Chapter 146 Educated Youth in the 1970s (Part 10) I Want to Build! I Want to Learn...
In recognition of Song Ce's significant contributions to Xinhe Village, after the wheat harvest, Qin Guangde immediately went to the city in high spirits and loudly introduced the various uses of the combine harvester to his superiors, and also gave special praise to Song Ce's personal contributions.
The emergence of such a progressive educated youth in the village under their command brought honor to the higher-ups. To commend Comrade Song Ce, the organization unanimously decided to award him the "Five-Good Educated Youth" award and an honorary banner.
Not only that, after the matter was reported to the provincial authorities, they sent someone to award Song Ce the title of "Technical Expert." On the day of the award ceremony, Qin Guangde, beaming with pride, moved a loudspeaker to the village entrance and broadcast the award for the entire day.
Song Ce stood on the platform, a big red flower pinned to his chest by his superiors, surrounded by cheers from the villagers.
"Have you heard? The county's agricultural machinery factory wants to invite Comrade Song to be their... consultant!"
"Oh, so does that mean our team can't release him?"
"Definitely not!"
"The brigade leader is really farsighted. He put Tiezhu under Comrade Song's tutelage as an apprentice early on. How could this kid's future be anything but bright?"
"What are you trying to stop me from doing? Tie Zhu was taken in as an apprentice by Comrade Xiao Song!"
"Alright, alright, stop talking, the captain's looking over here!"
And so, the entire Xinhe Village gathered together for a lively day. After the ceremony, Song Ce was carrying the honorary banner back home when someone called out to him from behind as he passed a small hill.
"Hey, Comrade Song Ce, wait a minute!"
Song Ce stopped and turned around to see Wu Wangliu standing a few steps away, carrying a small bamboo basket. The setting sun cast a soft, warm yellow hue on her tall figure.
"Comrade Wu Wangliu, what brings you here?" Song Ce asked with a polite smile.
Wu Wangliu took a deep breath, took two steps forward, and spoke in a softer voice than usual: "Comrade Song Ce, I... I just wanted to congratulate you." She paused, her gaze lingering on the big red flower on his chest for a moment, before saying, "You are very capable, even more capable than I thought."
Song Ce nodded slightly and said gently, "Thank you."
Those two simple words sent a jolt through Wu Wangliu's heart. She bit her lip, hesitated for a moment, and finally mustered her courage to say, "Have you thought about... the future? Like going back to the city, like finding a job, or..."
Before she could finish speaking, Song Ce interrupted her with a smile and said firmly, "No, my current thought is to stay here."
Wu Wangliu opened his mouth, then said urgently, "With all your skills, why are you content to be confined to a small mountain village? If you wanted to, you could definitely have a better future, wouldn't you?"
She gripped the handle of the bamboo basket tightly, her nails almost digging into her palms.
Looking at the mud-brick houses with wisps of smoke rising from their chimneys in the distance, Song Ce said gently, "Comrade Wu Wangliu, for me, this is the best place. And look," he pointed to the wasteland at the foot of the mountain, "every inch of this land needs me. If I leave, who will take over?"
Wu Wangliu stared blankly at the wasteland, then at him. After a long while, she lowered her head and said softly, "I've thought a lot these past few days. From the first day I arrived, I felt that this land was not suitable for me. But... if you stay, then I... am willing to stay for you."
Song Ce was taken aback, then looked at her seriously.
When she looked up again, Wu Wangliu's eyes were slightly red, and she asked softly, "I want to know, what's your answer?"
"Comrade Wu Wangliu," Song Cedi said softly and gently, "Your words just now made me understand your sincerity and courage. However, I cannot feel anything more than friendship towards you. You are a good person, but I am not attracted to you. I'm sorry."
Even though it was an expected answer, Wu Wangliu almost couldn't help but cry. Silence slowly spread between the two of them, broken by a few intermittent barks from a dog not far away.
