While Shen Muling was busy processing various wild fruits, the other educated youth quickly slipped away while still diligently working.
The following week, everyone began their wheat harvesting schedule.
Previously, the task of harvesting corn was carried by male educated youth, who found it more tiring.
As long as the female educated youth take precautions and ensure that their skin is not exposed, the corn leaves will not scratch them.
Their task was to husk corn, which wasn't too difficult.
Well, at least compared to harvesting wheat, it's an easier job.
The older educated youth have all experienced at least two or three autumn harvests, so they are quite experienced.
So I told them early on that they should wear long sleeves and trousers and straw hats again this time.
Those who have their own sickles can bring them; those who don't can use the tools provided by the brigade.
Actually, back then, because of the Great Leap Forward, iron items were quite expensive.
In the brigade, almost every household had few iron tools besides their own iron pots.
Almost all iron items required ration coupons, and the brigade made them collectively.
The reason why the educated youth settlements were located was because they all came from the city and had a few industrial ration coupons.
Even if their families were very poor, they would still exchange items like sickles with the educated youth who had left before.
For example, Shi Wenju didn't have any tools at first and always used the team's tools.
However, the tools provided in the queue are not enough for everyone, so you need to arrive early to queue.
The tools are usually distributed on a first-come, first-served basis; if you arrive late, you won't get any.
So some of the educated youth who weren't short of money bought tools and then left quickly.
These farming tools are basically no longer needed in the city, so she bought them at a low price.
Now the educated youth all have their own tools, so they don't have to fight with the people in the production brigade every day.
All they need to do is bring their tools and gather at the place they were assigned before finishing work yesterday.
Then you get the task from the squad leader and start doing it yourself.
"I forgot to tell you last night that harvesting wheat is not about physical strength, but about endurance."
Shen Mu Ning and her group set off towards the wheat field under the rising sun.
The former educated youth deeply resonated with these words, having experienced them firsthand.
Among the new educated youth, apart from Lin Siqi, who was reborn, the other three were all confused.
It's just harvesting wheat, how does it have to do with endurance?
In their minds, all farm work requires physical strength.
"Yes, Sister Xue is right. Harvesting wheat in the fields every day really requires patience."
Before Shen Mu Ning and the others could raise any questions, Ding Xiang also chimed in, agreeing with what Zhuang Xue said.
"No, are you sure you mean harvesting wheat?" Zhang Jiayang was the first to ask.
The former educated youth nodded in unison; it was the first time they had ever been so in sync.
"You'll find out soon enough; Shen Zhiqing probably won't have much of an advantage today."
Zhu Yang recalled that when he first came here, he also didn't believe that any farm work required patience.
He, too, questioned the educated youth who had arrived before him.
The results showed that only those who participated had the right to speak, and what they said was correct.
Shen Mu Ning and the others immediately stopped asking questions and waited to experience it firsthand in the field.
When they arrived at the fields, they were taught how to harvest wheat by experienced aunties and uncles.
They only cut the wheat ears and carried them back to the drying ground to dry in the sun.
When the grains of wheat fall off the ears, beat them down with a flail.
So when they harvest wheat, they stand in the wheat field the whole time, or bend over slightly, to harvest the ears of wheat.
At first, they thought the job was easy and ignored what the older educated youth were saying.
Before two hours had passed, the group finally understood why the older educated youth had all said the same thing.
It turns out that standing in an unshaded wheat field for an extended period of time while maintaining a slightly bent-over posture is so difficult.
Moreover, the awns on the wheat ears are not to be trifled with; they often prick their arms.
Harvesting wheat is purely a matter of manual skill; as long as your hands are fast, you can harvest it very quickly.
This time, even Shen Mu Ning couldn't get a significant lead over everyone else.
Normally, outside of the autumn harvest season, she would easily earn fifteen or sixteen work points a day.
But during the nearly one week of wheat harvesting, she only earned four or five work points each day.
Although she looks about the same as before, a comparison with her work points when harvesting corn reveals the problem.
Now, the women comrades in the brigade who were good at their hands and doing manual labor earned the most work points.
By the time the wheat harvest was complete, most of the first harvested wheat had already been threshed.
Only the last two days of wheat need to be exposed to the sun to be easily threshed.
At this point, we can assign them their next tasks.
It usually snows in Lingbei in November, and the ground will freeze quickly afterwards.
No matter what you plant in the ground, it will freeze and die, and it will not grow at all.
So what they are growing now are cabbages and radishes, which can be harvested before or after snowfall.
Moreover, these two vegetables are easy to preserve; as long as they are stored in the cellar, there will be no shortage of vegetables to eat throughout the winter.
Therefore, they now intend to plant cabbages and radishes in all the vacant fields.
Now it's time to assign tasks to each squad.
At this moment, Cao Jin was seen lingering near the drying ground in the distance, but he showed no intention of getting closer.
People only discussed him briefly when they first saw him.
"Hey, look, isn't that Cao Jin? What's he doing here?"
"Of course I know, he's probably looking for his parents."
"Never mind him. Even though there's no evidence, everyone knows he did what he did before."
The incident involving Cao Jin and Shen Mu Ning happened almost entirely in the presence of the entire brigade.
At first, it was because Cao Jin was from the same brigade as him, so he could lie with absolute certainty.
They all believed his nonsense and spoke up for him.
Unexpectedly, Shen Zhiqing quickly exposed his lie.
If it were just that he wanted to scheme against the educated youth and slightly damage the reputation of Xinshan Brigade, that would be one thing.
Anyway, there were so many educated youth before him, everyone knew he was a slacker who was always out running around.
His actions alone do not represent the quality of the entire brigade.
But by sheer bad luck, he chose Shen Zhiqing, an orphan of a martyr.
If she were unreasonable and went straight to the authorities...
I believe that the public security or armed forces departments would be happy to investigate this matter thoroughly.
At that time, not only will his past actions be fully exposed, but also any trouble he may have caused outside will be revealed.
The reputation of the entire Johor Bahru brigade will be ruined by this one bad apple.
If word gets out, they'll be so ashamed to face people from other brigades in the future.
Fortunately, the brigade leader's family was also there, which stopped Shen Zhiqing from continuing the investigation.
But anyone with eyes can see that this was Cao Jin's doing.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
