Ye Huili understood the meaning of his son's painting and burst into tears. Seeing his older brother crying so hard he could hardly breathe, Ye Huiguo felt relieved; it was good that he could cry.
He thought of what his mother had told him: "Huiguo, your older brother has suffered too much. Only if he can get through it all will everything be alright."
It seems that my older brother has pulled through again. I hope that everything will be alright from now on, just as my mother said.
Ye Huili read his son's letter carefully again: "Huiguo, Chen'er should be a primary school teacher there. The two of them should have established themselves there."
Yes, that's exactly what Ye Chenming's painting is trying to express: not only have they established themselves, but they are also preparing to welcome the harvest season.
"Brother, you have some classmates who are doing well now. Could you try to find out about our parents and sister? Even if it means giving up all our savings," Ye Huiguo suggested.
Ye Huili nodded. Knowing that his child was safe and sound would make his suicidal thoughts disappear, and then his mind would come back to life.
He patted Ye Huiguo on the shoulder and said, "You've worked hard these past few days. Go back and spend time with your younger siblings. Cherish the present."
Ye Huiguo wiped his face: "Brother, don't rush, play it safe."
Ye Huiguo left, and Ye Huili took out a cigarette and started smoking again, his mind constantly calculating the best path.
He thought about it all night before picking up his pen. The person he was looking for was a very important person who had been assassinated and thrown into the water years ago, but was saved by his own father.
Sending this letter was essentially asking for something in return. Ye Huili didn't want to do it, but he was forced by circumstances and had no other choice.
Then came the endless wait. The feeling of having one's fate in someone else's hands was absolutely awful. Just as Ye Huili was at his wit's end, someone wrote two words in pen on his front door: "Wait patiently."
Ye Chenming finally received a letter from Shanghai. The letter was also blank, containing only a sketch drawn with a pencil.
In the black and white picture, a river is rushing by, and an old man is rowing a small boat upstream. The river is wide and the water is swift. The old man is wearing a straw hat and a raincoat and is rowing the boat with all his might.
Ye Chenming carefully examined the small boat and sensed something was different. After thinking for a moment, he held the drawing upright and realized that the small boat was formed by turning the character "安" (ān) horizontally. The straw hat and raincoat, on the other hand, resembled the character "等" (děng).
Ye Chenming was temporarily relieved. His father's condition was still good. As for waiting, all he could do was wait. He would stay here and wait patiently, and try to find a different path.
Village Chief Ma was in a real bind. More educated youth were coming. Mushroom Village wasn't a large village and couldn't accommodate so many educated youth. Accepting them was like winning the lottery; if you were lucky, you'd win a good prize, but if you weren't, there was nothing more to say.
The village chiefs of several neighboring villages were complaining that the educated youth had thrown the rice seedlings they had planted into a mess, and the villagers had to pull them out and replant them, which was not only time-consuming and laborious, but also resulted in the loss of a lot of seedlings.
The educated youth were not united and were always up to no good. There were no major incidents, but there were always minor ones, which made people grit their teeth in anger, but there was no way to stop them.
The most crucial issue was that the educated youth had no cooking skills. The village took care of them by dispersing them to villagers' homes. As a result, conflicts arose. They complained that the food at the villagers' homes was unpalatable and not worth the money they paid.
Of course, we can't condemn everyone. Good educated youth were loved by the villagers, such as Ye Chen'er, Ye Chenming, and Liu Limin from Mushroom Village. They taught diligently and worked hard in labor, always achieving the highest score.
Village Chief Ma remained silent. The call to action had to be answered. Instead of arguing so much, it was better to pray that he would be assigned fewer educated youth this time, and that the youth would be more hardworking, preferably male, strong, and capable of heavy work.
Heaven heard Village Chief Ma's prayers, and sure enough, the number of educated youth assigned to Mushroom Village was the smallest, with only three educated youth: two men and one woman.
His prayers were answered, and Village Chief Ma wished he could immediately kneel down and kowtow to God several times. But he knew that if he did that, his time as village chief would be over.
He rode his bicycle to the educated youth settlement. He wanted to inform the educated youth to make room for the new ones, and he also needed to go to Tang Jianjun's place to make a few kangqin (a type of traditional Chinese stringed instrument). Who knew if anyone would come next year or the year after? He wanted to make a few extra and store them in the warehouse, just in case.
The winter wheat has already been dried and bagged, and is just waiting to be distributed to the villagers after the grain tax is paid. This year's harvest is half a percent better than last year's, but it is absolutely impossible to eat refined grains all the time. We still have to rely on the corn and sweet potatoes in October.
Farm work wasn't so busy for the time being, and the school was on holiday, so the educated youth were mostly resting in their own rooms. Village Chief Ma knew about the room in the middle of the educated youth settlement, which was temporarily unoccupied and was being used as the main room. So he directly invited these people into the main room for a meeting.
"In a few days, the village will be picking up three educated youths, two men and one woman. I hope you, the older educated youths, will guide the new educated youths well, help them get to know this place, love this place, unite and be friendly, and make progress together."
"Also, I hope you can make proper room arrangements and welcome the newlyweds with a warm heart," said Village Chief Ma.
Another educated youth is coming. Everyone felt a mix of emotions upon hearing this, but they just hoped that the newcomer would be easy to get along with.
Li Qiang immediately perked up when he heard that a room would be provided. After winter, he would return to his old place. If the new educated youth shared a room with him, he wouldn't have to shamelessly go to Ye Chenming's place for the winter.
“Village chief, we’re all huddled together in one room to save resources right now. It’s summer, so we just separated. My room can accommodate two male educated youths, and my sister’s room can accommodate one female educated youth.”
Village Chief Ma nodded. "Another pair of siblings who've been ostracized, huh?"
"Alright then, the kangqin won't be available for a few days. When it's ready, Ye Chenming, you can take the new educated youth to the village committee to collect it. The same goes for the grain; each of them will receive twenty jin of grain, which will be deducted after they've eaten it."
After the village chief finished speaking, he rode his beloved bicycle to Yang Jianjun's house. "I'll have to make four kangqins this time. Sigh, that'll cost money again."
The day for delivering public grain arrived, and Yan Xiaoqiang, as a strong laborer, was called by the village chief to deliver the public grain. Yan Xiaonan had never seen such a scene before, so she followed behind.
Every household brought out their carts to load the grain. Once one cart was full, another would come along, with one person pulling and several others pushing, and they would line up like that to head to the grain station in town.
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