"Eh..." Thinking of the troubles Qin Wu mentioned, Gu Jin couldn't help but sigh heavily. Facing so many pairs of eyes full of expectation, he could only smile bitterly.
“Not selected?” Gu Bao’s heart skipped a beat, and his eyebrows almost flew upside down: “There are not many people in our Datunzi Village and Dagouzi Village who are capable of taking over as the leader of the production team. Although Big Brother looks a little silly, he is steady and down-to-earth in his work…”
Gu Bao spread his hands and said, "If I were to choose, I would definitely choose Big Brother."
"Right, Qingqing?" He winked at Gu Qingqing who was peeling sweet potatoes, signaling her to say a few words to comfort Gu Jin.
"Yeah, Dad, it doesn't matter if you're not elected. Let's eat quickly." Although Gu Qingqing was a little disappointed, she also knew that the production team leader had a lot of work and heavy responsibilities. Moreover, if Dad was elected, he would be working with Uncle Qin Wu. The grievances between these two people could not be written on a piece of paper.
"Yes, yes, yes, let's eat." Zhang Cuifen took a wheat bran bun, broke it in half and handed it to Gu Tiezhu: "It's not a big deal. After eating, go to the field and fertilize it."
Hearing this, Han Lianxin remembered that no one blew the whistle in the morning and the whole family got up late. She leaned over and asked Gu Jin: "Brother, who was selected this time? Can you get up on time tomorrow to call everyone to work?"
Gu Jin's mind was in a mess. He held his head with both hands and propped his elbows on the stone table, grabbing his hair: "...I think I can. I'm selected."
"Oh." Han Lianxin nodded in response, then widened her eyes: "Ah? Brother, what did you say? Why didn't I understand?!"
Gu Tiezhu almost choked on the steamed bun. He patted his chest and swallowed hard. It was only after Zhang Cuifen quickly asked him to drink some vegetable soup that he came to his senses.
"What? Big Boss, you got chosen?" Gu Tiezhu stared at his eldest son with a sharp gaze. When he saw him nod in confirmation, he rolled his eyes at him unhappily and said, "Then why the hell are you like a frost-bitten eggplant? You scared me."
"I was very happy at first, and then I met Qin Wu, and together with him we welcomed the educated youth into the village."
Gu Jin frowned and said, "Dad, this job is really troublesome. I used to think that Uncle Qiu didn't do anything every day. Who knew there were so many tricks involved."
"Dad, what did Uncle Qin Wu say to you?" Gu Qingqing stuffed a taro into her father's hand and said, "Eat while you talk. Grandpa and the uncles are all here. They will listen and give you some advice after they have discussed it."
"Yes, uncle, as the old saying goes, three cobblers are better than one Zhuge Liang!" Gu Xiong had already eaten two sweet potatoes and four or five taro while they were talking. Han Lianxin also filled a bowl of compacted rice for her son.
"It's mainly about food distribution. I think the situation in the fields will allow us to harvest all the millet by the day after tomorrow at the latest. After paying the state's requisitioned grain, the rest will have to be distributed. How to distribute it is a hassle. If it's not distributed well, no one will have the energy to do autumn ploughing."
Gu Jin was worried when he thought about these things: "Even after the autumn ploughing, there are still big and small river works. Dad, why don't you let me be the team leader?"
"What nonsense are you talking about?" Gu Tiezhu slapped his eldest son on the forehead. The crisp sound made Gu Bao's heart shudder.
But then I changed my mind.
My elder brother was beaten by an iron pillar even though he was so old. I am young and strong so it won't be a problem for me to fight and kick him around.
"Distributing food is not a big deal. Tomorrow you can bring two kilograms of dried melons and wine to the old man and ask for his advice. Just follow his previous method of distribution. No one will say anything."
Gu Tiezhu had no appetite to eat. As soon as he touched the pipe, his wife glanced at him coldly and put it down awkwardly: "The autumn ploughing and river bank repair you mentioned are the big things. Old man Xu's words carry weight in the two villages, so he can retire peacefully after all these years."
"We in Datunzi Village and Dagouzi Village are not friendly friends. We have dug canals and stolen water many times before. Now that you have become the team leader, it is still unclear whether they will obey you or not."
The bottom line is that Gu Jin has no prestige. Under Master Xu's rule, the villagers dare not cheat or do anything shady, but this is not necessarily the case with him.
Anyway, Master Xu has decided how many work points each man, woman, young or old should get in a day, so they can just grind it out slowly.
For example, Gu Xiong, who was watering the wheat field, could do the work of two strong young men, which was one day's work.
It doesn't matter whether you do a lot or a little, so why do so much?
The villagers all had their own plans. Since their families were large and young, they would have enough energy to weed their own plots after work. Those with small families could only conserve their energy during work and then exert themselves in their own fields after work.
Gu Yin, the usually taciturn second son of Gu, spoke up for the first time: "People often talk about Uncle Xu behind his back, saying that he secretly leaves all the easy and high-paying jobs to his relatives." Although he does not participate in idle talk, he cannot avoid hearing complaints while working.
"That's it." Gu Tiezhu said to his eldest son, "You see, even a diligent old man has not had a good ending. In the past few years in the village, he got up earlier than the chickens every day and blew the whistle to call people to work from door to door. If someone's roof leaked, he and Xue Jianshan would carry a ladder and go up. Don't think too much, just work hard. The old and young in our family will definitely support your work and will not hold you back."
"Don't let the commune and the brigade down, son." Gu Tiezhu stretched out his big hand covered with old ribbons and patted his eldest son's shoulder vigorously.
Gu Jin was moved to tears by his father's words, and his eyelids turned red: "Dad, please be gentle, it hurts."
Han Lianxin couldn't help but laugh: "Our A-Bao is still tough."
Gu Bao almost spit out a mouthful of vegetable soup.
After cleaning up the dishes, my uncle and cousins were working in the fields. While Gu Qingqing was boiling water, she threw two long black soap nuts into the stove to roast and use them to wash her hair later.
When Grandpa and Father were talking just now, she didn't interrupt but listened quietly. However, she had a vague plan in her mind, but she didn't know if it would succeed.
She thought it was not difficult to improve the enthusiasm of the villagers. She just needed to assign tasks to everyone. Those who picked cotton could go home early if they had picked a certain amount of cotton a day, and those who hoeed the land could go home after hoeing a certain amount of land. In this way, they would have enough time to take care of their private plots.
For someone like Gu Xiong, each mu of land is dug with 10 centimeters as one work point. After finishing, one can choose to record the work points and go home, or continue working. However, the work points cannot be capped at 10, so this way one can earn more money.
Their production team now earns 20 cents per worker, which is already very good. Although it is not as good as those production teams with superior geographical environments and high crop yields that earn 40 to 50 cents per worker, it is much better than some production teams with poor land and low grain production that earn 8 or 9 cents per worker.
A young man could earn 75 yuan for a full year's work, and the food was distributed per person, which was 200 to 300 kilograms. For a large family like theirs, food was not a big worry.
Except for a few months in February and March when there was a shortage of food, they had to eat coarse grains, but rice was enough for them at other times. However, her grandfather's family and her second aunt's family were both from relatively poor places, so every year the Gu family had to send food over to support them.
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