As Village Chief Ma observed this, he nodded silently to himself. It was normal for the educated youth to be unfamiliar with farm work when they first arrived, but as long as they were willing to endure hardship, their future would be better.
The villagers started gossiping, saying that the four educated youths were good at their work, and that the two boys and the girl were also quite good.
Although they work slowly and their movements are not precise, they are really trying their best, especially that girl, who does the work of two people.
This woman is no good, shameless. She even pounces on men during work hours. She's probably just like Wang's eldest daughter, useless at everything and good for nothing.
The villagers kept working and talking nonstop, which fueled Wang Yan's anger, but she knew now was not the time to lose her temper.
Seeing Tian Fang picking sweet potatoes without even looking up, his anger flared even more: "Tian Fang, we live in the same room, and you don't even say a word for me."
Tian Fang sneered, "Instead of wasting time talking, you could have picked two more baskets of sweet potatoes."
Wang Yan “......”
Liu Limin glanced at Wang Yan: "Wang Yan, if you don't want to work, then leave our team and don't cause trouble."
Zhang Dali also chimed in, "Why is it acting like a mad dog, biting anyone it sees? It's really bad luck."
Wang Yan “......”
Liu Limin and Wang Dali continued to hoe the ground. Their movements were much more skillful than before, but they lacked strength and often had to take several strokes to hoe the ground properly.
Liu Limin glanced at the remaining tunnel ahead and said, "Li Qiang, you dig by yourself. I'll go pick out the sweet potatoes first."
Li Qiang looked up and nodded, but he gripped the hoe even harder.
Tian Fang helped take out about half of the sweet potatoes from the full basket, worried that the two boys wouldn't be able to carry them.
Liu Limin was a few years older than Ye Chenming and the others, so he was able to lift it after a few tries.
Wang Yan snorted and reluctantly began picking sweet potatoes. As she picked them up, she kept looking around, which made Tian Fang's teeth itch with envy, and she wished she could kick her.
Yan Xiaonan started working with her head down. Her mother had been bending over to pick up sweet potatoes for a long time, and her back would ache. She had to work faster to help her mother.
Yan Xiaonan now regrets her actions. She was too impulsive. Her family always spoiled her, allowing her to be too unrestrained. She needs to change that in the future.
As Cuihua watched her little daughter's small figure flying up and down with the hoe, she felt a pang of sadness.
My daughter, who could do anything with her eyes closed, still works hard and shares joys and sorrows with her family.
I must have accumulated great virtue in my past life, so I must continue to accumulate virtue and do good deeds in this life to repay God's favor.
A week later, all the sweet potatoes were harvested. Since they were a non-staple food, they did not need to be handed over. The village chief distributed them to the villagers according to the number of centimeters the sweet potatoes were planted.
This year's sweet potato harvest was bountiful, with over 200,000 jin (100 tons) harvested from more than 100 mu (6.7 hectares) of land, and each household received at least 2,000 jin (1,000 tons).
The educated youth also received a considerable amount; apart from Wang Yan, each person received two hundred jin (100 kg), which made them so happy that they ate it raw on the spot.
Wang Yan was indignant, wondering why she only weighed 120 jin (60 kg).
The village chief sneered: "I told you on your first day that cheating and shirking work points would be deducted. Do you think our scorekeeper is a dead man?"
Wang Yan “......”
The educated youth were startled; they realized that someone was watching them while they worked, and thankfully they hadn't been slacking off.
The villagers started to worry again. Last year's wheat harvest was good, so they had enough food to eat.
There are too many sweet potatoes today. Even if we make them into dried sweet potatoes, we don't need that much sweet potato flour. If we can't finish them in a long time, it will be a waste.
Two years ago, if we had extra sweet potatoes, we could take them to the market to exchange for some daily necessities or other grains, but that's not possible these past two years.
The village chief instructed the villagers to store all the surplus sweet potatoes in the village committee's warehouse and sell them to the state's grain station. Any sweet potatoes that they couldn't eat themselves were also put together and sold to the state.
At the end of the year, the money earned from selling sweet potatoes will be distributed based on the total number of work points earned throughout the year; deductions will be made as they should be, and payments will be made accordingly.
The educated youth watched this operation with curiosity and excitement, knowing that they would also receive a share at the end of the year—all the fruits of their hard work.
Ye Chen'er rolled her eyes and saw Yan Xiaonan and her family weighing their sweet potatoes. They were going to sell at least half of their sweet potatoes this year.
Ye Chen'er ran over; she now really enjoyed talking to Yan Xiaonan: "Nannan, can I come to your house to play?"
Yan Xiaonan looked at her with a smile: "Sister Ye, don't think about playing. Hurry up and go chop firewood. Winter here is not like in Shanghai. You will freeze to death without a heated kang."
Ye Chen'er was startled; she had been careless.
“If you can’t afford to go chop wood, I’ll go with you.”
Yan Xiaonan hesitated. If she went with them to chop firewood, she wouldn't be able to go up the mountain. She was about to refuse.
Ye Chen'er spoke up again: "Okay Nan Nan, take us there. There are some places where you can't see any firewood at all. If you're here, you can be our guide."
Yan Xiaonan thought for a moment and nodded in agreement. Every household was cutting firewood, and since there was no permit to cut down the trees in the mountains, they could only choose some small groves.
Ye Chen'er, being an educated youth from out of town, probably wouldn't know where the grove was, so I'll help them out.
Ye Chen'er was overjoyed. Having locals to guide her would make her life much easier since she was new to the area.
The farm work was over, and the educated youth only worked half a day each day, which was basically pulling weeds, watering and fertilizing.
In the afternoon, they followed Yan Xiaonan to chop and collect firewood on the outskirts of the mountain. Yan Xiaonan also led them to pick wild jujubes, chestnuts, and small hawthorns that could be used to make tea.
If they ventured a little deeper, they could find small red berries and wild persimmons, but Yan Xiaonan told them not to go into the mountains unless she was there.
Li Ping found it strange: "Why?"
Ma Minghua rolled her eyes at her: "People in the city are so stupid. There are wolves and tigers in the mountains. Do you want to be the tiger's dinner?"
Li Ping “...”
Ye Chen'er laughed: "Ma Minghua, you're a year older than Nan Nan, why don't you go to school?"
Ma Minghua said, "My mother won't let me study because it's not safe in town. Now my second brother is also going to stop studying."
Yan Xiaonan was surprised. Had it gotten to this point? Well, she would take this opportunity to make her point.
"I don't read books either."
What!!!
No one could believe it; the Yan family were all scholars, except for those from the North and South.
There are also families in the village who don't allow girls to go to school, because they think that girls will get married anyway, so going to school is a waste of money.
But Yan Xiaonan is different. If she wants to study, her father will definitely take her to school early in the morning and pick her up late in the evening.
Ye Chenming, who had been playing the role of a mute, ran up and said, "Yan Xiaonan, you should go back to school. A girl can't be illiterate."
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