Chapter 049
Lin Xiaohan said: "These are the only things we can find, let's just make do with them."
After saying that, he picked up a used matchstick, picked up some melted wax from the candle, glued the joints of the paper circles together, and glued a few spots on the bottom edge on the table.
After blowing out the kerosene lamp next to it, the only thing left on the table was a rabbit lamp covered with white paper and a candle.
The candle flame swayed in the paper circle and jumped on the rabbit's face.
Although it was a very simple and rough rabbit lamp, even the rabbit ears were furry, Chuxia still liked it very much. She was subconsciously moved and her eyes were slightly wet.
She smiled and looked at the rabbit lamp for a while, then sniffed and looked at Lin Xiaohan and said, "Thank you."
After saying that, she quickly opened the oil-proof wrapping paper on the mooncakes, picked up a whole pack of mooncakes and handed it to Lin Xiaohan, then smiled and said to him, "You treated me to the rabbit lanterns, and I'll treat you to mooncakes."
Lin Xiaohan didn't hesitate and reached out to take a piece of mooncake.
Then the two of them ate mooncakes together in the light and shadow of the rabbit lantern, chatting casually, and occasionally looking up at the moon in the sky together.
By the time the candles burned out, they had just finished eating the mooncakes.
The holiday was successfully over. Chu Xia and Lin Xiaohan had to go to work tomorrow, so they didn’t do anything else.
They cleaned and wiped the table, moved it back to the kitchen, and then ended the day and went back to the dormitory to wash up and go to bed.
When Chuxia and Lin Xiaohan went back to the dormitory to wash up and go to bed, Han Ting and the others finished eating mooncakes and cleaned up the dishes together. The ten of them went out together again to enjoy the moon at night.
After they left, the educated youth site became completely quiet.
Lying in bed alone in early summer, I still can't help but miss home.
But when she thought of the rabbit lantern just now, her somewhat empty heart felt warm again.
She turned sideways in bed and couldn't help thinking.
She and Lin Xiaohan have been together for such a long time that they have developed a tacit understanding. Today, seeing that she was homesick, Lin Xiaohan made a rabbit lantern for her. Are they friends now?
After thinking about it for a while, Chuxia turned over and lay on her back again.
Forget it, it’s already not easy for her to get along with Lin Xiaohan so friendly and harmoniously.
Does she still want to be friends with him or have any feelings for him?
If she were to talk about feelings with Lin Xiaohan, wouldn't she be asking for trouble and boredom?
Her purpose has always been to take advantage of his magnetic field energy.
She should keep a good sense of propriety, stop thinking about useless things, and just maintain her current state.
Thinking of this, Chuxia didn’t think about it any further.
It was already late, she was so sleepy that she yawned, closed her eyes and soon fell asleep.
I was sleeping soundly when I was woken up by Gu Yuzhu and others who came back from a night out.
Chuxia turned over in a daze, turned sideways to the wall, tried to ignore the sounds of their talking and laughing, and continued to sleep with her eyes closed.
Because they came back too late from their night out and had to get up for work the next day, Gu Yuzhu and the others didn't argue for too long and quickly took a shower and went to bed.
They are also very happy today.
It can even be said that it was the happiest day in the more than half a year since I went to the countryside.
Before blowing out the lights and lying down to sleep, the four of them chatted a few more minutes as they were still not satisfied.
Gu Yuzhu recalled, "It would be nice if it could be like this every day."
Li Qiao continued, "How is that possible? The production team doesn't have so many pigs to kill every day."
Gu Yuzhu turned her head and said, "Don't spoil my fun. It's just a fantasy."
It was indeed just a fantasy, and I fell asleep while thinking about it.
They slept shorter than usual. When they were woken up by the alarm clock in the early morning, none of the ten people got up immediately. They all stayed in bed and didn't want to move.
After they couldn't stay any longer, they got up one after another, yawning and sighing.
When they got up, Chu Xia and Lin Xiaohan had already gone to school, and the educated youth site was all theirs.
Like every morning, I washed up and went into the kitchen to make breakfast.
They had finished eating the steamed buns they had made last time, but had not yet finished eating the flour they had ground last time. They poured it all into the rice bowl, and there was still enough to steam some steamed buns for three or four more meals, so they kneaded the flour and started steaming the buns.
After eating the flour, you have to wash the grain and take it to the mill to grind.
So while the girls were kneading dough and steaming buns, a few boys went to the yard to wash grains.
