Chapter 21 Chapter 21 Snatching Food from the Tiger’s Mouth (Update 1)…
During the months of the double-strike, we didn't even have a lunch break. Unless it rained heavily, we were busy from sunrise to sunset every day. At noon, we would just eat something on the edge of the field, and then continue working after eating.
The educated youth were relatively lucky. They missed the busiest double-gun period this year and had some time to adapt. It is not particularly busy now, and everyone has a lunch break of neither too long nor too short at noon.
The lunch break is also called off by a whistle, which is usually the busiest time for the village accountant, as he is busy recording the morning's work points for each team member.
Unless they encounter extremely special circumstances such as illness, the work points earned by villagers are not much different from usual. Even if there are changes, they are usually gradual.
The four new educated youths were completely unknown, which aroused the curiosity of the villagers. In addition, Chinese people love to join in the fun, so an astonishing one-third of the people stayed to watch.
The first one to come was Hua Feifei.
The village accountant hesitated for a long time between one and two, and finally wrote 1 work point in the spirit of fairness and justice, which caused the onlookers to laugh again, some of them were simply amused, some were mocking maliciously.
Some people say that city dwellers are really uninvolved. If a 10-year-old boy is allowed to work in the fields, he will definitely earn more than 1 point in half a day. This statement is echoed by many people.
Hua Feifei had no time to respond to others' ridicule. She was very tired and her hands were burning with pain. She had worked so hard for a whole morning but only earned 1 work point. How was she going to live in the future?
Xie Jing and Xu Fei were similar brothers in distress. Their weakest point was their skills. Halfway through, they were exhausted and their legs felt like they weighed a thousand pounds and couldn't lift them.
After a busy morning, they were dirty and had blisters on their feet, but they only got two or three work points, while their group members basically got five full work points.
Not everyone in the village welcomed the arrival of the educated youth. Some people rejected those who were different from them or disliked those from the city, or even simply hated the rich. These people took the opportunity to jump out and add fuel to the fire: "The educated youth are nothing special."
"The land has become like this. These guys have grown so big for nothing."
"What's the point of young intellectuals studying a lot? They don't know how to farm. Have you forgotten the instructors in 1959? It's pure nonsense. Did they go to the countryside to cause trouble or to eat for free?"
If you don't put yourself in other people's shoes, this statement does make sense and resonates with many people.
Right, weren't the educated youth supposed to be here to build the countryside? What can they build if they can't even plow the land properly? They wouldn't just eat and do nothing, would they?
The team leader stopped them: "What nonsense are you all talking about? You know how to farm because you have been rolling around in the fields since you were young. Educated youth comrades also need time to learn. Learn and build, learn and build. Learn first and then build."
Besides, not all educated youth performed badly. There was one outstanding one!
There is no doubt that Ye Yu received a full score of 5 points for her work in the morning. The land she and Sister Guihua plowed together was so hard to plow that even an old farmer who had been working in the fields for decades would find it difficult to find fault with it.
The cooperation between the two not only enabled them to work quickly, but also to plow the ground finely. There were no large clods on the ground, and very few small clods. They plowed the ground more beautifully than the male villagers who worked with them.
No one would say that it was only Sister Guihua's credit. Anyone with a discerning eye could see that with Ye Yu, Sister Guihua's complexion had improved a lot and she really helped.
"Girls are more delicate."
"As expected, you are the phoenix that flew out of our village."
"What phoenix? Let's not talk about that now. Besides, she grew up in a small town. What does it have to do with you? This shows that city kids can also be capable."
Ye Yu brought back a lot of reputation for the educated youth, and because of her kinship with Wang Jiagou, she built an invisible bridge between the educated youth and the villagers.
Don't underestimate this bridge.
It may not be obvious in Wangjiagou, but compared with other brigades in Pingquan Commune, or even other communes, the relationship between the educated youth and the villagers was rarely so peaceful, and there were even more conflicts and disputes.
To be honest, the educated youth may not be wrong.
