Xu Ningyan was also powerless to help.
Her own back felt like it was about to break, but she just endured it to avoid ruining her public image.
She now understood why those educated youths were almost driven mad by the desire for a spot to return to the city.
It was really too hard!
Especially since this is only the first day of the double harvest season.
The thought of almost another month made Xu Ningyan feel dizzy and wish she could just faint.
She simply didn't have the mood or the inclination to comfort Gu Zhiyuan anymore.
There was no wind under the willow tree, so Xu Ningyan took off her straw hat and fanned herself haphazardly for a while, which made her feel slightly cooler.
He took a few more sips of water, gritted his teeth, and said, "Let's go back and continue—"
Gu Zhiyuan smiled bitterly. He had promised to protect this girl, but unfortunately, his injuries hadn't healed yet, and he was only a burden to her.
Unable to contain her apology, she said, "Ah Ning, thank you for your hard work—"
Xu Ningyan really wanted to say, "It's not hard work, it's just a miserable life!"
Otherwise, why would anyone transmigrate into cannon fodder?
But you can't say anything discouraging at this time, otherwise you might have to work until midnight.
Forcing herself to stay alert, she patted Gu Zhiyuan on the shoulder: "It's okay, we'll take it slow. Remember, your health comes first!"
After just one pat, it was discovered that Gu Zhiyuan's left arm was still trembling involuntarily, a side effect of overuse.
He quickly snatched the sickle from his arm and said sternly, "Rest a little longer! We can finish harvesting the wheat today and do it tomorrow. A day or two's delay is no big deal, but if your arm doesn't heal properly, it'll be a lifelong problem! Don't worry about it, I'll talk to the squad leader!"
He then pressed Gu Zhiyuan down to sit and rest under a tree, and jogged a few steps to find Xu Daming.
Gu Zhiyuan watched Xu Ningyan run away, then looked down at his own arm, pressed his tongue against his palate, and gave a silent, bitter laugh.
He was looking down, seemingly lost in thought.
Then they heard someone walking towards the willow tree, followed by a soft, surprised voice: "Comrade Gu, are you feeling unwell?"
He speaks with a strong Beijing accent.
Gu Zhiyuan looked up and met two pairs of probing eyes.
They were two female educated youths from the brigade. They seemed to want to say something, but when they met Gu Zhiyuan's indifferent gaze, they opened their mouths and then closed them again.
Seemingly realizing that Gu Zhiyuan didn't want to talk to them, the two of them carefully took a few steps around before taking their water bottles and drinking a few sips of water.
They must have been exhausted, because the two of them found a spot under the shade of a tree and, without much regard for formalities, plopped down on the ground.
A moment later, she began to sob and complain softly, "It's too hard and I'm too tired! I want to go home—"
After saying this, the two female educated youths hugged each other and cried.
Gu Zhiyuan felt a chill run down his spine, immediately stood up, and took a few steps away.
The two female educated youths immediately stopped crying and stared blankly at Gu Zhiyuan, completely surprised that he would have such an attitude of avoiding them at all costs.
Shouldn't a normal person offer some words of comfort? After all, they're from the same place.
The female educated youth, who spoke with a strong Beijing accent, couldn't help but say, "Comrade Gu, how can you have no compassion at all?"
Gu Zhiyuan said calmly, "My family background is bad!"
It seems like everything has been said, yet it also seems like nothing has been said at all.
The Beijing natives who had been sent to the countryside showed some apology on their faces: "We're sorry, Comrade Gu, we didn't mean to look down on you! We just thought that we all came from the same place, and it's fate that we met in the Tuanjie Brigade, which is thousands of miles away!"
“We originally intended to help farmers build up the countryside, but we didn’t expect that the people in the Tuanjie Brigade would be so xenophobic. Whether it was us educated youth who were sent to the countryside, or Comrade Gu and others who were sent down, they were all treated as outsiders.”
"Even if you, Comrade Gu, married a girl from their village, they didn't give you any special treatment while you were working! We're just standing up for you!"
Another female educated youth chimed in, "That's right, they just don't like us!"
...
The two chattered on and on to themselves for a while, but Gu Zhiyuan didn't respond.
After exchanging a glance, the Beijing-native educated youth asked, "Comrade Gu, is the Xu family's fourth daughter, whom they mentioned marrying, really going to work in the county town?"
Upon hearing this, Gu Zhiyuan glanced at the Beijing-native educated youth.
The educated youth thought that these words had touched on Gu Zhiyuan's heart, and showed an envious expression: "Sigh, I never thought that a village girl could go to work in the county town, while we people have to do farm work in the countryside!"
"By the way, what kind of work did Xu Siya do in the county town? Is she literate?"
A series of questions were raised.
Gu Zhiyuan took a few steps back, feeling his arm trembling slightly lessen, and said, "What's it to you?"
Then he took the sickle and left.
After walking quite a distance, they heard the two educated youths under the willow tree come to their senses, so angry they felt like their lungs were about to explode.
"Look at this guy, what kind of person is he? No wonder he's a black element! He deserves it!"
"Forget it, it seems we won't get anything out of him. Let's not rush, we'll go to the commune to inquire again after the autumn harvest—"
...
Gu Zhiyuan immediately understood.
This is the job that everyone has their eyes on Xu Ningyan.
Not only did the Xu family cause trouble, but they even got their eyes on the educated youth at the settlement. It's quite speechless.
Something that hasn't even been confirmed yet has spread so quickly.
If this continues, this job might fall through.
Now we can only hope that Li Jianguo will be helpful and get things settled as soon as he gets back, and that he can complete the onboarding process.
This way, Xu Ningyan won't have to work so hard in the fields and take care of him.
He still needs to think of a way to resolve this. He guesses that Sun Zhou should have returned to the county town by now, so he'll see if he can come up with a solution.
Although the Tuanjie Brigade is relatively peaceful, the leadership skills of the brigade leader and the branch secretary are indeed limited.
He was quite responsible in arranging the production of the brigade, but there were still many oversights in the management of the brigade members and educated youth.
However, if the brigade leader and the party secretary were truly capable, the Tuanjie Brigade wouldn't have only managed to secure a mediocre position in the commune.
If this continues, even if Xu Ningyan gets a job, there will likely be a lot of wrangling and disputes during the subsequent procurement process.
Countless thoughts raced through my mind in an instant.
Xu Ningyan found Xu Daming and told him about Gu Zhiyuan's situation. She also made it clear that he could earn fewer work points, but his arm couldn't be injured.
Xu Daming had heard from his own father last night that the brigade would be relying on Xu Ningyan for many more things in the future.
Although there was no explicit agreement, it was implied that Gu Zhiyuan could slack off.
Anyway, he wasn't the only one in the brigade who was slacking off. Among the educated youth who went to the countryside, the batch that was assigned last year were all better at slacking off than the last, and he couldn't be bothered to say anything!
When it's time to calculate work points and distribute grain at the end of the year, we'll teach them a lesson.
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