Because there was not much food left, the remaining sorghum and corn were poured out when washing.
The boys washed the grains and put them out to dry, while the girls had just finished steaming the buns.
Ten people sat down in the kitchen to eat. Gu Yuzhu ate a coarse grain steamed bun and sighed, "White flour is still better. It would be great if we could eat fine grains every day."
As soon as she finished speaking, the male educated youth Hu Yang said, "It's good to have these to eat. We have to eat fine grains every day. In a few days, we may not even have these to eat."
Hearing this, everyone naturally thought of the issue of food.
They looked at Hu Yang with unfriendly eyes, and then turned their gazes to Han Ting.
Li Qiao swallowed his steamed bun and asked, "Yes, how are we going to solve the food problem?"
Han Ting didn't give a specific answer: "Let's eat first, you don't have to worry about it."
Seeing him say that, Li Qiao didn't ask any more questions.
It was already late, so they didn't talk any more and hurried to finish their meal and go to work.
Although it is said that the autumn harvest has not officially started yet, soybeans and peanuts have already been harvested.
When we started work today, the production team began to arrange for all members to harvest corn.
Starting from the time when corn is harvested, the next two months are harvest days.
After harvesting the corn, we have to harvest the sweet potatoes, and then the sorghum, both of which require more work.
When we went to the fields in the morning, everyone wore straw hats and picked corn cobs in the cornfield.
Su Yun was the one who did the least work among all the people. She followed Han Ting and just held her pockets without reaching out to break the cobs. She felt tired even holding her pockets, and had to sit down and rest from time to time.
I worked until noon and returned to the educated youth site under the hot sun.
The weather is not as hot as in summer, but the sun is still quite strong at noon.
After returning to the educated youth camp and having lunch, I was so tired that I just wanted to lie down on the bed and rest.
So they rested in the dormitory for a while and did not go to the mill to grind flour.
After finishing their afternoon work and dinner in the evening, they loaded the dried grain to the mill.
Ten people went together, the boys were responsible for pushing the mill, and the girls were responsible for feeding grain into the mill eye.
Han Ting stayed in the mill for a while, and suddenly called Chaozi and Guogai to go out.
Chaozi and Guogai asked two other boys to take over and continue pushing the mill.
They followed Han Ting out and asked outside: "Brother Ting, what's wrong?"
Han Ting kept walking and said, "Go to the brigade headquarters to find Liang Youtian."
Chaozi and Guogai thought for a moment and said, "Should we go and talk to him about the food issue?"
Han Ting didn't answer, but it was obviously this.
It just so happened that the brigade headquarters was near the mill, just a few steps away.
They found the Revolutionary Committee office, but Secretary Liu and Liang Youtian were not there.
Qin Xue, the accountant of the brigade, was still busy using an abacus in his office. He didn't ask any more questions, but just said to Han Ting and the other two, "You guys wait here for a while. Captain Liang will be here soon."
Han Ting and Chaozi Guogai waited outside the office for a while.
After waiting for about four or five minutes, Liang Youtian came in from the gate of the yard with his hands behind his back.
Han Ting and the other two were originally squatting, but when they saw Liang Youtian, they quickly stood up.
The three of them laughed at the same time and greeted Liang Youtian enthusiastically, "Captain Liang."
Liang Youtian was in a bad mood when he saw the three of them.
But he didn't show it too much, just asked aloud: "What are you doing here?"
Han Ting and the others had never been rude to Liang Youtian, and now they were smiling even more cordially.
Han Ting smiled and said, "Captain Liang, we are in a bit of trouble and we are here to ask you for help."
Liang Youtian glanced at them and went straight into the office.
Han Ting and the others naturally didn't hesitate and followed Liang Youtian in.
Standing next to Liang Youtian's desk, Guo Gai took out a cigarette from his cigarette box, handed it to Liang Youtian, and said with a polite smile, "Captain Liang, have a cigarette."
Liang Youtian looked at the cigarette, then raised his eyes to look at Han Ting, Chaozi and Guogai.
He didn't reach out to take the cigarette, but said in a businesslike manner: "No need for the cigarette, just tell me what you want to say."
Guo Gai didn't feel embarrassed and took back the cigarette with a smile.
Han Ting didn't waste any more time and said to Liang Youtian directly: "Captain Liang, the food you gave us before is not enough. There are still two months before the food is distributed, and we will run out of food in the next two days. Without food, we will not be able to survive the next two months."