It takes some time for city dwellers to adjust to working on the farm. How old are the educated youth now? It is normal for teenagers to be unable to correctly estimate the hardships. It is also normal for them to cry or even reject the hardships because they are hit hard. After all, the intensity of the farm work now is not comparable to the farm life in a few decades.
The educated youth were right, and the villagers were not necessarily wrong either. The educated youth did occupy their precious food and land. After learning about the true average level of the educated youth, they would feel sorry for the food in the land. Now is not the era when everyone can have enough to eat.
Both sides are right. If we really have to say who is wrong, it must be the educated youth who look down on the countryside and are only interested in doing stupid things, and the unruly people who use their land background advantages to bully the young people who have left their hometowns. It is not their identities that are wrong, but their evil behavior.
These bad apples continue to intensify the conflict, making the impression of each other worse and worse. The wall cannot suppress the local snake, let alone the inexperienced young people, which makes the future of this generation of young people more difficult.
This is a story for later.
After the lunch break, except for one person on duty, everyone else went home to cook and eat, because it was not the double-gun season and they had more time.
The same was true for the educated youth.
But Ye Yu's pace was a little faster. By the time Han Jing, Xu Fei and Hua Feifei came back, the sweet potatoes in the stove and the corn in the pot were almost cooked.
It's really tiring to do physical work for a whole morning. I've forgotten all about eating.
Not to mention Ye Yu, Han Jing and Xu Fei also ate a lot faster, and so did their appetite.
Only Hua Feifei was not in a good mood. She was thinking about something. After a long time, she suddenly looked up and said, "I want to take a leave tomorrow to go to Yili Town. What about you guys?"
She really couldn't do any farm work at all, and she would definitely starve to death if she stayed here.
Hua Feifei's mind is now full of the word "home". She wants to go back! Home!
"Isn't it inappropriate to ask for leave right after arriving?" Xu Fei knew that Hua Feifei was going to the town to send a telegram or write a letter to her family for help, but she just arrived in the village yesterday and asked for leave from the team leader today, which confirmed the impression that city people are weak and cannot carry anything.
"I really can't stand it. I want to go back to Shanghai." Hua Feifei's tears fell like broken strings. She didn't dare to walk the mountain road to the town alone.
"This possibility is not high." Han Jing spoke the truth. He didn't think Hua Feifei's family could move her back immediately.
In terms of family conditions, Han Jing's family conditions are definitely good. He has lived in a military compound since he was a child. His grandfather is a chief, his father is a retired soldier and current cadre, and his mother is a trade union cadre.
A higher status at the moment does not necessarily mean a good thing, and their family is also at the center of controversy.
The danger is self-evident.
Han Jing went to the countryside when he was under 18 years old. It was because his grandfather and father sensed the danger and sent him to the countryside to avoid it. They let Han Jing go to the countryside to train for two years. If the Han family was not in trouble by then, they would see if he could find a chance to return to the city or sign up for the army.
In short, it was impossible for him to leave the countryside right now, and he felt the same for Hua Feifei. At least they had to wait until the waves calmed down for a while. That was what his parents said.
But he was still willing to accompany Hua Feifei to the town.
"Ask the team leader this afternoon if it's okay. Just tell him we need to buy some daily necessities." Xu Fei's family is ordinary. He has no way to go back to the city, and he doesn't plan to tell his family about his troubles. But like Han Jing, he is willing to accompany Hua Feifei to the town. They are all educated youth who have left their hometowns and gathered together to help each other.
"No, I have something to do," Ye Yu refused.
But it's not unsociable.
Ye Yu asked Han Jing and the others to help bring some small things as well. If the town supply and marketing cooperative had them, they could take them. If not, they could not take them. They took a few receipts and 20 yuan, and they would return any extra and pay back any shortfall.
In exchange, she said: "After work, I plan to take most of the sweet potatoes and corn to the team leader's house to borrow the stone mill to grind them into flour, and then exchange some flour and bean flour in the village to make mixed grain cakes, which will be more delicious and can also be exchanged for some grain and vegetable seeds. I can help you carry a piece of it over to grind it."
Han Jing and Xu Fei had no objection; Hua Feifei was preoccupied with how to ask for leave in the afternoon and had even less objection.
