Chapter 90: Summer Harvest
Wen Wan was so mysterious that she didn't open it again. She stuffed it into her pocket along with the handkerchief.
She asked Lu Donglin for a pencil to draw the lines, and cut the pants with navy blue polyester fabric. She gestured with the sky blue Dacron and found that there was still some material left for cutting a shirt, but she couldn't think of what to do with it for the time being.
The stained area can be placed on the chest, and then a pocket can be made on it.
It was only when Wen Wan went to bed that night that she remembered the things Lu Dongping had given her. She took off her clothes, crawled under the covers, and unfolded her handkerchief to take a look. Inside the handkerchief were tickets: sugar tickets, non-staple food tickets, and cloth tickets. There were several cloth tickets, two, five, and ten feet long. Adding up all the money, it was enough to buy a new set of clothes, even a new quilt, and even the quilt cover.
I've saved so many cloth coupons, but the quilt on my bed is still tattered. What's going on? No money? What's the point of giving it to myself? Shouldn't this be given to his mother?
What's more, it's not just tickets, there's also money. She counted it and found more than fifty, quite a lot, all in change, her own pocket money!
Wen Wan put it away intact. The next day after school, she found time to pull Lu Dongping into the room and whispered to him, handing him the handkerchief: "Why did you give me these things?"
Lu Dongping said, "I'll make clothes for you! If you see any cloth you like, just buy it. You need money and tickets."
"No, where did you get so many cloth coupons? Does your mother know about it? What if you gave them to me and she found out?"
"If you don't tell her and I don't tell her, how will she know? I've given her everything I should have given her. This is something I saved up myself. If I give it to you, it's yours. If she knows about it, it's still yours."
Wen Wan felt it was a little hot, so she stuffed it into his arms: "I don't want it!"
Lu Dongping stuffed it back into her hand: "Why don't you want it? I want it even if you make clothes for me. Why don't you want the cloth coupons I give you? Aren't we dating? It's not too much for me to give you something, right?" These coupons were a combination of what he had saved up and what he had exchanged with others in recent months. He naturally gave his mother the ones from the commune subsidies, but he definitely had to keep these for himself. His mother was a person who was used to being frugal. No matter how much she had, she would not spend it. She was frugal.
Fortunately, the money left for his family and the money he kept for himself were separated since his early years, and he was not the kind of person who listened to his parents very much.
Well, this virtue should be continued to be promoted. After all, he will belong to the little girl in the future.
Wen Wan pouted and looked at him in protest, and Lu Dongping lowered his head and moved closer.
Wen Wan reacted quickly and ran out without waiting for him to touch her.
In the end, the cloth coupons and money were accepted first.
I just feel like, well, my wallet is bulging.
After getting along well with a group of children, the news that Wen Wan was a substitute teacher in elementary school spread throughout the production team.
The few educated youth at the educated youth site were the last people in the production team to know about this. Deng Hongjuan couldn't believe her ears. Looking at Hu Xiujuan, who was picking pig grass with her at the edge of the wheat field, she asked, "You said, Wen Wan is going to school to be a substitute teacher? Does that mean she won't have to work in the fields anymore?"
Hu Xiujuan busied herself with work, saying, "Of course. Teachers get a salary and work-point subsidies, so why would they need to work?" Even as she spoke, her heart ached. They were all educated youth, dating in the local area. She was already married, had a child, and found a job watching over a warehouse. She still had to do her usual duties. But she was so gentle, and they were still dating, and now she was being offered a teaching position at a school.
Think about it again, the educated youth point is only a few steps away from the Lu family. Lu Dongping picks her up in the morning and drops her off in the evening. He wants to carry her in his arms wherever he goes. They are both dating in the countryside, so why is there such a big difference?
Deng Hongjuan glanced at her thoughtfully: "I remember you graduated from junior high school, right? Why didn't you think of asking your man to find someone to help you go to school? That's better than being in the team, with a salary!"
Deng Hongjuan supported her waist as she stood up and said, "I didn't even think about it back then. I'd be stupid if I didn't!" She was almost four months pregnant, and her pregnancy was starting to show. She wasn't picking grass for the pigs at home, but after feeding the pigs, she'd go out for a walk and bring some back in a basket. Her life was so much better than the other women on the team. But people are greedy and hate comparisons. If they don't compare with the worse, they compare with the better. Comparisons make everything uncomfortable.
Deng Hongjuan chuckled, "Lu Dongping is quite impressive. However, he's arranged so securely just for dating. Isn't he afraid that someone will take advantage and then kick him out?"
"No way? I heard they're planning to renovate their house, and we'll get married as soon as it's finished."
Deng Hongjuan fell silent. She suddenly felt that there wasn't anything wrong with dating in the countryside. Rural people hadn't seen the world, were honest and easy to please, and that wasn't without its advantages. Even if they were worse off, they were probably like Hu Xiujuan, but they were still much better off than the educated youth. When they had some free time, they'd pull grass. When they were busy, they'd sit in the warehouse and register farm tools for people. They still got their work points, so they didn't have to live too comfortably.
Wen Wan is truly comfortable. Aside from getting up early in the morning, being a substitute teacher is stress-free. She has eight classes a day, and she teaches them however she wants. Besides teaching Chinese and math, if the children behave well, she teaches them songs and tells them stories. They can tell each other stories, whether they heard them or made them up, but it's always exciting.