Wu Wangliu forced a stiff smile and said in a low voice, "Um... I understand." After saying that, she turned to leave. However, after taking a few steps, she suddenly stopped, turned her back to Song Ce, and said, "Thank you for your honesty." Without waiting for him to continue speaking, she quickly left.
As the evening breeze blew by, Song Ce watched Wu Wangliu's departing figure and sighed very softly.
...
In the days that followed, Song Ce was almost constantly busy. After harvesting the wheat, he immediately began researching seeders and plows. Although Xinhe Village was located in a plain area, there was still a lot of undeveloped wasteland, which was very difficult to cultivate by manpower alone.
With Jiang Zhangjun's consent, Song Ce converted the small woodshed at the educated youth settlement into a "workhouse." Due to his outstanding contributions, the organization stopped assigning him labor tasks and directly arranged for him to take on a technical job guarding the farm tools at the brigade headquarters, earning ten work points per day.
To Song Ce's dismay, after he built a combine harvester using scrap machinery from the Zhouli Scrap Metal Recycling Station, it led to waves of people ransacking every scrap metal recycling station in the county. Those normally inconspicuous scrap metal parts had become highly sought-after commodities by various production teams.
Not only that, he also sparked a "technology craze" in several surrounding counties. Their daily search for parts in the scrap heaps was even photographed by reporters and made into newspapers, making them famous throughout China.
With combine harvesters in place, automatic seeders and semi-automatic tillers are also essential, as these are easier to develop than combine harvesters.
A month and a half later, Song Ce built a simple seeder and a semi-automatic plow.
Upon learning that Song Ce had made another new invention, Qin Guangde waved his hand and led the villagers to come and watch, to witness just how amazing these two new machines were.
"Put-put-put—" As the semi-automatic ploughing machine roared, Song Ce gripped the handle, and the ploughing machine began to move forward, easily turning over the originally hard wasteland.
The villagers gathered around, their eyes wide with amazement as they stared at the machine, their voices trembling with wonder.
"Wow! This is much faster than plowing the fields with oxen!"
"Yes! Did you see that? Comrade Song didn't do anything, and the machine just started moving by itself!"
"I see it! I see it! This will make reclaiming wasteland much easier for us from now on!"
Seeing everyone eager to try it out, a curious young man raised his hand and asked loudly, "Comrade Song, may I try this plow?" Seeing someone willing to help with the work, Song Ce naturally smiled and agreed.
After Song Ce explained the basic usage to the young man, the young man quickly got the hang of it. Being a strong laborer who worked in the fields year-round, the young man plowed the land much faster than Song Ce. In just a few rounds, a row of land was plowed.
The young man discovered that this plow not only saved him 70-80% of his physical effort, but it was also easy to operate once he grasped the direction. In just half an hour, the land that would have required oxen to work for most of the day was transformed into something brand new.
Seeing how simple it was to use the plow, the villagers immediately started chattering amongst themselves. Qin Guangde, in particular, was overjoyed, getting down onto the ground to grasp Song Ce's hands and praising him incessantly.
Uncle Li glanced at Uncle Qian beside him and sighed, "These city kids, they just have a knack for it. Our Xinhe Village has really struck gold this time!"
"yes……"
After the young man finished plowing the small patch of wasteland, Song Ce picked up a seeder that looked like a small cart and showed everyone how to use it.
"As you can see, here I've loaded corn seeds. The spacing between plants, the seeding depth, and the number of seeds can all be adjusted. Furrowing, seeding, covering with soil, and pressing down are all done in one step. It can be used for both row sowing and spot sowing."
Sure enough, the simple seeder did not disappoint. Song Ce pushed it across the field ridges, and the corn seeds were already evenly sown in the turned soil.
Seeing this, Qin Guangde led the applause for Song Ce. Several aunties who had been in charge of planting in previous years squeezed forward and crowded around Qin Guangde, saying all at once, "Captain, our team should get a few more seeders, so we won't have to bend over and plant corn one by one anymore!"
