Chapter 81: Have a Good Talk
When they were returning home after dinner, Zhang Hongying called Lu Dongping, "Come here, I want to tell you something."
Lu Dongping put down the kettle in his hand and said to Wen Wan, "Wait for me."
He followed Zhang Hongying into the house and asked, "Mom, what do you want to say?"
"Send it over there and stay there for a while, and come back later."
Lu Dongping understood a little, but not completely: "What's wrong?"
"During the day, a few educated youths were making a fuss in the fields. I don't know what the guy surnamed Deng is thinking, but he's targeting Wen Wan. He's saying things like the team is unfair, saying why Wen Wan sneaked out and hid while they were digging. I wonder if she'll make a fuss when we get back tonight. One on three, can she handle it?"
Lu Dongping smacked his lips impatiently. These educated youth had so much to do every day. Although they were young, they were very cunning.
"Okay, I got it!" There is not much work to do in the fields now. There are plows and harrows. All you need is laborers who can command the oxen. The rest, apart from carrying manure up the mountain, is to use a hoe to break up and flatten the plowed lumps of earth in places that the harrow cannot reach, so that it will be easier to dig out the holes later.
These jobs are not strenuous at all, and all the women in the team will do them.
Wen Wan had never used a hoe, and no one called her. She was willing to pick grass for pigs to earn the extra money when she was not busy, and no one in the team said anything to her.
Unexpectedly, he was picked out by the newly arrived educated youth.
When he reached the door, he paused and turned back to ask Zhang Hongying, "So, didn't Xu Qingming say anything?"
Zhang Hongying said, "Why didn't you say that? If she wasn't a lesbian, I would have attacked her directly."
Lu Dongping understood what was going on and sent Wen Wan back to the educated youth site.
There was still disharmony at the educated youth camp because the pots and pans had not been washed, which delayed them for a while, and they were only now having their meal.
Lu Dongping and Wen Wan came over from a nearby field ridge. The man was tall and the woman was giggling. They walked and talked, their smiles on their faces. Compared with their miserable state, they seemed to be trampled into the dust. The grit porridge, which was already difficult to swallow, was even more difficult to drink. I felt a blockage in my heart.
Before Lu Dongping arrived, Liu Zhaoxing came over first and called out, "Dongping, have you eaten?"
"I've eaten. Why are you here now, uncle?"
Wen Wan also greeted him, and Liu Zhaoxing nodded in response before speaking to Lu Dongping.
"Come and weigh out the rations for these city kids. Didn't your uncle write a note this morning, and they all signed it? Now that they're here, we can't let them starve to death. We'll have to advance their rations." He was the team's accountant, and there was also a cashier, the second son of the Zhou family, Zhou Minghong. This time, there was a lot of rations to be distributed, and he would be coming over later. The day's work was done on the same day, and there would be work the next day.
The two of them walked towards the entrance of the educated youth center while talking, and Wen Wan followed slowly behind them.
Liu Changqing held the bowl and greeted Liu Chaoxing: "Uncle!" Then he called Lu Dongping.
The other educated youth also greeted them warmly.
Liu Chaoxing said, "Don't bother with any more, just eat quickly. Afterwards, we'll go and weigh the grain you requested for the advance according to the slips you signed and stamped this morning."
Wen Wan took the kettle and called out to Lu Dongping, "We've weighed out our rations, but we don't even have anything to carry them with us. What are we going to use?" She didn't care about others, but she couldn't ignore Xu Qingming.
Lu Dongping said, "Why don't you go back and ask your mother for two sacks to use first."
"Okay!" Just as she was about to leave, Lu Dongping called her, "Come back, I'm just kidding. I'll go get it. I'm faster than you."
Wen Wan didn't hesitate to be polite with him. After he left, she slowly moved to Xu Qingming and called out, "Seventh Brother, is the grit porridge delicious?" Isn't it good to share the meal? He had to ask for trouble. Is he mentally ill?
Xu Qingming rolled his eyes and shoveled the last two mouthfuls of rice into his stomach, muttering to himself, "Hold on, this is my sister." If it were anyone else, he would have just hit them with his lunch box.
After washing the lunch box and putting it back in the house, he came out to look for Wen Wan. The two of them stood at the edge of the yard and talked: "You didn't go to work today?"
Wen Wan said, "The fields haven't been busy these days. I'm going to pick grass for the pigs. I can also earn work points by picking grass for the pigs."
"How many divisions of labor?"
Wen Wan raised her finger: "One basket, two tasks."
"Go into the field and break off a clod of earth into four pieces."
Wen Wan asked him curiously, "Did you get all four points today?" She only had two points when she first came, and it took several days for her to increase from two points to three points. Isn't Xu Qingming too capable?
Xu Qingming wanted to nod, but he was too embarrassed to do so. It took him a long time to utter, "Two points." Of course, considering that his work level far exceeded that of the other educated youths, even if he was just doing mountain work, he could barely be given four points. But because Deng Hongjuan picked trouble in the fields and blamed Wen Wan, he cursed her, and Lu Minghai was so angry that he gave everyone two points. However, he didn't know this. He thought that for the work he did, he could only be given two points.
