Maybe God couldn't bear to see Zhou Jiao having nothing to do and living a carefree life.
Look, the notice clearly states that our school students Zhang Guoqing and Zhou Jiao should gather at school on a certain day and at a certain time.
What are we doing together? We're going to the farm to dig up river mud.
In early March, the snow in Northeast China was just beginning to melt. The thought of digging river mud for fertilizer at this time of year almost made Zhou Jiao dizzy.
Faced with Zhang Guoqing's worried eyes, she could only smile.
In her three years of high school, she attended a few ideological classes and two propaganda events, but never participated in any labor activities. This matter now affected her personal file and her future. She had to go, so she might as well be proactive.
Zhang Guoqing knew that since even the old principal had allowed the defenseless Zhou Jiao to take the stage, it was no longer a task he could escape. However, he understood the difficulty of the task better than Zhou Jiao.
It was freezing cold, the ice and snow had just melted, and there was no shelter in the wild mountains and wilderness. A strong wind blew over, and it was like a knife. Not to mention going down to the river.
In previous years, when fertilizer was scarce, Zhang's father would often take the three brothers to dig river mud for fertilizer, but never so early in the season; it would take about a month. Back then, other than the tiring part of digging river mud, everything else was fine.
Zhang Guoqing looked at his delicate hand, imagining it would be a bloody mess. He couldn't stand out in such an occasion by wearing gloves, alone and isolated from the crowd. Even more frustrating was the fact that the school cafeteria staff had to prepare the meals themselves—even this escape route was blocked.
No matter how worried I was, this day finally came.
Early in the morning, Ping An was sent to Zhang Guofu's home and handed over to Zhang's father and mother. The couple rushed to the school to gather.
Zhang Guoqing, who had always been a competent class monitor in the past, retired due to self-study, but this did not affect his high popularity and everyone's obedience to him at all.
Zhou Jiao had always felt that some people were born with leadership abilities. Take Zhang Guoqing, for example. Born an orphan in his previous life, he had no one to nurture him. Yet, his talent seemed innate. He was always class monitor from elementary school to college, and was even unanimously elected student union president in college.
Seeing him being called over by the school teachers, she wasn't surprised at all. Watching him effortlessly direct the entire process and then hand over the responsibility of carrying the banner to someone else made Zhou Jiao lower her head and smile.
A large group of teachers, students and staff of the county middle school sang songs and marched in a mighty procession with flags held high, heading towards a farm fifty miles away.
The team started marching early in the morning and finally arrived at the farm at noon.
Under the arrangement of the old principal, before everyone had time to catch their breath and rest for a while, they were already holding the two corn and vegetable dumplings in their hands, eating while walking to the task place - a river bank downstream.
In the upper and middle reaches of the tributaries of the entire river, flags erected high on both sides of the river banks can be seen everywhere, fluttering in the wind, and on the riverbed and banks, people are already working hard.
In this downstream section, because there is a dam upstream and people in the middle reaches are still using water trucks to pump water, there seems to be no water at the bottom of the river except for a thin layer of ice.
After raising the flag representing the county high school, the students were quickly assigned tasks by their class teachers.
Seeing Zhou Jiao being assigned to dig mud from the riverbed, Zhang Guoqing volunteered to do the digging. He could keep an eye on his wife a little better with him around.
Zhou Jiao, wearing straw sandals, stepped onto the river surface and began to hit the surface with stones. At first, she thought it was quite interesting. The thin layer of ice broke into pieces with a single hit, and she was done in no time.
With Zhang Guoqing protecting her, she mostly stayed within the thin edge, but gradually, as mud appeared, her feet sank, and her straw sandals were no longer effective. The biting cold radiated from her feet throughout her body, causing her to shiver from time to time.
She clearly felt the blood flow in her body stop and her feet had lost all feeling. She took another look at Zhao Yuanyuan, who was barefoot, and resolutely took off her straw sandals and thick socks.
She winked at Zhang Guoqing, who was watching her closely. Everyone was so passionate these days, so afraid of losing, they were all working so hard. She absolutely couldn't let anyone give her something to talk about.
Zhou Jiao mechanically dug the mud, pouring it into the bamboo basket shovel by shovel. After a long time, she began to sweat all over. The wind blew over her, and she shivered again and again.
Zhou Jiao didn't know how much she had done. She only knew that even though Zhang Guoqing had been secretly adding mud to his bamboo basket, she still couldn't keep up with Zhao Yuanyuan and the others. Seeing the relaxed expressions on the faces of the two students who were responsible for carrying the bamboo baskets on her side, she knew she was far behind everyone else.
She had no time to envy Zhao Yuanyuan and the others, nor did she have time to listen to the voices on the radio. She took a deep breath, holding her breath, trying to speed up her movements, but after a while, she found that the shovel was not well constructed and was extremely heavy.
Zhang Guoqing finished shoveling quickly when he saw that the students who were supposed to carry away the bamboo baskets hadn't arrived yet. He glanced at Zhou Jiao with pity and began to vigorously stuff the mud not far ahead of her into the bamboo baskets of Zhao Yuanyuan and the others. He was now eager to finish shoveling the riverbed mud in one go so that his wife could get ashore quickly.
What is Zhang Guoqing's biggest regret at the moment? It is that he is too relaxed, just like playing, and it's a pity that he can't take his wife's place.
Finally, the loudspeaker announced dinner time. Zhou Jiao was so exhausted she couldn't even pull her feet out of bed. She relaxed, leaning on the shovel, looking up and around. She felt like crying. The female workers were so excited that no one left the shore, determined to finish the task before eating.
Zhang Guoqing looked at the mud on her face, then looked at her eyes, and smiled darkly. Everyone was actively showing off, so he didn't want to suggest that she rest.
The homeroom teacher personally came up and told everyone to eat and continue working, finally getting the group of students to stop. This time, Zhou Jiao was determined not to be the first to leave. She slowly pulled her foot out, slowly raised her shovel, and slowly scooped up the mud and dumped it into the bamboo basket. After everyone else lifted their foot and left, she was slowly dragged ashore by Zhao Yuanyuan.
Yes, it’s cool!
Zhou Jiao was very grateful to Zhao Yuanyuan at this moment. If it weren't for her foolish strength, she really wouldn't be able to get up the riverbank. If she waited for Zhang Guoqing to pull her up, it would be a joke.
For dinner, each person got three corn dumplings and a bowl of corn porridge, which made everyone cheer happily. Zhou Jiao discovered that one of her classmates had left a dumpling in his pocket.
Zhou Jiao ate a large bowl of corn porridge with three vegetable dumplings, but she didn't notice any flavor. She suspected her senses had shut down, but why did fatigue come with it?
After finishing her meal, Zhou Jiao didn't care if the floor was unsanitary or cold. She leaned against the wall, stretched out her limbs, and collapsed on the ground. She laughed at herself inwardly, thinking that mysophobia was nothing in the cruel reality.
Zhao Yuanyuan held Zhou Jiao's straw sandals, comparing them to her own, and covered her mouth with her hands, laughing. She realized Zhou Jiao had a hobby: she liked everything exquisite. She must have knitted these sandals herself. She was deft, but not strong. At least she wasn't inferior to her in everything, and she always felt so incompetent.
Zhou Jiao had no idea that her presence had undermined Zhao Yuanyuan's confidence. She was now wondering how she was going to spend the evening. Would it be too much of a loss to stage a fainting scene?
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