Liang Youtian frowned immediately after hearing this.
Because they were often lazy and absent from work, and sometimes even insisted on taking leave collectively, he anticipated that the work points they earned might not be enough. There were many families in the village who did not earn enough work points, so he thought of asking them to make up for the difference with money. After all, they still had families to rely on. However, he did not expect that they would not even have enough food, and the gap was so big.
Although their Tanxi Brigade was not a particularly wealthy brigade, the annual harvest was still good, especially in the past two years. The harvest of coarse grains was better than before, and the grain distributed to the members was basically enough for them to eat as long as they did not waste it.
Only when a family has too many people but too few laborers, and they cannot earn enough work points to support the family, will there be a situation of not having enough food.
Even in this case, if we save a little, we won't starve to death.
Liang Youtian frowned and looked at Han Ting and said, "How is this possible? The food I distributed to you was distributed according to the number of people. Not a single person was left out."
Chaozi then said: "Maybe we are growing up and our appetite is a bit big, so..."
Liang Youtian couldn't understand and suddenly slammed the table, "No matter how big your appetite is, you can't have such a big difference in two months! How much food is needed for ten adults in two months!"
Han Ting, Chaozi and Guogai were shocked by his slap.
Thinking about the food they wasted, they felt really guilty.
Han Ting pretended to be helpless and said, "Captain Liang, we really don't know what's going on. We usually eat food sparingly. Did you weigh less food for us when you weighed it?"
"Bullshit!" Liang Youtian slammed the table again, "The grain was weighed clearly, there's no way it could be wrong!"
Hearing this, Qin Xue also said, "It's impossible for the account in my hands to be wrong."
When there was still enough food before, Han Ting and his friends didn't care about this issue.
But when they found that the food was gone, they all realized that it was because they were not frugal and had no plans in their daily lives that caused the food to run out early.
It is obviously impossible to put the blame on these brigade cadres.
It would not be a good thing for them if they were annoyed.
So Han Ting said, "Captain Liang, you see the situation has become like this now. We can't survive the next two months without food. Can you help us?"
"Give you a hand?" Liang Youtian suddenly sneered, and his tone became even worse. "You have led your life into the current state, and you want to put the blame on me. How do you want me to help you? Have I not helped you before? Since the first day you went to the countryside, how many words have I said to you? I have scolded you so much that my throat is smoking, but have you ever heard a word I said?!
"We are all educated youth who went to the countryside. Look at how the educated youth in Shazhuang Brigade live! Shazhuang Brigade is said to be far away. Just look at your neighbors, how Comrade Xiaolin and Comrade Xiaoxia live! They live better than the rest of us villagers! Not only do they live well, they also help the brigade to generate income and earn so much money for the brigade and the collective! Look at you, what kind of people are you!"
When Han Ting heard Liang Youtian praising Lin Xiaohan and Chu Xia, the smile on his face suddenly disappeared.
In the past, he didn't care at all, because he looked down on the so-called progressive youth. In his eyes, they were all mentally ill and a group of people poisoned by toxic ideas.
He still looks down on it now, but he can't help feeling unhappy.
He stopped talking to Liang Youtian in a nonchalant tone. His face and tone became slightly gloomy. He looked at Liang Youtian and said, "Please give us two months' food in advance. I can assure you that this is only this time. This will never happen again."
There’s no way Liang Youtian would believe what he said!
He looked at Han Ting and said in a serious tone: "What can you promise me?! How dare you promise me?! Don't say that I won't advance you food now. When the time comes to distribute food, if your work points are not paid in full, you won't get food for next year! I told you before, if your work points are not paid in full, don't get food!"
Han Ting frowned, "How could our work points not be enough?"
Liang Youtian: "How could it be enough? You are given the food rations for ten adults, but what about the work points you earn? For example, Su Yun, other female comrades can earn seven work points a day, but she can't even earn three! She is not the only one who is lazy! You three have never been lazy, or the other six have never been lazy! You just ignored the scolding! It doesn't matter if the work points are deducted! Why didn't you think that this day would come? You are not children anymore, you should be responsible for your actions!"
Liang Youtian took a deep breath and spoke in a calmer tone, then added: "Aren't you from the city? Your parents both have jobs and are in good conditions. Can't you just ask your family to subsidize you?"
Han Ting held his breath and spoke again after a long while: "My family doesn't have the financial support. We are now in your brigade. We are your people. If you don't take care of our lives, who will?"