"Ah?" Wen Wan was stunned for a moment, then nodded: "That's right, when I came here, we also divided the work into two parts. I was saying, how could you be better than me."
Xu Qingming started coughing madly, it was so embarrassing.
The topic of work points could no longer be discussed: "I'm going to get rations later. Wait for me, I have something to tell you."
He felt that the matter between An Bao and Lu Dongping could not be delayed any longer.
Wen Wan nodded: "Okay, it's still early anyway. Oh, I'll ask Lu Dongping to go back and get you two sacks, otherwise you won't have anything to put your rations in after you weigh them."
"You're pretty good at ordering people around, aren't you?"
Wen Wan nodded confidently: "He is my partner, why shouldn't I order him around?" What's the point of talking to your partner if you can't order him around?
"You!" Xu Qingming felt that he really had to have a good talk with this little confused guy as soon as possible, a long and heart-to-heart talk.
Before he could even think of how to start, someone called out to him, "Comrade Xu Qingming, go and weigh your rations, or you won't be around to see me again."
"You wait."
Wen Wan nodded and decided to wait. It was still early anyway.
Everyone left in a flash, and only the three of them were left at the educated youth site.
Wang Jianmao called out to her, "There are three more people in the room. How do you feel?"
Wen Wan smiled and said, "It's quite lively." This was the truth. She didn't know these people very well. The only one who had a direct confrontation with her was Deng Hongjuan, but the other two hadn't spoken to her since she refused to go out with them yesterday. It was quite interesting that the three of them were sticking together and being exclusive.
She didn't feel that uncomfortable. It was just a place to sleep anyway. During the day, she either went to work or stayed at the Lu family. There were Lu Dongping, Lu Chun'e and Lu Donglin. She didn't feel lonely at all. She was xenophobic so to speak. It was the reason why people were jealous of her good looks. What could she do about it?
There was a steelyard in the warehouse, and several people carried baskets to weigh out the grain. Lu Dongping grabbed a bag and packed up Xu Qingming's portion. It was still corn, the team's crop, and there were some potatoes and sweet potatoes, but Lu Dongping had told Wen Wan in advance that those were sprouting now, so she couldn't take too much. Wen Wan naturally hadn't forgotten to tell Xu Qingming.
Amid the envy of the other educated youth, Lu Dongping helped Xu Qingming carry back the fifty kilograms of corn and some sweet potatoes that he had borrowed.
We couldn't borrow more, and the team's grain reserves from the previous year weren't very large. This year had just begun, so we had to be frugal. These days, a family of four, two adults and two children, could only get about 500 to 600 kilograms of grain a year, and that depended on a good harvest.
Xu Qingming was not the kind of person who didn't know what was good for him, so he thanked Lu Dongping. After all, putting aside the fact that he was dating Wen Wan, he should thank someone for helping him.
After the food was brought back, Xu Qingming took the opportunity to call Lu Dongping: "Let's talk!" His tone was firm and unyielding.
Lu Dongping nodded: "Okay!"
"Seventh Brother!" Wen Wan called out to Xu Qingming, "Didn't you say you wanted to talk to me? Why do you want to talk to Lu Dongping again?"
"Yeah, I just decided. This is a rare opportunity. We live close to each other as siblings, so we can talk anytime."
Wen Wan: —That’s not what you just said.
"Xu Qi, take it easy, or I'll telegraph my third uncle and tell him you're bullying me!"
Xu Qingming:——
Can a girl be so outgoing?
The two of them did not talk at the educated youth site, but went to the edge of the wheat field. As if taking a walk to help digestion after eating too much, they walked slowly, one in front and one behind, for half a day.
When it was almost time, Xu Qingming finally spoke: "Do you know what Wen Wan's family is like?"
Lu Dongping said nothing, listening quietly as he said, "My uncle, Wen Wan's father, is in the military region in the capital, and my aunt is in the art troupe. Wen Wan has been raised on milk since she was born. She has a nanny at home who does her laundry and cooking, and there are people to pick her up when she goes out." After saying this, she looked at him and said, "What do you have at home? Three hundred and sixty-five days a year, she has to work in the fields endlessly to earn work points, and at the end of the year she gets a little bit of food, which is not enough to fill her stomach. Not only does she have to work in the fields, but she also has to wash clothes, cook, and feed the pigs and chickens when she gets home. How can you bear to let her live like that, to follow you through the hardships of life?"
Few of the boys in the Xu family are simple. Lu Dongping has thought a lot these past two days, wondering what unpleasant words Xu Qingming would say and what he would do to prevent him from getting along with Wen Wan. He thought a lot, but when he got there, it was completely different from what he had imagined.
His usually eloquent mouth hesitated for a moment, and after a long pause he said, "That life was pretty good, but no one's life remains the same. Take her for example. She had such good conditions, but she was still sent down to our mountains. And you, for example, the Xu family's conditions should be no worse than the Wen family's, right? You still had to come to the mountains and live a life of toiling in the earth like us. No, you're worse off than us. We mountain people have a little education, and if we pass high school, we can go to the city to work as workers. But you city people, you intellectuals, were sent down to the mountains. Do you know why?"
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