Qin Guangde nodded slightly, then wiped the sweat from his forehead and grinned, "Fellow villagers! Last time, our village benefited from Comrade Song's help with that harvester, so we can't let him take it for free this time!"
Upon hearing this, the villagers knew that the brigade leader was probably considering exchanging machines with Comrade Song. They also understood that they had to give him something, whether it was money or grain, as an encouragement for the educated youth to continue contributing to the village!
"The captain is right! We can't let Comrade Song's efforts go to waste!"
"That's right, other villages have to borrow from our village if they want to use it!"
"My aunt came over the other day and said she really envied our village's harvester, saying it saves a lot of trouble!"
Listening to the villagers talking amongst themselves, Qin Guangde immediately felt reassured.
The next day, as soon as the loudspeaker went off to start work, he grabbed the brigade cadres and went from house to house to mobilize the villagers, loudly proclaiming, "Our Xinhe Village cannot let down capable people. Whether it's contributing money or collecting grain, we must give Comrade Xiao Song the credit!"
Finally, after a meeting of the brigade cadres, it was decided to use the bicycle voucher that the county had awarded to Xinhe Village two years ago to reward Song Ce, and a vote was taken by show of hands. As soon as Qin Guangde finished speaking, more than a dozen hands in the room shot up, even the usually silent old accountant.
When Qin Guangde went to the county to report on his work at the end of the month, he emphasized the plow and seeder developed by Song Ce. Soon, not only Huoxian County leaders but also city leaders knew that Xinhe Village had produced an outstanding educated youth who had made significant contributions to the village's development in less than three months.
The leader of Huoxian County was a far-sighted superior. He immediately and carefully instructed Qin Guangde to nurture this educated youth well. It should be understood that a bright mind could bring about greater changes to Xinhe Village, Huoxian County, and even the entire country.
At the same time, he wanted all the educated youth who went to the countryside with enthusiasm to know that as long as they were willing to make efforts, they would definitely gain the organization's recognition and then reap rich rewards!
On the very day Song Ce received the bicycle ticket, he took the time to write a long letter home, attaching the bicycle ticket to it. When he returned to the educated youth settlement after mailing the letter, he stared at the calendar on the wall, the days circled in red pen particularly striking.
Song Ce clenched his fists, his gaze deep and intense.
...
Thanks to the various machines developed by Song Ce, Xinhe Village became much kinder to the educated youth. After the wheat harvest, Qin Guangde generously gave all the newly arrived educated youth a half-day off.
Jian Fangning carried a washbasin into the house, inside which were the clothes she had just washed.
"Sister Ziling, Sister Wangliu, I'm going to the river to wash my clothes. Are you coming?"
Qi Ziling, who finally had half a day to rest, leaned back in her chair and replied with a smile, "I don't have any dirty clothes, so I won't go. Wang Liu, what about you?"
Wu Wangliu shook his head and said simply and directly, "I'm not going."
"Then I'm going!" Jian Fangning picked up the washbasin, humming a little tune, and walked quickly towards the river.
After walking for about fifteen minutes, she arrived at her destination. Everywhere she looked, clear river water flowed gently, and clusters of purple wildflowers bloomed on both banks, a truly beautiful sight. She found a suitable spot and poured her wet clothes onto the grass. Then, Jian Fangning scooped up half a basin of water and began washing her clothes, piece by piece.
She rubbed the clothes while lifting them up and down, changing the water three times before the soap suds gradually cleared away. She poured the dirty water under a tree some distance away, then picked up the basin and headed back to the educated youth settlement.
As Jian Fangning walked, she suddenly heard light footsteps behind her. She tried to stop, and the footsteps stopped too. Thinking she had misheard, she continued walking, and the footsteps followed her.
Jian Fangning panicked immediately.
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Author's Note: Added 500 words, hehe [droopy-eared rabbit head]
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