After lunch, we continued working in the afternoon.
The work in the afternoon was similar to that in the morning. Ye Yu became more and more skilled at using the plow. Therefore, Ye Yu and Sister Guihua finished plowing the land faster than the others who were harrowing the land.
Ye Yu was not in a helpful mood. After registering his five work points for the afternoon at the accountant's office, he informed the team leader and followed Sister Guihua to her home.
Sister Guihua's home is halfway up the mountain, and one needs to pass through a small forest of golden needles.
The yellow quince tree has a common name in the countryside, called the "tree that cannot be cut down to death." This does not mean that the tree is truly immortal, but that the tree will grow much faster than other trees after being cut down, making it very suitable for use as firewood.
Ye Yu thought that he could take some back with him later.
Sister Guihua had a good impression of Ye Yu because of the plowing today, so she reminded him: "Save as much as you can as soon as possible. Winter will come in a month or two. If it snows heavily, the firewood you pick won't be able to dry in the sun. You'll be frozen to death if you don't have firewood."
"People will die without firewood." Ye Yu nodded. Firewood is very important. Without firewood, you can't cook and you might even starve to death.
The two people had different ideas in their minds, but in the end they strangely reached a consensus.
After passing the cassia forest, we arrived at Sister Osmanthus's home.
Judging from the house alone, Sister Guihua's family doesn't seem to be the poorest in the village. Relatively speaking, they may have quite good conditions. They have a green brick and black tile house with a courtyard. It is quite spacious and has five or six bedrooms, not including the kitchen and toilet.
It can be said that Sister Guihua had a pretty good life in the past. Her husband was as dumb in words as she was, but very caring, and the two of them always had a good relationship.
Until last year, her husband unfortunately passed away, leaving her with three children. The eldest girl is only eleven years old this year, the son is twenty-six years old, and the youngest girl is less than two years old and can barely walk by clinging to the wall.
Her parents advised her to abandon her children to her husband's family and remarry, but she was reluctant to give up the three pieces of meat in her belly, so she gritted her teeth and persevered for a year.
As soon as he arrived at Sister Guihua's house, Ye Yu saw her three children of different heights, all skinny and with big eyes. The two younger ones had been hiding under the quilt because their clothes were too thin.
She had seen quite a few children in the village today. Although the clothes worn by the children of Sister Guihua were very old and had many patches, they were clean and tidy, and they would never wipe their noses with their sleeves. Moreover, they were all very well-behaved.
Children are the hope for the future of mankind.
This statement is indeed true. In the early days of the apocalypse, countless children died, and the possibility of less than 0.00001% being able to grow up. In the later days, the base especially cherishes minors who are rarer than pandas.
The slogan "Children are the hope for the future of mankind" is written on the door of the Hope Base. Children born in the last days have a certain spiritual reliance on them, and are therefore protected by everyone on their own initiative.
Minors also have special privileges in Yeyu, but not many, only a little bit, and only for good children. For naughty children, they have the mentality of "die early and be reborn early".
Because of this, she took out some fruit candy from her pocket and gave one to each of the three children as a gift.
It is really not easy to snatch food from a tiger's mouth!
"Thank you, auntie."
The eldest girl took one look at Sister Guihua before accepting it. She was reluctant to eat it and just put it in her pocket. Erzhuang saw her sister took it, so he took it and also put it in his pocket, repeating her sister's thanks.
Only Sanniu hurriedly stuffed the candy into her mouth without even tearing open the candy wrapper. She smelled the sweet fragrance of the candy and knew it was good, but she didn't know how to eat it, or maybe she was too young to remember it. The two eldest girls, Erzhuang, hurried to help her.
"Sweet!" The little girl finally got to eat the candy. I was worried that the child would have a blocked throat, but I saw that she was reluctant to swallow the candy. She just licked it bit by bit in her hand, revealing an even sweeter smile, and sucked the candy so deliciously.
Ye Yu, touched by her cuteness, looked away and turned to talk to Sister Guihua, whose eyes were red, about the purpose of her visit.