She probably didn't even know what a tractor was.
“I’ve seen her repair tractors. If she can repair them, how could she not drive them? Everyone said she could drive them, and she brought the tractor back to my county seven days later.”
An older man said, "Captain, those educated youth will return to the city sooner or later. Why not let our commune members go to learn? After all, our commune members can stay in our brigade in the long run."
The captain thought that made sense, but with so many people, who should he let learn it?
Besides, Luo Jingyan is good at driving and repairing, so if the tractor breaks down one day, there's no need to go to the county to find someone, which saves a lot of trouble.
He was from the same village as these people, so he couldn't say anything too absolute.
“I have considered your concerns. If Luo Zhiqing ever needs to return to the city, I will have her train another tractor driver in advance so that there will be no shortage of train drivers.”
Upon hearing this, the faces of those present all darkened.
Especially Aunt Chen, who couldn't hold back any longer, spoke up in front of everyone: "Captain, Luo, the educated youth, is an outsider after all. When there's good news, we should prioritize our own people. Captain, our brigade has plenty of strong young men who can learn to drive tractors quickly. If Luo can fix it, they can learn to repair it too. Anyway, if you let a female educated youth be the tractor driver in our brigade, I won't be satisfied."
"I, I'm not convinced either."
"None of us are convinced."
"You guys." The captain was a little embarrassed. He had already made arrangements with Luo Jingyan. What kind of decision was it to change his mind at the last minute?
Luo Jingyan didn't want to make things difficult for the captain, nor did she want to become the target of everyone's attacks. She didn't care whether she was the tractor driver or not. "Captain, since no one else wants me to be the tractor driver, I think we should let someone else be the one."
“That’s right, Captain. Look, even Luo Zhiqing has said so. Let’s find someone else.”
The captain had no choice but to do it, since he didn't have to learn it himself, so he agreed.
"Alright then, we'll do as you say. We'll select more able-bodied men from our village to study. I guarantee this selection will be fair. No matter who we choose, you can't keep whining and complaining."
"No, no, as long as the brigade leader is fair and just, even if my child isn't selected, I won't complain."
"Oh, me too."
"Okay, then it's settled."
In order to select a qualified candidate from among these people, the brigade leader convened a general meeting of all commune members the next day, where they voted to choose the person who would go to the county's agricultural machinery station for training.
The dozen or so candidates were all young and strong men from the village. They stood side by side on the stage, as if waiting for a beauty pageant, waiting for the villagers to vote for them.
No matter what you choose, there will be a phenomenon of campaigning, where people try to get those close to them to vote for them. Therefore, having a large number of family members becomes a significant advantage at this time.
Among the villagers, the Chen family ranked third in terms of numbers. However, Aunt Chen was a native of the village, and her maternal family was also there. With her husband's family and her maternal family combined, Aunt Chen's second son, Chen Erjin, received the most votes. Therefore, Chen Erjin got the opportunity to go to the county's agricultural machinery station to learn how to drive a tractor.
In the afternoon, Chen Erjin was taken to the county for training by the village's oxcart.
Before the tractor arrived in the village, the team's cattle could work, and the team members and educated youth couldn't be idle either; they all had to go to the fields to work.
As a result, the village, which had been quiet for most of the year, suddenly became busy again.
Last year, after the crops were harvested, the withered weeds left in the fields hadn't been cleared yet. They had to be pulled out first. After pulling out the weeds, base fertilizer had to be spread on the fields. The village needed quotas to buy chemical fertilizers, and due to the shortage of resources, even if they got the quotas, they couldn't get much chemical fertilizer. The most commonly used fertilizer in the fields was farmyard manure. The brigade leader arranged for many people to carry manure to the fields. The men were stronger, so most of these tasks were done by the male laborers. The women participated in the easier tasks of pulling weeds and hoeing the fields. Of course, when it came to work points, the women definitely didn't get as many work points as the men.
Luo Jingyan and Zhuang Feifei were assigned to pull weeds in the same field. They stood a distance apart and didn't talk to each other, treating each other as if they were invisible.
With other people in the field, even if they ignored each other, the atmosphere between them didn't seem too tense. Otherwise, if the gossipy villagers saw that the educated youth were not united, they would come over to gossip again.
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