Since Du Yinan arrived here, the most agreeable former educated youth has been Song Yinglan.
"Sister Yinglan, I have a good impression of you too. Let's keep each other company when we go out in the future."
She no longer wanted to be with Lin Shanshan because that girl had never helped her when she was in trouble. Song Yinglan seemed much gentler and easier to get along with.
Song Yinglan patted her hand, "Okay, okay, you'll be my good sister from now on."
While Luo Jingyan and Luo Changtian were harvesting sorghum in the field, they encountered the brigade leader on patrol.
When the brigade leader saw that Luo Jingyan and Luo Changtian were not at all shy when doing farm work, and did it quite well, he asked with a smile, "You two young educated youths, are you adapting well here? Are you doing alright in terms of life and farm work?"
Luo Jingyan wiped her sweat: "Thank you for your concern, Captain. We're adapting very well. The original comrades at the educated youth settlement are all very responsible, and we get along very well. Uncle, we have no problems living and working here."
The brigade leader was very pleased to hear this: "As long as you can adapt, that's fine. If you encounter any difficulties in your life or at work, you can report them to the brigade cadres, and we will do our best to help you solve them."
"Okay, Uncle."
Luo Jingyan wanted to ask Luo Changtian about his schooling.
"Uncle, I'm thinking of waiting until after the autumn harvest, when there's no work to do. My brother is just sitting around doing nothing anyway, so I'd like him to go back to school. Is that okay?"
The brigade leader was a bit troubled: "Our village doesn't have a school yet, but Qianjin Brigade does. The children who go to school here go to the school in Qianjin Brigade. The two brigades aren't far apart, and it won't take long to walk to and from school. Let him go there. I'll give him a letter of introduction. When the time comes, you can take the letter of introduction to their brigade first, and have someone from the brigade take you to find the principal."
"Uncle, thank you so much."
"It's nothing." The brigade leader picked up a sorghum stalk and stroked it. "This year's harvest is really good. The work points of the commune members are worth more now. After we finish delivering the grain to the state, we'll distribute some of this sorghum to the commune members. If we sell the rest, we can also give you some money."
"Uncle, this sorghum is used for brewing wine, right?"
The brigade leader smiled and said, "How did you know? Many of the new educated youth don't know this. They all think sorghum is only for eating."
Luo Jingyan gave an irrelevant answer, "Since this sorghum is used to brew wine, why doesn't the village use it to brew wine themselves, but instead sells it? Surely the people here know how to brew wine?"
Wherever sorghum is grown on a large scale for brewing, there will inevitably be distilleries.
The brigade leader said, "These sorghum stalks will be collected and recycled by the commune. I heard they're being taken to a distillery in the south. We used to have collective distilleries here, but the alcohol we produced wasn't as efficient or as good as what they produced over there. Apparently, the water quality and temperature here aren't as good, and the technology is outdated, wasting manpower and resources. So the higher-ups stopped us from operating them, and we had to sell the sorghum to them."
Luo Jingyan said, "Uncle, to brew good wine, the same raw materials, temperature and water quality are indeed one aspect, but the key to the wine also lies in the brewing technique and the auxiliary materials added. Our winters are cold here, so we can choose to brew wine in other seasons. Uncle, to be honest, my family has been brewing wine for generations. I think if we brew our own wine and do it well, it will definitely be better than selling sorghum to others."
The captain nodded vigorously twice: "Yes, yes, that's right. Girl, if you say that, you must have some skills, right?"
"Hmm." Luo Jingyan nodded. Otherwise, why would she talk so much nonsense? "Uncle, my family's winemaking skills have always been passed down. Although we stopped running the winery later, the skills were not lost. My brother and I came here, and the village head and others have taken good care of us. I also want to give back to the village."
This is a way to elevate one's status and avoid trouble from others in the village later.
The brigade leader said, "Your suggestion is good, but the sorghum harvest for this year has already been reported to the commune and can't be saved."
“No rush,” Luo Jingyan said. “Uncle, opening a distillery is not something to be taken lightly. We can’t just do it because of your word. We need to test it out first. If my method works, we can start preparing to open the distillery next year. If you rashly withhold all the sorghum this year and my technique doesn’t meet the expected results, then we’ll lose money. I can’t afford that.”
“You’re a very thoughtful girl. Alright, I’ll discuss this with the Party Secretary. If he agrees, we can try it out during the off-season.”
"Okay, Uncle."
Before leaving, the captain said, "I'll write a letter of introduction for your schooling when I get back today, and I'll bring it to you tomorrow."
"Thank you so much, Captain Uncle."
Luo Jingyan and Luo Changtian worked quickly and finished work earlier than the other educated youth, returning home to rest in their dormitory.
After a while, the other educated youth gradually finished work.
During the meal, Du Yinan suddenly shouted in the room, "My money! Who stole my money? My money is gone!"
The other educated youth immediately perked up their ears; losing money in the dormitory was no small matter.
The male educated youth watched from outside, while the female educated youth, except for Luo Jingyan, all ran into the house, partly to inquire about Du Yinan's situation and partly to check if their money and belongings were missing.
Because Luo Jingyan kept all her money and tickets in her spatial storage, and she didn't care about Du Yinan, she wasn't flustered.
Fortunately, none of their things were missing.
Shen Ruyi asked, "Du Zhiqing, where did you put your money?"
"I put it under my pillow, it's fifty yuan, but I don't know who stole it. Sister Ruyi, you must help me find the thief."
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