"Alright, alright, get back to work. Going there now will only take about ten minutes, and we won't lose any points."
Brigade leader Chen Gang plays the bad cop, while old village chief Wu Fengshou plays the good cop.
The villagers hurried toward the public fields.
Lin Mo also carried a hoe and followed behind his mother, looking like he was obediently going to do the work.
This scene surprised not only the villagers, but also Chen Gang and Wu Fengshou, who looked at each other in astonishment.
"Oh, you've changed your ways today? You actually know to do some work now?" Chen Gang mocked sarcastically.
Lin Mo didn't want to talk; his mind was racing.
This was back in 1976, during the era of the household responsibility system.
Each village is a collective, and collective labor is carried out according to the brigade leader's arrangements. Work points are recorded based on the length of labor and other piecework.
A typical young man can earn 12, while a woman can earn 8 to 10.
The exact value of one work point depends on the year-end summary. Anyway, at the end of last year, one work point was worth only 8 cents.
My mother works hard all year round and only earns a little over 230 yuan, and that money has to be deducted from the grain she ate at the communal kitchen.
Anyway, by the end of last year, there was only 30 yuan left, and the village's labor productivity was decreasing year by year.
It's mainly collective labor, and in many collective labor activities that are time-based and calculated based on work points, most people are basically slacking off and procrastinating.
A small number of villagers work diligently from morning till night, feeling that there is never enough work to be done. Over time, they also start to dawdle and kill time.
This kind of household contract responsibility system didn't change until around 1984, when each family only did their own work.
There are still eight years left in that period, oh my god, how are we going to get through it?
Even if I can survive until then, my mother and sister will probably die of exhaustion.
Moreover, they cannot have any private property at all. Even if they secretly cultivate one or two plots of private land, they will be accused of corruption if discovered.
"Aunt Lin is quite old, but she still goes to work every day."
“Even though you’re older, you’re no less capable than other women. You can earn eight work points a day. And what about you?”
“If you miss a day, you get 12 points deducted. Even outsiders feel sorry for Aunt Lin! You, as her son, don’t feel any pity at all. Are you even human?”
Unable to get a response from Lin Mo, Chen Gang couldn't help but hurl a torrent of abuse at Lin Mo.
Lin Mo accepted the scolding, after all, he hadn't said anything wrong.
"We were wrong, we were wrong, we've changed." Lin Mo lowered his head, carrying the hoe, and didn't argue back, but honestly admitted his mistake.
This complete 180-degree turn in admitting his mistake left Chen Gang utterly surprised.
Lin's mother also stared at him with wide, puzzled eyes, wondering if her son had really changed his ways.
"A prodigal son who returns is more precious than gold; Brother Lin will change," his childhood friend Miao Qingsong chimed in kindly.
"Tch," however, the other youths rolled their eyes and mocked without any politeness:
"Don't listen to his nonsense, he's probably holding back some stinky fart he's going to use to stink up his mother."
"Hahaha."
"There's no doubt about it. Yesterday he even stole his own grain to exchange for half a pound of meat at the supply and marketing cooperative. He's like he's using his brain like a dagger, rushing to deliver it to a female educated youth in the city. I saw it all."
The mocking voices rose and fell, directed at Lin Mo, but they stung Lin's mother's heart.
Lin Mo felt sorry for his mother, who was so old and still had to listen to unpleasant things because of him.
The village has a total of 153 households, tending to about 1,000 mu of collective farmland.
However, the crops in the fields were not growing very well; they were sparse, and even the far edges were bare, with no crops growing on them at all.
It's not that we can't serve them all, it's that everyone is too lazy to serve them.
The climate in Northeast China is cold, and most crops are planted in May and harvested in October.
It's harvest time now.
Lin Mo took the sickle from his mother and told her to do piecework bundling work by the field.
Harvesting is such exhausting work, I'd better do it myself.
Once he bent over in the field, he couldn't straighten up again. He was so tired; it felt like his back was about to leave him.
My legs felt as heavy as lead, and my stomach was screaming for its parents over and over again.
Gritting his teeth, he bent over and cut his way through, briefly straightening his back to check on the others.
Damn it, I'd already finished harvesting a whole row and left, while Miao Qingsong, who was harvesting right next to him, was just squatting in the paddy field, dawdling.
Others should do less, while the diligent should do more.
That's several hundred acres! How long would it take to finish it?
"You son of a bitch, hurry up and get to work!" Lin Mo cursed at Miao Qingsong angrily.
Miao Qingsong tilted his head and looked at Lin Mo, thinking he had misheard something, since he was usually the one getting scolded.
This guy actually started swearing today.
"Hey, Brother Lin, you've transformed!" Miao Qingsong asked with a look of surprise, chuckling sheepishly as he stood up and slightly sped up his harvesting pace.
“Your dad knows how to hunt, right? He must have passed on his skills to you. If I were you, I wouldn’t be wasting my energy here.”
"They must have gone into the mountains to hunt."
Lin Mo certainly understood this principle, and as soon as he realized it, he felt sorry for his mother.
My mom earns 8 a day, but if I don't come in, she loses 12. It's like all my hard work is for nothing.
"Brother Lin, did you really inherit the hunting skills?" Miao Qingsong was really craving the hunting techniques.
"Could you teach me a skill? I really don't want to waste my time here. If I knew how to hunt, I would stay in the mountains all day and never come out."
Lin Mo squinted at him coldly, a thought rising in her mind.
He did inherit at least 70-80% of his father's skills, and having lived a whole life and watched countless short videos, he has far more knowledge and experience than most people today.
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