At six o'clock the next day—and Xie Yan was absolutely certain it was six o'clock—he was still dreaming when Liu Yihong woke him up. He opened his eyes groggily, not even hearing what Liu Yihong had said. He just nodded haphazardly, wanting him to leave quickly and stop talking in his ear!
Xie Yan, looking sleepy, sat up from the kang (a heated brick bed). He was sitting up, but his mind was still in a daze. He just sat there on the kang, closed his eyes, and fell asleep again.
It's not that Xie Yan was lazy at all; it's just that it's too early now. They chatted all night, so it was already late when they went to bed.
I simply can't get up right now. I usually don't get up until after 7 a.m. at home, and it's been more than an hour since I started trying to get up.
When Liu Yihong came in after brushing his teeth, he found the two people. One was still fast asleep, and the other was sitting in a daze. His unfocused eyes showed that he had fallen asleep while sitting. He was quite a capable person!
I told them to go to bed early last night, but they wouldn't stop, and now they can't get up!
Sigh! If it weren't for his sense of responsibility, he wouldn't even want to deal with these two people and would just let them sleep!
Liu Yihong stepped forward and slapped one of them hard, saying, "Get up! Hurry up, we're about to go to work. Do you want to be late on your first day?"
"Let me tell you, the brigade leader here is a very strict person. It's still the busy farming season, and if you're late, he'll yell at you to death! Don't cry then! That would be too embarrassing for us educated youth!"
"He can be really swearing, so if you don't get up soon, don't blame me for not warning you!"
Now Xie Yan and Gu Bin both sobered up. They had been beaten and threatened. If they still didn't wake up, then there was really no hope for them.
Xie Yan didn't even bother to fold the blankets; she jumped off the kang (a heated brick bed) and hurriedly went to wash up.
He had already brushed his teeth and washed his face when he saw Wang Hongmei and Yuzhen slowly walking out of the room where the female educated youth were staying.
Xie Yan thought they had already left, but who knew they had just gotten up and were still calm and unhurried. He gave them a thumbs up in admiration. Impressive!
What a talent! Didn't you see there were hardly any people left in the entire educated youth settlement? You were still calmly washing up. I admire your composure.
He simply couldn't do it; he was completely panicked right now!
After quickly getting ready, Xie Yan and Gu Bin ran out of the educated youth settlement. As they locked the door, Wang Hongmei was still brushing her teeth. Xie Yan couldn't help but remind her, "Hurry up, I heard that if you're late here, the brigade leader will scold you!"
Wang Hongmei brushed her teeth carefully, and without looking up, she replied perfunctorily, "I know!" Yu Zhen on the other side also ignored Xie Yan completely.
Seeing that the other party already knew, Xie Yan didn't waste any more words. He wasn't the kind of person with an overflowing saintly heart; he was only reminding them because of their division of labor yesterday.
He and Gu Bin rushed out the door and headed quickly in the direction the main group was heading.
After rushing and hurrying, they finally caught up with the main group of educated youth at the previous settlement. This was the first time Xie Yan had seen all the educated youth in this area.
Before we could even exchange pleasantries, we had already arrived at the assembly point. The scene was noisy, with several production team leaders shouting and leading their team members to collect their tools and head to the fields.
In no time, everyone had left, leaving only Xie Yan and a few other newly arrived educated youth. The brigade leader looked at Xie Yan and Gu Bin with great disdain, oh! and Shen Lijuan as well.
He looked troubled and seemed quite displeased with the arrival of Xie Yan and the others.
The captain was a burly, dark-faced man in his forties, wearing a straw hat, who didn't look like someone easy to talk to.
He really disliked these educated youth, especially the few who came this time. Why did you have to come at such a busy time of year? Everyone is busy harvesting, who has time to take care of them!
The more he thought about it, the more he disliked Xie Yan and his friends. Just look at their pretty-boy looks! There was already Shen Jianguo stirring up trouble, bewitching all the girls in their village who were rushing to fawn over him, and now there are two more. Ugh! Just thinking about it gave him a headache!
Xie Yan and Gu Bin are both good-looking, and since they are new to the Northwest and haven't experienced the harsh weather here, they both look fair and clean, which is why they are an eyesore to the brigade leader!
The brigade leader looked at Xie Yan and the others with dissatisfaction and muttered, "Ugh! Another bunch of troublemakers!" Then he looked around uncertainly. Why were there only three people? Weren't there supposed to be five educated youths this time?
He asked coldly, "Where are the other two female educated youths? Why haven't they arrived yet?"
Xie Yan stared straight ahead, pretending he couldn't hear anything! How were they supposed to answer such a question? After all, he was part of the educated youth settlement.
The remaining two were not fools either, and they certainly wouldn't answer the captain's question.
Of course, the brigade leader didn't expect them to answer him. After asking, he continued, "Today, you few will follow me. I'll find a few people to guide you. Let me make this clear: you can go slowly, but you absolutely cannot waste food or fall behind the commune members!"
"If I find out any of you have done any of the above, I will deduct your work points! Of course, I know some of you educated youth don't care about these things, but from now on, you'll be doing all the hard, tiring, and dirty work. Think it through before you make a decision!"
"Unless you go back and leave me to my own devices, you'll have to follow my rules as long as you're here!"
Xie Yan and the others obediently nodded in agreement!
After receiving the sickles, the brigade leader led them to a large field.
"Uncle Yu, there are some new educated youths here. Could you show them around?"
An elderly man with white hair, who was bent over cutting wheat in the field, stood up, looked at the team leader, and reluctantly said, "That one?"
The captain pointed at Gu Bin.
Gu Bin quickly and shrewdly jumped off the ridge and said with a smile, "Third Grandfather, please teach me!"
The old man nodded arrogantly and said, "Watch me do it first, I'll demonstrate it for you! The captain has already told you what to pay attention to!"
Gu Bin nodded obediently and said, "I told you, I told you!"
Seeing that the matter had been settled, the captain stopped interfering and said to Xie Yan, "Go to that plot of land, do you see that old lady? Go find her and ask her to take you there!"
Then, pointing to another young woman, he said to Shen Lijuan, "Go over there!"
Xie Yan was assigned to a kind-looking old lady. The old lady looked very amiable, and Xie Yan was secretly pleased. She seemed like an easy person to talk to, and she probably wouldn't scold him later!
Xie Yan also wanted to have more confidence in himself, but the reality was that he was a lazy and ignorant person who didn't know anything about farming. Asking him to suddenly become a skilled worker was simply a pipe dream!
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