But not working at all? That doesn't exist.
We are currently focusing on production and all places are cooperating, including schools.
After the corn in the field has sprouted, the wheat also begins to be harvested. The situation changes every day. By the end of May and the beginning of June, the wheat in the sunny wheat fields on the mountain turns yellow, and the real busy season of the year has arrived.
The school is on holiday for half a month, a busy holiday, in order to rush to harvest and plant.
As soon as the sky was light, the gongs of the mountain workers sounded, just like the sound of a horn for a charge to war. There was no time to slow down, and the small mountain village that had been sleeping all night woke up at once.
After washing up, Wen Wan took the military water bottle that she had never used before and filled it with water and sugar water. She put on a sun hat and then went to the warehouse to get farm tools.
This is the time to really work, and it is no longer as easy as just throwing seeds when planting potatoes and corn.
She was given a sickle and was going to the field to harvest wheat.
It was only five o'clock when they received the sickles and the sky was a little bright. The army of wheat harvesters marched towards the wheat fields on Laoyaling Mountain.
The women held sickles in their hands, the men carried clips on their backs, and the children were also there, following behind with baskets and bags to pick up wheat ears.
Everyone in Lu Dongping's family had to do farm work. Lu Mingjiang helped him carry wheat, Zhang Hongying had to harvest the wheat, and Lu Chun'e and Lu Donglin, brother and sister, had to follow the adults to bundle the wheat.
The work during this period is hard, but the work points are also high. Reaping wheat is worth eight points, and bundling wheat is worth six points. Both seem to require little effort, but only those who do it will know.
All the people in the team, young and old, who were able to work in the fields went to work, and the scene was spectacular.
The mountains are terraced, with one machine after another working from the edge of the field. You can see at a glance who is working fast and who is slow.
Wen Wan and the other female educated youth were all separated among the team members this time, just like before.
Wen Wan was still with Zhang Hongying, with Gao Xiulan and Zhang Yun above them, and Jian Zhaodi from Lu Changfa's family and his daughter-in-law Chen Xiuping below them.
Chen Xiuping and Hu Xiujuan were from the same group of educated youth who came to Lujiazui. Both of them chose to marry locally, one into the Liu family and the other into the Lu family. Because of their different family backgrounds, their lives were very different.
Hu Xiujuan is pregnant and her pregnancy is obvious. At most, she stays in the warehouse for a while in the morning and evening. The rest of the time she stays at home to wash clothes and cook. But Chen Xiuping can't do that. She has to go to the fields.
At that time, she chose to get married because of her family background. She wanted to marry a poor peasant with a good family background, thinking that it would be safe. After choosing for a long time, she chose the eldest son of Lu Changgui, a poor family in the team.
She got pregnant two months after entering the house. Her first child was a daughter, and now she's over two years old, and there's still no sign of pregnancy. Jian Zhaodi—just hearing the name speaks volumes. She grew up in a patriarchal family, so how could her ideology be any better? So what if she's an intellectual? Didn't the intellectual still marry her son? With a bad background and no son, how could she possibly be treated well?
Chen Xiuping is busy like a top all day long, either working in the fields or working at home. In just two years, she is only in her early twenties, but she looks like she is in her thirties, dark and thin.
She was busy, but not deaf. She'd heard everything about Wen Wan. She'd heard that she was dating Lu Dongping from the Lu family, that Lu Dongping would pick her up every morning at the educated youth camp and drop her off every evening, that Lu Dongping had taken her to the county town several times in the past six months, that Lu Dongping was going to build a new house and even make furniture for her in order to marry him, that Lu Dongping had used his connections to get her a job as a substitute teacher at an elementary school—too much to count.
They were both educated youth sent down to the countryside. He was the clouds in the sky, and she was the mud on the ground.
Looking again, Jian Zhaodi started yelling, "What are you still staring at there like an idiot? Why don't you get back to work?"
Chen Xiuping lowered her eyes, bent down, and started moving her hands.
Wen Wan on top also took a look and saw Zhang Hongying starting to take action, so she hurriedly followed.
While harvesting wheat may seem easy, it's actually incredibly frustrating, especially for a novice like Wen Wan. Not only does she have to bend constantly, but the wheat awns are also incredibly sharp, leaving a scratch on her hand or face if she's not careful. As soon as the sun comes out and the sweat builds on her face and body, the burning pain spreads across her face and hands. Her hands, which rarely handle a sickle, are covered in blisters by midday. She seems to be moving quickly at first, but then her pace gradually slows.
It was so hot and uncomfortable that the sun hat she used to love wearing in the summer felt so stuffy that she couldn't breathe. She reached out to pull the hat off, but Zhang Hongying quickly stopped her, saying, "Hey, you can't take it off. Your face hasn't been in the sun much, and you're going to get blisters without a hat in this kind of sun."
Wen Wan sighed and cried, "Aunt, I can't do it anymore, my hands hurt!"
My hands were covered with blisters, and the blisters were rubbed off.
Zhang Hongying had no choice but to teach her: "Then go slowly. I'll be out in no time. Didn't you bring some hot water? Drink some, stand up and take a breath, then cut slowly." There was no way to deal with the pain; she couldn't do it for her. This was how they'd all gotten through the day. If it were her own work, it wouldn't matter whether she did it or not, but this was collective work, and everyone was watching.
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