Chapter 1: Going to the Countryside
The train honked repeatedly and finally stopped. Wen Wan tiptoed to take down the luggage from the shelf, including two newly-stretched quilts, a thick bag, and a work cloth backpack filled with her clothes. She held a kettle in her left hand and two cloth bags in her right hand, and followed the crowd slowly towards the exit.
After getting off the train and stepping onto the platform, she felt a chill in her face and could not help but shiver. Her little face, which was covered by her scarf and hat, shrank inwards even more, leaving only her eyes outside to see the road.
I felt a little excited, no longer the gloomy look I had in the car. My bright eyes looked around and I heard a loud speaker not far away shouting: "Ganling Commune, Ganling Commune, over here, over here!"
The people in the two full carriages separated directly on the platform. Wen Wan was going to Ganling Commune. There were dozens of people, men and women of different ages.
They were dressed similarly to her, carrying bedding rolls and a change of clothes, their hands full. However, Wen Wan was a bit exaggerated; she was petite and frail, and the baggage squeezed her so tightly that only her head and legs were visible. She couldn't walk fast, but rather sluggishly, like a turtle.
The Ganling Commune's tractor was outside the station, and the commune secretary and the armed forces had come to meet them. The train was packed with people and luggage. Wen Wan sat on her blanket, holding her bag, her legs curled up around the kettle, feeling a bit uncomfortable. She wanted to change her position, but couldn't squeeze out.
It was already afternoon when the train arrived at the station. It was said that it would take two hours to get from the county town to the commune below by tractor. After arriving at the commune, one had to go to the brigade and then to the production team below.
Wen Wan was lost in thought, and someone on the tractor suddenly started singing: "Learn from Lei Feng's good example!"
, loyal to the revolution and the party, clear about what they love and hate and never forget their roots, firm in their stance and strong in their fighting spirit..."
As the people on the tractor at the back started to sing, the people in the front also started to roar, and they soon followed the tune after a chaotic start.
Liu Decai, the tractor driver, chuckled a few times: "These kids in the city are really strong and don't even feel tired."
Next to him sat Lu Dongping, an officer from the commune's armed forces department. He leaned back in his military coat, arms folded, and raised his eyelids. "I hope you'll be as enthusiastic as I am when I'm assigned to work on the production team," he said.
That's impossible.
If it wasn't just him who despised these young people from the city, I'm sure every member of the production team despised them. They said they were coming to the countryside to support rural development, but they couldn't lift anything, yet they relied on their ability to read and write, and their eyes were directly on top of their heads.
It's not like he hasn't seen this before. There were educated youth coming to their team before, but there had been no movement in the past two years. He thought that was it, but who knew that so many of them would suddenly come again.
There are six brigades under Ganling Commune. With so many educated youth, it is estimated that each brigade can be allocated some, and those in their team probably cannot escape.
Wen Wan was carsick and train-sick. After finally getting off the train and taking a breath, she got back on the tractor.
The tractor rumbled out of the county town, and then the road was so bumpy that it made my heart and lungs hurt.
The educated youth who had been singing loudly at the beginning could no longer sing, their faces pale from being shaken around.
Wen Wan hunched her neck, hugged her pocket, and lay on the bus, her mind full of bizarre and fantastical things. She actually fell asleep while being rocked. When she was woken up, it was already completely dark. Most of the people on the bus had gotten off. A big hand patted her: "Hey! Wake up, it's time to get off!"
Wen Wan opened her eyes and was confused for a moment, then shook her head to wake up. In the light of the torch, she looked at the man standing next to the tractor and called her, "Comrade, can you do me a favor and help me pick up my luggage?"
Lu Dongping stood there, his tongue poking at his back teeth as he glanced at her, nodding: "Okay, hand it over." This young educated youth looked very young, was he even sixteen? He spoke in such a babyish voice, could this be someone's mistake?
Wen Wan handed down the big backpack in her hand, followed by the bedding roll, the kettle, and two bags.
Lu Dongping raised his eyebrows as he looked at the things in his hand. This showed that the family was very wealthy, as they had so many things.
Wen Wan nimbly pushed herself up and jumped off the tractor.
Lu Dongping raised his eyebrows slightly. Wow, the little thing is quite skillful.
After all the educated youth had gotten off the tractors, the commune official came over with a large iron box and said, "Come on, our Ganling Commune has six brigades. To be fair and just, we'll draw lots as before. You go to whichever team you draw."
He wrote fifty pieces of paper for forty-nine educated youth, all crumpled into a ball. There were good and bad people in the brigade, and it was up to luck to catch whichever one he caught.
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