The educated youth lined up, and several brigade leaders led the educated youth assigned to their respective brigades away one by one.
The first person to lead the group was the captain of the Victory Brigade, who was holding a list of educated youth.
“Those whose names I’m calling out will be the educated youth of our Shengli Brigade from now on. Come with me in the oxcart later. Zhao Wensong, Luo Jingyan, Luo Changtian, Lin Shanshan, Jiang Manyue, Du Yinan, Fang Zhiyuan, all of you come over here.”
Luo Jingyan thought to herself that they had gotten quite a few oddballs on their side, but thankfully Zhang Hongxia hadn't been assigned to them.
Luo Changtian said, "Sister, Brother Xue wasn't assigned to the same group as us."
Luo Jingyan also felt a little sorry, but life is unpredictable. "Don't worry, Brother Xue will take good care of himself."
Jiang Manyue was also unhappy. "Jingyan, I have to separate from Hongmei. We've been friends since we were little, and we even went to the countryside together this time. Why do you have to separate us?"
"Let's see which brigade she'll be assigned to first. If it's close by, we can visit her more often."
Lin Shanshan was somewhat relieved that she was assigned to the same group as Luo Jingyan and her brother, which gave her a chance to get revenge.
Then, another brigade leader, called the Forward Brigade, began reading out the names of the educated youth: "Xue Yanchen, Li Hongmei, Zhang Hongxia, Chen Zhijun, Liu Chunhua..."
This brigade was also divided into seven educated youth, three men and four women.
The rest went directly to the last brigade.
Two more batches of educated youth will arrive in the next day or two and be assigned to the remaining brigades.
The commune cadre greatly admired Xue Yanchen and Luo Jingyan. He quietly told the captain of the Shengli Brigade, "That girl in your brigade can even repair tractors; I reckon she can drive one too."
The brigade leader was very surprised. He had already received news that there were three tractor slots available in the commune this year, but it was uncertain which brigade would be assigned to them.
He was also worried about what would happen if the team got a tractor but no one knew how to drive it.
If this little girl knew how, then she wouldn't have to worry.
So he quickly asked Luo Jingyan, "Little girl, I heard from the commune cadre that you can repair tractors, but I don't know if you can drive one."
"Uncle, I can."
Luo Jingyan was very enthusiastic, and it was essential to get along well with the captain.
The captain smiled and said, "Good, good, good. I guess we'll need it sometime."
The commune cadre was a big mouth, and he told the brigade leader of Qianjin Brigade about Xue Yanchen's ability to repair tractors. The brigade leader immediately looked at Xue Yanchen with new respect.
After the educated youth were assigned, Jiang Manyue ran up to Li Hongmei and said, "Hongmei, I really don't want to be separated from you. How about I ask the commune cadre if we can switch places, or I can switch with someone from your brigade?"
But after she told the cadre, the cadre told her that once the educated youth were assigned, it was a done deal and there would be no change.
Li Hongmei said, "Manyue, luckily our two brigades are adjacent. I will come to see you when I have time, and you can come to see me often too."
Jiang Manyue nodded: "Okay, Hongmei."
Luo Jingyan and Luo Changtian said goodbye to Xue Yanchen.
Xue Yanchen said, "I'm in the next brigade. If you ever need anything, you can come to me anytime."
Luo Jingyan never expected that she and her brother would be so loyal to Xue Yanchen, even though they had only met by chance.
"Okay, take good care of yourself when you get there."
"Take care, you two."
"Um."
“Young educated youth, it’s time for us to go.”
The brigade leader called out, and the educated youth put their luggage on the oxcart.
The educated youth's luggage alone filled the oxcart; if they all sat on it, it would be very crowded.
The brigade leader said, "We'll use the oxcart to carry your luggage; you can walk back to the village."
Du Yinan was immediately displeased. She had worked so hard to come to the countryside to support the construction, and they wouldn't even let her ride in the car. They didn't even know how far the village was from here. They were going to exhaust her.
"Captain, how much further do we have to go?"
"Eight miles away."
"Eight li!" Du Yinan exclaimed in disbelief. "That's so far! It would be exhausting to walk all the way to the village!"
The team leader rolled his eyes at her: "Are you here to work or to enjoy yourself? You can't even walk a short distance. How can you do farm work?"
"Of course I came to support rural development, but you guys are really treating us like dirt. It's such a long way, and you expect me to walk there? By the time I get to the village, my legs will be aching. How am I supposed to work then?"
The captain got even angrier. "If I don't treat you like a human being, then what do I treat you like?" He pointed at the cow. "Look, this isn't a human being. If you think you're the same as it, then do the same work as it. Are you willing to do it?"
"Hahahaha." The other educated youth immediately burst into laughter.
Du Yinan said, "But it's livestock, I'm not."
"You're a human being, so you're still saying I don't treat you like one?"
The captain's face was grim; his impression of Du Yinan was extremely poor.
Everyone else can work and walk, but you're so delicate.
Seeing that he couldn't win the argument with the brigade leader, Du Yinan could only shut up and say nothing more.
The sun was high in the sky, and the educated youth were hungry. They told the brigade leader to stop the vehicle so they could take something out of their bags to eat.
Luo Jingyan took out three pancakes she had made herself from her bag, gave one to Luo Changtian, ate one herself, and gave the other to the captain who looked hungry and thirsty.
The brigade leader arrived at the commune early to pick up the new educated youth, and by then he was hungry.
"Uncle Captain, have one too."
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