Chapter 29 Passerby A in the 1970s Rural Life Story 3
All right.
Jiang Yue hadn't expected this. She thought it would be another year or two, but it's already here. Looking at the list, there were ten people in total, and Li Mengqi was among them. It seemed that the two of them were from the same batch of educated youth.
After everyone took the list, they went out to the courtyard to wait for the others. The commune had sent a tractor to pick them up, but it hadn't returned yet. A group of people gathered together to chat, talking about how the harvest was this year and complaining about how pretentious the educated youth were, refusing to work if their hands were cut by grass, and so on. Jiang Yue found it quite interesting, so she mingled into the crowd. The others didn't object to Jiang Yue joining in. After she flattered them a few times, the older men all started to treat her like a little sister and began to impart their life experiences.
When Secretary Zhang came out again, he saw a group of people squatting together, smoking, with Jiang Yue's little head in the middle, and they all seemed to be having a good time.
The happy time was short-lived. After chatting for about half an hour, the commune tractors brought the educated youth back. There were several tractors and probably more than a hundred people. Jiang Yue estimated that each of the dozen or so brigades could get some, and maybe even ten people would be considered a lot for Jiang Yue's brigade.
Just as Jiang Yue had predicted, there were still fifteen educated youths in the brigade. The brigade leader looked miserable and almost cried. When Jiang Yue saw that there were enough people, she started shouting, "Jiangjiaba Brigade, come here!"
After calling out for a few minutes, Jiang Yue looked and saw that there were already ten people. She then called out the names on the list one by one: "Li Jianguo, Zhang Weiguo, Wang Zhiqiang, Zhao Dongming."
Jiang Yue called out the names of four boys first. While Jiang Yue was calling out the names, Wang Zhiqiang, who was sitting below, looked at Jiang Yue with a sleazy look and said, "Other brigades are picked up by their captains, but our brigade just sends a little girl, tsk tsk tsk."
No one paid any attention to him after he said that. Jiang Yue glanced at him but didn't bother to talk to him. There would be plenty of opportunities to pay the price for his foul mouth in the future.
"Lin Xiao, Su Yao, Li Shihan, Zhang Jingyi, Li Mengqi, Liu Ruyan."
The names on the list matched the people. Jiang Yue put the list away, clapped her hands, and said to them, "Let's go, let's go. Take your luggage and follow me."
After saying that, she led everyone towards Uncle Shuanzhu. When Uncle Shuanzhu saw Jiang Yue coming over, he stood up and said, "Xiaoyue, have you picked everyone up?"
Jiang Yue nodded to Uncle Shuanzhu and pointed to the people behind him, saying, "Uncle, they're all here."
Shu Zhu took a puff of his pipe and said to the educated youth, "Come on, everyone, put your luggage on the oxcart. If you have any packages at the post office or need to buy anything, hurry up and do it. The autumn harvest is in a few days. If no cart comes today, who knows when you'll get another chance."
"I'll wait here for you for an hour, and then we'll set off."
After Uncle Shu finished speaking, he fell silent. He had gained experience in picking up people. At this moment, Su Yao, who looked delicate and frail, spoke up: "I have a lot of things. Can't I catch the train to the post office? It would be so convenient to just put them in the car."
The others chimed in, "Yes, yes, let's go over there."
However, Uncle Shuanzhu was too lazy to pay attention to them. At first, he had some curiosity and awe towards the educated youth, but now those few people in the village had worn him down. Seeing that Uncle Shuanzhu was not speaking, Jiang Yue said, "It is inconvenient for the oxcart to go through. Some people have already started to move. You should hurry up too."
After Jiang Yue finished speaking, she ignored them. Su Yao bit her lip lightly, stomped her foot, and muttered, "If I'm not going, I'm not going. What's with the arrogance? If I didn't have too much stuff, I wouldn't need your help."
Wang Zhiqiang smiled and said to Su Yao, "It's okay, little sister, I'll help you carry it! I'm strong enough."
The others nodded repeatedly. Su Yao lowered her head, glanced at them a few times, and said shyly, "Won't this be too much trouble for everyone?"
The people next to her shook their heads as they spoke, saying, "No, no, it's not troublesome at all." After saying that, they walked away around Su Yao. Zhang Jingyi, who was standing next to her, almost broke her teeth watching. Before she could even say anything, everyone had run away. Who would help her carry her things? She glanced at Jiang Yue, her eyes lit up, and she was about to speak up.
Jiang Yue immediately sensed something was wrong when she saw the way Zhang Jingyi was looking at her. Before Zhang Jingyi could say anything, she closed her eyes and pretended to be asleep. Zhang Jingyi was speechless. "Your act is too fake!" she thought. After watching for a while, she realized that Jiang Yue had no intention of helping her at all, so she stomped her foot and left.
After waiting for a while and finding no movement, Jiang Yue quietly opened her eyes and saw that no one was there. She breathed a sigh of relief. There were all sorts of strange and wonderful things to be found here. The educated youth settlement was about to become lively again.
Jiang Yue stood up and told Uncle Shuan that she was going to buy some food. Relying on her memory, she walked to the state-run restaurant. The sign inside still read: "Beating customers is prohibited." Jiang Yue walked to the counter, where the menu for the day was listed. There was no braised pork, a must-have dish in the novel. Since it wasn't lunchtime, there weren't many people.
Seeing the waitress sleeping on the counter, Jiang Yue walked over and gently knocked on the counter. When the waitress looked up impatiently, before she could even speak, Jiang Yue swiftly handed her a White Rabbit candy. The waitress, who was about to curse, swallowed her words upon seeing the candy and said irritably, "What would you like to eat?"
Jiang Yue glanced at the menu and said that she originally wanted to have chicken stew with mushrooms, but there wasn't enough time, so she said, "Comrade, give me a plate of mutton stir-fry and four steamed buns."
After saying that, Jiang Yue handed over the lunchbox and said, "Comrade, please help me put half of the vegetables and two steamed buns into the lunchbox."
After saying that, Jiang Yue counted out the food coupons and handed them over. The waiter took them and went to the kitchen, while Jiang Yue found a seat in the hall and waited for the food to be ready.
Because there weren't many people, Jiang Yue's food was served quickly. The waiter brought the food over and gave the food container to Jiang Yue. After she left, Jiang Yue opened it and saw half a portion of food and two large steamed buns. Jiang Yue then took a pair of chopsticks inside; these were for Uncle Shuanzhu.
After doing all that, we started eating. To be honest, the taste was just average, not as good as Aunt Fang's. My expectations were a bit too high. But then Jiang Yue realized that it was impossible for her to run into a master chef. It was normal not to.
When Jiang Yue returned after dinner, both female leads had already retrieved their belongings. Jiang Yue didn't try to talk to them or get close to them, unlike Chen Xin.
When Jiang Yue arrived, Uncle Shuanzhu was leading the ox. There were quite a few people around, and the ox was getting restless and kept trying to move. Jiang Yue handed the lunchbox to Uncle Shuanzhu: "Uncle, this is some food I brought for you. Have some." The brigade leader had given the order very hastily this morning, and she hadn't had time to go home to get food.
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