Liang Youtian couldn't help laughing, "You guys are still living like this even though your family doesn't have the conditions? I thought your family had good conditions that allowed you to live so freely! Your family doesn't care about your life or death, so why should we care about your life or death? What do you think the organization wants you to do in the countryside? Are you here to share our farmers' food without working? Are you here to let us farmers support you?! I said before that if you want to go out and beg, you can't even get a letter of introduction! Don't talk nonsense to me here, don't even think about getting an advance on food. The food will be distributed in two months, and you must make up the work points before you can get the food! This is the rule of our brigade!"
Han Ting's tone also became slightly heavier. "What? We came to your brigade to join the queue, and you starved us to death in the brigade. Don't you have to bear any responsibility at all? If this matter gets to the top and the higher-ups know about it, won't you cadres be affected?"
Liang Youtian was not afraid at all, and said in a tougher voice, "You don't have to threaten me here. Just tell me where you want to file a complaint, to the commune or to the county town, and I'll give you a letter of introduction! Let the leaders above send someone to check and see if we didn't give you a place to live, or didn't give you land, or didn't give you food, or didn't discipline you! When you started to fire independently, we specially invited experts to come and call you to the threshing ground to teach you how to farm, how to do side jobs, and how to live a good life. You think we are all full and have nothing better to do, so we paid experts to come and have fun, right? What food, accommodation, drink, and daily necessities have we not prepared for you? Have you paid the labor you should have paid?! If you didn't waste food normally, you wouldn't have eaten it all up now. These grains were grown by us with great effort under countless scorching suns, and every grain is the lifeblood of us farmers!"
Having said this, Chaozi and Guogai could no longer laugh.
After being spitted at by Liang Youtian, they and Han Ting all looked gloomy and silent.
The office fell silent, leaving only Liang Youtian's heavy breathing.
He cursed too loudly and too hard, and he was really angry, and he got angrier and angrier as he spoke.
Han Ting, Chaozi and Guogai all walked away without any ambition.
After a moment of silence, Chaozi spoke up again, "Captain Liang, we didn't do it on purpose. Just because we don't live well, do you want to watch us starve to death? If we run out of food, what do you want us to do next?"
Liang Youtian was not moved at all: "Don't try to trick me. I won't fall for it. We country folk have all experienced famine and all kinds of suffering. You have hands and feet, but you have led your life to this point. It's your own fault and you don't deserve sympathy. You don't want to starve to death, right? I'll teach you. Don't eat steamed buns. Cook some porridge and go dig wild vegetables to eat. Do you understand?"
Guo Gai couldn't help but say: "Only pigs eat wild vegetables, right?"
Liang Youtian directly retorted: "You are not even as good as pigs! A pig can be sold for more than 100 yuan after one year of raising it. It's a pity to give you wild vegetables to eat!"
Guo Gai was about to say something else, but Liang Youtian suddenly raised his hand to stop him.
He directly blocked Guogai's words and said, "Don't say anything. Let's stop here. You can live your life however you want. It's impossible to advance food. I have other things to do. You should leave quickly and don't bother me here."
Han Ting had a dark face and said nothing more.
He turned around first, and Chaozi and Guogai immediately turned around and followed him out.
Seeing them leave the office, Liang Youtian retracted his gaze and cursed, "They are just a bunch of hooligans and scum."
Qin Xue turned around and looked at Liang Youtian, wondering, "No, how come these educated youth have lived such a good life?"
Liang Youtian waved his hands and said with an indescribable expression: "I can't say."
Qin Xue thought for a moment and said, "If this continues, something will probably happen sooner or later. Why don't we discuss it with the secretary and take ruthless action against them?"
Liang Youtian also thought about it, and after a while he said, "Give them one last chance. If they still refuse to change their ways, then we'll take ruthless action."
Qin Xue nodded and turned back to continue calculating with the abacus.
After hitting him twice, he remembered something, stopped, turned around and looked at Liang Youtian again and said, "Oh, right, I remember when they first went to the countryside, they stole things from the production team. Now that they have no food, will they try to take the grain reserves of the brigade? Should we find someone to keep an eye on them?"
Liang Youtian thought for a moment and said, "Don't tell me it's really possible. Let Changming arrange someone to keep an eye on it."
The brigade's reserve grain is for all members to prepare for famine, not to support idlers and scum.
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